February 9, 2020

"Facebook’s decision not to remove the video came after it honored a request by Ms. Pelosi’s office and took down a video on Thursday that was doctored to make it appear as though she were swallowing Tide pods."

"The video, which was still posted on Twitter on Saturday, was apparently made by manipulating a 2018 video of Ms. Pelosi sampling chocolates on 'The Late Show With Stephen Colbert.' Facebook said that video violated a policy against showing people eating Tide pods, which it created in 2018, after videos spread on social media encouraging people to bite down on the brightly colored laundry detergent packets."

From "Pelosi Clashes With Facebook and Twitter Over Video Posted by Trump/The video was edited to appear as if Speaker Nancy Pelosi were ripping a copy of President Trump’s State of the Union address while he honored a Tuskegee airman and military families" (NYT).

Big Streisand effect here. The NYT links to the Donald Trump tweet with Pelosi ripping up the SOTU after each of the most moving parts of the speech, encouraging readers to watch a video they have missed, the NYT has directed me to another Pelosi-mocking video — in this case, one that I had missed. They didn't give the link for this but they told me where to find it. Here:

I don't know when Twitter added that "Twitter Safety" bit, but it's interesting that the NYT didn't mention it when it contrasted Twitter and Facebook. I think the Twitter approach of labeling is much better than Facebook's outright censorship. It's important to be able to make comic videos!

This post gets my "Era of That's Not Funny" tag.

82 comments:

tim maguire said...

I doubt I would have heard of it, and given its length, I definitely wouldn’t have watched it, if Pelosi hadn’t complained about it.

rhhardin said...

It appeals to morons anyway. All the "sacred" parts of the speech were contrived as soap opera. Pelosi disrespects soap opera, is the message. So it piles on more soap opera.

Who's the audience.

Also the paper speech as sacred is in Koran territory. How nuts is that.

Lurker21 said...

Facebook said that video violated a policy against showing people eating Tide pods, which it created in 2018, after videos spread on social media encouraging people to bite down on the brightly colored laundry detergent packets."

Liz Warren has a policy for that too.

Not sure yet if she's for or against eating Tide pods, but she definitely does have a policy.

pacwest said...

Linking the Trump ad to the fake tide pod video in the minds of the readers. Both fake obviously. I'm dizzy.

mockturtle said...

It's really quite unnecessary to mock Pelosi.

gilbar said...

It's important to be able to make comic videos!

yes, Obviously; It is a Constitutional RIGHT to make fun of republican leaders...
HOWEVER! it is HATE SPEECH to attempt to insult democrats

DEMOCRATS ARE ABOVE THE LAW.... NO ONE HAS ANY RIGHT TO INSULT A DEMOCRAT
if you want to enjoy your Constitutional right to insult republicans, make sure you are insulting Republicans
There is NOTHING in our living Constitution that implies, in Any way that you are allowed to make fun of Democrats

robother said...

Viewed sequentially, the videos make an effective anti-Tide pod abuse commercial.

This is your Speaker.

This is your Speaker on Tide pods.

Any questions?

Mr. Forward said...

Won't the suds interfere with the dunking?

rhhardin said...

Tide pods are a menstruation joke.

AllenS said...

Maybe pods are a health benefit. I remember way back when the consumption of marijuana was bad, bad, bad, but now, it seems to be some kind of health benefit. Who knew?

If you have really bad breath, biting into a pod would be good news for those close to you. Win win.

stevew said...

I'm quite amused that FB has a policy against showing people eating TidePods. And both Pelosi videos are humorous.

I like the "Era of That's Not Funny" tag, maybe a new tag: "Lighten Up Francis" would fit too.

Pelosi would do well to embrace the power of laughing at these things.

wendybar said...

It was okay when Democrats had Paul Ryan pushing "his" grandmother off a cliff though, right??

Wilbur said...

I like the Trumpy Bear sitting behind her.

