November 24, 2003
SHARPTON IS LOOKING BETTER EVERY DAY
Howard Dean has secured the vital Ted Rall endorsement, reports Eye on the Left. And Dean is actually proud of this. Rall’s endorsement will trigger a furious battle for the persistent vegetative state vote between Howard the Coward and Michael Moore’s wild-eyed Wes Clarkoids. Who will win? Nobody!
Posted by Tim Blair at November 24, 2003 12:20 PMHey Tim. Aren't you forgetting that Bush also made sure he missed 'Nam. And let's not forget that Cheney had other priorities. Again you show that you a pathetic little hypocrite who slams one person for doing something, and then ignores the same transgressions when committed by the current serving President and Vice President of the US.
Make up your mind and slam 'em all. Or find some other story to abuse your political enemies with.
And oh by the way. As long as you continue to abuse other people via this site, the trolls will continue to invade and abuse you and your fan club.
What goes around comes around Tim.
Enjoy lunch with your your proto NAZI mates, I'm sure they can spare you a gold coin or two to pay for your pathetic crapblog at shitville.
Up the Trolls!
Crock - you miss two significant distinctions between Messrs Bush and Cheney and Mr. Dean:
1. Dean actually opposed the war; and
2. Dean is frank about how he got out of it.
I guess that's some more of that "moral equivalence" I've heard so much about.
Posted by: Mork at November 24, 2003 at 01:12 PMAye, give Tim a few gold doubloons, smartly, from ye booty for the crapblog. Arrr.
Posted by: Dylan at November 24, 2003 at 01:28 PMAs long as you continue to abuse other people via this site, the trolls will continue to invade and abuse you.
Illegal invasion of a sovereign blog! Cycle of abuse! An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind! Imperialism! Lunch!
Posted by: tim at November 24, 2003 at 01:49 PMHoward Dean basically lied about a medical condition to get out of the draft. Whether he opposed the war or not, he committed fraud and should thus be shunned by anyone who has any moral sense whatsoever.
Posted by: toryhere at November 24, 2003 at 02:11 PMOw! I think I've got carpal tunnel! Medic! Medic!
Posted by: Andrea Harris at November 24, 2003 at 02:11 PMTori - what evidence is there that Dean lied to anyone about his condition?
Posted by: Mork at November 24, 2003 at 02:17 PMHoward Dean riggles out of the draft, with the use of some nice X-rays (probably not his own), and then spends the next 10 months Skiing in Colorado. Yep, now there's some stirling credentials for ya!
Posted by: Jon at November 24, 2003 at 02:50 PMJon - do you actually have any evidence that the draft board medical examiner relied on x-rays that Dean supplied, and, if so, that they were not his own?
Posted by: Mork at November 24, 2003 at 02:57 PMHey Tim. Aren't you forgetting that Bush also made sure he missed 'Nam.
Ah, the old "Bush joined the Guard to avoid active duty" lie. You're forgetting that Bush volunteered for a unit that was, when he volunteered, seeing active duty in Vietnam. Well, actually, you're probably not forgetting it--you just don't care to be involved with reality on any level. Oh, well.
Posted by: Big Dog at November 24, 2003 at 03:25 PMBush did not dodge the draft. He joined the National Guard. It may not of been the most honorable thing, but he didn't lie about a medical condition or fly over to another country (ala Clinton).
Posted by: Jettison at November 24, 2003 at 03:27 PMWhy do people insist on mindlessly promoting the slander that service in the U.S. National Guard is not honorable?
In WWI the National Guard fought in Europe.
In WWII the National Guard fought in Europe and the Pacific.
The National Guard fought in Korea.
The NationalGuard fought in Vietnam
Where do think the National Guard is today?
In Wisconsin there are four legislators who are members of the National Guard and may be called to active service. Like George Bush, they are all Republicans. So, I will concede that service in the National Guard is a Republican thing.
Posted by: Fred Boness at November 24, 2003 at 03:54 PMI hadn't heard of this Ted Rall before. Who, or what, is he?
Posted by: hal at November 24, 2003 at 03:58 PMHe was in the National Guard, true. But it is also true that he failed to show up.
