I am smart. Read my blog.

Mitch opined:
Duh. You can't "trust" comments in any blog.

There you go spoiling my allushuns.

Isn't it amazing how a bunch of conservatives who agree are all "parroting talking points", but a bunch of liberals who agree are "independent thinkers"? Pot, Kettle on line 1...

(sorry)

So here's what I want to know...

You say you've known her for a decade. Have you ever seen her in person?

And if so...is she hot?

(you know, just to satisfy that primordial caveman urge in me to look at attractive females? That one that drives feminists to wail and moan and gnash teeth in agony?)

Kermit,

You misspelled a word. It's "Aleutians".

dont mock me!
Your mocking me arnt you???

Feed my blog... I mean READ my blog.

How rdiculous!

Whiner Berg is whining agean at Whine in the Dark. I'm going to write 72 posts about this:

« Now With 33% More Ineluctible Truth! | Main | Sam Alito, Laura Ingraham and Me »
January 09, 2006
Polly Wanna Challenge
A couple of weeks ago, I wrote a list of cliches that I'd be thankful to see removed, with the aid of bloodshed if necessary, from the English language. One was:

"...(Something is a) Rote Recitation of Talking Points" - Truism of human nature: your own side is always a scintillating breaking of new ground; your opposition is always dull, thuggish, unimaginative, lumpen, gray, ignoble, and sent from some (usually) evil overlord higher up in the enemy's grand conspiracy. Duly noted. You don't have to say it. No, really.
Eva Young thought I was referencing her.

To be fair, Eva Young thinks everything references her.

We all know Eva. I've actually known her for the better part of a decade, and used to think of her as a fairly normal customer. Oh, as long as I've known her she's been one of those people who just looooooves to pick, point by point, through whatever inflames her, looking for offense, but I always figured she was a fairly benign sort. She even gave me the occasional food for thought; while I opposed gay marriage, Eva did in fact point out some areas where some thought was required.

So far so good.

Of course, since then Eva has become a one-word punch line among local bloggers; her ethical self-indulgence, her spelling (which'd shame a moderately bright sixth-grader), and above all her relentless, shameless, tactless link-whoring; if I had a dollar for every comment thread she'd hijacked with her off-topic pleas for people to read her blogs, I could pick up the tab at the next MOB party. Those blogs include "Lloydletta's Nooz", which features mostly other peoples' writing, copied and pasted in unreadable wholesale swathes, interspersed with comments that alternately snark and kiss ass, and "Dump Bachmann", in which her obsession with Michele Bachmann combines with a bunch of anonymous, tangibly lonely commenters best described as a "chromosomal-anomaly freak show". Her link-whoring has become the target of vibrant satire, with anonymous wags apeing her style and conventions to a "T" that seems to bother Young herself; she snarked "you can't trust the comments in MOB blogs". (Duh. You can't "trust" comments in any blog. But thanks for providing an example of comically-thin skin, oh ye who are so quick to call people "whiner"!)

Anyway - after I wrote the piece about talking points, Young wrote - almost three weeks ago, give or take a week - that she was going to come up with all sorts of examples of my "parrotting talking points", after weekend (this being before New Years - and no, I won't link to her)

Stunned, I sat back; could she be on to me? Has she caught wind of the secret dispatches from Scott McClellan, Karen Hughes, even Karl Rove himself?

Was the jig up?

Friday - after long, dramatic wait - we got our answer.

I opened the post with trepidation. Had she done a scholarly (or obsessive-compulsive) analysis of my nearly four years of output, and found some eery synchronicity between my writing and Uncle Karl?

Had she found wires from my limbs to Hugh Hewitt's hands?

I trembled. She wrote (or, rather, copied and pasted from a comment thread):

As is his wont, Mitch Berg stomped on over [In Eva's childish little world, people who displease her don't leave comments; they "Stomp". They don't remark, they "whine". Her argot is curious (even when spelled correctly); I'm here to help]:

"Blogger Berg seems rather defensive about being called on the regular parrotting of talking points on his blog."

Called, huh-wha?

For starters, it was a criticism of leftyblogs in general - not just your fatuous blathering.

But since you brought it up, please show us how I "parrot talking points", if you don't mind.

You can't, of course - you're just whoring for traffic - but try anyway.
MBerg

Well Michael Brodkorb the Drama Queen wrote up the talking points, and fed them to the Parrots in the MOB. Mitch Berg acted like a dutiful Parrot.

Huh?

Linking to someone's blog is "parrotting" "talking points?"

