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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 30, 2011

    John Bolton on Obama’s Libya speech: “A dog’s breakfast.”….Rush Limbaugh: “I got sick to my stomach watching…It was pathetic…incompetent.”…. John Hayward: “A weird journey through the mind of a narcissist.”….Sarah Palin: “The Obama doctrine is still full of chaos and questions. It's dodgy. It's dubious.”....Glenn Beck on Obama Administration: “Siding with the wrong side…Standing against good and encouraging evil in the Middle East.”….national security aide on Libya intervention: “A turd sandwich.”….
  • March 25, 2011

    Michele Bachmann on judges: “Black-robed masters.”…. Tea Party Nation founder Judson Phillips: “Charlie Sheen still makes more sense than John Boehner because at least Charlie Sheen is winning.”….Sen. Lindsey Graham on Obama: “We used to relish leading the free world and now it's almost like leading the free world is an inconvenience.”….Keith Koffler on Obama: “Atop his Ivory Tower, with his head in the clouds.”….David Brooks on D.C.: “The most emotionally avoidant city in America.”….Bill Maher on Sarah Palin: “Speaking of dumb twats.”….Palin on Maher: “Reminds me of an annoying little mosquito found zipped up in your tent.”….Timothy Egan on Republicans: “Can’t cope with a president who tries to think before he leaps..”….
  • March 21, 2011

    Lawrence O’Donnell on Operation Odyssey Dawn: “Worst name ever for an American military adventure.”….Vladimir Putin on UN resolution: “Defective and flawed…Resembles medieval calls for crusades.”….Sean Hannity on Obama: “Passive and disengaged….Doesn’t seem to think that America has the ability to lead.”….Newt Gingrich on Obama: “Spectator in chief.”….Monica Crowley on Obama: “Actually believes that the United States is a force for bad, for evil in the world.”….CNN’s Nic Robertson in Libya, on Fox News: “You expect lies and deceit from the dictatorship here. You don't expect it from the other journalists."….Sarah Palin on Republicans: “Have the fighting instinct of sheep sometimes.”….Shep Smith on Americans stockpiling potassium iodide: “Tantamount to crazy.”….Glenn Beck on MSNBC: “The most anti-God network ever put on the air in the history of America.”….Ed Schultz on Beck: “Ignorance marathon.”….Ralph Nader on Obama: “Committing war crimes…should be impeached.”….Lewis Farrakhan on Obama: “Who the hell do you think you are?”….
  • March 17, 2011

    State Dept. spokesman P.J. Crowley on Pentagon handling of Manning detainment: “Ridiculous and counterproductive and stupid.”….Michele Bachmann: “All 3,400 members of the mainstream media are part of the Obama press contingent.”….Peggy Noonan on Rumsfeld memoir: “So bad it's news even a month after its debut...There are a lot of words, most of them boring”….RNC chair Reince Priebus: “How can Barack Obama say he is leading when he puts his NCAA bracket over the budget and other pressing issues?”….Jon Bon Jovi: “Steve Jobs is personally responsible for killing the music business."….Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson on NFL: “It’s modern-day slavery, you know?”….
  • March 10, 2011

    Christopher Hitchens: “The pilots of Qaddafi's own air force, who flew their planes to Malta rather than let themselves be used against civilians, have demonstrated more courage and principle than the entire U.S. Sixth Fleet.”….Glenn Reynolds: “I would vote for a syphilitic camel over Barack Obama in 2012.”….David Brooks on Newt Gingrich: “I wouldn't let that guy run a 7-Eleven, let alone a country.”….NPR Sr. Veep Ron Schiller on Tea Party: “Seriously racist, racist people.”….Rush Limbaugh on David Gregory: “Mouthpiece…Stenographer.”….