Althouse: "Don't give up blogging; our minds would rust without you. But I think you have earned a retirement from watching those Sunday morning panel shows."

January 15, 2017

"Don't give up blogging; our minds would rust without you. But I think you have earned a retirement from watching those Sunday morning panel shows."

I'm reading the comments on yesterday's post "This blog is 13 years old today" just after shutting off the TV — after 2 minutes — with the thought I don't have to do this. Not that I ever had to do it. It wasn't my job to monitor the Sunday morning shows.

The quote is from WA-mom. And thanks to all who commented on my bloggiversary post — and on all posts, which (I assure you) are written because I have genuinely found something interesting. I'm not under assignment to do any of this. It's not like the way I had to submit myself to the task of reading, say, Martin v. Hunter's Lessee, when it was my job to teach Conlaw1.

Why have I watched the Sunday shows? It's a one-day-a-week variation from the usual approach to looking around for something to talk about. Often I do sit through 3 or even 4 or 5 of them. This morning, I couldn't get started even on the first one.

What's blocking me isn't that I just retired and I'm living in a new way. It's that — or so it seemed from the first 2 minutes — the shows are grinding through all the complaints about Donald Trump. I feel I've heard them, I've had my fill of the grousing, and I think a new President deserves his moment of elevated pomp followed by a fair chance to show he can do something beneficial for the country. I've never seen anything like this kind of hostility and opposition thrown in front of a new President.

I think Trump has figured out how to thrive on hostility and opposition, and I know it causes me to root for him. It's my instinct to pull for the underdog, even as I recognize the absurdity of seeing the most powerful man in the world as the underdog. But that's what the Trump haters have done. Congratulations, you nitwits. Now, could you sing me a song about your triumph?

By the way, celebrities, "I Will Survive" is not "by Gloria Gaynor." The song was written by Freddie Perren and Dino Fekaris. The big hit version was sung by Gloria Gaynor, but when it's you singing it, you're not singing a song by Gloria Gaynor. But I appreciate your underscoring how embarrassingly stupid you are. That helps the rest of us "survive" — by ignoring everything you have to say.

297 comments:

«Oldest ‹Older 201 – 297 of 297

Amadeus 48 said...: I think Trump is using his tax returns the way Obama used his birth certificate. Having permitted his publishers to say he was born in Kenya, Obama raised a prima facie case that he was not born in the US (who knows what he said in his college applications--they have never been released). In the event, the birth announcements in the Honolulu newspapers seemed pretty conclusive that he was born in the US, and in any case , his mother was a US citizen, so it was always likely that there was no real issue here. Obama let his opponents, including Trump, bay at the moon on this topic, and then after they had exposed themselves to mockery and ridicule, he put out a copy of his original birth certificate that he could have released at any time. Trump was reduced to saying he had caused Obama to release his birth certificate, but he got in an artful jab by causing reporters to sit through an hour-long promotion for his new hotel before saying at the end that he believed that Obama was born in Hawaii.
Trump's critics will bay at the moon about his tax returns, and that is as satisfactory to him as it was to Obama. I doubt Obama will ever release his college and law school records, but if he does there will be no surprises in them. I doubt Trump will ever release his tax returns unless he see a chance to make his critics look like obsessive idiots. He is happy to listen to the yowls, as was Obama.; 1/15/17, 2:07 PM
Anonymous said...: Trump's birtherism coming back to haunt him. Fitting.; 1/15/17, 2:13 PM
Beloved Commenter AReasonableMan said...: exiledonmainstreet said...
the Giffords shooting was not done to further any political ideology

This is an unusually brain-dead argument. Obviously she was selected for assassination because of her political ideology. It wasn't some random drive-by shooting.; 1/15/17, 2:16 PM
Roughcoat said...: buwaya @1:41 PM

I partly agree with you. Certainly the phenomenon you describe is, as you point out, global in its scope. However I'm not sure how much of what you say is a projection of your own inner self. Which is to say, are you deeply demoralized? If you are, how do you intend to cope with your demoralization? If you aren't, why not?