Erhm. Right. By the same "logic", Eva has her head buried to the shoulders in PZ Meiers' ass.

That was exactly my original point, of course; writings from someone one agrees with are always bon mots of wisdom; from one's opponents? Parroting of inconvenient talking points. It's an all-purpose slur for the intellectually lazy.

Speaking of which: after a week or two's wait, we got childish name-calling and a dog biting a man.

And that was it? The great expose of "Blogger Berg"'s "parrotting" of "talking" "points"?

By the way, the satirical comments in her name really do irritate her:

Over on his comment thread, there are several people impersonating me.
She wrote a longer screed on a Saint Paul email discussion group - off-topic, as is her habit - bellyaching about the fake comments on Kool Aid Report Blois, Pair o' Dice and this space. (Whining? Hmmmm).

She's asked, in several fora, if/why I tolerate phony comments on this blog. The answer is, unless a comment is abusive and anonymous and pointless, I rarely delete any comments from this blog (although I reserve the right to delete or edit for comic effect any blogs that fit that definition - a stance for which Young has criticized me in the past!). I'll note that I've banned exactly two commenters on this blog in four years. Ironically, both of them came here via one Eva Young project or another. The phony comments, while obviously fake, are satire - and Young has certainly made herself into a public figure of sorts, very much open to satire.

You wanted to be a pundit, Eva. The brickbats come with the territory. Time to get some thicker skin.

I am a conservative. I agree, frequently but not inevitably, with other conservative writers. At times, so completely that I needn't write a thing - and yet sometimes I still do. Synchronicity comes, sometimes, from agreement; to call it parrotting - absent stacks of press releases from the RNC labeled "For Release Immediately!" - is the route of the rhetorical dullard.

The comment thread is reserved for satirical versions of typical Eva Young comments. Have at it, all and sundry. Hell, Eva, join in. Why miss the fun?

Posted by Mitch at January 9, 2006 07:22 AM | TrackBack

Comments
I am smart. Read my blog.

Posted by: Kevin at January 9, 2006 10:37 AM
Mitch opined:
Duh. You can't "trust" comments in any blog.

There you go spoiling my allushuns.

Posted by: Kermit at January 9, 2006 10:38 AM
Post a comment
Name:

Email Address:

URL:

Remember personal info?
YesNo
Comments:

Curious.

Developing...

Yva Eoung mocked:
dont mock me!
Your mocking me arnt you???

Feed my blog... I mean READ my blog.

You ARE mocking me!!! Stop mocking me.
At least include an @#$(*&!ing link to my blog!

This is the REEL Eva here:

Curious. Why hasen't Michele Bachmann condemned posting fake comments on blogs yet?

What IDiocy!

Read all about it on my blog!

EVA

This is the REAL Eva Young. Shame on you for posteng in someone elses' name. Ken Avidor is going to write a cartoon about you. He's funny!

I wrote this on my blog:

EY: DFL Feminist Caucus Screening of DFL Governor Candidates

Hat Tip: Michael Brodkorb

DFL CANDIDATE FORUM
The DFL Feminist Caucus is sponsoring a DFL governor candidate forum. The forum will be next Sunday, January 15, at 2 PM, at the Hennepin County Government Center, in the Auditorium on the Lower Level.

I don't know if it's open to the public, but I may attend.

Thanks for the tip, Michael. This should be interesting.

Michael also was the early bird to post a copy of the email that Sheila Kiscaden will be running for Leutenant Governor with Kelly Doran.

Sunday, January 08, 2006
MDE BREAKIING NEWS: KISACDEN EMAIL TRUMPS TOMORROW'S OFFICIAL ANNOUNCEMENT
I just received this email from a reader of Minnesota Democrats Exposed. 15 minutes earlier I received an email from Doran's campaign providing the details on tomorrow's announcement.

##

Dear DFL Friends,

Greetings and Happy New Year!

Thank you for your patience as you waited for my decision regarding the course of action I will pursue for the 2006 elections. Many of you have wondered if I will become a Democrat.

The answer is "yes."

This is an easy decision.

I grew up in a large extended family of trade unionists. My father and nearly all of my uncles were members of the building trade unions: painters, pipe fitters, bricklayers, and electricians. Being a democrat was as much a part of our family culture as being Catholic.

As an adult I became a Republican, but that was in the days that the Republican Party had an active moderate wing that believed strongly in the role of government in creating opportunity so all can prosper and in assuring social justice. The Republican Party has changed.

