We Have Got To Be The Dumbest Fucking People On Earth (PBS)

[jsmirman]

We've got to be. There's no other explanation.

For one, there's the idea that somehow we allow people to make the lunatic claim that the media is in the tank for the Dems or the left. Oh really? Romney tells Lehrer that he's going to fire his wobbly ass and we get the bullshit I'm about to detail below.

For two, there's this insane overreaction we have to the accusation of bias that makes us produce works of audacity (again, more below), that can only be described as... insane.

For three, I had a phone call earlier tonight with someone who seems to me to capture the essence of a political operative, in that she couldn't possibly understand her way out of a cardboard box, but that is another story for another time, and then, the other side has the same exact drone army filling out their own stooge-staffel.

Back to this PBS documentary.

I'm watching this shit, I'm 42 minutes in, and so far I've learned that Obama is a white black man, that during his New York years "he did the least" (that's right, the same New York years that would help him gain admission to Harvard fucking Law School) and that Romney's time in France was some sort of heroic, perilous journey.

And that France was awful tough.

Let me first point out that I was a kid in New York City when Barack Obama lived in Harlem. I saw it from a car window and from behind the bus windows, as we traveled out every day to Randall's Island. I have been around the world. The entire thing. Circumnavigated it. Been to some shitholes. Let me tell you, Harlem of that era is the scariest fucking place I have ever seen.

But back to Mitt Romney. This fucking asshole was dodging the draft, first in France, and then with a student deferment, and the PBS documentary not only never explicitly mentions that this asshole was avoiding the motherfucking Vietnam War by spending time nagging people in France, but presents it as a G**-damn hero's journey???

Are you fucking kidding me?

I will say it right now. I would rather spend two years a million times over in France, even getting doors shut on me for part of every day than spend a day in the jungles of Vietnam. It's not close. It's not close to close. It's described as "this difficult work." Not getting shot at and sweating and getting stung to death, but riding a fucking bicycle in France.

Riding a fucking bicycle in France!!!

And what was his great accomplishment? He converted TEN people. I suppose if you really think you're saving someone's soul, that's quite something, but presumably he was converting them from Christianity to Christianity and fuck this bullshit I can't be bothered with bending over backwards to shove something up my own ass in the service of being fair anymore.

DRAFT DODGER!!!! PROTESTED FOR THE WAR! HID IN FRANCE - FUCKING FRANCE - FOR TWO YEARS! AND THEN TOOK A STUDENT DEFERMENT! AND SAYS "SOMETIMES (HE) WISHED HE WAS IN THE WAR!" SO DON'T TAKE A STUDENT DEFERMENT YOU CHUMP-ASS FUCKING CHICKENHAWK!

AND HE WANTS TO FIRE BIG BIRD! DON'T YOU GET IT?

HOLY SHIT, PBS, HOLY FUCKING SHIT.

I can't take it anymore. I just can't take it.

The next election, I'm doing whatever the fuck I want, and anyone who tells me no, or can't understand shit, or doesn't understand the "why" behind shit like, I don't know, reality, is getting a punch in the fucking jaw.

That's right. They're getting dropped.

I just can't take this.

And btw, his friend and fellow missionary admits what they don't run in the PBS documentary:

Most of the missionaries, though, were also relieved that their service meant a draft deferment. “I am sorry, but no one was excited to go and get killed in Vietnam,” Mr. Hansen said, acknowledging, “In hindsight, it is easy to be for the war when you don’t have to worry about going to Vietnam.”

Mr. Romney, though, said that he sometimes had wished he were in Vietnam instead of France. “There were surely times on my mission when I was having a particularly difficult time accomplishing very little when I would have longed for the chance to be serving in the military,” he said in an interview, “but that was not to be.”

While many Mormons — and eventually, some of his fellow missionaries — enlisted, Mr. Romney got a student deferment after returning from France.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/15/us/politics/15romney.html?pagewanted=3&_r=0&hp

Read paragraphs two and three together. Now do it again. Breathe in the insanity.

And that chickenshit bullshit is not getting this man hung.

We have got to be the dumbest fucking people on Earth. There is no other explanation.

My only consolation is the hope that nobody watches PBS.

[DollarBillHines]

1. Yep... Dumb-Ass America

I am watching same...
DBH

[mzmolly]

2. I will not bother to watch.

Thanks for the info.

