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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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.".... -
October 29, 2013
Sen. Lamar Alexander on Obamacare site: "A spectacular failure of leadership."....Rep. Eric Cantor: "Nothing short of a debacle."....Rep. Marsha Blackburn: "The incompetence in building this website is staggering."....Sen. Ron Johnson: "The federal government is not particularly effective or efficient at doing just about anything."....Rush Limbaugh on Obamacare: "Stupid, idiot, glittering jewel of colossal ignorance."....Rep. Joe Crowley: "Republicans are looking for problems to exploit.".... -
October 18, 2013
Ross Douthat on shutdown: "An irresponsible, dysfunctional and deeply pointless act, carried out by a party that on the evidence of the last few weeks shouldn't be trusted with the management of a banana stand, let alone the House of Representatives."....Jeff Weintraub on GOP: "Has become a dangerous menace to the republic, with no clearly visible redeeming features."....Dana Milbank: "The amount of wreckage Cruz has caused in such a short time is truly awe-inspiring. He has damaged his party, hurt the economy, lowered the nation's standing and set back the conservative cause."....Barbara Morrill on GOP: "They were willing to destroy the full faith and credit of this country to.. what? Grow Ted Cruz's email list."....Rep. Rob Andrews on GOP: "People went through three weeks of grief for some political exercise."....Rep. Alan Grayson: "At this point, the Tea Party is no more popular than the Klan."....Michael Tomasky on Tea Party Republicans: "I cry for what these maniacs are doing to my country."....Harry Reid on Ted Cruz: "A laughing stock to everybody but him.".... -
October 15, 2013
Chuck Todd to Sen. Ted Cruz: "What planet are you living on?"....Dana Perino: "Democrats and the liberals live in the biggest mainstream media bubble ever created in the history of the universe."....John Podhoretz on GOP strategies: "Suicide of the Right."....James Woods on President Obama: "A true abomination."....Joe Klein on Boomers: "Our sell-by date has passed."....Banksy on the art world: "The biggest joke going...A rest home for the overprivileged, the pretentious, and the weak."....