My views and values have not and, like the prodigal, I am returning to the Democratic Party where I have been warmly welcomed and made to feel at home. But, as I have been welcomed back to the Democratic Party, a more difficult decision faced me.

I care passionately about this state and believe that Minnesota needs to get back on track by focusing on effectiveness in government, investment in the common good and preparing for the challenges of our future.

The legislative gridlock of the past few years is the result of both zealous partisanship and a lack of statesmanship by leaders. I asked myself; how can I best put my experience, my knowledge, and my energies to work for our communities and for our state? What contribution can I make? What role should I play?

I intended to run for re-election to the State Senate and notified my supporters of that intent in a letter mailed at the end of October. But I continued to keep an eye on other options and to ask myself, where can I make the biggest difference? Ultimately, I decided I could have greater influence to create these changes in Minnesota by following a different pathway.

After urging by many different individuals and conversations with several candidates for Governor, I have decided to seek higher office.

It is fitting that you be among the first to know that I will be running for Lieutenant Governor with Kelly Doran, a successful businessman who, as you know, is running as a Democratic candidate for Governor.

I have gotten to know Kelly Doran over the past few weeks, and I like what I see. He represents a centrist, pro-growth approach that fits Minnesota. His deep concern about Minnesota's future motivated him to give up his business ventures and seek public office. He offers a fresh choice to Minnesota voters and is not bound by years of political partisanship and obligations.

Minnesota does need more principle and less politics. That reflects my own political philosophy, the way I have tried to serve in the Minnesota Legislature, and why I have agreed to accept this opportunity to be on the Doran team.

Having represented Senate District 30 for nearly 14 years, I also want to be sure that there be a strong, reliable, community- oriented candidate to stand for election for the Senate.

In recent days I have been encouraging Ann Lynch, one of Rochester's current elected officials serving on the non-partisan school board, to become a candidate for my Senate District 30 seat. Ann has the skills, experience and community focus to be an excellent Senator.

Please join me in encouraging her to run for the Minnesota Senate.

Serving you in the Minnesota Senate has been a challenging and rewarding chapter of my life. I am both honored and grateful to have had this rare experience. I sincerely thank you for that opportunity and for your support at the polls and in my election campaigns. I hope that over the years I have earned your trust and that you will continue to support me as I seek to serve as your Lieutenant Governor.

In the coming weeks, I will be inviting you to a gathering so that I may thank you in person and give you the opportunity to meet Kelly Doran. I believe that once you meet him, you will understand why I have chosen to seek higher office and why I believe Kelly Doran will be the best candidate for Governor.

Once again, I send my sincere thanks for giving me such a warm welcome back to the Democratic Party. I hope that I will have your support as I seek to continue to serve you and the state.

Best personal regards,

Sheila

This is the reason I read that blog. At it's best, is it's a great source of political gossip - on it's worst days, it's "hey look everybody at this campaign volunteer sending out email from their workcomputer" nonsense.

Write Michael Brodkorb at: michael@weberjohnsonpa.com. Tell him to continue to post real political news on his blog like this.

OK, it was almost all written by MDE. So sue me

Except for you, Blois Olson. Have I ever mentioned how wonderful you are, Blois? Every pundit should be like you.

Read my blog.

Intresting...did I hear someone call Suuuuu-eeee?

Read my sty.

Kermit,
You misspelled a word. It's "Aleutians".

Posted by Bill C at January 9, 2006 10:44 AM

Darned spellcheker.

This is the real Eva.

You theocrats are quite cruel! I am akshually a very good speller and smart too (I have a degree in biology).

I'd like to see you bigets try to cut and past any better while wearing a pair of Michele (one"L") Bachmann's (two "n"'s) silky underwears on your heads, while trying not to get drull on them.

Develuping.....

read my blog and link to me!

Actually, you can trust comments in blogs that require user registration.

Registered users usually produces higher quality comments. A registration system also does well in thwarting spammers, something about which more needs to be done at this site.

For instance, "Big Boobs" makes a good point here:
http://www.shotinthedark.info/archives/005653.html

On the other hand, a registration system also means no more counterfeit Eva foolery. This crowd won't stand for it!

Well, this thread is sort of the last hurrah for wacky comment tomfoolery. Sort of. I'm going to upgrade to MT3.x as soon as I can squeeze it into my budget, hopefully in the next month or so.

Actually, if I can get a spike in my blogads by the 15th, I'll do it sooner...

"Blogger Berg" - is that like "Lawyer Daggett"? 'Cause I know you don't want J. Noble Daggett mad at you, and if Mitch Berg is like that, then you'd best walk circumspectly.

