February 17, 2010

"We’re hoping to have the females whack the [Nancy Pelosi] piñata and males try their hand at a Harry Reid punching bag."

I love the way CPAC bad taste stops short of symbolic violence against women — except women-on-women violence because — what? — "cat fights" don't count?

Jeez, what idiots. This really undercuts the ability of conservatives to mock those godawful papier maché puppets that animate lefty protests.

105 comments:

Anonymous said...

Where's the "Republicans are like Democrats" tag?

This is more evidence that there really is not much difference between the Republicans and the Democrats except who gets the contracts.

Tea, anyone?

Peter V. Bella said...

Hey, what they are doing to Palin- I do not care for her- is worse.

Fred4Pres said...

I once was taking a bus from San Francisco airport downtown and the bus got blocked by a street fair. I had a small back pack and decided I would rather walk...

It was the Folsom Street fair.

For those of you unfamiliar (I was too but it only took a few minutes to figure it out), that is the big gay San Francisco street fair. Frankly I found it kind of humorous, especially the giant head of Jesse Helms that you could pay $5 for an HIV charity to get the chance to throw giant dildoes in his mouth.

Punching the Pelosi and Reid pinatas is a bad idea. I would rather they did something humorous.

Balfegor said...

Hey, what they are doing to Palin- I do not care for her- is worse.

Doesn't make pinatas and papier-mache heads any less stupid.

Balfegor said...

Sorry, I should say political pinatas and protest papier-mache heads.

Anonymous said...

You can never have too much whacking.

SteveR said...

Ford C. O'Connell, chairman of the Civic ForumPAC

Ford? Really?

Jim said...

What papier mache puppets?

According to our resident Leftists and their cohorts in the MSM, they never existed. No one ever treated Bush or any Republican in history with disrespect. No one compared Republicans to Nazis or called them racists or beat them in full view of video cameras.

Leftists only engage in thought-provoking intellectual conversations, and never resort to name-calling and violence. If it weren't for evil Republicans (did I say "evil," sorry...that slipped out...a Leftist would never call a political opponent evil), then we could get past this current Taliban attitude (sorry, did I say "Taliban"? I meant "obstructionist party of no ideas." Oops...did it again...I mean...oh never mind.)....well you get the picture.

I don't know what you're talking about, Ann.

That stuff never happened. It wasn't in the NY Times and Kos told me those were all lies, so obviously you're just a right-wing, goose-stepping Nazi desperate to impose your fascistic system on people who are far smarter than you. So I don't want to hear a whole lot of talking from you.

Methadras said...

So what is being argued is that any political points that conservatives hoarded are now gone because of puppet heads being punched? Interesting.

Methadras said...

Frankly, I'd rather see the Pelosi and Reid get punched in reality. Those two deserve much more than effigy punching.

rhhardin said...

They're probably thinking of Leon Pañetta.

Wince said...

Bad taste, but I'm not sure I buy the violence angle.

Isn't anger therapy very San Franscisco?

What it conjures for me is P.J. O'Rourke's line from his Parliment of Whores: A Lone Humorist Attempts to Explain the Entire U.S. Government (1992).

The American political system is like a gigantic Mexican Christmas fiesta. Each political party is a huge pinata -- a papier-mache donkey, for example. The donkey is filled with full employment, low interest rates, affordable housing, comprehensive medical benefits, a balanced budge and other goodies. The American voter is blindfoled and given a stick. The voter then swings the stick wildly in every direction, trying to hit a political candidate on the head and knock some sense into the silly bastard.

Invisible Man said...

Frankly, I'd rather see the Pelosi and Reid get punched in reality.

Cause your a thug.

Bad taste, but I'm not sure I buy the violence angle.

See above

rhhardin said...

Conservatives are no better at the poetics of everyday life than liberals are.

They just see systemic consequences better.

Chip Ahoy said...

It's not a proper piñata unless the person doing the swinging is blindfolded and an unblindfolded adult is jerking the piñata out of reach of the swing making the swinger appear foolish blindly swinging wildly without ever connecting thus prolonging the life of the game so that all children can try. This makes a MOCKERY! out of the whole idea of piñatas.

Wince said...

See above.

