March 6, 2013

"My doctor told me that I’m old, fat, and ugly, but none of those things is going to kill me immediately..."

"The actuaries say I have six to eight years. The best tables give me 10. Three thousand days, more or less.... I’m ready. Everybody fears the unknown. But I have a strong feeling there’s something bigger than us.... I don’t think all this exists because some rocks happened to collide. I’m at peace. When it comes, I’ll be fine, calm. I’ll miss life, though. Especially my family."

Said Roger Ailes the head of Fox News.  

I wonder what people of the left will say when he dies. Will we get the kind of "hell has a new resident" crude clichés we're hearing today from righties celebrating the departure of Hugo Chavez?

131 comments:

Comanche Voter said...

Oh I don't know Prof. Althouse. I've seen first hand some of the miseries that Chavez dumped on his people--and on US companies trying to make investments in Venezuela.

In memory of all those pleasantries, I've ordered up a couple of tons of coal for the fires below.

chuckR said...

Of course we'll get those crude cliches and worse. But comparing Ailes and Chavez is even worse.

Bob said...

That goes without saying (pictures Gene Wilder saying that in response to Teri Garr talking of an "enormous schwanzstucker")

President-Mom-Jeans said...

Yes, because being successful in a media business is absolutely like destroying a country through dictatorship.

Methinks the Madison academic community is a bit sad to see one of their fellow travelers go. You didn't like Drudge's caption did you Ann?

Was it, dare I say, "ugly?"

JRH, esq. said...

Well, you really raise two questions here, don't you?

(1) Will the lefties celebrate the demise of any effective advocate of the right? Of course they will, it's the nature of the militant statist (fascist, communist, whatever) to seek the elimination of opposition to their agenda for society.

(2) Is it inapproporiate to acknowledge the passing of a murderous dictator? No, I don't believe it is. The world is a slightly better place without Saddam, Hugo, Fidel, Stalin, or Mommar (sp?).

A third question, though: why do you consider celebrating the death of a ruthless, murderous dictator who ruled by force to be equivalent to celebrating the dealth of someone who merely disagrees with you politically?

Shouting Thomas said...

Big time troll bait!

I foresee 300 comments.

Where art thou, Ritmo the Retard?

the wolf said...

Will we get the kind of "hell has a new resident" crude clichés...?

Yes, and it will be far worse.

I'm not sure why saying "Hell has a new resident" is crude. If you're inclined to believe in extraterrestrial destinations, he would seem a logical choice for residency in the nether world.

Mitch H. said...

Of course, because Ailes is a corrupt, clownish, fascist dictator who is presiding over the economic and moral demolition of what once was a South American powerhouse of a nation.

Really, way to overreact, Professora.

For the record, I haven't been able to turn on NPR for the last twenty-four hours without being assaulted with hagiographic horseshit about dear Hugo.

J said...

A beautous barrista from Barranquilla responded in quite vituperous verbiage when I just mentioned Senor Chavez's name .Brother in prison family business confiscated and every other member of the family becoming emergency immigrants to Miami.Somehow I are not concerned with HIS air conditioning needs at the moment.And Ailes doesn't even come close.

Mitch H. said...

And if you're going to indulge in crass crowing, I would go with "Hugo is howling in Hell tonight". Have fun with your invective, if you're going to indulge.

Baron Zemo said...

Because Roger Ailes is the same as Hugh Chavez.

This is pretty funny.

Another Obama phone thingy. You can't see anyone smack around the lefties.

virgil xenophon said...

JRH. esq., puts it into proper perspective. However JRH, imo, errors when he says : "...the world is a slightly better place without..." NO, JRH, INFINITELY better!

rcommal said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
rcommal said...

The "lightweight religion" tag--is that there due to Ailes' ruminations or some of the reactions to Chavez's death and to the Politico piece (in which the reaction Ailes' death is foreshadowed)? Or, both?

I Callahan said...

Will we get the kind of "hell has a new resident" crude clichés we're hearing today from righties celebrating the departure of Hugo Chavez?

Right, because a third world jack-booted dictator killing and starving his own people is EXACTLY the same as the head of a news organization who wanted to do things differently than other news agencies.

Lefties have no sense of proportion about anything.

pm317 said...

I’ll miss life, though. Especially my family.

No, you won't. You will be dead.

test said...

Why compare Ailes to someone oppressing millions? Why not compare him to Breitbart for example?

Slate's Matt Yglesias (@mattyglesias), who tweeted: "Conventions around dead people are ridiculous. The world outlook is slightly improved with @AndrewBrietbart dead."

