Today in 9/11 Douchebaggery
Really, Jon Stewart’s writers could not have come up with something this deliciously obnoxious.
Shelley Oh was giving a speech today in western Pennsyltucky with Laura Bush at her side at a memorial service for 9/11’s Flight 93, and Faux News randomly cuts in the middle of the First Lady’s moving remarks for no other reason than apparently there was no Koran burning to air, so that some fat white man could point out that nine years ago her husband was a “nobody.”
UPDATE: If you don’t normally watch linked videos, I’m saying this in honor of PromNight: “For realz, I’m not making this shit up, click the linque.”
I really didn’t believe I could be astonished by anything that came out of Faux Snooze, but my jaw hit the desk. Can I sue them for emergency services to my jaw?
@karen marie:
I debated whether or not to even post this clip, because I feel like at this point they’re no better than Yosemite Sam in Florida threatening to burn a Koran to get attention. So why give them attention. But yes, this made me pause too in new heights of assholeness.
Sport TJ:
@Dodger wherever you are: Ahem. Tree 28, Uklah 0. Though I’m not going to taunt because that injured Bruin and his mom (right, that was his mom?) coming on the field when he was taken off taped to a backboard made me choke up.
@SanFranLefty: I’ve been at a local community event and missed the carnage, so to speak.
Who’s Cavuto?
@Dodgerblue: Just as well, because since I got up to get a drink of water and fold laundry, now it’s 35 to 0. It’s still not as brutal as the massacre in Eugene last week.
@ManchuCandidate: I’m sure he was *somebody* nine years ago.
I had no intention of even logging on here tonight. I almost never go to the trouble of watching linked videos, when they are posted here. But I watched this one, because I almost could not believe Lefty’s description of it. So I watched it.
I am so motherfucking angry, I could kill. Its beyond contempt. I am angry, I could kill, I cannot say more. I have been very cyinical about politics for a long time, its a survival strategy, you simply cannot live and be healthy if you are morally outraged every minute of your life, and its a sad fact, there is good reason to be morally outraged every minute of your life, if you want to. And the more you know about the “system,” politics in the US, the more reason you have to be outraged, every single fucking day. I hate my life, because I work in this fucking system, this corrupt system, and even though I have never advocated a policy that I morally disagreed with, even when I know that what I lobbied for was good, and we “won” and got it passed, I still always felt dirty, and felt that our proposal should have passed on its merits, not because of my employers massive campaign donations. You understand, I am repulsed by my victories, because I hate the process that let me win, even when I know I am on the side of right?
But enough of that, this video, it makes me want to hunt people down and kill them. And I’m an old cynical hack, a nihilist who doesn’t even expect anyone to act in any fashion but to serve the self, and as cynical as I am I am seriously wanting to get very stabby, about this here.
@karen marie: karen, I am serious, I could not believe how evil this was , my jaw hit my chest too. This is evil, fucking evil. I’m very stabby over it.
@Promnight: You are so much more articulate in your rage and anger than I am. I just watched it, screamed something that sounded like “gaaaaaaarddddddddddiiiiiiiiiiggggggggggghhhhhbbffuuuuuucccccccccckkkkkkk” and then got up and opened another bottle of red wine. And then I realized that as much as it would probably stress out my fellow Stinquers, I had to share it with y’all so that I could confirm that I wasn’t totally out of my gourd for getting so fucking stabby and upset about it.
Thank you for putting it so much better than I did.
And now I’m going to look for the tamales recipe for Bloggie, because if I keep thinking about this I’m going to get even more stabby.
Speaking of nobodies, who is that person?
@Promnight: Given you normally don’t click on the videos, but this time you felt moved to do so, I feel like I need to add a little “For realz, I’m not making this shit up, click the linque” comment up there.
What Promnight said.
Another Sport TJ:
Bored ESPN announcers talking this prematurely about how Stanford will win the Pac-10 just means that the Tree will get its ass reamed by Oregon State or Arizona or U-Dub.
