Kevin - Do you consider yourself a tennis-playing, Volvo-driving, NPR-listening, Espresso-sipping Liberal?

Would Laura date a tobacco-chewing etc. redneck?

Yes, remember that Grover Norquist and his other Volvo-driving, faux-folksy pals were behind that anti-Dean campaign. I think the left should forego the tit-for-tat and keep saying this shit out loud. Call them on their cynical hypocrisy at every turn and stay sincere and direct, without the Tom DeLay smile.

It's tough, but right -- I mean, left.

I think this is actually a (semi-)serious issue.

Why can't conservatives get enough of books (and people) telling them how much blue American hates and despises them? If somebody hated me, I wouldn't love reading endlessly about just how much he hates me; I'd ignore it.

Two suggestions:
(1) It strengthens the working white male's sense of identity - he knows he's a pickup-driving, Skoal-chewing, etc etc. kind of guy (even if he really isn't);

(2) it allows him to feel justified in hating blue America, which he does already; the culture war is stoked to keep Red American from thinking about why his place in the world is eroding.

Cross-burning...?

Innocent Arab killing?

I notice this on Fox and other right-wing "news" sites (and, increasingly and sadly, CNN and other imitators) when the anchors use the present tense "-ing" construction instead of the past tense. So, for example, "President Bush spoke to world leaders and then flew home" becomes "President Bush speaking to world leaders and then flying home." It's presumably done because the present tense seems more active and hence exciting, and gives the news a more up to date and in your face feel than the stodgy old past tense, but I finding it both annoying and sounding ignorant and wishing it would stop.

Mouth-breathing, knuckle-dragging, foaming-at-the-mouth, chickenhawk morons?

Well, certainly "bible-thumping" and "gun-toting" and "fear-mongering" get used pretty frequently by liberals to describe wingnuts.

Other fun possibilities:
Koolaid-drinking
Race-baiting
Hate-farming
Book-plagiarizing

And there's a certain phrase abbeviated M.F. that's become so universal by people of all walks that we may not even realize that it's of that construction.

Reminds me of the opening lines of "Colors":

"I am a nightmare walking, psychopath talking
King of my jungle just a gangster stalking ...."

A great song, with a seeming anti-Liberal bent:

"You don't know me, fool
You disown me, cool
I don't need your assistance, social persistance
Any problem I got I just put my fist in ...."

law-breaking
bribe-taking
pretzel-choking
Mussolini-admiring
lies-leaking
hypocrisy-promoting

and last but not least

profit-making...

Why can't conservatives get enough of books (and people) telling them how much blue American hates and despises them?

Sense of inferiority, simple as that. They themselves believe they're stupid and backwards, but can't admit this to themselves, and so project the expression of that feeling onto an "other" so they can see it openly.

Frankly, anyone who's ever been in a relationship has experienced this dynamic, as when, to use a (warning!) hackneyed cultural cliche, a wife will accuse her husband by yelling at him "you think I'm fat, don't you!" The truth of that situation is usually that it's the wife herself who thinks she's fat, but can't say so herself, so she projects her own feelings into her (often unwitting) husband's mouth.

clear-cutting corporate raiders
strip-mining coal barons
sprawl-generating developers
kool-aid drinking Bush-bots
philandering, moralizing, divorcing Republican congressmen.

AWOL-going

draft-deferring

I think it came from this site a few months ago, and sadly not from me, but I do try to fit pig-fucking conservatard into at least one meeting each day.

Why can't conservatives get enough of books (and people) telling them how much blue American hates and despises them?

I think it's all about a sense of victimhood. They'd never admit it, but it's an internalization of the "cult of victimhood" that they like to mock liberals for.

Just as the popularity of racial pride in minorities in the 1960s led to a sudden embrace of white ethnic identities -- "Polish Power" or "Italian Pride" -- soon thereafter, the rights revolution of the 1960s also led to a sense of conservatives' own aggreived status.

They internalized the victim/outsider/rebel image during those decades, and clung to it even as they assumed more and more prominence and power. I'd wager that it's even more prevalent today precisely because of their success. They control the White House, the House, the Senate, the Supreme Court, etc., and thus have to invent new justifications for their victimhood. The idea that the mean ol' liberal elitists hate them is one way to do it.

tax-evading republicunt.

