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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.

  • January 29, 2014

    Rep. Randy Weber tweeting before SOTU: "Waitin' on 'Kommandant-In-Chef'...the Socialistic dictator who's been feeding US a line or is it 'A-Lying'?"....Rep. Paul Broun: "Mr. President, you don't believe in the Constitution. You believe in socialism."....Rep. Michele Bachmann: "The President renewed his commitment that he was going to be King Obama."....Rep. Steve Stockman on SOTU: "I left early after hearing how the President is further abusing his Constitutional powers."....
  • January 22, 2014

    Erick Erickson on Wendy Davis: "She's so cute when she's lying."....SC state Sen. Lee Bright: "The Brown Shirts are next because that's the law enforcement for Obamacare."....Julian Assange on Obama NSA speech: "Embarrassing for a head of state to go on like that for 45 minutes and say almost nothing."....Mary Matalin: "Now Barack Obama is Dick Cheney."....Nancy Grace on marijuana: "I've seen too many felonies -- I mean people on pot that shoot each other, that stab each other, that strangle each other, that kill whole families, wipe out a whole family."....Robert Gates on Nixon: "America's strangest president."....
  • January 17, 2014

    Jon Stewart on Congress: "The Justin Bieber of our government."....NY Post film critic Kyle Smith on Golden Globes: "Too much estrogen."....Ronan Farrow on Woody Allen award: "Did they put the part where a woman publicly confirmed he molested her at age seven before or after Annie Hall?"....Harvey Weinstein on his intended movie about the NRA: "They're going to wish they weren't alive after I'm done with them."....Ted Nugent: "Joseph Goebbels and Saul Alinsky [are] alive in the form of a fat punk named Harvey Weinstein, and as he tries to destroy the NRA it will backfire on him."....
  • January 9, 2014

    Bill O'Reilly on smoking pot: "It's literally Russian roulette."....Roger Ailes on Bill O'Reilly: "A book salesman with a TV show."....former Defense Sec. Gates on Biden: "Wrong on nearly every major foreign policy and national security issue over the past four decades."....Sen. John McCain on Dennis Rodman: "An idiot."....Fox News host Bob Beckel on Iranians: "Of course their kids are gonna pay attention, because if they don't they are gonna take them in the backyard and feed them to the dogs."....Pope Francis on capitalism: "A new tyranny."....Noam Chomsky on not extending unemployment benefits: "The refusal to provide very minimal standards to people who are caught in this monstrosity -- that's pure savagery."....
  • January 3, 2014

    Joe Scarborough on pot: "Just makes you dumb."....Nick Gillespie on NYC Mayor De Blasio: "Nuttier than a squirrel's turd."....Bill O'Reilly on NYT Benghazi story: "Pure bull...An amazing lapse in reportage."....Former Viking punter Chris Kluwe: "Being blackballed in the NFL is a very real thing...We'd rather have felons and racists and abusers than someone speaking out on issues."....Marine Gen. Michael Lehnert on Gitmo: "Validates every negative perception of the United States."....Matt Taibbi on Sarah Palin's War on Christmas book: "One of the funniest things ever written."....