06
Nov
The Circular Firing Squad
RedState is pleased to announce it is engaging in a special project: Operation Leper.We’re tracking down all the people from the McCain campaign now whispering smears against Governor Palin to Carl Cameron and others. Michelle Malkin has the details.
We intend to constantly remind the base about these people, monitor who they are working for, and, when 2012 rolls around, see which candidates hire them. Naturally then, you’ll see us go to war against those candidates.
It is our expressed intention to make these few people political lepers.
They’ll just have to be stuck at CBS with Katie’s failed ratings.
Initial list:
Nicolle Wallace
Steve Schmidt
Mark McKinnon
Popcorn, anyone?
Powered by FireStats
Xecky Gilchrist
I did always wonder what kind of countertops Nicolle Wallace had.
But srsly I’m sure the soon-to-be-lepers are quaking. After the power and majesty of the "I am John Doe" movement, how could they not be?
jibeaux
Well, I said it before but someone liked it and that’s all the encouragement I need to double post:
The purges will continue until the conservative movement is bigger.
I. Love. It.
John S.
And now with Obama signaling that his DEA will not be conducting raids on medical marijuana operations, we have come full circle.
Democrats are the champions of fiscal responsibility, state’s rights and serious policy.
Republicans are a fractured and disorganized party that is mired down with in-fighting.
And our president is black.
The times, they are a-changing…for the better.
Mike35
Popcorn? Yes please.
This is going to keep me entertained right up until Inauguration Day, I think.
GSD
The report of increased gun sales prior to the election was the GOP stocking up for their purges.
Good thing the price of gas has come down, it won’t be so expensive to fire up all of those buses that will be running over every Redstate apostate.
In the words of Ebenezer Scrooge:
I’m as giddy as a schoolboy.
-GSD
Dreggas
"you will know their names, My Friends."
bago
Operation leper. Really. Why not Judas?
Xanthippas
Indeed, after two straight elections of being trounced at the polls, what the Republicans need more than anything is to TRACK DOWN ANYONE WHO SAID ANYTHING BAD ABOUT PALIN.
TenguPhule
These things are so much fun to watch from the outside.
NonyNony
Remember how a few weeks back John was suggesting we’d reached Peak Wingnut? Good times, good times.
On a side note, the GOP circular firing squad is sure to provide a minor boost to the economy as popcorn stocks should soon be going through the roof.
Brian J
I absolutely love the idea that Palin herself is absolved from any responsibility for what happened during the campaign. It’s absolutely untrue, of course, but since when did facts get in the way of the Republican mindset?
PaulW
I lost the habit of eating popcorn when I wore braces as a teen. If you got a bag of doritos though, that would be nice…
SGEW
Also: Why is no one else upset about this smear on those suffering from Hansen’s disease? Seriously.
JL
According to CNN’s politcal wire, Randy Scheunemann disputes that he was fired.
Goldfarb says Scheunemann was in the office on Saturday. He was, however, noticeably missing on election night when top aides to John McCain and Sarah Palin gathered in Phoenix, Arizona
Is that the same Michael Goldfarb the person who tried to explain to Rick Sanchez of CNN, that Barack’s associations proved he was anti-semetic?
Jay Andrew Allen
This extreme loyalty to Palin seems typical of the rabid Christianism that’s come to seize the Right, no? Forget logic, forget facts. We believe Palin is the GOP’s Savior, and anyone who disagrees is a heretic subject to excommunication. I’m half-surprised we haven’t seen a RedState post waging a spirited defense of the notion that Africa is a country.
MikeL
I saw that yesterday. I think it’s funny than they just had their asses handed to them, and they think the problem was not enough enemy lists.
Pastafarian
Mark McKinnon? Really?
He wasn’t even with the McCain campaign after June. Or maybe having the judgment that he didn’t want to be part of trashing the first black presidential nominee is enough to show his disloyalty.
Wheeeeee! This should be fun.
