Comments on: Czardom, wingnuttia, and getting up with fleas

By: R.B. Glennie

R.B. Glennie — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 13:52:23 +0000

*That famous poem by Pastor Niemoller on the risk of not speaking out starts “First they came for the Communists.” Any serious libertarian or conservative who tries to use the Beck/O’Reilly/Limbaugh/Palin faction rather than denouncing it is playing with fire. Lie down with dogs, get up with fleas.*

I think anyone who quotes Pastor Niemoller in reference to any contemporary American conservative – with the possible exception of Pat Buchanan – is the real wingnut.

By: CTS

CTS — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 17:50:17 +0000

I agree that the comment threads at VC bring out some very serious crazies; the amount of birther crap is astounding.

By: Thomas

Thomas — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 16:45:04 +0000

Maybe Mark should have read the comments to his last post about Van Jones before posting this one. It would have been good if Obama would have denounced truthers last year, or earlier, instead of employing them in his administration. But he didn’t, and truthers are found everywhere on the left. Over at TNR, we’re supposed to be reassured about Jones, because his trutherism doesn’t mark him as an outlier. That’s the movement you’re a part of Mark. Good luck with the fleas.

By: Mark A.R. Kleiman on Czars and "Fellow-Travelling" with "Wingnuts": | My Legal Spot

Tue, 08 Sep 2009 16:22:21 +0000

[...] Mark A.R. Kleiman responds to my most recent post on “czars” with a substantive point, and with claims that I am somehow “fellow-travelling” with ridiculous “wingnuts.” The substantive point is that “Somin’s claim that assigning White House staffers such cross-cutting authority risks giving inappropriate people great power by ‘circumventing the normal appointment and confirmation process’ doesn’t really pass the giggle test. The White House Chief of Staff isn’t a Senate-confirmed position, and wields far more power than any nominal “czar.” Van Jones’s “czardom” consisted of a brief from the President to cajole other executive branch officials about “green jobs.” [...]

By: James Wimberley

James Wimberley — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 07:56:28 +0000

I’ve suggested elsewhere that since US “czars” are powerless second-rank officials, we should use a Russian diminutive suffix, giving tsarik.

By: Dan Staley

Dan Staley — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 01:53:11 +0000

One wonders whether this Administration can overcome the ululating and shrill craaaazy accusations sure to come thicker and faster from Wingnuttia. Gonna be a good show of the crazy.

By: Just Call Him Barack Romanov « Around The Sphere

Just Call Him Barack Romanov « Around The Sphere — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 01:20:54 +0000

[...] Mark Kleiman: The comments to Somin’s post reflect the danger that sane people run when they think that they can safely fellow travel with insane people. The objectively insane believe that Barack Obama is a Marxist is offered in (apparently) perfect seriousness. Jones’s (former) self-identification as a “communist” made him too hot to handle politically. But Glenn Beck’s next target is Cass Sunstein, with his views on animal rights and the Second Amendment as the pretext. Having tasted blood, the wolfpack is coming back for more. Sunstein, as a commenter points out, has been a guest poster on the Volokh Conspiracy. But that won’t protect him from the full Jones/Sotomayor treatment, though his white skin might. From a libertarian perspective, Sunstein is a far more attractive choice for OIRA than anyone likely to replace him. But will the Volokh Conspirators rise to defend their former colleague when their current allies turn on him? [...]

By: larry birnbaum

larry birnbaum — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 00:01:44 +0000

“Since the world is complicated and our cognitive powers limited, right action is, in general, more likely to result from argument than from dictation.”

This is what Cheney, in particular, never understood. It’s at the root of the most critical blunders of the previous administration.

By: Maynard Handley

Maynard Handley — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 20:16:24 +0000

“Lie down with dogs, get up with fleas.”
I wish this were all there were to it. I fear, however, that a much better analogy is Hindenburg. The implication is that this nuttiness, along with its accompanying hatred and intolerance, is simply an inconvenient political distraction. Perhaps so. Or, perhaps, next time we get the Cheney equivalent as the President, not the VP; along with a much more aggressive confidence in how far (s)he can go in terms of lying, breaking the law, playing the press, basically destroying current America.

http://www.alternet.org/politics/141819/is_the_u.s._on_the_brink_of_fascism/