But anger therapy is meant to diffuse the anger and thereby prevent actual violence.

Methadras just hasn't whacked a piñata yet.

With me: Om.

(sp = Parliament)

former law student said...

I like the phrase "whack the pinata" and will try to put it to good use soon.

vw: pullease -- a physical or social lubricant

Rialby said...

Agreed. Bad form.

Andrea said...

Well color me disappointed. Whatever happened to good old burning in effigy? Dang new fire codes.

Trooper York said...

Don't be a party pooper!

Everybody loves a good chick fight!

Ernesto Ariel Suárez said...

Invisible Man said...
[...]

Cause your a thug.

[...]

2/17/10 2:56 PM


You're* a contraction from you are...

wv: snersti (how did it know??)

Issob Morocco said...

I don't know, this seem to work for Pedro in his run for President in Napoleon Dynamite. Summer Wheatley Pinata anyone?

William said...

Perhaps if the contestants wore a John Edwards face mask, the joke would be less susceptible to misunderstanding.

knox said...

Whatever happened to good old burning in effigy?

LOL. Or a symbolic lynching.

You couldn't pay me to attend one of these things, lib or conservative. Put people in large groups, and if it's related to politics, there's going to be some embarassing behavior you would never want to be associated with.

Anonymous said...

"I like the phrase "whack the pinata" and will try to put it to good use soon.

vw: pullease"

Really?

Pullease and "whack the pinata" all in the same comment? Sometimes I think Google/CIA/NSA are reading the comments and then suggesting an appropriate word verification.

I bet they're laughing their asses off in Langley.

Fred4Pres said...

They should sell these at CPAC. They would be big, I tell you, big!

Joaquin said...

El Cubanito la saco del parque!

Peter V. Bella said...

Janet Napilitano will probably issue a Homeland Security Alert naming CPAC as a potential terrorist threat.

traditionalguy said...

There are two rules of restraint necessary in winning trial law : One of them is not to plead anything you do not need to, for fear you will have to prove it. The other is NEVER give to your opponent the evidence he can use that he and cannot get except from you. ( The Criminal law version of these two rules amounts to "don't speak to the police") I expect that our Law Professor is reacting to a lack of such wise restraint among Hubris filled CPAC wits. The election day is still 9 months off.

Anonymous said...

Actually I'm quite at a loss to see how smashing puppet representations of political figures has anything to do with domestic violence. Surely we know the difference between hitting an inanimate object and hitting a human being, don't we? Isn't it, in fact, degrading toward humanity to not assume people can differentiate the two? Or perhaps you assume that the enlightened beings reading this blog can make the distinction, while the pathetic brute prole masses cannot?

Personally, I'll presume that people can have their fun with some puppets without reading anything more into it. And that goes for Democrat Bush-heads or Republican Pelosi-whackers.

Ernesto Ariel Suárez said...

Thanks, Joaquin!

I have a couple of questions for the professor:

How does this fit most state's definitions of domestic violence ? (You are using that label)

Is violence against women (even symbolic) automatically classified under domestic violence even when the parties do not cohabitate?

wv: ballh (speaking of that, Joaquin!)

garage mahal said...

I'm sure Sarah Palin will be all over this.

Alex said...

I'm sure Sarah Palin will be all over this.

Sarah Palin does not speak for CPAC.

Ernesto Ariel Suárez said...

Well, Alex, I don't she will even speak *at* CPAC, according to what is being circulated.

wv: woodoce (I bet they can make some killer absynthe with that)

Ernesto Ariel Suárez said...

"I don't think she is speaking *at*" should have been the entire phrase...

wv: stiedpou (...)

Aridog said...

Why does Harry Reid always look like someone just gave him a wedgie?

Alex said...

I'm just saying why does any random Republican have to answer for what some random conservative group does? How did we get this instant guilt-by-association tactic going in our political discourse?

Ernesto Ariel Suárez said...

Touchy much, Alex?
I am always amused by your astroturf outrage or other assorted reactions.

wv: unmen (women?)

Michael said...