"I notice this on Fox and other right-wing "news" sites (and, increasingly and sadly, CNN and other imitators) when the anchors use the present tense "-ing" construction instead of the past tense. So, for example, "President Bush spoke to world leaders and then flew home" becomes "President Bush speaking to world leaders and then flying home." It's presumably done because the present tense seems more active and hence exciting, and gives the news a more up to date and in your face feel than the stodgy old past tense, but I finding it both annoying and sounding ignorant and wishing it would stop."

Posted by: Stefan on July 18, 2006 at 1:46 AM

I don't just finding it annoying, I find it dishonest and dangerous. This is creating an action where none may have existed in the manner Kevin is citing and is used to destroy a sense of time and therefore context for the sake of sounding dynamic as opposed to static as you are. The past being of course static by definition. The reason precise language is important is that it permits complex ideas to be discussed with common understanding between people. Attack that and you undercut the ability to do so which to my way of thinking is never a good thing.

Kevin made a good catch with this post I would say, this is an important point that is so fundamental it gets overlooked. By constantly using the "ing" conservatives convey the undercurrent in minds of action, be it positive for themselves and negative for their opponents. What it may do to the ability to hold complex dialogue and even simply civil disagreement is ignored or justified in the name of the greater good. After all almost all true villains in reality turn out to be motivated by their belief in what was "for the best" for the rest of the world around them, not out of any real desire to inflict cruelty, misery and death. That is what makes them so dangerous in the first place and so easy to miss on the way up.

I hope this thread gets the discussion it deserves, me I am off to bed, it's late where I am...:)

pension-raiding union-busters

In her book Shut up and Sing, for example, Laura Ingraham writes that "mocking the pickup-driving, tobacco-chewing, shotgun-owning South is one of the elite rites of passage."

That's true, actually. I have fond memories of my days at dear old Harvard, when a hearty round of mocking the poor benighted southerners while sipping martinis iced with the frozen tears of Alabaman orphans was indeed an elite rite of passage -- (the other rite involved hunting down homeless hoboes for sport --- "blood in, blood out" as we used to say).

Of course, the fact that one of my best friends at Harvard was a pick-up drivin', huntin' and fishin,' shotgun-owning Oklahoman made all this mockery a little awkward, but he had to go along with the rite of passage, of course, in order to fit in to the commonly accepted right-wing cultural stereotype....

Lie-spreading
Lie-telling
Lie-inventing

Box turtle-f#$*ing or is that not clean?

doctor-shopping pedophiles

Smirking Chimp.

Gulfstream flying, golf outing, bribe taking, corporate whores

Double talking, vote stealing, fear mongering zealots

Sorry, didn't see the request to keep it clean.

Going by today's standard bearer currently in office then:

shit-spewing politicos.

Oh, sorry about that.

Bush-voting fool.

Den-Beste-reading basement hawk.

War-on-terror-believing mark.

non-relativizing
un-nuancing
france-hating
un-nanny-having
manual-laboring-unless-unionized-ating
tradition-respecting
fetus-loving
commie-punching
baby-having
privatizing
american-car-driving

I'm genuinely surprised at how lame most of these are. I can't think of any better ones, mind you, except my pet favorite, 'pigsticking', which is not very useful.

Maybe Nunberg was right!

anal-breathing, crotch-wrangling, non-perambulating hairlickers

Sadaam-loving,
torture-using,
constitution-shredding
fascists.

union-busting
country-loving
non-apple-naming
non-stefan-naming
womyn-fearing
non-name-dropping
tofu-vomiting
action-taking
non-free-speech-zoning
feelings-hurting
plain-speaking

war-mongering
panty-sniffing
penis-envying
environment-destroying
fascism-adoring
lying
vote-stealing
tom-delay worshipping
gwb's toe sucking

republican cretins.

There's a reason that conservatism is so much easier to convey with language: it makes sense. It has principles. Modern liberalism/leftism does not.

So go on all you want about the neocons unfairly putting 'ing' at ends of words. Keep trying to find that Frame that's going to make liberals look less like pedantic asshats. It would be better if liberals were more idea-having though.

