February 21, 2013

"Republican senator John McCain is still raising questions and hackles."

Hackles again! Can't get enough hackles in the big media... when the topic is Republicans.

A few days ago, the NYT lit into Ted Cruz: "Texas Senator Goes on Attack and Raises Bipartisan Hackles." And now, it's John McCain who's ruffling the feathers of big media, whose meme is The GOP died. So, whenever a Republican Senator is anything by docile and deferential, the Death-of-the-GOP meme must be swapped out long enough to discipline the outlier. The standard message is: Nobody likes you. Metaphor of choice: Hackles. You're raising hackles.

Here's my meme for that media discipline: When they say hackles, I say hacks.
The article with the headline quoted in this post title is at The Washington Post. Here's some of the text:
The 76-year-old will be 80 when he is again up for reelection in Arizona in 2016. “I have seen a number of occasions around here where people have stayed too long,” McCain said during a recent interview in his Russell Senate Building office. “I have seen people who were real giants in this institution deteriorate, and unfortunately, we remember them at the end.”

Endings matter in politics. If McCain is approaching the exit, this term could determine how he will be remembered. (“In the way people think of him,” former GOP Arizona senator Jon Kyl said, “in the near term, it matters a great deal.”)

Right now, like it or not, the five-term senator is stuck in “get off my lawn” territory, lashing out at his friend-turned-foe Chuck Hagel, President Obama’s nominee for defense secretary; incessantly tugging at what McCain is convinced is a coverup of the September attack on the U.S. mission in Benghazi, Libya; lambasting the president; and railing against indiscriminate defense cuts. If hard-core conservatives feel burned by McCain’s resurgent reform spirit, the media that he once called his “base” have essentially written him off as an angry and sour loser who once went through a maverick phase but has, in the words of “Daily Show” host Jon Stewart, gone on a “seven-year quest to negate every good thing he’d ever done.”
Wow. That's heavy-handed! They're saying: The GOP is supposed to be dead, and you're at the grave's edge, old man. Old, old man. You look old. Old men when the say what they mean and they say it with passion seem like they're saying "get off my lawn." Har harr. Old man! You're going to die soon.

You don't have to be a genius to extract the bias and see the real message: McCain is effective.

By the way, the hackles article about Cruz depicted him as too young — hadn't been around long enough to be speaking with intensity and passion. 

Hacks!

ADDED: I deleted a line that was in this post for a couple minutes: "by the way, hackles are not feathers." I based that on what I'd read — quickly — in the (unlinkable) Oxford English Dictionary when I wrote the "hackles" post about Cruz:
The hackles of a cock are erected when he is angry; hence with the hackles up, said also of a dog on the point of fighting when the hairs at the top of the neck stand up or of a hound when near the fox and on the point of killing him, also transf. of a man when aroused. Hence hackles is sometimes put for hair, whiskers, etc.
I pictured the cock's comb, but reading more of the OED entry "hackle," I see:
The long shining feathers on the neck of certain birds, as the domestic cock, peacock, pigeon, etc. Also, the feathers on the saddle of a cock. a cock of a different hackle, an opponent of a different character.

71 comments:

Shouting Thomas said...

This is part of the broader campaign to label white men as racist, old, irrelevant and just plain bad.

Everybody who can is declaring that they aren't actually white, in order to escape the stigma.

White men are the most awful people in the world!

Go away and die, white men! You're Old and In The Way!

Anonymous said...

Senator Cruz is da' real ting.

Brew Master said...

Still think that Mccain as president would have been worse than Obama?

Known Unknown said...

Still think that Mccain as president would have been worse than Obama?

We certainly would have gotten ourselves into meaningless conflicts in far-flung places of little strategic relevance. More Americans would have died.

Wait a minute ...

sakredkow said...

"Raising questions and hackles" is supposed to be pejorative? You cons are always crying at the unfairness of it all.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Up next on The Media -- Michelle Obama shaved her pubic hair into the shape of a four leaf clover... Find out why!

furious_a said...

" "Texas Senator Goes on Attack and Raises Bipartisan Hackles."

...should read...

"Texas Senator may be on to something."

Cruz is a litigator -- sharks can smell blood like a mile away. McCain has the media weight to keep Hagel's sleazy honorariums front-and-center.

Shouting Thomas said...

Still think that Mccain as president would have been worse than Obama?

Who knows what he would have done?