I considered buying one, just to mail it to my stepdaughter's in-laws, the most insufferable Leftists this side of ... well, Streisand.

gilbar said...

wendybar said...
It was okay when Democrats had Paul Ryan pushing "his" grandmother off a cliff though, right??


Paul Ryan is a Republican.
The Living Constitution Explicitly States that you have the Right to insult Republicans

Browndog said...

Under the new Twitter "safety" rules that go into effect next week, it sure looks like they intend to ban all memes.

Talk about "that's not funny!".

Browndog said...

Also the paper speech as sacred is in Koran territory. How nuts is that.

You know what's really nuts?

Pretending the issue is about printed words on a piece of paper.

rhhardin said...

Why pretend it's about printed words then.

MikeR said...

"The video was edited to appear as if Speaker Nancy Pelosi were ripping a copy of President Trump’s State of the Union address while he honored a Tuskegee airman and military families" That's not even true. She tore his SOTU address after he honored a Tuskegee airman etc. The video just juxtaposes them. The Pelosi tearing clip is clearly just being repeated over and over.

rhhardin said...

Entropy went up when Pelosi tore up the speech, at least I suppose so.

It would be more obvious is the she had a Speaker's Paper Shredder at her chair. How cool would that be.

AllenS said...

“He shredded the truth, so I shredded his speech,” Pelosi told House Democrats, according to multiple sources in the room. “What we heard last night was a disgrace.”

In other words, Pelosi thinks that the story about the Tuskegee airman and military families were lies and a disgrace. Do I have that correct? That's why she ripped up his speech?

rhhardin said...

The Senate Paper Shredder could be used to respond to impeachment bills from the House.

Fernandinande said...

I don't think people should make fun of laundry detergent just because it tastes good.

rhhardin said...

Lie and disgrace is like high crimes and misdemeanors. It includes other stuff, like soap opera.

Browndog said...

When Twitter says it will only allow tweets that are factually accurate they are saying, in affect, that everything on Twitter is factually accurate.

The ultimate "fact checker" power move.

rhhardin said...

The SOTU should include dog rescue videos, in my opinion. Buttigieg can do it.

rcocean said...

Pelosi is a typical Democrat. Never can one second, can she put aside her left-wing feeling and attitudes and behave like the Constitution or tradition demands she act. She's Speaker of the House, and is supposed to behave in a dignified manner and represent the House of Representatives when dealing with the President of the USA.

But like i said, she's a liberal/leftist, so all that tradition means shit to her. Its all about the Democrat party and pushing leftism. So, she tears up speeches like a 12 y.o. girl.

rcocean said...

From an R point of view, she's helping us every time she talks before a camera or pulls a stupid stunt.

Bob Smith said...

Remember folks. The Dems want to be Gods replacement in your life and

“GOD IS NOT MOCKED”

Anonymous said...

"Facebook’s decision not to remove the video came after it honored a request by Ms. Pelosi’s office and took down a video on Thursday that was doctored to make it appear as though she were swallowing Tide pods."

Funniest sentence I've read so far this year.

So deadpan, so perfect.

Michael K said...

Pelosi is a typical Democrat. Never can one second, can she put aside her left-wing feeling and attitudes and behave like the Constitution or tradition demands she act. She's Speaker of the House, and is supposed to behave in a dignified manner and represent the House of Representatives when dealing with the President of the USA.

Pelosi is an inside worker who is effective dealing with the billionaire donors but lousy on the public stage. Hubert Humphrey was a stiff in public but my father-in-law knew him and said he was a warm and funny guy in small groups. George W Bush is similar. Pelosi is up against the
master showman of this era. She has become the face of the Democrats because Schumer is worse and in the minority. AOC threatens to be come the face and horrifies the donors. Consequently, Nancy is pushed forward to a place she doesn't belong. She is an insider, like Mayor Daley in Chicago. She is doing what she thinks is needed to oppose Trump who has driven the leftist base crazy.

She is pitiful.

Chuck said...

This is why I don’t just hate Trump; I hate Trump’s fans.