Oxycontin-ingesting, viagra-requiring, underage-thirdworld-prostitute-purchasing doesn't exactly roll off the tongue.

It is no longer cool to drive Volvos.

Ford bought them, and now they suck.

No. Really, they do suck.

Now it's VW TDI's or Toyota Priuses.

nigger-hating

player-hating

slavery-loving

warmongering

anal-breathing, crotch-wrangling, non-perambulating hairlickers

I may want to amend this later.

war-mongering
war-profiteering
buggering
self-rightous
fascists

Conservatism... makes sense.

For any cockamanie idea, no matter how stupid, you can always find a set of people to whom it makes perfect sense.

For example, the idea that the world was created in a few days makes sense to millions of people.

Ass-kissing goose-stepping draft-dodging pasty-fleshed trolls.

Oh I think "incompetent supporting" pretty much describes it for me.

There's a good reason lies are easier to speak than the truth. For any one truth, there a thousands of possible lies to say instead. If one truth is inconvinent, then keep trying different lies until one sticks. Best to release the lies by proxy, in selected markets. Then find out which one got the best buy in. (aka truthiness) Then spread it around.

The Truth will not set you free - it's a prison of facts that will limit your influence.

Ass-kicking, curb-stomping
Ass-licking, turd smelling
Pants-pissing weakling wankers
Dreaming of violent victory.

Its about time the Fox-News-watching, cigar-chomping, champagne-sipping, tax-evading, khaki-wearing, Hummer-driving, Constitution-ignoring, Earth-defiling, government-bankrupting, quagmire-creating right-wing circus act that is trampling our country and its freedoms goes home to lock itself in McMansions, staying the hell out of government!

Beyond present participles, Nunberg makes more profound observations about the successful use of language by the right to define and re-brand the left. An interesting example was the use of elite, which used to mean "the wealthy" who were most closely identified with the GOP. Now, it is increasingly used in a perjorative manner to refer to those with the accoutrements of the non-blue-collar lifestyle (volving-driving, latte-drinking, etc.).

The fact that those with these attributes are more likely to be Republicans only demonstrates how effective Frank Luntz and others have been at changing the meaning and associations of words to shape the political dialog to their benefit.

Democrats have been hurt by arriving late to the game of branding and allowing themselves to be defined by the right. It's entertaining to see the tables turned in these comments. But progressives are going to continue to see their issues marginalized if they don't take the use of language seriously. We'd better learn to differentiate ourselves from the right in the ways that matter most to voters (i.e., lifestyle and "values").

I've noticed that "draft-dodging" has suddenly gone out of fashion.

And we have another clear case of right-wing projection. Laura Ingraham writes that "mocking the pickup-driving, tobacco-chewing, shotgun-owning South is one of the elite rites of passage. - No , it's not; the theme of this discussion is that liberals don't even know how mock conservatives. It's the mocking the "tree-hugging" "latte-drinking" shhh-don't-say-"jew-loving" liberals that is a wingnut right of passage.

The original insult was "card carrying" (as in communit party member). To my knowledge, the only US political party that now regularly issues membership cards to donor-members is the Republican, so let's reclaim "card carrying" as a mark of membership in a party with a suspect ideology and uncertain commitment to democractic values.

In the category of existing object+ epithets...

shit-kicking redneck. Someone already got my other idea, bible-thumping. Those are the only two that come to my mind. A few good ones have been proposed here, esp. seank's.

Just mention "Christian Conservatives".

My liberal friends consider the Christian right to be a horrendous danger -- today's ultimate bogeyman.

I see this a most successful demonization by the Dems.

Incompetence loving, middle class eviserating, tax evading, race baiting, gay bashing, torture loving, war mongering, Constitution shredders.

Shit Talking (The President said it, so I can too.)
Rights Trampling
Debt Raising
Bribe Taking (already used, but good)
Tax Sheltering
Fox Watching
Outsourcing
Rush Believing
Nation Destroying
Citizen Spying
City Flooding
Immigrant Hating
Gay Bashing
Face Shooting
Indictment Fearing
Vote Stealing
God Misappropriating
Watergate Whoring
Name Leaking
Oxy Raving
Viagra Requiring

Thanks, Kevin--That was fun!