[Scootaloo]

3. That was fucking righteous; K&R

[jsmirman]

10. I'm getting to my point. I'm getting damn close to my point.

[Kindly Refrain]

40. agreed

[Blue_Tires]

71. +1

[hifiguy]

82. I second you, Scootaloo!

That is one bodacious rant!

[jsmirman]

112. Man, I missed so many of the kind things said

I'm really glad people enjoyed it.

It was one of those things that just had to be uncorked.

[budkin]

4. What show should we not watch?

[jsmirman]

5. The PBS spitshine on Mitt Romney's tootsie pop

apparently it's "The Choice" between where PBS wants to take it.

[txwhitedove]

6. Agree completely. I watched the first hour, but couldn't take anymore. Definitely slanted to

Saint Mitt. Creepy. I didn't watch to see who paid for/contributed to making that tripe.

[jsmirman]

11. I can't believe you made it through a whole hour

42 minutes in and I wanted to break something over Jim Lehrer's head.

[renate]

13. Doesn't the David Koch Foundation fund NOVA?

One of those things that make you go Hmmm.

[xxqqqzme]

17. It was a 'Frontline' program.

I rarely watch Frontline because they were such cheerleaders during the invasion and occupation of Iraq.

[defacto7]

22. PBS, NPR.. just play to the highest bidder....

They are not what they once were. PBS and NPR died long ago. I don;t know who uses those letters now.

[handmade34]

56. "They are not what they once were"

therein lies the rub... "they are not what they once were" this is when most public funding was taken from them!!!!!!

corporate commercials and biases is what privatization gets us

[defacto7]

87. You got that right.

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

7. The documentary seemed to be mostly positive for both

Romney was described as a brilliant businessman who made fortunes by solving problems and a compassionate Mormon Bishop who saved families. PBS seemed to avoid any controversy like the plague.

[99th_Monkey]

20. And Obama was described as a restless, pot-smoking, black-skinned white man

from a "broken family", raised by two alcoholics (grandparents), who had big ideas,
ideas that just didn't mesh very well with "political realities" in DC.

I saw very little that was balanced about this POS "documentary". Shame on
Frontline, and PBS for signing their own death warrant after Mittens said they
were at the top of the list of things "to cut the deficit" since it is responsible for
a whopping 0.00014% of the Federal budget.

This was a hit piece, and they certainly weren't trying to take out Mitt Rmoney,
IMHO.

[still_one]

8. I would venture that most donations to PBS are from progressives not republicans or conservatives

who want to stop government funding to them

Has PBS jumped the shark?

[defacto7]

24. Used to be. But in this climate of survival..

they are making choices that just may bite them in the ass. If they think they can play to the Romney bunch to keep funded if he wins, AND they think they have it paid in the shade if Obama wins, they may just have signed their doom. I for one will fight public funding for both NPR and PBS after this is all over. I would have continued support if they had showed just a reasonable amount of integrity. But as long as they have writers like Frank James and the like on NPR... they are my enemy. I hate lying, manipulators who are supposed to be in the public's interest and yet just play for the pay.

[flamingdem]

9. If our educational channel is spewing out Republican tripe

we are DOOMED

PBS you're lucky if Obama saves your Yellow Feathered Ass!

[HiPointDem]

29. where have you been? republican tripe for years. but i watched the same show the op did &

didn't have the same reaction to it.

for example, on the 'alcoholic' part, the narrator said it was *obama* who told them that his grandmother was 'also' alcoholic (in addition to his grandpa).

and indeed, that bit of info had already been released to the public -- by obama himself:

"That's where you started noticing her alcoholism," Obama said of his grandmother, mentioning that she would come home at night, "exhausted from work, tightly wound and go into her room." He said the show's heavy drinking (e.g. Don's four martinis at lunch), "explains my grandparents, their tastes."

http://www.theatlanticwire.com/entertainment/2012/06/obamas-life-filled-mad-men-characters/53130/


i thought the show painted both men as growing into bigger people from their families of origin, both of which had certain 'narrowness'.

[mshasta]

12. that's f**up

let it go..just let it go

[AndyTiedye]

14. And We Know That We are This Stupid How?

Because the MSM tells us we are. They did a poll that says so. Riiiiight.

