The Response (Updated and Bumped Up)
By Mitch Berg
Molly “Ms. Sensitivity” Priesmeyer responds to Michael Brodkorb (I’m gonna pull an Eva and link to a comment) about the furor over her “McCain’s teeth” post. About the fact that Mac had his teeth bashed out by North Vietnamese goons…:
I was not aware of the fact. I simply was linking to a post that revealed “his teeth” had become a topic of discussion on the blogosphere. Buzzfeed.com is an aggregator site that collects trends of the day.
It beggars my imagination that someone – especially someone whose MNPost profile claims she writes about “veterans”, especially someone who claims to be a journalist with an interest in covering politics – can possibly not know that McCain was tortured to and beyond the limits of human endurance during his five years of captivity. Or, for that matter, that he’s a cancer survivor – and some cancer treatments play hob on a guy’s teeth.
At it beggars it even more to think she’s going to try to slink away by saying “I was just linking…”. Yesterday she said:
…it’s at least refreshing to see McCain’s teeth get a razzing (though, unfortunately, not a cleaning). It gets a little tiring listening to the same sexist cries that Hillary Clinton is just too ugly to be president. Hatin’ on the looks of all the candidates? Now that’s equality!
That’s not a “link”, Molly. That’s an endorsement.
UPDATE: Charlie Quimby leaps to the defense, with a post that basically quibbles (Quimbles?) about how many teeth McCain lost in captivity, and how they were lost (was it bad nutrition?) – and, like any good leftyblogger, finds a Bush anecdote:
One of McCain’s aides tells me that two years ago, campaigning with McCain, George W. Bush asked him if the senator would like to work out with him. Told that McCain did not, could not, really “work out,” Bush replied, “What do you mean?”
Which might have been a little more germane had the President then followed his ignorant statement with “those broken old-man arms sure do look icky, don’t they?”
Quimby also dredges up a photo of a woman at the ‘04 GOP Convention wearing a Purple Heart bandaid – a tacky mockery of the wound that led to John Kerry’s Purple Heart – and asks:
And of course, today’s critics would never stoop to mocking a candidate’s war wounds.
I’m not sure when “I know Molly is, but what are you?” became an accepted debate tactic – but as a matter of fact, no. This critic never did; I roundly condemned that particular stunt on the air and, if memory serves, in my blog. I treated Kerry’s war service and decorations as off-limits.
Look – it’s not a the end of the world that Molly Priesmeyer was ignorant about John McCain. It’s even forgiveable (if dumb) that she mocked the candidate’s teeth; she’s built a career out of shallow, ill-informed mockery.
It’s just interesting to point out that snide, trite, shallow mockery is what passes for coverage of politics these days at the Monitor. Why, it’s like they’re just another Kos diary, or a cheap lavishly-paid version of Cucking Stool.
Quimby also allows…:
Priesmeyer’s piece was dumb and insensitive, of course, and now it belongs to the polemicists like Berg and Brodkorb, who will make much more of it than it deserves.
This sentence is worth a post on its own.
We’ll come back to that.
UPDATE AND BUMP: Someone at the Monitor (I’m gonna guess Paul Schmelzer, but it’s just a guess) gets i Steve Perry notes that the MNMon got the message; they’ve pulled the infamous “Presidential Teeth” story from the front page:
To answer the question from GOP blogger Michael Brodkorb that kicked off the controversy about this post yesterday: No, neither Molly Priesmeyer nor I was aware that McCain had had his teeth broken as a North Vietnamese prisoner of war. No, we would not have piled on with further aspersions on the appearance of his teeth if we had known.
The item was not intended to make a serious point of any sort, as we thought the headline suggested right off the bat (”The dental gap: Does McCain have presidential teeth?”). It was a bit of web ephemera that we found funny mainly for its absurdity–sort of like the videos we’ve posted from Obama Girl, the McCain Girls, and La Pequena, and items we’ve written about phenomena such as social media sites obsessed with Barack Obama. The POW backstory turns a joke noted in passing into a lousy joke. And we’re sorry for that.
Fair enough. Although the fact that this is “Web Ephemera” in the first place is sort of disturbing.
We’re also sorry that this dust-up has inadvertently provided yet another sideshow in which genuinely important questions about the candidate and his campaign are circumvented. There’s far too much of that going around.
Well, let’s be honest, here: it’s conservatives – like Michael and, incidentally, I – who’ve been holding Mac’s feet in the fire (figuratively speaking) for most of a decade now, while the media and the center-left uncritically lionized him as the “acceptable Republican”. Many of us have been asking questions about the “candidate and his campaign” since before the beginning.
