November 20, 2008

"Attorney General Michael Mukasey collapsed Thursday night while giving a speech to the Federalist Society in Washington."

"Audience members said they began praying, fearing a stroke."

IN THE COMMENTS: Host with the Most said...
Hope he recovers.

This just in: Bush haters partying at the news.
I checked Daily Kos, where the front page post ended: "Justice Alito and former Attorney General Ashcroft were among those in attendance in this room of ~2000, and everyone there was pretty much silent, crying and praying quietly. Let us keep Mukasey in our prayers as well tonight."

There are 80 comments over there now, and they are completely respectful. One commenter says: "According to local news, he was giving a 'passionate speech' when he got stuck on and kept repeating a word. Then he pitched forward and lost consciousness."

UPDATE: Josh Marshall writes:
AG Mukasey was roughly twenty minutes into a speech defending the administration's counter-terrorism policies and particularly arguing against prosecutions of people who made decisions in the aftermath of 9/11 -- essentially arguing against what he believed amounted to the criminalization of policy differences. Mukasey appeared in earnest about it and appeared to choke up. Soon, what at first appeared to be choking up, blended into slurred words. And twenty to thirty seconds later he collapsed. His fall was broken by an FBI agent nearby.

81 comments:

Prosecutorial Indiscretion said...

He's a good man and a hell of a good AG. I hope he's ok.

a psychiatrist who learned from veterans said...

A lady collapsed in an audience while Kern Wildenthal, president of UT Southwestern Medical school was giving his remarks. Trained as an internist, he successfully did CPR.

Host with the Most said...

Hope he recovers.

This just in: Bush haters partying at the news.

MadisonMan said...

Never pass up and opportunity, HwtM, to slam the other side, even if it's over the body of someone respected.

That's why people respect everything that you write here.

Anonymous said...

Over at Kos, the discussion has now disintegrated into a debate on the usefulness of prayer. Heh.

Palladian said...

"There are 80 comments over there now, and they are completely respectful."

That's because someone is zapping non-respectful comments I think. I saw one that said something about "Bush & Co not paying for their crimes" but on reload, the comment was gone. I don't really know how things work over there, but I saw at least one negative comment go bye-bye. Still, happy to see so many respectful comments over there.

MadisonMan said...

At first I was hopeful it was dehydration or something like that. Who might not forget to drink enough before a big speech?

But the more I read, the more serious it looks. I hope the AG's back and in fine form soon.

MadisonMan said...

So if you were at a big event and the featured speaker fell ill like this, what would you do?

I think I'd go home and hug my kids. Maybe have a toast to the speaker's health.

Unknown said...

KJL's account:

Attorney General Michael Mukasey collapsed a few feet away from me while delivering a speech to the Federalist Society tonight. It was an important, impassioned speech from a serious man and dedicated public servant. Midway through he seemed rattled by a heckler who called him a "tyrant."

God bless the attorney general and his family and those like our friend Andy McCarthy who know and love him.

And God bless those — including my friend and hero Frank — who are quick enough and practical enough to know what to do in critical situations. Some quick and talented people tonight may have saved a good man's life.

Zachary Sire said...

Video of collapse (disturbing):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LsysbZDO2Dw

Hope he's ok.

Roberto said...

Host with the Most said..."This just in: Bush haters partying at the news."

What disgusting little man you are.

Heywood Rice said...

This just in: Bush haters partying at the news.

No “Host with the Most” you’re the one using this occasion as an opportunity to score points against “Bush haters” which at this point in time would probably describe any sane person who’s paying attention. In other words HwtM, you’re rolling around in your own shit.

Host with the Most said...

The 242 comments on Kos are unavailable.

Seriously, we have been over this ground before, several times. The left always has in it's mainstream a desire to see death and worse happen to those it demonizes. Now imagine Cheney succumbing to a heart attack.

What would the response of the compassionate left be?

The truth hurts, but it's still the truth.

Happy to get under your hateful skin, michael and antiphone. If the shoe fits . . .

Roberto said...

Host - You're a complete fool to even imply such garbage. The man may have suffered a stroke, may be in real trouble, and you're blathering on with comments like this: "The left always has in it's mainstream a desire to see death and worse happen to those it demonizes."

