# Why I reegard many conservative pundits and politicians as reprehensible. **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [August 24, 2007, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-i-reegard-many-conservative-pundits-and-politicians-as-reprehensible/416715 "2007-08-24T01:59:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![RedFury](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ec9cab/32.png) [@RedFury](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RedFury)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2007, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-i-reegard-many-conservative-pundits-and-politicians-as-reprehensible/416715/41 "2007-08-24T20:15:28Z")
[QUOTE=elucidator] There were originally going to be six members of the Village People, but no one could come up with a costume for a libertarian Christian objectivist. That’s a true fact, you could look it up! [/QUOTE] Damn! Imagine if they had. Would have been HUGE! Y-M-C-A! L & C-O! Simply rocks. ---
**Author:** ![lisacurl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/41988e/32.png) [@lisacurl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lisacurl)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2007, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-i-reegard-many-conservative-pundits-and-politicians-as-reprehensible/416715/42 "2007-08-24T20:27:38Z")
[QUOTE=Ravenman] I’m willing to admit that I may be gravely mistaken about **Shagnasty** ’s comments, and they really did confuse me, but I’m curious as to what humor you might have found in the comments. Unless I’m really missing something, the only possible levity I can strain to detect is some kind of Andrew Dice Clay “look at me I’m saying naughty things that involve racial stereotypes because some people don’t like it!” sort of “joke.” If there’s some other meaning that is too clever for me to pick up on, I’d like to be clued in. [/QUOTE] Satire can’t be explained. You either get it or you don’t. You apparently don’t. ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2007, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-i-reegard-many-conservative-pundits-and-politicians-as-reprehensible/416715/43 "2007-08-24T20:33:19Z")
[QUOTE=Ravenman] I’m willing to admit that I may be gravely mistaken about **Shagnasty** ’s comments, and they really did confuse me, but I’m curious as to what humor you might have found in the comments. [/QUOTE] I thought he was just carrying the absurdity of the notion anyone would adhere to such shallow principles in their voting decision to the extreme. I saw it merely as pointing to the ridiculousness of stereotyping by showing the impractical path such beliefs would lead one down. Granted, it also gave me a little smile. ---
**Author:** ![David\_Simmons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9de053/32.png) [@David\_Simmons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/David_Simmons)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2007, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-i-reegard-many-conservative-pundits-and-politicians-as-reprehensible/416715/44 "2007-08-24T20:36:05Z")
[QUOTE=Liberal] It honestly sounds like you’re just sore that you don’t have that tactic available. Otherwise, you wouldn’t minimize associations made with pubic hair and repugnant retards. From where I sit, neither side has any moral highground when it comes to disparaging and ridiculing the other. I can understand why you would think otherwise, since you’re personally and emotionally invested in one over the other. Your side has lamented for years about the ability of Republicans to formulate catch phrases and slogans that draw people in. And the best you’ve come up with is making fun of how Bush pronounces words — as if Joe Schmoe gives a shit. And some of you (not all, but some) have gone so far as to poke fun at his faith, thus alienating people who otherwise would have sympathized with you. Honestly, your party is quite incompetent at all this. Aim your ire at your leaders. [/QUOTE] Well, if you want to boast about the ability to incide prejudice no one can stop you. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2007, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-i-reegard-many-conservative-pundits-and-politicians-as-reprehensible/416715/45 "2007-08-24T20:46:40Z")
[QUOTE=lisacurl] Satire can’t be explained. You either get it or you don’t. You apparently don’t. [/QUOTE] Yeah, I thought that satire in that post was pretty obvious. But then, I’m somewhat familiar with \*\*Shag’\*\*s postings in general, and I’d be very surprised if he was serious. Be that as it may… There are indeed some nasty conservative pundits out there. But it’s better for Obama to get that stuff out now, so it doesn’t come up (as some new shocking revelation!!) in the general. If he does win the Dem nomination (doubtful, I think), we’ll be hearing the “Hussein” a lot more. ---
**Author:** ![eleanorigby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@eleanorigby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eleanorigby)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2007, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-i-reegard-many-conservative-pundits-and-politicians-as-reprehensible/416715/46 "2007-08-24T20:54:19Z")
[QUOTE=BrainGlutton] If that were the case they would never be successful. [/QUOTE] I’ll bet you my Freedom Fries you’re wrong. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2007, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-i-reegard-many-conservative-pundits-and-politicians-as-reprehensible/416715/47 "2007-08-24T20:57:17Z")