I think one issue here with Right wing projection is, of course the old straw man argument, but more specifically in the case of the Christian Right it is False Witness.

Christians are not supposed to lie (I know.. ) and to project or accuse or claim someone said something when they did not, is a lie. They need to have this pointed out.

fear-mongering, bed-wetting, flag-waving, Bible-thumping, neighbor-hating

from a writing perspecdtive alone, there's a lot of power in the active voice.

Doing as opposed to would like to do, would have done, had plans to do until the 2004 election, etc.

The Do-ing verb construction is the antithesis of John Kerry's mode of speaking.

And THAT is beyond any other measure of Kerry v. Bush, critical.

Patriot-bashing, tax-wasting, big-spending, Constitution-destroying, Jesus-hating, soldier-killing, racist-loving, America-hating Republican.

The problem with demonizing "conservative" is that the word has in it an inherent element of caution. It has too many uses outside the realm of politics. "Liberal" isn't so versatile.

"Liberal" isn't so versatile

sure it is.

The problem with demonizing "conservative" is that the word has in it an inherent element of caution. It has too many uses outside the realm of politics. "Liberal" isn't so versatile.

Good point, Mike. At one time Conservatives were opposed to change; liberals favored prudent change, that is prudent advancement. However, our government was remade by liberals from FDR to LBJ. As a result, today's Conservatives are in favor of change (to undo liberal programs) while Liberals tend to defend the status quo.

It's just the s--t-kickin', speed-takin'
Truck-drivin' neighbors downstairs
Yeah...
--Beck

http://www.napster.com/player/tracks/13621614

Conservatives generally seem to love railing against revisionist history and PC-language manipulations that they found objectionable back in the 1990s, despite engaging in it ALL. THE. TIME. It's a classic. Label the other side with something that you know that yourself are doing to great effect. But you've already begun the "us vs. them" mentality. And made the label stick. So of COURSE you aren't doing it. As a Washingtonian, in these current dark Republican days: I can say that there are a good number of the Volvo-driving, Whole Foods-shopping folks around here with "W" stickers on their Volvo SUVs in the Whole Foods parking lots. And frankly, if I was more industrious, I'd start of photo campaign to document these "East Coast elites" and there shopping habits. In fact, as conservative as this area as become -- it's an elitest heaven of development restrictions, no billboards and all the other anti-property rights-lovin' stuff that conservatives in my parents' town of Knoxville rally against all the time.

One of the things that strikes me about the suggested noun-participle combos given so far is that many of them are government-based. I.e., most of them aren't personal stereotypes in the way the liberal epithets are. I think that's an essential component because it turns us into other. It can't just be about government. So the comparison can't be things like "debt raising" because that doesn't capture it. "War mongering" and "gay bashing" both work.

What about something closer to this:

War-mongering, gay-bashing, brandy-snifting, race-baiting, theocracy-loving, education-hating, flag-fetishizing, woman-hating, throat-stomping, progress-fearing reactionary right wing drones trying to return us to the 19th century.

Boss-loving

I read all this, and the most apt phrase that spings to mind to describe all you people is "dull-witted."

Do conservatives own the "-ed" construction.

And why did Kevin post about this when he must know all it would do is get you all "worked-up" into a froth?

book-burning conservatives

And we have a winner! Reino, with 2nd and 3rd place going to close-but-later Cleek and Mike. Congratulations - I am memorizing them all right now. Although I think "lying" covers it, as long as we keep repeating it often enough.

Remember: it is they who are projecting--and labeling. I am proudest of my ings anyway. I am working, loving, trusting, caring and forgiving. I shan't give those away. I am hoping they come to their senses and stop demonizing.