Zifnab
It won’t last. Red State went from outright banning supporters to hot and bothered love affair with John McCain. They’ll throw feces at Schmitt until they grow bored, forget about him, or hear him say something wingnutty on Hardball. Then they won’t be able to get in line and sing his praises fast enough.
These guys have no standards or principals to speak of. I give it six months before they’ve begun feces-flinging at Super Sexy Sarah for some off-handed remark about taxing oil companies or embracing bipartisanship. Wingnut heroes were born to die.
greynoldsct00
What you said… they haven’t learned anything about putting loyalty ahead of country…just like Bushie appointing people because they are supporters and not because they know what they are doing.
Jon H
What’s fun is that he brags about getting a bunch of RedState mugs on the Palin plane.
Which only makes them look stupid, because if he’d played his cards right, he could have sold them to Palin for $10,000.
Josh Hueco
@John S.:
Thank God.
Ai can haz gronups in charge plz?
Comrade Darkness
Ah ha ha ha ha.
See they ARE fit to govern. See. See. Just as soon as the Great Party is purged of disloyal elements, they’ll get right on those other pressing national issues.
Utterly lacking in introspective capacity and self awareness. Wow. Pretty please post regular updates on their antics.
To help them along on their RedState path, I found a similar story to inspire them:
The first wave to call themselves "Red Guards" in China were a group of students at the Tsinghua University Middle School who used the name Red Guards to sign two big-character posters issued on 29 May and 2 June 1966. The students believed that the criticism of the play Hai Rui Dismissed from Office was a political issue and needed greater attention. The group of students, led by Zhang Chengzhi and Nie Yuanzi, originally wrote the posters as a constructive criticism towards Tsinghua University’s administration, which was accused of harboring "intellectual elitism" and "bourgeois".
David
Well, to be fair, the McCain campaign started the festivities with the (hilariously catty) CNN leaks. This is just returning fire. All that means is that we’re a day late with the popcorn, though.
canuckistani
When all you have is a hammer…
Punchy
Leper? Leprosy? That’s what they’re going with? What today’s date…...432 B.C.?
Suggestions:
Operation Palin No Say Bad Werdz
Operation God Damn We’re Bored
Operation Ops to Option the Operatives Who Co-Opted the Operation
Operation RedState To Obscurity
NonyNony
@John S.:
Do you have a link about Obama’s DEA and medical marijuana operations?
If Obama does that, about half of the libertarians I know will start seriously considering the Democrats as a viable party to vote for. They may not actually become Democrats, but the War on Some Drugs and Some People Who Use Them is a big deal for these guys and turned them off from the Republican party years ago.
Doctor Science
This isn’t comedy gold, it’s comedy iridium with diamonds and rubies.
My husband makes the world’s best popcorn—I’ll tell him to fire up the big pot.
Michael
Reading the comments on the Redstate article left me laughing just as hard as the PUMA sites. It makes the fight for the GOP to regroup somewhat impossible. Keep it up Redstate….the infighting only helps Democrats!
Tsulagi
These guys like Erick at RedState make it way too easy. Like comedy straight men setting their ball on a T for the snark bat.
I like the opening line at TBogg on this Operation Leper: By Joe the Plumber’s hammer, by the sons of Wasilla, you shall be avenged. That’s great.
There is no Peak Wingnut ceiling at the RedState. The patriots there now even have their long rubber knives out for Fox News. Did you know a lot of former CNN staffers have infiltrated Fox with their liberal agenda? Plain to see. FN on election night calling states for Obama before all the votes were in. Even Bill O has succumbed as evidenced by his fawning over Obama. Now the “false” Palin stories targeting a “real” conservative. They are under attack! As always, they see the big picture.
Reading RS for the past few months has been like watching a process of seeing stupid distilled to ever purer form by guys wearing the really big clown shoes.
anonocrat
Can we please stop enjoying ourselves and get to work on Operation Briar Patch: making sure Sarah Palin is on the Republican ticket in 2012?
Mazacote Yorquest
If there’s one thing these hyper-Christian wingnuts know from reading their Bibles, it’s that the Pharisees were the real worshippers of God. Casting out the lepers, killing tax collectors, stoning sluts. Not like that faggoty-ass French liberal intellectual terrorist elitist Muslim-loving friend of tax collectors Jesus.