Whatever your answer, I recommend reading (if you haven't already) Alisdair MacIntyre's After Virtue. In that book he state quite explicitly that we are in a dark age, and he wrote that 35 years ago. A third edition to the book was published in 2007.

I am not demoralized, but I won't bore you and other readers with what must necessarily be a long explanation as to the reasons why. Except to say I don't expect that much from life, I belief in Original Sin and all that implies (and entails), and I do think there is a purpose to all this, that there is a master plan, that we are actors in the cosmic drama of good and evil that will ultimately be resolved in our favor. I guess I am influenced in this direction by my Catholic-Christian faith along with my work as an historian, particularly a military historian, with an emphasis on ancient history.

I got the blues one day so bad it put my face in a permanent frown; but now I feel so much better, mama, I could cakewalk out of town.; 1/15/17, 2:23 PM
Amadeus 48 said...: ARM--were you paying attention to what happened in the Giffords shooting? The perpetrator was a paranoid schizophrenic who was incompetent to stand trial. Ideology was the cause? No, insanity.; 1/15/17, 2:24 PM
Beloved Commenter AReasonableMan said...: Amadeus 48 said...
ARM--were you paying attention to what happened in the Giffords shooting?

More than you apparently. You can keep telling yourself comforting lies if it makes you happy but the facts remain the facts, it was a political assassination attempt. Nothing is ever going to change that fact.; 1/15/17, 2:28 PM
gadfly said...: Althouse is finally admitting to abandoning reason in favor of emotion with regard to Donald Trump. As one your basic "Trump haters," I hereby protest that negative assessments are not wrapped up under the group-grope category of "haters." Sadly I have to conclude that Ann Althouse interests in many fields and complicated circumstances leads to short schrift treatment of the Trump phenomenon.

There is not time in the day to write about everything available, but the narcissistic tendencies in Trump assures that everything you wanted to know about the "bad" that is Trump is out there. If that is not of interest, ask yourself, "Why not?" The answers likely will include emotional involvement and fear of disappointment.

Contrary to the lines of reasoning put out by Trumsters, Trump has yet to deliver anything that he has promised, but his economic plans certainly go against sound conservative economic thinking and his use of government power to date, as in the case of Carrier, makes "draining the swamp" unlikely. When the dust settles on offing Obamacare, lots of people are going to be pissed and he will never build a 30-foot pre-cast concrete wall, paid for by Mexicans. He really isn't very smart but he thinks he is.; 1/15/17, 2:28 PM
exiledonmainstreet, green-eyed devil said...: This is an unusually brain-dead argument. Obviously she was selected for assassination because of her political ideology. It wasn't some random drive-by shooting.

1/15/17, 2:16 PM

Then why did the murderer also kill a conservative Republic judge?

Loughner was judged to be insane and probably had no idea of what Giffords or the judge's political stances were at all.

Calling me "braindead" is just more projection on your part. Next you'll be telling us he was set off by the targets on Sarah Palin's maps. I'm sure you eagerly ate up that little propaganda turd as well.; 1/15/17, 2:31 PM
Rick said...: AReasonableMan said...
the facts remain the facts,

They do, but often left wingers invent a fantasy world where they change facts to support their political beliefs.

Witness the dangers of fake news.; 1/15/17, 2:31 PM
Amadeus 48 said...: ARM-an assassination attempt by a paranoid schizophrenic, who was incompetent to stand trial. ARM, you are usually so reasonable. We must be talking past each other.; 1/15/17, 2:34 PM
Beloved Commenter AReasonableMan said...: exiledonmainstreet said...
Next you'll be telling us he was set off by the targets on Sarah Palin's maps. I'm sure you eagerly ate up that little propaganda turd as well.

Attributing weak arguments to me that I did not make does not change the incontrovertible facts, although it does cast your ability to reason in a poor light.; 1/15/17, 2:35 PM
Beloved Commenter AReasonableMan said...: Amadeus 48 said...
an assassination attempt by a paranoid schizophrenic

All other assassination attempts were conducted by men of upstanding character?; 1/15/17, 2:36 PM
David Begley said...: The Althouse blog is the inverse of Say's Law. Ann's thinking and writing is of such high value and quality that it draws high quality readers and commenters (for the most part) to the blog.; 1/15/17, 2:46 PM
Gahrie said...: All other assassination attempts were conducted by men of upstanding character?

