Where exactly did John Kerry come into this, Lib? The comment may not be racist, but it’s fucking dumb and merits an apology.
So it was comic, but it sounds like it actually was a Hitler joke. Still not exactly a shining moment for Bunning.
On a very tangentially related issue, has anyone here ever heard a female described as swarthy?
No, Matt, I don’t think I have.
I hate to ask, but is there some reason why you presently feel compelled to come in to threads like this and post this same junk in them? You and I both know you’re an intelligent guy, and yet here you are blithering about how some thread on a messageboard is what Kerry is “all about” - I don’t know, maybe you have better info than me, and he has lots of sock puppets and spare time. More plausible is that it has fuck all to do with him. This is the pit, Lib. People whinge about inconsequential stuff, political, pet-related, lawn-grub-related and all sorts in between. If you want weighty political discourse, GD is still there, last I looked.
A politician has made a dubious joke. No, it’s not the end of the world, and no, it’s not worthy of a great deal of discussion. That’s why it’s here and not in GD. If it vexes you so, why not go there?
Sheesh, I don’t even like Kerry, mostly on the grounds of his worrying protectionist statements, but to dislike him because some guy complained about some other guy who made a joke about a third guy looking like a dead guy is really, really pointless, especially if none of the guys involved are Kerry - even the dead one.
Well, all right. I see your point.
Interesting kneejerk there, Libertarian. But as Marley23 pointed out: where exactly did John Kerry come in to all of this? Some dumbass makes an inappropriate, racially charged comment, and suddenly it’s the work of the insidious John Kerry operatives? Very curious, considering I haven’t been much of a Kerry booster on these boards. In fact, I don’t offhand remember posting about him at all here.
However, your eagerness to get digs in on Kerry in this completely unrelated subject forces the question: were you actually considering voting for Kerry at all? This sounds like bullshit designed to make me pause and think, “Oh, no! Am I driving off yet another potential Kerry supporter by attacking a Republican? I must cease all criticism and be nice—even if they’re not!”
Anyway, you’re not fooling me. A Libertarian is just a Republican who doesn’t go to church.
By the way: what do you mean by “shrilling?” Do you mean screaming unreasonably at the tops of their lungs? Or do you mean “shilling for”? I’m not messing with you here; I’m really not sure.
**Libertarian—**sorry if I was a little harsh there. I started my post before you made your “I see your point” post. I was called away in the middle of writing and got back to it later.
Hey Chance, hang around a little longer and you’ll find out a couple of things about Libertarian.
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He’s one of the smartest and most interesting guys on these boards.
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He has an annoying habit of marching into threads looking for the slightest excuse to bash liberals, however tangential to the thread’s subject matter it might be, and then backing down when people call him on making an ass of himself.
I see that you’ve been around almost as long as I have, and you probably know that I’m a passionate man. You weren’t too harsh. It’s just that I am rather desperate about this. Interestingly, I just saw Ariana Huffington, and she, like me, intends to vote Democrat this year for the first time in her life. Of all people. Ariana Huffington. I just wish I had the expository skills and the popular appeal to reach out and shake liberals by the head and shoulders. This is not the time for ivory tower inside jokes among yourselves. As Ariana said, when the house is on fire, it’s not the time to think about remodelling. What people like me see from out here is the exact same sort of argument about piddly shit that the Republicans engaged in with Clinton. And still do about Kerry. The Cheney administration is a threat to our freedom. Until people like me are convinced of that, we are thinking about Nader as a better designer than Kerry. Don’t waste your time on stuff like this. Frankly, it’s just as scary as Ashcroft-type thought policing. It is disquieting to hear that a man cannot even utter the observation that his opponent looks like Uday. Omarosa did exactly the same thing when Amy said she was the pot calling the kettle black. Omarosa immediately screamed racism. And immediately, everyone knew she was a shrew.
Just so you know, Mhendo, I’m on your side in this election. Incidentally, I think that when a person makes a reasonable and compelling argument, backing down is the appropriate thing to do.
Politicians make jokes at political dinners all the time. Including jabs at their opponents. I think you know this already, but that’s just Elvis being Elvis. Nothing new here.