Posted by: Rick Squane at November 24, 2003 at 04:00 PMAnyone else notice the clever whitewashing of the original Blog for America Rall posting. Compare this to this.
Also, the Dean folks have decided it would be a good idea not to let anyone else comment on the post -- this after maybe a dozen or so dissenting voices.
Posted by: Jake at November 24, 2003 at 04:06 PMRick Squane / Mork
Bush completed all his time with the National Guard. I really couldn't care less what Bush/Dean did. But its amusing seeing people fall on there arse.
Posted by: Gary at November 24, 2003 at 04:20 PMSo, Jettison, do you have any evidence that Dean lied about a medical condition?
Or are you going to make it three for three?
Posted by: Mork at November 24, 2003 at 05:25 PMDean did have the condition that got him excluded - there's no question of "lying" that I'm aware of. It's more a question - as he acknowledges - of whether or not he made too much of it, in retrospect. A lot of guys who had chronic lower back conditions did serve. I suspect that he's going to get more heat on this from Clark and Kerry than he will from the Republican camp.
But I think that labelling him a coward in this context is about as pointless as calling Bush a coward. They were both privileged kids who had options - Dean had access to medical specialists, Bush to the National Guard.
BTW Rick, the issue with Bush is not that he didn't turn up to National Guard duty - he unquestionably did. It's more that his detractors claim that he was AWOL on more than one duty occasion, and over a significant period of time . It's a claim that's been comprehensively denied.
Posted by: Geoff Honnor at November 24, 2003 at 05:26 PM
And now the old "George Bush was AWOL from the Guard" lie. Will it never end? (Not that I expect it to)
Bush served all the time he was required to serve in the National Guard and then some. The charges that he was "AWOL," that he "skipped a physical," and other such nonsense are based on purposeful misreadings of the facts surrounding the case. Bill Hobbs had this story a long time ago; you guys are just late to the party.
Posted by: Big Dog at November 24, 2003 at 05:47 PMFred Boness,
One of our GOP Congresscritters out here in Nevada was in the Air National Guard - and he got called up during the Gulf War....yep, I'll take my GOP Guardsmen over Democratic draft dodgers any day...
Posted by: Mark Noonan at November 24, 2003 at 06:07 PMShow me Bush's AWOL Charge sheet and I'll show you mine.
Posted by: Mork at November 24, 2003 at 06:23 PMOf course Dean lied to get out of the draft. If your back is good enough that you can spend the year as a ski bum, its plenty good enough for the army.
Posted by: R C Dean at November 24, 2003 at 09:59 PMI just followed the second link posted on JAKES comment...leads you to Dean for president blog....read the comments following the article about Rall...bunch of koolaid drinkers there...THey are THRILLED the Dean is endorsed by this nutjob! I also found it amusing the Rall thinks the No.1 issue for Americans is health care. Guess Naational security and war on terrorism are back burner issues for the DeAN croud.
Posted by: debbie at November 24, 2003 at 10:02 PMRall shmall. I still can't get my mind around Dean being a Metrosexual and campaigning for the Confederate flag on their pickup truck crowd.
Posted by: papertiger at November 24, 2003 at 10:21 PMBush can fly a jet fighter, can Ted Rall even draw a jet fighter that dosn't look like a sedan with two boxes nailed on it's sides? Can that fat sack of shit Moore even fit in one? A jet fighter that is, not a sedan. Fuck it, could he even fit in a sedan?
What if Bush just challenged Rall to a fight to the death, and the weapons of choice were JET FIGHTERS? Now that's throwing down the gauntlet, Rall would look like such a pussy. And after blowing Rall up he landed and got out and punched Dean in the face? Could Rove organise this???
Well I'll tell you one thing, '04 is going to be awesome!
Posted by: Amos at November 25, 2003 at 12:38 AMBush served as a fighter pilot for a squadron that potentially could have been deployed to Vietnam. Dean was a ski bum.
See the difference?
