Tuesday, November 20, 2012

THE DEAD-ENDERS. Last weekend, as dutifully reported by Eliana Johnson of National Review, Congressnut Allen West was all defiance, telling his boob-base the Dummycrats were stealing his election:
I spent the weekend in West Palm Beach at David Horowitz’s “Restoration Weekend,” where West was a featured speaker. He told the crowd on Saturday that he considers his fight historic. “What is happening here in St. Lucie County has never really happened before,” he said, in that a conservative is standing up against fraudulent election practices.

Congressman West insisted he’s in this to win it, assuring the audience, “We will not allow an Al Franken-Norm Coleman to happen here.” In that 2008 Senate race, Norm Coleman conceded after 238 days of recounts and court challenges.
He actually hoped those big-ticket Restoration Weekend dopes would go for a battle cry of Avenge Norm Coleman! But no big checks were forthcoming, apparently, and West has shut his circus down.

So, time to play the gracious loser and move on, right? Here's how West chose to play it:
“While there are certainly still inaccuracies in the results and the actions of the St. Lucie County and Palm Beach County Supervisors of Elections rightly raise questions in my mind and for many voters, after much analysis and (Sunday’s) recount in St. Lucie County, our legal team does not believe there are enough over-counted, under-counted or fraudulent votes to change the outcome of the election,” West’s statement said...

“While a contest of the election results might have changed the vote totals, we do not have evidence that the outcome would change,” West said.
Translation: The Democrats cheated their way to a legitimate victory.

Go read it: The whole thing reeks. That West says of his opponent, Patrick Murphy, "I pray he will serve his constituents with honor and integrity, and put the interests of our nation before his own,” shows only that he can be subtler about being an asshole than the rest of his statement indicates.

As recently as the 2000 Presidential election, we could expect candidates to concede even a challenged election result with some grace and an invitation to bind up the nation's (or the district's) wounds. Hell, even Norm Coleman did better than West. I even think Carl Paladino did better.

So why did West go out like a bum? Because in his world, the Tea Party world in which the President is illegitimate and his supporters are all spongers and traitors, going out like a bum is a badge of honor. What percentage  is there for them in taking defeat, as the old saying had it, like a man? Then you're playing their game -- which makes you a RINO, a collaborator, one who cooperates in a system proven to be corrupt by the fact that it doesn't always yield the returns that you want. So turn over the tables, smash the bar -- no game you don't win is legit.

And they're only going to get worse.

46 comments:

  1. Mad Monk9:54 AM

    “What is happening here in St. Lucie County has never really happened
    before,” he said, in that a conservative is standing up against
    fraudulent election practices.



    Well, right. They're usually committing them.

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  2. no game you don't win is legit


    Outside of Republican politicians, this attitude seems most popular with kindergarteners.

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  3. zencomix10:15 AM

    The Whine and Cheese Circuit beckons. Going out like a bitter bum is not just a badge of honor, it's a growth market.

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  4. And now Dean Chambers' Unskewed Polls has restyled itself as Barack Ofraudo, "exposing how they stole the 2012 election". His evidence is a list of places where lots of black people voted, of course.

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  5. PulletSurprise10:38 AM

    I spent the weekend in West Palm Beach at David Horowitz’s “Restoration Weekend,”

    Whoa, whoa, whoa. This is a thing? (googling)

    Well, lookee there: speakers include Michael Reagan, Ann Coulter, Greg Gutfeld, Dinesh D’Souza, Charles Krauthammer, Laura Ingraham, Charles Payne, Andrew McCarthy, Steve Moore, Congresswoman Michele Bachmann, Rick Santorum, David Horowitz, Andrew Klavan, Bret Stephens, Bruce Thornton, Bruce Bawer, Monica Crowley, Stanley Kurtz, Pamela Geller, David Goldman, James Taranto, Lt. Gen. David P. Fridovich, Avi Schnurr, Brooke Goldstein, Robert Spencer, Peter Schweizer, Douglas Murray, Frank Gaffney, Caroline Glick and Pat Caddell

    What do we have to do to secure an invitation for Roy for this? This is a gonzo opportunity without peer, although I have the feeling that after spending a weekend in the company of these folks, the last thing I would feel is "restored."