What the fuck is wrong with you?

Heywood Rice said...

The left always has in it's mainstream a desire to see death and worse happen to those it demonizes. Now imagine Cheney succumbing to a heart attack.

What would the response of the compassionate left be?


You really are utterly divorced from reality aren’t you? What you have there is a hypothetical situation and a question that would require speculation to answer and to you this proves something?

Host with the Most said...

Kos is up now. I'm not certain what Ann thinks is "respectful" at using the comments section about Mukasey. to take swipes at the Bush admin. It's their right, but respectful sound way too nice for these Bush haters. Read the Kos comments yourself.

Oh, and antiphone of little brain. You want a real example - just one of dozens on the hate from your political allies? (careful, michael just might start drooling on himself when he begins reading.

the comments on kos
about the death of Tony Snow


That's how the left is in America - sick and predictable.

michael and antiphone must be so proud.

Heywood Rice said...

That's how the left is in America - sick and predictable.

You’re a nasty little asshole --just you, mind you-- not everyone who may nominally share your political orientation. I want to be absolutely clear on this, you, HwtM, are a nasty little asshole. Got it?

Host with the Most said...

Hey antiphone and michael,

More examples of your political sides compassion bonafides:

Daily Kos when Charleton Heston died


You guys want to seem compassionate and mainstream when it suits you, and yet reserve the right to be haters and liars when that suits you.

You are beneath contempt for showing up here and calling me out for the stuff you haters do everyday.

Look in the mirror, antiphone, now that I've cut your balls off, and exposed you for the liar you are.

Get used to it. I'm gonna kick your lying, hating ass for the next 4 years.

Heywood Rice said...

Look in the mirror, antiphone, now that I've cut your balls off, and exposed you for the liar you are.

Psychotic.

Host with the Most said...

want to be absolutely clear on this, you, HwtM, are a nasty little asshole. Got it?

Antiphone, you got pantsed. You challenged me about a hypothetical, so I gave you just one example of the real thing, and then all you can do is whine and cuss.

Poor little person. No one is fooled by your immaturity in caring that you got caught with your pants down.

"I'm like Lionel Richie, I can go all night long".


Get some backbone, antiphone. Admit you made a mistake, and move on.

Heywood Rice said...

You challenged me about a hypothetical, so I gave you just one example of the real thing

You’ve proved that you are small minded and conditioned to see the big complex world in such bigoted terms that you can use anonymous posts on daily Kos to represent anyone who isn’t a wing nut like yourself. Your simplistic world view can only allow for wingnuts like yourself and “the left”, your enemies.

Host with the Most said...

antiphone, sigh,
antiphone

You can try and make it about someone other than you, but you've been exposed.

Better to quit now before the underwear gets down to your knees.

Heywood Rice said...

"I'm like Lionel Richie, I can go all night long".

Yes, I must admit this is devastating.

Donna B. said...

Category: Degeneration of a comment thread in the least number of posts.

I nominate this one.

Host with the Most said...

Does anyone else remember how Ann kept removing antiphone's comments because of the disrespect on the post about the death of Obama's grandmother?

Ann Althouse said...

Antiphone, you started the thread on a sour note. Anticipating disrespect, you were disrespectful.


Seems antiphone is the LAST person who should be criticizing in this very situation.

Host with the Most said...

Donna B.

Then if you read the post after yours, you will know why.

The comments here aren't even a thousandth of what the left - including several commenter's here dish out. It's high time their hypocrisy be painted on them and they have to pay for it.

Both michael and antiphone have had numerous comments removed and been warned by Ann. They are the height of hypocrisy and hubris coming here and telling me that I am out of line. I proved my point with the links that are indisputable evidence.

They deserve whatsoever.

Revenant said...

Host, you're embarrassing the right, amusing the left, and offending the middle. Step away from the keyboard, go into the kitchen, and pour yourself a tall glass of STFU.

Host with the Most said...

That's "they deserve NO SYMPATHY whatsoever".

Host with the Most said...

