Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word (More Tales From The Crypt)

Only yesterday the Daily Caller passed along this charming bit of progressive thought from the archives of Ezra Klein's Journolist:

If you were in the presence of a man having a heart attack, how would you respond? As he clutched his chest in desperation and pain, would you call 911? Would you try to save him from dying? Of course you would.

But if that man was Rush Limbaugh, and you were Sarah Spitz, a producer for National Public Radio (update: Spitz was a producer for NPR affiliate KCRW for the show Left, Right & Center), that isn’t what you’d do at all.

In a post to the list-serv Journolist, an online meeting place for liberal journalists, Spitz wrote that she would “Laugh loudly like a maniac and watch his eyes bug out” as Limbaugh writhed in torment.

In boasting that she would gleefully watch a man die in front of her eyes, Spitz seemed to shock even herself. “I never knew I had this much hate in me,” she wrote. “But he deserves it.”

Geez, what is it with these people? 

But today is a new day, the sun shines again, and apologies are piling up.  Well, kinda-sort apologies.  Sarah Spitz swallows hard and manages this:

I made poorly considered remarks about Rush Limbaugh to what I believed was a private email discussion group from my personal email account. As a publicist, I realize more than anyone that is no excuse for irresponsible behavior. I apologize to anyone I may have offended and I regret these comments greatly; they do not reflect the values by which I conduct my life.

She apologizes to anyone she may have offended; for everyone else, high-fives all around!

The general manager of her station chimed in with the news that we are all as depraved as she is, so really, get over it:

Sarah was not acting in her position as KCRW Publicity Director when she wrote these comments. She spoke in the heat of the moment without consideration to the impact her words would have. We've all said things we didn't mean and don't reflect our core values. We believe that was the situation in this case.

We've all e-mailed a group of 400 relative stranger with the news that we would laugh like maniacs while watching a man's eyes bug out as he dies of a heart attack?  Seriously?  What is in the stuff they are smoking in California, and how could they possibly think of legalizing it?

What is with these people?  And consider this - with the possible exception of the KCRW staff and general manager, people consider their audience before opening their mouth (or taking to keyboard).  Richard Pryor did not do his blue material in Sunday School or even on national television.

So why could Ms. Spitz have possibly believed that her comments were appropriate for the Journolist audience?  We have been repeatedly advised that one objective of the Journolist was to hook up reporters with expert left-leaning sources.  Just how did Ms. Spitz expect to be recognized when she contacted some expert for assistance - "Oh, yes, you're the psycho who wants to watch Rush's eyes bug out - how can I help?".  Was that really the Journolist culture?

It may be.  Ms. Spitz was hardly alone in playing at being a psychopath.  Here is the Scary Spencer Ackerman:

SPENCER ACKERMAN: Let’s just throw Ledeen against a wall. Or, pace Dr. Alterman, throw him through a plate glass window. I’ll bet a little spot of violence would shut him right the fuck up, as with most bullies.

One wonders what Alterman might have said?  More Ackerman:

It’s not necessary to jump to [Reverend] Wright-qua-Wright’s defense. What is necessary is to raise the cost on the right of going after the left. In other words, find a rightwinger’s [sic] and smash it through a plate-glass window. Take a snapshot of the bleeding mess and send it out in a Christmas card to let the right know that it needs to live in a state of constant fear. Obviously I mean this rhetorically.

At least he included a disclaimer in the second example.  Should we infer that he did not mean his threat against Ledeen rhetorically, since the disclaimer was missing?

Let's be fair here - Mr. Ackerman seems to have displayed a flair for imaginary keyboard violence ever since his mom kicked him out of the basement and made him get a job. Here he is getting sacked from TNR:

In October 2006 he was fired by The New Republic Editor Franklin Foer. Describing it as a "painful" decision, Foer attributed the firing to Ackerman's "insubordination": disparaging the magazine on his personal blog Too Hot For TNR, saying that he would "skullfuck" a terrorist's corpse at an editorial meeting if that was required to "establish his anti-terrorist bona fides" and sending Foer an e-mail where he said—in what according to Ackerman was intended to be a joke—he would “make a niche in your skull” with a baseball bat.^[3]

So manly a man!  Yet he is still in touch with the little boy within, since (if we can believe this stuff), "Ackerman is a fan of comic books".  Baby Huey or Sgt. Rock?  Sorry, it doesn't say.