McCain is down with the open borders, amnesty thing, so he's willing to sell out low wage, low skill American workers, too. No difference there.

McCain blew his chances in the presidential campaign (at least with me), by signing on for the bank bailouts. No difference there either.

In practice, I can't see any difference between the two parties, insofar as it affects my and my family's self-interest. Nobody wants to represent us.

Eric the Fruit Bat said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
sakredkow said...

It's like feeling sorry for yourselves is a right-wing idea of a strategic plan.

Shouting Thomas said...

You cons are always crying at the unfairness of it all.

phx, can you stop with these statements that have no meaning other than "I've got you pigeon holed as something or other, whether or not you admit it?"

This is stupid shit, phi. Try dealing with complexity, if you can. Find something interesting and different to say or shut up.

Shouting Thomas said...

It's like feeling sorry for yourselves is a right-wing idea of a strategic plan.

More of the same shit, phx!

Do you have a brain?

Eric the Fruit Bat said...

Me? I'd have gone with stickles.

Any resemblance Senator McCain bears to the three-spined stickleback, Gasterosteus aculeatus, would be purely coincidental.

FleetUSA said...

And how old is Lautenberg & Feinstein?

Rabel said...

I have to admit that before today I never knew exactly what a hackle was.

Thank you Althouse and and Merriam-Webster.

sakredkow said...

"Everybody who can is declaring that they aren't actually white, in order to escape the stigma." - Shouting Thomas

And you're telling ME "stupid shit Phx!"

Please nerd.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

How old is Nancy Pelosi?

Oso Negro said...

If we are going to talk Democrats and Republicans today, it would be far more interesting to discuss this new piece by Angelo Codevilla -

http://www.forbes.com/sites/realspin/2013/02/20/as-country-club-republicans-link-up-with-the-democratic-ruling-class-millions-of-voters-are-orphaned/

Shouting Thomas said...

Yes, phx, your comments to this moment have been a testament to brain dead stupidity.

For god's sake, say something that isn't fucking stupid.

Wince said...

Here's my meme for that media discipline: When they say hackles, I say hacks... The GOP is supposed to be dead, and you're at the grave's edge, old man. Old, old man. You look old. Old men when the say what they mean and they say it with passion seem like they're saying "get off my lawn." Har harr. Old man! You're going to die soon.

Death Panels?

rhhardin said...

McCain has a deep sense of personal honor that unfortunately attaches to things completely at random.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

Whatever happened to McCain the maverick?

furious_a said...

Poor palace media, Boyfriend Obama never calls, and now their best Rep BFF turns on them.

Endings matter in politics. If McCain is approaching the exit, this term could determine how he will be remembered.

Like what they said in the WH situation room about Tyrone Woods and Sean Smith the night AQ overran our Benghazi consulate:

Why don't they just DIE already!?!

garage mahal said...

Friends of Hamas

Very troubling.

mccullough said...


Hackles is an old white man term. The NYT and WP are old white people institutions.

McCain is old but he's still smart. He's had the same terrible Scots-Irish temperament his whole life.

Besides, the Old White Man rant isn't get off my lawn. It's get off your ass.

Bob Boyd said...

When a teenager has his heart set on a sporty, red car, he doesn't want to hear his father asking questions like, 'how will you make the payments?' or 'how much will insurance cost?' or 'why does that red light keep coming on?'
The teenager just wants to feel good about himself and to have his friends think he's cool.
And the car salesman knows this.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

Oh, right... he was a maverick when "his party" still lived.

Known Unknown said...

"Get off my lawn territory!"

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

From Oso's link

"Increasingly the top people in government, corporations, and the media collude and demand submission as did the royal courts of old."

Yes indeed.

roesch/voltaire said...

Oh please let us not defend every old white man, especially when, like McCain they have become hypocritical hacks.

dreams said...

I have yahoo as my start page and it seems that everyday there is a headline that makes the Republicans look bad. I don't see how a Republican can ever again get elected president. One of the things I didn't take into consideration in the last two elections is that a lot of older people have died, those older people remembered how our country once was but they have died and been replaced with younger voters who have no idea, they haven't even been taught any history unlike older generations. Young people have to live and learn from life experiences and they aren't there yet. I can remember some of my votes when I was young and I'm just glad there wasn't a Facebook back then.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Yahoo news is run by democrat hacks. Turn it off.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

McCain, what is he good for?

