June 13, 2011

"I feel like calling her back and smacking her around."

A Wisconsin recall candidate has a run-in with an overeager answering machine.

I don't know what's funnier. Clark's accidental recording or the gleeful exploitation of it by the other side:
“This disturbing and inappropriate comment gives us an unfortunate glimpse of what Representative Clark is like when he thinks no one is listening. Domestic violence is a devastating problem in our state , and abuse is on the rise. To be able to so freely threaten violence against a woman, even in jest, shows a tremendous lack of character.”
Everybody's a radical feminist.

IN THE COMMENTS: mccullough said:
Rule 4: Make opponents live up to their own book of rules.

40 comments:

Phil 314 said...

A Gordon Brown moment.

Fred4Pres said...

Clark needs to get her twitter account and send her a wiener pic.

mccullough said...

Rule 4: Make opponents live up to their own book of rules

Fred4Pres said...

The customer is always right. The customer here is the voter. Clark screwed up.

The Dude said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
paul a'barge said...

Hang on! What happened to personal choice.

Maybe she is into bondage and rough play. Maybe she would enjoy being smacked around.

You never know with those feminists. They're all "men suck" in public but then they're all "spank me and make me talk dirty" in private.

Unknown said...

Since "smacking her around" by calling her back seems pretty tame, I guess we can say "sticks and stones may break my bones..."

John Burgess said...

I wonder that Althouse seems compelled to play 'Hide the Party' in her post.

Dustin said...

Yeah, name that party? I'm going to guess it's a democrat.

Dustin said...

I was right!

AllenS said...

I don't know what's funnier. The Althouse Woman's telling of the gleeful exploitation of it by the other side, or not identifing the other side.

george said...

If Palin made that comment and then in some out of the way place, somewhere on the planet, a woman got punched the press would have headlines that Palin's hate speech lead to the beating. It really is beyond parody now.

If a Dem acts like a thug, and the press refuses to hear it, did he ever make a sound?

edutcher said...

The Demos are really on a roll.

And don't forget Little Zero cracking wise over the shovel-readiness of Stimulus I and II at a meeting of his Job Council.

Is Willie sending free snorts of brother Rog's coke to every officeholder in the country?

Lincolntf said...

Hahaha. The WI Libs have themselves done more to expose the grimy goons behind all the happy-slappy campaign/protest signs than any "mole" or "plant" ever could. These people are the worst of the worst, the lowest of the low, in American politics. Anything that embarrasses or disgraces them is a small boon for the country.

windbag said...

I'm no apologist for lefties, but his words were rhetorical. Calling her back and smacking her around. NOT showing up to her house and smacking her around. Still a poor choice of phrasing for any politician, but not the bombshell some will make of it.

"We kicked a little ass." George Bush post-VP debate with Geraldine Ferraro. A Repub couldn't say that today w/o a public crucifixion.

Penny said...

"Some women need beatin'."

Impressive use of the apostrophe.

Chip S. said...

She's hittin' back twice as hard.

The Crack Emcee said...

"To be able to so freely threaten violence against a woman, even in jest, shows a tremendous lack of character.”

If it's in jest, that's called a "joke," and shows somebody has no sense of humor.

Go on - beat me up over it.

Ann Althouse said...

I thought it would be more interesting for you to react before knowing which party was which. Obviously, once you click, you'll know. It's a good test of your neutral principles.

Synova said...

I think that trying to claim it was about domestic violence in order to be more outraged is silly. Does it really matter what metaphor the fellow employed as part of his unforced error?

Can I say it was a "deadly unforced error," without it being about death threats to politicians?

Anonymous said...

The pretended outrage over minor gaffes from both sides of the aisle just adds to the public's perception that politicians are lightweights. Wait until he goes over to her house and smacks her around before mounting that high horse and stampeding around the internet.

X said...

windbag I agree. It's rhetorical, but also petty and vindictive, which we all are. I'm sure she hopes he's not on her Death Panel.

AllenS said...

I did have to click on the link. Most times, I don't click on the link. It's not important to me where the link leads. I'm interested in the comments. Or, the way the thread is started. That is what interests me.

Seeing Red said...

It's like at a-hole rep in AZ smacking his paper on the table in front of that female constituent cos she dared to ask or respond.

The A-hole won in 2010.


They could have chosen the female republican rocket scientist but nooooo.......

Seeing Red said...

This wasn't a "gaffe."


He thought he wasn't being recorded and let his character shine.


pulousy?


Pelosi - lolololol

Anonymous said...

BREAKING NEWS!