I have no idea how widespread this fantasy psycho behavior was at the Journolist, or how well it was received.  Maybe the Daily Caller could sift their archives and run some denunciations of these sorts of posting.  These libs spent years deploring Bush's macho cowboy act and declared it to be the end of Western Civilization when Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was waterboarded, so I would like to hope that one or two pushed back against the plate glass window smashing and heart attack eye-bugging.

OK, JUST GIVE ME THE BIRD:  Back at NPR, is it Swallows, or Spitz?  I can resist anything except...

I KNOW THEY BELIEVE IN GOOGLE:  All of these secular libs will achieve an eternal electro-afterlife, since their words will live forever in Google.  And Ms. Spitz's hands-down number one work will be her Limbaugh rant, which will perhaps amuse her grandkids one day.

That almost makes me sad.  Almost.

OMG:  LOL.

Comments

[Rob Crawford]

Geez, what is it with these people?

They're fascists?

[Neo]

All this makes you hope that when you wake up in the morning you are greeted by news that all of DC is gone, along with Tehran, Pyongyang and select areas of Moscow, Damascus and Harare.

... did I say that ?

[hit and run]

From last thread...

Video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJFtSaESQCM>I am a liberal - I hate violence - But sometimes

[verner]

And Wired put out a statement that they are proud of dear little Akerman...

Oh, and if you want a belly laugh, try reading the Jonathan Chait attack on Andrew B. and Daily Caller for being pseudo-journalists. (FOund at NPR and TNR)

[Danube of Thought]

We believe that was the situation in this case.

Why on earth does he believe that? In the absence of compelling evidence, it seems likely that it was not the situation in this case.

[Captain Hate]

Exactly DoT; they seem like a bunch of feral beings with Tourettes who should be ignored by everybody who doesn't enjoy spoiled children throwing tantrums.

[Frau Edith Steingehirn]

"Whatever it takes!"
Were these "journalists" all separated from Markos Moulitsas at birth?

And who killed all the reporters?

[Rob Crawford]

And Wired put out a statement that they are proud of dear little Akerman...

No doubt. I've always hated that "magazine".

[MarkO]

There really is no racism or hate like that of a hard leftist.

[matt]

The nexus of the Journo-List; David Fenton's propaganda apparatus,which encompasses just about every major leftist special interest group; the attempt to hijack the National Endowment for the Arts, and the mirror world proclamations of the House and Senate leaderships as well as those of the White House should put the incredible assault on both the truth and the Constitution into perspective.

The world is not as it has been portrayed. It is rapidly becoming Huxley's Brave New World.And the Republican leadership sits there like deer in the headlights.What part of coup d'etat don't they understand?

[verner]

Has anybody commented on Eric Alterman--a man so arrogant and nasty his dog doesn't even like him--referring to "F-ing nascar "retards"." I wonder what the good politically correct administration at CUNY think of one of their English Profs using such language? The Berkenstock babes at the Nation? Hmmmm....

All I can say is, that phrase will be in his obituary.

[Captain Hate]

The world is not as it has been portrayed. It is rapidly becoming Huxley's Brave New World.And the Republican leadership sits there like deer in the headlights.What part of coup d'etat don't they understand?

The barbarians have broken the doors down and the country-clubbers are whining about not having a salad fork.

[Jane]

From now on, anytime a reporter says anything you disagree with - just muse that you suspect he is on journoList. That should do the trick.

[Melinda Romanoff]

verner-

He needs an STP sticker on the right side of his office door.

Just a matter of delivery...

[Clarice]

Alterman and Ackerman both seem to have psychosexual problems, don't they? No wonder the sexy Palin drove JournoListers over the top.

Ugly women ok.
Powerful women, okay if they are ugly.
Magnetic, sexy and powerful women--kill them.

I wonder if they dream of vaginas dentata..Bet they do.