Frank J.: thanks from all us people. We people always enjoy your point of view. We hear it daily from your heroes Rush, Ann, Sean, and Dick. We people can't seem to get enough of your condescension. This liberal person forgives you your insolent pride.

self-hating (worker-hating)
yes-sirring
ring-kissing
paycut-accepting (wage-slashing)
job-losing (job-cutting) (job-shipping)
boss-fearing
rich-serving
bedroom-peeping
phone-tapping
neighbor-bullying
constitution-erasing
freedom-dropping
soldier-wasting
budget-busting
lake-poisoning
air-filthing
climate-wrecking
science-fearing
lie-buying
story-swallowing
truth-dodging
healthcare-denying
prison-filling
punishment-loving
poor-hating
Sermon-on-the-mount-forgetting

This mode of speaking is hardly confined to conservatives:

http://www.slate.com/id/2129234/&

His Race to Lose: The Note approvingly quotes undead Overspin Ghoul Chris Lehane on the possible presidential candidacy of GOP Senator George Allen:

George Allen will be George Bush without the brains or the fig leaf of compassion. . . a Confederate flag-waving, tobacco chewing, Bob Jones stumping, Bin Laden missing, economy dumping, Schiavo diagnosing, country dividing right winger at a time when the public will be looking for someone who will be a strong leader, non-partisan, capable of making the right choices for the country, and tough on national security and right on the economy. . . And HRC will make that character match-up.

Some people are amazed that bloggers get paid for what they say. I'm amazed that Chris Lehane gets paid for what he says. Is any undecided voter actually convinced to support the Democrats or Hillary Clinton by this sort of Note-macho attempt to cram as many ungraceful, un-nuanced little partisan catch-phrases into a sentence as possible? Isn't it more likely that Lehane only manages to offend people who could like Hillary overall but find at least one in the string of strident Lehane sound-bites too simplistically adversarial--e.g. perhaps because they don't think the Schiavo case is so cut-and-dried? ... One measure of HRC's readiness for higher office will be whether she refuses to hire Lehane. ... Of course, if she doesn't he'll probably be leaking snarky, comments about her to The Note for the entire presidential cycle. (What to do? Maybe hire him to write a column but offer it only to supporters whol pay for it. HillarySelect! It's a proven technique for removing annoying voices from the public discourse.) ...

Update: Emailer B notes Lehane was aping this classic Charles Robb/Ollie North format. But even as an uninventive insider semi-parody, it's representative. Note how all of Robb's gibes against North ("Commander in Chief-bashing, Congress-thrashing, uniform-shaming, Ayatollah-loving, arms-dealing, criminal-protecting, résumé-enhancing, Noriega-coddling") were appeals to sentiments shared by centrists and undecideds. Lehane's pitch ("Schiavo-diaignosing ... right winger") is an appeal to hard-core partisan sentiment. He even stiff-arms tobacco chewers! This ability to win over Note writers rather than actual voters is one key to Lehane's impressive loss-win record. [Is there a win?--ed. Good question.] ... 1:53 A.M.

We can't really compete here, guys. Because you're missing the underlying rage at liberal for being happy, a state conservatives simply cannot achieve.

Look at the mental images:

"Latte-loving"?? Sipping a tasty drink, happily.

"Volvo-driving"?? At an income level to which such cars can be purchased.

"Tree-hugging"?? Hey, hugging is a happy thing.

"Tax-raising"?? I want government to spend money effectively, not on Haliburton and sprawlways and killing brown people, but if it needs more money again I'm a happy person: a few extra bucks out of my wallet won't make my wife less beautiful, my kids less charming, my work less rewarding.

Even, maybe especally "n-word lover" - hey, by being that way I've expanded the possibility of making new friends by 15%!

They are miserable creatures and they hate us for not being so. They hate us because we are funny, successful, enormously talented (especially those n-words!!) all the things they sadly aren't.

Look at Rush. 250 really, really big ones and he goes from drug to drug, girlfriend to girlfriend, and reliable reports say that even if he is found in public he comes across as at best shy, at worst dour.

Liberals have to rip the Republican Party up by the roots and show what a sad little wiggling mass of misery it's built on. A lot of people aren't *that* unhappy, and they need to know that they're letting themselves be associated with a group of losers, in the most spiritual sense of the word.

Hummer-driving
gas-burning
privelege-protecting
smug-and-smirking
gun-loving
tax-avoiding
32-handicapping
belt-cinching
race-baiting
blame-pointing
truth-denying
truth-inventing

Fear-stoking, poor-soaking, have-stroking, frathouse-coking, delusion-toking, pretzel-choking, Gannon-poking reprobates.

