Archive

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.

  • December 5, 2011

    Donald Trump on Huntsman and Paul: "Joke candidates."....Joe Williams on Trump: "The ego has landed."....Gingrich on Bachmann: "Factually challenged."....Bachmann on Gingrich: "Memory challenged."....Robert Gibbs on Romney: "A political gymnast."....Cain on Obama: "Has no clue."....George Will on Cain: "An entrepreneurial charlatan."....Frank Rich on Romney: "The un-Sally Field. People really, really don't like him."....Bob Schieffer on presidential campaigns: "As meaningless as they are mean."....
  • November 30, 2011

    Der Spiegel on GOP candidates: "Ruining the reputation of the United States. They lie, deceive, scuffle and speak every manner of idiocy."....Illinois state Sen. Ed Sullivan on OWS: "Raping and pillaging and beating people up and murdering."....Dana Milbank on Barney Frank: "One mean and ornery SOB."....Karl Rove on Frank: "Petulant, abrasive and downright nasty."....Gov. Chris Christie on Obama: "A bystander in the Oval Office...What the hell are we paying him for?"....McCain on Schumer: "I hope he will one day have a sense of humor."....Drew Magary on Tim Pawlenty: "The $1 million he spent to lose the Iowa Straw Poll might as well have been burned in front of a group of orphans."....
  • November 27, 2011

    Arizona state Rep. Harry Accornero on Obama: "A treasonous liar."....The Roots on Michele Bachmann: "Lyin'-ass bitch."....Mika Brzezinski on Newt Gingrich: "Literally the biggest hypocrite in the Republican field, probably in politics today."....David Boaz on Gingrich: "Thinks lots of ideas and never runs them through a sanity test before spilling them on a stage."....Fred Siegel on Gingrich: "The tallest building in Wichita."....Rick Perry on his own criticism of those opposing education for illegal immigrants: "Arrogant...Insulting."....
  • November 21, 2011

    Newt Gingrich on OWS: "Go get a job, right after you take a bath."....Rep. Joe Walsh on OWS: "Generally spoiled, pampered, unfocused, clueless young people and a smattering of other people who don't understand this country."....George Will on Gingrich: "The classic rental politician."....Paul Krugman on Gingrich: "A stupid man's idea of what a smart man sounds like."....Mitt Romney on Obama: "Failed leadership."....
  • November 18, 2011

    Newt Gingrich on Obama: "Four years of amateur ignorance."....Barney Frank on Gingrich: "Lobbyist and liar...No ethical core whatsoever."....James Taranto on OWS: "A squalid Obamaville."....Andrea Peyser on OWS: "Silver-spooned sickos...Scum."....Michelle Malkin on Obama: "Corruption, profligacy, class-warfare demagoguery, progressive pandering, and epidemic failures."....Ann Coulter on Obama: "Big-eared beanpole."....Matt Taibbi on Coulter: "Supreme Reichskank."....Buzz Bissinger on college football and basketball: "Rotten beyond repair."....Sarah Palin on Sandusky: "Hang him from the highest tree. I'll bring the rope."....Salman Rushdie on Facebook administrators: "A bunch of morons."....