Not exactly a freak-out, but weren’t Republicans ridiculing Democrats a few years ago (Obama in particular) for using Teleprompters when giving speeches?
Yeah! Saul Alinsky. I remember when that was making the rounds, as if all liberals or progressives following his every word. All the liberals and progressives I knew were “huh? Who’s that?”
I don’t think this thread has mentioned the annual War on Christmas bullshit, with various complaints about Starbucks holiday cups, people not saying “Merry Christmas” all the time, and so on.
I believe you’re right. There was also a story covering Obama during the first few days of his presidency, where he ordered a burger on what may have been his first flight on AF1, and I probably got the two stories conflated. That burger, apparently, didn’t cause a scandal – though it’s possible that he may have had Dijon mustard on that one, too, but the scandal was covered up by the pro-Obama lamestream media!
Yes yes, they sure are a projecting bunch, aren’t they?
All of the right wing dim bulbs I knew were equally clueless as to who he was or what his “tactics” were as well. What mattered was the repetition of that exact phrase that was uttered in synchronicity in the RW media, like so many other buzzwords in their hive minds.
I know this one pre-dates 2000, but I think its place in the chronology of the GOP’s adoption of scorched-earth political tactics merits an honorable mention: The “murder” of Vince Foster.
When my right-wing friends were screaming about Benghazi, I would ask them if they remembered who Vince Foster was, and was amazed at how few of them did. (I took to telling them that “Benghazi” is “Vince Foster” in Arabic.)
Some of these are people whom I knew at the time, who can’t remember all the ridiculous claims they hyperventilated about for years: Hillary was having an affair with Foster. Bill murdered Foster. (Or was it vice versa?)
Around 1996, Ken Starr announced that he had examined the case, and concluded that there was no evidence of foul play in Foster’s death. When I showed this to a right-wing friend, he calmly concluded that Starr was trying to make the perps think that the heat was off, so they’d start talking. After which, the truth would finally come out. (I am not making that up).
This is a topic that’s been covered extensively on Kevin Underhill’s Lowering the Bar blog, which reminded me of another conservative freakout he extensively covered about a decade ago: Sagging pants
Snopes rates this as False. It was widely reported (correctly) that Clinton got an expensive haircut by fabulous glitterati hair stylist Christophe abord AF1 with the engines running, while sitting on the runway. It was also widely reported (falsely) that this shut down the airport for an hour or two. Two runways were closed, but the other two remained open, sufficient for the traffic of the day to keep things moving. Snopes mentions that even the $200 price of the haircut may have been an exaggeration.
“I’m gonna have your very basic cheddar cheeseburger, medium-well. I just want mustard, no ketchup. You got a spicy mustard or something like that? Dijon mustard or something?”
So he didn’t even order dijon mustard, he just wanted a spicy mustard and used dijon as an example of the type he meant.
He also said “Anybody gone into Whole Foods lately and see what they charge for arugula?”, and that was excitedly used by the right to paint him as a coastal elite (e.g. not one of us “real” Americans). He said it in Iowa where, granted, there was no Whole Foods, but its not like arugula was unknown to Iowans - its probably grown there and sold in every other grocery store.
After I acted like a fascist, racist, grifter, libs are preventing me from getting a job!
PePe LePew being left out of LeBrons Space Jam
2021 Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Protest
When MLB moved the All-Star game from Atlanta
Delta getting pummeled
Let’s Go, Brandon!
Crisis Actors
Sandy Hook
Obama golfing
Supply-Side Economics
Participation Trophies
Duke Lacrosse scandal
HPV vaccine
THE MLK quote
Ivermectin
The Debates are unfair!
Liberal Media
AOC
The MLK quote references the sole quote of MLK which conservatives trot out every MLK day, the ‘content of our character and not the color of our skin’ line.