Awful Right Wing Statement of the Day: Rudy Giuliani Says Obama Doesn’t Love America

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Today’s example of a barely masked racist comment comes from former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who obviously knew he was about to say something disgusting but since he was among Republican friends, went ahead and said it anyway.

“I do not believe, and I know this is a horrible thing to say, but I do not believe that the president loves America,” Giuliani said during the dinner at the 21 Club, a former Prohibition-era speakeasy in midtown Manhattan. “He doesn’t love you. And he doesn’t love me. He wasn’t brought up the way you were brought up and I was brought up through love of this country.”

“He wasn’t brought up the way you were brought up.” That’s not a racist dog whistle, folks, it’s an air horn. And notice that nobody at this exclusive Republican affair said a single word to renounce it, not even Scott Walker.

UPDATE at 2/19/15 10:33:58 am by Charles Johnson

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139 comments
1 Iwouldprefernotto  Feb 19, 2015 9:40:22am

Hey Rudy, go cheat on your wife and shut the F up!

2 Eclectic Cyborg  Feb 19, 2015 9:40:30am

Yeah he totally wants American to burn to the ground, that’s why unemployment is at a record high, gas prices are at a record high, inflation is at a record high…

…oh wait.

3 lawhawk  Feb 19, 2015 9:42:43am

Let’s see, he cheated on his wife, engaged in an extramarital affair, didn’t follow up with getting better radios for the FDNY and NYPD prior to 9/11, didn’t get better interdepartment communications, and decided that the rest of his career will be all about how he managed in the days and weeks following the attacks.

He hasn’t offered up anything substantive since.

Now, he’s running on Dinesh D’Souza territory, and they’ve got so much in common except Dinesh’s felony conviction.

But Rudy’s “defenders” are out and about. Though they actually expose their own derp in the process:

Derp o’the day:

May be wrong John? May be? It is wrong. Flat out wrong. The hate of Obama is strong with the right. Overwhelms all logic and reasoning.

4 Dr. Matt  Feb 19, 2015 9:43:38am

Rudy is trying to out compete Dinesh D’Souza for most vile asshole of the week.

5 Charles Johnson  Feb 19, 2015 9:44:04am
6 Fourth Football of the Apocalypse  Feb 19, 2015 9:44:51am
He wasn’t brought up the way you were brought up

What does Rudy think he knows about how Obama was “brought up”?

I just can’t even…..

7 The Mother Of All Pies  Feb 19, 2015 9:45:10am

HURR HURR LOOK AT THIS PICTURE!!!! THIS PROVES TEH KENYAN MUSLIN DOESN’T LOVE AMERICA!!!!!!

AND AGAIN SEE HOW HE HATES ON ARE COUNTRY & FLAG!!!!!


CONFIRMED!!! FACT!!!! PROOF U LIBTARD!!!!!!
8 Eclectic Cyborg  Feb 19, 2015 9:45:38am

So do I take this to mean they think Obama hates America because he won’t declare war against every Muslim on the planet?

9 Fourth Football of the Apocalypse  Feb 19, 2015 9:45:48am

Some Republicans just can’t seem to help themselves. //

10 Justanotherhuman  Feb 19, 2015 9:46:08am

It’s not exactly as though we expected those R bastards to renounce it, Charles.

11 Justanotherhuman  Feb 19, 2015 9:47:36am

re: #3 lawhawk

I’d like to know how he got away without a felony conviction while Kerik didn’t. Hmmm?

12 Eclectic Cyborg  Feb 19, 2015 9:48:10am

The top news story here today in the local paper is about rapper Afroman being arrested after punching a woman in a nightclub he was performing at.

13 nearly-headless smith25  Feb 19, 2015 9:49:05am

re: #12 Eclectic Cyborg

The top news story here today in the local paper is about rapper Afroman being arrested after punching a woman in a nightclub he was performing at.

He must have been high

14 missliberties  Feb 19, 2015 9:49:16am

I would like Rudy to make a list 10 things he loves about America.

He can make copies and hand em out to House Republicans who can then hold hundreds of hearings to decide what a real patriot loving American looks like.

15 iossarian  Feb 19, 2015 9:49:36am

There is an America that I hate.

It’s the America in which a coal mine owner colludes with the police to have labor organizers illegally harassed and worse.

It’s the America in which black people are incarcerated and killed by the state at far higher rates than whites, even after controlling for (biased) measures of criminal behavior.

It’s the America in which the mentally ill are left to fend for themselves on the streets, in winter, and in which people refuse to extend basic medical care to the poor.

Obama strikes me as being somewhat dispassionate, so I won’t assert that he hates this America too. But I think it’s fair to say he strongly dislikes it.

16 Kilroy01  Feb 19, 2015 9:49:47am

re: #7 The Vicious Babushka

YAH them playing “Hail to the chief” isn’t for HIM

17 iossarian  Feb 19, 2015 9:50:26am

re: #7 The Vicious Babushka

Auto-points for the “tiny Hillary/shrinking politicians” photo.

18 ObserverArt  Feb 19, 2015 9:50:43am

I know I hate Rudy Giuliani.

19 Fourth Football of the Apocalypse  Feb 19, 2015 9:51:42am
“He doesn’t love you. And he doesn’t love me.

So now the president has to personally love members of the opposite party he likely doesn’t even know personally, who’ve been demanding his birth certificate, smearing his daughters and inventing names for his wife for six years?

This is a new, unattainable threshold wingnuts are inventing to hold others—but not themselves—accountable to. (try to imagine Democrats complaining that president Chris Christie doesn’t “love me, doesn’t love you…”)

Of course it’s entirely possible Rudy is drunk or otherwise under the influence of some substance.

