"WHEN FASCISM COMES TO AMERICA IT WILL BE WRAPPED IN THE FLAG
AND CARRYING A CROSS." -SINCLAIR LEWIS

Sunday, June 28, 2009

American Power And Ugly Babies

Now before anyone says anything stupid or reactionary, no: This is obviously not "a grotesque ridicule of Down Syndrome". It's merely and only a grotesque, some might even say ghoulish, ridicule of my conservative counterpart and community college poli-sci prof Donald Douglas of American Power. Perhaps others might even go so far as to characterize the little guy above as an "ugly baby" but not me, and I've gained quite a bit of notoriety for uttering my famously hypocritical statement, "There's nothing worse than an ugly baby."

Speaking of which, it seems that Don is also coincidentally talking about ugly babies in his aptly named post "Talking About Ugly Babies":

I got a longer e-mail from a reader on the debate thread at yesterday's post, "Democratic Epic Moral Fail!" This portion is the second, concluding half of the e-mail:

A commenter named ex DLB posits: "To be perfectly fair, Eddie Burke was probably just as ugly as a baby. Sorry if that upsets anyone." And JBW replies: "There's nothing worse than an ugly baby, ex DLB."

Okay ... dance around this as much as you like, but it doesn't take a rocket scientist, nor an intellectual genius to understand that Trig Palin is the baby being discussed here. It's just another of the 'nudge, nudge' comments made by these quasi intellectual, heartless, individuals whose words are used to cause as much pain as possible. No wonder the Greek root of the word "sarcasm" means "to tear the flesh." Dr. Douglas, you are right in calling them out on this, and exposing them for what they are. Their treatment of Governor Palin and her innocent children aren't their only targets, obviously. How sad when one's purpose in life is nothing more than to tear down another's reputation, and to harm them, emotionally. If this is representative of the Democratic majority, then we, as a nation, are in big, big trouble.

I sent the reader the link to another post, where "ex DLB" adds, "And Don, you were probably an ugly baby, too."

James "Barebacker" Webb is an inveterate hypocrite, as I've noted previously. And the leftists just can't get away from calling neoconservatives ugly babies! Man that is rich!
This commenter is obviously neither a rocket scientist nor an intellectual genius but more importantly they're also dead wrong. As I've stated more times than I can count in several different forums since this whole brouhaha started, I have a little sister with Down Syndrome. I love her with all my heart and would never insult her or anyone else with similar disabilities by calling them ugly. I'd say the fact that Don's reader just assumes that I'm referring to a Down's child rather than a tubby conservative talk radio host, even within the context of obviously discussing said host, says much more about their own inherent prejudices than those they're trying to impart onto me.

But wait, there's more. It seems that Don also fashions himself as some kind of pudgy, neoconservative Clint Eastwood in his ominously titled post "'You Better Watch Your Back'":
Here's the first thing out of James "Barebacker" Webb's mouth when responding to reader Rusty Walker at my post, "Democratic Values! Left-Wing Alaska Operative 'Ghoulshops' Trig Palin!".
Rusty, you look younger than 63 in your picture.

James brags at the post that "I am well into my second bottle of wine..."

That's some bottled courage for you. Well, folks know what happens to young cocky suckers like James Webb. Recall Clint Eastwood in Gran Torino, "Get off my lawn." Chinese Kid: "You better watch your back"...

This is how James Webb operates. Just an ass, totally.
He then bafflingly supplements the above lines with an embedded Youtube trailer for the aforementioned movie dubbed over in Spanish. Why Spanish, you ask? While it certainly defeats the supposed purpose of complimenting the lines he'd just quoted it could be a subtle nod to the social commentary expressed in the film about the innate prejudices pertaining to race and culture that we as Americans all share as an integrated melting-pot society and our ability to overcome those prejudices through mutual respect and understanding. My opinion? Don just posts shit on his site without watching it first.

Even more baffling is Don's specific mention of my comment regarding Rusty's age in a post excoriating me. I was giving the guy a compliment: he looks pretty good for someone who's 63 years old. Fortunately Rusty is not a knee-jerk reactionary when it comes to interacting with people of different political leanings than his own and he took it as such. In fact, I'd like to post the entirety of our short exchange concerning my previous post because I feel that it exemplifies the respectful discussion of ideas I was looking for when I first went to Don's site so many months ago:
Rusty Walker said...

JBW, Okay, all due respect to my good friend Donald, I agree, I’ll give you this, it looks like Eddie Burke. And I’ll give it to him that he even thinks this is clever – I used to be a Provost a college that teaches Animation/Photoshop. So I know the ghoulish visuals students can come up with.

So, maybe he thinks this is funny. It isn’t. But, you, as a person who has a downs syndrome child in the family - I find it hard to believe that you don't think this is over the top. When Letterman went too far, he eventually apologized. It took a while, but I found that redeeming. Were the Republicans to Photoshop Obama and Michele in such a way the left would rightly be outraged (I highly disagreed with the cover issue with the Obama’s as what looked to me as Taliban, as I remember).