Absolutely not. Those fuckers that killed Jon Snow were a bunch of liars, rapists and thieves....you know..the Democrats of Westeros......; 1/15/17, 2:47 PM
Amadeus 48 said...: ARM--I don't deny it was an assassination attempt, I find it unreasonable to attribute it to ideology because from what I read Loughner seemed incapable forming coherent thoughts with respect to to anything. He held a wide amalgamation of crazy ideas about government control of language and various conspiracy theories. He was angry that Giffords didn't answer a question he asked her, namely, "What is government if words have no meaning?"
That isn't ideology, that is insanity.; 1/15/17, 2:49 PM
Original Mike said...: Wow. Today's the day ARM goes off the deep end. It's been a long time coming.; 1/15/17, 2:51 PM
Beloved Commenter AReasonableMan said...: Gahrie said...
Those fuckers that killed Jon Snow were a bunch of liars, rapists and thieves....you know..the Democrats of Westeros......

I was told they were apolitical madmen.; 1/15/17, 2:52 PM
Birkel said...: Lyin'PB:
If you want to pretend to know more about the 1974 Budget Reconciliation Act than do I, knock yourself silly. You will be wrong every time you disagree with me on that issue.

There is a reason I refer to year-over-year debt increases. Namely, I know the difference between on-book and off-book federal accounting and know that your attempts to weasel are ignorant obfuscations. I do not debate my inferiors online as mockery is all they deserve. Consider yourself mocked or have the debate on the terms I am setting.

Tell me how Republicans will make the Y-o-Y debt increases worse than the $1.25 trillion plus Obama has had, according to the budget they have just passed.; 1/15/17, 3:17 PM
HT said...: But I appreciate your underscoring how embarrassingly stupid you are. That helps the rest of us "survive" — by ignoring everything you have to say.

If those are celebrities, I have no idea who they are.

Go Dallas, I hope yall beat the shit out of Green Bay.; 1/15/17, 3:41 PM
buwaya said...: Ah Roughcoat, I'm getting old, and around here its all turned into "compliance". My working life is all about regulations, who would have thought that would come to pass.
One of these days I will pull an Althouse and put this dreary stuff away.
Anyway, I get what you say, though a few more empires will have to rise and fall first I think. This one isnt looking good.; 1/15/17, 3:59 PM
Gahrie said...: I was told they were apolitical madmen.

no..that's the Hound......; 1/15/17, 4:12 PM
Gahrie said...: I believe the long march through the institutions will be reversed as the Baby Boomers leave their positions of power.

Well it is true, just as with the actual Democratic Party, the Left has failed to develop its farm team. Almost every Lefty under the age of forty or so is a joke. They are remarkably ignorant, especially of history, but believe themselves to be the educated elite. They cannot refute a logical argument, or even formulate one.

They are the sheep from Animal Farm. Well what happens when the pigs all die off? The dogs trained by the pigs take over. That is what we are watching now.; 1/15/17, 4:17 PM
Birkel said...: Meade and/or Althouse:

Can you explain what required the deletion of my comment? Is there a commenter we should ignore? There were not excessive line breaks. I am genuinely curious.; 1/15/17, 4:57 PM
Beloved Commenter AReasonableMan said...: Birkel said...
There were not excessive line breaks.

Ahh ... excessive line breaks.

Who's

to

judge

what

is

or

is

not

excessive.; 1/15/17, 5:04 PM
Seeing Red said...: What was Trump supposed to deliver on by now, gadfly?; 1/15/17, 6:01 PM
Roughcoat said...: My replies to buwaya and Birkel, respectively, were also deleted, even though they were congenial and contained no excessive line breaks.; 1/15/17, 6:16 PM
Sprezzatura said...: Now we're all gona whine about deletions.

I'm sure y'all can recreate your brilliant comments in some other way, in some other thread. That way the record (as it is here) will show whatever it is you think has been lost.