20 TedStriker  Feb 19, 2015 9:51:54am

re: #12 Eclectic Cyborg

The top news story here today in the local paper is about rapper Afroman being arrested after punching a woman in a nightclub he was performing at.

re: #13 nearly-headless smith25

He must have been high

I see what you did there…

21 RealityBasedSteve  Feb 19, 2015 9:53:01am

I’ve got a simple test…. ask any RWNJ how long Obama lived in Indonesia, and what age he was. I promise you they don’t have a clue. Truth is, he was there for 4 years, 67 -71, ages 6 to 10. Before and after that, he lived in Hawaii.

Go ahead, ask them…

This is nothing more than basic fear mongering. Like I’ve said before, the GOP is now convinced that it can win without any minority support, by capitalizing on fear and uncertainty. Their all but official motto: Go Right and Go White!

RBS

22 ObserverArt  Feb 19, 2015 9:53:17am

re: #14 missliberties

I would like Rudy to make a list 10 things he loves about America.

He can make copies and hand em out to House Republicans who can then hold hundreds of hearings to decide what a real patriot loving American looks like.

Is it acceptable if nine of the answers are about himself and all the good he has done?

23 TFinSF  Feb 19, 2015 9:53:22am

Not sure “conservative” is even a necessary descriptor. Rudy’s just a run of the mill Republican. This line of thinking is not even out of the GOP mainstream anymore.

24 The Mother Of All Pies  Feb 19, 2015 9:53:23am

#tcot has some utterly WTF memes today.

25 Justanotherhuman  Feb 19, 2015 9:55:17am

Giuliani was never my mayor, in spite of the grandiose PR about being “America’s Mayor”.

It’s not the first time Oprah has been wrong.

26 Hercules Grytpype-Thynneghazi  Feb 19, 2015 9:55:48am

re: #3 lawhawk

Let’s see, he cheated on his wife, engaged in an extramarital affair, didn’t follow up with getting better radios for the FDNY and NYPD prior to 9/11, didn’t get better interdepartment communications, and decided that the rest of his career will be all about how he managed in the days and weeks following the attacks.

He hasn’t offered up anything substantive since.

Now, he’s running on Dinesh D’Souza territory, and they’ve got so much in common except Dinesh’s felony conviction.

But Rudy’s “defenders” are out and about. Though they actually expose their own derp in the process:

Derp o’the day:

[Embedded content]

May be wrong John? May be? It is wrong. Flat out wrong. The hate of Obama is strong with the right. Overwhelms all logic and reasoning.

Let’s not forget that it was Giuliani who insisted on moving the headquarters of the NYC Office of Emergency Management to the World Trade Center, which had already been the target of one terrorist attack.

27 Dr. Matt  Feb 19, 2015 9:55:51am

re: #12 Eclectic Cyborg

The top news story here today in the local paper is about rapper Afroman being arrested after punching a woman in a nightclub he was performing at.

1. Where was security to remove her from stage? 2. He completely overreacted (video posted below).

Click to Reveal

…

28 Fourth Football of the Apocalypse  Feb 19, 2015 9:56:06am

re:
#24

Remember when @BarackObama showed his hatred for America when he plotted to fundamentally transform her?

So I take it that the BENGHAZI hearings are not going too well.

///

29 The Mother Of All Pies  Feb 19, 2015 9:56:30am

Now here are two guys who HATE OBAMA more than they LOVE AMERICA.

30 iossarian  Feb 19, 2015 9:58:08am

re: #24 The Vicious Babushka

#tcot has some utterly WTF memes today.

My sugggestions for some more anti-Obama sentences - superimpose on scary pictures from movies or chicks with guns ad lib:

- People Say Obama Healthcare But Abortion Terror
- Liberals Want Gays, Why Ebola Immigrant Benghazi Obama?
- Obummer Pig Holocaust Throttle

re: #29 The Vicious Babushka

I see that, if the University well ever goes dry, there’s a job for me writing tweets for Rand Paul.

31 ObserverArt  Feb 19, 2015 9:58:27am

You know how I know Obama loves America?

He ran for president again in 2012 after all the abuse he took from these same idiots and all the haters they spawned over the last few years.

He could easily have said screw this job and screw you!

Which would be very much like the half-term gadfly grifter from Alaska they think loves them but really only loves their money.

32 Justanotherhuman  Feb 19, 2015 9:59:00am

re: #27 Dr. Matt

1. Where was security to remove her from stage? 2. He completely overreacted (video posted below).

[Embedded content]

Holy shit!

33 stpaulbear  Feb 19, 2015 9:59:08am
…Giuliani said during the dinner at the 21 Club, a former Prohibition-era speakeasy in midtown Manhattan….He wasn’t brought up the way you were brought up…

You mean Obama wasn’t brought up dirty filthy stinking rich?

News for you Rudi: 99.9% of the country wasn’t brought up like you and your buddies.

34 Targetpractice  Feb 19, 2015 10:02:34am

Yes, Scott Walker won’t say if he thinks the President “hates America,” but he will say that he thinks himself the second coming of St. Reagan:

35 Justanotherhuman  Feb 19, 2015 10:03:17am

re: #34 Targetpractice

Yes, Scott Walker won’t say if he thinks the President “hates America,” but he will say that he thinks himself the second coming of St. Reagan:

[Embedded content]

You mean old and senile?

36 iossarian  Feb 19, 2015 10:03:32am

re: #34 Targetpractice

I’ll say this for Walker, he’s got that smirk nailed.

37 Eclectic Cyborg  Feb 19, 2015 10:03:34am

re: #27 Dr. Matt

1. Where was security to remove her from stage? 2. He completely overreacted (video posted below).

[Embedded content]

In answer to your first question, they apparently had between 12 and 15 guards for a crowd of 500 so the logistics weren’t good to begin with.

38 Dr. Matt  Feb 19, 2015 10:05:27am

re: #37 Eclectic Cyborg

In answer to your first question, they apparently had between 12 and 15 guards for a crowd of 500 so the logistics weren’t good to begin with.

For a 500 person show!? That’s actually a pretty good ratio.