[xxqqqzme]

15. I started watching it

then had to go to the on screen guide and find something else to watch. I couldn't take it any more either. The part w/ Queen ann saying they sat on the jump seat together in his sister's car, when he returned from France, and pledged their love to each other, nearly made me throw up. I had to change the channel w/ an eye toward my own well being.

[jsmirman]

18. I dug Queen Ann's gaudy chic

jacket she wore to Willard's debate with Ted Kennedy.

Man, was that thing hideous.

Yeah, it was click it off or this computer was going through a wall.

[abumbyanyothername]

16. I didn't like the first 40 minutes or so but

The rest of it was pretty good, if, in my opinion, a bit overly positive about Romney.

After the opening painting Barack as a pretty messed up high schooler, they kind of made his rise seem highly improbable . . . exactly the kind of story every candidate for President is trying to tell.

Romney on the other hand was painted, correctly in my opinion, as a child of privilege and a creature of money. Although in my view they did not emphasize his wealth connections enough.

Loved the guy from my birth state on Romney, "In Iowa we have a saying, 'when you stick a pig it squeals.'"

[whathehell]

74. I don't know, but we have rules

against sexist language...I'd suggest you edit.

[faith woos science]

21. excellent rant

[ermasdaughter]

23. Awesome, honest rant...

Thanks for blowing up on DU.

[Lasher]

25. Yep, that was a mighty fine rant.

[jsmirman]

78. This graphic got a big laugh out of me last night

thanks

[Lasher]

84. Laughter is good medicine

Dr. Lasher is glad to help. But no kidding, stress can kill.

[jsmirman]

70. Thanks for reading and enjoying it.

[JDPriestly]

26. Just so happens, we were in France 1965-66 and parts of 1968.

It was great. There was nothing difficult about it except that in Paris in the summer of 1968, students were protesting the War in Viet Nam and it was very chaotic. It was the typical French stuff. There were fires but I do not recall any deaths caused by the chaos.

Here is Wikipedia on the protests.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/May_1968_protests_in_France

Romney is a wimp. My husband served in the military for four years. So did so many other American men. Shame on Mitt Romney for denigrating the service of others with his self-pity and self-aggrandizement.

Romney's rhetoric about his missionary cop-out from the Viet Nam War is yet another manifestation of his bad character and narcissism.

Narcissist -- that is the word for Romney. Fits him to a tee.

[HiPointDem]

30. biggest general strike (anywhere) in history, shut down paris & other parts of france.

just the usual french stuff.

While the official records indicate only two deaths in the riots (both of them police officers), the unofficial tally ranged into the dozens. An ambulance driver I met after the events told me of being turned away from hospital emergency rooms with severe casualties. He was told by doctors to take them to the autoroute and bring them back in as traffic accident victims; in this way the death toll from the riots could be kept down to politically acceptable levels.

Casualties were caused not only by police batons, but by the police tactic of using tear-gas launchers as direct-fire weapons - a tear-gas canister bursting on your chest would irreparably burn your corneas. In addition, concussion grenades were sometimes used as close-range weapons, even occasionally being fired into the apartments of innocent onlookers.

http://www.paulchefurka.ca/Paris/Paris.html



student strike at one university grew to other universities, then to occupation of factories & wildcat strikes in paris and other cities, a million-person march in support of the students, with eventually 2/3 of the french workforce on strike.

The de Gaulle administration's attempts to quell those strikes by police action only inflamed the situation further, leading to street battles with the police in the Latin Quarter, followed by a general strike by students and strikes throughout France. The protests reached such a point that government leaders feared civil war or revolution. De Gaulle fled to a French military base in Germany, and after returning dissolved the National Assembly, and called for new parliamentary elections for 23 June 1968.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/May_1968_protests_in_France

just the usual french stuff.

[jsmirman]

31. Like Disneyland compared to Harlem in 1981

Fact.

[HiPointDem]

35. not my point.

and so far as i know, obama never lived in harlem proper.

w. 109th = morningside heights

339 e. 94th = border of e. harlem and upper e. side. wikipedia calls it 'yorkville'.

macauley culkin was born there in 1980.

[jsmirman]

37. I'll respond to you here about your absurd explication of Morningside Heights which you just deleted

you are talking about my fucking city and a place where I have taken classes. And it's lovely now and it was terrifying hell then.

The transition between Morningside Heights and Spanish Harlem is jarring, btw.