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  6. Allen West? Acting like an asshole? I DON'T BELIEVE IT.

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  7. Yeah, it sounds like more of a Liter of Gin, Toaster and Bathtub Weekend to me.

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  8. No Limbaugh? No Malkin? What's a Wingnut suck and fuckfest without those two crazy kids?

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  9. BigHank5310:47 AM

    Getting Roy in isn't the problem. Having a fresh liver ready to transplant when he gets carried out will be.

    And holy shit, that speakers' list--the only time you'd ever have to stare at more assholes would be in a proctology textbook.

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  10. Tudor Jennings10:48 AM

    The Tea Party - winning friends and influencing people since... erm....

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  11. More like Restoration Tardware.

    Apparently the idea of all these fuckfaces being in one place has put in some kind of snark loop. Somebody slap me on the back.

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  12. redoubt10:53 AM

    David Horowitz’s “Restoration Weekend,”

    So, are they going to dig up FDR's skull and parade it around on a pole?

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  13. We will not allow an Al Franken-Norm Coleman to happen here.

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  14. Halloween_Jack11:19 AM

    Talk about your hive of scum and villainy...

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  15. So why did West go out like a bum? Because...


    Otherwise, you can't get a jerb from Roger Ailes and Rupert Murdoch.
    ~

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  16. XeckyGilchrist11:29 AM

    That is odd. I'm going to guess that Limbaugh's too expensive and Malkin is past her sell-by date.

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  17. PulletSurprise11:31 AM

    Why anyone would want to spend earned vacation time among these prats is beyond me. I can only imagine the low-wattage dinner-time conversation and "jokes" at the bar. But of course, the point isn't using vacation time. It's part of the wingnut welfare boondoggle circuit, the sort of thing that allows these people, like all good "makers," to be busy without being productive.

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  18. Halloween_Jack11:36 AM

    West has been repeatedly and lavishly rewarded for being a bum. After being allowed to squeak out of the Army with his rank and pension intact after he and his men beat an innocent Iraqi police officer, he said that he'd do it again, and got thousands of letters of support. Like Joe Walsh in Illinois, he got attention way out of proportion to his apparent abilities and accomplishments in the House for being a reliable bomb-thrower. I'd put real money on his announcing, like Walsh, that he plans to run either for governor or the U.S. Senate, despite both of those positions (at least the next available Senate seat, Rubio's, since Bill Nelson just got re-elected) are held by Republicans. Or he'll be the Fox News replacement for Sarah Palin, one of his biggest supporters, whose contract is up at the end of the year.

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  19. tigrismus11:53 AM

    “We will not allow an Al Franken-Norm Coleman to happen here.”



    What, the guy called the loser in a squeaker actually comes out on top after a recount? I would've thought that would be exactly what West wanted, though he probably wouldn't have lauded Murphy pulling a Coleman after being declared the loser. Anyhoo, BUH BYE.

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  20. West sounds like the kind of client lawyers dream of!

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  21. Jay B.12:48 PM

    I don't mind if a candidate in a close election wants a recount or if that recount takes place. That is, actually, very important. And no, I'm not over 2000. That massive pile of fraud and ad hoc lawyerin' stinks to high fucking heaven. It was a decided pivot into 8 years of perfect horror and terrible outcomes. So I don't begrudge West some of this. We can't get all weepy about voting rights, if the votes aren't all fucking counted in the end anyway.


