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.
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December 3, 2013
Rep. Michele Bachmann on Obama: "Has rewritten the Constitution for himself."....Sen. Rick Santorum on Obama: "Incompetence."....Former Gov. Howard Dean on Santorum: "I lose my patience with this nonsense."....Herman Cain on Obamacare: "People are not as stupid as the administration thinks they are."....Sen. Harry Reid on D.C. circuit court judge Janice Rogers Brown: "Thinks there's a communist behind every bush."....Rush Limbaugh on Pope Francis: "Doesn't know what he's talking about when it comes to capitalism and socialism and so forth."....Eighty thousand petitioners on Seth McFarlane and Fox Broadcasting: "They killed America's dog!".... -
November 25, 2013
John Bolton on Iran deal: "An abject surrender...An Israeli military strike is the only way to avoid Tehran's otherwise inevitable march to nuclear weapons."....Netanyahu: "An historic mistake....Has made the world a much more dangerous place."....Ari Fleischer: "You can't spell abandonment without OBAMA."....Charles Krauthammer: "The worst deal since Munich."....Michelle Malkin on Education Secretary Arne Duncan: "A textbook liberal racist...A bully, an elitist and a foot-in-mouth fool all rolled into one."....Pope Francis on unfettered capitalism: "A new tyranny.".... -
November 22, 2013
Sen. David Vitter on Senate rule change: "Scary and dictatorial."....Rand Paul on Harry Reid: "He's become the dictator of the Senate."....Americans for Ltd. Goverment's Rick Manning: "[The Senate was] murdered by Harry Reid."....Glenn Beck: "The Republic is being undermined."....RNC chairman Reince Priebus on Dems: "We will tattoo 'Obamacare' on each of their foreheads."....Martin Bashir on Sarah Palin: "A world class idiot."....Baseball writer Peter Gammons on A-Rod: "He wants to blow up the world. You know, he's like the marathon bombers.".... -
November 14, 2013
TruNews radio host David Conn on Obama: "[Embodies] the re-emergence of the Jones Cult mentality on a grand national level."....Rush Limbaugh on Obama: "Playing dictator."....Suzanne Somers on Obamacare: "A greater Ponzi scheme than that pulled off by Bernie Madoff."....British Stonewall Awards on Pat Robertson: "Bigot of the year."....Ta-Nehisi Coates on WaPo columnist: "Horse-shit is the content in which Richard Cohen has, for all these years, wallowed."....Russel Brand on elections: "Every four years we get to choose what color tie the liar who leads us wears."....Mariah Carey on American Idol: "It was like going to work every day in hell with Satan."....Jonah Goldberg on the 'beclowning of the president': I wake up in the morning and rush to find my just-delivered newspaper with a joyful expectation of worsening news so intense, I feel like Morgan Freeman should be narrating my trek to the front lawn.".... -
November 5, 2013
Sen. Ron Johnson: "Across the board, in so many instances, this is pretty much a lawless administration."....Mitt Romney on Obama: "Fundamental dishonesty."....American Life League VP Jim Sedlak on Obama administration: "Doing the work of Satan."....David Denby on Ted Cruz: "Playing the joker in a seemingly nihilistic charade whose actual intent is a rational grab for power."....NYC city councilman Charles Barron on Thomas Jefferson: "A slaveholding pedophile."....Zabihullah Mujahid of the Islamic Emirate on The Daily Beast: "Pursues a malicious intelligence agenda and is run by famous intelligence agents."....Rush Limbaugh on Dems: "They have doomed this country with their stupidity."....Jackie Mason on Obama: "He was always lying every day of his life."....Patton Oswalt on NYC: "It turns your skull into a cage, your brain into a rat, and the city is just a stick poking the rat all day."....