NO rev, I'll keep getting the better of these guys who have demonstrated the very thing I made my point about. Did you bother to check the link to the post of Ann's about the death of Obama's mother? Did you count how many times antiphone and michael had been deleted by Ann? FOR DOING THE VERY THING I MADE MY POINT ABOUT IN THE VERY BEGINNING?

Had too much to drink, rev?

You're an intelligent guy, but if you can't keep up on this one then please raise another glass and watch TV - it might make you happier.

Heywood Rice said...

Both michael and antiphone have had numerous comments removed and been warned by Ann.

Crybaby.

Host with the Most said...

I sat though 4 years of Bush hatred. Vile, inexcusable diarrhea of hatred that poured out on this blog.

If I can give even on thousandth of that back, then that's fair.

Roberto said...

Host, I have no idea how old you are but you sound as if you're about 12 years old.

I suggest you ask your parents to find you a good shrink.

Heywood Rice said...

I sat though 4 years of Bush hatred.

You poor little thing, and after everyone was so respectful of Bill Clinton.

Anonymous said...

It's true, Host. You are losing this fight.

It would be so much better to accept the kind comments of the people on the left and wish that there was more cordiality all the time.

Host with the Most said...

michael, thanks, but we've done the analysis, and you are the one that was determined to be insecure and unstable, remember?

So, you like to fling pee-pee and doo-doo comments at the others here.

How many times has Ann removed your comments? Let's see, that post I linked to above at 12:29 am, the one about Obama's Grandmother:

micheal was deleted by Ann 10 TIMES in that one post alone!

And antiphone was delted by Ann in that post 11 TIMES!


I have to go now, but I gotcha, so say whatever you want. Everyone knows what kind of person you are. You can't damage me or anyone else but yourself.

Host with the Most said...

seven

Losing?

I already won. Not one person has - or can with my evidence all linked - dispute my point about the left.

That's called winning, seven. I won the point.

Night.

Anonymous said...

But, Host, you shouldn't have said that people on the left are happy about the guy's illness. At least not without proof beforehand. It makes you look bad.

Revenant said...

Losing? I already won.

Only if your goal was to achieve the seemingly impossible task of acting like a bigger twit than either Michael or antiphone.

Host with the Most said...

seven,

Wrong again.

I look fabulous.

I'll explain in small words.

The left is predictable (I said that earlier). It is very rare on the conservative side to be as distasteful and uncompassionate as the left is when a human being of the opposing political stripe is physically hurt of in danger.

That's just the way they are.

And when they deny it or it makes some of the "moderates" or on the right uncomfortable, well, that's just too bad.

Because I've had years of that unadulterated shit.

I have as much right to comment here as you, seven. Sorry if this topic is too hot for you to handle.
I guess lawyers don't like confrontation.

Sweet dreams

dualdiagnosis said...

My working theory on the difference this time with Mukasey versus others is the video. It is much easier to demonize and celebrate these things when it's just the written word.

I believe if there were no video, and this story broke, the left would revert to form.

Host with the Most said...

rev, you're such a pussy.

Grow a pair.

Host with the Most said...

rev,

Stop shitting and tell me where I'm wrong about the left.

Otherwise, why don't you shut your fucking mouth?

Palladian said...

Jesus Christ, can we drop the fucking politics for a second and wish the man well?

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

Host -- I'm not telling what to do. I'm telling you what you should do. There's a vast difference.

Your argument is that you dislike the way the left reacts to death, illness, whatever on the right. Therefore, you are responding in exactly the way that you claim to dislike. And when asked to justify your behavior, you resort to examples of the very behavior you are simultaneously exhibiting and claiming to dislike.

It doesn't make any sense.

Host with the Most said...

Or as rev likes to put it, STFU.

You're the kid at high school that never quite made it into the popular crowd with the jocks, but you'd betray your regular friends in a second if you thought you could get one of the popular kids to throw a little your way.

Pitiful life isn't it?

You didn't have any reason to challenge me on this, but you'd thought you'd look good at my expense on something you either agree with me on or can't disprove. But you have to look good.

Go fuck yourself. The cheerleaders will never date you.

Host with the Most said...

seven,

I am not doing what the left does.

I wished Mukasey well. Palladian, did you read my first comment? My wife put him on our churches prayer chain. We prayed for him.