39 ObserverArt  Feb 19, 2015 10:05:34am

re: #27 Dr. Matt

1. Where was security to remove her from stage? 2. He completely overreacted (video posted below).

[Embedded content]

re: #32 Justanotherhuman

Holy shit!

I hope that asshole loses his followers and his career after that crap. He deserves it with such a public display.

And what a way to feed into racist/bigot thinking and probably get himself labeled misogynistic too.

40 lawhawk  Feb 19, 2015 10:06:18am

re: #26 Hercules Grytpype-Thynneghazi

Move it to 7WTC, which made some sense at the time since it was close to City Hall (which is still a 1/4 mile from the WTC complex), had generators for emergency power, and easy access. Turned out that the fuel for those generators were a fatal flaw once the towers collapsed damaging 7WTC; the fires that were started inside 7WTC contributed in part to the building’s ultimate collapse.

Frankly, the command center should have been in Metrotech in Brooklyn, along with the 911 call centers, but that too centralized all those facilities in one area so if an attack occurred on them, it would have serious consequences too.

41 nearly-headless smith25  Feb 19, 2015 10:06:54am

re: #37 Eclectic Cyborg

In answer to your first question, they apparently had between 12 and 15 guards for a crowd of 500 so the logistics weren’t good to begin with.

I used to be a bouncer at a club. We had a night where a fight broke out, then the crowd turned on us. We ended up outnumbered about 15 to 1. Not forgiving anything he did, but the fear of getting caught in a wave of people is real.

42 ObserverArt  Feb 19, 2015 10:07:57am

re: #35 Justanotherhuman

You mean old and senile?

Maybe later on…but right now just another bad actor.

Now…on to make a nice cup of warm tea and see if i can get some work done with my chilled bulky fingers…later lizards. Keep warm thoughts for the eastern 1/3 of this country. It might be the only heat we have.

43 Dr. Matt  Feb 19, 2015 10:08:28am

Just read that the police stopped the show shortly after the assault, escorted him off stage, and arrested him outside the venue. At least they didn’t shoot him

44 lawhawk  Feb 19, 2015 10:11:35am
45 Eclectic Cyborg  Feb 19, 2015 10:13:10am

I’ve never actually seen any of Reagan’s movies. Was he any good as an actor?

46 Justanotherhuman  Feb 19, 2015 10:13:40am

re: #27 Dr. Matt

Afroman’s explanation:

people.com

Still, uncalled for.

47 nearly-headless smith25  Feb 19, 2015 10:13:56am

re: #45 Eclectic Cyborg

I’ve never actually seen any of Reagan’s movies. Was he any good as an actor?

Did a pretty good job acting as President/…

48 Great White Snark  Feb 19, 2015 10:16:41am

“Soft on Terror” then “abuses war authority with drones.” Leads with a gentle hand in the face of fierce and unfair opposition, sometimes raw bigotry, but does not love America. Uh huh. Every trip, vacation etc is the worst thing ever. Practically begs for bills from the legislature than gets crap for executive orders when no bills come along.

Actually this guy is my favorite Dem President in my voting age lifetime.

49 nines09  Feb 19, 2015 10:18:13am

Define “you and I” Rudy. Schmuck.

50 Romantic Heretic  Feb 19, 2015 10:18:27am

re: #24 The Vicious Babushka

#tcot has some utterly WTF memes today.

[Embedded content]

So they’re saying they’re like Heath Ledger’s Joker? A vicious nutbar who sounds sensible for about twenty seconds before he kills you?

51 Targetpractice  Feb 19, 2015 10:19:10am

re: #48 Great White Snark

“Soft on Terror” then “abuses war authority with drones.” Leads with a gentle hand in the face of fierce and unfair opposition, sometimes raw bigotry, but does not love America. Uh huh. Every trip, vacation etc is the worst thing ever. Practically begs for bills from the legislature than gets crap for executive orders when no bills come along.

Actually this guy is my favorite Dem President in my voting age lifetime.

Also don’t forget that he “leads from behind,” but he was a “warmonger” for preparing airstrikes on Syria without first getting a permission slip from Congress.

52 Justanotherhuman  Feb 19, 2015 10:20:09am

re: #45 Eclectic Cyborg

I’ve never actually seen any of Reagan’s movies. Was he any good as an actor?

He was boring and to paraphrase, He ran the gamut of emotions from A to B. He was never an A-List actor. More famous after he started doing teh TV in the ’50s.

53 lawhawk  Feb 19, 2015 10:21:18am

re: #51 Targetpractice

Also don’t forget that he “leads from behind,” but he was a “warmonger” for preparing airstrikes on Syria without first getting a permission slip from Congress.

And the right wing gets collective amnesia all while the GOP refuses to act on the President’s request for the AUMF, which calls for military action against the very groups that the right wing says that the President wasn’t, isn’t, or wont be, going after.

It’s enough to make your head spin.

54 HappyWarrior  Feb 19, 2015 10:22:17am

And you Rudy are a class-A pandering asshole. Really this is pathetic even for a has-been hack like Rudy that’s been riding the tragedy of 9-11 to cover up the fact that he really wasn’t that great of a mayor.

55 The Mother Of All Pies  Feb 19, 2015 10:23:08am

Wingnuts still spamming the “Index Finger Muslim Gang Sign” meme even though a complete raving nutbar like Walid Shoebat thinks it’s bullshit.

56 Targetpractice  Feb 19, 2015 10:23:25am

re: #53 lawhawk

And the right wing gets collective amnesia all while the GOP refuses to act on the President’s request for the AUMF, which calls for military action against the very groups that the right wing says that the President wasn’t, isn’t, or wont be, going after.

It’s enough to make your head spin.

It’s a day ending in “y.” Even when the man gives them what they want, they’re unhappy. He could go on TV tomorrow and announce the full mobilization of the military to fight Daesh and by the time the 6pm news rolled around, they’d want his head on a pike for sending our troops “into harms way.”

