# What happened to Bricker?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-bricker/820249
**Category:** The BBQ Pit
**Created:** [August 25, 2018, 9:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-bricker/820249 "2018-08-25T09:51:59Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 2
### Author:  [@bucketybuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bucketybuck)
#### Post date: [August 25, 2018, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-bricker/820249/21 "2018-08-25T21:23:24Z")
Thread title is not valid, the guy has always been a cunt. The only mystery is why people continue to engage with him.
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### Author:  [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)
#### Post date: [August 25, 2018, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-bricker/820249/22 "2018-08-25T21:41:25Z")
> [@bucketybuck](#):
>
> Thread title is not valid, the guy has always been a cunt. The only mystery is why people continue to engage with him.
He is a less reptile-brained than most of the other Republican/conservative members of this board, and thus a greater challenge. It’s no great victory to recognize when HurricaneDitka, Starving Artist, or Fotheringay-Phipps are talking out of their asses (i.e. almost always), so they hardly seem worth the effort.
Occasionally, one can use a conservative poster to help one organize one’s own thoughts in a pleasing manner. I enjoyed arguing abortion with \*\*Omg a Black Conservative \*\*and arguing same-sex marriage with **magellan01** not because either of them are intellectual giants, but because they spurred me to articulate my thoughts in a way that I am confident was particularly well-reasoned. I had a similar experience with Bricker during a discussion of no-knock warrants.
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### Author:  [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)
#### Post date: [August 26, 2018, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-bricker/820249/23 "2018-08-26T01:24:07Z")
> [@BeenJammin](#):
>
> Now let’s see how shooting the messenger proceeds…
Sorry–there wasn’t any message, except to point out the obvious: both acts are technically illegal. That’s it.
The starting point of the thread was entirely beyond that trivial observation, and it was just gratuitous noise to present it as though it were some kind of incisive expose.
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### Author:  [@Yookeroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yookeroo)
#### Post date: [August 26, 2018, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-bricker/820249/24 "2018-08-26T01:47:41Z")
Nobody loves Whataboutism more than **Bricker**. Few are as bad at it as he is. Ignores context, false equivalencies etc. Pretty pathetic. Great at law, and maybe the years of training have him splitting the finest hairs. It does seem he parses everything through lawyer eyes. But it leaves his critical thinking somewhat broken.
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### Author:  [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)
#### Post date: [August 26, 2018, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-bricker/820249/25 "2018-08-26T04:31:15Z")
He went to a Republican rally, and tried to talk about the Federalist Society to a guy in a MAGA hat. Hasn’t been the same since.
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### Author:  [@smithsb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smithsb)
#### Post date: [August 26, 2018, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-bricker/820249/26 "2018-08-26T05:36:25Z")
The Republican party left him; left conservatives (financial, moral, small government). He’s lashing out; looking for a thread; anything to ground himself in the current morass that is the small-minded, simplistic, excuse the party has become. He is intelligent, principled, well spoken. The party is dumbed down to slogans. Truth and facts are irrelevant in his new surroundings. The familiar ground of the US Constitution, rule of law, of conservative thought has been perverted to serve a megalomaniac. His new bedfellows are the crude, the racists, the haters. A man adrift.
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### Author:  [@kambuckta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kambuckta)
#### Post date: [August 26, 2018, 8:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-bricker/820249/27 "2018-08-26T08:59:46Z")
> [@septimus](#):
>
> Two days ago a thread was started in GD with the title “I think Timothy McVeigh’s actions were not an entirely unreasonable reaction to Ruby Ridge and Waco.” This thread title is an exact quote from one of the Board’s right-wingers.
>
> [snip]
>
> What happened? When I first came to the Board, **Bricker** seemed to be an intelligent and fair-minded right-winger. Has wallowing in the cesspool of today’s GOP left him drinking the same fetid Kool-Aid as the crooks and hypocrites that have taken over that Party use to gull the stupid?
Yes.
