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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.

  • March 27, 2012

    Santorum on Romney: "Desperate and pathetic."....Gingrich on Romney staff: "They don't even have the decency to wait until they get the nomination to explain to us how they'll sell us out."....Santorum on Romney: "The worst Republican in the country to put up against Barack Obama."....Romney on Russia: "Without question, our number one geopolitical foe."....Medvedev on Romney: "We are in 2012 and not the mid-1970s."....

  • March 25, 2012

    Romney spokesman Ryan Williams on Santorum: "Becoming more desperate and angry and unhinged every day."....Santorum on Romney: "The Etch a Sketch candidate."....Romney on Santorum: "Desperate polls call for desperate pols."....Gingrich on Obama: "Consistently apologizing to Islam while attacking the Catholic church."....Santorum ad: "Where does Romney stand on the issues? It all depends on who he's standing in front of."....Romney on top Obama energy advisers: "Gas-hike trio."....Gingrich on Obama's Trayvon Martin remarks: "Disgraceful."....Obama adviser David Plouffe on Gingrich’s remark: “Reprehensible…Speaker Gingrich is clearly in the last throes of his political career.”….Peggy Noonan on Romney: "Seems stuck in 'I am extraordinary.'"....Rep. Brad Miller: "I have said very publicly that if Duke was playing against the Taliban, then I'd have to pull for the Taliban."....

  • March 19, 2012

    Santorum on Romney and Obama: "Tweedledee and Tweedledum."....Meghan McCain on GOP race: "So lame."....Ann Coulter on Sandra Fluke: "Hysterical drama queen."....Romney on Obama: "He's out of ideas. He's out of excuses."....

  • March 13, 2012

    Rick Santorum: "Obamacare is, in fact, the death knell for freedom."....Woody Harrelson on GOP: "The s**t those people say just makes me weep for humanity."....Gingrich on Romney: "Probably the weakest Republican frontrunner since Leonard Wood in 1920."....Gloria Allred on Limbaugh: "Extremely outrageous, tasteless and damaging conduct."....Grover Norquist: "If Obama is still the president, we have a train wreck, and Obama likes train wrecks."....Rachel Maddow: "Maybe Rick Perry wants to be known as Gov. Vaginal Probe. I'm not sure he would see that as a bad thing."....Jonathan Franzen on Twitter: "Unspeakably irritating...Stands for everything I oppose."....Jami Attenberg on Franzen: "Has a publicist who probably has dreams about him every night."....Blackfeet tribal lobbyist Tom Rodgers on Jack Abramoff: "Nothing more than a modern-day Custer."....Raquel Welch on America: "We've gotten to the point in our culture where we're all sex addicts, literally."....

  • March 7, 2012

    Barbara Bush on GOP primary: "The worst campaign I've ever seen in my life."....Gingrich on Santorum: "Wants a mulligan."....David Axelrod: "The Limbaugh thing was a test of leadership...Mitt Romney has failed."....Romney spokesman: "Obama's weak policy toward Iran over the past three years has utterly failed."....Andrew Sullivan on Romney: "Simply invents positions that Obama has not held...He lies."....