@SFL — True dat. Final of STAN 35:0 UCLA is sexy. But just because Rick Neuheisel was made to KNEEL BEFORD ZOD! means little. Talk to me after Domers in two weeks — if Tree stands at 4-0 at that point, we can start to possibly thinking perhaps down that general line, maybe.
Went to the UNM-Texas Tech game en ABQ with Mrs RML, her mom and Son of RML. Mrs R proudly rocked the enemy gear in the stands. She was so smug as we walked to the stadium after our little tailgate dinner with her mom’s awesome subs. “I bet we’ll score twice before we get there,” said said. She was right. Final score was 50-something to 17, but as Mrs RML pointed out, if Tech can’t run against UNM, what will happen when they play Texas, et al?
On the living room treadmill now, deciding on whether to watch something besides SDSU and NM State or read one of three books I have from the library, including the new one by Hampton Sides on MLK.
BTW – that ammo I developed a load for yesterday? Two bullet holes were touching each other at 100 yards, and a third shot was 1.25 ins away. Think I got a legitimate elk round on my hands although I still have to do the maths or research what the kinetic energy will be at 100 and 200 yards. Anything above 1800 ft lbs is a keeper and my initial research shows that I’m delivering a ton of energy 100 yards downrange.
@chicago bureau: The problem is that year after year The Tree always rallies for the big games, i.e. Longhorns, U$C, Ducks, etc., and then they choke against 2-6 teams like ASU or OSU. They have to stay focused, and I can’t calm down until after they beat Washington State.
Does everyone normally stay up this late on Saturday nights? It’s past my bed time but psycho neighbor’s dogs have been barking for about an hour and I’m amped after so much Sport on TeeVee starting with my sexy Spanish boyfriend Rafael Nadal ten hours ago.
So I know I’m supposed to feel outraged at what that guy said, but after the clip ended, YouTube suggested other clips. Clips from that day. I’m watching them now, NBC specifically, as I did that day. It gives perspective. I’m not going to get angry at some fat punk on teevee because I feel right now what I felt on that day.
@SanFranLefty: Not really. I’m having my insomnia issue again, combined with a neck and shoulder tension that could end up as a headache – the thought of which also prevents me from sleeping.
@TJ/ Jamie Sommers /TJ: True that. One of my East Coast gheyz woke me up but since I was on the West Coast I missed the start of Matt Lauer’s banal day but I turned on the TV to watch the second plane hit, and then had to quickly turn to CBS once Dan Rather kicked Bryant Gumble out of the way because there’s just something about how crises brought out Dan Rather’s Texas drawl that always calmed me.
@SanFranLefty: . . . and I just wrapped up 45 mins on the treadmill. ‘Night, all!
@SanFranLefty: The first thing I used to do in the morning is reach over and turn on the little tv by my bed and listen – eyes closed – until I was ready to get my lazy ass up. That day, as soon as I turned it on, I saw the first tower on fire and I was up. I was so mesmerized, I didn’t realize the arm I was leaning on was asleep until after the second plane hit. I knew right away. I just knew and I could suddenly feel every muscle tense up and I started yelling at Katie because she said something about it being a mystery. And then I freaked out. My friend’s sister worked there. When my brain reached for and found that fact, the whole rest of the day was different.
Also, 9 years before that day, Dubya was just the n’er do well son of the president who was about to have his ass handed to him by a hick from Arkansas.
@TJ/ Jamie Sommers /TJ: My east coast ghey woke me up after the first plane hit, Mr SFL and I were still in bed and sleepily watching the teevee with my friend still on the line when the second plane hit and we started screaming so loud that we woke up all four of our housemates. Two hours later we were all still in our pajamas in the living room sobbing. Mr. SFL’s college roommate/best friend worked there, we didn’t know it but freakishly he was not in the office that day because he was at meetings in Jersey.