The unfunny part of this story is the actual service of Tuskegee Airman Charles McGee. And when now-Brig. Gen McGee was honored, Speaker Pelosi stood and cheered. Standing ovation. That’s the real video. At the moment that Pelosi and Pence stood to cheer Gen. McGee, that’s the moment when the Trumpist video makers cut away to the image of her ripping the speech.

Why are Trump supporters now shoving Gen. McGee into the middle of the Washington food fight?

This was such a nasty bit of political lying; Althouse I will never forget your sanguine acceptance of this particular Trumpian garbage.

You may think it as having a Streisand Effect, but I think it is a good thing to show to independents. Show them how Trump minds work. Because otherwise, I think the Trump campaign wants to show crap like the edited thing to fanatical Trump cultists*, and show much more moderated stuff to wider audiences.

*Like the Althouse readership.

wendybar said...

gilbar said...
wendybar said...
It was okay when Democrats had Paul Ryan pushing "his" grandmother off a cliff though, right??

Paul Ryan is a Republican.
The Living Constitution Explicitly States that you have the Right to insult Republicans
2/9/20, 7:14 AM

Thank you!! My reeducation has failed me. (I hope I don't get sent to the gulag next!) I will make sure I remember that next time!!

wendybar said...

Chuck. Give it up. Nobody cares what you think.

Meade said...

"*Like the Althouse readership."

Says the self hater who reads and even comments on the Althouse blog.

Browndog said...

If someone wasn't so obtuse they would know the point of the video is to illustrate the stated accomplishments and praise of Gen. McGee were written in the speech. The same speech Nancy tore up because she couldn't find one truthful statement.

JML said...

I thought about printing up one of the comments discussing why someone hates Trump fans, then rip it in half. But it just isn’t worth the effort.

WWIII Joe Biden, Husk-Puppet + America's Putin said...

Twitter must protect delicate leftists from evil hate-speech. Hate-speech is anything that goes against the progressive hivemind.

Seeing Red said...

Socialism isn’t funny.

CWJ said...

Chuck wrote -"This is why I don’t just hate Trump; I hate Trump’s fans."

Bookmark this. You can substitute it for the text of every Chuck statement past present and future. It is his Ur comment.

Tom T. said...

Chuck, you'd think you'd know better than to pursue that line on the blog that invented the term "civility bullshit."

bagoh20 said...

The Twitter policy seems to be that if you can't say something nice, don't say anything, which would make Twitter extinct.

Breezy said...

Nancy’s temper tantrum is now a classic. I submit it’s more memorable than the articles of impeachment. Sad!

DavidD said...

Chuck said...
“This is why I don’t just hate Trump; I hate Trump’s fans.

The unfunny part of this story is the actual service of Tuskegee Airman Charles McGee. And when now-Brig. Gen McGee was honored, Speaker Pelosi stood and cheered. Standing ovation.”

So we agree that Pelosi is a liar, then. Good; now we’re just arguing whether she was lying when she gave him the ovation or lying when she said the speech was crap.

mccullough said...

This is how Memes work.

Somebody tell the Rich Old White Lady.

If you’re complaining you’re losing.

Enjoy your pens. Trump is shoving them up your ass.

SGT Ted said...

“Twtter Safety” is also their SJW censorship and banning arm.

Equipment Maintenance said...

I'm kinda get the feeling Chuck would send me to a re-education camp, if he could.

WWIII Joe Biden, Husk-Puppet + America's Putin said...

Chuck - most of the house dems in the chamber did NOT stand and clap.
You sit shoulder to shoulder with the pac-man high-school grrrls in white?

WWIII Joe Biden, Husk-Puppet + America's Putin said...

Still.

These Nancy pens are going fast...

chickelit said...

Chuck said...This is why I don’t just hate Trump; I hate Trump’s fans.

Chuck you too farley. Longly and hardly too.