57 Great White Snark  Feb 19, 2015 10:24:17am

Gotta say I like his nuance on “people who have perverted Islam”. Home run. Like all things human, religion is subject to abuse. Those abusers are bad enough without becoming an excuse to hate good decent people of faith.

58 HappyWarrior  Feb 19, 2015 10:24:33am

re: #55 The Vicious Babushka

Wingnuts still spamming the “Index Finger Muslim Gang Sign” meme even though a complete raving nutbar like Walid Shoebat thinks it’s bullshit.

If I’ve lost Walid Shoebat, I’ve lost middle wingnut America.

59 Kragar  Feb 19, 2015 10:24:35am
60 Charles Johnson  Feb 19, 2015 10:24:51am
61 HappyWarrior  Feb 19, 2015 10:26:40am

re: #45 Eclectic Cyborg

I’ve never actually seen any of Reagan’s movies. Was he any good as an actor?

I’ve never actually seen any of his films but my grandfather always said he wasn’t that good but he never liked Reagan at all haha but he certainly doesn’t belong up there with the legends from his era like Stewart, Fonda, and as much as I despise the man’s politics and genuine racism, John Wayne. I like Gregory Peck from that era too. Peck was actually considered to run for governor of California against Reagan in ‘70 but he turned the Dems down saying that he really wasn’t qualified. Too bad that Ronnie didn’t have enough humility four years prior.

62 Blind Frog Belly White  Feb 19, 2015 10:27:50am

re: #53 lawhawk

And the right wing gets collective amnesia all while the GOP refuses to act on the President’s request for the AUMF, which calls for military action against the very groups that the right wing says that the President wasn’t, isn’t, or wont be, going after.

It’s enough to make your head spin.

Some GOP Congressmen even say they’re not sure about the AUMF, because they’re not sure Obama will actually use it to attack the people he’s been BOMBING for the last 6 MONTHS.

There really is a dangerous disconnection between reality and the Right, and worse, it’s affecting Senators and Congressmen, not just pundits and bloggers and the assholes who post comments on Yahoo.

63 RealityBasedSteve  Feb 19, 2015 10:28:05am

Think I’m going to go out and catch a movie this afternoon. Kingsman: Secret Service looks pretty good. 73% on Rotten Tomatoes, Critics Consensus: Stylish, subversive, and above all fun, Kingsman: The Secret Service finds director Matthew Vaughn sending up the spy genre with gleeful abandon.

Still don’t have water, so no shower… but as I learned in the Army, a handful of jumbo baby wipes and you’re good as new. Talk at you later.

RBS

64 HappyWarrior  Feb 19, 2015 10:28:30am

re: #60 Charles Johnson

[Embedded content]

Then by Podhoertz’ standard Reagan must really “love” America. Or is claiming the president doesn’t love America just a game to be played on the black president with a Kenyan born father. Podhoertz and Giuliani and all these other craven assholes can go fuck themselves. This is pathetic. You can disagree with the president all you want but questioning his love of his country is fucking vile.

65 lawhawk  Feb 19, 2015 10:28:38am

re: #57 Great White Snark

Gotta say I like his nuance on “people who have perverted Islam”. Home run. Like all things human, religion is subject to abuse. Those abusers are bad enough without becoming an excuse to hate good decent people of faith.

That terrorists are using a perverted view of Islam is a similar line to another guy I can recall with some specificity. George. W. Bush.

“Our enemy doesn’t follow the great traditions of Islam. They’ve hijacked a great religion.”

In fact, there’s a quiz to see if anyone can tell the difference between what President Obama has said and what George W. Bush has said on the subject.

66 Blind Frog Belly White  Feb 19, 2015 10:29:04am

re: #52 Justanotherhuman

He was boring and to paraphrase, He ran the gamut of emotions from A to B. He was never an A-List actor. More famous after he started doing teh TV in the ’50s.

He was tall and pretty and had nice hair, and was able to do a steely-eyed squint that looks tough in the movies.

67 HappyWarrior  Feb 19, 2015 10:29:45am

re: #65 lawhawk

That terrorists are using a perverted view of Islam is a similar line to another guy I can recall with some specificity. George. W. Bush.

In fact, there’s a quiz to see if anyone can tell the difference between what President Obama has said and what George W. Bush has said on the subject.

It’s a part of Bush’s legacy that deserves some props especially given how his party and ideology has become after he’s left the WH.

68 HappyWarrior  Feb 19, 2015 10:31:35am

I can see why people found Reagan likable but at the same time, I look at what the man stood for and pandered to and it bothers me that he’s ranked up there with the Roosevelts, Washington, and Lincoln among America’s greatest leaders.

69 The Mother Of All Pies  Feb 19, 2015 10:33:03am

How do wingnuts think you can prove you “Love America”

With lame photo-ops like this one:

Ronnie’s snot rag.
70 Targetpractice  Feb 19, 2015 10:34:10am

re: #68 HappyWarrior

I can see why people found Reagan likable but at the same time, I look at what the man stood for and pandered to and it bothers me that he’s ranked up there with the Roosevelts, Washington, and Lincoln among America’s greatest leaders.

They love the myth, not the man. If the man were running for election today, they’d deride him as a “RINO” and want him out of the party.

71 Dalai Rasta  Feb 19, 2015 10:34:17am

re: #50 Romantic Heretic

So they’re saying they’re like Heath Ledger’s Joker? A vicious nutbar who sounds sensible for about twenty seconds before he kills you?

More accurately, they’re comparing themselves to a character - already established as completely untrustworthy - who uses a mostly decent person’s indiscriminate rage to convince him to do terrible things.

72 lawhawk  Feb 19, 2015 10:34:31am

re: #68 HappyWarrior

I can see why people found Reagan likable but at the same time, I look at what the man stood for and pandered to and it bothers me that he’s ranked up there with the Roosevelts, Washington, and Lincoln among America’s greatest leaders.

