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.

  • February 15, 2011

    Lawrence O’Donnell on Bill O’Reilly: “A joke…A very, very, very rich man who has grown phenomenally rich by playing a character on TV that the most gullible audience in the history of television falls for.”….Pro-government legislators in Iranian Parliament on opposition leaders: “Death to Mousavi, Karroubi and Khatami!”….Former WikiLeaker Daniel Domscheit-Berg on Julian Assange: “Children shouldn’t play with guns.”…. Robert Reich on Obama budget: “Has chosen to fight fire with gasoline.”…. Grover Norquist on Obama budget: “Doesn’t pass the laugh test.”…. Billy Ray Cyrus on ‘Hannah Montana’: "The damn show destroyed my family.”….
  • February 10, 2011

    Anderson Cooper on Mubarek: “Stepping on the grave and the blood of the Egyptian people.”….Chris Matthews: "One of the murkiest speeches ever delivered."....Bill Kristol on Glenn Beck: “Brings to mind no one so much as Robert Welch and the John Birch Society.”…. Tom Ricks on Rumsfeld: “Spoke loudly and carried a small stick.”….Ron Reagan on Sarah Palin: “A soap opera, basically.”….House Transportation Committee Chair Rep. John Mica on Amtrak: “A Soviet-style train system.”….Railroads Subcommittee Chair Rep. Bill Shuster on Biden high-speed rail plan: “Insanity.”….L. Brent Bozell III on Huffington Post: “A hate-filled, vicious, radically left-wing rag...profanity, crude sexual and excretory metaphors and outright hate speech against conservatives.”….
  • February 3, 2011

    Rumsfeld on McCain: “Hairtrigger temper and a propensity to shift positions to appeal to the media.”….McCain on Rumsfeld: "Thank God he was relieved of his duties.”…. Chris Matthews on Glenn Beck: “The number one exploiter of fear.”….Bill O’Reilly on Al Jazeera: “An anti-Semitic, anti-American network.”…. Timothy Egan on Rep. Gohmert: “Has enough trouble carrying a coherent thought onto the House floor. God forbid he would try to bring a Glock to work.”….Ted Rall on the American Revolution: “Little more than a bunch of rich tax cheats getting theirs.”….
  • February 1, 2011

    Richard Cohen: “The dream of a democratic Egypt is sure to produce a nightmare."….Chris Matthews on Michele Bachmann: “A balloon head.”….Glenn Beck on Matthews: “A balloon head that was taught by a balloon head and all you did because you're a balloon head was sit in your stupid balloon head Ivy League classroom and be indoctrinated by a balloon head.”….Rush Limbaugh: “The wealthiest people in the world are liberal Democrats and totalitarians, and they've acquired their wealth by virtue of stealing it.”….Steelers receiver Hines Ward on the NFL: “They don't give a f*** about concussions.”….Charlie Sheen on his critics: “A bunch of turds.”….
  • January 28, 2011

    Conor Friedersdorf on ‘Countdown with Keith Olbermann’: “Gave me that anxious, vaguely pissed off feeling one gets sitting for an hour without air-conditioning in gridlocked freeway traffic, behind a semi and next to a guy blasting Eminem.”…. Don Imus on Rachel Maddow: “The worst kind of coward and gutless, sniveling worm.”…. Emily Yoffe on Hugh Hefner: “Please, Hef, go away, so we don't have any more images in our heads of you having sex.”….