I thought O’Bama was an Irish name! ---
**Author:** ![MaxTheVool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MaxTheVool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaxTheVool)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2007, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-i-reegard-many-conservative-pundits-and-politicians-as-reprehensible/416715/48 "2007-08-24T22:58:51Z")
[QUOTE=Liberal] > [@me](#): > > So no one should ever point out a particularly vicious political slur because, hey, everyone does it? Don’t know. Ask the guy who said that. [/quote] Isn’t that basically exactly what you’re saying to **David Simmons**? You’re not responding to the substance of what he’s saying, you’re just saying “oh, both sides do it”? (Which they clearly do not. Now, it’s possible that if there were a Republican candidate whose last name was BuBluxBlan, then democratic pundits would be constantly making the obvious joke… but it’s also possible they wouldn’t, or at least not as commonly and publically as the “Hussein” and “Obama/Osama” jokes.) > [@](#): > > I am equally put off by the man who can’t keep his mind off my wallet as I am by the man who can’t keep his mind off my zipper. Really? Equally? If you had to rate potential presidents on a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being Mr. Christian Libertarian and 1 being, I dunno, Andrew Jackson, then you guarantee that all potential Republican and Democratic candidates would all be, I dunno, 1.9? I mean, it’s one thing to say that you dislike them all, and another to say that you dislike them all equally. Or to ask another question, do you think that the country would be no better off today if Gore had won in 2000 or if Kerry had won in 2004? Oh, and while we’re at it, you also had this little gem: > [@Liberal](#): > > And some of you (not all, but some) have gone so far as to poke fun at his faith Cite that anyone equivalent to those making the “Osama/Obama” jokes is making fun of Bush’s Christianity? Oh, and no, **Der Trihs** is not the left wing equivalent of any right wing pundit or politician mentioned in this or any other thread. ---
**Author:** ![Bearflag70](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Bearflag70](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bearflag70)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2007, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-i-reegard-many-conservative-pundits-and-politicians-as-reprehensible/416715/49 "2007-08-24T23:06:46Z")
[QUOTE=elucidator] There were originally going to be six members of the Village People, but no one could come up with a costume for a libertarian Christian objectivist. That’s a true fact, you could look it up! [/QUOTE] I think you mean 7 (not that I’m an expert or anything). ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2007, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-i-reegard-many-conservative-pundits-and-politicians-as-reprehensible/416715/50 "2007-08-24T23:07:18Z")
[QUOTE=lisacurl] Satire can’t be explained. You either get it or you don’t. You apparently don’t. [/QUOTE] > [@lieu](#): > > I thought he was just carrying the absurdity of the notion anyone would adhere to such shallow principles in their voting decision to the extreme. I saw it merely as pointing to the ridiculousness of stereotyping by showing the impractical path such beliefs would lead one down. All hail, **lieu** has performed a miracle! We all know that it is easy as pie to analyze the works of Shakespeare, Tolstoy, and Pynchon, but I had no idea that nobody was able to explain the appeal of Johnathan Swift, The Onion, or **Shagnasty** until **lieu** accomplished the feat of explaining for the first time an example of of satire, lampoon, irony, caricature, or burlesque. I shall mark my calendar and notify the New York Times Review of Books that the impossible was accomplished at 4:33 Eastern on Friday, August 24, 2007. Thank you for your groundbreaking efforts, **lieu**. I shall make sure you get all the credit you richly deserve. I can only wonder at how much effort you put into your post, seeing as how you managed to cut that literary Gordian knot by using so few, but remarkably pithy, words. I now understand the spirit in which **Shagnasty** made his comments, and I withdraw any criticism aimed in his direction, and admit my whooshing. To put it another way, **lisacurl** , if you’re too lazy to explain something, either don’t post a reply or simply admit your sloth. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2007, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-i-reegard-many-conservative-pundits-and-politicians-as-reprehensible/416715/51 "2007-08-24T23:25:34Z")
[QUOTE=Thudlow Boink] I thought O’Bama was an Irish name! [/QUOTE] Clearly it’s Japanese. Oh-Bama. I don’t know the Kanji, but in Kana it is writtien thusly: お ば ま. I thought everyone knew that! ---
**Author:** ![marshmallow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df705f/32.png) [@marshmallow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/marshmallow)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2007, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-i-reegard-many-conservative-pundits-and-politicians-as-reprehensible/416715/52 "2007-08-24T23:49:23Z")
Really? I find them reprehensible because they were propaganda ministers for a corrupt, destructive administration, insinuating to this very day (or just out and out saying) that critics and liberals are traitors and terrorist lovers. Calling names and making racist jokes? Nah, that’s just normal. ---