@TJ/ Jamie Sommers /TJ:
what prom said. moving to an island did nothing for my blood pressure.
that day, i was talking to bakette as she walked to the subway from her downtown apt. she just kept saying o my god, o my god…then no cell service. i couldn’t reach her, or my dad for 8 hours, who had an office in building 7. what i remember most is what a gorgeous day it was. i kept saying, this cannot be happening on such a beautiful day. the mind is a funny thing.
Since I tend to sleep in until 10, Silent Creative Partner phoned me awake just before 9 and told me to turn on the TV. We were both in SF at the time, and thoughts immediately ran to various international landmarks in the vicinity.
@TJ/ Jamie Sommers /TJ: Unfortunately Ann didn’t take him seriously in 1994. I’m now watching all of these “As it Happened” clips on YouTube. Probably not the best thing to do if I want to sleep. Do you have any muscle relaxants for your neck/shoulder?
@nojo: I was waiting for the Golden Gate Bridge and TransAmerica Pyramid to be next.
@SanFranLefty: That was my bet. And I lived within walking distance of the Pyramid.
Via Greenwald: Hunter S. Thompson, September 12, 2001. I would have run that on Beck’s 9/12 if I had known about it.
@SanFranLefty: No, I’m applying this and it’s giving some relief but I have to go reheat it every 20min or so.
I didn’t worry about planes hitting here b/c there are no obvious landmarks. I was scared shitless for my parents in Houston though.
@nojo: To call Thompson prophetic for this would be an understatement:
“Make no mistake about it: We are At War now — with somebody — and we will stay At War with that mysterious Enemy for the rest of our lives.
It will be a Religious War, a sort of Christian Jihad, fueled by religious hatred and led by merciless fanatics on both sides. It will be guerrilla warfare on a global scale, with no front lines and no identifiable enemy.”
@TJ/ Jamie Sommers /TJ: Darling, not to mock your then concerns, and since it *is* the third or fourth largest city in the US it may have been a valid concern, but what the hell landmark is in Houston to be hit besides the Astrodome and the Johnson Space Center?
Oh, and a heating pad ain’t gonna do shit for you. Take a ton of Aleve and/or muscle relaxants. Or both. And a glass of red wine.
And this:
This is going to be a very expensive war, and Victory is not guaranteed — for anyone, and certainly not for anyone as baffled as George W. Bush. All he knows is that his father started the war a long time ago, and that he, the goofy child-President, has been chosen by Fate and the global Oil industry to finish it Now. He will declare a National Security Emergency and clamp down Hard on Everybody, no matter where they live or why.
@SanFranLefty: I wasn’t worried about that. I was concerned about the Port and an attack on the oil refineries. That’d be a hella big boom.
@TJ/ Jamie Sommers /TJ: Ah yes. Of course, that makes more sense.
My sister works in a port town south of Houston proper where BP managed to kill a half-dozen workers a few years ago and apparently they’ve been releasing a ton of chemicals into the air for the past two decades. That’s a toxic stew ready to go boom.
@SanFranLefty: It’s frightening how little power would be needed to set off a horrific chain reaction there. And the reverberations of an attack on the refineries would be felt all over the country.
The weird thing about 9/11 for me was that the University of Wisconsin was one of the few places that did not cancel classes after the full effect of what was going on — “keep calm and carry on” and that. They took some stick for it in the days that followed, but I think it was the right move — wonderful day to talk about the Greeks and their views on law and justice.
What impressed me was University & Park. It’s the nerve center of the southern approach to campus — hundreds of students passing through every minute of the morning, usually noisy. On 9/11 at just before 1100 when I passed through, it was stone silent. Nobody said a word. It was eerie.
The silence was broken by two ditzy girls talking about the kegger they were going to have that night. It was about two hours after the towers fell, so they either knew full well or were so oblivious it was a wonder how they got into a university. Either way, I wanted to slug them. And I don’t think of violence towards women as an acceptable practice under any circumstances, mind. On that particular day, my hand balled up — I didn’t swing, but I was this close to losing it.