Reagan was never the same after Phil Hartman left the role. /

73 HappyWarrior  Feb 19, 2015 10:34:40am

I mean this is what Obama deals with. He’s not dealing with people who simply disagree with him and do so strongly. No, he’s dealing with people who actually question his love of the nation itself and Rudy’s words here are why the right has given up any idea of being a so called loyal opposition. And they liken him and his supporters to Nazis.

74 HappyWarrior  Feb 19, 2015 10:35:20am

re: #72 lawhawk

Reagan was never the same after Phil Hartman left the role. /

You might remember him from such films as.

75 Justanotherhuman  Feb 19, 2015 10:36:03am

re: #66 Blind Frog Belly White

He was tall and pretty and had nice hair, and was able to do a steely-eyed squint that looks tough in the movies.

An attractive salesman. That is all.

76 nearly-headless smith25  Feb 19, 2015 10:38:56am

re: #69 The Vicious Babushka

Like kissing something proves you love it.

Plenty of us have seen someone kiss someone else, then find a side piece pretty quick.

77 Timothy Watson  Feb 19, 2015 10:39:19am

re: #53 lawhawk

And the right wing gets collective amnesia all while the GOP refuses to act on the President’s request for the AUMF, which calls for military action against the very groups that the right wing says that the President wasn’t, isn’t, or wont be, going after.

It’s enough to make your head spin.

And it’s coming from the same commentators who repeatedly stated that Bush didn’t need Congressional authorization to invade Iraq.

78 Blind Frog Belly White  Feb 19, 2015 10:39:47am

re: #68 HappyWarrior

I can see why people found Reagan likable but at the same time, I look at what the man stood for and pandered to and it bothers me that he’s ranked up there with the Roosevelts, Washington, and Lincoln among America’s greatest leaders.

I’ll give him his due - he wasn’t nearly as crazy as he pretended to be.

My take is that he learned negotiation from being a Union President - you start out by asking for the moon, so that at the end of the negotiation, you’ve ‘reluctantly’ allowed yourself to be pushed into accepting what you wanted in the first place.

The thing is, the Right bases its worship of him on his overblown rhetoric, and not the significantly more moderate way he governed. Yes, he started the whole ‘Tax Cut’ thing, but he also presided over the biggest tax INCREASE in history to that point. Yes, he blathered on about ‘Welfare Queens’, but he also signed into law the Earned Income Tax Credit. Yes, he talked about the Evil Empire, but then bent over backwards negotiating with Gorbachev.

But the Right only remembers the swagger and the tax cuts. Not the deficits, the tax increases, Iran Contra, or his support for the Assault Weapons ban and the Brady Bill. Nor his signature on the bill making abortion legal in California.

79 HappyWarrior  Feb 19, 2015 10:42:28am

re: #78 Blind Frog Belly White

I’ll give him his due - he wasn’t nearly as crazy as he pretended to be.

My take is that he learned negotiation from being a Union President - you start out by asking for the moon, so that at the end of the negotiation, you’ve ‘reluctantly’ allowed yourself to be pushed into accepting what you wanted in the first place.

The thing is, the Right bases its worship of him on his overblown rhetoric, and not the significantly more moderate way he governed. Yes, he started the whole ‘Tax Cut’ thing, but he also presided over the biggest tax INCREASE in history to that point. Yes, he blathered on about ‘Welfare Queens’, but he also signed into law the Earned Income Tax Credit. Yes, he talked about the Evil Empire, but then bent over backwards negotiating with Gorbachev.

But the Right only remembers the swagger and the tax cuts. Not the deficits, the tax increases, Iran Contra, or his support for the Assault Weapons ban and the Brady Bill. Nor his signature on the bill making abortion legal in California.

They all want to be the next “Reagan” but they have no desire to actually govern like he did.

80 Charles Johnson  Feb 19, 2015 10:43:34am
81 BeachDem  Feb 19, 2015 10:44:19am

re: #34 Targetpractice

Yes, Scott Walker won’t say if he thinks the President “hates America,” but he will say that he thinks himself the second coming of St. Reagan:

[Embedded content]

And trust those hard-hitting journalists at CNBC to delve into the important question of whether Walker agrees with Rudy—because that’s so important to the future of the country…////

CNBC’s Becky Quick asked Walker on Thursday morning to respond to a report that former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani (R) dissed the President at a private dinner, which the governor also attended.

talkingpointsmemo.com

82 HappyWarrior  Feb 19, 2015 10:44:28am

I mean can you all imagine that if Obama had been president in the Cold War and Obama met Gorbachev in Reykjavik and discussed nuclear arms reduction? The right would have a fucking fit. I really think Reagan is yes an idea and abstract that they attach on to since Reagan really represents their last really successful time governing. The 80’s have become the new 50’s. A time where the bad parts of that era are glossed over for the more glamorous.

83 Kragar  Feb 19, 2015 10:44:48am
84 Blind Frog Belly White  Feb 19, 2015 10:44:54am

re: #79 HappyWarrior

They all want to be the next “Reagan” but they have no desire to actually govern like he did.

It’s part of the disconnect from reality. But then Reagan demonstrated that himself when he said that he now knew that his administration had exchanged weapons for hostages, but still didn’t believe it. It’s a staggering bit of psychology right there. The ability to look reality in the eye and still deny it is at the heart of the modern Right.

85 allegro  Feb 19, 2015 10:45:18am

re: #45 Eclectic Cyborg

I’ve never actually seen any of Reagan’s movies. Was he any good as an actor?

His most memorable role was in “Bedtime for Bonzo.” It starred a chimpanzee.

86 Fourth Football of the Apocalypse  Feb 19, 2015 10:45:34am

re:
#80

Bobby Jindal just sent out this statement from his official gubernatorial office: “Gov. Jindal Refuses to Condemn Mayor Giuliani”

Being governor sure must be hard work. //

87 HappyWarrior  Feb 19, 2015 10:45:43am

re: #80 Charles Johnson

[Embedded content]

I thought Bobby didn’t want the GOP to be the stupid party anymore.