AlmightyBob ‏ @AlmightyBoob : @AndrewBreitbart haha youre dead and in hell being a gay with hitler

Jeff Glasse ‏ @jeffglasse : Andrew Breitbart now enjoying afternoon tea with Hitler #goodriddanceyouhack

@darrenfiorello: Andrew Breitbart died? Is it wrong that I'm happier about that than when they got bin Laden and Saddam?

Kellie Allen @thirtyseven : Breitbart helped destroy the career of someone I know. Good riddance, scumraker.

So yeah, cheers will abound.

Tank said...

I'm occasionally at events/dinners where people contribute a "happy dollar" for something they're happy about.

I always contribute a dollar because I'm happy Yassar Arafat is dead.

So, who am I to complain?

Tank said...

pm317 said...

I’ll miss life, though. Especially my family.

No, you won't. You will be dead.


It's interesting that you know this. Have you been dead?

I Callahan said...

No, you won't. You will be dead.

Apparently you didn't read the post. He said "But I have a strong feeling there’s something bigger than us.... I don’t think all this exists because some rocks happened to collide."

If you believe that as he does, then yes, you can miss your family after you're dead. I feel sorry for you that you feel so hollow that you don't think that's possible.

I'm Full of Soup said...

Althouse appears to be making the argument that libruls are so deranged they would compare a conservative network news honcho to a socialist dictator.

OT but I wondered this morning why you have never blogged about a Victor Davis Hanson column?

Brew Master said...

What Marshal said, he will get the same treatment that was directed at Andrew Breitbart.

chickelit said...

Slate's Matt Yglesias (@mattyglesias), who tweeted: "Conventions around dead people are ridiculous. The world outlook is slightly improved with @AndrewBrietbart dead."

Jeez that was low of Matt Yglesias. Yet bloggers respect and link him.

edutcher said...

You don't do Puffington or Kos much, do you?

This stuff is tame compared to the screeching you'll hear when, say, Dubya goes to his reward.

CWJ said...

I think the only difference in the invective will be that the left won't wait for Ailes to die. They will be wishing him dead, and rooting against his recovery from the moment his head hits the hospital or nursing home pillow.

pm317 said...

I Callahan said..
-------------------

I'm not hollow, just being rational and not buying the gobbledegook. Some things in life (and death) don't have good answers, and for some people it is harder to be at peace knowing that. It drives them crazy.

pm317 said...

The man is 72 years old. He had the means to procreate a child at 60. By all accounts he has had a good life. Why should he care what others say after he dies?

sakredkow said...

They can talk about me plenty when I'm gone.

Geoff Matthews said...

To compare a pseudo-dictator with the CEO of a news channel is a little bit of a stretch.
Who's property did Ailes confiscate?

I Callahan said...

Some things in life (and death) don't have good answers, and for some people it is harder to be at peace knowing that.

And you're side of the view has what proof, exactly? Because his view has as much evidence as yours.

My opinion? Agnostics are the only ones who are consistent. Atheists and the dyed-in-the-wool religious are equally going on blind faith for their beliefs, regardless of what either side says. That is not to denigrate either side in any way.

Amartel said...

Celebrating the demise of a tyrannical dictator, and correcting the ludicrous state media narrative which mourns this "loss," is the same as celebrating the demise of the head of an independent news organization.

Oh, wait, no it's not.
And trying to make that comparison happen is rather crude.

Tim said...

Is it even possible for a normal person to compare Roger Ailes with Hugo Chavez as some sort of equivalents?

cubanbob said...

Apparently our hostess can't distinguish which of these two things are not alike.


Ignorance is Bliss said...

I don't think the professor is bothered by the crudeness of the clichés, but by their cliché-ness.

It's all part of her war on clichés.

rhhardin said...

Obviously he doesn't understand mortality tables.

Your life expectency gets longer each year.

Ignorance is Bliss said...

cubanbob said...

Apparently our hostess can't distinguish which of these two things are not alike.

With two things, aren't they either both alike, or neither are alike? Or am I missing something?

Writ Small said...

Will we get the kind of "hell has a new resident" crude clichés we're hearing today from righties celebrating the departure of Hugo Chavez?

Shouldn't a rhetorical question have some doubt as to the answer?

pm317 said...