People sometimes put it out there in this culture looking for the cheap laugh. But, don't you think, even as a cynical-libertarian socialist, that this is a morbid path to go down, if you are trying to influence?

Or, maybe at the advanced age of 63 I am losing my sense of humor.

JBW said...

Rusty, you look younger than 63 in your picture. Please excuse the brevity of my reply as I am well into my second bottle of wine and am going to fall asleep soon.

While most on the right have seen this as a photoshop of a Down's baby, I have seen it as a photoshop of a woman holding a baby. Blue Oasis' point (whether you agree with it or not) was to portray Eddie Burke as a child in the arms of Sarah Palin. I wrote at my site, the physical or mental condition of the baby in the photo is irrelevant, the photoshop only used the relatively anonymous body of the child to portray Burke in a humorous light.

As someone with a Down's child as a beloved sibling, I see nothing wrong with this adaptation that would not be wrong with the same done with a baby of regular mental faculties. Now, whether you believe that it is right to use the beheaded infant body of a political opponent in a fundraiser graphic is a valid point, but don't tell me that you think that the intention here was to smear or make fun of a mentally-handicapped child.

Don and his sycophants are taking advantage of the fact that Trig is so handicapped to try and demonize Blue Oasis for their opposing political views. I've read your comments here before and I respect what you have to say. All I ask on this point is that you view the incident without the "poor retard" blinders I see on so many in our society.

Rusty Walker said...

Thank you for the compliment of “looking younger than 63” (the photo was taken this year). I have worked out all my life, so I take some pride in that, I suppose.

I understand the points made.

Civilized, rational discussion; a rarity at American Power, to be sure. And obviously I wasn't bragging about how much wine I had been drinking, I was just covering my ass in case I wrote something stupid while drunk at two in the morning. But I guess that's how I operate. Just an ass, totally. Don, please include another humorous photoshop in your next attack on me to compliment the one above, I worked really hard on it. Cheers.

[Update: Unbeknownst to me at the time of this posting, Don has already put up another post condemning someone else for photoshopping the above picture. I fully expect to be similarly condemned and suitably vilified shortly.]

14 comments:

Joe "Truth 101" Kelly said...

Jsut to point out the hypocrisy of the deluded right. One of their beloved commentators, Neal Bortz, says "I have the courage to call the baby ugly."

But as I say, the right is very forgiving of it's own.


I'm sober now, but soon I will be popping the cork on a fine bottle of wine from the wineries of Hermann Mo. Ernest and Julio Gallo can kiss my midwestern liberal rear end.

Kevin Robbins said...

Hey, I said sorry if it upsets anyone. I thought that would make it all good. And the line about Don being an ugly baby, he was supposed to take away the line about how I wished for Lex Luthor to be prez, since he likes to quote stupid off-hand remarks.

When did the Republicans become the Grand Old Pity party? Are they somehow going to be able to make Sarah Palin into a living martyr?

Sorry about inciting the blog skirmish, JBW.

Kevin Robbins said...

If anyone is feeling bestial there's always this wine. Love my moose is still fermenting.

AmPowerBlog said...

You really should move on, God man. You have nothing, nothing to add except desperate dodges for your depravity.

My wife was asleep when I posted, James, and I didn't play the sound. You really nailed me on that one! Whoo that's dope!

I think you'd better update this post, big boy. Wonkette's showing how bad it is, just awful.

And clue for the clueless: It's NOT about you. You're not the center of the world just because you have a Downs sister. And, it's pretty sick that you'd hide behind your own sister to make despicable attacks on the Palins.

How about a Photoshop of your sister, like this?

I have a new commenter, who says:

"This is unreal. These lefty bloggers are incapable of behaving like adults. It's like they are a bunch of nasty, spoiled little kids. They're like some of the 'publics' (as I call them) on the block in the old neighborhood - desperately in need of mature parental guidance. That they are fully grown and have a forum for their base thoughts and so-called humor is shocking, really."

You've hit bottom, James. You keep posting these idiotic posts, and you claim I'm obsessed?

Hey, if it helps you get 200 hits a day, so be it. MORAL. EPIC. FAIL.

And LOSER. FAIL. SUZANNA. DISSED JBW BIG TIME!!! Link.

AmPowerBlog said...

Oh, just devastating!

Rusty Walker comments at American Power:

"I seriously do not understand the leftist contempt for this American sweetheart. She is a true female American success story. No one is perfect, but, I consider her a role model for my two daughters. She obviously loves her family and did a credible job in an energy state building an Alaskan surplus, as one of the most popular Governors. Her acceptance of federal stimulus money for construction projects (but apparently, as I understand it, refused money for government operations) seems logical. Increasingly, I don’t see her as president without more experience, but I said the same about Obama – a junior senator – but that is beside the point. I will never understand the inflammatory visuals depicting her child. When did that become an important political target worthy of satire? What worthy political argument does that advance?"

The link is above, at Grizzly Mama's "unreal" comment!