Sheesh.; 1/15/17, 6:27 PM
Sprezzatura said...: Look at it this way, being delete is quite rare.

Exclusivity!

OTOH, being part of a group deletion muddies the waters re who really inspired this special honor. I just assume it's me. Because my dick is really big.

Carry on.; 1/15/17, 6:30 PM
Birkel said...: No, Lyin'PB, you are an enormous dick head.

Context, my man. Context.

Further, I am not complaining. I am asking for clarification from the management team.; 1/15/17, 6:52 PM
Sprezzatura said...: Birk,

Sure, if ya want to get technical, you're right.

A lot of detail folks around here, a can't blur anything.

P.S. The more we drag this out the more likely it is that we'll see a second round of deletion.

Do you feel lucky?

I do.; 1/15/17, 7:04 PM
Birkel said...: You are a wild man.; 1/15/17, 7:06 PM
Jon Ericson said...: Cranked it up from Pee-Wee to just a tad over Madonna.; 1/15/17, 7:22 PM
exiledonmainstreet, green-eyed devil said...: Again, Loughner murdered a conservative Republican judge as well as shooting Gifford. He was judged incompetent to stand trial because he's crazy as hell.

ARM: Don't challenge MY NARRATIVE! I have MY NARRATIVE! I don't care about your silly facts!; 1/15/17, 8:50 PM
Beloved Commenter AReasonableMan said...: exiledonmainstreet said...
Again, Loughner murdered a conservative Republican judge as well as shooting Gifford. He was judged incompetent to stand trial because he's crazy as hell.

The judge was not the target. Irrelevant.

It was a political assassination attempt targeting Gabby Giffords. This is an incontrovertible fact. All the caps in the world will not change that. Sorry.; 1/15/17, 9:08 PM
PianoLessons said...: You are spot on. Nowdays - for those of us politically engaged via social media - anything the corporate media dishes out on Sunday shows (or for that matter every other day on their TV channels) we have already read, read counter arguments to, discerned, churned and decided upon.

Cable TV and Prime Time TV is simply dead. As dead as the stories our grandparents tell us about having an actual printed newspaper delivered to our homes every day.
It is so......over.

We have to get used to this. But the Sunday shows have nothing we have not already (those of us politically engaged) have not read a lot about already.

Breaking News happens on social media now days. Not on our TVs.; 1/15/17, 9:24 PM
Birkel said...: AReasonableMan:
How did you decide the intentions of the crazy man? What proof have you to offer beyond repeated assertion?

How do you know it was not a political hit on the conservative judge? I now assert the judge was the prime target and Giffords merely an unlucky bystander. Prove me wrong.

Note: Your opinion is worthless so save your typing unless you offer a single fact.; 1/15/17, 9:51 PM
Birkel said...: PianoLessons:
You must be young. Most of us here are old enough to have had papers delivered to our own homes.
:-); 1/15/17, 9:53 PM
exiledonmainstreet, green-eyed devil said...: "This is an incontrovertible fact"

No, it's a lie, no matter how many times you assert it. You can't make a schizophrenic madman into a conservative just because you want so badly for it to be true.

Just like "Hands up, don't shoot" is a lie.

Just like "campus rape culture" is a lie.

Just like 99.9 percent of everything liberals believe in is a lie.; 1/15/17, 9:56 PM
Birkel said...: exiledonmainstreet:
To be fair, most Collectivists don't believe so much as blindly follow in pursuit of power. Naturally they lie in pursuit of that power but most don't believe the lies.

The evidence for this is how diligently they must work to corral their fellow travelers. The amount of time spent enforcing conformity belies actual belief.

They are not misdirected believers, in other words. They are power-mad tyrant hopefuls.

It is an important distinction.; 1/15/17, 10:07 PM
Martin said...: In terms of hostility to a new President, I think you have to go back to Lincoln to find worse. Before that, maybe the personal grudge matches between JQ Adams and Jackson, 1824 and 1828, and J Adams and Jefferson 1796 and 1800.; 1/15/17, 11:37 PM
veni vidi vici said...: God, that video is insufferable.; 1/16/17, 1:14 AM
Dan Truitt said...: You can always go to church instead. I'd say that would be time much better spent besides widening the lens on the political world and coming away with a much better, big-picture perspective.; 1/16/17, 2:48 AM
Beloved Commenter AReasonableMan said...: A Democrat politician is targeted for assassination. Obviously it is political.