I Callahan said...
----------------

When I am here, I am here. When I am gone, I am gone. Everybody else has to just deal with it. I have lost my parents, the hardest thing in the world because that is when you understand the finality of death and the way I deal with it is I think about them, revive their memories, they come in my dreams and I rejoice for the whole day, I see 317 on a license plate and I think my dad is saying hi (317 is the house number I grew up in that my dad built, very special place).. The way I cope with unanswerable things is to attach meaning and significance to what I deem important in my own life. Not what others say or do and religion and God fall under that category. I hope I have lived a good and honest life that when I am gone, people who I came across deal with it in a way that shows how I lived my life.

roesch/voltaire said...

We all die alone no matter what table we consult, in that sense the two can be compared. And They each have used their power to create an empire based on a desire to promote certain ideologies, and were willing to lie in order to get the results they wanted, but given the results, I prefer Roger, although Chavez on TV was more entertaining.

cubanbob said...

Ignorance is Bliss said...
cubanbob said...

Apparently our hostess can't distinguish which of these two things are not alike.

With two things, aren't they either both alike, or neither are alike? Or am I missing something?

3/6/13, 10:44 AM

Think and it will come to you.

Anonymous said...

Dr. Althouse: Will we get the kind of "hell has a new resident" crude clichés we're hearing today from righties celebrating the departure of Hugo Chavez?

Please forgive me for being an insufficiently good Christian for, yes, enjoying the thought that yet another of earth's murderous totalitarian dictators may, in fact, be burning in hell right now.

garage mahal said...

It's ridiculous to compare Chavez to Ailes.

test said...

And They each have used their power to create an empire based on a desire to promote certain ideologies, and were willing to lie in order to get the results they wanted,

By this standard President Obama is comparable to Chavez. It's amusing watching leftists embarass themselves.

FedkaTheConvict said...

Althouse believes in "hell?" Whatever happened to skeptical Althouse?

And if she doesn't believe in hell (or heaven, for that matter), why is she offended by the "crude cliches" offered up by some?

rhhardin said...

Blanchot observed that you can be prepared to meet your death, but somebody else's death always comes along and takes you.

rhhardin said...

Woody Allen somebody else's life passes before his eyes.

dreams said...

Well, I know for sure that there will plenty of red asses (communists, liberals, progressives) for the liberals to continue kissing. As to what the liberals will say when Roger Ailes dies, the contrast to what we conservatives have said about Hugo Chavez will once again confirm to those of us who follow the news and been around a while that the liberals are not in reality caring people but ruthless selfish people who do not practice what they preach when it comes to civility.

SGT Ted said...

For leftists, they HAVE to falsely portray dissent with their ideas as "fascism" or "oppression" in order to justify their totalitarianist response to dissent and opposition. This has always been how they operate, since at least 1917. This is no secret.

Comparing Roger Ailes with Hugo Chavez is so idiotic only a leftist would buy into it.

Sam L. said...

Undoubtedly. Chavez was a dictator, though initially elected. Let's not forget that.

Brian Brown said...

Yes, because being successful in a media business is absolutely like destroying a country through dictatorship.

Of course it is, when you're not that bright and easily misled.

SGT Ted said...

And like all Commies, once he was elected, he committed criminal acts to make sure that nobody else would be elected in his place.

Brian Brown said...

If you think it is somehow tacky, unjust, or wrong, that "righties" are welcoming the death of someone who tortured, killed, and impoverished millions, then you have what is called a you problem with perspective.

Mr. D said...

If you don't like Roger Ailes you can turn the channel. Venezuelans couldn't ignore their late caudillo.

BonHagar said...

Ailes does what he does at the expense of no one else. Chavez was a taker of life, liberties and property. Bit of a difference.

tamsf said...

My doctor can correctly tell me that I'm fat. I'm approaching the point where he can tell me I'm old. But when he starts to tell me that I'm "ugly", I think I'm going to look for another doctor.

garage mahal said...

Chavez's undemocratic gerrymandering of voting districts and thuggish voter suppression tactics were dictatorial in nature.

Oh wait, that's just our Republicans here in America!

Ignorance is Bliss said...

cubanbob said...

Think and it will come to you.

Thought, but nothing came. Could you actually explain it?

Brian Brown said...

garage mahal said...
Chavez's undemocratic gerrymandering of voting districts and thuggish voter suppression tactics were dictatorial in nature.


What kind of goof ball takes to the Internet to pretend all Hugo did was gerrymander?

PS: you couldn't provide an example of Republican "voter suppression" if the grand prize were $40,000,000

President-Mom-Jeans said...

Bitchtits is certainly riled up today.