But that’s another whole issue.
March 26th, 2008 at 9:38 am
Slinking away from embarrassing writing is the mark of a good journalist. I do it all the time.
March 26th, 2008 at 9:46 am
Followup to yesterdays news….on the same day Iraq was veterans are banned from a one Minnesota public school, a deserter is welcomed in another…..
Duluth News-Tribune
Ex-soldier explains her decision to desert
McPherson spoke Tuesday to students and community members at the University of Minnesota Duluth. Her speech, which drew criticism from some members of the audience, was sponsored as part of Women’s History Month by the school’s Women’s Resource and Action Center, women’s studies department and the Truth in Recruiting Committee.
March 26th, 2008 at 9:47 am
I remember one particularly embarassing post on the Anti-Strib, made by me, due to a misinterpretation on my part of some slightly confused story.
I left it up, highlighted the mistakes with strikethrough text, made corrections in bold, and called myself a jackass. The word “gigantic” might have been used, too.
I had seen other bloggers do something similar and figured that was the standard. Maybe I should get a link to my jackass post and send it to Molly. (Or, is she M-Pri, Mol-P, or Wussy McWusserson?)
March 26th, 2008 at 10:17 am
Because we all know mocking someones service and war injuries is wrong on so many levels. I condemn Molly for her post, as a did about 4 years ago the last time it happened.
http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/08/30/gop.purple.hearts/
Mitch, I tried searching you archives looking for your post condemning this mockery back then, like you are now. I can’t seem to find it, little help please.
Flash
March 26th, 2008 at 10:40 am
Getting a little wound on your ass (and then requesting your own purple heart) is the same as staying at the Hanoi Hilton for five years?
March 26th, 2008 at 10:43 am
Flash,
I groaned about it on the air. It was stupid. I don’t write about *every* stupid thing I read about.
But unless you can show me where I ever wrote “should a guy with a scar on his ass be President”, it’s really not germane.
March 26th, 2008 at 10:53 am
Mitch:
“I don’t write about *every* stupid thing I read about.”
Thank God! Think of all the crap that Mitch reads on MnMon, or from Pheonix Woman, or from MnOb, or Fecke, or the rest of the loons… then think of all of the quotes getting plastered on SitD.
Oi Gevalt!
I for one thank Mitch for not bloggin on every stupid think he reads… and I for one also welcome our new ant overlords.
March 26th, 2008 at 10:55 am
Flash, you’re playing the wrong role; it’s Peev that’s all about the impossible leaps of moral relativism. I thought you knew that.
March 26th, 2008 at 11:05 am
You guys are fricken amazing in how you think you get to decide which war heroes deserve to be treated with respect and which ones don;t. It;s really easy for me, I think anyone who as risked their life n a combat deployment deserve the utmost respect, It;s not like they get to pick and chose which direction those bullets are flying. But n your world, I guess they do.
March 26th, 2008 at 11:21 am
Oh, fer crying out loud, Flash.
You can treat veterans with respect and STILL understand the distinction between a getting a slug of lead in the ass and spending five years having the durability of your limbs and chompers routinely tested by experts well-suited to their craft.
There’s also a slight distinction between a veteran who returns home, disparages his fellow soldiers, and tosses his medals over a fence, and a veteran who opts to stay in torturous captivity, in solidarity with his fellow incarcerated comrades.
Try to keep up.
I’m glad you think we’re fricken amazing, though. You got something right, at least.
March 26th, 2008 at 11:24 am
Flash, that’s because you’re possibly painting with a broad brush.
Does one respect a vet even though he selfishly pushes for his own honors and decorations?
Does one respect a vet more for enduring greater injury and suffering?
Does one respect a vet based on his other actions, honorable or otherwise?
March 26th, 2008 at 11:27 am
So flash believes that once someone is designated a “war hero” then no disrespect should come their way, regardless of what they do in their lives?
And that all “war heroes” deserve equal respect?
And that “anyone who as risked their life n a combat deployment” is a “war hero”?
March 26th, 2008 at 11:32 am
you think you get to decide which war heroes deserve to be treated with respect and which ones don;t.
No, Flash, I made a very nearly religious point of *never* mocking Kerry’s war record, and have made it very clear, on the air and off, that I considered Kerry’s *actual* combat service and purple heart, no matter what their circumstances, to be off-limits for mockery.
You’re trying to ascribe a base, reprehensible view to me that I do not hold.
Please stop.