But, some cry babies can never admit that the rhetoric on their side might have consequences so they deny the obvious.

Sad.; 1/16/17, 7:10 AM
Birkel said...: A Republican judge is targeted for assassination. Obviously it is a legal statement.

But, some Leftist totalitarian cry babies can never admit that the rhetoric on the Left might have consequences so they deny the obvious.

Sad, lying sack of shit who makes shit out of while cloth, "AReasonableMan" is a filthy, lying political whore.; 1/16/17, 8:26 AM
Professional lady said...: I'm tired of the Trump hatred too. I very reluctantly voted for him. Every jerky stupid comment he has made and every jerky stupid thing he has ever done pales in comparison to the hatred and abuse that is being constantly spewed at him. I am liking the guy more and more every day.; 1/16/17, 11:00 AM
Beloved Commenter AReasonableMan said...: Birkel said...
A Republican judge is targeted for assassination.

This wasn't what happened, rendering your argument completely meaningless. The shooter targeted Giffords, this is a matter of public record.; 1/16/17, 11:57 AM
Birkel said...: The shooter targeted a judge. The judge was killed. The record shows the judge was killed. The record shows the innocent bystander congresswoman was not killed because the crazy person intended to kill the judge.

Had the congresswoman been a target, she would have been killed. Targets of assassins are killed. QED.

The judge was the target, accounting for his murder.; 1/16/17, 12:03 PM
Birkel said...: "AReasonableMan" :

The moment you understand my argument, remember to slap your own forehead. Aim for concussion.; 1/16/17, 12:08 PM
Beloved Commenter AReasonableMan said...: Birkel said...
The shooter targeted a judge.

This is nonsense. Read the accounts of the attack, you are displaying your ignorance. Being stupid may be unavoidable for you but ignorance can be corrected with some effort.; 1/16/17, 12:23 PM
Birkel said...: "AReasonableMan":
Your argument is foolish and wrong. I assert my superiority at reading the minds of the clinically insane. My expertise can neither be mischaracterized not overcome. You must accede.

Gabby Giffords was an innocent bystander at the targeted murder of a conservative federal judge. Read the accounts of the shooting and learn that the assassin found his mark, the judge. The accounts verify because the facts show the judge is dead and Giffords is alive.

(This game is easy.); 1/16/17, 12:59 PM
AReasonableMan said...: Birkel said...
Your argument

It is not an argument. This is where you are mistaken.

You are a fool, however. This will never change.; 1/16/17, 2:31 PM
Birkel said...: "AReasonableMan" :
No you are. Tell me more about how you know what the purpose of a lunatic had to have been.

You have assigned purpose to irrational acts. That explanation is psychologically satisfying because your preferred politics demands an other. The chaos of insanity is bent - in your mind - to explain the inexplicable. Your belief is no more descriptive of reality than mine.

Therefore, any explanation I offer is every bit as useful as yours. The judge was the target. QED; 1/16/17, 2:45 PM
Birkel said...: And I will note that waiting on you to understand what I meant was boring and likely would have taken forever.

That is because you are an unserious fool.; 1/16/17, 2:48 PM
AReasonableMan said...: The facts are that a Democratic politician was targeted for assassination. Indisputable, except for partisan hacks or idiots.; 1/16/17, 3:07 PM
Birkel said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 1/16/17, 3:23 PM
Birkel said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 1/16/17, 3:24 PM
Birkel said...: "AReasonableMan" :
When did you first understand your ability to make sense of lunatics' thoughts? Are there other lunatics with whom you have shared this rare ability?

A conservative judge was targeted and killed. That is beyond dispute. Only a psychologically weak person with a penchant for psychological projection can disagree.

It was a shame about that innocent bystander congresswoman. Hope she fares well.; 1/16/17, 3:25 PM
Beloved Commenter AReasonableMan said...: Did you read the reports of the incident? Was Loughner there to kill the judge according to those reports?

