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McCain Decries "Hobbits," Accused of Ringbearing
Oxford_Comma_Lover writes "Senator McCain decried Tea Party 'Hobbits' on Wednesday for their failure to support the GOP's debt deal, at times reading from a WSJ editorial that began the analogy. The Tea Party fired back, with a prominent member noting on CNN that McCain had been corrupted by the ring of power. The full text of his floor remarks should be in the Congressional Record later today."
... if the US Government had the same budget as a Peter Jackson movie we wouldn't be in this fiscal mess, now would we? ;-)
One does not simply walk into Metaphor.
better a hobbit than an old, worn out battle axe. I wonder if Senator McCain gets to ride one of them bit ole winged lizard thingies? That would be cool.
Tolkien is officially no longer cool. When stuffed up pretentious windbags are using his works to insult each other it's time to move on.
So with Tolkien done and Superheros on the way out what's next?
I'll meet you at the intersection of "Should be" and "Reality"
Ok, which one of you hacked his teleprompter?
Let's please not compare Tea Party members to sex icons like Elijah Wood and Sean Astin.
Now you're just being plain disrespectful McCain.
McCain was the last Democrat I voted for in a Presidential election
The Tea Party aren't Hobbits by any stretch of the imagination - hobbits are more like 1970's back-to-the-land hippie organic farmer types.
No, the Tea Party seems to be much more like the Easterlings, who's society has been thoroughly corrupted by promises of power regardless of the decency or lack thereof of the individual members. And Obama seems to be playing the role of Denethor, trying to hold back the tide but not really being able to do so and kinda ambiguous about where he's loyalties really lie.
I am officially gone from
I think we have to admit that McCain does bare some resemblance to Smeagol. I think the problem with the Tea Partiers is that they see it as being their way or nothing. I understand their perspective and conviction but I think the issue is that they want to do it ALL at once. No compromise, every vote they make must include everything they think has to be done for the next 20 years of government. I think the problem is if we do it their way the whole economy is going to come crashing down. People complain about government spending but then seem to forget that a large % of the US is employeed (directly or indirectly) by the government. You YANK that out all at once and I think we'll be reminiscing about the good old days of only 10% unemployment.
People live on narratives, and this makes them susceptible to magic, that is the use of patterned sounds and images to alter their brain-states. People say that it's too much to expect them not to do, that they are 'only human'...this is why I'm a trans-humanist.
He is not aware that Hobbits are the good guys (at least in LOTR)
Right, the Tea Party is the "Villain" here when the plan you support only cuts $1 Billion from this years budget and still adds $7 Trillion to our debt over 10 years. Anyone that thinks republicans are being extreme here in wanting cuts doesn't realize that no one is actually cutting anything. All of their cuts come years down the road after congress has completely changed and the successors have no obligation to keep the word of the predecessors. This whole Reid vs Boener plan is one of the biggest bunch of garbage smoke and mirrors dance we've ever seen in the US. It's just people yelling about ideals that no one actually backs up.
The estate of J.R.R. Tolkien announced a copyright infringement lawsuit against the Wall Street Journal, Sen. John McCain, the Tea Party Express, CNN, and Geeknet.
that is all.
Remember kids, if you're not paying for the service, YOU ARE THE PRODUCT THAT IS BEING SOLD.
If citizens actually had free choice in which government programs to fund as well as how much to contribute, the size of the US government (measured both in revenue and power over the people) would be 1/10 the size of today's utter monstrosity.
And if citizens literally had to cut a check at the beginning of every year, rather than pay through deliberately-obfuscated systems designed to hide the true cost of government, the size of government would be cut again by 90%.
Too bad government isn't voluntary, or the national debt would be a small fraction of GDP.
Sorta forgot that part, didn't ya?
I initially read "Congressional Record" as "Confessional Record". Is that a bad thing?
I thought Hobbits where the good guys. He meant to say trolls. Yeah, that's it. A big ugly mountain troll. Hobbits aren't real anyway.
Sorry, but gray text on gray background is making my eyes bleed.
The Tea Party is the best thing that could happen to Democrats. It's their secret weapon. By the 2012 elections, the Republican party will be down to only a handful of nutcases that can pass their litmus test.