    That said, he's an enormous asshole, the partial recount given to him unbidden turned south on him anyway and it's literally fucking impossible to believe that Democrats anywhere in Florida — a state run by the GOP as a testing ground for the Banana Republic they so desperately want us to become — would be sophisticated or powerful or smart enough to pull off any actual fraud (in my weak moments, I pine for the days when we'd store our "ballots" for eventualities like close elections, because I'm a terrible partisan who can stomach honest graft and fraud on the side of the angels, so long as the 99% get something out of the deal).


    So here we are, a few weeks out, none of his charges are anything but a fact-free pretext for the next Republican battle cry of "disenfranchise the shit out of the people because we lost! It's the Messicans and Nigras! Remember the Alamo! " He's a proud war criminal and complete shit. His concern for democracy and the democratic process is exactly as deep as a South American general's.


    The romantic in me hopes he truly believes he was wronged, so the pain and hate he feels hurts more.

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  22. So why did West go out like a bum?

    He didn't go out like a bum, he went out like a martyr, and his melodramatic parting shot at his opponent speaks to the lizard-brains of his supporters with its appeal to shiny cities on hills and prayer and protectin' real 'Murka 'gainst ta' evil!

    Valiant war hero Allen West tried to protect us all but fell in battle to the tricks of sinister betrayers, and now it's up to God to try and control the perverted urges of that pathetic little homunculus Patrick Murphy and bend them to some small good if the Republic is to endure. 

    But fear not, on that day when the final battle is upon us, Allen West will ride out from the mists of obscurity like Lancelot to save us all in from the evils of terrorism and Democrats and MSNBC, perhaps as a Senator or governor of a southern state or talk-radio host.

    Hold fast to this narrative, dear wingnuts, hold fast. Allen's ego and financial prospects depend on it!

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  23. So a grudging concession already makes you a martyr?

    No standards nowadays.

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  24. You think that's bad, Sarah Palin was a martyr because Katie Couric asked her what periodicals she read. Poor Sarah was forced to leave office over the torment.

    St. Lawrence of Rome is still rolling over in his urn over that one.

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  25. alboy22:04 PM

    "So why did West go out like a bum?" Ummm, because he IS one? He's also batshit crazy, but that never stopped anyone from being elected to Congress. Good riddance to bad rubbish, I say, and I don't really give a good hoot whether he conceded 'gracefully' or not. Don't let the door hit you, Mr. West...

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  26. It's rare for a conservative to stand up against fraudulent election practices because they benefit repubs.

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  27. Spaghetti Lee4:03 PM

    For guys who supposedly hate BIG GUMMINT so damn much, West and Walsh sure were desperate to hang on to those sweet, sweet government jobs. What, boyos, couldn't make it in the private sector, like a real man?


    To say they'd be flipping burgers if they couldn't make a living off getting idiots to vote for them seems too glib. I picture them as asshole managers of some godforsaken fast food joint, who were too cheap to buy a proper freezer for the meat and subsequently got sued when 17 customers came down with food poisoning, and then tried to shift the liability onto the part-time fry cook who's trying to get through college/raise two kids on that job.

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  28. Spaghetti Lee4:12 PM

    Amazingly, that's not the most depressing conservative attendance sheet I've ever seen: http://tbogg.firedoglake.com/2010/09/08/swordfights-nightly-on-the-lido-deck/ At least this one is slightly less of a sausagefest, and given that it's on dry land instead of a cruise ship, you could make a run for it without having to worry about sharks.


    Still, goddamn. That's depressing just to look at. Can you imagine Gaffney, Geller, and Spencer at the bar together at 2 in the morning rambling on about vaguely Middle-Eastern taxi drivers being rude to them? I think I should go to an art museum or something just to stop my soul from completely withering away just thinking about it.

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  29. "And they're only going to get worse."


    Let's hope so- that is their ticket to the earliest possible oblivion. My real worry is that their spinmeisters will succeed in repackaging their message to appear more rational. We know they will never change what they really intend to do, but it is very possible that they can whitewash their intentions sufficiently to convince a couple of percent of voters that they are acceptable.