March 26th, 2008 at 11:40 am
You’re so silly, getting all harumphy cause people are making fun of McCain’s Autin Powers choppers. Fer crying out loud, so he got a couple teeth knocked out MORE THAN 40 YEARS AGO. He’s had plenty of opportunity for a good cleaning since then, dontcha think?
March 26th, 2008 at 11:50 am
[...] Classy as always. (via Mitch Berg) [...]
March 26th, 2008 at 11:59 am
He’s had plenty of opportunity for a good cleaning since then, dontcha think?
And you base this opinion on your intimate knowledge of McCain’s medical and dental records, correct?
Democrat: Where superficial Really matters. Watch out for snipers.
March 26th, 2008 at 12:03 pm
Slightly off-topic, but I see Obama’s tax returns are up. He made about a million dollars a year, lately.
This guy and his wife think Black people are oppressed?
To paraphrase Tevye – May God smite me with such oppression. And may I never recover!
.
March 26th, 2008 at 12:09 pm
All I asked of you is to show me the Multi post condemnation of when Kerry’s was being mocked for his injuries or even Cleland for that matter. I haven’t found any such posts, just your claims, which I take your word for. Meanwhile, you’ve asked me to stop commenting about it while your cheerleaders (the plural you ‘you guys’ when read in context above, not the singular you implied by your selective editing) continue to mock Kerry’s service. You may not be the mocker yourself, but you are enabling it.
March 26th, 2008 at 12:17 pm
Where is the “continue to mock Kerry’s service”, flash?
March 26th, 2008 at 12:20 pm
I wouldn’t put Cleland in the same breath as Kerry… most people seem to regard Cleland’s unfortunate circumstances with pity not mocking or scorn. Sure, give Cleland the honor. While Kerry gets respect for his purple hearts, we don’t feel pity for him.
March 26th, 2008 at 12:20 pm
Flash, Kerry got 3 Purple Hearts in…was it 4 months? Yet was never hospitalized? Now, I would not have done the Band-Aid thing. That’s about as smart as banning military veterans from their own schools. But do really think Kerry’s Vietnam experiences are comparable to JMac’s?
March 26th, 2008 at 12:22 pm
When was Cleland mocked by Republicans? The only thing I can recall is that he put the gov’t employees unions ahead of national security, and the Republicans called him on it. Is that bad?
March 26th, 2008 at 12:24 pm
Both of ‘em beat Bush’s silver-spoon draft dodging.
March 26th, 2008 at 12:27 pm
Folks like AC and Peev simply LOVE to claim that Ann Coulter is some kind of vicious, mean, nasty, and any other insult they usually reserve for other patriots and folks on the right who stand up for their believes… look what Ann said about Sen. Max Cleland:
http://64.233.167.104/search?q=cache:4N_ErXVBGYcJ:www.jewishworldreview.com/cols/coulter021904.asp+%22max+cleland%22%2B%22ann+coulter%22&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=4&gl=us
Just watch AC start foaming… again.
March 26th, 2008 at 12:35 pm
you are enabling it.
I don’t as a rule edit comments, even when I disagree – or, for that matter, when they attack me or what I believe fairly directly. But hey – if I went over to your blog and criticized Kerry’s war record, would you be “enabling” me?
And it’s generally accepted that “failure to condemn doesn’t equal acquiescence”.
March 26th, 2008 at 12:50 pm
Agreeing with Coulter simply shows you’re also a scumbag, Badda. Nothing to be proud of there.
March 26th, 2008 at 1:04 pm
You obviously didn’t read the column. You don’t know what you’re talking about, AC. But, I just stated the obvious… so I appologize.
March 26th, 2008 at 1:18 pm
As AC is clearly alergic to work and reading:
Coulter:
“And yet the poignant truth of Cleland’s own accident demonstrates the commitment and bravery of all members of the military who come into contact with ordnance. Cleland’s injury was of the routine variety that occurs whenever young men and weapons are put in close proximity — including in the National Guard.”
[....]
“Cleland’s true heroism came after the war, when he went on to build a productive life for himself. That is a story of inspiration and courage. He shouldn’t let the Democrats tarnish an admirable life by “sexing up” his record in order to better attack George Bush.”
Sure. Agreeing with that is simply mean. That’s just awful, isn’t it?
March 26th, 2008 at 1:25 pm
My.
Coulter sounded pretty human there, didn’t she?
Hm. Who knew?
Oh, yeah – those who don’t deal exclusively in stereotypes! WE knew!