I, for one, miss the puppets. They depicted the liberal mind and the liberal love of honest debate. I thought they were excellent. I loved to think of the people assembling them and carrying them to the protests and storing them for the next one. I wonder if they said to themselves, "this is the one, the one that is going to bring it on down." They must have, mustn't they? How else could they have lived with the puppets?

Peter V. Bella said...

Mohamed Pinatas would be cool! Whack the prophet.

Skyler said...

The republican party is filled with idiots.

MaggotAtBroad&Wall said...

Hanging and burning in effigy is an age old act of politcal expression and still occurs throughout much of the world.

But in our pussified era of political correctness, a modified act of hanging in effigy is now considered a symbolic act of violence rather than an act of political defiance.

Mission accomplished PC police.

traditionalguy said...

The real world includes voters deciding the outcome of the all important election 9 months from now. The swing vote of 2% can be all that decides it. So don't do a damn thing that you happen to enjoy freely doing for your own pleasure that can also lose you the swing votes we need. Celebrate with Macy Parade Balloons and dancing in the streets with fireworks the day after the voters have spoken, not that the voters are Fat Ladies.

Skyler said...

It is an act of violence, Mag. It should be reserved for really offensive behavior.

Pelosi and Ried are repugnant people and are doing terrible things to this country, but so far they have remained within the rule of law (loosely defined) and haven't done anything overtly oppressive or unconstitutional. I hate them intensely, but tarring and hanging in effigy will not do anything to win people over from a neutral viewpoint.

It's an idiotic act.

Couching in terms that it is a traditional and acceptable form of protest overlooks that it is a form of protest used by frenzied mobs for despots, not for elected officials.

It is an idiotic thing for an organization to do.

Michael said...

Skyler must have made or carried puppets. Post a picture of your favorite instead of writing pithy and biting remarks.

Automatic_Wing said...

Does this mean that Andrew Sullivan has to give up his Obama blow-up doll?

Triangle Man said...

How did we get this instant guilt-by-association tactic going in our political discourse?

It cuts both ways in partisan politics.

Triangle Man said...

Couching in terms that it is a traditional and acceptable form of protest overlooks that it is a form of protest used by frenzied mobs for despots, not for elected officials.

It has been done for U.S. elected officials when the frenzied mobs are in other countries.

MaggotAtBroad&Wall said...

Right. Hanging in effigy should be reserved for really offensive behavior - like being asked to run as vice president.

http://laist.com/2008/10/27/effigy_of_sarah_palin_hanging_in_we.php

Dust Bunny Queen said...

This is beyond stupid.

Anonymous said...

It's amazing how political commentary always seems to find its way to Sarah Palin, as demonstrated by some of the comments here.

Is Sarah Palin attending CPAC? Is she speaking for them? Was she being hanged in effigy?

It's almost as if she is the first thing anyone thinks about when they consider any political question.

I guess that makes her a "first citizen" of sorts.

The Crack Emcee said...

Ann, this was worth mentioning, why? It's not exactly "bad taste", nor is it emblematic of anything (it's not like the "Kill Bush" stuff that came before, so how are Republicans being like Democrats?) Really, what's the point? That Republicans shouldn't or can't enjoy some stupid fun?

That ain't The Macho Response.

mariner said...

Right, because whacking a pinata is JUST LIKE beating up a woman.

Remember folks, Althouse is a law professor -- she teaches lawyers how to reason.

God help us all.

KCFleming said...

What? No tar and feathers?

BJM said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Alex said...

Obviously Althouse hates hanging politicians in effigy or banging pintas versions of them. It's beneath her centrist morality or something. The question I have to Ann is - have you ever felt for outraged and violated that you wanted to hang a politician in effigy? Why do you begrudge the rest of us this pleasure?

BJM said...

Amateurs, now this is mocking.

MnMark said...

“We’re hoping to have the females whack the piñata and males try their hand at a Harry Reid punching bag,”

Again with the "females" and "males". Female what? Male what? Oh, you mean humans? They're called "women" and "men".

Could someone explain how come it's become so common to refer to people as "females" and "males" as though they were some sort of lab animals?

David said...

Remember, Republicans can screw up any advantage. It's why, though conservative, I avoid the Republican Party.

Alex said...