His apartment was described as "on the edge of Harlem," "next to a burned out building."

Also, you have no idea what that whole area was like in 1981.

Morningside Heights of that time period is where Pacino's "Cruising" in 1980 was set.

Also, don't tell people about their own homes by looking up shit.

"The main thoroughfare is Broadway," give me a fucking break. You are talking about my home.

This whole post I'm responding to is maddening. It's my home. You're reading to me from a guidebook about my home. I was there.

Oh, and btw, Morningside Park in 1981 was as scary a fucking place as you could find on Earth. There wasn't a mother on Earth who would let their grown ass child walk even through the edge of that place.

I'm just still flabbergasted that you're telling me about my own city, which I tell you I'm from in the initial post.

College town, lol. That place was a college outpost.

If this post seems a little strange, it was written in response to HiPointDem giving me a wikipedia description of the damn place where I'm from (deleted post). I got mugged twenty blocks from there as a kid. Did you?

[HiPointDem]

45. morningside heights is around columbia university and lots of columbia students live there.

i don't think that's controversial.

is morningside heights 'harlem'? not on the map, at least.

'college town within nyc,' or 'college outpost,' i don't see the big difference. i didn't post the quote to explain to you about your home, but to explain my own point about college students. which is that obama was living there like lots of other college students. doesn't mean it was a great neighborhood but it means that obama wasn't performing a unique act of bravery by living there.

[jsmirman]

48. You need to stop. Here's a tip. Great song:

Across 110th Street - do ya' get it?

Obama lived "on the edge of Harlem."

Like, "Across 110th Street."

Great song, reminds me of a time when I was scared an awful lot, but it's still that time of my life:

Recording says from Jackie Brown, but fuck that, it's from the original movie "Across 110th Street" about that being where Harlem began.

As to your post here, yes, it is a "college town within New York City" NOW - back THEN it was an outpost, as in people had to watch their shit the moment they hit the streets and sure as heck weren't picnicking in Morningside Park.

Columbia's neighborhood was a massive hit to its appeal as a school - now it is a big draw. Even though Spanish Harlem is *right* next door and is loud and unruly.

He was right on the edge of Harlem, they describe his apartment in the documentary, and Morningside Heights sucked and was scary in 1981 and I don't care how many times you try to tell me some college students lived there. Many chose not to, btw.

He was living in a place where I would never want to live and neither would you, and Mitt sure as shit wouldn't.

Again, stop telling me about my own damn home.

And it was brave to live at that address during that era. They didn't have one of those medieval inn style bars to slide down and supplement the six other locks because they lived in a nice neighborhood. Goodness.

[HiPointDem]

50. fine morningside heights is on the edge of harlem and it was scary when obama lived there

in the early 80s with other college students. i don't doubt it. others chose not to. i don't doubt it.

[jsmirman]

52. Thank you, that is more satisfactory.

Because that was the reality.

It actually was a declarative act to choose to live near campus during those years as opposed to choosing to live somewhere safer. Which I definitely would have done if I was attending Columbia in 1981.

[jsmirman]

43. Holy God, you're still at it, why are you telling me about Yorkville?

Why do you continue to tell me about my own home?

(This stuff was just added to the post I previously responded to - HPD "augmented" with some wicked weird "I am not from here" geography)

What do I give a flying fuck about Macauley Culkin?

339 E. 94th. Holy shit. Do you still not understand that you are talking to a New Yorker?

Why are you switching between the East Side and the West Side? Those are different worlds.

Now you are telling me about a place two blocks away from the playground I played basketball at every other day or so.

In that very same year.

In Yorkville.

Which has nothing to do with Morningside Heights. NOTHING.

Stop it.

[HiPointDem]

46. because obama lived at both addresses while at columbia.

http://www.bergproperties.com/blog/president-barack-obamas-many-dwellings-over-the-years/

142 W. 109th Street
339 E. 94th Street
and maybe 622 W. 114th Street

maybe if you quit jerking your knee...

[jsmirman]

49. The documentary shows he lived at the first address for at least a year

meaning you have no point.

And if he moved eventually, that made him like plenty of other Columbia students of that era, who didn't want anything to do with Morningside Heights in 1981. Because it, you know, sucked.

The only jerking here is you jerking me around by trying to look up stuff about things I know first hand.

Sure seems like you're jerking my chain.