The left makes terrible and hateful comments in these cases all of the time, and this one turned out to be no different, as Kos has still some questionable comment posted and has deleted - this time - many of the more offensive.

I linked to Kos posts that pour out hatred at conservatives.

i linked to Althouse posts that include some of the same.

I did not make bad remarks about Mukasey.

I have NEVER gone on any site and wished the woprst for someone ailing or dead of the opposite poilitcal side. Nor will I.

Because that's how it is with me.

But it's not with the left.

And it never will be.

And making nice with people who hate you and me and the people we admire is not always a good thing.

Sometimes calling oput their hate and shit is a good thing.

Like tonight. I got far more out of this topic than I imagined.

I won bigger than I thought.

Thank you all.

Good night.

Host with the Most said...

My wife, who hates my cursing on the blog, read my comments and insisted that I mention that I when I began on Althouse, I would simply state my views. I was attacked personally early, often by Bush haters. I took it for a while as comments on older posts show. But I have had it with the double standard of hatred that flows form not only the left leaners, but the self-righteous police of the conservative/libertarian view. I was told to fuck myself a hundred times before I decided that no one was going to give it to me with out getting a dose back. Good for those of you who do better. But if you want better discourse, then look at where the majority of the crap comes from - personal taunts, etc., and figure out who to rebuke. It's not the people on your side.

Revenant said...

I wonder if Host and Michael are actually the same person? They've got the same style and writing style.

Anonymous said...

They may as well be the same person tonight.

dualdiagnosis said...

It is actually quite mild out there-

So that's what happens when you turn into a Sith...

Breaking: Pretzeldent Bush Collapses would be a much more inspiring headline. Oh well, I can only hope for it.


I’m biting my tongue.
Biting my tongue.
Biting my tongue. Biting my tongue.
Biting my tongue.

OK I give up I’m grinning, despite my upbringing
It couldn’t happen to a nastier guy.

If it’s a stroke, and he’s brain dead and on life support, will he be heading the GOP ticket in ‘12?

I mean, there’s historical precedent.

Consider the last eight years.

(Why are we supposed to get all “caring” when some unethical, self-serving asshat finally keels over?

What’s next?: “Oh, that poor Mr. Hitler. Died in that terrible Walther PPK gun mishandling incident . . . .”)


"Josh Marshall" has disabled comments on this entry.

dualdiagnosis said...

He is receiving excellent care and appreciates all of the good wishes and prayers he has received.

Even the "I wish you'd burn in hell, fucker!" wishes?
Supreme Commander Thor | 11.21.08 - 12:38 am

KCFleming said...

The next morning and "Attorney General Michael Mukasey is conscious and alert, after collapsing during a speech."
I hope he recovers. Getting old is hell.

Funny how under Bush the Left stopped at nothing in their hatred for him and his administration.

Nothing was held back. Dumpster diving, searching phone records, and just making shit up were par for the course. CBS made things up. All news was slanted. Iraq stories were lies; we were losing until we won. Palin was villified. Hell, even a private citizen was destroyed for asking a question. Ballots by the score "turn up" in peoples cars, all for the left, every one.

Now their man has won, and everyone wants to act civilized again. The MSM will do stories every once in awhile that actually tell the truth; a bone they throw to the right, a feint to their old traditions.

And somehow the right is supposed to remain acting like adults, because that's what they do. The left gets to behave like animals when out of power, but pretend to be civilized when they win. More, all their prior acts are not to be discussed again.

So I feel Host's frustration here. And I agree that behaving in a civilized manner is always preferred, but there has got to be some recognition that there are two sets of rules operating in this nation. And it's harder and harder to abide by Queensbury Rules when your opponent puts a nail in his glove.

When Michael and Antiphone get to pretend to be offended by the facts of their own past as if telling that truth was an act beyond the pale, well, shit, that's just one more reason for me to fade away.

I have to accept that what I have learned as right and good behavior is wrong, or at least it's ineffective and passé, anachronistic, quaint. The left has a what Revel calls "a highly spiritual need for falsehood", and their supposed return to adult codes is just playing cultural dress-up.

And I have come to share Revel's doubt that the West can survive that ideology. I only hope that some modern form of monastery can outlast this new Dark Age.