David - remember the Democrats always have it easier in elections, since they promise the free goodies to people. Republicans in general try to run on personal responsibility, free markets. A much harder sell.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

“Dale, dale, dale, no perdas el tino,
porque si lo perdes, pierdes el camino.
Esta piñata es de muchas mañas, sólo contiene naranjas y cañas.


“Hit, hit, hit.
Don’t lose your aim,
Because if you lose, you lose the road.
This piñata is very tricky, only contains oranges and sugar cane.”

People are not allowed to have any fun anymore.

former law student said...

you lose the road.

Lem -- isn't that more like "you lose your way" in English?

Brian Day said...

There will be a conservative-themed party Friday evening not sponsored by CPAC, where guests will have the opportunity to whack a Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) pinata.
(Emphasis mine)

What bothers me is that the party is sponsored by someone other than CPAC, yet CPAC is getting the blame. The article didn't even mention CPAC's response to the planned party to see if they were comfortable with the plans.

IF CPAC is OK with the theme, then the criticism is warranted. If not, then not so much.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

Lem -- isn't that more like "you lose your way" in English?

Yes you are right. "you lose your way" is better.

Skyler said...

David - remember the Democrats always have it easier in elections, since they promise the free goodies to people. Republicans in general try to run on personal responsibility, free markets. A much harder sell.

Not necessarily true. Democrats truly believe in higher taxes (though they often deny it for a general election no one believes that). They also believe in having a weaker military and stronger enemies. They also believe in more criminals on the streets instead of in jail. They believe in forcing us into a stone age so we don't offend gaia, they want us to use one square of toilet paper, or reusable toilet paper.

Nah, the Democrat party has a pretty tough sell, too. They believe in sacrificing us for them.

Alex said...

Not necessarily true. Democrats truly believe in higher taxes (though they often deny it for a general election no one believes that). They also believe in having a weaker military and stronger enemies. They also believe in more criminals on the streets instead of in jail. They believe in forcing us into a stone age so we don't offend gaia, they want us to use one square of toilet paper, or reusable toilet paper.

That's how you see it, but that's not how they run. How many Democrats in swing districts run on raising taxes to pay for their programs? Yeah I thought so.

Jim said...

Alex -

That's how you see it, but that's not how they run. How many Democrats in swing districts run on raising taxes to pay for their programs? Yeah I thought so.

Not true....Mondale ran on higher taxes, and he...oh yeah...never mind...

He was the only honest liberal I have ever seen on the national stage.

Alex said...

Not true....Mondale ran on higher taxes, and he...oh yeah...never mind...

Jim - point made. There are no honest Democrats left.

Unknown said...

I seem to recall all kinds of Lefty "art" where they fantasized about Dubya being murdered. It was OK, because they were Lefties.

Frankly, what's sauce for the goose, and all...

Anyway, leave it to a GIRL (and we have more than a few here) to take all the fun out of a little harmless violence.

WV "frothers" What rich, white Liberals (are there any other kind?) think taxes are for.

Big Mike said...

But, but, Professor Althouse, ma'am. You have to understand it's FUN getting down in the gutter with the Democrats!!!

Beth said...

knox @ 3:37 wins the thread.

KCFleming said...

Is it too early to have an "I'm Amy Bishop! party with the piñatas?

Penny said...

"Blogger Alex said...

I'm just saying why does any random Republican have to answer for what some random conservative group does? How did we get this instant guilt-by-association tactic going in our political discourse?"

Point well taken, Alex. How DID we get here? And by "we", I am referring to those on either side of the political debate.

Surely we all know that it makes for higher ratings in print, on TV or online in the "Entertain Me" age. So there's "that".

Not to mention that virtually no one relies on national news sources anymore to sift through the chaff to find the wheat. It's ALL about the chaff now.

And it will be... until we are all chafed enough to put something between our raw skin and the offending irritants.

wv: igiest...HELL I do!...or, um, did you mean to say I digiest? What's a missing "d" or an extra "i" among friends after all?

Penny said...

Oh, and duct tape! ;)

Alex said...

Penny:

Not to mention that virtually no one relies on national news sources anymore to sift through the chaff to find the wheat. It's ALL about the chaff now.

How do you know virtually no one relies on national news. Last I checked the nightly news still gets a majority of the American public to tune in. Only political junkies get there news from many internet sources.