Did you just have to cut another alimony check, lardass?

Good thing you make so much money. Why, I bet Joe Kennedy wouldn't even give you any of that Chavez free oil.

Strelnikov said...

First of all "Will we..."? You have to be pretending not to know the answer to that.

Second, his comments re the doctor remind of a favorite joke I never tire of hearing and telling:

Doctor: I'm afraid you only have six months to live.
Man: Oh,no! Is there anything I can do?
Doctor: Well, you can stop drinking, smoking and chasing women.
Man: And then I'll live longer?
Man: No, but it will seem longer.

Synova said...

"I wonder what people of the left will say when he dies. Will we get the kind of "hell has a new resident" crude clichés we're hearing today from righties celebrating the departure of Hugo Chavez?"

I think that the answer to that is "yes" despite the fact that the two are not at all comparable.

For the right to celebrate a death the guy has had to have drowned his pregnant lover or else been an oppressive dictator that shut down opposition press... for the left to celebrate a death the guy has had to have been a press secretary for a US president or run an opposition press.

William said...

My views on the afterlife mirror those of Roger Ailes. Perhaps it's just wishful thinking, but intelligent life seems like such an extraordinary event that perhaps there are other extraordinary events in the cosmos. At any rate, if it exists at all, the afterlife will exist in a form that we can no more understand than a cat can understand a computer......Roger might be fat and ugly, but he's also rich and powerful. When you calibrate the longevity scales, rich and powerful outweighs fat and ugly.

ricpic said...

Those crude comments pale in comparison to Hugo's torture chambers. It must be great to be so safe that such things are, uh...untroubling. After all, Hugo was un hombre del pueblo. So a few eggs broken? Mere collateral damage.

traditionalguy said...

Roger Ailes is a talented and kind gentleman. He got into TV as the person arranging interesting guests for The Mike Douglas Show.

FYI younger folks, The Mike Douglas show was a pure liberal, going where today's liberals don't dare to tred. Ailes was never a conservative. Bur he is realistic and a good man.

He puts on the best shows using the best personalities he can find in a niche market that he created using a fair and balanced political stance

He is very good at his job, which has been his only crime, because he tells the truth in public to attract his audience.

All lawyers need to get a copy of Ailes' book, "You Are the Message...The Secrets of a Master Communicator." And they need to re-read it every year.

It is available at an Amazon portal near you.

Baron Zemo said...

You guys have to realize that the Nutty Professor is just yanking your chain.

She will bad mouth any attempt by conservatives to attack the left, liberals, homosexuals, blacks, feminazi's and the rest of the protected classes. You are supposed to take all the abuse but if you fight back with more of the same you are wrong.

Also her distaste for religion shines through on posts like this. She makes Revenant look like Mother Teresa as far as reverence for the beliefs of others.

Sharpen up losers.

pm317 said...

From the article -- I like a guy who works hard for what he believes in than this other coward:

Lewis then read Ailes a summary of the flap over Democratic operative Hilary Rosen’s comment that Ann Romney, mother of five, had never worked a day in her life. Ailes spun it without hesitation. “Obama’s the one who never worked a day in his life. He never earned a penny that wasn’t public money. How many fund-raisers does he attend every week? How often does he play basketball and golf? I wish I had that kind of time. He’s lazy, but the media won’t report that.” He noticed my arched eyebrows and added, “I didn’t come up with that. Obama said that, to Barbara Walters.” (What Obama said was that he feels a laziness in himself that he attributes to his laid-back upbringing in Hawaii.)

Christopher said...

Somebody really does need to do a study on the leftist love for dictators.

While both sides of the political spectrum have supported authoritarian govts. at one time or another I really can't think of any dictator beloved by conservatives in the same way that liberals loved (and in many cases still love) the likes of Mao, Stalin, Pol Pot, Castro, and a number of other bloodthirsty tyrants.

I mean even after their horrors and incompetency have long been exposed, leftists still put them on a pedestal.

Why?

Baron Zemo said...

Because they are evil and they love to celebrate evil. It's their thing.

Michael K said...

"Will we get the kind of "hell has a new resident" crude clichés we're hearing today from righties celebrating the departure of Hugo Chavez? "

No, I merely commented on the weather. When Brezshnev died, they had a hot summer in Europe. People said the gates of hell had opened for him. I only remarked that South America may have a hot summer this year.

That's not mean, is it ?

ricpic said...

Roeschi, that smug puke, was "entertained" by Chavez. Uncanny how filth reveals itself.

