Matt Yglesias

40 Responses to “A Movement for Liars”

1. scythia Says:
   October 15th, 2008 at 1:07 pm

   Still, whether or not lying rightwingers are a dime a doze, they’re just people trying to win. The real issue…

   …is that politics isn’t a game. It’s not like football or Survivor. It’s something to be taken with the weight it deserves. Political and electoral decisions have far-reaching consequences. They should be made with regard to the health of the nation, and the world, not just to notch a W.

   The fact that the modern Republican party, and the media, and pretty much everyone else seems to have forgotten this is the single BIGGEST problem with this country today.

2. Seitz Says:
   October 15th, 2008 at 1:13 pm

   it’s hard to find an honest GOPer

   Marc should have stopped right there. He would have saved everyone a lot of time.

3. steve duncan Says:
   October 15th, 2008 at 1:16 pm

   Would someone in the media please look McCain in the eye and ask him were someone purporting to be Mickey Mouse to show up at a polling place would he be permitted to vote? Merely because ACORN had turned in a registration saying Mickey Mouse lived at 349 E. Main Street in Toledo, Ohio? Or would Fred Smith get to vote 73 times at apparently every single precinct in Harrisburg, PA merely because ACORN had registered him 73 times? Does it occur to fricking CNN the various states screen these registrations? Isn’t it apparent no state election system lets someone claim they are eligible to vote in multiple precincts or with the name of a cartoon character. They have a goddamned driver license and electric bill that says they’re Mickey Mouse? Geez. Our news media are more worthless than a pork barbecue stand in Mecca.

4. Joseph Nobles Says:
   October 15th, 2008 at 1:20 pm

   This is because the ACORN folderol is not about discovering why Barack is winning, but about NOT discovering why Barack is winning. It’s a salve meant to keep the wingnut base numb during this nationwide repudiation of what they laughingly call “values.”

5. solarjetman Says:
   October 15th, 2008 at 1:23 pm

   This massive right wing media focus on voter fraud is actually frightening me as much as, if not more than, all the “palling around with terrorists!” nonsense. It strikes me as a preemptive attempt to goad the conservative base into viewing the impending Obama election as illegitimate. I’d like to think it’s an echo chamber spiraling out of control and latching onto the few remaining stories that seem to confirm their gut feeling that Middle America and Ordinary People agree with them, but it strikes me as part of a recipe for serious violence.

6. pacer521 Says:
   October 15th, 2008 at 1:30 pm

   I agree with comment number 3.

   http://culturedecoded.wordpress.com/2008/10/14/the-importance-of-the-final-presidential-debate/

7. Rich Says:
   October 15th, 2008 at 1:31 pm

   Trying to win excuses less than nothing.

8. Darius Says:
   October 15th, 2008 at 1:37 pm

   The real issue, as is often the case, is with the “journalists” on CNN who’ve decided to be willing accomplices in this farce.

   Yeah, that bothers me as well. CNN’s quickly turning into Fox News Lite.

9. fletc3her Says:
   October 15th, 2008 at 1:37 pm

   Right wing stalwarts like Rush Limbaugh, Bill O’Reilly, and Ann Coulter have all but admitted that they are playing a character when they appear on television. They don’t believe the lies that they are telling, but it is their job to state those lies in such a way that they appear to believe them.

10. blah Says:
    October 15th, 2008 at 1:49 pm

    This is what frequently happens after important sports contests. The losing fans start obsessing about how the refs were biased or some uncalled foul decided the outcome. Most people recognize this as sour grapes and immediately tune out the whining.

11. anonymiss Says:
    October 15th, 2008 at 1:51 pm

    More than this, there’s almost no journalists calling out the fact that this activity not only fails to benefit ACORN, it actually harms ACORN. AND THE REPUBLICANS KNOW IT.

    ACORN employees who turn in fake voter registration forms are like traveling salesmen who turn in fake order forms. They cost their employers both time and money–both of which are in shortage during an election. ACORN loses when people steal from it, and I don’t understand why it’s so hard for supposedly objective journalists to point out this obvious fact.

12. Peter K. Says:
    October 15th, 2008 at 1:56 pm

    This massive right wing media focus on voter fraud is actually frightening me as much as, if not more than, all the “palling around with terrorists!” nonsense.

    Hillary Clinton started this! Why do people forget? She brought up Bill Ayers probably b/c her genious advisors told her to go negative to win during the primary.

    These conservative are just doing what Petey feels is the correct thing, also, even though he was for Edwards, then Hillary. Win at any cost. The ends justify the means.