Judy said...

I think you're being over-sensitive. This is not a violence against anybody issue.

Alex said...

Judy - our hostess is offended. Hopefully she was equally as outraged when the left made their "let's assassinate Bush" film.

Penny said...

"How do you know virtually no one relies on national news."

Again, point well made, Alex. I overstated to a certain extent. What I meant was that even those who turn into the national news nightly, myself included, can then flip the channel to CNN, MSNBC or Fox for further commentary. And we do, in no small number.

We rush forward, to be chafed.

Alex said...

Penny - given the model of:

* watch nightly news
* then turn to the cable channels for the circus of screaming heads

that is not a good model for the average citizen to learn anything useful.

Peter V. Bella said...

Instead of piñatas they could give everyone a non-violent alternative-caganers of Reid and Pelosi. Here is one of Obama.

Penny said...

It seems to me that Americans are perfectly willing to be "chafed". In fact, the more exposure they have to the "offending source", the more likely it is that they go back for more. Much like "beard burn" was to me when I was just beginning to understand my maturing sexuality as a teen.

bagoh20 said...

The appropriate pinata would be a huge hairy hand incribed with the words "BIG GOVERNMENT".

Pelosi and Reid will be gone soon but that hairy hand will still be pinching your ass.

Alex said...

Sometimes the best thing to do is to unplug from the news cycle and read some solid world history.

Roux said...

Next thing you know they'll be playing Pin the Tail on the Obama Jackass....

It's all in good fun.

Peter V. Bella said...

These people are the new anti-establishment. Some circus is expected from anti-establishment types. How soon people forget the Sixties.

bagoh20 said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
KCFleming said...

They could just do a Philly-style Macy's flash mob and trash the place.

Trooper York said...

We rush forward, to be chafed.

That can happen when you are wearing the wrong underwear.

Penny said...

"Sometimes the best thing to do is to unplug from the news cycle and read some solid world history."

Maybe so, Alex. You are surely not the first person to suggest I do that. Of course, most who have suggested I do that, are those so sure that the "past" portends all we need to know about the "future".

What I noticed first was that even those steeped in history, came to no consensus about our collective future.

What I noticed after that was that "history" belonged to those that CONTROLLED the dialogue in a given place at a given time.

This was just around the time that I became "secretary" for management/employee meetings at my company, back in 1974. I was personally mortified, as a professional woman, to be "secretary" to anybody.

I think it was sometime around 1976, when my "minutes", my "history" was referred to as the "gospel" that would lead my company out of a most contentious situation, that neither memory nor power could resolve.

Needless to say, since then? The "written word", the "history", nor the "gospel" has meant too much to me.

With all due respect. I keep my OWN minutes. Which of course, perfectly capture my subjective opinion all along the continuum I call my life.

Unknown said...

"symbolic violence against women"

Academic feminism speaking. Do the little red-nosed, inflatable Bozo punching dolls offend you as well?
Jeez.

Unknown said...

Penny said...

"Sometimes the best thing to do is to unplug from the news cycle and read some solid world history."

Maybe so, Alex. You are surely not the first person to suggest I do that. Of course, most who have suggested I do that, are those so sure that the "past" portends all we need to know about the "future".

What I noticed first was that even those steeped in history, came to no consensus about our collective future.

What I noticed after that was that "history" belonged to those that CONTROLLED the dialogue in a given place at a given time.


That's the conventional wisdom, but the idea that the truth, eventually, comes out is just as potent. For those who follow such thing, consider the change in opinions about Custer and Little Big Horn.

Penny said...

"That can happen when you are wearing the wrong underwear."

Precisely! Wouldn't be caught dead in the "wrong" underpants.

Cotton, for breathability.

Thank you, John. Thank you, Mr. Klein.

Penny said...

Now, if by chance you were talking bras?

I think I will take a step back and let the breast lady, Althouse, and the bra man, Trooper York, have their say.

No sense getting "in the way" when you still know how to shine those "headlights". ;)

Penny said...

"That's the conventional wisdom, but the idea that the truth, eventually, comes out is just as potent."

Edutcher, says my wisdom is "conventional".