Crunchy Frog said...

What will they say when I'm gone
Did I make a good impression
Touch the hearts of anyone
Did I live my life the way I should
Did I act with good intention
Did I do all that I could
When I die will they miss me
Or shrug their shoulders and move on
Tell me what
Will they say
When I'm gone


http://vaportrailing.blogspot.com/2012/10/when-im-gone.html

Baron Zemo said...

Left wing heros.

Chavez, Castro, Stalin, Arafat, Jimmy Carter, Sara Jessica Parker, Sean Penn, the BJ Hunnicut guy and Dan Rather.



FleetUSA said...

I think Ailes should be compared more to the Starbucks people who took an existing commodity and made a successful business out of it. Ailes saw a market need and turned it into a successful business.

FleetUSA said...

p.s. He didn't kill anyone, steal money from the government, or increase poverty.

MayBee said...

Chavez would have imprisoned Ailes, or worse.

Baron Zemo said...

Right wing heros.

Reagan, Thatcher, Goldwater, John Wayne, Maureen O'Hara, Chuck Norris and Andrew Breibart.

traditionalguy said...

The Venezuelan experience brings to mind the vacation "Happy" Island off its coast called Aruba.

I don't remember Aruba being in the Professor's Nations alphabetic list.

It was Dutch/Netherlands administered but must be its own country these days.

CharlesVegas said...

"I’ll miss life, though."

That's the thing, though. You won't miss life.

There is no awareness of having died.

Chuck said...

Dear Professor Althouse,

Since you are a student of the language, and of popular culture, there is a phrase to which I'd like to introduce you.

That phrase is, "Jumping the shark."

There is a Wikipedia page for the phrase:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jumping_the_shark

Comparing Roger Ailes to Hugo Chavez is what we might call "jumping the shark."

Have a great day.

bgates said...

Chavez would have imprisoned Ailes, or worse.

Yeah, but given the opportunity Ailes would have quoted Chavez.

Mitch H. said...

traditionalguy, it looks like Aruba is still a sort-of possession or member of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. To be honest, I'm not sure whether it's a Dutch equivalent of a crown colony, or a commonwealth member. They seem to have their own parliament & home rule?

Joe Schmoe said...

The linked-to excerpt was interesting. Apparently during the 08 election Obama asked for a private sit-down with Ailes to complain about Sean Hannity. (Why the hell was Barry so thin-skinned about Hannity?! What a puss. -me) During the discussion that followed Ailes called out Barry on a lie about national security. Gibbs immediately ended the sitdown.

Anonymous said...

If he's in good health, at age 72 he should be able to make it at least into his mid 80s.

Peter

J said...

Conservatives and libertarians in this country rarely love any authoritarians as we KNOW that they are humans with flaws.Sometimes we forgive them by noting that what they suppressed would probably have been worse.Liberals lionize the people who kill millions and turn them into gods.I hate the sacral kings.

DADvocate said...

It's ridiculous to compare Chavez to Ailes.

Garage makes an inteeligent statement.

Chavez's undemocratic gerrymandering of voting districts and thuggish voter suppression tactics were dictatorial in nature.

Oh wait, that's just our Republicans here in America!


Garage shows why he's an idiot and that any intelligent statement he makes is the result of monkeys banging on keyboards.

Anonymous said...

he Venezuelan experience brings to mind the vacation "Happy" Island off its coast called Aruba.
I don't remember Aruba being in the Professor's Nations alphabetic list.
It was Dutch/Netherlands administered but must be its own country these days.


It's a "constituent country" of the Netherlands. More than a colony, but less than a mainland province. Either way, it's not a fully independent country and therefore not on the list.

Peter

Methadras said...

Hey Ann, If you've see the state of leftist affairs that little banana republic dictator left his country in, then I think the comparisons of 'crude' cliches of rotting in hell between a sub-human animal marxist and roger ailes is night and day. You see, this is the type of comparative crap that you sometimes lift your skirt for other people to see and you know what, it needs work because there is ZERO difference here.

Ignorance is Bliss said...

Peter might not have much of an opinion on Venezuelians, but he reserves a special place in hell for Brazilians.

DADvocate said...

Gee, I don't know what the left will say about Ailes when he dies. But, I can show you a few examples of what they say about him while he's alive.

Michael Harper • 6 months ago
−+

Flag as inappropriateHopefully he dies a horrible death, just as another Republican with no morals, Lee Atwater, did.

