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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.

  • May 20, 2021

    ....Sen. Ted Cruz on the U.S. military: "Woke, emasculated..."....NY Daily News on Sen. McConnell: "Trump's Li'l Mitch."....Rep. Tim Ryan on GOP: "We need two political parties in the country that are both living in reality. And you ain't one of them!"....Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene to Rep. AOC through mail slot in door, in recently-posted 2019 video: "If you want to be a big girl, you need to get rid of your diaper, and come out and be able to talk to the American citizens."....Meghan McCain on Greene: "You're behaving like an animal...This is just abusive and abhorrent behavior from anyone, let alone a sitting member of Congress."....Rep. Liz Cheney on GOP: "We cannot let the former president drag us backward and make us complicit in his efforts to unravel our democracy. Down that path lies our destruction, and potentially the destruction of our country."....Rep. Lauren Boebert on Cheney: "Seems to be auditioning for a job with the Lincoln Project."....Fox News' Sean Hannity on Cheney: "You were removed from leadership because you put your selfish agenda ahead of the party's agenda."....Rep. Madison Cawthorn: "Na na na na, na na na na, hey hey, goodbye Liz Cheney."....Rep. Adam Kinzinger on House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy: "Gave his proxy card to Donald Trump."....MSNBC's Joy Reid on McCarthy: "Might be the weakest man I've ever seen in politics."....The Lincoln Project on Rep. Elise Stefanik: "The perfect standard-bearer for a party that bears no standards."....Michael Steele: "Donald Trump brought the gold toilet into the RNC and everyone thinks it's a pool, and they're just diving in."....Trump on Liz Cheney: "A warmongering fool."....Trump on Mitch McConnell: "Weak and pathetic."....Trump on 2020 election: "Will go down as THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY."....Proud Boys sergeant-at-arms Ethan Nordean, in custody since February for his actions on Jan. 6: "Alright I'm gonna say it. F*** TRUMP. F*** him more than Biden. I've followed this guy for four years and given everything and lost it all...So glad he was able to pardon a bunch of degenerates as his last move and sh** on us on the way out."....Joanna Weiss on Twitter: "It's essentially a ping-pong match held over a viper pit."....

  • May 10, 2021

    ....GOP Rep. Adam Kinzinger on his party: "Right now it's basically the Titanic...We have a band on the deck telling everyone it's fine. Donald Trump's running around trying to find women's clothing and get on the first lifeboat."....MD Gov. Larry Hogan on his party: "It just bothers me that you have to swear fealty to the dear leader or you get kicked out...It's sort of a circular firing squad."....Maureen Dowd on Liz Cheney and the GOP: "Suddenly seems like a Valkyrie amid halflings."....Sean Hannity: "On the left, you're allowed to lie and make crazy, ridiculous, totally untrue statements, and you can get a free pass, and you can even say racist things or racial things, sexist things, xenophobic, homophobic, and you'll even get a pass."....Trump: "Free speech has been taken away from the President of the United States."....Steve Silberman: "How dare Big Tech try to silence the man whose lies dominated every news cycle for five years, whose every tantrum was a headline, whose words were poison in the American bloodstream, whose face loomed over our dreams, who ordered a coup with his iPhone."....Laura Ingraham on teaching kids "they" and "them" pronouns: "The goal is to break the bond with the nuclear family."....MSNBC's Jason Johnson on Sen. Lindsey Graham: "Has about as much political integrity and stability as a weather vane."....Fox News' Tucker Carlson: "Joy-Ann Reid, the race lady over at MSNBC, took a quick break from haranguing whitey yesterday."....Reid on Carlson: "I'm not the one who spools over my neighborhood 'changing' like I'm some segregationist housewife from the 1950s! That would be you, Tuckums."....

  • May 3, 2021

    ....CNN anchor Jim Acosta on Fox News: "The bull**** factory."....Fox News' Tucker Carlson: "The next time you see someone in a mask on the sidewalk or the bike path do not hesitate, ask politely but firmly, 'Would you please take off your mask?...It's repulsive. Don't do it around other people.'"....CNN's Jim Acosta on Carlson: "A Doctor of Disinformation who sounds like he went to medical school at Trump University."....Frank Bruni on Carlson: "The new Trump."....Timothy Egan on former Sen. Rick Santorum: "Mr. Santorum's pockets are so full of ignorance there isn't room to stuff a tissue of truth in there."....Sen. Ted Cruz on Trevor Noah: "I wear your scorn with pride. I remember when 'The Daily Show' was funny."....Donald Trump Jr. on Rep. Liz Cheney: "'Republican' warmonger."....Stephen Miller on Biden speech: "No outreach, no bipartisanship, no surprises, no warmth -- a lifeless and dry address."....House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy on Biden: "He wants to control your life."....Sen. John Kennedy: "If you hate cops just because they're cops, then feel free to call a criminal -- call a meth head -- the next time you get in trouble."....Sen. Josh Hawley writing on Twitter to promote his book 'The Tyranny of Big Tech,' which is available on Amazon: "The corporate media and the woke mob don't want you to read this book. They tried to cancel it. They failed."....Sen. Ted Cruz: "Go woke, go broke."....conspiracy theorist Alex Jones: "Most of the people taking the vaccine will be dead within ten years."....Stephen Colbert on Jones: "No one else has as much fun while making the world a worse place to live in."....

