Althouse: Senator Ron Johnson mars an otherwise apt statement with the unfortunate phrase "idiot inner city kids."

July 24, 2015

Senator Ron Johnson mars an otherwise apt statement with the unfortunate phrase "idiot inner city kids."

"It’s unbelievable to me that liberals, that President Obama, of course he sends his children to private school, as did Al Gore, and Bill Clinton and every other celebrated liberal... They just don’t want to let those idiot inner city kids that they purport to be so supportive of… they don’t want to give them the same opportunity their own kids have. It’s disgraceful."

How does "idiot" pop out? How does that happen?

222 comments:

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Known Unknown said...: Why do progressives always have boot-in-face disease?; 7/24/15, 4:35 PM
Sprezzatura said...: Presumably 50,999,897 votes is more than 50,456,002 votes.; 7/24/15, 4:48 PM
virgil xenophon said...: Because, EMD, as has been observed by many, inside every "progressive" is a totalitarian screaming to get out. Or as the great, late modern philosopher Eric Voegelin once observed: "The end result of 'progressive' politics is inevitably totalitarianism of one scale or another."

(e.g., Think the new Obama admin proposed standards for low-water dishwashers--that don't wash--or mandated low-flow showerheads and low water toilets--or mandated standards for new washing machines that don't clean clothes via reduced spin cycle motion--all in the name of energy & water savings for Great Goddess GAIA); 7/24/15, 4:54 PM
virgil xenophon said...: PS: And need we go into Michelle's school lunch mandates or the new rules that now eliminate fried foods in the Navy?; 7/24/15, 4:56 PM
Paco Wové said...: Presumably PB&J has heard of this thing called "The Electoral College".; 7/24/15, 5:02 PM
virgil xenophon said...: @Paco Wove/

Picky, picky, picky.. :); 7/24/15, 5:12 PM
Known Unknown said...: Virgil-

I know that. I was just mocking the earlier comment about Republicans.

The dishwasher issue is hilarious. Now, you have to run the dishwasher at least twice, which uses more water than running the "less efficient" one once.; 7/24/15, 5:30 PM
Sprezzatura said...: Paco,

I agree. But, the comment I was responding to said that whoever gets the most votes wins. My only point is that it is worth noting that in America you can win even though more people vote for the other guy (or gal, potentially).

In a similar way, Rs dominate the House, but more Americans voted for Ds in congressional elections. And, clearly the Senate is designed to exist against power being proportionate to the wishes of the majority of the voting public.

A little food for thought as Ds hear that cons are worried about getting their country back even though they're already granted political dominance at the same time they receive fewer votes than the Ds.

Just sayin.; 7/24/15, 5:30 PM
Sprezzatura said...: Btw, I do know that Althosue has a solution to this.

She says the Ds should vote against what they want, and instead cast votes for Rs so it looks like the Rs actually have the majority support.

Presumably a lawprof can do better than that. How about having the Rs act less sanctimonious since they know that their policies are less popular with the majority of American population than the alternatives from the Ds?; 7/24/15, 5:38 PM
Original Mike said...: "How about having the Rs act less sanctimonious since they know that their policies are less popular with the majority of American population than the alternatives from the Ds?"

Everybody loves free ice cream.; 7/24/15, 6:06 PM
Lewis Wetzel said...: "Presumably there was supposed to be a footnote that stated you weren't talking about actually getting most citizens to vote for the winning candidate."

Electoral votes. Duh! You know how are system works?
We will never know exactly how many people voted for whom in the 2000 election, the 1996 election, the 2004 election . . .; 7/24/15, 7:12 PM
Lewis Wetzel said...: Funny thing about the D's. When the lose, they really win, and when they win, they really win.; 7/24/15, 7:14 PM
Lewis Wetzel said...: "In a similar way, Rs dominate the House, but more Americans voted for Ds in congressional elections. And, clearly the Senate is designed to exist against power being proportionate to the wishes of the majority of the voting public."
Oh yeah/ Well, Obama claims he is representing all the people who didn't vote!
"“To everyone that voted, I want you to know that I heard you, to two-thirds of voters that chose not to participate in the process yesterday, I hear you, too.”
So Obama represents the Republicans now?
Do you imagine, PBandJ_LeDouanier, that somewhere in this entire universe -- consisting, perhaps, of billions of planets capable of supporting intelligent life over its 13 billion year history -- what you write would pass for intelligent commentary?
'Cuz I don't.; 7/24/15, 7:28 PM
Michael K said...: Another ritmo thread. Bye; 7/24/15, 10:23 PM
walter said...: "Now, you have to run the dishwasher at least twice, which uses more water"
But FEEEEELS twice as gooderer...; 7/24/15, 10:33 PM
David said...: Unwise and impolitic. You have to ask him what he meant and where it came from and I'm sure someone will.

That said, I have heard more than one black person refer to "kids today" as idiots. They were referring to black kids.

I hear white people refer to white kids (indeed all kids) today as idiots.

Of course most kids are not idiots, certainly not in the sense of having nearly functional intellectual ability. But many of them are ignorant, indeed spectacularly so, and thus the tendency to use the idiom.

to be clear, I would say that Johnson is an idiot for using such language. Probably the best-of-breed, the Complete Idiot.

Johnson, you are a Complete Idiot.; 7/24/15, 10:56 PM
walter said...: Yes, David..because in the age of "it's for the kids", Johnson is a completely suicidal politician.

David, you are a ridiculous literalist.; 7/24/15, 11:03 PM
David said...: Bill Harshaw said...
Jimmy Carter sent Amy to public school.

For a while. Then she went to Brown. Then she got thrown out for doing no work and never went back.; 7/24/15, 11:03 PM
David said...: walter said...

David, you are a ridiculous literalist.

Is there any other kind?; 7/24/15, 11:14 PM
Laura said...: Mr. Johnson's misuse of the word "idiot" can be used to stir up claims of racism and distract from discussion of the issues.

Mr. Stewart's racism can be used to discredit a black candidate who would take race from the forefront and focus discussion of the issues.

Why should we spend time on meaningful reform when we can foment revolution?

Who cares about those pesky hedge fund managers anyway? Little Charlotte's mommy needs to finance grandma's shaky campaign. Team Vagina vs. Team Penis should distract voters from meaningful reform. Who wants voters who can understand derivatives and market manipulation or the fact that the political class exempts themselves from the laws they pass? Shoplifters just steal from the big bad greedy storekeeper right?

Those accountants who try to explain things like overhead and profit margins are just working for the man. Trust the lawyer who only takes 40% of your million dollar settlement. They're trained to write good regulations.; 7/25/15, 1:08 AM
Jason said...: Ritmo: we get it. You hate the Constitution.

Now feck off.; 7/25/15, 2:26 AM
Bad Lieutenant said...: "Fucking Jew Bastard"

'that boy should be fetching us coffee"

When it's the Clintons, THEN there can be the butbutbut...; 7/26/15, 7:43 AM