Anonymous said...

Ted Cruz slunk through the media appearance, shoulders-hunched, clasping and rubbing his palms together. The smell of both Brill cream and Texas oilfields hung in the air, raising media hackles.

Emil Blatz said...

I sure like Ted Cruz. He's like a white hot buzz-saw. Just destroyed the Feinstein "assault Weapons" bill and its illogic. Raise all the hackles you want, son!

Nonapod said...

So the press is going to start digging into Republicans based on age? There are currently 4 Senators with a (D) after their names that are more ancient than McCain: Frank Lautenberg (89), Dianne Feinstein (79), Carl Levin (78), Barbara Mikulski (76).

dreams said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Illuninati said...

McCain has "in the words of “Daily Show” host Jon Stewart, gone on a “seven-year quest to negate every good thing he’d ever done.”"

My respect for John McCain rises in inverse proportion to the leftist/Marxist disdain for him. If these despicable people loathe him so much, perhaps we need to reconsider our opinion of him. Perhaps, the old man has finally found his principles.

Nonapod said...

oops, wrong link.

furious_a said...

Hagel: Our Man in Tay-ran!

WASHINGTON (CBSDC/AP) — Iran’s Foreign Ministry appears to be backing President Barack Obama’s pick of former Sen. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb., as secretary of defense.

dreams said...

"Yahoo news is run by democrat hacks. Turn it off."

My point is that Yahoo and liberal TV is where the low information voters get their news

Known Unknown said...

. He's like a white hot buzz-saw

Racist.

edutcher said...

You're only a maverick when it's in defense of a Demo idea.

Otherwise, you're lashing out.


phx said...

It's like feeling sorry for yourselves is a right-wing idea of a strategic plan.

You haven't been over to Kos yet this morning?

roesch/voltaire said...

Oh please let us not defend every old white man, especially when, like McCain they have become hypocritical hacks.

That's right, it's just reserved for people like Dingy Harry, Frank Lautenmouth, or Tom "I served in Cambodia with Lurch" Harkin.

SteveR said...

Yes Yahoo News has abandoned any pretence of neutrality, always bad but in the last year even worse. Add in their Bloombergy sissy food articles ("hamburgers bad awful. eat kale chips instead") and I can only stay for sports.

sakredkow said...

You haven't been over to Kos yet this morning?

Or any other morning. Should I?

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Dreams - You are correct. It's all part of the plan. The leftwing media are dishonest and misleading. The leftwing media operate to give impressions with half-truths and falsehoods in order to please their masters. Yahoo news isn’t news. Yahoo News is opinion masquerading as news.

traditionalguy said...

The actual war going on is over media approved Big Lies that spout out of oracle Obama.

That makes my over 60 generation his worst enemy to be ridiculed and made into an isolated and ignored enemy of the people. Our crime is that we can remember so much truth from living the past 50 years.

furious_a said...

Go for it, Maverick!

Other than their disdain what can the palace media heap on him worse than what the North Vietnamese did?

Still think that Mccain as president would have been worse than Obama?

cough McCain-Feingold cough. But Obama has plenty of time to disprove that and is well on his way.

bleh said...

Fall in line, assimilate, and move forward.

Why can't these Republicans just roll over and die?

dreams said...

I don't think McCain would have been a good president but we wouldn't have Obamacare, as big a debt as Obama's big spending caused and I don't buy the argument that McCain would have got us into a lot wars, on the contrary, I think he would been better in that regard especially as to our relations with the middle east. Those who have fought in wars tend to have a greater appreciation of war and thus more wiser when considering getting into war.

rhhardin said...

Warms the hackles of your heart.

DADvocate said...

Once again, the message is racism and other forms of bigotry are just fine as long as it's being done by the left against anyone with whom they disagree. It raises something on the nape of my neck.

furious_a said...

I don't buy the argument that McCain would have got us into a lot wars, on the contrary...

Oh, he would have gotten us into wars (cough Libya cough), we'd have just been nicer to detainees because...POW of the North Vietnamese.

edutcher said...

No, Labia was leading from someone's behind.

Can't see Junior doing that.

Bruce Hayden said...

Still think that Mccain as president would have been worse than Obama?

