When did “liberal” become a slur?

It wasn’t when the Republicans started sneering at the word. That was a mark of honor. I was happy to call myself a liberal during Reagan’s term.

It really started going rancid when Bill Maher adopted the label. “Liberal” now meant sexist hack and apologist for war and racism.

A week previously, Maher appeared on MSNBC’s flagship breakfast show, Morning Joe (9/12/19), where he claimed that the Democrats’ left-wing (i.e., Bernie Sanders) was a “cancer” destroying the party, warning that the left is “scarier and crazier than Trump,” and nominating a leftist as its presidential candidate would spell disaster in the next election. (Decrying the supposed unelectability of the left is a favorite pastime of elite pundits—FAIR.org, 2/26/19, 7/2/19, 8/21/19.)
Media almost unanimously present Maher as a “liberal” (e.g. Salon, 10/11/14, 9/21/19; USA Today, 7/8/18; New York Post, 6/29/19) or even a “progressive” (The Hill, 2/2/17) comedian. Yet any inspection of his political positions dispels this illusion. To be sure, he generally supported President Barack Obama and opposes Donald Trump (although he has been known to do the opposite of both). But he also has a long history of repeatedly taking reactionary positions on many subjects, especially war.

On his previous Comedy Central show Politically Incorrect, Maher praised the Vietnam War as “necessary,” arguing it helped end the Cold War. (The US officially began its involvement in Vietnam 36 years before the dissolution of the Soviet Union.) In 2013, he joked about killing antiwar activist Medea Benjamin after she interrupted Obama, and recanted his anti-Iraq War position, claiming, “Iraq is doing better than I thought it would be.” He praised George W. Bush for “creating a country” there.

Need I point out that he’s also an anti-vaccination atheist, and a libertarian? He uses his criticisms of Trump as a merkin to cover up his fundamental illiberalism. But this part is legitimately true:

Ultimately, Maher has built up an impressive following and continues to espouse snarky elitist hot takes weekly for HBO, earning an estimated $10 million per year doing so. Call him a racist, a bigot or an astute businessman; just don’t call him a liberal.

Although I can’t say that embracing the values of the 1990s through the Trump years to his own profit is exactly the mark of a principled person.

Jacob Wohl gives Elizabeth Warren a lock on the presidency

Once again, Jacob Wohl claims to have a sexual assault victim, and once again he gives a presser in Burkman’s driveway. This time, it’s an accusation against Elizabeth Warren, that she had sex with a Marine bodybuilder. Surprise, the “victim” showed up this time.

Whoa. A 70 year old woman had sex with a muscular 24 year old man? As long as it was consensual, good for her. I have to agree with this sentiment.

Spectator writer Caroline McCarthy joked, “Look, I get that this is BS and the “decorated, former U.S. Marine” will mysteriously cancel on the event, but Elizabeth Warren being a voracious cougar who hooks up with 24-year-old bodybuilders would make me want to vote for her.”

Except, of course, that this is a Jacob Wohl story, so you know it’s all lies. It’s also already falling apart. The Marine tried to claim that the scars on his back are a result of wild crazed sex with Warren (woohoo!), but unfortunately someone dug into his instagram feed and found his original explanation.

I prefer to imagine a naked Elizabeth Warren totally dominating a beefy young man, lashing him viciously with a chain, but I’m sorry, it just didn’t happen. Jacob Wohl never says anything accurate.

Why isn’t he in jail already?

You mean whining about being insulted doesn’t work?

An interesting historical anecdote: Andrew Johnson was a reviled president who went on a whistlestop tour — you know, campaign rallies — to energize his followers and stir up support. It didn’t go well. He was frequently insulted, and his response was to go on furious rants (sound familiar?) and rage at everyone. Guess how that went.

Johnson angrily denounced with one of the strangest tirades of the tour: “I have been traduced! I have been slandered. I have been maligned. I have been called Judas — Judas Iscariot and all of that.”

By the time it was over, Johnson had been humiliated and his reputation was in tatters.

I’ll be curious to see how effective the temper tantrum strategy will be for a president whose reputation is already in tatters.

Sanders hospitalized. Relax, it’s no big deal, he has access to modern medicine

All right, everyone, stop freaking out. Bernie Sanders complained of chest pains, was taken to the hospital, had a few stents put in, and now all the babbling twits on social media are clutching their pearls and declaring him too old to be running for president, saying he had a heart attack, and questioning his ability to continue. This is nonsense. Sanders did the right thing, treating a potential problem pre-emptively, as we should all do (if we had good health care).