Sometimes the light at the end of the tunnel is the headlight of an oncoming train.
you, sir, have shown me an entirely new level of disrespect for the concept of communication.
If we had respect for the concept of communication, we'd all be speaking dialects of Quenya. But alas, men have made up thousands of mutually unintelligible languages in which to communicate. So when someone makes an error in what might not be one's native language, please don't use such tone when pointing it out.
So with Tolkien done and Superheros on the way out what's next?
Crossovers! "Saru-man, Saru-man, does whatever a Saru can"
Which campaign propped up, and played to the teabaggers? It was John McCain's campaing. For crying out loud he put the teabagger queen Palin in as his running mate. Now he wants to complain about the Frankenstein monster he helped create? Piss off!
Congress is now down to the point of crafting LOTR styled insults at each other rather than actually doing anything about the real problem in this country - unemployment. That place is entirely dysfunctional since the last election.
We wants it, we needs it. Must have the precious. They stole it from us. Sneaky little hobbitses. Wicked, tricksy, false!
THE SOFTWARE, IT NO WORKY!!!
Everyone knows that Tea Partiers are Dunlendings, simple mountain folk experiencing economic hardship who are being manipulated by Saruman/Boehner.
Do Hobbits have sex?
Does anyone have a link to the original WSJ editorial to which McCain is responding?
It certainly sounds like congress has gone down the rabbit hole...
Please let this turn into an Angry Hobbit cosplay rally put on by the Tea Party. Oh, I cannot wait for that.
...I cordially dislike allegory in all its manifestations, and always have done so since I grew old and wary enough to detect its presence. I much prefer history, true or feigned, with its varied applicability...
Neither party understands the meaning of the word "compromise". To Democrats, a Republican is only compromising when he completely abandons the party platform. Ditto with Republicans' view on Democrats. I remember when compromise meant you give a little, I give a little.
The US is in debt so much that we soon won't be able to even pay the interest on all our loans without granting ourselves permission to borrow even more money. In this dire situation, BOTH parties need to compromise. Republicans need to accept that a tax increase is inevitable, at least for the next decade until we start paying some principle on the loans. Democrats need to accept that the government is too big and expensive to support /everything/ while being fiscally responsible.
The end of the 2008 election gave us two good things: Obama in the White House, and McCain saying things that make sense again from time to time.
http://alternatives.rzero.com/
If he'd used a car analogy it would have made more sense to me.
The "tea party" is the villain b/c they came to a negotiation with only demands and no intentions of negotiating, regardless of the consequences. Nobody wants their taxes raised, not even Warren Buffet who says he should pay more. The problem is the tea partiers draw a line in the sand saying no new taxes or tax cuts or tax laxes or anything that would actually give the country the money it needs. Nobody wants taxes, but part of a politician's job is to "Knee-go-She-ate", not walk into a meeting, make your demands, and then go home. That's being an @-hole.
FINALLY somebody points it out! Its no different a strategy than creating multiple brands for your megacorporation -- they hire plenty of P.R. experts... one should expect them to use the same tricks. "Those GM losers.. I'll never buy one of their cars! I'll buy a Cadillac instead."
Palin was a purely marketing based decision. McCain likely didn't even choose her (other than to simply take the marketing advise... funny that she couldn't ever listen her handlers... the marketing people didn't think that far ahead.)
Democracy Now! - uncensored, anti-establishment news
Teabaggins
Oh my, that was a good one.
In fact I think we'll need to raise the +5 mod cap. Please? We'll promise to give out mod points less often in the future...
What is a 'moderate' republican? A DEMOCRAT. McCain flip flops on issues with the best of them..
He's mad, like every other politician because there is resistance to allowing more debt to be piled on..
Warren Buffett: "You could end the deficit in five minutes. You just pass a law that says that anytime there is a deficit of more than three percent of GDP all sitting members of congress are ineligible for reelection."
Peter Jackson films are for-profit ventures. Despite of what we may have heard about Hollywood Accounting, profitability always takes priority in such ventures. US Government... not so much.
ELOI, ELOI, LAMA SABACHTHANI!?
If having less government automagically makes things better, then Somalia must be the best place on Earth. Quite frankly, if you rightists have your way, America will become largely indistinguishable from third world nations like Somalia, so why go through all the effort of destroying America when your ideal society already exists elsewhere in the world?