88 jaunte  Feb 19, 2015 10:45:50am

re: #78 Blind Frog Belly White

But the Right only remembers the swagger and the tax cuts. Not the deficits, the tax increases, Iran Contra, or his support for the Assault Weapons ban and the Brady Bill. Nor his signature on the bill making abortion legal in California.

Swagger is all. Or at least 95% of all.

89 Blind Frog Belly White  Feb 19, 2015 10:45:50am

re: #83 Kragar

[Embedded content]

Party of Life, indeed.

90 Blind Frog Belly White  Feb 19, 2015 10:46:54am

re: #87 HappyWarrior

I thought Bobby didn’t want the GOP to be the stupid party anymore.

Well, they went Full Retard, and won in the 2014 election, so why change.

91 HappyWarrior  Feb 19, 2015 10:49:45am

re: #90 Blind Frog Belly White

Well, they went Full Retard, and won in the 2014 election, so why change.

I know, I was being silly and rhetorical.

92 Great White Snark  Feb 19, 2015 10:50:56am

re: #68 HappyWarrior

His popularity is easily understood in the context of the recovery (a good middle class recovery at the time btw) from the worst economic time since the depression. See also partisan lightning rod, for and against.

93 Justanotherhuman  Feb 19, 2015 10:52:56am

Two cyclones approaching Queensland, AU—“Marcia” is a cat 5.

94 BeachDem  Feb 19, 2015 10:52:56am

re: #78 Blind Frog Belly White

My take is that he learned negotiation from being a Union President - you start out by asking for the moon, so that at the end of the negotiation, you’ve ‘reluctantly’ allowed yourself to be pushed into accepting what you wanted in the first place.

James Garner, who was a pretty smart guy, had this to say about Ronnie’s time as Union President:

” Ronald Reagan wasn’t qualified to be governor, let alone president. I was a vice president of the Screen Actors Guild when he was its president. My duties consisted of attending meetings and voting. The only thing I remember is that Ronnie never had an original thought and that we had to tell him what to say. That’s no way to run a union, let along a state or a country.”

variety.com

95 wrenchwench  Feb 19, 2015 10:54:21am
96 HappyWarrior  Feb 19, 2015 10:54:26am

re: #92 Great White Snark

His popularity is easily understood in the context of the recovery (a good middle class recovery at the time btw) from the worst economic time since the depression. See also partisan lightning rod, for and against.

Sure but at same time, I have a big problem with the retrospective attempts to lump him in with the greats. I won’t be a bad historian and say he belongs in the bottom tier presidents with the Buchanans, Pierces, and Hardings of the presidency but to try to elevate him up there with FDR, Lincoln, and Washington is just as bad as scholarship. Plus I think those that were left out of the Reagan dream need to be discussed as well.

97 HappyWarrior  Feb 19, 2015 10:55:27am

re: #94 BeachDem

James Garner, who was a pretty smart guy, had this to say about Ronnie’s time as Union President:

” Ronald Reagan wasn’t qualified to be governor, let alone president. I was a vice president of the Screen Actors Guild when he was its president. My duties consisted of attending meetings and voting. The only thing I remember is that Ronnie never had an original thought and that we had to tell him what to say. That’s no way to run a union, let along a state or a country.”

variety.com

I really liked Garner as Henley in the Great Escape. Probably my favorite character in the film honestly.

98 Wendell Zurkowitz (slave to the waffle light)  Feb 19, 2015 10:56:28am

“He wasn’t brought up the way you were brought up.”

according to bio:

[Giuiani’s] father, Harold Giuliani, worked for a brother’s mob-connected loan sharking business

Although Giuliani only learned the full story as an adult, his father had been arrested in 1934 for robbing a milkman at gunpoint and had spent a year and a half in jail.

99 Mattand  Feb 19, 2015 10:57:08am

re: #80 Charles Johnson

[Embedded content]

The level of “Fuck you, ni-CLANG!” that Republicans heap on Obama every. Fucking. Day. Is just staggering.

I know it’s cliché at this point, but again: if Democrats had engaged in this constant cycle of questioning Bush’s (or any other GOP POTUS’s) loyalty to the country, the howler monkey chorus from the GOP would have been ear splitting.

100 HappyWarrior  Feb 19, 2015 10:57:20am

re: #95 wrenchwench

[Embedded content]

Damn. That’s touching. I have no idea how I’d react if I got terminal cancer.

101 wrenchwench  Feb 19, 2015 10:58:09am

re: #100 HappyWarrior

Damn. That’s touching. I have no idea how I’d react if I got terminal cancer.

I hope you never find out!

102 retired cynic  Feb 19, 2015 10:58:31am

re: #94 BeachDem

I hated him from what he did personally and started as far as the US economy, for the Iran hostage situation, and for making it safer for political grandstanding and pandering. He ruined the farm economy, started a huge transfer of wealth from it to those who farmed money rather than land. I hated that he made it acceptable to lie, and to diss science. I hated that he brought religious fundamentalists into acceptability. Oh, I can really rant about how much I hated him!

103 HappyWarrior  Feb 19, 2015 10:59:35am

re: #99 Mattand

The level of “Fuck you, ni-CLANG!” that Republicans heap on Obama every. Fucking. Day. Is just staggering.

I know it’s cliché at this point, but again: if Democrats had engaged in this constant cycle of questioning Bush’s (or any other GOP POTUS’s) loyalty to the country, the howler monkey chorus from the GOP would have been ear splitting.

Remember how pissy they got when musicians said they were ashamed to share the same state as him. Now we got a former presidential candidate saying he doesn’t think the president loves the country. Really, the “defense” the right has to all this is “look at the all the mean shit the Dems and left said about President Bush” and I admit, I wasn’t always charitable but at the same time, the Democratic Party’s leaders never questioned George W. Bush’s love of country or his intentions. It’s one thing to feel a policy is bad, it’s quite another to do what Rudy is doing here.

