"Only dull people are brilliant at breakfast"
-Oscar Wilde		 Brilliant at Breakfast title banner "The liberal soul shall be made fat, and he that watereth, shall be watered also himself."
-- Proverbs 11:25
"...you have a choice: be a fighting liberal or sit quietly. I know what I am, what are you?" -- Steve Gilliard, 1964 - 2007

"For straight up monster-stomping goodness, nothing makes smoke shoot out my ears like Brilliant@Breakfast" -- Tata

"...the best bleacher bum since Pete Axthelm" -- Randy K.

"I came here to chew bubblegum and kick ass. And I'm all out of bubblegum." -- "Rowdy" Roddy Piper (1954-2015), They Live
Saturday, November 07, 2009

The Great Orange Satan takes down Tom Tancredo
Posted by Jill | 8:50 AM
While I respect what the Great Orange Satan has done, I have to admit that I think he's a bit of a jerk. I met him at a book signing a few years ago and he couldn't wrap his mind around the idea that this pudgy middle-aged Jewish lady was a blogger instead of, as he insisted, the keeper of a bed & breakfast (which is what he thought the name of this blog meant.)

That said, dweeby little Markos Moulitsas deserves applause for so effectively eviscerating faux tough-guy Tom Tancredo on The Ed Show yesterday without even breaking a sweat:



Mr. President, THAT is how it's done.

Labels: ,

10 comments
Bookmark and Share
10 Comments:
Blogger Jayhawk said...
No, I don't think so. The topic was not, "What is the nature of your military service?"

The question was health care, which Schuster rather idiotically diverted to the "Veterans's Administration" when he probably meant the "Veterans's Administration Health Care System" which is not the same thing. Tancredo claimed that veterans complained about the VA being a bureaucratic mess, and that is entirely valid. He might have gone on to say that, once through that mess and into the VA Health Care, veterans are very happy with the "Veterans's Administration Health Care System" and more than staisfied with the care that it delivers.

He was interrupted with what's called an "ad hominem" attack from Moulitsas, about Moulitsas having served and "I didn't get a deferment for depression." That was not an arguement on point, it was a personal attack, it was a cheap shot, and it was an arrogant cheap shot.

Yes, I am a veteran, so don't bother with the "What right do you have to..." kind of thing.

The deferment for depression may very well have been legitimate, but it doesn't really matter whether it was not. Injecting personal attacks into a discussion is not legitimate, especially when the personal attack is not in any way related to the subject being debated; in this case health care. One does not have to be a veteran to have talked to veterans. Tancredo is a man who has been in politics for many years, and it is perfectly logical for him to claim to have listened to the opinions of many veterans; probably a great many more of then than Moulitsas has.
11/7/09, 10:18 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...
Yeah, and Tancredo will spew lies about VA health care and talk over you until the studio lights are turned off. What's your suggestion?
11/7/09, 11:01 AM  
Blogger Jayhawk said...
Well, my suggestion would certainly not be that we reduce everything to ad hominem attacks. Calling Tancredo a liar does not advance the health care discussion much further than does calling him a draft dodger. Maybe discussing things on the merits of the subject?
11/7/09, 11:21 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...
As the old saying goes, "Avoid wrestling with a pig. You just get dirty, and besides, the pig likes it."
11/7/09, 11:56 AM  
Anonymous mandt said...
"it was a personal attack, it was a cheap shot, and it was an arrogant cheap shot." Yeh? So cry me a river. Another faux macho Republican toad runs from the fight. WA Wa Wa.
11/7/09, 1:33 PM  
Blogger Jayhawk said...
Wow. I wonder if this is the "official" left wing method and policy of debate. "We don't need no stinking facts. We just sling mud faster than they sling mud and we win."

"So on the policy of the war, sir, when are you going to stop beating your wife?"
11/8/09, 10:16 AM  
Anonymous tata said...
Jayhawk, we were called traitors so many times in ad hominem attacks that no one here cares if Tancredo sucks his thumb all weekend. We don't care. And there's no "official left" anything, so tell your story *walking.*
11/8/09, 5:49 PM  
Blogger adam k. said...
Yeah I have to say, I love Kos' site, but I'm not a fan of him personally. In this video, he did some off pretty "dweeby" (perfect word) and also, I have to say, like a bit of a jerk. And that's a weird and unsettling combination that I don't think will sit well with the average cable viewer.

Sure, Tancredo was being an asshole and trying to lecture to a veteran about what VETERANS think, and deserved to be called out on that for its utter stupidity if nothing else. But the personal attack was unwarranted and, I think, undermined Kos more than it did Tancredo. A simple "Tom? Just for the record: I AM a veteran, and you're not. So let me tell you what this veteran thinks" (or some such) would have sufficed.

As it is, he came off as a weird, dweeby jerk, so I can't really get that excited about the takedown.
11/9/09, 12:46 AM  
Blogger adam k. said...
And yes I am aware of the hypocrisy in my personal insult of calling Kos a "dweeby jerk" after railing about how he uses personal insults... but I'm not saying it to his face on national TV, nor am I insulting him while arguing in a debate as a voice for the Democratic Party and progressives.

Plus, Kos apparently thinks personal insults are fair game. So 'tev.
11/9/09, 12:51 AM  
Blogger Dave said...
Tancredo claimed that veterans complained about the VA being a bureaucratic mess, and that is entirely valid. He might have gone on to say that, once through that mess and into the VA Health Care, veterans are very happy with the "Veterans's Administration Health Care System" and more than staisfied with the care that it delivers.

My father is a WWII veteran and he receives medical care at the VA hospital in Albuquerque, NM. He has never once complained about the VA being a "bureaucratic mess" nor has any of the other veterans he has talked to. I will take Dad's word over non-vets like Tancredo every time.
11/9/09, 10:27 AM  
Post a Comment
<< Home