Monday, August 17, 2009

In Which Dick Armey Is A Patronizing Ass

It's been over 24 hours and I'm still seething about Rachel's appearance yesterday on MTP. Every time she said anything, smarmy Armey would look around the table with a patronizing smile on his face. "Oh look, the girl thinks she has something to say." Aaagghh! And shame on Gregory for not forcing Armey to answer any of her questions directly. She asks question A, he answers unasked question F, and David Gregory lets it happen. And Rachel staying true to form, never gets shouty, even when maybe she should have.

I'm doing a thought experiment right now in which I imagine I am Rachel facing the rest of the MTP panel. Do I argue harder, louder, even though it's not my thing? Is it a women's issue, in which we rarely try to outshout men? I have another theory. Most of the people that I know from large families are better at getting their voice heard than people from smaller families. Like Rachel, I grew up in a two kid family, where we rarely interrupted one another, mostly because it wasn't necessary. Kids from large families had to work harder to have their voices heard, so they will talk over someone else more readily. Maybe that plays into it too. Or maybe she just has better manners than that asshat Armey!

And to add insult to injury, Rachel was forced by the tyranny of television into wearing girly shoes.

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8 comments:

  1. UnknownAugust 17, 2009 at 6:08 PM

    I don't know. I think a lot of her strength in these situations lies in coming across as the calm, rational, educated person in the debate. Next to her, Armey was squirming and wringing his hands and coming across as, well, a dick. It was impossible to forget that he'd just lost his job thanks in part to Rachel's reporting. Plus, the points she was allowed to make (thanks for nothing, David Gregory) were solid hits - like quoting Armey's stance on Social Security - that effectively cast doubt on everything else Armey had been saying over the whole hour.

    I think the real question is, do we as a country still give credit to the people with superior debating skills, or does the noisiest person always win? I try not to think of that question too much, because it depresses me.

    I also wish Rachel could have worn her sneakers. However, I've seen pictures of her dress shoes before and I want a pair just like them; they're stylish and practical and generally awesome. It's so funny how you have to force Rachel to dress up, but when she does she starts fashion trends like crazy.

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  2. SabrinaAugust 17, 2009 at 10:54 PM

    Let me talk about the 'important' stuff first :P

    Althought I was disappointed that she didn't wear the sneakers, those dress shoes do look hot on her. And I loved it when she took them off to show David *fans self* ....AHEM, ANYWAYS...

    Dick Armey was such a jerk! URGH ....! He wouldn't even look at Rachel when he talked to her - which I found so insulting. WHY was he doing that??! Is it because she is a liberal? A lesbian? A woman? Reports the truth? All of the above? She also kept getting interuppted and wasn't even given time to speak..so it kinda sucked but it was amazing to see Rachel there and refute some of the lies and make some really good points. I hope a lot of people who didn't know of her before, now do and tune into her show :)

    One moment of the show, I thought was so funny though. When Armey leaned over to look at Rachel's notes as she was reading from them LOL! He must be thinking, "What is that"? "Actual FACTS on a subject"? :P

    I hope they invite her again sometime...I can't stand Sunday morning political talk shows, oh jeez...every channel from NBC to CBS have on the most annoying conservatives who just sput their lies on and on. To have someone like Rachel there is a breath of fresh air - just next time, I hope they let her talk more.

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  3. ConchExPatAugust 18, 2009 at 12:15 AM

    I noticed Armey trying to crib from Rachel's notes as well. I saw it as, "Fuck, what ELSE does she have written down there?" I'm with you Chris - thinking about the spoils going to the loudest rather than the smartest depresses me too. And how is it so many people can be distracted by their Land Shark hysterics? (If that is too obscure a reference, hie thyself off to Ye Olde YouTube.)

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  4. UnknownAugust 18, 2009 at 1:06 AM

    Conch, check out Rachel's Twitter stream. She just posted an article by Rick Perlstein on the history of craziness in politics.

    Actually, here's the link:
    http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/08/14/AR2009081401495.html

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  5. GailAugust 18, 2009 at 3:24 AM

    If only she'd have beaten ol' Dickcrust over the head with her grown up shoe...."You. Filthy. Creep. You. Filthy. Creep." Whack, whack, whack. Whack, whack, whack.

    Pundit for the win! Swish, all air, baby.

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  6. Karen WintonAugust 18, 2009 at 2:35 PM

    I was so mad when I watched MTP at what a git Dick Armey was that I went on a minor tweet-rant. He's now following me on Twitter..... Do all Texans have guns? Should I be afraid? Thank goodness that the Atlantic ocean and a fair bit of land separates us!
    When he wasn't busy being evasive you could so tell that he was lying his arse off, he was red faced, sweaty and twitchy. I'm so impressed that Rachel kept calm and didn't beat him to death with her funky shoes.

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  7. SabrinaAugust 19, 2009 at 10:31 AM

    Karen, he's following you on twitter???

    That's creepy!!!

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  8. mommapoliticoAugust 23, 2009 at 12:05 AM

    Dick Armey could only be more appropriately named if his name was "Tiny Dick" and his last name was "Wad"! How cool to have harassed him into following your tweets, Karen! She was really pissing him off, and he kept acting like a condescending ass to try to throw her off. But her cooler head prevailed! Rache ROCKS, and smart still wins at the end of the day!

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