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Tweeting with The Brain Dead

I had an unusual encounter today in the Twitterverse. Not unusual in the sense that you find people that either A) have no idea what they're talking about,  B) refuse to believe the truth because it doesn't fit their narrative,  or C) know the truth but perpetuate the lie because it fits their agenda. I've been through all of those. The new encounter was D) faced with facts, decided to call me "creepy" and then protected his account so no one else would see his idiocy unless both parties agreed to "follow" each other.

Really. It got to that point.

It all started with Greg Sargent having a back and forth with The Washington Post's Jennifer Rubin and her take on Mitt Romney's ad taking President Obama's "You didn't build that" quote out of context. Obviously, she didn't think it was out of context, and her "proof" is Romney's interview with CNBC's Larry Kudlow. It wasn't President Obama's full speech. It wasn't nonpartisan fact checkers. It was Romney's explanation on an interview with conservative economist and TV host Larry Kudlow.

A Twitter user named @OrwellForce got in on the act with the following tweet: "Even his ad includes the 'It must be because I'm just so smart/hard working' part. Is that not context?" Well, I couldn't just sit there, could I? I couldn't just shake my head at another lemming and turn my attention to more important things. No, I decided to answer:

@BwayCarl: You didn't build "THAT" is in ref to infrastructure. It's obvious except to those perpetuating the lie.

Game on. Here's a copy and paste of the most of the Twitter conversation (and by conversation, I mean making points and getting typical talking point replies and generally banging my head against a wall.)

@BwayCarl: @OrwellForce @jrubinblogger You didn't build "THAT" is in ref to infrastructure. It's obvious except to those perpetuating the lie. 

@OrwellForce: @BwayCarl @jrubinblogger Like I asked, how are the "It must be because I'm just so smart/hard working" comments not context? 

@ BwayCarl: @OrwellForce That's not the line in question. Romney campaign is laser focused on "you didn't build that." out of context @jrubinblogger

@BwayCarl @OrwellForce & I posit that Obama was right because it seems all sm. bus who disagree conveniently forget Govt grants/loans. @jrubinblogger

@OrwellForce: @BwayCarl @jrubinblogger So the context that reinforces Romney's point isn't real context according to you? 

@BwayCarl: @OrwellForce Tell me, what is it that Romney is saying when he says, and his ads say "Obama says you didn't build it"? @jrubinblogger 

@OrwellForce: @BwayCarl @jrubinblogger He's quoting Obama...and he includes context. 

@BwayCarl: @OrwellForce You can't even answer my question in a straightforward manner. Kinda proves my point. @jrubinblogger 

@OrwellForce: @BwayCarl @jrubinblogger You asked me what Romney is saying, and Romney is quoting Obama. But enjoy your imagined victory. 

@BwayCarl: @OrwellForce No, I asked you what Mitt was saying abt Obama quote. He was saying Obama said u didn't build sm. biz. Not true @jrubinblogger 

@BwayCarl: @OrwellForce What Obama DID say was that sm. biz didn't build the infrastructure that makes it possible for them to thrive. @jrubinblogger 

@OrwellForce: @BwayCarl And I pointed to context that reinforces Romney's reading. But you don't like that context. 

@BwayCarl:  @OrwellForce Not because I don't like it, Mitt's context is wrong. And so far, every opportunistic example he's tried has been wrong.

@OrwellForce: @BwayCarl Mitt quoting Obama is wrong, Mitt quoting Obama more to provide context is wrong. You're not a serious person. 

@BwayCarl:  @OrwellForce You still didn't answer my Q: Mitt's interpretation of Obama quote is that Obama said sm biz didn't build their co. You agree? 

@OrwellForce Orwell Force @BwayCarl Yes, it's a collectivist philosophy

@BwayCarl: @OrwellForce So you agree with Mitt's false premise. Like I said before, what he DID say was that govt infrastructure helps sm biz thrive. 

@OrwellForce: @BwayCarl You must have the memory of an earth worm. We've been over this like 3 times now. You don't like context if it hurts your case.

 @BwayCarl: @OrwellForce And you continue to believe it like the rest of the lemmings. It doesn't hurt my case because it isn't true. Good luck, though. 

@OrwellForce: @BwayCarl "Out of context" "The context isn't true" - I hope you like rooms without windows. 

@BwayCarl:  @OrwellForce And yet you still haven't proven context other than to say "cuz Romney says so" while multiple fact checkers have debunked it.  

@OrwellForce: @BwayCarl Hey, at least your [sic] honest about your belief in a government-centered society. I wish more liberals would come out and say it. 

@BwayCarl: @OrwellForce Police, firefighters, military, schools, highways, public transit, SS, Medicare, yeah, we're more govt-centered than you'd admit.