March 26th, 2008 at 1:27 pm
Cue AC and his knee-jerk blather (that even he doesn’t believe… he just has a duty to the Left).
March 26th, 2008 at 1:31 pm
That’s Coulter’s backpedal column after her original slander provoked a shit-storm from vets, you half-wit. From the original column:
Former Sen. Max Cleland is the Democrats’ designated hysteric about George Bush’s National Guard service.
[...]
Cleland lost three limbs in an accident during a routine noncombat mission where he was about to drink beer with friends. He saw a grenade on the ground and picked it up. He could have done that at Fort Dix. In fact, Cleland could have dropped a grenade on his foot as a National Guardsman — or what Cleland sneeringly calls “weekend warriors.” Luckily for Cleland’s political career and current pomposity about Bush, he happened to do it while in Vietnam.
[...]
Indeed, if Cleland had dropped a grenade on himself at Fort Dix rather than in Vietnam, he would never have been a U.S. senator in the first place.
[...]
Cleland wore the uniform, he was in Vietnam, and he has shown courage by going on to lead a productive life. But he didn’t “give his limbs for his country,” or leave them “on the battlefield.” There was no bravery involved in dropping a grenade on himself with no enemy troops in sight.
Of course Cleland didn’t “drop a grenade on himself.” He picked up a live grenade dropped by another soldier in a combat zone. “Lucky” for him.
March 26th, 2008 at 1:41 pm
And???
How am I (or how are we) scum, scumbags, or scumlike?
Cue AC’s deterioration into more insults and off-topic discussion.
March 26th, 2008 at 1:48 pm
I guess in wingnut world, denigrating a vet who lost three limbs isn’t as bad as making fun of John McCain’s teeth. You would need a soul to recognize the scumminess, Badda. But take it from Angryclown. Ann Coulter’s a scumbag and so are you.
March 26th, 2008 at 1:52 pm
And I did that… where? (See! He doesn’t even believe it himself.)
March 26th, 2008 at 2:19 pm
I’ve always had a particular affinity for the word “scumbag.” It seems insulting at first, but when you really look at it, it’s not. Oh, sure, “scum” is sort of insulting, in a “shaving scum around the sink” sort of way, if you let that kind of thing get to you. But, really, somebody took the time to bag up the scum, so the scum’s not really created a mess any more, and assuming the scumbag isn’t leaking or otherwise dripping with scum, it kind of serves a useful purpose, what with acting as a repository for all that unwanted scum. So, when someone like AC zings you, Badda, with such Cicero-inspired orations as “Ann Coulter’s a scumbag and so are you,” just remember, you’re serving a useful purpose, whereas AC is just a wretched, cum-guzzling boozehound.
March 26th, 2008 at 2:23 pm
I should add that we should give our appreciation to the MnMon, or whatever it is called, for removing the post from the front-and-center possition and posting a response.
As for Quimby… I’m not surprised. He’s that kind of blogger. (I’ve said so before, but for some reason Mitch gave him the benefit of the doubt.) Not only that, he writes slightly less well than I write.
March 26th, 2008 at 2:25 pm
Y,
You’re killin’ me. I’m not sure I should thank you, but that’s funny.
March 26th, 2008 at 2:38 pm
Clownie is right, it’s not nice to criticize a cripple.
March 26th, 2008 at 2:41 pm
For a long time I have thought of angryclown and Ann Coulter as kindred spirits. I still do.
March 26th, 2008 at 3:11 pm
I agree, Yoss. While Badda may look normal on the outside, he is clearly full to the brim with scum. But it seems to Angryclown that everytime Badda posts, he lets some of the scum leak out. Which makes him an incompetent scumbag. In other words he is inadequate at his sole purpose, which you ably identified: to act as a vessel for scum.
March 26th, 2008 at 3:15 pm
Gee, does that make you a vitriolbag?
March 26th, 2008 at 3:17 pm
He still doesn’t explain how he thinks I would be a scumbag… that mostly stems from the fact that he’s merely talking.
They’re good at talking… those east coast guys. That’s why they like women with large breasts. They’ve got such big mouths.
March 26th, 2008 at 3:19 pm
“”Someone at the Monitor (I’m gonna guess Paul Schmelzer, but it’s just a guess) gets it; they’ve pulled the infamous “Presidential Teeth” story from the front page:”"
The story is not pulled, it is still on the front page with an Apology appended to it signed by Steve Perry. Just thought you reader may want the facts . . . . ah hell, who am I kidding!
March 26th, 2008 at 3:23 pm
So, it’s not on the top spot anymore?
