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 21, 2011

    Muammar Gaddafi on Libya protesters: "Rats."....Former ambassador Abdel-Moneim al-Houni on Gaddafi: “Betrayed his nation and his people.”…. Michele Bachmann on Obama: “Bending down to dictators, and he is brown-nosing the elites that are in Europe, and he's babying the jihadists who are following Sharia-compliant terrorism."….Wisconsin state Sen. Tim Carpenter on Gov. Walker: “A dictator.”…. Rush Limbaugh on Wisconsin protestors: “Freeloaders.”….Ed Schultz on Limbaugh: “Hey Rush, why don't you wrap your fat ass in the flag. ”….
  • February 19, 2011

    Jonathan Lethem: “Brooklyn is repulsive with novelists, it's cancerous with novelists.”…. George Soros on Fox News: “Has imported the methods of George Orwell…Newspeak, where you can tell the people falsehoods and deceive them.”….Tampa Mayor Pam Iorio on Gov. Rick Scott rejecting fed high speed rail funding: “The worst decision by a governor in my 26 years in public life.”…. Orlando Sentinel on Scott: “Utterly clueless.”….Dem Party rep Eric Jotkoff: “A one-man wrecking crew for Florida’s economy.”…. St. Petersburg Times: “A reckless, devastating decision.”….
  • 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.”….