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  30. montag24:22 PM

    Yes, it's quite a roster. Kind of reminds me of Robert Altman's segment of "Aria," which begins with the short explanatory message that it was fashionable in 18th century France for the rich to invite members of local insane asylums to the opera.

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  31. PulletSurprise4:27 PM

    I'm still trying to wrap my head around the concept of "hosted by David Horowitz." Given what this humorless lot of card-sharps portray of themselves in their writing, I can only imagine what passes for entertainment among them, let alone the substance of their breakout sessions.

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  32. montag24:52 PM

    M'self, I expected gunfire and motorcycle gangs from West before this was over, so his concession, however much it confirms that he's an asshole, is much more muted than I figured.


    West raised a huge amount of money, for a Congressional seat, this election cycle (at least $18 million), and he's got quite a bit left over (that he can't use any of it to pay for a recount may be a goodly chunk of the decision to concede), and he's got millions unspent, which he can roll over to the next cycle, so my guess is that, after a short interval, he's just going to start campaigning and raising more money for 2014.



    The last thing that's going to happen is that the media, national and local, is going to decide that he's a card-carrying member of the lunatic fringe and stop covering him. If he's on the stump, they'll be writing stories about him. If there was anything subdued about his concession, it was because he's already decided to run again because, and let's face it, he is an asshole and an attention junkie, and would barbecue his own mother to stay in the public eye.


    And for this, I blame the Army. If they'd just done the right thing, prosecuted him for war crimes and dumped him in Leavenworth, we'd all have been spared the ignominy of his presence on the political scene.

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  33. satch5:04 PM

    Ah... so Allen West is the Wingnut version of "The One"... at least in his mind, with the added benefit that he allows the wingers to claim "hey look, WE have a black guy too!."

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  34. Clearly, he's afraid the Lizard People will win this time.

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  35. zencomix5:16 PM

    I picture them as asshole managers of some godforsaken fast food joint,



    Let's say the godforsaken fast food joint is a pizza chain.... a Papa John's, or maybe a Godfather's.

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  36. Jay B.6:03 PM

    "How to Torment Blind Kids by with Strategic Chair Placement"

    "My Dog's a Democrat: How to Teach Fido Self-Reliance"

    "Turn Any Liberal into a Republican: A Conservative's Guide to Dinner Party Banter"

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  37. I'm...well, whoever I am, and I approve this message.

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  38. By "What do we have to do to secure an invitation for Roy for this?" I assume you mean, "What do we have to do to secure a Honda-launched surface-to-surface missile and attendant targeting and guidance systems." Talk about a "target-rich" environment...

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  39. tigrismus8:17 PM

    The Lizard People ALWAYS win: it's Lizard People all the way down.

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  40. parsec8:17 PM

    Heck, I was expecting a tantrum on the floor of the House similar to "B1 Bob" Dornan's when that messican lady "stole" his seat.

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  41. Tehanu9:51 PM

    Are we sure the convocation of all these "people", and I use the term advisedly, isn't going to create a black hole and suck the entire planet into another dimension?

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  42. montag210:07 PM

    He's still got a few weeks to complete that flameout....

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  43. XeckyGilchrist10:29 PM

    "You mean they actually vote for the lizards?"
    "Oh yes," said Ford with a shrug, "of course."
    "But," said Arthur, going for the big one again, "why?"
    "Because if they didn't vote for a lizard," said Ford, "the wrong lizard might get in. Got any gin?"
    -- Douglas Adams, So Long and Thanks for All the Fish

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  44. You're right, it is going to get worse. But given that West is an actual fucking McCarthyite, I'll allow myself a little schadenfreude.

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  45. "I pray he will serve his constituents with honor and integrity, and put the interests of our nation before his own,”

    because it would be such a refreshing change from the incumbent, a shameless self-promoting Constitution-defiling war criminal.

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