Hoosier Daddy said...

I wonder if Host and Michael are actually the same person? They've got the same style and writing style.

Exactly what I thought.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

Darnit.

I mist the fire fight.

I might as well, It would been hard to defend the Host.

KCFleming said...

"Exactly what I thought."

Christ almighty.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

So I feel Host's frustration here. And I agree that behaving in a civilized manner is always preferred, but there has got to be some recognition that there are two sets of rules operating in this nation. And it's harder and harder to abide by Queensbury Rules when your opponent puts a nail in his glove.

Food for though Pogo. Damwell said.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

What Pogo is saying will be cristal clear during this round of confirmation hearings.

Watch and compare.

Oh, thats right, TV is for the unhappy now ;)

Justin said...

Revenant said...

I wonder if Host and Michael are actually the same person? They've got the same style and writing style.

Absolutely not. They have a similar argument style, but not the same writing style. Lucy is distinctive in the way she likes to end a comment with a line that starts with an *. Example:

*And you wonder why I think you people are stupid.

She also likes to sign off with "blow me" or "and the suckfest continues" or something else similarly inane.

Host, on the other hand, doesn't do any of this. When Lucy first returned as "Michael", she tried to disguise herself by altering her writing style. It didn't last very long. I believe this is because she can't sustain it. Eventually, she shows her true, small-minded, bigoted, obnoxious self.

I think the one big similarity between the two (the tendency to get obsessed with something and then hammer it until the world ends) is confusing you. Or maybe you just aren't as fascinated by trolls as I am. I'm a connoisseur.

Newtons Bit said...

If the comments on Kos were respectful then, they certainly aren't now. Some of them are actually cheering.

"Fuck his whole fucked up family. I'm glad to see one of them leave this world.

Do you have any perspective on how much this filthy pig betrayed the whole nation? Or the world?

I await the announcement of the location of his grave, so that I can organize a drunken party to urinate on it.

Good riddance. Is he dead yet?"

Unless that's the definition of respectful...

knox said...

I wonder if Host and Michael are actually the same person? They've got the same style and writing style.


Host is definitely a sock puppet.

X said...

if kos & huffpo commenters were being respectful then that is certainly MAN BITES DOG news to anyone with a functioning memory.

Henry said...

Pogo wrote: And it's harder and harder to abide by Queensbury Rules when your opponent puts a nail in his glove.

Sheesh. We're talking about comments on blog posts here, not Rumble in the Bronx.

There's only one person on Althouse who can elevated scatalogy to an art form and that is Palladian. The rest of us have to find a different niche.

Host, where you went wrong is by even bothering with KOS.

Our old friend Sippican had this to say in a recent post on his blog:

I decided to stop listening to people being upset for no reason. It doesn't matter if you're not like that yourself. Sooner or later it seeps in through the pores no matter what you think.

This is why I tend to skip your comments. And Michael's, whoever it is.

KCFleming said...

"We're talking about comments on blog posts here"

I was speaking primarily of the MSM. It's on every news channel, newspaper, comedy TV show, and even seeps into sports, so it's hard to avoid. Kos and other lefty blogs merely follow their lead, but descend to uglier depths.

I agree heartily with Sippican on the matter that [s]ooner or later it seeps in through the pores no matter what you think, hence my wavering on eschewing vists here entirely.

Not a big loss, I know.

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

Reading comments on blog posts is a good way to get a really skewed view of the world. I don't think you could pay me to wade through Kos. At least on Althouse the skewed view is idiosyncratic and often comic. To be clear, Pogo, your comments I don't skip.

Once written, twice... said...

Hey I actually agree with Seven Machos for once!

Can all reasonable people agree that there are jerks on both sides that post mean and vile things when personal tragedy strikes a leading political figure from the other side? When I see it on the left I find it embarrassing and it makes me want to become a conservative for the day. But in the end I know that the vast majority of people of all political persuasions (except Nazis of course) are decent individuals.

Brian Doyle said...

Host, you're embarrassing the right, amusing the left, and offending the middle. Step away from the keyboard, go into the kitchen, and pour yourself a tall glass of STFU.

LOL. Well said, Rev.

Meade said...