Posted by: Randal Robinson at November 25, 2003 at 12:54 AMTo follow up on Fred's point, in my state, there is a state legislator in the National Guard who has been called to active duty at Gitmo, of all places. Our state had a veto session where the Republican-dominated legislature overrode an unprecedented three vetoes from the Democratic governor. The legislator obtained a leave to come back for the veto session and cast the deciding vote on one of the overrides. There was a brouhaha over allegations of (a)favoritism and (b)whether he could cast a vote while serving on active duty. It will all eventually be sorted out but there is a good likelihood that his National Guard career will be shot because he may have been granted leave improperly. It really wasn't his fault; the relevant rule is extremely vague and his commanding officer may have fulfilled the leave request improperly. If he represented my district, I'd send him a "well done, mate" for taking such a risk to serve his constituents.
Posted by: Tongue Boy at November 25, 2003 at 03:37 AMI'm a Bush supporter and a Rall hater ... but why muddy up what is a clear, morally non-equivalent shot at Dean (re: Rall) by bringing up the draft and calling him a coward?
I like Bush, but debate about Guard Service or not, he wasn't kicking and screaming to get into Vietnam. If anyone thinks that he didn't get any special treatment, you have your partisan dogma blinders on.
Posted by: Bill at November 25, 2003 at 03:40 AMBill, Bush joined a unit that was already posted to Vietnam (a rather unusual way to avoid it). There was no evidence of any special treatment. See here and scroll down for more.
Posted by: Ken Summers at November 25, 2003 at 05:39 AMIsn't there some little bit of softward thingy you could buy where you could just click on "reply" when you get e-mails you don't like and ban their ISP forever? It's your site, Tim, and this ad homiTim stuff has got to go.
I got banned from the Guardian website just for suggesting homosexuality was unnatural...although I may have put it a little more strongly than that.
Posted by: Theodopoulos Pherecydes at November 25, 2003 at 06:26 AMTed Rall is a way-over-the-top leftist cartoonist & pundit. He got some extra attention recently because of an article “WHY WE FIGHT
Iraq From the Other Side.
This article is supposed to be a fantasy of what an Iraqi resistance recruiter would write, but the sensibility reflected is anything but that of a Baathist or an Islamofascist. It sounds much more like a fantasy of an American leftist’s calling for military action against American forces. Consider the following paragraph:
It is no easy thing to shoot or blow up young men and women because they wear American uniforms. Indeed, the soldiers are themselves oppressed members of America's vast underclass. Many don't want to be here; joining America's mercenary army is the only way they can afford to attend university. Others, because they are poor and uneducated, do not understand that they are being used as pawns in Dick Cheney's cynical oil war.
It is only toward the end that we get to things that an Iraqi resistance recruiter might actually mention.
The growing convergence of the Left & the fascists is a convergence of interests, rhetoric, &, if Carlos the Jackal’s recent recommendations are followed, interaction & collaboration. (He has converted to Islam, remained an ardent apostle of terrorism, & written a well-selling book in France.)
Posted by: ForNow at November 25, 2003 at 06:47 AMTheo: yes, there is, but these trolls are using some sort of jerry-rigged tin-can-and-coconuts computer setup that still uses dialup, which means all they do is log off and log back on again with a different IP. Or else they post from various public computer setups -- internet cafes, university computer labs, and so on. It's possible to ban their entire IP range, but that tends to lock out innocent people too.
Posted by: Andrea Harris at November 25, 2003 at 09:24 AM"There are principled objections to the use of force in every generation."
- George W Bush, London, November 2003
Guess that lets Dean off the hook.
Posted by: Miranda Divide at November 25, 2003 at 09:44 AM[OT] In other troll news, the troll formerly known as "Analogue Voter" is back, and calling himself "True Brit." He's lurking in old posts, like the coward that he is. Come on, Annie! I know you want to troll the new posts like the big boys! Don't let Miranda and Crock of Banned IPs steal all the thunder! [/OT]
Posted by: Andrea Harris at November 25, 2003 at 09:50 AM(crunch crunch crunch crunch)
(GULP.)
{***Buurrrppp....****}
"Ahhh...."
*fart*
Posted by: crock of tim at November 25, 2003 at 10:42 AMJust let the idiots talk, I don't see what the problem is. You have a room full of people having a conversation, suddenly one just blurts out "Oh no! I poo my pants!"
Silence.
The conversation resumes.