Barack Obama says in an exclusive interview with NBC's Ann Curry that Democrat Anthony Weiner should resign his Congressional seat in the wake of his sex scandal involving sending naked photographs of himself to young students on the internet.

Barack Obama: "I can tell you that if it was me, I would resign. When you get to the point where, because of various personal distractions, you can't serve as effectively as you need to, at the time when people are worrying about jobs, and their mortgages, and paying the bills — then you should probably step back,’’ Obama told Weiner through Curry.

The entire interview will air exclusively on NBC's Today Show tomorrow morning.

Skyler said...

Clearly, his comment was not serious, nor was it intending actual violence, but it is still just as indicative of his attitude towards his constituents.

KCFleming said...

1. In real life, this is a stupid waste of time. It was not a real threat, and exposed something about his character. Maybe.

2. But we all have to live by Alinsky now, so screw him.

I hope the left is happy with 24/7 all politics all the time. Try to live the perfect life, ladies and germs, because every misstep will be photographed and paraded.

Why even just today, Rep. Weiner was caught driving a car with illegal license plates.

Nobody gets any rest, ever.
Thanks, Saul!

Dark Eden said...

Was it 100 pages of death threats against Scott Walker that the media showed absolutely no interest in?

The Dude said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Carol_Herman said...

I LOVE the Internet! This is better than the National Enquirer catching the Silk Pony in the basement of a hotel, running away. When he went to visit his out-of-wedlock daughter.

What the Internet does ... is take something LOCAL ... And, it goes up so high ... all the nutworks ... and all the cable channels ... either pick it up. Or lose ground.

Oh, to be a politician, running for office, still requires the old fashioned finger ... As it whirls the telephone dial around.

Even better, this putz wanted to call the woman back ... when all she said to his question about running by having her assemblymen recalled was "WHAT A CRIME."

Maybe? Maybe, someday we will look at all the politicians who can't win election ... And, we'll see them collected in a pile, like dead flies.

Just one dead fly isn't enough.

Was this, by the way, just a random phone call? Or was it made to known registered democraps?

WOW!

You know, I also heard the Obama, as Bibi Netanyahu left the White House, turned on screamed at staff: "WHAT WAS THAT! And, NEVER AGAIN."

Really. Politicians are losing their cool. This is good news.

Synova said...

I agree that it's not a gaffe, it's a revelation of character.

Seeing Red said...

The princeling was P.O'D she dare not only respond but hung up on him.

What he really wanted to do was call her back & argue w/her.

He's P.O.'d that he has to go thru a recall election.


This may not have been his 1st rejection.

Notice the folksyness - using their 1st names, and he called them again.

Seeing Red said...

And if she's a registered dem.....or the household is.....


Why would he be calling registered republicans?

traditionalguy said...

It would be funny if the Democrats at war with Wisconsin hired Ray Charles' Raylettes to sing along chanting "shame, shame, shame..." playing in the background for Clark and friends as they make their cold calls. Who knows, maybe it will work. Never underestimate the power of guilt trips.

Fred4Pres said...

Of course it is a joke. He did not threaten her or act misogynistically, he was just annoyed she did not listen to him. Oh well. But if you are a politican you do not joke about the voters, because they might not get the joke.

SunnyJ said...

We're talking about my district here...and I'd like nothing better than to apply a little Adams County attitude adjustment upside Fred Clark's head...but that doesn't really reflect the complete disrespect I hold for him or my actual desire to give him something to actually whine about. Naw, I'm just joking. Maybe I'll be lucky and he'll stop by my farm and we can have our discussion face to face. I'll even let him decide, shot of whiskey before 2X4 or after. 'cause thats how us country types clinging to our guns and bibles do it up here in "his" district. I'm voting for Luther Olson...ol Fred can piss up a rope.

Meade said...

Pogo is right - It wasn't a real threat. But he did prank-call himself - which is worse than being prank-called by someone else. So his sins are: Disrespect for constituents. Disdain for constituents who don't support him. Telephone usage incompetence. Thin skinned-ness. And stupidity, although that might not be entirely his own fault - he might have drawn a series of bad public school teachers.

I wonder if his public apology to Sue Stapelman will be sincere or just another I'm-sorry-if-anyone-was-offended-but-excuse-me dodge attempt.

BlakeexMN said...

If there hadn't been an undercurrent of incipient violence during the protests in Wisconsin, this incident wouldn't really be worth noticing.

Mark said...

Dead thread, I know, but according to Christian Schneider at The Corner, this guy was also caught on video running a red light in his SUV and absolutely creaming a bicyclist.

What is it with Wisconsin's elected Democrats?

Confirmation.