Actually your first post had a bunch of stuff copied and pasted from some other message board about a Republican named Johnnie L. Turner. And your second post concerned two other Republicans, neither of whom was Bunning. (And even most of your Bunning stuff was unrelated to this incident).
It’s amazing that you can just post stuff that is so demonstrably untrue. Maybe you figure that everyone skips over most of your jive anyway. Or maybe that’s just Elvis being Elvis again.
There you go again. You posted nothing of the sort. Although this was subsequently cited by Jimmy Chitwood’s link to a Cincinnati Post columnist.
Well you can say it and you can say it and you can say it. It doesn’t get truer each time, though.
Of course they do. It would be endlessly replayed by the Mongiardo campaign, in an attempt to damage Bunning. It would probably get some play in the media as well. As above, he’s be nuts to release it.
I haven’t. I’ve always thought of it as a masculine kinda word. “Swarthy woman” just doesn’t look right to me, no offense to swarthy women.
I’ve heard of handsome women. It used to be said of Russian peasant women and hardy American women like Carrie Nation. I also recently heard it on Significant Others. Funny show.
Aw, another personal potshot with no support. Dare I say that’s typical Izzy, got no argument and no support for onebut that never stops you?
In response to Spavined’s comments about the typicality of GOP campaign behavior, not anything you’ve said in this thread. Got nothing to do with you, so quit whining.
Then demonstrate it. But, as I’ve already pointed out, you’ve got jack shit, don’t you?
Since you missed it the first time, here it is again: Pipe down, the grownups are talking.
Actualy I would say that’s typical Elvis. Remove the argument part of my post in your quote, and then say “got no argument”.
No your first post was purportedly about the OP. Your second was a response to SG.
Done it. Didn’t get through to you evidently, but not much ever does.
I still think it was a rather clever ad and obviously in no way meant to seriously tie Baesler to Hitler, which as I said undermines Baesler’s claim to the contrary. Come to think of it, now that you mention it, Marley23, Baesler’s speech used in the ad did sort of resemble something one might have expected to see in Chaplin’s “The Great Dictator”. Perhaps someone in Bunning’s camp was film literate and used that as a basis for a sophisticated joke. On second thought, I imagine that I’m giving credit where it isn’t due.
That’s my guess too, but I haven’t seen it so I won’t say anything for sure. Lib, nobody’s going to get thrown in jail or fined over this, so perhaps the thought-police thing is a bit overdramatic in this instance. And it’s not just a matter of making an Uday Hussein joke, it’s the context. In the midst of a political campaign, amazingly, most people still think certain comments or attacks are just beyond the pale, and comparing your opponent to a mass murderer is one of them.
In that, you and I are on the same page. If there is any offense, it is in being compared to a tyrant, not to an Arab.
Well, that’s the point - the fairly obvious intent of the alleged joke was to compare Mongiardo to a mass murderer/tyrant (something Izzy is avoiding, IMO). Intent is what matters here, although the corollary impression is that people who really do think that “all swarthy people look alike” are either naively racist or worse. A potentially damaging impression that isn’t worth it for a “joke” that isn’t that clever or funny to begin with (say, as compared to the observation that Arafat resembles Ringo Starr). You’d think a politician would take all that into consideration - it’s not like he’s a stand-up comedian taking the usual chances on bombing with untested material.
BTW, my take on the “swarthy female” question: Males are “swarthy”; females are “dusky”. I don’t have a verifying cite for that; it’s just an empirical observation from years of reading/listening. Interesting hijack topic.
FWIW, I haven’t come across the word “swarthy” * at all* for many years - until now, thanks to Izzy.
Iz, a word of advice for you, someone who has show flashes of thoughtfulness (in other threads) and may be capable of using it here too: Being a conservative does *not * obligate you to loyally rush to the unquestioning defense of anyone who also holds those views, ya know? Bunning has shown himself to be crude and hateful, regardless of his orientation, and to defend him so automatically helps associate conservatism with crudeness and hate. Can you see that?
One other word of advice: Before you try making an argument, have your facts in place first. Arguments derive from facts, but your approach is to make the argument first and then look for facts. Unfortunately, as in this example, they aren’t there for you, and the consequence is that you look like a knee-jerking ideologue capable of nothing but invective - and that also helps associate your political views with immaturity and irresponsibility. Can you see that too?