Not exactly what Kevin asked for, but you have to hand it to monty python for coming up with this insult line (recieved by someone looking for an argument, but accidentally wandering into the "abuse" department):

"You vacuous, toffee-nosed, malodorous pervert!"

> Lehane's pitch ("Schiavo-diaignosing ... right winger") is an appeal to hard-core partisan sentiment.

Well maybe he learned something from Rove: There is not a big mass of "centrist" voters out there, judiciously weighing the issues like a group of philosopher-kings.

Turnout the base. Being nice just gets you raped by the other side, sorry about the imagery.

Cheeto-inhaling, Mexican-bashing, cyber-stalking, gun-humping, non-enlisting war-supporting mouth-breathing keyboard warriors?

Blood-sucking
war-lusting
constitution-destroying
poor-hating
chickenhawking
corruption-loving
dept-raising
values-distorting
America-disgracing
forced-birthing
ignorance-worshipping
privacy-invading
repuglioservatifundimentalist.

gar stole my prize.

To get serious like jhupp wants:
World hating, Fox News Watching, Gun Collecting Conservative

(More people sip latte than collect guns.)

Why do leftwing blogs remind me so much of New Path lately?

Liberals have to rip the Republican Party up by the roots and show what a sad little wiggling mass of misery it's built on. A lot of people aren't *that* unhappy, and they need to know that they're letting themselves be associated with a group of losers, in the most spiritual sense of the word.

Word. Consider the comments by the Bush Cultists here (Frequency Kenneth and his sock puppets being a golden example) -- if they contain a common theme, it's that their desperate taunts seek to portray themselves as "winners" for associating themselves with the Republicans, and liberals as the opposite. Yet as Kevin has pointed out, Americans have embraced so many liberal concepts so thoroughly that the Republicans don't dare oppose them explicitly.

So listen to the rage, denial and delusion that fuels their comments. Their every taunt and straw man is a tacit admission that the side they picked is losing. Bush and his failing policies can't be defended honestly, and despite a compliant media, the American public is figuring it out, and has judged their hero to be the one thing that's anathema to the chest-thumping Republicans -- a loser.

Todd Snider did a nice job of this in his song "Conservative Christian, Right Wing, Republican, Straight, White, American Males":

Conservative Christian, right wing Republican, straight, white, American male.
Gay bashin’, black fearin’, poor fightin’, tree killin’, regional leaders of the South
Frat housin’, keg tappin’, shirt tuckin’, back slappin’ haters of hippies like me.
Tree huggin’, peace lovin’, pot smokin’, porn watchin’ lazyass hippies like me.
Tree huggin’, love makin’, pro choicen, gay weddin’, widespread diggin’ hippies like me.
Skin color-blinded, conspiracy-minded, protestors of corporate greed,
We who have nothing and most likely will ‘till we all wind up locked up in jails
By conservative Christian, right wing Republican, straight, white, American males,.

Diamonds and dogs, boys and girls, living together in two separate worlds
Following leaders of mountains of shame, looking for someone to blame.

Diamonds and dogs, boys and girls, living together in two separate worlds
Following leaders of mountains of shame, looking for someone to blame.
I know who I like to blame:

Conservative Christian, right wing Republican, straight, white, American males,
Soul savin’, flag wavin’, Rush lovin’, land pavin’ personal friends to the Quayles
Quite diligently workin’ so hard to keep the free reins of this Democracy
From tree huggin’, peace lovin’, pot smokin’, barefootin’ folk-singin’ hippies like me.
Tree huggin’, peace lovin’, pot smokin’, porn watchin’ lazyass hippies like me.

中新网圣彼得堡七月十七日电 (记者 朱大强) 中国国家主席胡锦涛今天在此间强调，为保障全球能源安全，我们应该树立和落实互利合作、多元发展、协同保障的新能源安全观。八国集团同中国、印度、巴西、南非、墨西哥、刚果(布)六个发展中国家领导人对话会议今天在圣彼得堡举行，讨论了全球能源安全、传染病防控、教育、非洲发展等四个议题。胡锦涛发表讲话，着重就全球能源安全问题作了阐述。他说，全球能源安全，关系各国的经济命脉和民生大计，对维护世界和平稳定、促进各国共同发展至关重要。每个国家都有充分利用能

doesn't matter: We can't really compete here, guys. Because you're missing the underlying rage at liberal for being happy, a state conservatives simply cannot achieve.