104 jaunte  Feb 19, 2015 11:00:27am

re: #99 Mattand

The level of “Fuck you, ni-CLANG!” that Republicans heap on Obama every. Fucking. Day. Is just staggering.

I know it’s cliché at this point, but again: if Democrats had engaged in this constant cycle of questioning Bush’s (or any other GOP POTUS’s) loyalty to the country, the howler monkey chorus from the GOP would have been ear splitting.

One example among many: Texas GOP comments on a temporary block on an executive order:

“This decision is a victory for the rule of law in America and a crucial first step in reining in President Obama’s lawlessness,”
.statesman.com

105 HappyWarrior  Feb 19, 2015 11:00:33am

re: #101 wrenchwench

I hope you never find out!

I hope I don’t either. When I go, I want to go in my sleep.

106 HappyWarrior  Feb 19, 2015 11:00:56am

re: #104 jaunte

One example among many: Texas GOP comments on a temporary block on an executive order:

Yep.

107 makeitstop  Feb 19, 2015 11:01:41am

re: #3 lawhawk

Let’s see, he cheated on his wife, engaged in an extramarital affair, didn’t follow up with getting better radios for the FDNY and NYPD prior to 9/11, didn’t get better interdepartment communications, and decided that the rest of his career will be all about how he managed in the days and weeks following the attacks.

Don’t forget how he tried to cancel the mayoral elections and assume an extra term after 9/11.

108 Justanotherhuman  Feb 19, 2015 11:03:02am

re: #83 Kragar

[Embedded content]

She ought to have her license revoked.

109 Mattand  Feb 19, 2015 11:03:29am

re: #105 HappyWarrior

I hope I don’t either. When I go, I want to go in my sleep.

With my luck, it’ll probably be something stupid; like a window unit air conditioner falling on my head, or getting rabies from an infected butterfly sting.

110 lawhawk  Feb 19, 2015 11:04:20am
111 HappyWarrior  Feb 19, 2015 11:05:10am

re: #108 Justanotherhuman

She ought to have her license revoked.

Definitely. Really, if you’re a doctor and you don’t have a desire to help all people, you don’t deserve to have a medical license and using your religion as an excuse for your bigotry is pathetic.

112 Mattand  Feb 19, 2015 11:05:19am

re: #103 HappyWarrior

Remember how pissy they got when musicians said they were ashamed to share the same state as him. Now we got a former presidential candidate saying he doesn’t think the president loves the country. Really, the “defense” the right has to all this is “look at the all the mean shit the Dems and left said about President Bush” and I admit, I wasn’t always charitable but at the same time, the Democratic Party’s leaders never questioned George W. Bush’s love of country or his intentions. It’s one thing to feel a policy is bad, it’s quite another to do what Rudy is doing here.

The current Republican Party are basically the townspeople from Blazing Saddles, minus the lesson learned about bigotry being stupid.

113 Kragar  Feb 19, 2015 11:05:39am
114 BeachDem  Feb 19, 2015 11:05:40am

re: #97 HappyWarrior

I really liked Garner as Henley in the Great Escape. Probably my favorite character in the film honestly.

I liked James Garner in everything! My favorite story is how, when he was going to be in the miniseries Space, the character’s party affiliation was changed from Republican as in the book to reflect Garner’s personal views. Garner said, “My wife would leave me if I played a Republican.”

115 jaunte  Feb 19, 2015 11:06:16am

re: #113 Kragar

ISIS has a navy now?

116 Blind Frog Belly White  Feb 19, 2015 11:06:19am

re: #92 Great White Snark

His popularity is easily understood in the context of the recovery (a good middle class recovery at the time btw) from the worst economic time since the depression. See also partisan lightning rod, for and against.

Although, in fact, that recovery marked the beginning of the stagnation of middle class earnings, and the separation of productivity increase from income increase.

The other point to recall is that the recession and the recovery were entirely intentional, caused by Paul Volkcer choking the living shit out of the money supply to kill inflation, then letting up again. Indeed the ‘double dip’ nature was because inflation started to creep back in, so the Fed choked it off again for a while before finally letting go.

After the money supply was finally loosened up, pent-up demand drove the economy to a somewhat slower and shorter recovery than the 1993-2000 recovery under Clinton.

117 The Mother Of All Pies  Feb 19, 2015 11:06:39am

re: #109 Mattand

With my luck, it’ll probably be something stupid; like a window unit air conditioner falling on my head, or getting rabies from an infected butterfly sting.

Butterflies have no stinger, so you’re safe there.

118 HappyWarrior  Feb 19, 2015 11:06:48am

re: #114 BeachDem

I liked James Garner in everything! My favorite story is how, when he was going to be in the miniseries Space, the character’s party affiliation was changed from Republican as in the book to reflect Garner’s personal views. Garner said, “My wife would leave me if I played a Republican.”

I did read about that one in the obituaries. That’s pretty damn funny. I read they met campaigning for Stevenson or something like that.

119 Hercules Grytpype-Thynneghazi  Feb 19, 2015 11:07:02am

re: #105 HappyWarrior

I hope I don’t either. When I go, I want to go in my sleep.

“When I go, I want to go quietly in my sleep, like my grandfather.

Not screaming in terror like his passengers.”

120 sagehen  Feb 19, 2015 11:07:07am

re: #78 Blind Frog Belly White

But the Right only remembers the swagger and the tax cuts. Not the deficits, the tax increases, Iran Contra, or his support for the Assault Weapons ban and the Brady Bill. Nor his signature on the bill making abortion legal in California.

Or the amnesty of 3 million illegals. (I had a Dutch friend at the time who’d overstayed his visa by about 5 years, my affidavit was part of the evidence that he’d been resident for long enough to qualify… once he got amnestied, it meant he could move to another state, take a vacation to see his parents, open a bank account and establish credit. He’s been a model citizen these past few decades, and his children are pure apple pie and baseball.)

