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Mudline Archive

STICKS, STONES, BROKEN BONES

During the 2000 Bush-Gore presidential race, we began collecting negative soundbites and posting them weekly on a MUDLINE ticker, as a temporary election feature. But in the aftermath of that tumultuous contest we realized that the tone of public discourse was unlikely to improve, and elected to continue the feature. Unfortunately, we were right; two decades later, incivility is hotter than ever. If you just can’t get enough snark on social media, this mud’s for you.

  • February 27, 2012

    Santorum on Obama: "What a snob."....Ed Koch: "Santorum is nuts."....Santorum on Obama: "Destroying every single alliance that we have in the world, and at the same time trying to appease every enemy in the world."....Santroum spokesman Hogan Gidley: "For Mitt Romney, it's all about appearance and glitz and glamour."....Gingrich on "the secular left": Their version of the truth is to have a totally neutral government that has no meaning."....MT Gov. Brian Schweitzer on GOP: "Returning to the Dark Ages."....MD Gov. Martin O'Malley on Chris Christie: "Don Rickles leadership...Bombast."....Christie on O'Malley: "Not that smart, he's not that good, but he is flippant."....
  • February 25, 2012

    Santorum on Obama: "Afraid to stand up to Iran."....Gingrich on Obama: "Failing in his duty as commander in chief."....Santorum on universities: "Indoctrination mills."....Ron Paul on Santorum: "Fake."....Romney communications director Gail Gitcho on Santorum: "Abandoning his principles for his own political advantage."....Gingrich on Obama foreign policy: "As long as you're America's enemy you're safe."....Ralph Reed on Obama campaign plan: "A scorched earth, negative 'tear down the Republican nominee' campaign. That's all it's going to be. And they're coming, and they're coming with a knife in an alley."....Jon Huntsman on GOP race: "Not worthy of the American people and this time in history."....
  • February 21, 2012

    Gingrich on Obama: "Incapable of defending the United States."....Rev. Franklin Graham on Obama: "Islam sees him as a son of Islam...I can't say categorically that [he is not Muslim] because Islam has gotten a free pass under Obama."....Santorum on Obama: "I am talking about his worldview, the way he addresses problems in this country, and they're different than most people view it in America."....Ron Paul ad on Santorum: "Is this dude serious? Fiscal conservative. Really?"....John Baer: "'President Santorum.' Did you just shiver?"....Newt Gingrich on Obama: "Only obeys laws that he deems fit."....Obama campaign aide Robert Gibbs on GOP primary: "Has been, in many cases, a race to the bottom."....Russ Feingold on GOP primary candidates: "It's a threat to our country to elect people who take such a silly view of the rest of the world."....Michael Moore on Romney: "This apple has fallen far from the tree."....Douglas Brinkley on Jodi Cantor's book The Obamas: "Chick nonfiction."....
  • February 17, 2012

    Rep. Maxine Waters on John Boehner and Eric Cantor: "Demons...Are destroying this country rather than bringing us together."....Transportation Sec. Ray LaHood on GOP transportation bill: "Lousy...Takes us back to the Dark Ages."....Rick Santorum on contraception: "A license to do things in a sexual realm that is counter to how things are supposed to be."....Matt Taibi on Romney: "Looks like a walking OCD diagnosis."....Mary Elizabeth Williams on Nancy Grace: "A full-on loose cannon, a disseminator of disinformation and an ego gone rogue."....Erick Erickson: "More than a few of the twenty- and thirty-somethings who go to CPAC seem to treat it like an extension of their college days, doing their best to hook up before passing out."....Melissa Clouthier on young CPAC attendees: "Looking and acting like the cast of Jersey Shore."....National Review on Gingrich as nominee: "Would be a grave mistake."....
  • February 13, 2012

    Mitch McConnell on Obama: "Rigid in his view that he gets to decide what somebody else's religion is."....Romney on Obama budget: "An insult to taxpayers."....Ron Paul on GOP rivals: "All of them are typical of what's wrong with this country."....Paul Begala on Rick Perry: "Couldn't spell 'cat' if you spotted him the 'c' and the 't.'"....Fidel Castro on GOP primary: "The greatest competition of idiocy and ignorance there has ever been."....