----
Peter Gatliff • a year ago
−+
Flag as inappropriateJoseph Gobbells would be proud of FOX. FOX picked up where Gobbells left off in 1945.
-----
Every one dies early. Ailes, if you take Peckinpah's warning as seriously as I do, should be considered a public health risk
-----
Rove and Ailes have been playing the Nuzi playbook fo Goebbels and Adolf

Kelly said...

Will Ailes get the kind of send off righties are giving Chavez? Of course. The left celebrates left wing thuggish dictators and hate business people who champion speech they don't

Drago said...

bgates: "Yeah, but given the opportunity Ailes would have quoted Chavez"

Well, we now know that accurately quoting a lefty is equivalent to an ad hominem attack....

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/03/05/krugman-accuses-scarborough-of-character-assassination-forquoting-him/

southcentralpa said...

Aruba:Kingdom of the Netherlands::
Scotland:UK

DADvocate said...

Marshal points out the Breitbart example. Here's what Rolling Stone said when Breitbart died.

Matt Taibbi, Headline: "Andrew Breitbart: Death of a Douche" From the first paragraph: "Good! Fuck him. I couldn’t be happier that he’s dead."

tiger said...

Professor? Let me know when Ailes accumulates a BILLION DOLLARS in stolen funds from money he could have used to better his country men's lives.

Let me know when Ailes starts closing down newspapers and tv stations that disagree with his policies

Let me know when Ailes has his opponents beaten in the streets.

For being a professor you sure say some infuriating dumb things.

roesch/voltaire said...

ripic, yes I laughed at the outrageous comments of Chavez, just as I am amused by those who have no sense of irony--no wonder you don't get the Althouse post.

ken in tx said...

I once had a Venezuelan girl friend. She said I was eat up with gringoitis because I stopped at stop signs when there was nobody coming. Apparently, only gringos stop at stop signs when there is nobody coming.

ken in tx said...

BTW, I know not to stop at stop signs when there is snow and ice on the road. I lived in Illinois for a while.

Freeman Hunt said...

The NYT just ran an article that Chavez's problem was incompetence not socialism. I laughed out loud.

test said...

Freeman Hunt said...
The NYT just ran an article that Chavez's problem was incompetence not socialism. I laughed out loud.


Of course they did. Maybe if we rebranded freedom as microsocialism leftists would stop being so terrified of it. We could point out all those perfect people who inexplicably haven't yet been in charge would get their chance.

Anonymous said...

I couldn't care less that Chavez died, I won't care when Ailes dies either. In the scheme of things that truly matter, they don't.

bagoh20 said...

"The NYT just ran an article that Chavez's problem was incompetence not socialism."

That's what they used to say about witch doctors, but we have science, and economics, and Nobel laureates now.

Baron Zemo said...

I hope Chavez is fated to listen to Nicky Minaj records through all eternity.

Steve Koch said...

"I wonder what people of the left will say when he (Roger Ailes)dies. Will we get the kind of "hell has a new resident" crude clichés we're hearing today from righties celebrating the departure of Hugo Chavez?"

Haha, Althouse with a comment that is even more clueless, uninformed, and preposterous than usual. I guess she has no clue what Chavez did to Venezuela, the outrages he perpetrated in Venezuela to destroy their democracy.

Roger Ailes increased freedom of the press by being instrumental in breaking the lefty monopoly on TV new in the USA.

How embarrassing for Althouse, she should stick to commenting on stuff like American Idol and just post links to the serious topics without any comment. Better to be silent and thought a fool than to speak and remove all doubt.

test said...

Inga said...
In the scheme of things that truly matter, they don't.


Chavez truly matters to the 29 million Venezualans losing their jobs and watching their once respectable country fall into economic chaos, and decent people don't make light of their tragedy.

I Callahan said...

There is no awareness of having died.

And you know this, exactly, how?

This is the kind of flippant comment that drives me nuts.

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

Marshal, I didn't make light of the plight of the Venezualan people. I see you continue to make straw men and expect others to defend them, that is weird.

Chavez's death means nothing to me, or to you if you were to be honest for once.

3/6/13, 3:45 PM

Steve Koch said...

Marshall,

It goes way past economic issues. Caracas has more murders and kidnappings per capita than any other major city in the world. The murder rate has tripled under Chavez. The middle class are afraid to leave their homes and that is how Chavez wanted it.

If a judge made a ruling that Chavez, he threw the judge in Venezuela's prisons, the same prisons that are among the worst in the world.