Seriously, if you Pelosi apologists want to make a point, why don't you say that she was very careful to rip only certain pages of the speech...that she kept certain pages of the speech sorted and set aside in a separate pile...that she only ripped the pages which transcribed Trump's gloating about the economy. But she didn't do that you fool. She made a school girl error by appearing to rip the whole document. She deserves every bit of the public criticism she's getting.

Mike (MJB Wolf) said...

How long before we are treated to the bald-faced lie that LLR “never defended Nancy Pelosi” even though that is the intent and purpose explicit in his post here? This self-policing ban thingy doesn’t work with liars so obtuse as Chuckler. He just can’t stop coming by to humiliate himself in his attempts to derail Althouse’s blog.

Chuck said...

Speaker Pelosi stood and cheered General McGee when Trump announced him. She joined in a lengthy standing ovation. Full stop.

That’s it. The rest is not just Trumpist blather. It is extremist Trump cultism.

I want every Republican to have to go on record about this “ad” and its editing. Every Republican will have a canned response along the lines of, “Well the main thing we oppose is Pelosi’s tearing of the printed speech.”

The interviewer should listen and then say, “Yes I understood that opposition but I am asking about this particular video and its editing. Can you please answer directly whether the President should Tweet this video out to all of his supporters?”

In the end, I expect that most Trump-supporting Republicans will dig in on more support for the President and the video editing.

But I also think some percentage of Republicans and Independents will be peeled away. 6%; 8%; 10%; 12%. Who knows? The important thing is that Trump’s 2016 victory was so narrow, the loss of just a small percentage — 1% in Michigan — of his base will be enough to defeat him.

rcocean said...

Shorter Chuck: Look at me! Hey, I'm here. Look at me. Pay attention. Whee..[does cartwheel]. Talk about Me!

Mike (MJB Wolf) said...

... will be enough to defeat him.

Only two states will escape the Trump landslide and MI ain’t one of them. Dream on you Democrat plant.

WWIII Joe Biden, Husk-Puppet + America's Putin said...

Mocking slimy Pelosi and corrupt Schitt should be the highest form of super-legal hyper-drive free speech and l.o.v.e. love.

Beasts of England said...

’The important thing is that Trump’s 2016 victory was so narrow, the loss of just a small percentage — 1% in Michigan — of his base will be enough to defeat him.’

😂

Trump wins at least thirty-five states in 2020. Put up or shut up, whiner.

stevew said...

Trump honored General McGee by having him present at the SOTU and telling a bit of his story.

Pelosi tore up her paper copy of Trump's SOTU speech, saying afterward that her action was justified because everything in the speech was a lie and a disgrace.

Full stop. That's it.

Mike (MJB Wolf) said...

... will be enough to defeat him.

Only two states will escape the Trump landslide and MI ain’t one of them. Dream on you Democrat plant.

Michael K said...

But I also think some percentage of Republicans and Independents will be peeled away.

2 % the last I read. By November there will be 12 of you left.

Bill Peschel said...

Our sins to Chuck is that we hold Nancy Pelosi to her words:

"Pelosi tore up her paper copy of Trump's SOTU speech, saying afterward that her action was justified because everything in the speech was a lie and a disgrace."

Like that one.

Curious George said...

Chuck said...
This is why I don’t just hate Trump; I hate Trump’s fans....

This was such a nasty bit of political lying; Althouse I will never forget your sanguine acceptance of this particular Trumpian garbage."

I think Chuck is about to go "postal" on this blog. I'd take precautions Meadehouse.

Gospace said...

Chuck said...
This is why I don’t just hate Trump; I hate Trump’s fans.

The unfunny part of this story is the actual service of Tuskegee Airman Charles McGee. And when now-Brig. Gen McGee was honored, Speaker Pelosi stood and cheered. Standing ovation. That’s the real video. At the moment that Pelosi and Pence stood to cheer Gen. McGee, that’s the moment when the Trumpist video makers cut away to the image of her ripping the speech.


