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.

  • April 2, 2013

    Hartford Courant on gun control legislation: "The feckless wonders in Congress are backing off, cowed again by the man behind the curtain, the National Rifle Association."....Texas Gov. Rick Perry on Obamacare: "Fool's errand."....Dick Armey on Obamacare: "Seeks to double down on a failed system."....Glenn Greenwald: "I'll just never stop finding it funny listening to Rush Limbaugh lament the loss of traditional marriage as he sits next to his fourth wife."....

  • March 25, 2013

    Michael Steele on Reince Priebus: "Numbnuts."....Donald Trump on Michelle Malkin: "A dummy."....Malkin on Trump: "A conservafraud."....Trump on Malkin: "You were born stupid."....Malkin on Trump: "You don't like women you can't control."....Michele Bachmann on Benghazi: "The president of the United States didn't care about those four Americans and they were killed."....

  • March 15, 2013

    Sen. Mitch McConnell on Dems: "Their presidential ticket looks like a rerun of The Golden Girls."....Former Rep. Joe Walsh: "The American people have grown stupid, we've grown uninterested, we've gotten busy, we're distracted, we're lazy, and we're easily manipulated."....Al Gore on the NRA: "A complete fraud."....Roger Ailes on Newt Gingrich: "He's a prick."....

  • March 8, 2013

    Julian Bond on Justice Scalia: "The Rush Limbaugh of the Supreme Court."....Roger Ailes on Joe Biden: "Dumb as an ashtray."....Rep. Keith Ellison on Sean Hannity: "The worst excuse for a journalist I've ever seen."....Bill O'Reilly on Obama: "Hell-bent on destroying the Republican Party and he does not seem to care if the nation collapses as a result."....Fox News' Shep Smith on Rand filibuster: "Stupid."....

  • March 2, 2013

    Rachel Maddow on Justice Scalia: "A troll."....David Horsey on Scalia: "Displayed all the mental acuity of a third-tier talk radio bozo."....Toure: "Totally racist."....Ben Shapiro on Obama: "One of the great political knife-fighters in modern history. He is a failed president."....Rush Limbaugh: "The left has beaten us. They have created far more low-information, unaware, uneducated people than we've been able to keep up with."....