An apology for your depraved attacks would be the decent thing to do, and I'll publish it at my blog with your denuniciation of Wonkette and your disavowal of using your sister as a shield.

JBW said...

If there's anything I love T101 it's Mo wine.

Joe "Truth 101" Kelly said...

Stone Hill is the brand I like JBW. Half a bottle before listening to a Sarah Palin speech keeps the sense of humor operating while suppressing the pity and occassional anger at her ignorance.

It used to take a whole bottle before visiting American Power, but thankfully since the banning, my liver has been recovering nicely.



Don: you're still a deluded right wing fool. But you're not a bad looking guy. And I like your tie.

JBW said...

First of all Don, I've never tried to make this all about me. You're the one who's mentioned me in seven different posts over the last three days.

I wrote a post that was directly relevant to one of yours and linked to it in your comment section, so you called me a hypocrite because I once told you...not to link to your posts in my comment section unless it's directly relevant. You following this?

Then when I called you on your inability to recognize or define hypocrisy and dared you to publically prove your claim you went apeshit and wrote a rambling screed trying to smear me as being gay (which says so much about you, by the way) and so many other stupid things.

Anyone who was actually as moral and open-minded as you claim to be would have either let it go or replied privately but you've got your little soapbox populated with your sycophantic fans so you decided to commission a photoshop and teach this damn liberal a lesson.

I never said that it's OK to photoshop Palin's kids, handicapped or no, with the intent of making fun of them. Blue Oasis' intent (stated plainly after you and other right-wingers flipped out) was obviously to make fun of Burke. Any rational adult not blinded by partisan ire could see that.

But once you got going you just couldn't be stopped: radical leftists hate America, radical leftists hate the handicapped, radical leftists always lie and cheat on their taxes and litter on the highways and blah, blah, blah. Same goes for your new commenter. Yeah, make some more mindless, blanket statements about the left. You'll really distinguish yourself from all of the other partisan hacks out there.

And you think I'm fucking with you for the hits? I'm quite happy with the size of my cock, I don't need to hold my Sitemeter in front of it to make myself feel like more of a man.

Yeah, that's my master plan. With 100 hits a day my little site is insignificant in the blogging world but if I fuck with Don long enough I'll get a couple thousand hits a day...and still be insignificant in the blogging world. You're like the guy who runs the drive-thru at McDonalds making fun of the guy who runs the Fryalator because he makes five cents more an hour than him. You're so superior.

JBW said...

Oh, Suzanna. Why must you rub salt into my old wounds? Like I said, I'm happy with the size of my dick but I'm pretty sure that it was never going to reach across 2500 miles. I laughed throughout that entire little back and forth and I hope Suzanna did too. You and McCain and Jacobson were the only ones who took it seriously.

Rusty disagrees with me. Shocker. I would assume that he and I see differently on many issues but I also suspect that I could tell him all of the things I dislike about Palin and he wouldn't accuse me of having PDS or being a dirty nihilist with no morals or whatever the hell else you say to people who disagree with you.

And I never hid behind my little sister, I merely mentioned her because I've spent a lot of time around the mentally handicapped and that gives me more insight than most people who have not. Yes, they are special people but they're not sacred cows and Blue Oasis' alteration of that picture had nothing to do with Trig's mental status. I'd suggest asking Rusty about it but you're too sure of your own righteousness at this point to listen to any opinion other than your own warped view of reality.

You want an apology? Well you can just exhale right now pal 'cause it ain't gonna happen. After the things you've said about me over the last three days you're the last person I'd listen to about what is or is not decent.

You don't like what I post at my blog? Fine, don't read it. There's only a hundred people reading it everyday anyway so who cares, right? You don't like the comments I leave on your site? Fine, delete them.

Without commenters like myself and repsac3 and all of the other "radical, godless nihilists" stating actual opposition to the things you write your comment sections have digital tumbleweeds rolling through them with occasional "Great post, Donald!"s echoing off the walls.

Now I don't want to brag but I'm going to pop a bottle of Chardonnay. La Crema, T101, if you're interested. Adieu.

JBW said...

I don't think you started this skirmish ex DLB but you certainly helped to move it along. Perhaps you could send Don some of your delicious baked goods to soothe his troubled psyche.

Kevin Robbins said...

Do you think a nice chocolate mousse cake would do it?

Anonymous said...

Having a sister with Down syndrome, I would think you would refer to people with Down syndrome as just that, rather than Down's child. People first.

JBW said...

There is nothing wrong or demeaning about the term "Down's child", Anon. It's use is widely accepted within the Down's community.

ex DLB, that one actually took me a second but it also cracked me up. Thanks.

Joe "Truth 101" Kelly said...

"Donald, The Buffalo Humping Moose" has become an internet phenomena. There is no doubt that the brainchild of Truth 101 is responsible for at least half the hits professor Douglas gets because of that little essay.

I harbor no ill will towards the Professor for the traffic he gets thanks to my efforts because I also am satisfied with the size of my cock. (Now engaging in a concavus cock thumping victory dance for the Nihilist Troll Forces)