Or, are you just a partisan hack believing the lunatic shit that partisan hacks like you believe.; 1/16/17, 3:50 PM
Bilwick said...: You know who didn't survive? An estimated 150,000,000 to 300,000,000 people murdered by the State in the 20th Century. Repeat: that's IN THE 20TH CENTURY alone. And not counting those killed in the State's various wars. Yet these dimwits pretty much love Der Staat! Go figure.; 1/16/17, 3:57 PM
Beloved Commenter AReasonableMan said...: Aah! ... the State. Your views appear to be very similar to Loughner's.; 1/16/17, 4:06 PM
Birkel said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 1/16/17, 4:16 PM
Birkel said...: The state as represented by a conservative judge?

The reports that distilled the lunatic's position down to logic and reason? Those reports?

Or do you mean the FBI and police after action reports? Or the court psychologists' reports that declared Loughner insane and unable to understand the nature of legal proceedings? Because I don't believe you read those.

I think you are a liar desperately clinging to your much-needed sense of superiority. That need is pathological, I suggest.; 1/16/17, 4:16 PM
Beloved Commenter AReasonableMan said...: A politician was targeted for assassination. Just by the meaning of the words we know what happened.

Do you have the same trouble recognizing apples or pears? Maybe you have some cognitive problem that could be addressed. Or, maybe you are just another partisan hack with a chip on your shoulder.; 1/16/17, 4:42 PM
Birkel said...: A conservative judge was targeted for assassination. The meaning of the words is plain. We know what happened.

Do you have trouble discerning who was killed and who was not? Do you not understand the difference between alive and dead? Or perhaps your need to be partisan gives you internal license to attach political motivation to a clinically insane person's behavior.

Projection is amazing to watch at this distance. You suffer boldly your need to feel superior.; 1/16/17, 4:55 PM
Beloved Commenter AReasonableMan said...: You clearly have read nothing about this topic. You just want to display your ignorance. You are doing a very good job.; 1/16/17, 4:59 PM
Birkel said...: You clearly have read nothing about this topic. You just want to display your insatiable need to play victim and otherize. You are doing a very good job.; 1/16/17, 5:03 PM
Beloved Commenter AReasonableMan said...: Wiki:

"Jared Lee Loughner was charged by federal prosecutors with Roll's murder. Evidence gathered by federal investigators indicates that Giffords was Loughner's main target. Roll was apparently not specifically targeted – Loughner might not have even known who he was."; 1/16/17, 5:05 PM
Beloved Commenter AReasonableMan said...: Oooh ... wait. The federal investigators are part of the STATE. And, Wikipedia is TOO. It's all part of a vast conspiracy to make you look stupid.

Well done fellas.; 1/16/17, 5:09 PM
Beloved Commenter AReasonableMan said...: Wiki:

"Giffords was holding the meeting, called "Congress on Your Corner" in the parking lot of a Safeway store when Jared Lee Loughner drew a pistol and shot her in the head before proceeding to fire on other people."

To a sane person this would mean that Giffords was the target of an assassination attempt. To a partisan hack it's all a vast STATE conspiracy designed to make the right look bad, as if they couldn't do this all by themselves.; 1/16/17, 5:12 PM
Birkel said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 1/16/17, 5:23 PM
Birkel said...: And now find the part that shows it was a partisan, politically motivated act, dumb ass.

That is what I have mocked repeatedly, you damned dirty Leftist.; 1/16/17, 5:24 PM
Birkel said...: "AReasonableMan" : "It was a political assassination attempt..."

One word makes the whole thing false.; 1/16/17, 5:26 PM
Birkel said...: "AReasonableMan": "...Giffords was Loughner's main target..."

There was more than one?; 1/16/17, 5:30 PM
Birkel said...: Me: a crazy person's actions are crazy
ARM: it was political; 1/16/17, 5:36 PM
Beloved Commenter AReasonableMan said...: Birkel said...
That is what I have mocked

You haven't mocked anything because you are an idiot unapprised of the basic facts of the situation.