I boycotted the entire media frenzy yesterday and had a day of bike riding, good food and wine with an old work friend up in Sonoma. Video like this makes me very happy with my choice.
Not to discount other’s reactions on this, but am I the only one that wishes Faux Nooz would confine its behavior to snarky grade-school shit like this?
Sure, it’s terrifically rude to break into a moving speech, and the characterization is as 2D as possible – but at the very core, there’s a true statement (Obama was not a well-know political figure in 2001). From where I’m standing, that puts this bit light years beyond most of the garbage on the channel, where the only facts involved are whatever spewed out of the “opinutainment” hosts just before the so-called “news” segment started.
I’m personally much more offended by the fact that Atlas Juggs and the rest of the Not-GZ-not-mosque H8rs cheered for Geert Wilders. It’s like they’re determined to rehabilitate Shrub’s image via outdoing it: “Oh, you thought GWB was a fundamentalist fascist dick? Get a load of THIS GUY!”
@al2o3cr: I take your point. However, none of Fox’s bullshit should be looked at in isolation.
The delegitimizing of the Obamas (through everything from childish behavior like this to slander and slurs) is of a piece with the whipping up of the Tea Party stormtroopers, the nativist demagoguery, and cheerleading the breakdown of our politcal process.
You are right, the tacky game here is less of a travesty (in and of itself) than much of what they do. But it is quite appropriate to call them on all their shit, because it is all part of their generally seditious strategy to dealing with the current political scene, and the general dumbing down of public discourse which they so love to foster.
@al2o3cr: Sure, Obama was not well known in 2001, but referring to him as a “nobody” reveals something that is antithetical to what America is supposed to represent.
It’s no surprise that there are many powerful people who believe otherwise, but it’s still shocking to hear a news person, even on Fox, denigrate the idea that anyone can grow up to be president, that we live in a meritocracy. My guess is that Cavuto’s grudge comes from understanding that he will never be anything but a very junior member of the club. He is outraged that this “nobody” was able to rise to a station Cavuto never even dared to dream of.
I sure hope these 9/11/01 anniversaries (and it pisses me off that it’s just “9/11” — it was fucking 9/11/01, peeps) go back to being simply a day to remember the dead, because this one brought back the horror in a way I thought we were past. That event is a prime cause of my having become a daily news junkie — I don’t want to be blindsided like that ever again.
It was a beautiful day, identical to the weather we had yesterday. I had a lovely hour or so in the park with the dogs, drinking my coffee and reading the paper, and arrived home to a ringing telephone — my brother calling to tell me to turn on the TV. Moments later the second plane hit the tower. I will never forget seeing all those people jumping to their deaths. If there was any justice, those assholes on Fox & Friends would be fired and become unemployable for trivializing the tragic horror of that morning and their and Cavuto’s junior membership in the club would be permanently revoked.
And, oh, yeah — what’s up with all these peeps hysterically shrieking that Moslem hordes are going to take down America? Do they have so little confidence in the principles espoused in our Constitution?
Cavuto, his colleagues on Fux Nooz and the rest of the Dick Armey are reading from the “directors cut” of the American Dream. It clarifies “anybody” to “anybody white, Christian and male”….
ADD: not to change the subject, but apparently some Catholics got bummed out that the Protestants were taking the lead in the crazee Olympics. Thus, this. Words cannot describe how much this sort of garbage annoys me – at least the creationists have a smaller, more fragmentary body of evidence to attack. Refuting heliocentrism involves essentially rejecting *all* of modern physics…
Right and hero of the American people Cavuto was chewing the shagnasties off of Roger Ailes’ asshole and begging for a chance to shout his sieg heils on his own pathetic show.
@al2o3cr: Please tell me that ‘Galileo was wrong’ is some sort of Onion spoof?
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