I experienced the same problem in 2010, and sensibly chose to go to the hospital at the first twinge, and then was diagnosed with a potentially life-threatening condition, and had a procedure to install some stents. I was told to take it easy for a few weeks afterwards, and it didn’t even interfere with me going back to work teaching.

Do the math. That was over 9 years ago, and I haven’t experienced any kind of cardiac episode since. I could have served two terms as president without a hitch! This is the kind of routine treatment everyone ought to be able to get as necessary, and that allows one to go on to live a healthy, productive life for years afterward.

(By the way, I still favor Warren for president, but wouldn’t object at all* if Sanders were in office…and my wife is still feeling the Bern all the way.)

*OK, I lied, it doesn’t matter who gets elected, I’ll find something to complain about.

Who invented this bad comic book villain?

Here we have an example of unbelievably bad writing. This plan makes no sense, unless your goal is just to create pointless pain and suffering. The only motivation for this kind of scheme is mindless ignorance and hatred, and yet the villain is supposedly rich and well-connected. Doesn’t he have anything useful to do with his wealth? Even a greedy desire for more money would leave more room for plot development than just looking for a moat with venomous snakes and shooting peasants in the legs.

The only thing that can happen next is for a Schwarzenegger or Willis type of meathead hero to come along and blow him away ignominiously, with some kind of wise-ass remark. It’s been done, it was boring then, it’s stupid now. Send the script back for a complete rewrite and come up with something plausible.

Wait, what? It’s not fiction?

Jesus fucking christ.

I wouldn’t want to be in Collin Peterson’s shoes right now

I get quoted in this article on our local Democratic representative, Collin Peterson, although it may not be obvious, since of course they misspelled my name. Peterson is one of the few Democrats in the House who is reluctant to proceed with impeachment. This is where I live.

Western Minnesota’s Seventh Congressional District backed Trump over Hillary Clinton by 31 points in the last presidential election. No House Democrat nationwide represents a district with a wider Trump margin. It was the Republican’s biggest percentage of all eight Minnesota districts, higher even than in Rep. Tom Emmer’s Sixth District.

Peterson’s winning margins have shrunk the last few elections: from 26% in 2012 to 4% last year.

Yeah, this county is a brilliant shade of ruby red, and he’s a blue dog Democrat limping along by being a strong supporter of agricultural interests. He is awful in so many ways, but he is a cog used to help maintain Democratic leadership. I was one of those 4% last year, only because I am compelled to support a lackluster party in opposition to an evil insane party. And the thing is, he knows it!

In an interview in June, Peterson said his success in a strong Trump district had improved his standing with fellow House Democrats. While he differs with his party on many issues, he said he had a good working relationship with Pelosi, who understands the politics of his district. Peterson also explained his ready reply to DFLers from his district unsettled by his conservative bent. “I’m the best you’re going to get.”

Isn’t that a wonderful recommendation? “Settle for me, because as worthless as I am, everyone else is worse.”

I think he’s doomed. No matter what the consequences of an impeachment fight, whether it energizes Democrats or Republicans, he’s going to be chewed up in the middle.

I’ve got two tickets to the Trump rally next week!

Our President is holding another campaign rally (doesn’t he have important things to do? Like golfing some more?) on 10 October, in Minneapolis. So I reserved my tickets right away. I sure hope nothing comes up that Thursday, like classes maybe, or a spider eruption, or a little indigestion, to prevent me from filling that seat. We’ll see.

Mary wants to protest the visit, but there may be some personal conflicts with that, since she’s also flying off to Texas to spend time with her favorite grandson.

I guess we’ll just have to let the Minneapolis mayor speak for us.

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, a Democrat, declared Trump an unwelcome visitor.

“Under ordinary circumstances, it would be an honor to welcome a sitting president of the United States to Minneapolis and to showcase all our city has to offer on the national stage,” Frey said in a statement Thursday. ”But these aren’t ordinary circumstances. Since taking office President Trump’s actions have been reprehensible and his rhetoric has made it clear that he does not value the perspectives or rights of Minneapolis’ diverse communities.”

Frey added, “While there is no legal mechanism to prevent the president from visiting, his message of hatred will never be welcome in Minneapolis.”

Trump Go Home.