Snarki, child of Loki
Got it in one. Which is why it will be SO important to document the ongoing reign of wingnut terror; every "J’Accuse!" shouted at a supposed apostate, every pundit jeered while bound in a tumbril to the fate ordered by The Revolutionary Wingnut Court. History demands no less.
Because in a few years time, there will be opportunity to rub their faces in it, and it would be a shame to not do so.
Brian J
A few weeks ago, I said that one of the first steps Obama should take as president is to make some small gestures towards areas where libertarians and Democrats agree. I don’t think we should sacrifice our principles just to make a point, nor should we do anything that is hollow. Whether it’s something in regards to drugs or to torture or some other civil liberties, it might help bring about some good will from the more serious members on the right.
Jeff
@NonyNony: It was in Reason last May.
MikeL
Sorry, folks, turns out that the problem is you can only build a Party around extremists.
What is it with some people that they spell party with capital "P" when discussing their own party? Socialists and commies do the same thing. It wouldn’t even occur to me to spell party with a P instead of a p.
gwangung
@Comrade Darkness:
Oh, brilliant. FTW. The Red Guards at RedState.
Comrade Dread
To be fair, it’s really all they know how to do.
Libertarians start questioning why Comrade Bush is growing the government, starting new entitlements and wiping his ass with the Constitution? Purge them!
Fiscal Conservatives start questioning Comrade Bush’s policies of spending like a drunk Democrat on mind-altering drugs? Purge them!
Federalist Conservatives start wondering why Comrade Bush and the party is intervening in Shiavo’s case and cracking down on state law sanctioned medical marijuana clinics? Purge them!
What’s left of the Conservative Intellectuals manage to put all of this in context and realize that Obama would actually be the more conservative choice in principle to Comrade Bush’s appointed successor? Purge them!
Those conservatives that actually worked with Comrade Palin and realized she was dumb as a rock and barely qualified to manage an Anchorage McDonald’s and are now saying so… Purge them!
jake 4 that 1
If this gets any better I’m going to start laughing and hugging strangers.
@NonyNony: Yes, buy popcorn.
And I don’t just say that because the S.O. and I invested heavily in corn when McPOW dragged Palin into the limelight.
slippytoad
Operation Leper: the latest silly game from a bunch of fucking children. My god. Do these people have any serious business that needs their attention?
Paul L.
Maybe you should refer to Operation Leper as the Andrew Sullivan project after how the Right-wing noise machine swiftboated the one true conservative.
Seebach
Is Palin really the hill they’re prepared to die on? This is where the battle lines are going to be drawn?
PGE
I think we’re nowhere near Peak Wingnut. The NYT just published a helpful map of virtually untapped resources and existing sources of Wingnut are outdoing each other in the production of "light, sweet Wingnut". Operation Leper is the perfect example of this unrefined yet extremely pure form of Wingnut. In fact, I’m going to go out on a limb here and predict that, for the forseeable future, Wingnut will be so plentiful and cheap that that we won’t even meter it.
protected static
@Paul L.:
Swiftboated? In what respect, Charlie?
DonkeyKong
"BURN THE WITCHES!"
cue Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana cranked up to 11.
jake 4 that 1
@anonocrat: Yes. Quite right.
[Ahem]
Oh noes! I am a radical ghey Bible burning islamoliberul and when I’m not hitting the bong or the schlong I am in perpetual fear of Sarah Palin! But they won’t bring her back because I’ll just mock her clothes and her stupid fake dialect until she cries!
How was that?
Paul L.
@protected static:
They smeared Andrew Sullivan by saying that his whole worldview is based on Gay marriage.
Comrade Dread
The truly sad thing is that I think a conservative party that wasn’t run by shrill idiots would be a good thing for America. Just as much as I kept praying and hoping that the Democratic party would show some stones and stand up to Bush.
Having a sane opposition or at least as slight less insane opposition party can lead to better governance as each party checks the worst excesses of the other.
