Sponsored Content




Intermarkets' Privacy Policy
Support


Donate to Ace of Spades HQ!



Recent Entries
Absent Friends
Bandersnatch 2024
GnuBreed 2024
Captain Hate 2023
moon_over_vermont 2023
westminsterdogshow 2023
Ann Wilson(Empire1) 2022
Dave In Texas 2022
Jesse in D.C. 2022
OregonMuse 2022
redc1c4 2021
Tami 2021
Chavez the Hugo 2020
Ibguy 2020
Rickl 2019
Joffen 2014
AoSHQ Writers Group
A site for members of the Horde to post their stories seeking beta readers, editing help, brainstorming, and story ideas. Also to share links to potential publishing outlets, writing help sites, and videos posting tips to get published. Contact OrangeEnt for info:
maildrop62 at proton dot me
Cutting The Cord And Email Security
Moron Meet-Ups

NoVaMoMe 2024: 06/08/2024
Arlington, VA
Details to follow


Texas MoMe 2024: 10/18/2024-10/19/2024 Corsicana,TX
Contact Ben Had for info





















« Friday Evening Document Dump: Obama Says Syria Is Bad | Main | Jay Cost: Hey, Media, I Don't Want To Tell You Your Jobs Or Nothin', But If You're Going To Keep Insisting Obama Is "Popular," Wouldn't It Be Helpful To Have A Single Poll Demonstrating This Claim? »
April 22, 2011

Andrew Sullivan Gets Punked

Bear in mind, the world's first and only unlicensed freelance obstetrician is just being more insane than usual today, because Salon called him out as a deranged punk:

[Salon, being quoted:] Sullivan's refrain on this issue is that he does not endorse any conspiracy theory, he is merely asking questions. He simply wants Palin "to debunk this for once and for all, with simple, readily available medical records." He has proposed, for example, the release of "amniocentesis results with Sarah Palin's name on them."

It's worth noting that this posture is identical to the rhetoric used by Obama birthers (for instance, WorldNetDaily Birther czar Joseph Farah employs the "just asking for definitive piece of proof x" line here).

[Sullivan answering:] This is absurd. Obama has produced the most relevant, clear, unimpeachable, if humiliating, piece of empirical evidence that he is indeed a native-born US citizen. In fact, he produced it a long time ago. (I think he was right to do so, and the press was easily within bounds to ask. That's how these things should work.)

And there is a huge difference between someone asking for exactly that kind of proof, however distasteful, and someone continuing to ask for it after that proof has already been produced.

See, in Andrew Sullivan's world, Obama deserves special praise for releasing the COLB, because it is, in his words and his italicization, "humiliating." It was humiliating for Obama to have to produce a run of the mill birth certificate, necessary to produce every time you get a new job (which Obama sought), and of course required, as a minimum level of proof, as to the Constitution's age and natural-born citizenship requirements.

See, that's humiliating. Obama was humiliated having to do that.

So obviously He wouldn't have humiliated himself otherwise, except to go that extra step to appease his fiercest critics.

You know what's not humiliating, though?

The official document of birthplace, that's not humiliating, even though you hand that to a stranger who puts it on a copier machine and adds it to a permanent file every time you change jobs and fill out an I-9.

But what definitely is not humiliating, is, say, demanding that woman who you accuse of being a lying whore with the sexual metabolism of a Tribble release, get this, in Sullivan's won deranged words, "amniocentesis results with Sarah Palin's name on them."

That COLB thing, that's humiliating and invasive, but asking for someone's "amniocentesis records" with their name attached?

That's just a normal, everyday sort of routine bureaucratic transaction.

Other day I wanted to buy batteries at Radio Shack. "What's your address?" they asked, and I told them. Then they asked me "Please produce your mother's amniocentesis tests with her name on them," and of course I likewise produced those.