[sbw]

I am a liberal - I hate violence - But sometimes

No. I am a liberal. I don't hate violence. I hate the need for violence. Peace isn't the absence of violence, which can leave some people oppressed. Peace is the absence of the need for violence.

People who call themselves liberals but who cannot negotiate from a premise to a sensible conclusion are not liberal, but unpracticed at thinking.

[Rob Crawford]

Has anybody commented on Eric Alterman...

You mean the guy who wrote "What Liberal Media" while a member of a leftist media coordination group?

[verner]

HaHa Clarice! In Eric's case, that would explain a lot. He looks like the type who enjoyed dissecting live frogs in biology class. My guess, very unpopular with girls in High School.

Ackerman is just--well--NUTS.

Melinda--do we know anyone at CUNY with a sense of humor?

[Neo]

Gen. Stanley McChrystal's retirement ceremony will take place at 6 p.m. Friday at Fort McNair in Washington, D.C. It will be hosted by Gen. George Casey, chief of staff of the Army, and
Defense Secretary Robert Gates will also be there and is scheduled to deliver remarks. Only three reporters will be allowed to be present: Greg Jaffe from the Washington Post, Julian Barnes from the Wall Street Journal, and Gordon Lubold from Politico.

[Jane]

Alterman should be posted on everyone's petard for the forseeable future.

[verner]

Rob C., he has a full throated defense of journolist over at the nation--if you care to soil your pants cuffs....

Comedy Gold to say the least.

[Clarice]

Do you suppose McCain's odious Steve schmidt was on JournoList?
http://dailycaller.com/2010/07/22/sarah-palin-strikes-back-at-journolists-sick-puppies/>Palin on the "sick puppies"

Oh, I lnow he probably wasn't, but I bet he thought by not standing up for her and by leaking nasty lies about her, these sick puppies would see he was an okay guy.

[Rob Crawford]

Rob C., he has a full throated defense of journolist over at the nation--if you care to soil your pants cuffs....

No doubt. And I don't. Alterman's always been clearly deranged -- this proves he's also dishonest.

[verner]

Katha Pollitt too Jane. A self-described feminist who admits she betrayed Juanita Kathleen Paula and Monica just to save Horn Dog Clinton's butt. What a tool.

[Rob Crawford]

Do you suppose McCain's odious Steve schmidt was on JournoList?

As you say, probably not. However, he's likely one of the house Republicans like Douthat.

[Yehudit]

One of the more senior Journalistos says Ackermann regularly made these "bombastic" (in his words) statements and people ignored him. (Not going to look up the link.) I'm willing to believe that since he's the worst of the lot. The other quotes are just as damning in themselves, but I can see Ackermann as the juvenile semi troll the others thought different from themselves in kind, not degree, and ignored.

[Terry Gain]

Sarah Spitz. And how. In your face. As to whether this is reflective of her core values, I need to see more of her "private" emails to make that judgment.

[Danube of Thought]

Let us not forget that at least one of these nitwits, Jonathan Zasloff, is a law professor (UCLA). For those who would like to send him a glaoting, taunting e-mail as I did, here he is: [email protected].

He's the dunce who wanted Fox News's "license" pulled.

[Jane]

Better still Dot, send it to the dean.

[Gabriel Sutherland]

I joked on twitter about Zasloff taking Obama's ConLaw class at the University of Chicago.

28 people replied with Zasloff's CV fact checking my joke.

[centralcal]

Over at FishBowl DC they interview Jonathan Strong the writer who has been doing the Daily Caller JournoList articles.

I thought this Q&A was interesting:

So far, The Daily Caller has run four installments of Journolist stories. Can we expect more? There are more stories to come. There were moments people showed integrity or good will or winsomeness. There will be a heroes of Journalist story.

[centralcal]

Heroes of JournoList? We shall see, I suppose. I am pretty sure we know who won't be included in that class.

[Danube of Thought]

Clarice has (again) done the world a favor, this time by publishing at AT a list of 65 known members of this disgraced group of fools.

[Danube of Thought]

What is the connection, if any, between Breitbart and Daily Caller? I thought Breitbart had acquired the archives, but it's all showing up at the DC.

[hit and run]

Jane:
Better still Dot, send it to the dean.