"He was a great patriot, a humanitarian, a loyal friend; provided, of course, he really is dead."

Voltaire

Fatmouse said...

Good lord, weeks after the rise of Obamanation and the left has instantly forgotten about their hate-spewing over the last... well, forever.

"What, disrespectful? We were always very polite, now you need to be too!"

Oh, and for all the whiners piling on Host, he was entirely correct, just ahead of the curve.

Big Mike said...

I was going to point out that there are now about 400 comments posted on Kos and the tone of many, perhaps most, of them really are pretty nasty. Not that I'd want Ann Althouse readers to drop everything and go over there.

But now I see that we've got a nasty little exchange going on right here. Note for Michael and antiphone: yes, there really are people on your side of the argument who hate George W. Bush with such a blind, unreasoning, passion that they'd cheerfully watch the entire country go down the tubes if only they can figure out a way to blame Bush. I disagree with you, Mr. Lee. The level of jerkiness is not equally balanced. I talk with many people much further right than I, and I recollect no one who wished Bill Clinton -- or Barack Obama --the same level of ill-will that today's lefties wish on Bush.

(Anticipating Michael and antiphone, those of us on the right fully agreed with Clilnton's impeachment -- lying about sex is is called perjury when you are lying under oath, and it is a felony.)

Host with the Most said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Host with the Most said...

Pogo, Thank you for your eloquence here.

Thank you to Big Mike and Fatmouse, too. You may not agree with me always or my style, but you at least discussed the point.

As for Henry, I never read you until now. I won't read you again.

And the ones I used to highly respect: Revenant and seven machos:

You both sit on the sidelines and critique the quality of the discussion, but never entered anything of value or substance in the discussion itself. Why couldn't you venture forth as to the rightness or wrongness of what I was saying? You didn't. You just criticised how I said it.

I am ashamed for you both. You are are gutless cowards in this. Go back to your cushy, unaffected lives that aren't concerned with the real lives of people in this country impacted by the day to day politics of this country. Thanks for pretending to give a damn about this country. We all know better now.

dualdiagnosis said...

L.E. Lee said- But in the end I know that the vast majority of people of all political persuasions (except Nazis of course) are decent individuals.

That's the key right there. The left sees conservatives as Nazis.

Once written, twice... said...

Dualdiagnsis you should know that some of my best friends are conservatives. I take it you are speaking in jest.

Does everyone remember when Bob Grant, one of the early stars of conservative radio, said on his program upon hearing that Clinton's Commerce Sec. Ron Brown's plane had crashed that "My hunch is [Brown] is the one survivor. I just have that hunch. Maybe it's because at heart I'm a pessimist." Most conservatives that I know were horrified by that.

This crap goes on both sides. It was over the top during the Clinton years as well as during the Bush years.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Grant_(radio)#Controversial_statements_about_race

dualdiagnosis said...

The fact that you are going back 22 years and quoting some 3rd tier radio host speaks volumes.

Once written, twice... said...

Dualdiagnosis,

The fact that you took my quote

"But in the end I know that the vast majority of people of all political persuasions (except Nazis of course) are decent individuals."

and somehow twisted that into that I think conservatives are Nazis speaks volumes.

Go over to the Free Republic website for current examples of rightwing nut speak. Once again it happens on both sides.

dualdiagnosis said...

I don't even know who you are, my point was that what you said is how people are able to justify their behavior. Many see the right as evil, therefore the utter delight at death or illness

Once written, twice... said...

Dualdiagnosis wrote "The fact that you are going back 22 years and quoting some 3rd tier radio host speaks volumes."

Another thing Dualdiagnosis, it was 12 years ago that Ron Brown died not 22 as you claimed. Also, Bob Grant, who is still on the air, was not a 3rd tier radio host that you can easily dismiss. He played a big role in creating the conservative talk radio format. I find it hilarious that you can get your panties in a twist over the crazy postings from some anonymous left wing nuts and then blithely dismiss the bad behavior on the part of a prominent conservative talk radio host.

dualdiagnosis said...

12 years, not 22. I stand by my 3rd tier radio host statement.

The netroots on the left are built on this hate.

Once written, twice... said...

and so are the right netroots. Duh!