Politician - targeted for assassination -> Political Assassination

Not complex. At least not for those of us who are not political hacks.; 1/16/17, 5:48 PM
Beloved Commenter AReasonableMan said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 1/16/17, 5:56 PM
Beloved Commenter AReasonableMan said...: If he killed a cop - not a political assassination.

If he killed some random person - not a political assassination.

If he killed himself - not a political assassination.

It is very simple, if you understand the English language, and know something about the topic under discussion. Not sure you qualify on either count.; 1/16/17, 5:57 PM
Birkel said...: He killed a judge. You missed your own point.

John Hinckley, Jr. did not attempt a political assassination. He attempted to woo Jodie Foster. Because fucking insanity. Because you cannot make sense of crazy. But as a near-crazy person, this has escaped you.

Bernadine Dohrn and Bill Ayers attempted political assassinations. Their targets were not all politicians. But their motivation was politics. Not clinically insane people, they are just sociopathic but able to comprehend the nature of their own acts.

Crazy don't do reasons.; 1/16/17, 6:24 PM
Birkel said...: You fail to note the difference between the noun politician and the adjective political.

Hinckley, Jr. And Loughner attempted politician assassinations. Neither attempted political assassinations.

Crazy cannot do reasons.; 1/16/17, 6:26 PM
Beloved Commenter AReasonableMan said...: Birkel said...
He killed a judge.

Are you capable of reading anything or hearing anything other than the voices in your own head? The judge was not a target he was just a random person - not a political assassination.

Your stupidity is remarkable. This is why the country is so fucked, morons like you have to be supported by the rest of us, productive sane people.; 1/16/17, 6:37 PM
Birkel said...: "AReasonableMan" :
Learn the difference between nouns and adjectives.
signed--
every middle school English teacher; 1/16/17, 6:43 PM
Rick said...: AReasonableMan said...
This is why the country is so fucked, morons like you have to be supported by the rest of us, productive sane people.

Always amusing that ARM thinks he's not one of the morons. Often wrong but never in doubt. Loughner was no different than the Aurora murderer, mentally unstable.; 1/16/17, 6:50 PM
Birkel said...: Dylan Roof -- political assassin.

He murdered because of politics.; 1/16/17, 7:00 PM
Beloved Commenter AReasonableMan said...: Rick said...
Loughner was no different than the Aurora murderer

One obvious difference, Loughner selected a politician for assassination.; 1/16/17, 7:24 PM
Birkel said...: "AReasonableMan" :

Dylan Roof is or is not a political assassin?; 1/16/17, 7:35 PM
Beloved Commenter AReasonableMan said...: Logic error. Killing regular people may or may not be political. Selecting a politician to assassinate is always political.; 1/16/17, 8:22 PM
Rick said...: One obvious difference, Loughner selected a politician for assassination.

Yes, he fixated on a slightly different hook. Mental illness is like that, it expresses itself along widely different and seemingly random inspirations. There's no telling what it will be. Naturally you've elevated that irrelevant element because it allows you to blame those you hate. As I recall it took you 30 minutes to come here to blame conservatives. Why so long? Was your excitement such that you had to take a few minutes of personal time first?; 1/16/17, 8:24 PM
Beloved Commenter AReasonableMan said...: Rick, you sound a little bitter and angry. Maybe not thinking quite straight because of this. Politician targeted for assassination = political assassination. Deal with it.; 1/16/17, 8:44 PM
Beloved Commenter AReasonableMan said...: Thomas Mair was not all that stable mentally but his target for assassination was obviously political, just like Loughner's.

From wiki:
"He had a persecution complex, believing "collaborators" – liberals, leftists and the mainstream media, who were "his greatest obsession" – to be the cause of the world's problems."

Sound like anyone around here?; 1/16/17, 8:59 PM
Rick said...: AReasonableMan said...
you sound a little bitter and angry.

As usual you have convinced yourself what you wish were true is actually true.

Maybe not thinking quite straight because of this.

Next up blind children will offer batting tips.

Politician targeted for assassination political assassination. Deal with it.