    The conservative jihad against ACORN is the funniest thing so far. Get out the vote drives for me is like a literacy campaign or public health campaign. They’re just trying help the public out by getting them politically involved so they have some say in the government. So nefarious!

    (and there have been a lot of funny things: Obama dusting off his shoulder a la Jay Z, Tina Fey as Palin, “the fundamentals of the economy are strong!”)

13. Scott Says:
    October 15th, 2008 at 2:02 pm

    I think Darius has hit it right on the head. Anderson Cooper is just as obsessed with ACORN as Fox News is. I’m convinced that Wolf Blitzer and John King are huge McCain flacks. Whenever Blitzer asks for an opinion from a Demoratic pundit like Begala or someone like that his response is always “WOW, tell us what you really think!” Hey, I haven’t even mentioned super-racist Lou Dobbs! The guy was absolutely outraged the other day that McCain’s rhetoric was inspiring the type of response that George Wallace’s did years ago.

14. elle loco Says:
    October 15th, 2008 at 2:06 pm

    So I take it we can all henceforth agree that former Senator John Danforth, supreme stentorian Broderite can’t-we-all-get-along Republican grey-haired wise man, is a lying sack of shit, inasmuch as he’s all over Fox News braying about the “out of control” voting fraud that imperils the legitimacy of the upcoming election.

    All right, then….

15. James Robertson Says:
    October 15th, 2008 at 2:09 pm

    Translation: IN Matt’s world, a dishonest conservative is anyone who isn’t a progressive. Which means this is yet another in a long series of bubble universe posts from Matt.

    It’s possible to think Acorn is a serious problem and also not think that they will have a huge impact on the election. Unless you’re Matt, of course.

16. Peter Driscoll Says:
    October 15th, 2008 at 2:11 pm

    John Danforth, supreme stentorian Broderite can’t-we-all-get-along Republican grey-haired wise man, and first sponsor of Clarence Thomas, bless his heart.

17. Mary Says:
    October 15th, 2008 at 2:13 pm

    Wasn’t Danforth also tasked with selling us the supremely unqualified Clarence Thomas? More proof that he is just another operative…

18. Tyro Says:
    October 15th, 2008 at 2:17 pm

    It’s possible to think Acorn is a serious problem and also not think that they will have a huge impact on the election.

    When pressed, it’s gotten to the point that the anti-ACORN claims have been reduced to, “it is taking too much work to sift through these registration forms that we require ACORN to turn in, by law.” Yes, that’s their complaint– to no one’s surprise, it turns out that Republican are a bunch of lazy doofuses who don’t want to actually do any work to register voters. However, for the most part, the “public line” on ACORN is that they’re participating in voter fraud, even though this would be the dumbest method ever to try to overturn an election. For the most part, this is only being done to lay the groundwork to create public distrust about the electoral process that is about to kick a bunch of Republicans out of government.

19. craig mcgillivray Says:
    October 15th, 2008 at 2:18 pm

    “It’s possible to think Acorn is a serious problem”, is it? Why is it a problem?

    Plus, when did CNN stop becoming FOX lite, so that someone could seriously say that “CNN’s quickly turning into Fox News Lite.”, for at least 15 years CNN has been trying to get to the right of Fox.

20. scythia Says:
    October 15th, 2008 at 2:25 pm

    CNN hit Palin hard on AIP today. They’re not really left or right–they’re pro-cheddar in the 30-second denominations, and if it bleeds it’s gonna lead.

21. pseudonymous in nc Says:
    October 15th, 2008 at 2:25 pm

    The new line from wingnut central is that bogus registrations add to the total registration number, create headlines, and distort the polls. So, stories that talk about 600,000 new voters should really have some kind of asterisk after them.

    It is to laugh.

    It’s possible to think Acorn is a serious problem and also not think that they will have a huge impact on the election. Unless you’re Matt, of course.

    How much more are you happy for your state to pay, White Flight, in order to do the job of registering voters itself, in a way that minimises errors?

22. wahoomatt Says:
    October 15th, 2008 at 2:26 pm

    CNN is fucked up. They have announcers, but no journalists, so they just announce whatever drivel they are being spoonfed by the great Right Wing Talking Point Teleprompter in the sky. In my household, CNN, Headline News, and Fox are all banned, unless used in a controlled environment for comedy purposes.

23. scythia Says:
    October 15th, 2008 at 2:31 pm

    It’s possible to think Acorn is a serious problem

    It’s really not, James unless you:

    a) are racist
    or
    b) have swallowed a bunch of lies
    or
    c) are totally in the tank for McCain.