121 Dr Lizardo  Feb 19, 2015 11:07:44am

re: #95 wrenchwench

Speaking of cancer, Bruce Dickinson of Iron Maiden yesterday completed a seven-week chemo/radiology therapy course for a small tumor found on his tongue during a recent checkup.

dailymail.co.uk

122 jaunte  Feb 19, 2015 11:07:45am

re: #117 The Vicious Babushka

Butterflies have no stinger, so you’re safe there.

I was thinking global warming has really accelerated.

123 Mattand  Feb 19, 2015 11:08:12am

re: #117 The Vicious Babushka

Butterflies have no stinger, so you’re safe there.

But I could still get rabies from one, since they’re winged mammals like birds, right?

124 The Mother Of All Pies  Feb 19, 2015 11:08:47am

No racism here. Nope.

HURR HURR DEMOCRAPS IS TEH REAL RACISTS!!!!1!!!! BYRD!!! BYRDBYRDBYRDBYRD!!!!!!TY

125 Blind Frog Belly White  Feb 19, 2015 11:09:39am

re: #115 jaunte

ISIS has a navy now?

I think it was Fareed Zakaria who said, “Americas enemies must always be 10 feet tall, and crazy!”

126 Kragar  Feb 19, 2015 11:09:56am

re: #117 The Vicious Babushka

Butterflies have no stinger, so you’re safe there.

That is a lie

…

127 The Very Reverend Battleaxe of Knowledge  Feb 19, 2015 11:10:41am

re: #52 Justanotherhuman

He was boring and to paraphrase, He ran the gamut of emotions from A to B. He was never an A-List actor. More famous after he started doing teh TV in the ’50s.

Remember the studio wanted Reagan in The Maltese Falcon because they had him under contract. Wouldn’t that have been lovely?

128 Mattand  Feb 19, 2015 11:11:39am

re: #126 Kragar

That is a lie

[Embedded content]

Yes, that’s where I adapted that from.

You all now have insight into what goes on in my head when I write.

129 Blind Frog Belly White  Feb 19, 2015 11:11:41am

re: #126 Kragar

That is a lie

[Embedded content]

“I decided not to flush. Let them behold the wrath of the Monarch!”

130 The Mother Of All Pies  Feb 19, 2015 11:12:15am

re: #127 The Very Reverend Battleaxe of Knowledge

Remember the studio wanted Reagan in The Maltese Falcon because they had him under contract. Wouldn’t that have been lovely?

So they got Peter Lorre instead?

131 Justanotherhuman  Feb 19, 2015 11:13:20am

It was a dark and stormy night…

132 Blind Frog Belly White  Feb 19, 2015 11:13:27am

re: #127 The Very Reverend Battleaxe of Knowledge

Remember the studio wanted Reagan in The Maltese Falcon because they had him under contract. Wouldn’t that have been lovely?

Well, it certainly would not have made it into the list of great movies. The thought of Reagan delivering the “When a man’s partner is killed, he’s got to do something” monologue….yeeechh.

133 Feline Fearless Leader  Feb 19, 2015 11:14:42am

re: #112 Mattand

The current Republican Party are basically the townspeople from Blazing Saddles, minus the lesson learned about bigotry being stupid.

Before, or after, they were replaced by two dimensional cut-outs?
///

134 makeitstop  Feb 19, 2015 11:15:43am

re: #127 The Very Reverend Battleaxe of Knowledge

Remember the studio wanted Reagan in The Maltese Falcon because they had him under contract. Wouldn’t that have been lovely?

That’s right up there with a story in a book I just read.

The Book is Let’s Go Crazy: Prince and the making of ‘Purple Rain’, and the story was about the first pitch meeting with Warner Brothers. The director sat down with a WB Executive VP, who listened to his pitch and then offered a ‘suggestion.’

The VP said that WB wasn’t sure if Prince could carry a feature film and asked if the director would consider replacing him with John Travolta in the lead role.

Let that sink in a minute, and imagine Travolta trying to play Prince’s role.

The director got up and walked out of the meeting, and a week later WB apologized for making the suggestion.

135 The Mother Of All Pies  Feb 19, 2015 11:16:18am

I just got followed by somebody who is following only one person—me.

I checked its timeline and it doesn’t seem to be a stalker, except that this is creeping me out.

Blocked it, because eww.

136 Feline Fearless Leader  Feb 19, 2015 11:16:54am

re: #123 Mattand

But I could still get rabies from one, since they’re winged mammals like birds, right?

That’s a bit extreme for even Baraminology.
/

137 Blind Frog Belly White  Feb 19, 2015 11:18:09am

re: #134 makeitstop

That’s right up there with a story in a book I just read.

The Book is Let’s Go Crazy: Prince and the making of ‘Purple Rain’, and the story was about the first pitch meeting with Warner Brothers. The director sat down with a WB Executive VP, who listened to his pitch and then offered a ‘suggestion.’

The VP said that WB wasn’t sure if Prince could carry a feature film and asked if the director would consider replacing him with John Travolta in the lead role.

Let that sink in a minute, and imagine Travolta trying to play Prince’s role.

The director got up and walked out of the meeting, and a week later WB apologized for making the suggestion.

“While you were still learning how to SPELL YOUR NAME, I was being trained to rule galaxies!”

138 scottslemmons  Feb 19, 2015 11:44:36am

re: #80 Charles Johnson

Did that just come out of nowhere? Did Jindal get asked by someone if he wanted to denounce it?

Bobby is such a little Renfield.

139 Rocky-in-Connecticut  Feb 19, 2015 2:03:36pm

Republican idea of “loving America” is pretty much kneeling down in front of a statue of Saint Ronnie and giving it a pretend bj.

I don’t picture President Obama doing that.


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