If that's your definition it's beside the point, you claimed it was due to violent conservative rhetoric. Even you know this is bullshit since you're now trying to generalize away from your own allegation in a rather pathetic avoid stepping in your own hole.

From Wiki:

Acquaintances said that Loughner's personality had changed markedly in the years prior to the shooting, a period when he was also abusing alcohol and drugs. He had been suspended from Pima Community College in September 2010 because of his bizarre behavior and disruptions in classes and the library. After his arrest, two medical evaluations diagnosed him with paranoid schizophrenia and incompetent to stand trial.

Since you read the wiki you must have seen this, yet you're still lying. It would be embarrassing if you had any integrity.; 1/16/17, 9:15 PM
Beloved Commenter AReasonableMan said...: No one is arguing that he was particularly mentally stable. Nonetheless cognisant enough to seek out a political target and attempt an assassination. He didn't just shoot the first person he encountered like James Holmes. Should have been tried.; 1/16/17, 9:25 PM
Beloved Commenter AReasonableMan said...: You still sound bitter and angry.

From wiki:
"He had a persecution complex, believing "collaborators" – liberals, leftists and the mainstream media, who were "his greatest obsession" – to be the cause of the world's problems."; 1/16/17, 9:26 PM
Rick said...: What is there to be bitter about? You can find anything on the internet. Even people who are gleeful over mass murder because they think it will advance their political beliefs.

Loughner's high-school friend Zach Osler said, "He did not watch TV; he disliked the news; he didn't listen to political radio; he didn't take sides; he wasn't on the Left; he wasn't on the Right."[19] A former classmate, Caitie Parker, who attended high school and college with Loughner, described his political views prior to 2007, prior to his personality transformation, as "left wing, quite liberal,"[42] "radical."[43]

It seems more that he was disillusioned with Giffords not carrying the torch quite far enough left.; 1/16/17, 10:00 PM
Birkel said...: "AReasonableMan":

I want to define things without respect to English words too. You are not special.; 1/16/17, 10:16 PM
Beloved Commenter AReasonableMan said...: It is telling, in a sad loserish way, that you didn't include the Wikipedia quotes on Loughner's views leading up to the assassination attempt:

"The director of research on hate groups for the Southern Poverty Law Center noted that Loughner's political positions were a "hallmark of the far right and the militia movement." In the aftermath of the shooting, the Anti-Defamation League reviewed messages by Loughner, and concluded that there was a "disjointed theme that runs through Loughner's writings", which was a "distrust for and dislike of the government."

"Loughner had expressed a longstanding dislike for Gabrielle Giffords. Tierney recalled that Loughner had often said that women should not hold positions of power."

"Loughner kept Giffords' form letter, which thanked him for attending the 2007 event, in the same box as an envelope which was scrawled with phrases like "die bitch" and "assassination plans have been made".; 1/17/17, 8:45 AM
Rick said...: AReasonableMan said...
"The director of research on hate groups for the Southern Poverty Law Center noted that Loughner's political positions were a "hallmark of the far right and the militia movement.

Hey look, a propagandist known for his efforts to smear conservatives reaches the same conclusion as ARM. Whoever could have imagined such an outcome?

the Anti-Defamation League reviewed messages by Loughner, and concluded that there was a "disjointed theme that runs through Loughner's writings", which was a "distrust for and dislike of the government."

Sounds like Robert Cook.

Your "evidence" boils down to "she's a Democrat so it must have been in furtherance of conservative ideology". Of course by that standard Sirhan Sirhan was a conservative.

But you keep on smoking that thin reed. Maybe some other mentally ill person will make your day by killing a child.; 1/17/17, 11:55 AM
Bad Lieutenant said...: ARM, why are you sending your credibility to die on this hill? Everybody knows that Loughner was a left-wing freako, son of a left-wing sheriff or some kind of County official, who prevented him from being detected and dealt with by law enforcement despite his frequent outbursts. If you don't know that leftists can also be evil and have bad thoughts, even about women, well, you should grow up.

It doesn't matter how many times you repeat a set of words that you think can be qualified to be true, that is mere sophistry. the ultimate truth of the matter is as people are saying to you.; 1/17/17, 3:19 PM