I think that it is most likely that a lot of things would be very different.
- Obamacare would not have become law
- We would not have backed the Muslim Brotherhood in the Arab Spring, Egypt would probably still be an ally, etc.
- Fast and Furious would have been less likely
- A lot more transparency,
- If a Benghazi had happened on his watch, the U.S. would have gone in fast and heavy, and he would have spent the night in the WH situation room. We are talking an academy trained retired Navy captain, offered flag rank, whose father and grandfather of the same name were full admirals. People like that lead from the front, and don't leave people behind.

Henry said...

and railing against indiscriminate defense cuts

When has this not been McCain's MO?

Bruce Hayden said...

Can't see Junior doing that.

Not sure who "Junior" is. McCain is the third (and, yes, there is a fourth, also an Annapolis grad), Obama is the second, and Bush (43) has a different middle name than his father, so is neither. None are juniors. AlGore maybe?

edutcher said...

Junior is what he was called by his mates in the USN.

His father was CINCPAC at the time.

campy said...

Why can't these Republicans just roll over and die?

They haven't?

Colonel Angus said...

Why can't these Republicans just roll over and die?

They haven't?


Evidently not since Obama needs them as his scapegoat for not being able to do his job.

campy said...

Evidently not since Obama needs them as his scapegoat for not being able to do his job.

They can be dead and still serve that purpose.

Bruce Hayden said...

Junior is what he was called by his mates in the USN.

Makes sense now - much easier to call someone "junior" than maybe "third".

campy said...

Makes sense now - much easier to call someone "junior" than maybe "third".

I think "Trip" is the usual nickname for IIIs.

Tom said...

Back in the early 2000s, the EPA under Bush proposed altering a Clean Air Act Rule. The rule is called New Source Review and, not to get too technical, the way the rule was originally designed, it encouraged older industrial sites NOT to reduce emissions through projects that would increase efficiency. (Basically, if, say a power plant wanted to re-build a gas turbine to make it use less gas to produce more electricity, the plant had to go through NSR, which was extremely costly and required adoption of stricker emission control technology -- however, if the plant stayed inefficient and didn't make changes, they could pollute at their old level without issue). Anyway, so the Bush EPA proposed changing the rule to promote efficiency. The new rule was better for the environment and better for industry. What the press did on this story is complete malpractice -- basically made Bush out to be the worst polluter in the history of bad people. Since I have quite a bit of expertise in this area, it was the first time I knew for a fact the press was misrepresenting as story to damage the political process. Fast forward to what Candy Crowly did to Romney in the presidential debate -- it's very rotten and severely hurting the country.

Sam L. said...

Hacks they are, hacking away at Republicans, trying to chop them down.

Bayoneteer said...

Republicans senators tend be from places where what the NYT editorial board thinks doesn't matter much, such as the southwest. Where the NYT agenda does matter, as in, say, New England there are very few of them (2 senators, no congressmen). So the feather ruffling they do only annoys people far from home who they don't care about. So suck it NYT. McCain is the outlier. He's a brain damaged goof who AZ keeps re-electing out of kindness I suppose.

edutcher said...

Bruce Hayden said...

Junior is what he was called by his mates in the USN.

Makes sense now - much easier to call someone "junior" than maybe "third".


"Maverick" is the media fiction, and I choose not to use it.

Scott M said...

"Maverick" is the media fiction, and I choose not to use it.

Exactly! Kind of like how I refuse to call Laurance Wachowski, "Lana" no matter how much pink he puts in his dreads.

ricpic said...

If McCain had been elected president amnesty would have gone into overdrive on day one of his administration. Which is to say either head of the two headed socialist monstrosity serves to murder America and usher in America II.

Colonel Angus said...

Evidently not since Obama needs them as his scapegoat for not being able to do his job.

They can be dead and still serve that purpose.


Of course. Nothing is Obama's fault. Even his lack of leadership ability.

Bayoneteer said...

If the Reps did go belly up I'm not sure who or what would replace it as the opposition party. The two parties have totally institutionalized themselves in the laws of the state now. The Reps have an automatic ballot access everywhere up and down the ballots. If the institutional GOP disappeared all manner of kooks nuts and odd balls would avail themselves of the chance to run, esp. in places where they get state matching funds. For about a decade or so after Ross Perot's Reform Party got ballot automatic full ballot access here in MI all manner of strange people got on the ticket, a few were even elected although none lasted. Look at MA. The reps can't even get a sacrificial lamb to run for senate to replace SoS Kerry.