"I will screw him in the ass!"
Bill Maher bitch-slapped the guy across the table without even realizing it. On HBO's , he said
Bingo.
With devastating accuracy, Maher nailed guest panelist Michael Smerconish on his shtick. "I often use the word 'sissification' or 'sissies,'' once said. "What I'd really like to use is the 'P' word, but I'm not permitted to.
" But Maher kept on going:
"George Bush has seen too many prison movies. He thought - and this is what I mean about thinking like they do because I my thought was - why go into Iraq? That's not the country that attacked us.
That doesn't make any sense.
"But see in the prison movie, you go into the prison, and you find the biggest baddest meanest son of a bitch and you beat him up. Except that we went in there and he beat us up and fucked us up the ass and now its a little hard for us to threaten Iran and Syria because we picked on the random guy and then we got our ass kicked.
"
For Smerconish, the prison movie mindset - which sexualizes the war on terror, and frames political debate as an "I'm-butch-and-you're-not" standoff - is not a problem. For this radio talk jock from Philadelphia, it is the solution. Which is why, for his "don't ask, don't tell" piece in HuffPost , he used the title, " .
" You want to support the troops? Then support their prison movie, aka Abu Ghraib. Reacting to news of the torture and killing of two American soldiers in Baghdad, said:
"It's a horrific story, and as I watch it unfold, I have to ask myself where are the people who worked themselves into a lather about the naked pyramid pictures at Abu Ghraib or those who wanted trials at The Hague because we played Christina Aguilera music a bit too loud for the detainees down at Gitmo.
"
He reacted the same way when Zacarias Moussaoui got life imprisonment instead of execution. "I can't buy into this logic of transcending hatred,' argued. "This is the sissification of America.
" So maybe our troops aren't toughened up enough:
Caller: Hey Michael, I want to piggyback on what she said. Recruits now, they actually get issued what's called a stress card. And if -- it's amazing -- if the drill instructor is too harsh on them and they're being, quote, unquote "stressed out" -
Smerconish: Yeah.
Caller: -- they can pull their stress card out and put training on hold for 10 minutes.
Smerconish: Oh man, what -- what is it? Is it a pink card?
Is it pink? Tell me.
Caller: I think it's pink.
It might be pink or rainbow.
The bottom line, he argued on , is that, "all this mamby-pamby, you know, limp-wristedness going on, on our domestic shores is compromising our ability to win the 'war on terror.'"
Yep, that's our problem with the war on terror.
We are so much safer because our military violated the Geneva Conventions, and so much less safe because we didn't execute Moussaoui.
The more he talks the more Smerconish himself resembles his stereotypical "sissies" and "elites" who, like characters on Will Grace, are too fussy, self involved and pretentious to cope with any real problems.
Here's a guy with a syndicated radio show and a column in a metropolitan newspaper.
Yet he feels "muzzled" by some nonexistent PC police. As he told the Philadelphia Inquirer, his new book, Muzzled, is "a bit of a wake-up call. People have gotten too worked up over what used to be an irritant to our quality of life.
" Because "[v]iewed alone, you say, 'Big deal. There's a story and it was a wrong outcome, but who cares?'.
.. That is the mind-set I'm trying to change.
"
Exactly. He want us to dwell on trivial attributes and imagined slights, because conservatives have no answers for the important stuff. Real men and women face up to real problems, instead limp wrists.
Real men and women worry less about slamming sensitivity training and more about the Army's shortage of translators, armored vehicles, and leadership at the very top.
That's why commentators at Fox News dwelled on John Kerry's (non-existent) manicure and botox, while touting Bush as a strong leader. They distract us from the truth that Kerry is a genuine war hero and Bush went AWOL because his daddy pulled strings.
That's why Arnold Schwarzenegger called Democratic legislators "girly men" when he learned that governing California requires more than steroids and a bikini wax.
Or, as Bill Maher summed up, "what [Ann Coulter] was saying was that democrats are pussies." Except the reality is that John Edwards has a plan to tackle health care.
Constructive ideas about real problems? Ann Coulter avoids them like a vampire facing a crucifix.
But don't get caught up in being offended by Smerconish's remarks.
"And if you're offended by my use of that word [sissy], then you're exactly the person that I'm talking about...
" You'd be playing into the hands of a scam artist.
"I often use the word 'sissification' or 'sissies,'' Smerconish once said. "What I'd really like to use is the 'P' word, but I'm not permitted to.
"
Am I the only one that can see the irony of that statement?He wants to use the word "pussies"..
...
but he's not allowed.