Take the case of Judge judge, María Lourdes Afiuni. Chavez threw one of his critics in a hellhole prison because he dared to criticize Chavez. After being in prison for years without even getting a trial (extremely common in Venezuela), Judge Afiuni freed him because he had served longer than any sentence he might receive for his transgression. Chavez was infuriated and threw Judge Afiuni in prison where she was repeatedly raped by the jailers.

Ann Althouse said...

"The "lightweight religion" tag--is that there due to Ailes' ruminations or some of the reactions to Chavez's death and to the Politico piece (in which the reaction Ailes' death is foreshadowed)?"

It's there because of "have a strong feeling there’s something bigger than us" and the backing away from it.

The stuff about hell isn't really lightweight, but I wasn't thinking about that.

Actually, I have a "hell" tag. Need to add it.

Ann Althouse said...

Oh, I see I had the hell tag.

Love that tag.

It comes up a lot.

Ann Althouse said...

If you really believed in hell, you wouldn't talk about it casually like people do.

Chavez is burning in hell? It's just a joke.

Steve Koch said...

I follow Venezuelan news very closely, I have family in Venezuela and worked closely for years with many Venezuelans in the oil business in Mexico.

Chavez was elected democratically the first time, 14 years ago. Venezuela is a great example of how the left destroys a democracy. Venezuela had a solid democracy with a vibrant, raucous free press before Chavez became president. Now there is only one TV station that dares to even mildly criticize the government and they are being regulated out of business by the government. The press measures their words very carefully, often just reprinting sections of the Venezuelan constitution without even daring to comment because they risk being thrown in hellish prisons by the Chavistas.

It can happen here. Anybody who trusts an all powerful central government to stay democratic is a fool and knows nothing about history. Our founders reakized the dangers of dictatorship and did their best to define a constitution that balanced power as much as possible between the states and the federal government and between the branches of the federal government. We have thrown that away.

When you vote for increasing the power of the federal government (i.e. vote dem), you are voting to increase the probability, over time, of dictatorship in the USA. Have some humility, recognize that the current political issues that are in the headlines are of little importance compared to the importance of preserving and restoring our constitutional republic.

jr565 said...

Well we know how the left will be when Ailes
Dies because we know how many of
Them were when breitbart died.

test said...

Inga said...
Marshal, I didn't make light of the plight of the Venezualan people.


Of course you did, you said the death of their oppressor, and therefore a chance to regain their freedom, doesn't "truly matter".

I see you continue to make straw men and expect others to defend them, that is weird.

You should learn what strawman means.

Chavez's death means nothing to me, or to you if you were to be honest for once.

You didn't write that Chavez's death means nothing to you, you wrote that it means nothing in the scheme of things that truly matter. Your comment here is getting close to the definition of strawman: changing your comment so you can claim mine isn't accurate.

Further you treated your phrases as interchangeable which means you believe they're equivalent (either that or you knew you were engaging in a dishonest attack). So in your view "truly mattering" is determined by how it effects Inga.

ampersand said...

Lots of dead people posting today.

Anonymous said...

Marshal, really? What is it with you?

Are you and Jr. related? LOL.

test said...

Inga said...
Marshal, really?


Yes, I really think when you're wrong when you attack someone you can expect them to to point it out.

dunce said...

America is full of old fat, ugly, conservative people but none of those thing are sins much less unforgivable sins. When Chavez took over the murder rate in the country took a big jump, many of those deaths God in his wisdom will credit to Hugo. That is just one tragedy that he is responsible for.

Anonymous said...

OK, sure, whatever you say Marshal, because whatever YOU say doesn't matter in the scheme of things that truly matter, to me and anyone else that thinks you are usually FOS.

test said...

Inga said...
OK, sure, whatever you say Marshal, because whatever YOU say doesn't matter in the scheme of things that truly matter, to me and anyone else that thinks you are usually FOS.


No doubt you and your ilk spend most of your time convincing yourselves uncomfortable facts don't "truly matter". That's leftism in a nutshell.

Methadras said...

Inga said...

OK, sure, whatever you say Marshal, because whatever YOU say doesn't matter in the scheme of things that truly matter, to me and anyone else that thinks you are usually FOS.


Hitting the sauce earlier again I see. Seek help, wino.

jr565 said...

Take the case of Judge judge, María Lourdes Afiuni. Chavez threw one of his critics in a hellhole prison because he dared to criticize Chavez. After being in prison for years without even getting a trial (extremely common in Venezuela), Judge Afiuni freed him because he had served longer than any sentence he might receive for his transgression. Chavez was infuriated and threw Judge Afiuni in prison where she was repeatedly raped by the jailers.

and yet Sean penn and Oliver stone eulogize this guy as if he's the second coming of MLK.