Democratic Underground silences dissenters, the result is a pathetic monoculture of like-minded whiners that get increasingly shrill and deranged as they bounce around the leftist echo chamber.
Banning is a sign of weakness, not confidence in your ideas, leave censorship to the lefties, that's the only way they can win an argument.
Posted by: Amos at November 25, 2003 at 10:53 AMOh dear. I tried to piece together the remains of M. le Croque du Tin Tin's latest missive. Thank god for gas masks and latex gloves. Anyway, I was able to preserve a part of it:
Andrea has scored... bigger... accept... control... swatting... (?)cop... Enjoy...
That's it, folks. I wasn't able to get more than that. What can I say -- different strokes, for different folks, and all that.
Posted by: Andrea Harris at November 25, 2003 at 10:54 AM
Amos -- was that what he was trying to say? I'm sure pants were involved. Not sure about the poo, but then, different strokes.
(PS: hey, what can I do? It's this free opensource freespeech inclusive blog software. Sometimes it gets a little out of control.)
Posted by: Andrea Harris at November 25, 2003 at 10:56 AMPS: I saved old crocky's two messages for real. Wouldn't want to destroy a work of art, and all that. I'll email them to you so you can enjoy them in the privacy of your own den, or whatever, if you really want to know the Deep, Important subject matter they contained. Anyway, I only ban trolls because they hate it so and it's funny to see them stamp their little cyberfeet and whine about having their "dissent crushed." I love being cruel to fools.
By the way, yes, the subject of Howard Dean, yo-hum, another "draft avoider," and the whole democratic party of nonentities distinguishable from one another only by their neckties, bores me.
Posted by: Andrea Harris at November 25, 2003 at 11:03 AMAenean in neque. Mauris sagittis vestibulum magna. Etiam viverra, urna a consectetuer commodo, nulla neque scelerisque tellus, id rutrum arcu dolor vitae massa. Class aptent taciti sociosqu ad litora torquent per conubia nostra, per inceptos hymenaeos. Nulla non tortor at dui congue malesuada. Suspendisse mi. Vivamus in lorem. Aliquam egestas tincidunt massa. Nunc sollicitudin massa ut dui. Duis at nulla eget metus ullamcorper sollicitudin. In ac lacus ut lacus condimentum sollicitudin. Etiam leo leo, suscipit vitae, dapibus quis, elementum ut, est. Integer viverra rutrum leo.
Posted by: crock of tim at November 25, 2003 at 12:02 PMryiahr; auPORFU 098080-jgiosdjv; u8yue jrgiowv juEUR -9UNCNLSNGIO[ 398BHJ!!
uPTAHINtgjnin iuiwj!!
Posted by: crock of tim at November 25, 2003 at 01:08 PMHm. First interesting thing you've said all day.
Posted by: Andrea Harris at November 25, 2003 at 02:44 PMThere's a difference between banning people that just happen to disagree with you, like the DU morlocks do, and banning worthless trolls that just exist to harrass people and stir up trouble. Ol' crock o' shite certainly fits that bill, although Miranda's up in the air. She's annoying and dumb, but she's not as over-the-top as COT.
Posted by: Big Dog at November 25, 2003 at 04:13 PMTongue Boy wrote:
To follow up on Fred's point, in my state, there is a state legislator in the National Guard who has been called to active duty at Gitmo, of all places. Our state had a veto session where the Republican-dominated legislature overrode an unprecedented three vetoes...
Whatever happened to the tradition of "pairing" votes, where the legislator of one camp went to war, a legislator in the other camp (for whatever reason, went to war, went fishing, went whoring, went home) "matched votes" and all was even-steven?
Theo: yes, there is, but these trolls are using some sort of jerry-rigged tin-can-and-coconuts computer setup...
Skipper: Keep pedaling, little buddy!
MaryAnn: Professor!
Professor: Just keep your hand right there, Ginger.
Ginger: Oh! Professor!
Thurston Howell: Arrgh!Arrgh!Arrgh!
Lovey: I must go pack!
Professor: Keep pedaling, Gilligan, you atavistic throwback!
Gilligan: Skipper!!!
Posted by: Timothy Lang at November 25, 2003 at 05:23 PM