Heck,get William D. Warren Professor of Law at UCLA http://www.professorbainbridge.com/>Stephen Bainbridge's assessment of the man,while we're at it...

[Ranger]

DoT,

I think Carlson aced Breitbart out somehow. It seems Breitbart recinded the 100K offer after Carlson got the archives.

[hit and run]

There's no connection*. Breitbart was offering the $100K for the archives.

He rescinded that offer,I can only assume,because Tucker of Daily Caller let him know that he had the archives.

__________________
*That's what we want them to think,anyway. We all know the breadth and depth of the VRWC binds us all together under the thumb of the Magnificent Bastard. Just don't let them in on it.

[centralcal]

DoT - it appears that Tucker Carlson (Daily Caller) somehow got the archives. After Tucker's first installment posted, Breitbart rescinded his $100k offer, because it was no longer necessary. At least that appears to be what happened. I don't think AB and Tucker are formally working together on this.

[Clarice]

Here are pics of the Journolists we know about. Shield your eyes.

http://iowntheworld.com/blog/?p=29858

[hit and run]

FWIW,on the pic at IOTW - Jesse Singal,whoever that is,bears a striking resemblance to Glenn Greenwald....

[hit and run]

And Ed Gilgore?

[centralcal]

What a motley looking crew they are, Clarice.

That Spitz lady looks to be my vintage. Good grief, she is the one that might be having the heart attack, rather than Rush, judging by unhealthy she looks in that photo.

LOL, Hit re the Glenn Greenwald reference.

[Clarice]

If you ant a clue as to how stupid their followers are go to the WaPo article yesterday by Ezra Klein and see how many of his supporters think the leaked archives violate the First Amendment..I'm not kidding. These folks think you have a right to privacy on messages you posted to 400 people.

[Danube of Thought]

Wonder if that law prof--the one who wants the gov't to shut down Fox News--is advising them on their First Amendment rights.

[Melinda Romanoff]

DoT-

I wouldn't even trust his recital of the lunch specials at his next job.

[Rob Crawford]

I wouldn't even trust his recital of the lunch specials at his next job.

You realize his next job is likely to be on a federal court, don't you?

[Jane]

We are going to have to get the entire list. I love that some liberal asshats are quaking in their boots.

[Pagar]

"on the pic at IOTW"

Some of the pictures on the wall in the Post Office look like they could have came from this group.

[bgates]

We've all e-mailed a group of 400 relative stranger with the news that we would laugh like maniacs while watching a man's eyes bug out as he dies of a heart attack? Seriously?

To be fair, I've said on this public forum right here that I'd like to hit Matt Yglesias in the face with a shovel. That didn't reflect the values by which I conduct my life. Nor did that last sentence reflect the grammatical and stylistic standards by which I write my comments. Heck, at the time I wrote that stuff about Matt I didn't even own a shovel. No, I wish the Journalisters live another hundred years, until many of them are almost 120 years old, enduring taunts and ridicule the whole time. We're off to a very good start.

[Melinda Romanoff]

Rob,

I think that might be problematic, at this point.

[Rocco]

I think we should borrow Jay Severin's version of the word JaWHOREnalists. He's been using it for years!

[Chubby (formerly Parking Lot)]

a lot of people today are talking about Sherrod suing Andrew Breitbart ... I hope that can't happen

[Janet]

Good Lord he posted a video of here giving a speech...he didn't fire her. Obama did.

[Neo]

THE US said today it has apologised to Russia for not giving prompt consular access to a pilot detained on smuggling charges, saying it hit the wrong number on a fax machine.

"We have apologised to Russia," State Department spokesman Philip Crowley said.

Russia had vented fury over the case of cargo-plane pilot Konstantin Yaroshenko, accusing the United States of "kidnapping" him from Liberia and denying him consular access.

Mr Crowley said that a US official had simply punched in the wrong number when trying to send a fax to Russian diplomats about the arrest, with the information going to another country's embassy.

Why do Ms Flame and Cuba come to mind ?

[Danube of Thought]

I would expect that she'll sue him, although I don't know what the cause of action might be. Some states allow suits for "false light," which is a strange species of defamaation. It's not viewed favorably, and I've never heard of it being maintained for having one's own public words publicized. But we do know that she's a litigious sort, don't we?