March 26th, 2008 at 3:31 pm
Flash,
Well, I didn’t see it on the front page the first time (I searched for “teeth”, and came up zilch). And when I first read it, there was no “signature”.
By all means, though, keep focusing on irrelevant ephemera!
March 26th, 2008 at 3:39 pm
Perry says he’s worried that “genuinely important questions about the candidate and his campaign are circumvented. ”
Yet a crap post by Molly PissMistress is just fine and dandy.
March 26th, 2008 at 3:48 pm
I think it’s interesting how AC is so focused on Badda’s scumbaggedness, but he spent no time whatsoever defending himself against the charge of being a cum-guzzling boozehound.
March 26th, 2008 at 3:51 pm
Even I was going to call you out on that, Y. He’s not… he doesn’t guzzle, he quaffs deeply.
March 26th, 2008 at 4:11 pm
I keed, I keed.
March 26th, 2008 at 4:29 pm
I was actually going to make a joke about AC blowing the heads off a couple cold ones, but I’m just better than that.
March 26th, 2008 at 4:38 pm
[Dame Maggie Smith]
Ooh, that’s tacky.
[/Dame Maggie Smith]
March 26th, 2008 at 6:01 pm
“…he spent no time whatsoever defending himself against the charge of being a cum-guzzling boozehound.”
And Yoss, what I find interesting is that you think it is a slur to call someone homosexual.
March 26th, 2008 at 6:05 pm
What makes you think he was calling him gay?
March 26th, 2008 at 6:07 pm
I think it is more interesting that Y beileves it a slur to call AC a drunk.
March 26th, 2008 at 7:36 pm
Mitch, every time I use a word like “critics,” it doesn’t mean I am talking about you.
But I was talking about you when I said, “who will make much more of it than it deserves.” I don’t feel like I’ve been contradicted quite yet, so I’ll look forward to still another post on this.
As for leaping to Molly’s defense, I don’t see it, but then I’m not a very good writer, and writing badly as I do for people capable of reading between the lines, I must apologize for nuances getting lost.
I didn’t have to dredge up the purple heart lady. She, and those sentiments, are still pretty close to the surface.
March 26th, 2008 at 7:57 pm
Actually, “cum guzzling boozehound” isn’t my term; I lifted it from one Amanda Marcotte. I use the term because I think it sounds funny, not for any homosexual connotations. But read into what you will, “Fulcrum.”
March 27th, 2008 at 7:27 am
Mitch, every time I use a word like “critics,” it doesn’t mean I am talking about you.
I know. I always write this blog in First Person Omniscient.
But I was talking about you when I said, “who will make much more of it than it deserves.” I don’t feel like I’ve been contradicted quite yet, so I’ll look forward to still another post on this.
Well, that’s the nice thing about blogs, Charlie; I decide what I think is important.
Is Molly Priesmeyer and Steve Perry’s ignorance about John McCain a pivotal issue? Of course not.
Is the tone-deafness of the left about history and the military important? Absofrigginlutely!
As for leaping to Molly’s defense, I don’t see it, but then I’m not a very good writer, and writing badly as I do for people capable of reading between the lines, I must apologize for nuances getting lost.
Don’t sell yourself short, Charlie, on that “Between the LInes” thing. You apparently found a “Molly” in there that I didn’t write or intend.
I didn’t have to dredge up the purple heart lady. She, and those sentiments, are still pretty close to the surface.
I can relate! Jane Fonda is still close to the surface for me. Indeed, seeing Jane Fonda and her defenders when I was a kid, denying that the POWs were tortured, and then defending that denial for 20-odd years, is pretty close to the surface for me.
March 27th, 2008 at 7:41 am
Yeah, Yoss, who’d think you meant a gay slam by using “cum-guzzling”? More evidence that words have no meaning for wingnuts and that you are, pure and simple, inveterate liars.
For those keeping score at home, “cum guzzler” is a completely inaccurate description of Angryclown. Angryclown has never guzzled, quaffed, sipped or otherwise imbibed cum.
Not that there’s anything wrong with that.
“Boozehound,” however, is a fair cop.
March 27th, 2008 at 8:49 am
I should have called AC a “Vagina slopping boozehound.”
Damn it! Now I’m a misogynist!
March 27th, 2008 at 8:55 am
I’m like a chocoholic. For booze.
March 27th, 2008 at 9:48 am
Like Dean, I don’t drink anymore… I freeze it now and eat it like a popsicle.
I also take O’Rourke’s advice on six to eight ounces of fluid daily… straight up or on the rocks.