    If you can present a non-racist, non-specious, non-partisan argument for why ACORN is a bad organization and/or does bad things, I’m all ears. I love it when people I think are trolls and hacks prove themselves to be earnest and intelligent human beings.

    Otherwise, I think it’s time to STFU.

24. Matthew Says:
    October 15th, 2008 at 2:32 pm

    I am actually concerned someone might dress up as Mickey Mouse and go vote. No one would ask for an id check on the world’s most famous cartoon. Or what about the bounds of reality becoming untethered and cartoons becoming real? Think of the repercussions then.

    Maybe the news could cover this like adults though, and just point out the fact that no matter what name someone puts on a form, ACORN is legally required to turn it in. Even if it says Tony Romo on it. They aren’t trying to scam people and get Donal Duck vote eligible, its that they have to turn it in because to do otherwise would be illegal. Though if they simply took the step to start trashing legal registrations, the Republicans would applaud their efforts. They might even get a slot on McCain’s Clean Election and Voter Fraud Committee with all the other vote supressors.

    http://thesebastards.blogspot.com/

25. Brad L Says:
    October 15th, 2008 at 2:58 pm

    Hillary Clinton started this! Why do people forget? She brought up Bill Ayers probably b/c her genious advisors told her to go negative to win during the primary.

    Thing is, we keep forgetting to thank her for it. Back when everyone was hand-wringing and trying to get her to back off, people missed the fact that a) Obama got good practice sparring (and it really was sparring, since she never had much of a real comeback chance) and b) many of these items would really seem stale by the election.

    Part of the reason for the ridiculous Ayers attacks is that these guys had to try and reach for something new. So, they are now attacking a better opponent with weaker mud. In the end, Obama had no better friend than Hillary Clinton.

26. tomemos Says:
    October 15th, 2008 at 3:06 pm

    Brad L nails it. Can you imagine if Wright broke in September, instead of February or whenever it was?

27. Not as stupid as James Robertson Says:
    October 15th, 2008 at 3:43 pm

    James Robertson? James, the total fucking moron, Robertson? James, the dimwitted buffoon who still claims that Saddam Hussein represented a real threat to the national security of the United States, Robertson? Is accusing someone of living in a bubble universe?

    That’s like Obama hammering McCain on not using his POW status enough.

    Wow. It’s like these idiots don’t understand that we remember their names and their lunatic ranting.

28. Not as stupid as James Robertson Says:
    October 15th, 2008 at 3:50 pm

    Um…I’m not sure what I meant by that analogy. Everything else was great, that analogy sucked.

    More like, McCain saying that Obama was overusing his POW status. Otherwise the analogy only works at the level that it is an insane charge.

29. Peter K. Says:
    October 15th, 2008 at 4:05 pm

    Brad L.

    Thing is, we keep forgetting to thank her for it. Back when everyone was hand-wringing and trying to get her to back off, people missed the fact that a) Obama got good practice sparring (and it really was sparring, since she never had much of a real comeback chance) and b) many of these items would really seem stale by the election.

    I completely disagree. There wasn’t “hand-wringing.” People were just pointing out the Clinton campaign’s nasty tactics, just as they are now pointing out the desperate ploys of McCain’s campaign.

    A lesser politician than Obama would have buckled under in the primary and you can’t really blame Hillary, she was just trying to win.

    But her argument at the time that she’d be better positioned to win seems hollow now. Less than a month out and Obama is a good position.

    If I were an Obama campaign person though, I would spread the BS you are saying, just to be diplomatic. It will be interesting to see what happens later, if Obama wins…

30. Brad L Says:
    October 15th, 2008 at 7:22 pm

    There wasn’t “hand-wringing.”

    I don’t know how long you’ve been reading the yglesias blog, but during the primary/Atlantic days, there were howls, week after week, about how her continued campaign was going to wreck him, drive up his negatives, become attack fodder for his eventual candidate, etc etc. There really were.

    Way back machine, featuring this from our host:

    “Dragging things out ’till the convention stands a much, much, much higher chance of hurting Barack Obama’s chances in the general election than it does of securing Clinton the nomination.”

    This idea was well represented in the comments. I was bashed for disagreeing then, too

    If I were an Obama campaign person though, I would spread the BS you are saying, just to be diplomatic.

    Just out of curiousity, which part is so disagreeable as to be BS? The fact that Obama became a better campaigner (particularly in responding to negative attacks) because of the primary, or the fact that these “scandals” came in and out of the news early, and lost some of their power?

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