--- In [email protected], "curtisdeltablues" <curtisdeltabl...@...> wrote: > > --- In [email protected], "authfriend" <jstein@> wrote: > > I got your point but that wasn't what interested me.
Uh-huh. Was what interested you really the notion that I wasn't aware till now that Barry claims he says stuff just to piss me off? Because you and I have been around that block several times now. As you know, I don't believe it for a nanosecond, at least the "just" part. He also wants other readers to take it seriously; and he doesn't do it only because he finds it "entertaining," he does it because it *enrages* him that I see through him, and he has to release some of that anger or he'll incinerate himself. "Just to piss Judy off" is his *excuse* for constantly demonizing me, including all the falsehoods. Plus which, of course, he doesn't demonize and tell falsehoods *just* about me. The post I was originally commenting on was about John. In fact, you'll find very, very few posts of his that don't demonize somebody or some group. As I said before, that's his M.O., that's what he *does* here. (You got a little taste of it not long ago regarding your views on homeopathy, and you didn't like it much. He forgot himself there for a minute, but he backed off when you stood up to him; he doesn't want to lose one of his few allies here. Unless you think he was just having fun pissing *you* off to see how you'd react.) In any case, Atrios does not, of course, believe for a nanosecond that the right-wingers are just trying to piss off liberals. Nor does he believe they make stupid arguments because *they're* stupid. It's because they know there are quite a few people stupid enough to take them seriously. If they piss off liberals into the bargain, that's a side benefit, but it isn't the goal. They *want* people to believe Obama is a "socialist ideologue"; they *want* people to believe in "death panels"; they *want* people to believe Obama wasn't born in the U.S.; they *want* people to believe a big snowstorm disproves global warming. They know better, but they are confident many among their audience do not. In other words, they're unscrupulous, cynical liars. And so are some of the TM critics on FFL, Barry most prominent among them. As with the right-wingers, some among the TM critics' audience find their lies and demonizations convincing, especially when the critics reinforce each other. The one thing the right-wingers *don't* do is claim they're saying this stuff just to piss off liberals. They know *nobody* would be stupid enough to believe that.