[HiPointDem]

51. wtf? i wasn't trying to make a point about how long he lived there. you acted like i was a nut

for bringing up 94th street. as you clearly didn't get why i was talking about 94th street, i told you why. period.

[jsmirman]

53. And I still don't think it amounts to much of a point.

In fact, as I explain, it reinforces my point that plenty of Columbia students chose not to live in Morningside Heights in that era.

And I just don't get the whole thrust you're making in this thread. McCauley Caulkin being born in 1980 in Yorkville, which was relatively safe, which I know, because I played basketball all the time in the giant Armory/playground on 96th street, has nothing to do with the fact that Morningside Heights, across town, was still scary as shit.

If Obama moved later on during his time in New York to the safer address, it was probably a wise move.

[HiPointDem]

54. the point was he lived on e 94th street. which is in yorkville. the point is to list these facts.

the point is not to draw some kind of moral lessons from the facts, but to state them.

i really don't get why you are so upset about the whole thing.

you know, i read some memoirs of people in the nyc music scene in the 70s/80s. they were living on the lower east side/tompkins square park neighborhoods, which sounded awful during that period. but they described the whole thing as glorious, how great the club scene & art scene was, how they were running around from club to club in the wee hours -- oh, yeah, it was an open air drug market, but they were young and it was exciting and inspiring, etc. the best years of their lives.

so you know, both things can be true at once: it was hellish and wonderful.

one of my high school friends lived in nyc in the late 70s/early 80s. she did performance art at the mudd club & other venues & lived on morningside drive, among other addresses. and she loved it.

and as i read the things obama has said about that period, the experience had that dual quality for him as well; it was supposedly very formative to him.

it wasn't all scurrying around being fearful of muggers, is what i'm getting at. certainly not for my friend or the people she hung out with, anyway.

maybe it makes a difference if you're a child watching the scene from a bus v. young adult living it.

[jsmirman]

55. I'm not that upset anymore. I got to say

"Every single person in that photo you showed us would have gotten mugged walking through Morningside Park in 1981. Unless I missed someone."

Which made me laugh and pleased me greatly.

Your original self-deleted post is what really got me going. I don't know if you know what it's like to be guidebook lectured about something you lived. Particularly if it was part of the heady, often very dangerous, always had you on your toes and aware of danger period that represents your childhood.

It gets someone going. It's my home and my own personal history.

[HiPointDem]

57. but you see, i wasn't trying to guidebook lecture you. & i deleted it because i feared what i

was trying to say would be misinterpreted. which it was anyway. oh well.

[jsmirman]

64. So you've gone and done another back edit and you're still wrong

The only difference you can't accept is that it makes a difference if you were actually there and lived all of this as opposed to reading about or remembering a friend's recollection or any other assorted things that just don't match.

YOU NEED TO STOP.

Through the worst of the projects and Harlem? Yes, through a bus. Work in Morningside Heights and, no, I did not spend my childhood "watching (a) scene from a bus."

Unlike you, I got mugged three times, got jumped from behind and got the shit beat out of me by a coward who didn't want a fair fight, apparently, but had hard fists (he never got me down, though) - you, you don't know a damn thing about the city in that period. I got chased, and my friends were chased every single weekend night by gangs. We got very good at evading them, and never missed a night out on their account.

Memoirs. Some friend who did performance art. Please.

These are the fuzzy, rosy, amber-panes of delusion that bullshit recollections are strained through. When people get real, they admit that New York City of that period was dirty, dangerous, and often terrifying. I know... because I was there.

If there's any warm nostalgia, it's because the crackback has been so hard, and I'm tired of explaining things to you, so elaboration on that can wait for another time.

Was there fun to be had in the city? Of course there was. It's New York Fucking City. Was the city completely out of control and a disaster? Of course it was.

And, of course, among the many things you don't know, Morningside Drive is not only exclusively tony - it's also set up like a fortress to protect it from any of the vagaries of the rest of that neighborhood.

Stop talking bullshit, please.

And the lower east side area was scary then, too, but it was a distinctly different brand of terrifying than Morningside Heights/Harlem. I got chased going out in the former area, too. And yeah, it was exciting. But there's a real difference between people playing at poverty and people STUCK in poverty, which was the whole story of a place like Morningside Park or the burned out horrror-scapes of Harlem.