Sullivan can't quit while he's ahead, though, and, even though his employer has demanded he not explicitly say Palin did not give birth to her child but rather instead hint around that, he can't help himself, and does his typical silly-bitch passive-aggressive gay-gossip insinuation act:

How To Fake A Pregnancy

A teenager tells us how - in a school project. Seven people were in on the hoax. No one outside this seven guessed she was lying. It's remarkable what a prosthetic belly bump can do.

Apropos of nothing, I'm sure.

Be a man. If you're such a brave free-mind, then say what you believe instead of kowtowing to your employers.

Craven bootlickin' bitch.

But anyway, I'm not here to call him names. I'm here to tell you, before he catches on, that he's been

P U N K E D.

See, on the same day he's telling the world what a viable and reasonable and worthy-of-investigation theory Trig Trutherism is, he's simultaneously, between these posts, denigrating Birthers as crazy and hateful.

Shyeah, right? Heh.

But anyway, he gets tipped to someone, he says, who explains the psychological roots of Birtherism, and he links it gladly.

But you tell me -- is he being punked or not? Is it just a coincidence that this applies much more to his Trig Trutherist derangement?

The Psychological Roots Of Birtherism

David P. Redlawsk explains it:

The reality is that “facts” are unlikely to mean much to those who believe in their gut that Obama is not American. Political psychologists call this “motivated reasoning.” It goes something like this: I dislike someone; I learn something positive that should make me feel better about him; instead, I dislike him as much or even more.

Gee, who does that apply to? Hm, Sarah Palin carried a Downs Syndrome baby to term; that should make me feel better about her, instead, I dislike her even more.

[Punking Artiste David continuing:] This is clearly irrational, but our feelings about people are complicated, and we tend to hold on to them even in the face of contradictory information. [!!!!]This is not unique to those who dislike Obama.[!!!]

I don't know how else I can possibly call attention to the words Sullivan is quoting but apparently not actually reading. Maybe he'll catch it this time.

Here's a hint, Sullivan:

Might even apply to those who dislike Palin, for example.

Get it? No? Still nothing?


We are all somewhat impervious to new information, preferring the beliefs in which we are already invested.

Shhhh. No one tell Andy. He's not in on the joke yet.

We often ignore new contradictory information, actively argue against it or discount its source, all in an effort to maintain existing evaluations.

Sullivan is still nodding along, still not getting it.

Reasoning away contradictions this way is psychologically easier than revising our feelings. In this sense, our emotions color how we perceive “facts.”

He's still not getting it. He's quoting this, and if you think he's going to argue with it, you're wrong: He agrees with it.

As far as Birthers go, mind you.

Now, finally, Sullivan answers:

They do; and it's important always to keep this in mind. But there remains something called fact, rather than "fact", and empiricism is our only real recourse in public debate.

Ah. So there are some "facts" that are stupid to challenge. We must be guided by empiricism, not fancy.

By the way, did I mention the very next post is an insistence that Trig was born of some other mother?

That's why producing a birth certificate is dispositive. It should end the discussion. I might add that merely asking a presidential candidate to produce such a certificate does not seem illegitimate to me. It may be maddening or unfair. But that's the price of public life. And the sign of a mature politician is his or her ability to see that and allow the ethic of transparency trump the humiliation of exposure. Obama easily passed this test.

And so on.

Is that not precious? He's sitting there quoting a guy telling him that when we don't like someone, our minds are gullible and start believing any old horseshit about this person (who might not even be Obama, this guy notes), and once we start believing that horseshit, we become immune to facts and new evidence and airily dismiss contrary information, because it's "psychologically easier" that way.

And Sullivan posted this right after his own "Palin faked her pregnancy" post.

Unbelievable. The stupidest, most un-self-aware jackass in the history of the internet doesn't merely beclown himself today, as usual; he beclowns himself Champion.

Sullivan, please diagram the following sentence, noting noun, verb, connecting words, and independent clauses:

AN GALLON OF IRONY SPILLED BUT NOT A DROP SPLASHED UPON HIM.

