Monday, August 18, 2008

Right-Wing Cry-Babies

For all of their chest-thumping posturing, you’d think the right-wing bloggers that come out here telling everyone else what to do and think would have thicker skin. Instead, if you try to engage them on their comments or otherwise, many of them run for the hills. They are obviously used to just patting each other on the backs and find themselves in over their heads when challenged on their usually phony facts and arguments.

For instance, everyone’s favorite laughing-stock, Jessica McBride, closed her site to outsiders soon after the spring judicial election, while she was being spanked around the block by IT and others for her amateur and ludicrous analysis of Louis Butler’s record on the Supreme Court. She just took her ball and went home. Who knows what she has been writing since then behind her protective veil – all I know is I am missing out on at least one laugh-out-loud moment a week.

That was quite a move for an attention hound like McBride. I thought the idea was that everyone just had to hear what she had to say about her husband’s latest failed campaign, her continued pain over getting her radio show cancelled by TMJ...whatever. I mean, she always had so much to talk about. Now, you might be able to get a few chuckles from her occasional GMToday/Freeman column, but it’s nothing like when Jess would get into some serious late-night crankin’ and hit the "send" button all by herself.

The latest example of cowardly behavior comes from the current occupant of the McBride chair at TMJ, the equally inadvertently-humorous J.T. Harris. I’ve engaged Harris a bit on his comment threads in the past couple of weeks over some of his more amusing escapades involving Obama and John Edwards. He even called me out by name in one recent post, and we went back and forth on the comment thread for a little bit and, you know, no harm done – not to me anyway.

Then, on Monday, he posted a brief dig at NBC sports guy Chris Collingsworth for daring to ask Kobe Bryant why he felt so patriotic about putting on a USA basketball uniform. Collingsworth’s behavior in the interview "illustrated the soft bigotry of anti-Americanism," scolded Harris. Well, I watched the clip he linked to and discovered no such thing. When Bryant talked touchingly about what it meant for him to represent our country, Collingsworth drew him out with a very mild devil’s advocate routine. "Is that a cool thing to say in this day and age..." he said, smiling in a friendly way.

It was ridiculous for Harris to pretend that Collingsworth was anything but supportive of Bryant’s sentiments. But, as usual, he was following right-wing talking points from somebody else (very little of what Harris "does" is original), designed to further demonize NBC, pretend like there is all this rampant anti-patriotism all over the place, and blah blah blah.

So, anyway, I posted a brief comment about how he was wrong for calling Collingsworth out for something he wasn’t doing – his comments are not moderated, and there it was. Later in the day, I checked back to find that my comment was deleted. Not only that, when I tried to post another one chiding him for deleting the first one, I was notified that I was on his comment-spam list and the site wouldn’t even take it.

You know, it’s his site – he can do what he wants. But, if he’s going to run and hide from every little challenge, his supposed "national conversation" is a bit one-sided.

It is an interesting trend that right-wing bloggers are increasingly walling themselves off from impure thoughts and challenges. For all of their bullshit-and-bluster, their veneers of self-rightousness are paper-thin. The bottom line is, when challenged, they just can't handle it.

19 comments:

illusory tenant said...

Newsbusters + hip musings = embarrassing train wreck.

I wonder what all the other reasons for "hating" Cris Collinsworth are. Is J.T. not over October 30, 1983 yet?

Emily said...

I like how a network with wall-to-wall "Go America!" coverage of the Olympics is being painted as unpatriotic. WTF?

illusory tenant said...

Watch the clip. Collinsworth (who happens to be a conservative Republican) is obviously being facetious and making a sly political joke.

Even the normally duped Newsbusters commenters know this. Count James "Hip Musings" Harris among the dupes. He even says he already "hates" Collinsworth. Why? Who knows.

Anonymous said...

And you never censor certain comments from your blog Mike? Come on.

Mike Plaisted said...

I only delete comments that get personal. Never for political content.

Anonymous said...

And we know this how?

Tom McMahon said...

Let's see, Jessica McBride has a real column in a real newspaper yet she is a "coward" for having better things to do than deal with cyber-stalking sexist crybabies led by someone who couldn't stand the fact that he was beat out of a job by a girl?!?!?

Anonymous said...

Oh snap!!!

Display Name said...

Interesting theory, McM. I think she erased everything because she didn't want her words preserved for the ages, someday coming back to haunt her or hubby. Maybe some fraction was due to getting tired from moderating all the comments. Maybe we'll get lucky and she'll do another love-in podcast from bed someday. All we are saying, is give Jess a chance!

AnotherTosaVoter said...

Wow political hacks finding any shred of something about which to complain regardless of the merits.

Pots, meet kettle.

It's utterly pathetic to complain that a blog from one side censoring comments represents that side - that reeks of defining the worst as the norm (ironic, no?), because for any conservative blog that censors I can find a liberal blog or message board that does the same thing. I was banned from Democratic Underground about 40 seconds after I simply asked, "Hey, are you sure about that?".

Oh and I responded to your post in your Declaration of Principles thread.

Mike Plaisted said...

"A real column in a real newspaper"? Jeez, have you read the damn thing? The Freeman has an open-door policy for any any wingnut to contribute. Good for them, but that doesn't make the column "real", or the column for that matter.

Stalking sexist crybabies? Like who? Jim Rowen wasn't "leading" anything - McBride's pathetic-ness stands on its own non-merits. She's a joke who couldn't deal with blow-back from her own arrogant wrong-ness.

Anonymous said...

Plaisted, I'm glad you stopped your 24/7 Obamagasm to post more self serving tripe. Like most liberals you are an emotionally disturbed clown. Again like most liberals you surround yourself with like minded emotional wrecks and claim some moral superiority.
It's comical. Keep up the good work.

Anonymous said...

Plaisted, you just had your ass handed to you. Jessica McBride has bigger balls than you do. You're a whining baby. Did your parents raise any men? You libtards simply hate anyone who doesn't kill babies or raise taxes.
Grow up you pathetic blow hard.

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Display Name said...

Gus, judging by your posting frequency here and on other blogs, I think you should wait about three minutes before you click "publish", because you usually have more to say.

capper said...

Mike,

Do I have to take legal action against you for Whallahing without a permit? :)

Tom McMahon said...

All I know is that when Mike goes several days without posting, my blood pressure drops dangerously low.

Mike Plaisted said...

Capper: You've just been dying to use that as a verb, haven't you? Besides, I am not in a position to give you legal advice. All I can say is, we are all in this together. The more the merrier.

Tom: Take it easy. New post is up. Sheesh.

Anonymous said...

I doubt JT is afraid of you Mike. Your comments in the Enquirer thread are still there. In fact, I got quite a laugh as a result. I challenge you to take on the "cowardly conservatives" without using your favorite crutch: the "talking points" accusation.

The point you so obviously missed is that it's a sad day when a "pig paper" breaks a story that the rest of the media cannot (your view) or will not (JT's view). Your "blind squirrel" comment is also way off the mark. The Enquirer did not blindly trip over the story, but instead did a lot of work to get it. Try as you may to obscure the lesson here, the reality is that the NYT (or any other mainstream media outlet) didn't break the story.

Are we to believe that with all its massive resources it just couldn't confirm it? Or is it far more likely that they chose not to run with it and only did so after someone else broke it? Like it or not, allegations of left-wing media bias are born from situations like this.