Michael Gerson, a member of the White House Iraq Group tasked with coming up with a marketing plan to sell the Iraq War to America:
At a meeting of the White House Iraq Group, speechwriter Michael Gerson suggests that Bush argue in his next speech that the US should not wait until there is conclusive evidence that Iraq has acquired a nuclear weapon because the first sign of a “smoking gun” may be a “mushroom cloud.” Gerson’s suggestion is met with enthusiastic approval. The soundbite is so well liked that the phrase is leaked to the New York Times before the speech, appearing in an article on September 8 (see September 8, 2002).
…and creator of empty Bush platitudes such as "the soft bigotry of low expectations" and "the armies of compassion", pooh-poohs potty-mouthed Al Franken
Our popular culture, of course, violates even these expansive boundaries of tastelessness with regularity. We laugh at comedies featuring the C-word and at cartoons of foul-mouthed third-graders. In the cause of relevance and realism, our common life is already decorated with excrement. Why should political discourse be any different?
For at least one reason: Because vulgarity is often the opposite of civility. This is not, of course, always true. I know a brilliant and large-hearted academic with roots in south Philly who uses the F-word with the frequency of "like" or "and." But the vulgarity of "The Jerry Springer Show" or misogynous rap music — the cultural equivalents of Franken’s political "satire" — generally expresses contempt and cruelty. Franken is not content to disagree with Karl Rove; he calls him "human filth." He is not satisfied to criticize Ari Fleischer; Franken terms him a "chimp." The objects of Franken’s humor — including political opponents and women — are not merely mocked but dehumanized. His trashiness is also nastiness. Rather than lampooning the emptiness and viciousness of our political discourse — a proper role for satire — Franken has powerfully reinforced those failures.
Some institutions must be more than a mirror to our culture, including families, religious communities and government. At its best, politics can offer examples of civility and generosity that challenge selfishness and prejudice — the tradition so far embraced by both John McCain and Barack Obama. At the very least, politics should not actively push our culture toward vulgarity and viciousness. This is not prudery; it is a practical concern for the cooperation and mutual respect necessary in a functioning democracy. And it is hard to believe those causes would be served by a Sen. Franken.
Jack Nicholson once said:
The censors say they’re protecting the family unit in America, when the reality is, if you suck a tit, you’re an X, but if you cut it off with a sword, you’re a PG.
This is vulgar, cruel, and dehumanizing:
Michael Gerson is human filth and there are not enough tears of human kindness in the world to wash the blood and filth off of his hands.
Fucking sanctimonious twerp.
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If only this picture would haunt every last one of those bastards for the rest of their lives. But it won’t. Their shriveled souls don’t worry about collateral damage.
I would settle for it being in the brain of every asshole who cheered this misbegotten business on.
On a lighter note…I don’t know that John McEnroe has ever seen Gerson’s well scrubbed pussified excuse for a face or that squalid farce of a hairstyle, but if he did, we’d be treated to one more dose of “You canNOT be serious!!”
not to mention the… eyewear. Gee, I can’t even come up with anything that really describes the utter…. ? of them.
One of the most iconic pictures of the war, in my opinion.
Yes, every last one of those fuckers should have to stare at this photo while hearing over and over again how her entire family was killed.
Even his fellow bushite writers hated him. That’s a face that begs for an accessory. I suggest an aluminum bat.
Backpfeifengesicht is the word that best fits….
“dickishness”?
Yes indeedy, we must maintain a high moral tone while voting to kill the men, women and children of a country that didn’t attack us. We must be oh so polite while voting down health care for our own children or benefits for our veterans. Gerson obviously understands the need to eschew vulgarity and contentiousness while voting in lockstep to follow a drunken fratboy off a cliff.
Gerson is a delusional, pompous, jizz-licking fool whose real fear is that Franken will raise the tone of that august body which he and his fellow neocons did their best to marginalize.
Let me put this in the most civil terms possible:
“MICHAEL. GO. FUCK. YOURSELF.”
Now, off to leave my comment with the WaPo. Hope it’s not too vulgar…
aluminum doesn’t have a enough heft to it.
One of the pictures in this post is heartbreaking beyond belief. The other is repulsive beyond belief.
How does he shave himself without cutting his throat?
The next-to-last words of Col. Walter E. Kurtz:
We train young men to drop fire on people. But their commanders won’t allow them to write “fuck” on their airplanes because it’s obscene!
The photo above speaks the last words of Kurtz many thousands of times over:
The horror…the horror…
War crimes trials await these slime, one can only hope.
True, but it does beat the sonic aesthetics of wood or other metals striking enamel.
And by the way, where does one get a haircut like Gerson’s? Seriously. Is there some barber in Washington who specializes in fin de siecle stylings?
Stop in today for that in-demand William Butler Yeats wave!
Probably the same guy who does Byron York.
What’s interesting to me is that Al Franken probably has one of the most finely calibrated senses of what’s fair vs unfair satire I’ve ever seen. Frankly, Karl Rove *is* human filth.