**Author:** ![JohnBckWLD](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d6d6ee/32.png) [@JohnBckWLD](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnBckWLD)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2007, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-i-reegard-many-conservative-pundits-and-politicians-as-reprehensible/416715/53 "2007-08-25T00:11:17Z")
[QUOTE=David Simmons] Someone learns that Obama’s middle name is Hussein. In a flash… [/QUOTE] In a flash? _They_’ve been doing it since [December](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=400822). ---
**Author:** ![Moriarty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moriarty/32/49_2.png) [@Moriarty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moriarty)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2007, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-i-reegard-many-conservative-pundits-and-politicians-as-reprehensible/416715/54 "2007-08-25T01:33:48Z")
Confusing the hapless voters by alluding to Obama’s “Iraqi” link? That’s not nearly as bad as comapring him to Iran’s [leader.](http://rodonline.typepad.com/rodonline/2006/12/cnn_compares_ba.html) Gasp! Not only does his name sound like an evil-doer, but he dresses like one, too! ---
**Author:** ![Moriarty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moriarty/32/49_2.png) [@Moriarty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moriarty)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2007, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-i-reegard-many-conservative-pundits-and-politicians-as-reprehensible/416715/55 "2007-08-25T01:34:27Z")
Double post. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![David\_Simmons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9de053/32.png) [@David\_Simmons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/David_Simmons)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2007, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-i-reegard-many-conservative-pundits-and-politicians-as-reprehensible/416715/56 "2007-08-25T02:10:13Z")
[QUOTE=JohnBckWLD] In a flash? _They_’ve been doing it since [December](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=400822). [/QUOTE] What I was saying was that after that (folklore type of) serpent Ed Rogers spoke of it, the name popped up all over the place. This tells me that some central command center of the party got the word out to bear down on it hard. Maybe Rogers just sent emails to his mailing list. As for those asking for cites, I put this in IMHO because when I started hearing people using the full name I didn’t take names. I did notice the practice popping up all over for a while and that’s sufficient to support **my opinion.** ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2007, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-i-reegard-many-conservative-pundits-and-politicians-as-reprehensible/416715/57 "2007-08-27T16:20:59Z")
**Ravenman** , it’s to you and **Shag** to figure out the trouble you’re having with his post but you without question clearly misunderstood the tone of mine. ---
**Author:** ![Mosier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ea924/32.png) [@Mosier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mosier)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2007, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-i-reegard-many-conservative-pundits-and-politicians-as-reprehensible/416715/58 "2007-08-27T19:47:06Z")
If this is the reason you find conservatives reprehensible, you arent looking hard enough. ---
**Author:** ![Sophistry\_and\_Illusion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b3f665/32.png) [@Sophistry\_and\_Illusion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sophistry_and_Illusion)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2007, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-i-reegard-many-conservative-pundits-and-politicians-as-reprehensible/416715/59 "2007-08-28T17:56:50Z")
[QUOTE=PunditLisa] Making fun of someone’s name is\* infantile\*, but I wouldn’t go so far as saying it’s reprehensible. That’s overly dramatic, especially considering how much farther down the path of despicability politicians have been known to sink. [/QUOTE] If you don’t think it’s reprehensible, it’s because you are not grocking the strategy. During Nixon’s first run for Congress, he insisted on calling his opponent by her (obviously Jewish) maiden name, because he wanted to constantly remind the voters she was Jewish and play on their anti-Semitism. Those who emphasize Obama’s middle name are employing the same racist strategy. It is disgusting, but as has been pointed out already, the most disgusting thing about the whole affair is that this strategy will probably prove effective. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2007, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-i-reegard-many-conservative-pundits-and-politicians-as-reprehensible/416715/60 "2007-08-28T18:28:36Z")
[QUOTE=Sophistry and Illusion] During Nixon’s first run for Congress, he insisted on calling his opponent by her (obviously Jewish) maiden name, because he wanted to constantly remind the voters she was Jewish and play on their anti-Semitism. [/QUOTE] Nixon’s first run for Congress was against Jerry Voorhis. As far as I know, the only woman he ran against was Helen Gahagan Douglas, for Senate, and she was Catholic. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-i-reegard-many-conservative-pundits-and-politicians-as-reprehensible/416715.md?page=2)