You don't understand why I'm upset. In your last post - which you scurried back to edit - you have the audacity to behave as though reading a memoir and remembering some shit your performance artist friend used to romanticize trumps the actual first person recollection of someone telling you what it was like in THAT PERSON'S CITY.

I think you have no idea how ridiculous you sound.

It's also apparent that you can't grasp how annoying/offensive your BS is here. I don't go telling you what your hometown was really like based on some shit I read (again, people with a stake in romanticizing) and some remembered recollection of a performance artist friend. STOP.

[jsmirman]

65. And now I am annoyed/upset again

your inability to admit you don't know what you are talking about is painful.

The arrogance of pretending to know more than someone else about their own hometown because you read some gauzy memoir and remembered shit a performance artist friend told you as she was bragging about her fabu, dangerous, and heady lifestyle during the period - that this entitles you to tell someone else what life was really like in a place and time that they actually lived, is just beyond the beyond.

Good God.

I lay this all out in post #64, but I want to reiterate how ridiculous and offensive your BS is here.

As is running back to edit a post an hour later in hopes that you could somehow be less wrong at 5 am than you were at 4 am. Nope. You're still clueless.

[jsmirman]

32. And like Heaven compared to Vietnam

[HiPointDem]

36. not my point.

[jsmirman]

38. What is your point? That the boulangerie was closed for a few weeks for poor Mitt?

That he had to hide out away from all the shit you describe, making occasional jaunts to American Bank to pick up cash from home to pay for stuff they were cadging from the neighbors?

Mitt wasn't in the riots. Mitt was hunkered down away from them. I'm sure it wasn't pleasant. I still would trade that over living for multiple years in that part of New York which I detail for you in this thread, because, you know, I was there, and I sure as shit would trade that times infinity over spending a day in the jungles of Vietnam.

So no, I have no clue what your point is in this thread. None at all.

[HiPointDem]

41. my point has nothing to do with mitt romney, but with the poster's description of may 1968

as 'the usual french stuff'.

it wasn't. it was the biggest general strike in world history and it shut down 2/3 of france.

& i think it's pretty obvious from my post what my point was, as it says a lot about france & not one word about mitt romney.

[jsmirman]

44. Ok, great, France got jiggy with it. The topic is Mitt. And he's a draft dodging fuck.

I still see people wearing sweaters in your photos.

Every single person in that photo you showed us would have gotten mugged walking through Morningside Park in 1981. Unless I missed someone.

[HiPointDem]

47. i wasn't talking about mitt, though. and saying that may 1968 was quite a bit more than

'the usual french stuff' is not equivalent to saying mitt therefore had a hellish life in france.

please stop knee-jerking.

[JDPriestly]

88. It was interesting but not frightening.

A friend took us to the Sorbonne promising we would see Sartre. He wasn't there. You could smell teargas but it really was not dangerous for Americans. Might have been if you got in the middle of the demonstrations but I can assure you Mitt was nowhere near that point.

[OSPREYXIV]

32. Clinically weird.

The question is not whether the Republican candidate is narcissistic but whether he is a
borderline. Anyone who lies ceasely has no
business whatsoever running for any office,
much less the Presidency.
If it wasn't so terrifying, it would be funny.
It's not.

[Overseas]

27. I hated that too. Frontline giving in to the Right's old technique of "playing the ref" -- bending

over backward to flatter Romney to show that they're not liberal.

"What Liberal Media?" was published in 2003 already... http://www.thenation.com/article/what-liberal-media#

Barry Obama was the mysterious idealist from the broken home who drifted into the White House.

Willard was the inspired missionary and business turnaround wizard who made everything more efficient.

Great point you made about their not even mentioning the context of his avoiding the draft. Although they took time to mention his daddy losing his presidential bid because he said he'd been brainwashed into being pro-war... They didn't mention any tension between father and son when Willard protested in favor of it.

Just a soupcon of an inkling that things weren't always perfect-- that some folks said his days at Bain led to companies shutting down and he did seem to shift his political opinions to suit the needs of his party at the time.

The Heritage Foundation must have produced the movie. Or be a big new funder of PBS.

[SleeplessinSoCal]

28. Take heart. Only liberals watch Frontline.

[Kindly Refrain]

39. I didn't know his father ran for President.

Oh fucking great! Another war mongering, religious nut-job with daddy issues. Just what this country needs... again.