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### Author:  [@Starving\_Artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starving_Artist)
#### Post date: [August 26, 2018, 10:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-bricker/820249/28 "2018-08-26T10:08:17Z")
Even a minimal search of **Bricker’s** posting history over the last 15 years will reveal criticism and abuse identical to what he’s come in for in this thread.
The poster **Boyo Jim** said this about **Bricker** back in 2009:
> [@](#):
>
> **Bricker** can dance verbal circles around pretty much everyone here, and most of you get angry over what you think **Bricker** said, not what **Bricker** actually said.
>
> **Bricker** suggests, **Bricker** implies, **Bricker** qualifies. **Bricker** has a streak of ruthless in him about his use of language, and sometimes I feel it is unfair that he argues like a lawyer in these forums, which are not courts of law and are not populated by scads of similarly trained people who can debate him on his own terms. And he does insist on his own terms.
>
> I personally don’t like his politics, but I wouldn’t dream of calling him a troll. People, he’s a fuckin’ intellectual hired gun, he is a very dangerous guy to argue with.
This is why **Bricker** comes in for the abuse he gets here. He’s a conservative, hella smart, and so effective in debate that it’s difficult bordering on impossible to defeat him. This creates resentment, and that resentment creates the abuse.
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### Author:  [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)
#### Post date: [August 26, 2018, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-bricker/820249/29 "2018-08-26T22:42:13Z")
I’ve defeated him, I don’t resent him. It mildly amuses me to taunt him on occasion.
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### Author:  [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)
#### Post date: [August 26, 2018, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-bricker/820249/30 "2018-08-26T23:36:23Z")
What happened to **Bricker**? Nothing. What happened is that yet another person finally realized who he is.
Everybody gets it sooner or later. Sometimes \*much \*later, though.
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### Author:  [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)
#### Post date: [August 26, 2018, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-bricker/820249/31 "2018-08-26T23:57:29Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#):
>
> This is why **Bricker** comes in for the abuse he gets here. He’s a conservative, hella smart, and so effective in debate that it’s difficult bordering on impossible to defeat him. This creates resentment, and that resentment creates the abuse.
If you want satisfaction from **Bricker** , you have to avoid his strengths and concentrate on his weaknesses. **Bricker** has a bit of a gambling problem, and will often make a bet that is less circumspect than he is in his debates. I’ve wagered with him four times, bested him three times, and have $200 to show for it. Much more satisfying than scoring a minor rhetorical point.
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### Author:  [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)
#### Post date: [August 27, 2018, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-bricker/820249/32 "2018-08-27T00:08:02Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#):
>
> This is why **Bricker** comes in for the abuse he gets here. He’s a conservative, hella smart, and so effective in debate that it’s difficult bordering on impossible to defeat him. This creates resentment, and that resentment creates the abuse.
Unsurprisingly, you misunderstand what you quoted.
Yes, he’s very smart, and yes, he’s very good at the sort of arguing he does. However, part of the problem is his tendency to move every conversation into a realm he’s comfortable with–the legal–and to disregard or mock any other realm.
There are many discussions to be had about public policy that revolve around what’s wise and what SHOULD be legal. It’s fair to call him out for the behavior of responding as if those realms don’t exist.
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### Author:  [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)
#### Post date: [August 27, 2018, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-bricker/820249/33 "2018-08-27T00:10:46Z")
**SA** , that’s true only to the extent that “effective in debate” means he’s simply obstinate, and “it’s difficult bordering on impossible to defeat him” means he can’t admit when he’s lost and that you’re not quite smart enough to recognize it.
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### Author:  [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)
#### Post date: [August 27, 2018, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-bricker/820249/34 "2018-08-27T00:17:14Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#):
>
> Oh, I’m not holding any particular regard for Bricker and I am certainly not complimenting or congratulating him. I have no doubt at all that he still seeks the magic formula that forever proves that all liberals are hypocrites. It’s just that he knows, at least some of the time, when an argument is a loser and should be abandoned. Of course, he still hasn’t done so for the voter ID thread so I make no assumption that this is a general character trait of his, just that in this one particular case he recognized discretion was the better part of valor. The OP of this thread can find many better examples to pit Bricker for.