How dare he be old! Stupid jerk...he should know that once you get old, you are instantly disgusting and should report to a Sleepshop on lastday.
Hobbits? They are more like Orcs.
Not hobbits - Orcs
All power to the Counties! All power to the Cities! All power to the neighborhoods!
What is the deal with States, that they're so awesome? Maybe it's because I live in Oklahoma at the moment, but I'm just not seeing it. When we talk about mobility, you have to remember that the reason it's relatively (not absolutely, by a long shot) easy to pick up and move between states is that there's a certain amount of standardization provided by the federal government. Even something as simple as "states must recognize marriages from other states" makes a huge difference in where people could/would move for a job, for economic reasons. And it just goes up from there.
Also, do you really think the people of Missouri have sufficiently different needs and wants from the people of Oklahoma, that they need different laws? Maybe Utah does, and Texas just needs it for its ego, but really? We're all humans [for now], we're all potential works and employers. You might argue that when economic trouble hits, different regions need different economic policies applied because of local industry variations, but that's not prevented by the federal government; it already doles out money to various industries selectively, affecting regions differently. We decry the International Criminal Court as a violation of our sovereignty, we despise super-national unions like the EU, but really we're just drawing arbitrary lines in the sand. This far, and no further.
Are some states "red" and others "blue"? Maybe, but does that mean that we need states that are right next to each other, with either a 49/51 or 51/49 ratio, to be run entirely differently? Do you think that the resulting "sloshing", as people move out of their current states to escape overly-partisan policies, is good for us in the long term? Do you think polarizing our populations even more will solve our problems?
I realize this is about ideology, whether you believe that we are generally smarter or dumber as a group than as an individual. And I think that it's both, depending on the issue. Maybe we're smarter individually when running a small business, but we're dumber when it comes to planning health insurance, the military, etc. All of that is debatable, and actively debated, and that's healthy. I guess we could just split the union. Two countries. One centralized, one completely decentralized. Tear families apart. Break our economy. Increase tensions. Lose power in the world. And then split again, when each side disagrees on how much centralization is good.
States' rights sound awesome, but what would you *do* with that power and granularity, that can't or shouldn't be done at a higher or lower level?
Isn't Slashdot about scientific and tech stories? Or is this some lame way the liberals are trying to sway public opinion, by posting everywhere on the internet. Obama made the biggest mistake of any president by not taking the lead on this and causing this public split by using this childish blame game!
First I cannot fit the Tea Party into Lord of the Rings, there really isn't a faction they relate too. As for Obama, he is Saruman. When he speaks people fall under a spell which removes them from reality. The Democrats and Republicans are Mordor, they are willing to burn up the American public to hold onto power. This means they refuse to accept the reality that there is a limit to other people's money. They are quite willing to throw Main Street under the wheels in favor of political power - both while in office and without.
The Tea Party is a kick in the nuts to regular politicians. The only problem is that there is no authentic group on the left that also calls out their side for their reckless spending. While I will never be part of the Tea Party they are far better than the Democratic and Republican parties who not only lost their way a long time ago but really don't give a shit about us anymore
* Winners compare their achievements to their goals, losers compare theirs to that of others.
harry reid and his democrats then since they don't support boehner's deal either
"No D will vote for a short-term Band-Aid that would put economy at risk. Boehner's plan will be defeated"
"As soon as the House votes on Boehner's bill, the Senate will move to take it up. It will be defeated"
but....why is this a story?
that comparison holds up is if Hobbits were as virulently racist as the Tea Baggers. Seriously; there are more minorites in an Abercrombie & Fitch catalog than any attending a Tea Bagger rally. Be honest; if polled, around 90% of Baggers would state they believe Obama isn't a Christian or a US citizen or both. Their rallying cry wasn't "Budget!", it was "Ni**er!!".
He actually thinks being from Texas is a source of pride instead of a shameful laughingstock.
No, the Tea Party seems to be much more like the Easterlings
I am an Easterling you insensitive ...
Seriously, it has been a long time sense I read the hobbit, were there really a people in the book called the Easterlings?
"For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice" -- God
Assuming you guys are talking about McCain's 2008 Presidential campaign, that was indeed before the Santelli rant, which happened on 2/19/2009.
