our insane torte system to his advantage via blackmail and extortion.

-- nabalzbbfr

Dagnabit, that "torte" system is just way out of control. We must reign it in before one more American gets diabetes.

(I'm sorry - I find it beyond impossible to take this particular troll seriously.)

If the Democrats think these cheap theatrics are a winning political strategy, then they are plain nuts. Can you say boomerang?

-- nabalzbbfr

It's true that if anyone knew anything about being "plain nuts," it would be you.

But, the Democrats clearly don't think that cheap theatrics are a winning political strategy. That's why they've criticized Bush's cheap theatrics.

Thanks for providing today's lesson on right wing hypocrisy.

To everyone else: Does the fact that nabalzbbfr exists ever make you sad?

My favorite incarnation of this phenomenon is the oft-repeated, "liberals don't like Bush solely because they are sore losers and can't get over Bush beating Gore."

I get that they disagree with the criticisms and have a different opinion. But, what is confounding is their inability to even recognize the mere possibility that someone could actually disappove of Bush because of his policies, actions, failures, etc. No, they think we're just making it up to justify our irrational post-2000 election vendetta.

Setting aside the sheer childish ridiculousness of the argument, how do that explain the poll numbers? Large numbers of people who actually voted for Bush no longer support him, or even vehemently disapprove of him. Are they also nursing a grudge over Gore's loss, even though they voted for Bush? I hardly think so.

Seriously, have it, give me your best shot. And if you think this is trolling you're being childish.

-- RealName

If you're going to spend all day shooting down a strawman, it's going to be considered trolling.

Maybe you should ask yourself: why do you have to make an unsubstantiated assumption in order to make your argument? Why have you spent all day arguing a point that no one ever made?

Childish, indeed.

What's with the sudden influx of concern trolls laden with bushels of strawmen? You know you've got a troll when disagreement or debate with his ideas = trying to stifle them. What do they expect? Does debate consist of one person making points and everyone else nodding in agreement, whether they agree or not? No wonder the level of discourse in this country is so low.

And, since when does "efficiency of the court system" have any bearing on whether people are entitled to rights such as habeus corpus? I find that argument disconcerting, at best. That's why Glenn made the sarcastic comment about police officers and warrants - both "arguments" make the same amount of sense: none.

Yes, I understand that you think that Bush’s “clear plan” is like dumping gas on a fire until it's out –- but did you know that nitrogylcerin (sp?) is used to put out oil fires –- and I didn’t get that from beltway lifers either, but rather from watching John Wayne movies. Sorry if you think WINNING IN IRAQ is not “clear” enough for you.

-- Jake007

Not to be a school marm, but it's comments like this which have Glenn urging us to follow Arne's advice.

I know I'm responding to it, but it's to urge everyone else to let it be. This guy is going to respond to every single comment made to him, and it's going to end up being the Jake007 comment section. That would be fine if the guy were halfway serious, but, based on the above, he's clearly not. He's here to hijack, and that's exactly what he's doing.

I'm just picking the ones worthy of complete and total ridicule. I'm really ignoring him most of the time from now on in hopes he'll just go away. Come back, Shooter. We all miss having you to kick around.

-- L.W.M.

Thanks.

I'm mostly a lurker, and it's not usually my style to try to direct the behavior of others. But, this comment section has become invaluable to me as a source of information and excellent debate. I'd hate to have someone who sources movies as evidence to affect that.

But, I definitely understand the desire to ridicule. He's hanging them out there right over the plate - it's hard to just watch them go by without hitting them out of th epark.

Odd, isn't it?

-- L.W.M.

If a perceived Democrat/liberal doesn't like something, then a True Believer, by default, does.

...and I am constantly in the position of defending the MSM. Maybe the MSM isn't so liberal after all."

-- GlennGreenwald

I am more and more convinced that the pundit class does not believe the media to be liberal.

It's simply a Get Out of Jail Free card. If facts are inconvenient to their cause, they can put it off to the fact that the person reporting the facts is biased against them. They never have to accept anything which does not fit into their agenda.

For the True Believing members of the public, it's a similar knee jerk reaction to anything they do not like, but I think they actually believe it. They do not seem to do much in the way of independent investigation of the claims of Rush Limbaugh and the like.