I suspect he knew the argument was hopeless from the beginning, but was practicing his very common tactic of introducing an irrelevant comment to divert the thread away from its original purpose.
I’d be far more interested if he faced Trumpism head on.
When there were threads about $cientology, there was one poster who claimed not to be part of the cult, but seemed to have a lot of inside knowledge. Bricker claims to not have voted for Trump, but he seems to be disturbed by attacks on Trump and his loyalists.
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### Author:  [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)
#### Post date: [August 27, 2018, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-bricker/820249/35 "2018-08-27T00:29:03Z")
> [@Voyager](#):
>
> Bricker claims to not have voted for Trump, but he seems to be disturbed by attacks on Trump and his loyalists.
And he’s never said anything critical of Trump, either!
The genius at work here is truly a credit to, and emblematic of, the left wing.
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### Author:  [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)
#### Post date: [August 27, 2018, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-bricker/820249/36 "2018-08-27T00:41:24Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#):
>
> I’ve defeated him, I don’t resent him. It mildly amuses me to taunt him on occasion.
I would had won a bet with him about the fate of the ACA, but I thought back then that it was really unseemly to bet for what was in essence a reason for me to stay alive (the ACA was then helping me recover from a nasty encounter with a resistant bacteria infection).
Betting then did feel like when business bet on your life with life settlements, a bit morbid like if I had been put on the SDMB death pool.
Nowadays I get amused at seeing how he even manages to defeat himself:
[https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=21169138&postcount=280](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=21169138&postcount=280)
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### Author:  [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)
#### Post date: [August 27, 2018, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-bricker/820249/37 "2018-08-27T01:38:01Z")
> [@GIGObuster](#):
>
> Nowadays I get amused at seeing how he even manages to defeat himself:
>
> [https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=21169138&postcount=280](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=21169138&postcount=280)
Yeah, that one caught me by surprise, a full-on appeal to popularity. Usually when Bricker sneaks in a logical fallacy, he’s a lot more subtle about it. Tsk. Slipping.
By the way, I also have a standing bet with him (for the princely sum of $2) on a hypothetical SCOTUS ruling on Wisconsin’s pre-abortion mandatory-ultrasound law. Truth be told, I haven’t been following the issue very closely, it might have been mooted or otherwise resolved by now in some way. If not, I’m less confident in prevailing than I was pre-Trump.
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### Author:  [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)
#### Post date: [August 27, 2018, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-bricker/820249/38 "2018-08-27T01:51:06Z")
> [@Bricker](#):
>
> And he’s never said anything critical of Trump, either!
>
> The genius at work here is truly a credit to, and emblematic of, the left wing.
And this is exactly what we mean. You just avoided the actual topic of the thread or countering any of the stuff that makes your side look bad, while jumping on one comment and then acting like it said more than it did.
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### Author:  [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)
#### Post date: [August 27, 2018, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-bricker/820249/39 "2018-08-27T04:27:06Z")
> [@Bricker](#):
>
> And he’s never said anything critical of Trump, either!
Grasp that straw and wield it as if it was a sword. :rolleyes:
It’s as if you _wanted_ to post as a parody of yourself.
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### Author:  [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)
#### Post date: [August 27, 2018, 6:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-bricker/820249/40 "2018-08-27T06:57:50Z")
> [@Bricker](#):
>
> And he’s never said anything critical of Trump, either!
>
> The genius at work here is truly a credit to, and emblematic of, the left wing.
Well there you go. I never said that, did I?
Your strategy, which is the reason for this thread, has become pretty obvious from over use. It is not that much different from Trump’s “why investigate me, investigate Hillary” strategy.
Absent from your posts is that all sins are not morally equivalent. You are the kind of person who, in 1965 Alabama, would be just as concerned about the blocking of the bridge as the reason for the march.
Given your eloquence, might your time be better spent talking about Trump’s attack on the legal system than being concerned about a racist statue being pulled down? Or is your party far more important than your country.
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