Thanks. Make sure you send that to me, and I'll send it back with corrections attached.

By The Way: I do have to admit -- Sullivan, if you're reading this (and I know you will, since you are dumb, and vain), there is one bit of evidence against Palin I can't dismiss completely.

I don't think it proves anything, but yes, I admit: This does not exactly show a pregnant Palin.

But absence of evidence is not evidence of absence.



digg this
posted by Ace at 08:27 PM

| Access Comments




Recent Comments
[/i][/b]andycanuck (2yu8s)[/s][/u]: "750-pound alligator seized from home near Buffalo, ..."

Ben Had: "Only 30 more years of these moronic statements ft ..."

2008 is calling: "Mahalia Jackson>>>>>>>>>>>Affimative Action Jackso ..."

BillyD: "[i]158 Mind you, a Moron claimed the car would sti ..."

Diogenes: "DEI in action, and that's a good thing! Posted by ..."

Piper: "Have we discussed KBJ and her gripe the 1sr amendm ..."

Commissar Hrothgar (hOUT3) ~ This year in Corsicana - [b]again[/b]! ~ [/i][/b][/u][/s]: "[i]257 Watching another Boeing United Airlines iss ..."

Loose Emergency Door Plug: "Return to Newark? I'd rather ditch. Posted by: D ..."

J. Random UA Flight: "[i]Return to Newark? I'd rather ditch. Posted by ..."

Diogenes: "Watching another Boeing United Airlines issue in r ..."

Truthbomb : "Watching another Boeing United Airlines issue in r ..."

Ciampino - on time: "About 43 minutes [b]SpaceX - Falcon 9 - Starlin ..."

Recent Entries
Search


Polls! Polls! Polls!
Frequently Asked Questions
The (Almost) Complete Paul Anka Integrity Kick
Top Top Tens
Greatest Hitjobs

The Ace of Spades HQ Sex-for-Money Skankathon
A D&D Guide to the Democratic Candidates
Margaret Cho: Just Not Funny
More Margaret Cho Abuse
Margaret Cho: Still Not Funny
Iraqi Prisoner Claims He Was Raped... By Woman
Wonkette Announces "Morning Zoo" Format
John Kerry's "Plan" Causes Surrender of Moqtada al-Sadr's Militia
World Muslim Leaders Apologize for Nick Berg's Beheading
Michael Moore Goes on Lunchtime Manhattan Death-Spree
Milestone: Oliver Willis Posts 400th "Fake News Article" Referencing Britney Spears
Liberal Economists Rue a "New Decade of Greed"
Artificial Insouciance: Maureen Dowd's Word Processor Revolts Against Her Numbing Imbecility
Intelligence Officials Eye Blogs for Tips
They Done Found Us Out, Cletus: Intrepid Internet Detective Figures Out Our Master Plan
Shock: Josh Marshall Almost Mentions Sarin Discovery in Iraq
Leather-Clad Biker Freaks Terrorize Australian Town
When Clinton Was President, Torture Was Cool
What Wonkette Means When She Explains What Tina Brown Means
Wonkette's Stand-Up Act
Wankette HQ Gay-Rumors Du Jour
Here's What's Bugging Me: Goose and Slider
My Own Micah Wright Style Confession of Dishonesty
Outraged "Conservatives" React to the FMA
An On-Line Impression of Dennis Miller Having Sex with a Kodiak Bear
The Story the Rightwing Media Refuses to Report!
Our Lunch with David "Glengarry Glen Ross" Mamet
The House of Love: Paul Krugman
A Michael Moore Mystery (TM)
The Dowd-O-Matic!
Liberal Consistency and Other Myths
Kepler's Laws of Liberal Media Bias
John Kerry-- The Splunge! Candidate
"Divisive" Politics & "Attacks on Patriotism" (very long)
The Donkey ("The Raven" parody)
Powered by
Movable Type 2.64