@OrwellForce: @BwayCarl I provided context but then you didn't like the context anymore. "the context is out of context"

@OrwellForce: @BwayCarl You keep repeating yourself. What exactly are you trying to accomplish here? You're starting to creep me out. 

@ BwayCarl: @OrwellForce This is context. Learn the difference. http://factcheck.org/2012/07/you-didnt-build-that-uncut-and-unedited/  

@OrwellForce: @BwayCarl I've read the full speech. Fact check is pointless when there's a transcript. You think the context is out of context. Sure thing.  

@BwayCarl:  Here's another for @OrwellForce in the hopes that he'll learn the definition of the word, "context." http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/fact-checker/post/an-unoriginal-obama-quote-taken-out-of-context/2012/07/20/gJQAdG7hyW_blog.html

@OrwellForce: @BwayCarl You are one creepy dude. 

@BwayCarl:  @OrwellForce A creepy dude who happens to be correct. Good luck. 

@OrwellForce: @BwayCarl According to you, the definition of "context" is "nu uh!"

I'll piece the rest of this together from my timeline and my memory, because it was about this point that the brave Orwell Force decided to protect his feed, thus preventing me access unless we mutually agreed to follow each other.

@OrwellForce: @BwayCarl "the context is out of context" good luck with that. 

@BwayCarl:  @OrwellForce I'm actually laughing out loud at your responses cuz you refuse to have a real conversation about it. #IKnowYouAre ButWhatAmI 

@OrwellForce: @BwayCarl Well then I apologize for the sad state of your life.

@BwayCarl:  @OrwellForce Ouch! Ooh, you hurt my feelings. How will I ever recover? 

 @OrwellForce: @BwayCarl Why are you still here? 

@BwayCarl:  @OrwellForce Why do you insist on replying? 

@OrwellForce: @BwayCarl good point

And just like that, a blossoming friendship was not to be. I scared Orwell Force away. Did I come on too strong? ...and that was my day on Twitter.

By the way, Jennifer Rubin never replied to my tweets. Is it because she's too busy and too important, or because she knew she was full of shit?

(Cross-posted at ABLC)

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Domestic Enemy

Faisal Shahzad?  No.  Barack Obama.

...[A Heritage Foundation] audience member claimed Obama had put us at greater risk, and asked [Rep. Eric] Cantor: “What would he have to do differently to be defined as a domestic enemy?” That prompted loud, approving laughter from the crowd.

Cantor replied, in part: “No one thinks that the president is a domestic enemy,” prompting audible grumbling from the crowd...

Seriously. The inmates have taken over the asylum.

(H/T Greg Sargent)

Who Runs The NRCC Website?

This is seriously pathetic - The National Republican Congressional Committee's website which sports an angry Nancy Pelosi photo on their home page wants to "Take Back The Majority!"

As you click around and look at outdated talking points, like the Congressional Budget Office report that poo-poos the Recovery Bill currently being debated, even though it's been announced by the CBO that the report in question doesn't exist, you'll eventually come across this on their "Issues Page":

Thanks to Republican economic policies, the U.S. economy is robust and job creation is strong.

Republican tax cuts are creating jobs and continuing to strengthen the economy, yet there is still more to do so that every American who wants a job can find one.

Seriously? These jamokes are asking for donations on this website and they can't bother to update their webpages? Well, let me correct myself. As soon as the NRCC realized their, for lack of a better word I'll call it a "gaffe," and found out everyone else knew about it, they removed this statement from their Economy section under the Issues Page. Actually, they removed EVERYTHING from their Issues Page. That was their update. I suppose they're completely happy and don't have any issues. But if you use their Search function and type in "Economy," it'll show up as the fifth choice and TA-DA! There it is! Here's a screen capture (in case they try removing it again):

(Click for full size)

This party is in complete disarray. What else would you call it when Eric Cantor is the Number Two man for the GOP in the House of Representatives? Can anyone in the Republican Party, for once, think of something that would actually help the economy, or the mortgage crisis, or the thinned military situation, anything, without using the words "tax cuts"? Can they come up with anything? The answer is "No."

According to Greg Sargent, NRCC spokesman Ken Spain issued a response to the intertube laughter when clicking on their site:

“The site is currently under construction. We are looking forward to relaunching the site and fostering a discussion on how Nancy Pelosi and her Democratic colleagues’ proposal to spend their way out of this recession is absurd at best and financially ruinous at worst.”

Their answer to the Recovery Bill is not to come up with ideas other than "tax cuts," because that's worked so well these past eight years, but to issue a negative statement criticizing Pelosi and the "New New Deal" that the Congress is still working on and trying to include the GOP at the grown up's table in the process.

Oh, Republicans, is there nothing you can't screw up?

(H/T Bob Cesca)