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 31, 2013
Rep. Steve Stockman: "Obama's job-killing, freedom-stealing socialism makes me sick to my stomach."....Rep. Trey Gowdy on NY Times: "It only took 15 months for them to figure out how to spell Benghazi."....Erick Erickson on Texas state Sen. Wendy Davis: "Abortion Barbie."....Sarah Palin on MSNBC: "You really need a conscience, yellow journalists. May your 2014 New Year's Resolution be to find one.".... -
December 11, 2013
Korean Central News Agency on Jang Song Thaek: "Despicable human scum...Worse than a dog."....McCain on Obama-Castro handshake: "Neville Chamberlain shook hands with Hitler."....Rush Limbaugh: "This is not news. They want it to be news. They'd do anything to distract everybody from Obamacare."....Richard Cohen on Obamacare rollout: "The Edsel of our times."....Rep. Steve Stockman on Sen. John Cornyn: "Absolutely will smear and attack me, and lie to you about me...I'm sick and tired of being bayoneted in the back by someone in my own foxhole."....Trump on Martin Bashir: "You're a total loser. You're fired!"....Aisha Tyler on Kanye West: "The straight, black Liberace."....Jenna Bush on her family's WH dog: "Barney was a real jerk.".... -
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."....