[dimbear]

42. Let's remember to be specific. Mitch was saving the French from Catholicism.

That's gotta sound better to Paul Ryan.

[Iggy]

58. "Stupidity is the Disease of America"

Norman Mailer.

Have _any_ Mormons served in any war? Other than, of course the MOB war where the mob
killed the Mormon "prophet" Joseph Smith-- because he was a huge asshole

[whathehell]

75. If so, then I'd suggest Norman Mailer was suffering from it himself.

Do you know the Jack Abbott story?...

[Iggy]

85. I Know a Bit About That...

but it's irrelevant to the larger point: Our nation is chock full o' totally ignorant people..
and totally bigoted people.

FAIL.

[whathehell]

90. That's nice

As to your "larger point", you really have NOT been here very long have you?

"Fail" your ass, bro. Come back when you've something new to say

or a solution to what for you, is a new, burning issue.

[jsmirman]

92. Whoa - wouldn't you say that it's a little distressing

that Americans struggle to make the connection between why a guy who

1) protested FOR a war

2) ran and hid in the perilous wilds of FRANCE for two years

3) has the AUDACITY to claim that "he often wished he were serving in the military"

and then

4) came home and instead of serving like a number of his fellow missionaries did, opted for a student deferment

is utterly unfit for the Presidency?

Just matching the insanity of #3 and #4 requires a great deal of self-control to keep my head from exploding.

[whathehell]

95. Are you sure you are responding to the correct poster?

You will never hear me say ANYTHING even mildly positive about Romney.

[Iggy]

109. EXACTLY...

your points are distressing...

the other rather MAJOR disconnect is the so called southern evangelicals/fundamentalists who
apparently are willing to vote for a guy who belongs to a phony religion-- a religion founded
by a guy who was so "well loved" that he was murdered by a mob of people who hated/feared
him.

[VOX]

59. The "Citizen Kane" of Rants! And I wholly, totally, completely, absolutely concur 100%...

It's enough to drive one's blood pressure up into another galaxy.

Remember how John Kerry was crucified as a "flip-flopper"? What the fuck was Willard's debate performance? Only the most world-class, record-breaking, weapons-grade, ass-scorching flip-flop commited this century. And is he called out for it? Not really. Most mainstream news outlets declared it a campaign reboot, a fresh start, an energizer, etc.

So I echo your declaration: "We have got to be the dumbest fucking people on Earth. There is no other explanation."

Indeed, sir.

[jsmirman]

63. I can't imagine it's worthy of *that*, but thanks

I'll take a Citizen Kane clap any day.

[Native]

60. Well I WAS upset I'd forgotten to tape it. Thanks for the public health alert!

[minkyboodle]

61. Thank you

I thought I was the only one. It was pretty awful
Scott

[Whisp]

62. good post.

I've heard about this slant toward favourable Romney from others.

Have they no shame?

No.

[Uncle Joe]

66. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, jsmirman.

[jsmirman]

67. My pleasure. Thanks for reading.

[redqueen]

68. Righteous rant. nt

[Egalitarian Thug]

69. K&R We could fill the internet simply documenting all the ways in which Americans have become too

stupid to live. From our inability to spell, let alone do, arithmetic, to the steadfast belief that somehow your household checking account is just like the federal budget of the world's largest economy.

We could go on and on and on and on...

[Egalitarian Thug]

93. Unfortunately, there is precious little evidence in favor of your claim, while there

is virtually unlimited evidence for mine. When a people deny what is in front of them and give credence to blatant lies simply because everybody constantly repeats it will, eventually lead to steadily worsening conditions and eventually their demise.

In fact, the consistent denial of declining knowledge and the capacity to utilize same by picking outliers as evidence that "it's always been this way" is just more evidence of how far we've fallen.

[whathehell]

94. There's virtually "unlimited" evidence that we are "too stupid to live"?

How interesting. It's not everyone who observes a tendency to "declining knowledge"

by suggesting those subject to it are unworthy of life. Have you been visiting Stormfront lately?

Any homicidal tendencies you want to tell us about?

[Egalitarian Thug]

98. Ah, the old "let me pretend to misinterpret the point and divert to an extreme" tactic.

In your daily dealings with your fellow Americans, do you feel that many of the people around you are smarter than you are?