[Danube of Thought]

I believe I mentioned that Dave Weigel's face sparked a desire to mash it. Still does.

[Janet]

You know the WaPo had 2 pictures in it today of Code Pink protesters out by the USDA protesting for Sherrod. They are the go-to group even if only 5 are there.
Nothing was ever said about their violence. Remember when they attacked Condoleeza Rice with their bloody hands? That was in a federal building! LUN

[Chubby (formerly Parking Lot)]

Jane ... not for wrongful firing but for libeling her as a racist

[Chubby (formerly Parking Lot)]

sorry not Jane, JANET

[Janet]

???? Can I sue someone for calling me a racist(I would not even if I could)? I've been to 5 Tea Parties...I've been called a racist. Have I been libeled?

[centralcal]

Oh gross, DoT! Don't mash Weigel's face (didn't you notice all the pimples?), then it will be a slimy mess. Better to wrap his face, like a mummy, in burlap.

[centralcal]

Tucker Carlson has posted a Letter from Tucker at Daily Caller. He gets in a little humor, too:

Gather 400 lefty reporters and academics on one listserv and it turns out you wind up with a strikingly high concentration of bitchiness. Shocking amounts, actually. So while it might be amusing to air threads theorizing about the personal and sexual shortcomings of various New Republic staffers, we’ve decided to pull back.

And, I especially liked this part where he tells them, basically, to "put up or shut up:"

Anyone on Journolist who claims we quoted him “out of context” can reveal the context himself. Every member of Journolist received new threads from the group every day, most of which are likely still sitting in Gmail accounts all over Washington and New York. So feel free to try to prove your allegations, or else stop making them.

[Danube of Thought]

Janet, in theory you could sue someone for calling you a racist, but you would almost certainly lose (expression of an opinion), particularly if you are a public figure. My imperfect recollection of libel law is that Ms. Sherrod would be deemed a public figure.

[centralcal]

Uh Oh, Charlie Rangel is in trouble!

[Melinda Romanoff]

C-cal-

Real trouble, or Elmer Fudd twubble?

[Journalist Ezra]

I swear we only traded argula salad recipes and Rush Limbaugh death fantasies. D'oh! I mean we only gossiped about how Rush Limbaugh hated argula salad.

[Clarice]

I once heard of a guy who ran for office in w Va. His name was Peter D Beeter. His opponent called him Peter D. Beeter De Master Debater. Looking over the JournoList crew that ditty for some reason comes to mind.

[Reader]

bgates at 3:21 - are you spoofing Spitz?
Or is 3:21 a sockpuppet?

I believe most JOM commenters, except for trolls, would not say violent things about others in some secret members-only club.

[Captain Hate]

I've always liked Tucker Carlson because he strikes me as having integrity, which those journolist clods can only witness from afar. I think they've always hated him, as revealed by their snotty court jester, Jon Liebowitz's backhanded treatment of him on his pathetic yuck fest of a news show, because they know he's better than they are. Now he has their tiny nads in a vise. I think he's really enjoying this, which doubles the angst for them.

[bgates]

Reader, that was me. I guess I have to leave it to gentler sorts like TM to lead the way on the issue of whether it's ok to talk about violence in connection to these wretches. As somebody once said, "let he who is without sin cast the first of his opponents through a plate glass window". Or something like that.

[centralcal]

Mel: Sorry was away awhile - kinda sorta real trouble, if one had any faith at all in the ethics investigation. Drudge has it up (sorry no linky) - he was found guilty of several ethics violations. What will come of it, who knows.

[centralcal]

correction - not found guilty, but merely charged with ethics violations. sorry for this misstatement.

[Melinda Romanoff]

no problem.

I smell a wet fish hitting a wrist.

Only twubble.

[Swen Swenson]

"Back at NPR, is it Swallows, or Spitz?"

That made me laugh out loud. Swallows of course, they're good little media hoes.

"... referring to "F-ing nascar "retards"." I wonder what the good politically correct administration at CUNY think of one of their English Profs using such language?"