I spend all days doing Technorati searches on myself to pump up my traffic numbers and in one afternoon, whiner Berg and his fake Eva's mess everything up..

Redeculous!

Also, I don't even have a pair of Michele Bachmann's underwear, but I'd like some so if you can get me some come over and post some comments on my blog.

Developing......

Mitch threatened: Well, this thread is sort of the last hurrah for wacky comment tomfoolery.

Don't do it! Don't make us all go to Eva Young's blog! Don't get all serious like Hindrocket or Catain Ed. Lileks will stop visiting!
Rediculous.

Mitch: There's a free version of MT3. The only limitation, I think, is that only three authors are allowed.

http://www.sixapart.com/movabletype/pricing

Yep. I've thought about it - but I run more than one blog.

I'm pondering a number of plans at the moment.

So Mitch, in the first part you seem to be complaining about someone who picks apart, point by point, statements... hmmm.. gosh.. I know Eva MUST be the only one who does that.

Lame, very, very lame...also, increadibly long-winded lame.. for those of you who like to whine about long posts.. the paradigm was established by the author.

Mitch, perhaps she just didn't think your posts were worth the effort, which is generally axiomatic, and so just saved herself the time. I know I personally consider your blog the center of my world, and so, share this secret love with you and the rest of your sycho..err.. adherents, but maybe she just doesn't think you're cool enough.

I realize this may have prompted you to post fictional items from her, but as I keep telling you, you need to get past this candle you've clung to, waiting for Eva to profess her undying devotion, and making up posts from her is merely feeding your fantasy thus delaying your eventual return to the world of sane folks. It's tough love, but it's the only kind of love I think will help you, please grow past this hurt, and try hard to accept that some few lack-witted fools simply don't see your blog as the end-all of factual relevance.

PB

Peeb,

"I realize this may have prompted you to post fictional items from her..."

Try, oh, do try for once, to get SOME facts straight, would you?

Others post the fictional items on my blog. I don't edit or delete comments that aren't blatantly abusive (I have, indeed, deleted comments that were abusive of Ms. Young; put that in your bigoted little pipe and smoke it!).

Long story short, Peeb; I'm right. You're wrong. Round over. Next.

Mitch,

You are easily one of the most ego-challenged people I've ever seen.

Whether you posted it or not wasn't even much of the point. Declaring you won is like declaring that you're brain is bigger, first, it's pretty unprovable, but second, it's self-evident of defeat.

Point is, the fact that you'd get bothered by sarcasm proves you lost, round over, move on... cough*juvenile*cough

PB

Actually, Peeb, I'm trying to defuse what is becoming a bit of a problem.

You can disagree with me all you want; it's why I put a comment section in this blog.

Maybe you think your constant insults are funny - perhaps to you they are. I have a vastly thicker skin than anyone you will ever meet, but frankly, Peeb, it's getting old.

Disagree with me? Fine, no problem. Insult me? Pffft. I have thicker skin than anyone you are likely to meet. But don't expect me to take you seriously, or grant your insulting, vituperative opinions any excessive respect.

You get get back what you put out. Only in most peoples' cases, not nearly as verbosely as you put it out.

Yup, Swiftee also will complane to people's workplaces about them posting during work hours - he did that to me - and though I was posting during breaks (ten minutes for every half an hour I spend sleeping at my desk..can you spel AFSCME?), it doesn't look good.

Redeculous!

So for the wacky biget that said something nasty about my work habits I say this...you have to work to have work habits so there.

read my blog during work...I do.

I just completed the patented Compatiblity Matching System™ at eHarmony.com...

PB and Eva are a perfect match!

Developing...

Sure ya' do Mitch, that's why you consistently get your back out of place on trivialities.

As for getting old, what's getting old is you constantly ignoring valid questions, and valid points.

What's also funny is that you piss and moan about someone else doing so, AND that you seem to pretty often get into personal exchanges.

You strut around like some cock-robbin about your professed "man-hood" declaring victory, or irrelevence etc.. of anything you don't want to actually address, and make yourself look foolish.

As for insults, Mitch, whatever you profess, you pretty constantly insult people, either in responses (like spells worse than a mildy bright 6th grader), yet get bent when you get insulted. Perhaps, yet again, it your inability to do as you say, yet expect others to do so.

So, long-and-short, you look like an idiot getting bent out of shape at me suggesting you pine for Eva, clearly a joke, when the real point was WHY ARE YOU EVEN WORRYING ABOUT IT, if you are so thick skinned, you wouldn't give it the time of day. But instead, as proof of your insecurity, you pick on a tick to prove your supremecy.

