The New Republic

There's speculation out there that Andy McCarthy is a fucker of billy goats, which, if true, would make his negative response to the following question on the National Review's job application -- "Have you ever had a homosexual ('gay') encounter or relationship?" -- false.  Is it true?  I don't know, and neither do you.

- jhildner

August 7, 2009 at 2:08pm

Barry Soetoro is way too foreign, except for the Barry part, and Soetoro sounds kind of Spanish, but nothing says White Anglo Saxon Protestant like Barack Obama

- blackton

August 7, 2009 at 2:22pm

I love this part: The issue is: What is the true personal history of the man who has been sold to us based on nothing but his personal history?

Nothing but his personal history? His charisma, his speaking skills, his state senate and US senate career, his incredible intelligence, nope, nobody noticed that at all. Since McCarthy admits that Obama was born in Hawaii and is therefore an American citizen, at some point everything that happened in Obama's life as a child is none of his or our goddamn business. I say this about any candidate, no one chooses their parents or environment they grow up in, it is what they do with what they have as adults that we judge people. McCarthy is simply an asshole.

- blackton

August 7, 2009 at 2:34pm

Has a single Republican member of Congress yet "denounced" the Birthers? If so, I haven't yet seen or heard of it. But I could name at least a dozen conservative Republicans in Congress who have pointedly not denounced the Birthers when asked about the movement. Which means that Lowry is saying that there are no "reputable conservatives" in Congress.

Which points to the advantage of the recent move toward small-tent conservatism: Once you disclaim affinity for any follower of your movement who holds public office, you don't ever have to take responsibility for anything ever.

- rhubarbs

August 7, 2009 at 2:43pm

blackton:  "McCarthy is simply an asshole."  Yes, a billy goat-fucking asshole, for all anyone of us knows.

- jhildner

August 7, 2009 at 2:44pm

Is it possible that Lowry knows McCarthy is nuts and finds him embarassing but can't say so except obliquely for political reasons? It's never easy to criticize a colleague, especially if you work at a political magazine and the colleague is a pet of the boss.

- Gabbage

August 7, 2009 at 2:57pm

gabbage, I would keep Andy McCarthy away from all male pets, given his reputation, the veracity of which I am in a position neither to confirm nor, more importantly, dispel.

- jhildner

August 7, 2009 at 3:08pm

Even if Lowry were right that all "reputable" conservatives have denounced the Birthers, I'd still like to hear his answer to the question "What took you so long?" I must say, however, the longer this goes on, the more convinced I am that Andy McCarthy has had carnal knowledge (which, needless to say, would represent the alpha and omega of any knowledge McCarthy has ever possessed, or ever will possess) with a billy goat. Everywhere I go, it's all people are talking about. Poor goats.

- Geoff G

August 7, 2009 at 3:08pm

Let's just hope the birthers out there don't metastasize into the "deathers". With all the right wingnuts  stirring up the mobs this could get a lot worse before it gets better.

Forget about fixing the economy for the sake of fixing the economy. Now, fixing it may be the prerequisite needed to keep the raging dittoheads from donning their black boots and sieg heiling all the way into the next reich.

That could never happen here? Yeah, right.

Maybe it's time to suggest that Philip Roth's, "The Plot Against America" is more than just a "what if..." conjecture about the past. Maybe it's also the preface for would could happen in the future.

In the right wingnut world today there are lots of Charles Lindberghs out there. And the Nazi sympathizers back then never had access to the fear mongering hate machine that is the Internet.

george walton

[annie/danny]

george

- iambiguous

August 7, 2009 at 3:09pm

The loony right just gets loonier yet. It is an amazing spectacle.

- liberal reformer

August 7, 2009 at 3:38pm

In defense of Lowry, McCarthy HAS denounced birthirism:

"The mission of National Review has always included keeping the Right honest, which includes debunking crackpot conspiracy theories. The theory that Obama was born in Kenya, that he was smuggled into the U.S., and that his parents somehow hoodwinked Hawaiian authorities into falsely certifying his birth in Oahu, is crazy stuff."

Granted, this denouncement came in the middle of the four page article about whether Obama is a secret African Muslim, but it still counts!

Anyway, everyone knows McCarthy's best writing is the opening and closing sentences of the final paragraph of the secret Muslim essay:

"The point here is not to join another crackpot conspiracy, the 'Obama as Muslim Manchurian Candidate' canard...Obama’s religious background also matters in terms of how he views American policies bearing on the Muslim world."

Apparently if you reject a label for your crackpot conspiracy theory then it stops being a crackpot conspiracy theory

- Simon Greenwood

August 7, 2009 at 3:45pm

In fact, we might get an upturn in the economy before we get an upturn in the Republicans' descent into terminal loopiness.

- ironyroad

August 7, 2009 at 3:52pm

In defense of Mr. McCarthy--and I'm also concerned about the glee some on this thread seem to take in "outing" him--I'll only say this: Mr. McCarthy does not fuck billygoats. This scurrilous accusation, this Big Lie, no matter how many times you repeat it, will not stand. Mr. McCarthy is a well-known sheepfucker, a different category altogether.

- cvillekid

August 7, 2009 at 4:11pm

I think you likely will prove to be dead right, irony.

- liberal reformer

August 7, 2009 at 4:16pm

You are way off, cvillekid.  It is billygoat all the way (and I mean all they way, comprende?).  You should subscribe to my newsletter- we've got pictures to prove it.  Although, to be fair, they are kind of blurry, and at a certain light look a little like blackton.

- boneill

August 7, 2009 at 4:46pm

bone, si, yo comprendo. Please forgive me: as a relative newcomer to the Plank, I willingly, and gladly, defer to your wisdom and to the Plank pecking order (cf. Pecking order: not the same as putting billygoats and sheep together in the same pasture with Mr. McCarthy but still, I think, an apt, even amusing, barnyard allusion.)

Whatever. Confession time (again deferring to the cumulative wisdom of you and your compadres, the Chicago wussythugs (see post on another thread): I first heard of Mr. McCarthy's peculiar taste from a friend of a friend of a secretary (male) in an office down the hall from his (from McCarthy's). Perhaps not the most reliable sourcing, I admit.

Thus, given my respect for you, and your Chicago associates, I don't need proof. And I'll be happy, no, honored, to subscribe to your newsletter.

PS I look forward to the pix, but I hope you'll agree that, if they include blackie, it's probably for the best that they're blurry.

I remain, in universal sister-and brotherhood, yours,

(the) cvillekid

- cvillekid

August 7, 2009 at 5:35pm

that billygoat was 18, I swear, and it wasn't me, I was at home at the time, alone, in the bath, and besides what was boneill doing there, it was by invite only.

- blackton

August 7, 2009 at 7:55pm

The suggestion that we are in Philip Roth territory is inappropriate. We are in Edward Albee territory, and clearly we are overdue for a revival of "Who is Sylvia (or The Goat)." In fairness, Sylvia was female and apparently quite alluring, although she came to a bad end.

- AlanK

August 7, 2009 at 10:57pm

It's not exactly William F. Buckley taking on the Birchers, but the clearer heads over at National

- Anonymous

August 18, 2009 at 2:38pm