Now THAT is an insight. Hits the nail on the head. He's right, all of these criticisms of liberals are essentially criticisms of desirable traits, of possessions and achievements conservatives know they can never have themselves. It's rooted, at base, in resentment, bitterness, and envy, and liberals can't compete in the invective department because they simply don't feel the same sense of stifling inadequacy.

As the trolls here point out, we Liberals are full of rage. We may not type 'Conservative, Rope, Tree', but we think it all the time. Conservatives type such things, but deep in their hearts they love the world and everything in it. They really liked Clinton, Gore, and Kerry and felt bad that they had to make a choice between them and superior human beings like Bush, Dole, and Bush. [/snark]

True, conservatives rule the present-participle slinging contest. But liberals dominate in the "ism" attacks. As shown in the snippet you cite, anything conservative is automatically compared to racism, Nazism, fascism, etc.

Both sides need to grow up.

O Lord, bless these, Thy Holy Hand Grenades, that with them, Thou mayest blow Thine enemies to tiny bits, in Thy mercy.

I don't think anybody mentioned:

rapture-wanting

or perhaps

rapture-lusting

Funny thing. I wrote my comment before I saw Kevin's previous post and I had no idea the movie was coming out this month.

I ran the ING New York Marathon last year, but I didn't know what ING was. As we started out across the Verrazano bridge a fellow runner (tall male, bright orange ballerina tutu) explained that ING was the world's leading supplier of gerunds and present participles.

We continued running, smiling.

Don't forget labels like "Massachusetts liberal," as well. The rough equivalent might be "Texas conservative," but a Google search on the two phrases shows some interesting differences.

This will never work. Liberals do not grow up in an environment of insulting other people. When a liberal meets someone who speaks in a long string of insults, the liberal says to himself "What a nut".

Sometimes this liberal response is just factually wrong. When Chomsky reels off his list of American attacks on other nations, liberals mentally file it under "what a nut- big word division" without realizing that, in spite of their distaste, these things actually happened. Hilarity ensues as liberals imagine a 'centrist' course is the denial of the reality the rest of the world lives in.

In general, though, insults bespeak a low personality, and are best avoided. Even when they're true.

It must be admitted that rightwingers insult themselves. Who can hear the phrase "Texas conservative" without at least smiling, or, more probably, breaking into a loud guffaw.

The only things that people have come up with that are actually ever used are "bible thumping," though I've definitely heard this term used by conservative midwesterners to refer to particularly nosy neighbors who show off their religiosity, as well. We also have the slightly less frequently used "war-mongering" and, rarely anymore, "gun-toting."

Red staters are definitely more fond of mocking city dwellers for our cultural affectations than visa versa. Maybe this should tell us something about the veracity of the often used narrative that 'the coastal liberal elites' love to taunt our inland, conservative, fellow Americans.

Past vs. present tense. I explained this 48 years ago! He who controls the present, controls the past. He who controls the past, controls the future.

Oops, 58 years ago. The people controlling the present have confused me about the past.

I don’t think it’s unhappiness, exactly. It’s self-discipline vs. self-indulgence.
“I drink my coffee with cream and sugar, I don’t drink them fancy coffees. I drive an good American Ford, not some import with a vaguely naughty sounding name.”

"mule fucking"

The thing I found hilarious about the "latte-drinking, sushi-eating" attack on Howard Dean is that a few months later the Bush twins revealed (in Vogue) that two of their favorite things are Starbucks soy lattes and eating sushi.

Don't forget labels like "Massachusetts liberal," as well. The rough equivalent might be "Texas conservative," but a Google search on the two phrases shows some interesting differences.

Don't also forget the inherenet double standard where conservatives are allowed to deride and scorn their fellow Americans and liberals aren't. Republican politicians routinely run for national office by bashing large swathes of America. (See, for example, their attacks on "Taxachusetts," big bad New York City, the entire East and West Coasts, etc.). By contrast, I can't think of a major Democratic politician who campaigns by running down the South, or even a specific state.