It's so funny about libs.
When it comes to repubs they are so quick to label the as hitler or goebbels, yet when faced with actual fascists and dictators they go soft and mushy.
Makes you realize they either don't know actual totalitarianism when they see it or simply don't care and are using their critique of tyranny as a means to an end.

William said...

The left believes that property rights should not trump human rights. That's just false on the most basic level. Property rights are a human right, When you start screwing with them, all the other human rights tend to evaporate.....Property rights were never very strong in South America. All those countries were founded on an ethos of conquest and plunder. Chavez is just a continuation of that. Instead of appropriating property on behalf of Christianity, he took it on behalf of the downtrodden. Same shit, different flies.

Anonymous said...

Methadras, yes because of course if someone says Marshal is FOS, they are drunk? What is YOUR excuse when you continuously call for the death of liberals, THAT is weird and sick. Althouse is unfortunately inhabited by such vermin such as yourself and you do not add to the quality of this blog. You appear extreme, violent and insane at times. While it is entertaining to us liberals, it's got to be embarrassing to your fellow conservatives.

MarkD said...

Me, I'm waiting for Hanoi Jane to drop.

jr565 said...

I can see a doctor telling you you're old, and fat even. But ugly?
That doctor has some serious balls.

I think such an assessment is actually from Ailes internal monologue and not from any actual statement made by a doctor.

The doctor probably just mentioned he was overweight for his age and could stand to lose a few pounds and Ailes internalized it to mean he was ugly.

jr565 said...

Back when the tolalitarian was Stalin, the left had Paul Robeson.

Now, they have Oliver Stone & Sean Penn.

From the founding of communism to the present you will find the left in bed with the socialist dictator of the day either in sympatico with or an actual cheer leader for.

Sigivald said...

Will we get the kind of "hell has a new resident" crude clichés we're hearing today from righties celebrating the departure of Hugo Chavez?

Probably.

And far less deserved, since as far as I know, Ailes never commanded the military/police establishment of a country he was effective dictator of.

(See Chuck's comment #3.

Ailes and Chavez are simply not in the same universe of moral comparison, even if one assumes - as I've seen so many of the Progressive Left do - that he was head of an empire of Pure Lies And Wicked Propaganda.)

Michael McNeil said...

3,000 days? Reminds me of Ray Bradbury's (who also died in the last year) affecting story “Frost and Fire” (collected in his R is for Rocket), about a world whose people (crash-stranded there many generations before) — due to the bizarre “solar” radiation that flooded the place — were born, grew up, and died in a lifespan of eight days. As a couple — who'd made their way to an intact spaceship out on the surface, within which they were protected from the awful radiation — learned, life could be much longer than that. How long? they wondered. Maybe, they speculated wildly, as long as (gasp!) a month?

3,000 days? Pshaw! A lot can happen in 3,000 days.

Indeed, a lot can happen in 365 days. In the BBC's production many years ago of the Six Wives of Henry VIII, in the episode about the one of his wives that he really actually loved, at least by the time of her death (I forget which one that was…), the tender couple exchange a story…

… About a man who offends the king, but before he can be put to death, he gushes out to the king a tall tale about how he can teach a horse to speak in only a year. Intrigued, the king stays the immediate execution of his sentence, provides the man with his favorite horse, a stable, and a parade ground to train it on, and told the guy that he (the king) will be back in a year, to retrieve his now-talking horse — and carry out the original sentence.

The man's friends are in despair, and advise him to be, too. But the man remained unperturbed. “I have a year,” he said. “A lot can happen in a year: the king might die, the horse might die,” [and, I'll add, the king might forget, or change his mind] — he went on, “I might die — or,” the man ended his argument triumphantly, “the horse might talk!”

(Paraphrased from memory for both stories. I might add that the latter tale had repercussions in the plot of that episode of the Six Wives.)

On the U.S. Health and Human Services department website, by the way, there's a forecast that by the year 2020 every organ in the human body will be capable of being regrown by what's termed “regenerative medicine.”

Hm… how many days is that away? :-) We live in very interesting times.

rcommal said...

Of course, Ray Bradbury also wrote "There will Come Soft Rains."

It strikes me as important that he wrote many things;--and that, often enough, the things he wrote were contrapuntal.

jr565 said...
This comment has been removed by the author.