Well , maybe I'll call up his mommy and see if he can get a day pass.
Don Imus made sexist remarks for 30 odd years before CBS radio slapped him down.
By: daveh on April 16, 2007 at 01:40am
Flag: [ ] How unfortunate that Michael Smerconish is over 42. Now he'll never be able to enlist, choose the infantry, and show us all what a rough, tough, manly ground-pounder he is. By: criminallysane on April 16, 2007 at 02:02am
Flag: [ ] Daveh, I can see the irony too.
So many of these neocons dwell on what they perceive as "PC" to distract from their own fears and lack of ideas. That bit where he was slamming the stress cards for new recruits - I had no idea if that is true, and neither did he or the caller (they speculated on the color, why didn't either do a search to find out?) is an example.
My search found out that it's false!
I wondered about the cards and did a simple search to find the truth - why couldn't Smerconish have done the same? Because he then wouldn't have another "case" about the "sissification" of America!
He loves to talk and gets paid to do it - he should be sure of his facts. I think that only a sissy would comment on a false story. He is free to voice his opinions, but they should be based on fact, not fiction.
By: UpStateSC on April 16, 2007 at 06:19am
Flag: [ ] Smerconish is a punk and you just bitch slapped him. Thanks again. By: phlounder on April 16, 2007 at 06:33am
Flag: [ ] Finally, someone who is able to counter Smerconish.
I'm banned from his blog site as well as Arianna's. He likes to dish it out bully style and now he thinks he'll be able to pick up the Imus racist audience. He's no Imus.
Smerconish just incites the lowest common denominator in society, he's a bottom feeder. He criticizes PC so that he can be foul and appeal to the racists and bigots and is responsible for helping to take this country to the lowest common denominator. I think he fancies himself a modern day Goebbels without the talent.
Ignoring PC Smerconish is able to be unmannerly, crude, insulting, abusive and demeaning to his ingrate cretin of and audience who believe in what he says.Thanks for your blog posing today, keep it up. By: predator3x2 on April 16, 2007 at 08:57am
Flag: [ ] While Smerconish is everything you say he is, he is also an interesting example of a personality type -- the Contrarian -- that seems attracted to authoritarian politics.
We all know Contrarians in our daily life. They are the people who agree with nothing, always offering an opposing view, no matter how illogical or counter factual. I suspect part of this, consciously or subconsciously, is an attention-getting device, an ill-conceived attempt at compensating for deep-seated feelings of inferiority.
Of course, I could be wrong. By: SamThornton on April 16, 2007 at 09:24am
Flag: [ ] Smerconish has the same problem as the rest of the right wing pundits and neo-con extremists. He believes that acting like the 800 pound gorilla is going to induce “shock and awe†among the terrorists and eventually wipe them out.
Anything less is acting like a “sissyâ€. Actually, military action only works to solidify their belief in the rightness of their cause and draws more Muslim moderates to support them. We will never be able to wipe out all the terrorists.
Nor will we ever be able change the rabid hatred they hold for the West and non Muslim world. Only by shrinking the base of their support through the cooperation of Mid-east governments and their average Muslim citizens can we hope to counter this threat. Adopting the tactics used by the extremists, themselves, only serves to justify the appropriateness of their cause.
If we do not change our current policies, we had better be prepared to support a large permanent military force of occupation. Making a principled stand and treating the Muslim world with fairness through diplomatic efforts rather than military threats will have a better chance of success in the long run. By: neverbeenfooled on April 16, 2007 at 09:28am
Flag: [ ] Smerconish is yet another Republican's pussy who never served his country so he hides behind the flag and his microphone to keep himself in comfortable living circumstances.
He's a social parasite. By: James on April 16, 2007 at 09:28am
Flag: [ ] I take exception to the use of the term bitch slap, but otherwise I think you are doing a service by taking on this radio ranger. Let's not forget that his idea of fighting Al Qaeda, as recounted on HuffingtonPost not long ago, is to buy bin Laden paintball targets for the kids.
By: BrooklynC on April 16, 2007 at 09:57am
Flag: [ ] You actually managed to miss the silliest of the comments that Smerconish mentioned in his post and Inquirer argument. Smerconish actually argues that muslims should not be allowed to pray in public, at least not in groups, apparently because after 9/11 Americans are justified in peeing their pants at the sight of such a provocation.
So while nobody should be challenged for what they say on the air for fear of scaring the poor manly broadcasters, muslims should not practice their religion in public for fear of scaring the easily frightened, and yet still manly, Smerconishes of the world.
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