But it seems as if the GOP has gone bye-bye for the short term, so that’s probably a fool’s hope.
Dennis - SGMM
@Snarki, child of Loki:
Hmmm, I wonder if Palin knows how to knit?
Bubblegum Tate
I love that this post appears next to a Pajamas TV ad that says, "Michelle Malkin is a national treasure."
She sure is, PJTV. She sure is.
Now, let’s watch as the Good Christians cast out the lepers—just like in the Bible!
Patrick Banks
This made me weep tears of joy:
GunslingerGirl November 6th, 2008 at 11:56 a.m. CST (link)
This is an early hatchet job on top contender, pure and simple!
I don’t care whether these ridiculous rumours are coming directly from Romney or not. Fox is pulling the strings. They went hard Romney in final days of primary and now they are kneecapping all his opposition. Just wait for the dossiers to start appearing on FNC. But will talk radio be on board? BOYCOTT IF THEY KEEP THIS UP. FNC needs to learn that this is still a republic! They don’t get to turn MSNBC on us!
Josh Hueco
Win!
protected static
@Paul L.: Gotcha. Missed your point entirely…
Balloon Juice » Blog Archive » Henke on the Rot
[...] these folks are. These guys are delusional if they think the problem was an insufficient number of Red State mugs on the Palin plane and inadequate fealty to the cause. The problem is not inadequate adherence to unnamed [...]
Andre
I really like how the commenters insist that Palin was responsible for McCain winning more states than he otherwise would have.
Uh, guys…?
John S.
Sorry, I forgot to provide the link.
I originally came across it yesterday on KOs in a discussion about MA and MI passing new drug policy laws. Apparently, Obama made this pledge months ago, which I found here:
There is video of the exchange here. While I realize that Bush completely broke his word about respecting the states on this, I have no reason to think Obama will follow suit.
HyperIon
yeah. i wondered who is being quoted. link?
John S.
There is also this Rolling Stone interview from back in July:
Unless Obama was completely full of shit and reverses course entirely, I think we can expect him to respect the rights of the states that have approved the use of medical marijuana. What he decides to do with regards to decriminalization in MA is another story, but I can’t honestly see him interfering there either.
djork
Re: decrim in MA
From my understanding, the MA law is similar to laws in other states, such as NC. I would think that the small amounts involved would preclude the Feds from wasting their time with this.
Brian J
I don’t care whether these ridiculous rumours are coming directly from Romney or not. Fox is pulling the strings. They went hard Romney in final days of primary and now they are kneecapping all his opposition. Just wait for the dossiers to start appearing on FNC. But will talk radio be on board? BOYCOTT IF THEY KEEP THIS UP. FNC needs to learn that this is still a republic! They don’t get to turn MSNBC on us!
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! That, my friends, is pure, unadulterated crazy talk.
Republimorons
Ummm, did anyone notice that Red State’s banner with the map of the US is off…it hasn’t been updated with all the blue states…do you think I should point this out morons?
BT
Is it possible to die from schadenfreude?
rachel
We have one; it’s called "the Democrats."
jake 4 that 1
A thought: At least these dirt bags are finally going after adults instead of children.
Of course if we’re lucky we’ll see some amusing lawsuits for defamation of character and – dare I hope? – criminal charges for stalking in the days to come. Anything that’s survived the swamps of the GOP has got to be a nasty bit of work.
Diary of a Mad Natural Historian » Shop Smart! Shop S-Mart!
[...] are not past-8-years-of-Republicanism enough. As an aside, the name of one of the components of the circular firing squad – Operation Leper – is a nice counterpoint to the religious fervor of the woman they’re [...]
zoe kentucky
If Obama really wanted to help the economy he’d legalize marijuana and tax the hell out of it. It’s still America’s #1 cash crop and once the illegal trade part of it is removed THC is a much better, safer intoxicant than alcohol. (Can’t overdose on it, doesn’t make people aggressive and it’s not a depressant.)
I know, I know, in my pipe dreams. But it’s a nice idea.