Could you imagine if John Kerry, say, had given a speech denouncing "those mouth-frothing gay-bashing [pause for derision] Texas conservatives"? It would have been news for weeks. By contrast, Bush can give speech after speech mocking Massachusetts, a state that's part of the country he's supposed to be President of, and the media, deploying their usual double-standard, doesn't say one word about it.

demagoguing, lying, profiteering, whoring, bilking, skulking, thieving

Kevin, I know you said to keep it clean, but any quasicomprehensive list of contemporary object+present-participle epithets HAS to include c%$k-sucking. Especially given the way that conservo discourse genders and sexualizes "weak"/"girly-man" Democrats, the Roveian "polarization" issue of gay marriage, and the exodus of socially conservative men from the Democratic Party.

Baby-kissing, lobbyist-hobnobbing, poor-taxing, trust-fund-receiving, church-suit-wearing, regular-guy–bamboozling, First Amendment–hating, sock-and-sandal-wearing, Fox News-watching, individualism-despising, war-mongering, fundamentalist-pandering, piety-pretending, Hummer-driving, fetus-loving, talking-point-repeating, energy-trading, flag-waving, gay-fearing . . .

. . . conservative freak show!

You want some present participles for our code-speaking, self-congratulating, difference-hating, fact-ignoring, heart-attack-coaxing, spittle-flecking brethern?

Why?

Who the heck is Laura Ingraham?

Stealing, lying, thieving Republican closet queens.

Who the heck is Laura Ingraham?

She's Ann Coulter without the penis.

No, wait, that's Jonah Goldberg....

non-perambulating hairlickers

I don't know what that means, but it sounds awful.

A he-both-wants-and-expects-you-to-help-him-clear-the-blockage-in-his-dick-Republican

goose-stepping, koolaid-drinking, liberty-hating neocons.

hate-mongering, cross-burning, racist-loving Minutemen.

soul-destroying, money-changing, god-mocking televangelists

gun-toting, nascar-watching, book-burning, goose-stepping right wing Republicans

This quote of Robert Conquest succintly sums up many liberals.

Name three, and support with evidence.

"...Robert Conquest succintly sums up many liberals...One would think that the purpose of education was to get people to listen to the arguments and the evidence- especially before making an intellectual committment. What one finds too often is an "educated" class- which is simply not aware of any general attitudes but its own."

Mr. Conquest seems to have made the classic error of confusing "the arguments and the evidence" with "general attitudes." The latter thrive in ignorance of the former, hence public support for the invasion of Iraq.

Members of the "educated class," observing that the manipulable multitudes have situated their heads entirely up their asses, are, according to Mr. Conquest's code of erudition, obliged to do likewise.

Fucking fuckers.

chocolate pudding, j.r. ewing,

Ticketwood, a Real Time Price Comparison Ticket Site, Finds You the Lowest Ticket Prices on the Web for Concerts, Sports, Theater, NBA, MLB, NFL and More.

Concert tickets Concert tickets
tickets tickets
baseball tickets BASEBALL tickets
MLB tickets MLB tickets
NBA tickets NBA tickets
basketball tickets BASKEBALL tickets
NFL tickets NFL tickets
football tickets NFL tickets
NHL tickets NHL tickets
hockey tickets NHL tickets
concert tickets concerts
sports tickets sports
theater tickets theatre
nascar tickets NASCAR
rodeo tickets RODEO
ncaa tickets NCAA
tennis tickets tennis
wwe tickets WWE
ticketwood tickets
ticketwood.com ticketwood.com tickets
ticketwood tickets ticketwood tickets

Geoffrey Nunberg doesn't get out much, apparently. In Iowa in the summer of 1984, Jim Hightower worked a crowd of farmers up into a hootin', hollerin' frenzy by assailing Ronald Reagan (whose farm policy was explicitly to drive a third of them out of farming) and his backers as "Cabernet-sippin', Gucci-wearin', Hollywood plutocrats".

It's an old Texas, and southern, and black, and populist thang.

The most vile insult of course is to call someone a Drum-ming X. The derivatives (your girlfriend/boyfriend gave me a drummer last night) are also powerful