Well, sir, it really isn't.

I suppose I might pat myself on the back for your thinking I am "conventional". But not so much when we are in the midst of finding out more about Amy Bishop, for example.

Methadras said...

Invisible Man said...

Frankly, I'd rather see the Pelosi and Reid get punched in reality.

Cause your a thug.


Fine, would you rather see Reid punched in the face after he's out of office? He is a vile, repugnant, and vindictive little man who couches his bigotry against conservatives in his legislation. Fuck him and fuck you if you support him. Any supporter of Harry Reid has about as much worth as sidewalk gum. I've said it here before that I'd willingly go to jail for a 5 minute pummeling of that human sack of shit, but if someone gets to him before me, so much the better. You know what real thuggery is? Then why don't you try on his ideology for size. There's your thuggery. A beating would be to good for that dick.

Jim said...

Methedras -

I believe the proper approach to punching Harry Reid would be to walk up to him and ask "What's the frequency, Kenneth?"

...in a Negro dialect, of course...

Penny said...

Jim speaks boldly.

He laughs in some POP, cultural, "know-it-now" way.

Not so sure about you, but personally? I am open to hearing more about his solutions.

Jim?

docweasel said...

oh sheesh Ann, lighten up.

Penny said...

Oh look!

A nice cup tea, has once again given way to "cruel neutrality".

More sugar, please?

Methadras said...

Jim said...

Methedras -

I believe the proper approach to punching Harry Reid would be to walk up to him and ask "What's the frequency, Kenneth?"

...in a Negro dialect, of course...


Lawl!!!

bobby said...

I think I must have missed something.

The article says "(t)here will be a conservative-themed party Friday evening not sponsored by CPAC, where guests will have the opportunity to whack a Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) pinata."

NOT sponsored by CPAC.

Not.

I'm guessing there may very well be acts of prostitution and perhaps even murder committed across the city that night, and these will likewise NOT be sponsored by CPAC. Shall we all write articles and comments decrying how CPAC has hooked and killed as part of their get-together?

Shanna said...

CPAC sounds so weird now...I went in the mid 90's and it was just a bunch of boring speeches and free booze. (guess which one I went for!)

AlphaLiberal said...

The conservative penchant for violence is obvious from a featured Teabag speaker in Washington who was making death threats against Senator Patty Murray:

"How many of you have watched the movie Lonesome Dove?," asked an unidentified female speaker from the podium. "What happened to Jake when he ran with the wrong crowd? What happened to Jake when he ran with the wrong crowd. He got hung. And that's what I want to do with Patty Murray." .

Threats of violence are a widespread feature from both the grassroots and the conservative leadership.

No wonder the past couple years have seen a marked increase in right wing political violence in this country. Their leaders are egging them on.

AlphaLiberal said...

To back up my statement that the past couple years have seen an increase in right wing political violence, I repost the partial list I compiled a couple days ago:

We do have a string of acts of violence from the right wing. And they continue to threaten more in their violence-laced vigilante rhetoric at their rallies and in their public statements.

- White supremacist James Von Brunn shot people dead at the Holocaust Museum.

- Right-wing extremist Richard Poplawski gunned down three police officers in Pittsburgh

- Jim David Adkisson killed two people and wounded six others at the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church. "Inside the house, officers found "Liberalism is a Mental Health Disorder" by radio talk show host Michael Savage, "Let Freedom Ring" by talk show host Sean Hannity, and "The O'Reilly Factor," by television talk show host Bill O'Reilly."

- Scott Roeder, anti-abortion extremist, killed Dr George Tiller.

- Border protecting militia types Shawna Forde, Jason Bush, and Albert Gaxiola were arrested and charged with the murder of Raul Flores and his daughter, and the wounding of his wife.

- In 2008, Bill Gwatney, state chair of the Arkansas Democratic party, was and shot and killed.

In our public debates we have the tactics of thuggery used in the political debate.

AlphaLiberal said...

Althouse said:


This really undercuts the ability of conservatives to mock those godawful papier maché puppets that animate lefty protests. .

To be very clear I hate those damned puppets. I hate to be at a political rally with those damned puppets.

I cannot say enough bad about those puppets.