As I said, lame, and it shows you to be shallow and lacking in real substance as well as confidence. If Eva is as useless as you claim (and frankly I agree with much of your claim), then using her failure to point out your flaws as some form of validation is ludicrous and hypocritical to your original post.

Grow up.

PB

"yet get bent when you get insulted. Perhaps, yet again, it your inability to do as you say, yet expect others to do so."

Oh, get over yourself. There is no "bent" involved. Just chiding someone who, if he were at a bar, I'd quietly nod to the bouncer and urge them to keep an eye out.

"WHY ARE YOU EVEN WORRYING ABOUT IT"

Who says I'm "worrying" about anything?

Sure Mitch, sure..

I'm suspecting that the Bouncer would keep one eye on her, the other ... well... you're the one who appears to have to prove your manhood so constantly, but then again, as any good bouncer knows, it's people with that complex that are pretty much all talk, unless they get too much beer in em'.

PB

"you're the one who appears to have to prove your manhood"

That's like the third time you've tossed that one out today, Peeb. Give it a rest. It's an area where you're both making the whole issue up out of whole cloth, and also utterly unqualified to comment, period.

But what's new?

OMG, Mitch, you can't be serious?!!?

let's see..

These Colors don't run
I'd have joined, but for my 4F classification
and then today..I suggested that you wished she pined for you, and you respond with a churlish - I win/you loose post implying that winning, and self-declaration are your cherished domains - that sort of response (needing to win - and refusing to engage in debate - as well as declaring victory based on a foolish assumption limited to your own perception - are pretty indicative of a "need to appear" tough mentality. BTW if you don't like the armchair psychology, that's a shame, you engage in it so often you should be used to it by now.

As for making up out of wholecloth, let's see.. Peeb believes the only deaths that matter are those that happen in combat, Peeb spouts the pure party line all the time..

Once again, Mitch can't live in the house he built, but then again, what's new?

PB

Oh.. and the fact that this WHOLE post was about a "challenge" that you responded to from someone not worth responding to.. I mean.. outside of THAT.. you don't appear AT ALL to be motivated by the need to prove your manliness...OMG what irony.. I'm laughing hard enough that I've started coughing.

Mitch, you're hopeless, loveable, but hopeless. That you didn't get that irony from the start (of my chain), well, you just proved it again.

PB

THAT's what's got you worked up into such a friggin' lather, Peeb?

"Oh.. and the fact that this WHOLE post was about a "challenge" that you responded to from someone not worth responding to."

Oh, for the love of...

...I'm *ridiculing* it, for chrissake.

Go have a beer and take a few deep breaths. I write about what I want to write about.

pb is a real asshat, isn't he? :)

Peeb,
Stop trying to help me. Your making me look like a dork.

While your at it, dont read my blog.

Is PB a woman? Think about it...."he" goes on and on and on. Hmmmm....

Am I the only one that DOES NOT read past the first sentence of any of PB's posts? Usually, no matter how annoying or off-the-wall I think someone is, I read their posts to see what they have to say. Not PB's. I can tell by the first sentence (or even word) who it is and then I scroll on down to whoever is next...with nary a twinge of curiosity whatsoever.

Am I the only one that DOES NOT read past the first sentence of any of PB's posts?
Posted by Colleen at January 9, 2006 10:11 PM

I think Mitch is the only one who reads it all. There's some sort of proprietary obligation, I guess.

I don't think it's Mitch's proprietary obligation... I suspect he just feels sorry for PB.

I'm Pee-Brain, and I dont need a blog of my own -- if I did, no one would read it, just like no one reads Eva's blog. Besides, Chimpy McBushHitler would send his Patriot Act goons to deprive me of my civil liberties. Much smarter of me to regularly defecate in a blog that actually gets read. See how smart I am and how stupid you are? That's 'cause I know stuff.

But badda,
Mitch is a cold-hearted conservative. He couldn't possibly feel sorry for pb.

This comment is mostly to ensure 40 comments, because I'm kind of like "Monk" in that regard.

Anyway, I think that the fact PB is defending Eva Young says about all we need to know about PB. . . and Eva Young.

Hmmm, you're right Kermit.

And we know he's not Catholic, but even if he was there's no way ANY priest would consider reading PB's posts a penance.

This will take further analysis.

Roid my blegh to learn how my affair with Rod Stewart's busdriver's brother prompted him to write:

And may you never love in vain
And in my heart you will remain
For Eva Young, for Eva Young