[whathehell]

100. Ah, the old "let me pretend I didn't say it"...I get that you're embarrassed by your own hyperbole

but to now pretend you didn't say it is a tad extreme in itself.

[Egalitarian Thug]

102. Not in the least. Many Americans are literally too stupid to live and are proving it every day.

You're the only one in this conversation trying to turn it into some kind of reich-wing screed advocating violence and so on. People that can't figure out the intricacies of a four-way stop sign, do simple arithmetic, or notice that buying things don't fix their problems, aren't going to do very well without explicit instruction and constant supervision.

Is there anything else you would like explained to you?

[SalviaBlue]

72. Righteous Rant!!!

I almost watched Frontline last night, after seeing someone on DU recommend it, but then I decided to escape into my book (FICTION). I'm so glad I made that decision.

I am having a hard time dealing with the crazy stupidity of any non-millionaire that supports Rmoney. They are just insane.

[Mad_Dem_X]

73. K&R. Excellent rant!

[WilliamPitt]

76. A thunderclap of a rant.

[jsmirman]

79. Like Hannibal says, "I love it when a rant comes together"

I'll never be graced with a Kubla Khan, but there's still some lightning in my pen.

[DemzRock]

77. I gave up on PBS/NPR years ago. They were mainly good for showing Brit comedy back in the day.

That was about it.

[Blue Idaho]

80. Good News for PBS!

When they are done helping elect Rmoney he will send them a thank you card and then destroy their network.

What fools.

[jimlup]

81. My dad always says were are "provincial"

I think there is a great deal of truth to this. People are pretty stuck in their situations and they are ignorant and easily lead by monied interests like Romney and others.

[Blecht]

83. Excellent rant!

[just1voice]

86. LOL, I just watched about 1/2 that PBS propaganda piece yesterday

and was thinking exactly what you posted!

[jsmirman]

89. I am glad that everyone enjoyed this so much

and am humbled.

What strikes such a chord about this post, just out of curiosity?

Is everyone just impossibly fed up with PBS/NPR around here?

Or do people just feel like I do these days, like I want to explode something and blow off some steam?

[whathehell]

96. Here we go again: The Five Minutes of Self Hate.

So sorry you feel this way about yourself and your countrymen, bro.

[jsmirman]

97. Congratulations, you have the most contrarian take in the thread

I think it was a fair point.

Most others seem to think my points were fair, as well.

[Egalitarian Thug]

99. And he's determined to drive your point home as well. n/t

[whathehell]

103. No, you're doing a fine job of that.

[Egalitarian Thug]

104. That's OK, we have learned to make allowances for people like you . You're getting yourself

all upset and agitated, I'm sure there is something on the TV that will calm you down now.

[whathehell]

105. LOL...You say people are "too stupid to live" and it's ME who's getting agitated?

I can see the "thug", but not much of the "Egalitarian".

Hint: If you balk at being taken literally, improve you vocabulary!

[Egalitarian Thug]

107. My, my, my. and a PM as well. It is literal as you are so clearly demonstrating here.

Since you seem to feel personally threatened by the OP and my modest agreement with it, one can only conclude that you feel you are a part of the stupid majority that has come to dominate this once great nation.

60,000,000 Americans voted for GW Bush, perhaps you could come up with some evidence that Americans are not the stupidest people on earth?

[whathehell]

101. Thanks. I'm sure I do, and, unlike the other "me too" posters, I'd add "most original".

I like being contrarian when viewing vast numbers of sheeple eating up a shit sandwich.

[jsmirman]

108. I don't really know what your point is and I'm certain I'm uninterested in it

[slackmaster]

106. Pretty good rant - I'm giving this a solid 8 out of 10 possible

Well done!

[stlsaxman]

110. Every one of the "journalists" making statements were/are weekly panelists on Gwen Offal's

"Washington Whores On Parade". Gwen is Condi Rice's coffee clutch buddy and a BIG GOP supporter. I'm surprised she didn't appear. She's nothing but "horse race" 24/7 and only rarely touches on issues.

I nearly thew up when i saw Cece Connelly on this show- remember her? SHE's the one that started the "Al Gore Invented The Internet" meme.

Yes- even us "PBS intellectual elites" have joined the ranks of "the dumbest fucking people on Earth".

Great, truthful, rant!

[jsmirman]

111. Thanks, and thanks for the context

It is truly sad, apparently, what has happened to PBS.