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.

  • November 16, 2015

    John Oliver on ISIS: "We know this attack was carried out by gigantic f***ing a***holes, unconscionable flaming a***holes; possibly working with other f***ing a***holes, definitely working in service of an ideology of pure a***holery...F*** these a***holes."....Donald Trump on the press: "They're scum. I don't have to deal with them anymore."....Trump on ISIS-held refineries: "I would bomb the s*** out of them. I would just bomb those suckers."....Trump on Ben Carson: "How stupid are the people of Iowa? How stupid are the people of the country to believe this crap?"....Trump on former Baltimore mayor Martin O'Malley: "A clown."....James Parker on Trump's opinions: "Random clots and thrombi of rhetorical ectoplasm gathered from the ether with high-end paranormal pooper-scoopers."....
  • November 11, 2015

    Westboro Baptist Church on NYC and America: "Their doom is imminent a la Sodom and Gomorrah."....Trump on the U.S.: "Going to hell."....George Will on Bill O'Reilly's books: "[His] vast carelessness pollutes history and debases the historian's craft."....O'Reilly on Will criticism: "Misguided and disingenuous."....Rush Limbaugh on college: "I wouldn't pay for this crap."....Jeb Bush on the government: "A parasite."....Trump on Kasich: "I've built an unbelievable company worth billions and billions. I don't have to hear from this man."....Jeb Bush on Trump Syria proposal: "That's like a board game -- that's like playing Monopoly of something. That's not how the real world works."....Trump on Obama: "The worst president ever."....Trump on Iran deal: "One of the worst deals ever made. One of the worst contracts ever signed, ever, in anything."....Rand Paul on joining a Trump candidacy: "It would be an utter and absolute disaster and I would want no part of it."....Trump on Fiorina: "Why does she keep interrupting everybody?"....Trump on Ben Carson: "If [SNL] asked him, nobody would watch."....Trump on debate moderator John Harwood: "A dope...A fool."....Trump on Rubio: "I think I'm better looking than he is."....
  • November 1, 2015

    GOP debate moderator John Harwood to Jeb Bush: "The fact that you're at the fifth lectern tonight shows how far your stock has fallen."....Marco Rubio on Dem candidates: "I see a socialist, an isolationist, and a pessimist, and for the sake of me I can't figure out which one is which."....Trump on Jeb Bush: "His poll numbers tanked and he got nasty."....Sen. Lindsey Graham on Bernie Sanders: "Went to the Soviet Union on his honeymoon and I don't think he ever came back."....Chris Christie to GOP debate moderators: "Even in New Jersey what you are doing is called rude."....Hillary Clinton on the GOP: "Pathetic."....House Benghazi Committee chairman Trey Gowdy on Hillary Clinton: "You are not worth 18 months of my life, with all due respect."....Newt Gingrich on Hillary Clinton: "She keeps lying."....Thom Yorke on Spotify: "The last desperate fart of a dying corpse."....
  • October 19, 2015

    Jeb Bush on Trump 9/11 comments: "Pathetic."....Trump on Jeb Bush: "You're pathetic."....Sen. Lindsey Graham on Dem debate: "It made me sick."....Robert Redford on Carly Fiorina: "A horror."....Trump on Bernie Sanders: "Maniac."....Karl Rove on former Gov. Lincoln Chafee: "As hapless as a puppy stranded in a hurricane."....MA Democratic Party vice chair Deb Kozikowski on Debbie Wasserman Schultz: "Establishing a full-fledged dictatorship at the DNC."....Trump on Dubya: "He didn't seem smart. I'd watch him in interviews and I'd look at people and ask, 'Do you think he understands the question?' I mean, he didn't seem like he had it."....Sen. Lindsey Graham on Obama: "Completely incompetent as commander in chief."....Dr. Ben Carson on the national media: "You guys are down there with used car salesmen."....
  • October 9, 2015

    United Steelworkers president Leo W. Gerard on TPP deal: "A big fat dead rat."....Sen. Harry Reid on Republicans: "Acting as puppets of the NRA."....Rep. Kevin McCarthy on the House: "Sometimes you need to hit rock bottom."....Rep. Peter King on the U.S.: "A banana republic."....Nate Silver on Trump: "The world's greatest troll."....Trump on Sen. Rand Paul: "A vicious little guy."....Trump on RedState founder Erick Erickson: "Fired like a dog...Just doesn't have it."....Erickson on Trump: "Gets his news several days late and still gets the facts wrong...Lives in a universe where even dogs are fired."....Sen. Marco Rubio on Putin: "A gangster and a thug."....Rep. Paul Gosar on climate change: "The fool's errand."....Rush Limbaugh on the First Lady: "Moochelle Obama."....Philip Bump on Kevin McCarthy: "Imagine seeing the door to the greatest opportunity of your life slammed in your face AND being from Bakersfield."....