Oh, it's okay to pick on NASCAR retards, just like it's kewl to sneer at those bitter clingers with their guns and religion. Neither bitter clingers nor NASCAR retards are recognized victim groups after all.

[Reader]

bgates, being a smoker, I never put my foot in my mouth :)

[larry]

The upshot of this whole Sherrod episode: Once again the left frames the debate. She's not a racist (Still an open question IMHO.) noooooo, she's the Mother Teresa of class envy warriors, which is not only perfectly ok, it's quite commendable.

It's fun to see the Journo jackasses exposed. Doesn't the whole thing have a treehouse/clubhouse/no gurlz aloud aspect?

[Constitution First]

"Geez, what is it with these people?"

Political Ideology: The disease that demands you must control the lives of everyone who doesn't agree with you, or hurt them trying.

Afflicts mostly those who "think" themselves smarter than the average bear.

[Number Six]

I know many academics and liberals who have a not-so-secret fantasy: 'come the Revolution' we'll stand them against the wall and shoot them, 'come the Revolution' we'll put them in a camp to -educate- them.

It's a Stalinist reflex common among many weak men and women. Like a weak child, suddenly grown powerful, they turn into vicious bullies.

Sherrod types are much the same.

It also explains Obama's habit of appointing Czars to install hard taskmasters in regulatory agencies. They aren't there to regulate! The Czars are there to be your new masters. Weak men, envious of others, suddenly made powerful, can indulge their fantasies of revenge.

[Cover Me, Porkins]

"Oh, I'm terribly sorry! These hateful sentiments weren't meant to be openly expressed and defended."

Political liberals are among the most hateful people I have ever encountered.

[Topsecretk9]

You know, the problem I have with so many so-called academics apart of Journolist is that these are the people called to give quotes for the stories the other Journolist members publish on the front end.

Just ton of ethics issues there. A Time magazine Journolist is "developing" a story on Journolist and when time comes he just calls up Professor Journolist and what do you know, he has the most PERFECT quote.

That'd be a good place to research. How many of the academics are quoted in the other Journolisters work.

[Topsecretk9]

Oh and Clarice

I'm pretty sure-- don't laugh -- but I think Jay Rosen is also Journolister. DON'T LAUGH!

[Whitney]

Have any of these people graduated from junior high school? How old ARE they?

[reliapundit]

tom;

i think one of the key things here is that since leftism is a bankrupt ideology - totally discredited by history - all leftists have left is there affiliation and partisanship.

the violent language is a result of the cognitive dissonance they feel when confronted by a reality that so thoroughly upsets their received worldview.

the camaraderie of journOlist was a substitute for intellectual honesty, and admitting they are wrong about everything.

[MarkD]

Ackerman talks a good fight.

[Saul Relative]

It's just more lefty childishness, something that's been part of them since... since forever, it seems. I suspect Ackerman was beaten up frequently by schoolyard bullies, until they got bored with him.

There's more evidence of "progressive" infantilism, somewhere on the net. Remember George Carlin's "Seven words you can't say on television?" Back around 2004, someone did a word-count, comparing lefty bloggers (Dem. Underground, Daily Kos, etc.) with conservatives, to see how common any of these words were on their posts. The result? Leftys are more foulmouthed than conservatives... by about 100,000 to 1. Not surprised? Me neither.

They're all just children.

[Jay Rosen]

Oh and Clarice

I'm pretty sure-- don't laugh -- but I think Jay Rosen is also Journolister. DON'T LAUGH!

Nope. Never asked to be (unlike Tucker Carlson, who wanted in) never was asked to be, and never was.

[Clarice]

Thanks for clearing that up, Jay.

[Clarice]

Italiacto!!

[Paul A'Barge]

Where does Spencer Ackerman live? Anyone know?

[Duke]

I've never even seen a picture of him, but from those Journolist writings I'd bet 10:1 Ackerman is a total puss in real life. Seems a classic case of someone unable to stand his ground in real world situations trying to compensate by acting the tough guy in the risk-free online world.

[Art]

Mr. Ackerman shows real bravery with his offer to defile a corpse. I wonder how he would react to a live terrorist. Disfiguring the deceased is something the terrorist use to spread fear when their interactions with live people don't scare us.