And during that the Squad remained sitting and silent. They should have cut to a split screen showing that.

Yancey Ward said...

Twitter and Facebook busy creating rules to help prevent paper cuts.

n.n said...

A point of leverage subject to progress by witch hunts, warlock trials, and other machinations where truth is spoken to facts. Anyway, what's good for the Ass, is good for the Elephant. That said, we should probably curb our gay indulgence before this path reaches a dysfunctional convergence.

narciso said...

he's like marving the martian, mostly harmless.

Jim at said...

This is why I don’t just hate Trump; I hate Trump’s fans. - Chuck

It's OK. We hate you, too, asshole.

Chuck said...


Blogger Gospace said...
“Chuck said...
This is why I don’t just hate Trump; I hate Trump’s fans.

The unfunny part of this story is the actual service of Tuskegee Airman Charles McGee. And when now-Brig. Gen McGee was honored, Speaker Pelosi stood and cheered. Standing ovation. That’s the real video. At the moment that Pelosi and Pence stood to cheer Gen. McGee, that’s the moment when the Trumpist video makers cut away to the image of her ripping the speech.”

And during that the Squad remained sitting and silent. They should have cut to a split screen showing that.


Then that might have been honest video.

Not like the dishonest, deceptive, nasty bit of dumbass garbage that the Current Occupant liked so much that he broadcast it on his Twitter page.

“Such a fine line, between stupid and clever.” David St. Hubbins in Spinal Tap.

mockturtle said...

This is why I don’t just hate Trump; I hate Trump’s fans.

Well, Chuck, we'd hate you, too, if you were worth the emotional expenditure. Why don't you just go snivel at Mommy's knee, where you belong?

Birkel said...

Fuck off, racist fopdoodle.

FIGHT me!

Chuck said...

Are there any Trump fans who think it was a bad idea for Trump to dig into this phony video personally, posting it on his own Twitter account?

Because he could have left it alone; and kept his fingerprints off this nasty piece of work. It wasn’t a Trump production. It wasn’t White House Communications. The Trump campaign could have helped quietly steer it into the internet’s alt-right backwaters of Trumpism.

But now Trump has taken a kind of ownership, and so every other Republican will have to answer for it. Is that good for Republicans in purple states and swing districts of educated independent voters?

Birkel said...

Racist fopdoodles have plenty to answer for.

Beasts of England said...

’But now Trump has taken a kind of ownership, and so every other Republican will have to answer for it.’

Under oath!! 🤣

narciso said...

you're on double secret probation, don't you know beasts, sigh.

TJM said...

They defied her Imperial Highness, Nasty Pelosi, Empress of Fecesdom!

Beasts of England said...

You know that’s my nominal status, narc. ;)

Hammond X. Gritzkofe said...

"...I don’t just hate Trump; I hate Trump’s fans."

H8ers gonna H8. Tsin there n8ure.

pious agnostic said...

I can't tell from that Tidepod video:

Did the Speaker of the House have her dentures in? Or was she free-gummin' them

Narayanan said...

How about this :

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) defended Pelosi, arguing that her actions are protected under the First Amendment.

_____&&&&&+++++
Q: Whether House member can can shred USA Constitution and not be expelled?

Narayanan said...

Q 4 Chuck : Can't Pelosi take Trump to court for defamation?

n.n said...

Racist fopdoodles have plenty to answer for.

Diversity breeds adversity and is a progressive condition that needs to be mitigated to avoid a dysfunctional convergence. We cannot afford more Hutu/Tutsi abortion fields, or Mandela sectarian lynch mobs, or intratribal Anasazi genocides (or even Chinese/Tibetan).

Crazy World said...

I retweeted it because she’s so very disgusting.

Crazy World said...

This Chuck person reads like a spurned lover, did President Trump reject him?

Bunkypotatohead said...

Pelosi should keep some TidePods in her purse. Next time she gets an urge to make a foolish public display, just chomp down on one. Then no matter what, Facebook will remove any images associated with it.