  • April 26, 2021

    ....America First Caucus proposal: "History has shown that societal trust and political unity are threatened when foreign citizens are imported en masse into a country."....Rep. Ted Lieu in response: "I served on active duty in the US military to defend your right to say stupid stuff...Take your nativist crap and shove it."....Rep. Ruben Gallego on AFC supporters: "[I] wouldn't want my non-Anglo, Columbian, Mexican indigenous blood to corrupt you."...HuffPo's Mary Papenfuss on proposed AFC: "A congressional Frankenstein with a Third Reich mustache."....Newt Gingrich on Biden Administration: "Anti-American."....Sean Hannity: "Joe Biden's been in Washington for 50 years. He's the ultimate swamp creature."....Rep. Mike Loychik: "The founders never intended for Washington D.C. to become a state."....Rep. Mondaire Jones on Sen. Tom Cotton: "Said that D.C. wouldn't be a 'well-rounded, working class state.' I had no idea there were so many syllables in the word 'white.'"....Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene: "Black Lives Matter is the strongest terrorist threat in our country."....Tomi Lahren on Rep. Maxine Waters: "This vile woman should not be in Congress."....Cobb County GA Young Republicans chair DeAnna Harris on GOP election fraud obsession: "We've got to get out of this mindset. It's amost like insanity."....Rep. Kevin McCarthy: "[Hugo Chavez] didn't have a revolution...He won democracy, then he changed the Constitution and the courts. It seems a lot like what the Democrats are doing."....Fox News' Greg Gutfeld on CNN: "For viewers, every day is a phony Tinder date. Every night they lie to you about their intentions."....Fox chyron: "WITH VICIOUS RHETORIC AND PLANS FOR RADICAL REFORMS, DEMS SET ON NEEDLESSLY DIVIDING COUNTRY MORE AND MORE."....Tucker Carlson in college yearbook: "[Member of the] Dan White Society."....SF Harvey Milk Democratic Club to Carlson: "F*** you."....CNN's Brianna Keilar on Hannity-Trump interview: "Mean girl group chat."....Trump on Twitter: "Really boring."....Trump on Dr. Anthony Fauci: "So full of crap."....Bill Maher on Hollywood: "Would it kill you once in a while to make a movie that doesn't make me want to take a bath with a toaster?"....Bhopal, India, crematorium official on COVID: "Swallowing our city's people like a monster."....

     

     

     

     

  • April 14, 2021

    ....Fox News' Tucker Carlson: "The Democratic Party is trying to replace the current electorate...with new people, more obedient voters from the Third World...That's true!"....Anti-Defamation League on Carlson's "replacement" comments: "Not just a dog whistle to racists -- it was a bullhorn."....CNN's Jim Acosta on Carlson: "I'm not sure why he spells Tucker with just one K."....David Leheny on suggested title for Mike Pence memoir: "Humble Servant: How I Let Donald Trump Almost Kill Me and My Family, and Why I'd Do It Again."....Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene on NYT: "CCP-controlled."....Erick Erickson on Greene: "She's batshit crazy."....Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green on women athletes: "I'm really tired of seeing them complain about the lack of pay, because they're doing themselves a disservice by just complaining."....Megan Rapinoe in response: "You obviously kind of showed your whole ass in not even understanding what we all talk about all the time."....Trump on Sen. Mitch McConnell: "Stone cold loser...That dumb son of a bitch."....former Speaker of the House John Boehner on Trump: "Incited that bloody insurrection for nothing more than selfish reasons."....David Corn on Boehner's GOP: "You invited in the crazies and gave them a big bear-hug."....Mike Huckabee: "I've decided to 'identify' as Chinese. Coke will like me, Delta will agree with my 'values' and I'll probably get shoes from Nike and tickets to MLB games."....Daily Beast's Asawin Suebsaeng: "I've decided to identify as Mike Huckabee because I am also a huge idiot who has no skills at interacting with modernity."....Ken Jeong on Huckabee: "I've decided to identify you as racist."....John Boehner, improvising while recording the audio version of his memoir: "P.S. Ted Cruz, go f*** yourself."....Cruz: "He suggested that I do something that was anatomically impossible. To which my response was: Who's John Boehner?"....Maureen Dowd on Rep. Matt Gaetz: "The Beavis to Donald Trump's Butt-Head."....Michael Cohen on Gaetz: "I really do hope at the end of the day this resolves quickly for Matt, because I don't want him to miss the prom."....Twitter commenter: "Matt Gaetz is everything the Republicans were looking for in Hunter Biden."....Andrew Sullivan on Twitter: "Where all the reasonable arguments go to die."....