“dildosity” perhaps?
I sent Gerson the following email this morning.
I certainly hop it made someone close to him cringe (since I am sure he will never read it).
Was this sanctimonious dildo impersonator up in arms when Arnold Schwarzengger was running for governor of California.
The same Arnold who’s films used much profanity and violence? The same Arnold who’s on video smoking weed, and fondling women?
Was Gerson up in arms about Ted Nugent waving a rifle around on stage telling Hillary Clinton to ’suck it bitch”?
Didn’t think so.
Charles Barkley called this beasts what they are, “phony Christians”.
-G
I’m sure Gerson was equally offended when Norm Coleman’s wife had those pictures published:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/…..Aug25.html
Or not.
Horrific douchbaggery
True enough about wood bats, but aluminum is much more durable, lighter in weight, and doesn’t tire the arms as much as the heavier bats.
Many more enjoyable whacks and less tiring.
…
oho, tricksie numbers!
..
Hey, at least Franken called Rove human.
But the vulgarity of “The Jerry Springer Show”
Why not go for a Maude reference? Jesus fucking christ, these guys have all the cultural currency of Shecky Greene.
And do we all have to pretend now that Cheney told Sen. Leahy to “fuck off” on the Senate floor? Or that Rove was quoted that he was going to “fuck him like he’s never been fucked?” Really? Oh, OK.
Before I clicked through, I heard that bit of dialogue in the voices of Emilio Estevez and Miguel Sandoval. It makes for a much more surreal exchange.
(And yes, I have seen A Fish Called Wanda–many times. Just a brain fart, is all.)
Saw Michael Gerson in a small group q and a session at Harvard just after he left W’s employ. Mark McKinnon was also there, evidently to hold his hand. The only thing that got Gerson going was abortion. He was visibly bothered by the very idea of abortion.
Sanctimonious is indeed the word for this guy.
PS: He’s not Catholic. He’s a member of an Episcopal church which broke with the rest of the church over the issue of confirming Rev Gene Robinson, a gay man, as the bishop of NH.
if the real world was a comic book there would be a group of disgruntled characters seeking vengeance on little shits like gerson
Our popular culture, of course, violates even these expansive boundaries of tastelessness with regularity. We laugh at comedies featuring the C-word …
Cancer?
and at cartoons of foul-mouthed third-graders.
Dude, even Kenny made it to 5th grade before an unexpected and tragic explosion of methane gas ignited his Wal-Mart jacket as he was emulating CANADIAN popular culture!
In the cause of relevance and realism, our common life is already decorated with excrement. Why should political discourse be any different?
Just as McCluhan once opined that: “The medium is the message,” what passes for political discourse on the MSM IS the bullshit!
For at least one reason: Because vulgarity is often the opposite of civility. This is not, of course, always true. I know a brilliant and large-hearted academic with roots in south Philly who uses the F-word with the frequency of “like” or “and.”
Gerson appears to have conflated the meaning of “civility” with “tasteful,” and the “vulgarity” with “crude language.”
But the vulgarity of “The Jerry Springer Show” or misogynous rap music — the cultural equivalents of Franken’s political “satire” — generally expresses contempt and cruelty.
Hey! At least Jerry Springer got an opera named after himself!
Franken is not content to disagree with Karl Rove; he calls him “human filth.” He is not satisfied to criticize Ari Fleischer; Franken terms him a “chimp.” The objects of Franken’s humor — including political opponents and women — are not merely mocked but dehumanized. His trashiness is also nastiness. Rather than lampooning the emptiness and viciousness of our political discourse — a proper role for satire — Franken has powerfully reinforced those failures.
Ad hominem and ad baculum are not satire. In this case, they are an appeal to popular sentiment–which Gerson might recognize if he didn’t spend most of his time in the rarefied atmosphere of Beltway with his head buried in his ass!
Some institutions must be more than a mirror to our culture, including families, religious communities and government. At its best, politics can offer examples of civility and generosity that challenge selfishness and prejudice — the tradition so far embraced by both John McCain and Barack Obama. At the very least, politics should not actively push our culture toward vulgarity and viciousness. This is not prudery; it is a practical concern for the cooperation and mutual respect necessary in a functioning democracy. And it is hard to believe those causes would be served by a Sen. Franken.
What fuckin’ planet is he ON! The handshake began as an impromptu weapons check. Eating utensils were developed by the Spanish armourers after the crossbow made heavy armour obsolete. Parliamentary Procedure became necessary when it quickly became obvious that a house full of lords was totally lacking in couth. About the only time politics is civil is when both sides are biding their time for just the right moment to knife their respective opponents in the back.
And might I add that listening to a Bushian/Rovian hack talking about politics needing to be about “cooperation and mutual respect” has my cognative dissonance meter pegged at 11.
He looks like little Ricky Smith from Better Off Dead.
Bet he never leaves the house, just sits inside doing macrame and snorting nasal spray.