The hobbits are NOT just the members of the fellow ship of the ring but the entire people who believed that if they didn't mind the outside world the outside world wouldn't mind them. The majority of hobbits wanted nothing to do with the outside world problems. Only when the troubles came to them and a few hobbits helped them did they finally make a stand when they had no other option. Scouring of the Shire, the bit that did NOT make it into the movie.
Really kid, READ a book. Just once, it won't bite.
MMO Quests are like orgasms:
You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.
They hases my precious. Theys must give back the precious.
Ahrrrrrrrrr !!!
Was that a veiled Ron Paul reference?
Yes, because America wants a liberal who wants to stay in Iraq for 100 years. The democrat voters wanted to get out of Iraq, but failed in 2006, (see Lieberman). I think moderate is what a power grubbing politician without any principles calls him/herself.
Seriously, if there was no foreign wars in the last 10 years, would the American Public think money spent by Washington disappeared into nothingness?
.. the hobbits won.
I see the current crop of Republican Tea Party Types as being very much like a cartoon super villain. For example right now they are holding our future and economy hostage and seem perfectly willing to screw us all if they don't get 110% of what they want and 0% of what they don't want. Their priorities are preventing reasonable taxes being re-instituted for the rich and corporations. Now it looks like they are trying to arrange a situation where we have a debt limit crisis every 6 months so they can hold us all hostage over and over. It's like Lex Luthor controls congress and the supreme court.
-- QED
Retire already, you RINO fart.
the issue is that they want to do it ALL at once
To do it all at once would be to not raise the debt ceiling, ever again, thereby forcing our annual deficit to suddenly go from $1.5 trillion to zero.
You're right, that would be quite a shock to the system, causing much short-term pain; and I haven't heard anybody, no matter how far on the right, propose that.
I have, however, done a thought experiment about it.
If you're going to stop spending money on things that you shouldn't be spending money on, is it better to phase out the improper spending over a period of 10+ years, or to do it all at once?
Depends whether you want to minimize your short-term pain, or the total amount of pain that accumulates in future years. Because if you phase out the spending too gradually, our national debt keeps increasing -- from the current $14 trillion, to $30 trillion and beyond. We, and our kids and grandkids, will have to pay the interest on that enormous sum, every year -- probably forever, because after paying the interest you're exhausted and you can't pay down any principal.
If you really think about it, we are stealing from our kids and grandkids by not biting the bullet and doing it all at once.
And then there's the likelihood that future Congresses, any time they're not faced with an immediate crisis, will return to their old ways and not honor the restrained spending plans agreed to by previous Congresses. (It's not accurate to call them spending "cuts," because they aren't cuts, they are merely smaller increases in government spending. So I'll generously call them "restrained spending plans," not cuts.)
If that happens, we may be looking at a $45 trillion debt 10 years from now, not $30 trillion.
That that is is that that that that is not is not.
I don't like the guy, but in McCain's defense, it was sarcasm.
Here is his actual comment: "The idea seems to be that if the House GOP refuses to raise the debt ceiling, a default crisis or gradual government shutdown will ensue and the public will turn en masse against Barack Obama.... Then Democrats would have no choice but to pass a balanced-budget amendment and reform entitlements, and the tea party hobbits could return to Middle-earth having defeated Mordor."
He refers to this as "worse than foolish".
He's correct.
Now I'm wondering, when did he see or read LotR, or who told him about it? I mean, John McCain making a LotR reference is just incredible.
Fairy tale endings: you mean the part where the evil step parents/siblings get their eyes gouged out while the hero/ine lives happily every after?
Or the politically corrected Disney-fied version?
it's all fucked up. let the federal fucked-up government default and go bankrupt. let gondor fall! let the power fall...back where it belongs...in the local provinces and regions.
Huh huh. You said KY Heh heh.
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
i can't wait for the NAAHP (National American Association of Hobbit People) to burn a cross in his yard...
The original post was on the right track. Tea baggers are Hobbits. Tea baggers are Shiriffs, goaded on by Sharkey's Big Men.
UN President TIM KALEMKARIAN, US President TIM KALEMKARIAN, US Senate TIM KALEMKARIAN, US House TIM KALEMKARIAN: best major candidate.