Ed Brayton is a journalist, commentator and speaker. He is the co-founder and president of 
This column is a perfect example of why I find Joseph Farah so endlessly entertaining. In an entire column devoted to convincing people that Barack Obama is a Nazi, he makes a list of all the "similarities" between Obama and Hitler. And it includes this line, delivered without a hint of irony:
Demonizing political opponents
There needs to be a word for this, a word that describes the total lack of self-awareness that allows someone to write something like that with a straight face. Irony isn't strong enough, nor is hypocrisy.
The whole list is hilarious, actually. Nearly every item can be equally, and in some cases far more validly, applied to Bush.
"Government deciding life-and-death issues in dispensing medical care for both older people and those with serious illnesses."
Terri Schiavo, anyone?
"Attacking free expression" and "Secrecy." Care to get into your free speech zone while you are constrained from telling anyone that the FBI has illegally obtained their library records through a blatantly unconstitutional "national security letter"?
"Ignoring the Constitution." You mean like Bush did while you cheered him on for the last 8 years?
Politics
Comments
I think Tard pretty much sums him up.
Posted by: steve s | August 19, 2009 9:24 AM
That word would be Projection.
Posted by: Don Smith | August 19, 2009 9:29 AM
As a friend of mine might put it:
"Hitler contained carbon."
"Cigarettes contain carbon."
"Barack Obama contains carbon."
"Therefore, Barack Obama will give you Nazi cancer."
Posted by: Ranson | August 19, 2009 9:44 AM
I think the word you're looking for is chutzpah.
Posted by: Dunc | August 19, 2009 9:58 AM
Word = Fuckwit. (or *uckwit if we're worried about the children)
Posted by: jimmiraybob | August 19, 2009 10:02 AM
Or, fuckwitian (*uckwitian) to describe the actions and worldview of the fuckwits (*uckwits).
Posted by: jimmiraybob | August 19, 2009 10:06 AM
Farah didn't cheer Bush on for 8 years. He spent a lot of false anger complaining Bush wasn't going far enough.
Posted by: yoshi | August 19, 2009 10:11 AM
"Schadenfreund" is the word I'm looking for*, I'm sure I'll using it descibe my feelings toward this clown really soon*. - ;)DJ
___________________
*Presently: 'scorn', 'distain' and 'contempt' (in that order) would just about hit the mark.
Posted by: DingoJack | August 19, 2009 10:29 AM
"Irocricy" - the condition of hypocrisy carried to such a degree that the sufferer is a walking irony. Noun: irocrite.
Posted by: John Pieret | August 19, 2009 10:51 AM
Possible new words:
Kettleblind
Self-unaware
Piettreacherous
Contemptironic
He does seem to have hit on a whole new level of... whatever it is. Perhaps we could go with the common medical practice of naming it for it's first case, Farah's Dementia.
Posted by: Abby Normal | August 19, 2009 10:56 AM
I got it: "Ironoxious."
Posted by: Tyler | August 19, 2009 10:57 AM
Barney Frank responds to an Obama-Hitler comparison
Posted by: Herod the Freemason | August 19, 2009 11:13 AM
Abby Normal, I like "kettleblind." Has a nice sound to it.
Posted by: Scott Hanley | August 19, 2009 11:26 AM
I also like Kettleblind, easy to remember, nice reference to an old saying, and flows beter than the others when used in a sentence.
Posted by: Ramel | August 19, 2009 11:35 AM
"There needs to be a word for this, a word that describes the total lack of self-awareness that allows someone to write something like that with a straight face. Irony isn't strong enough, nor is hypocrisy."
Chutzpah, no?
Posted by: Ginger Yellow | August 19, 2009 11:40 AM
As bad as Farah and the right wing talk show hosts like Hannity, Limbaugh, Beck, Savage, et al, are, we should take note that yesterday, the world was made a better place by the demise of the biggest scumbag in Washington, columnist Robert Novak. Novak was much worse then the previously mentioned assholes because, unlike them, he was considered by reporters and columnists as one of their own and was almost immune from criticism by them, despite his vile writings, his membership in the fascist Opus Dei Society, and his association with the traitor Robert Hansson who supplied him with much of his so-called scoops and inside information that appeared in his columns. The fact that Novak was accepted by the reporters and columnists in Washington society as a serious commentator is a symbol of everything that is wrong in present day Washington journalism.
Posted by: SLC | August 19, 2009 11:50 AM
SLC @ # 16: ... the biggest scumbag in Washington, columnist Robert Novak.
Aw c'mon - the biggest scumbag in the welterweight class, perhaps.
Posted by: Pierce R. Butler | August 19, 2009 11:55 AM
DJ: did you mean "Schadenfreude," or am I missing something...?
Posted by: Umlud | August 19, 2009 11:58 AM
Another vote for "kettleblind." I like that it is just unusual enough that you have to think about it, if only for a moment.
Posted by: Mystyk | August 19, 2009 12:02 PM
Ramel, to which old saying is kettleblind in reference?
Or, perhaps it could be called not just irony, but morony?
Maybe over-the-top hypocrisy could be called hypobole?
Posted by: Ken | August 19, 2009 12:06 PM
Ken: I assume it's "The pot calling the kettle black."
I'd second Kettleblind.
But, as another option, can we just pull a Santorum and make Farah's name in to the word we're looking for itself?
Posted by: Geds | August 19, 2009 12:11 PM
That's how the dictionary spelt it. (Go figure!)* - DJ
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*but it didn't look right!
Posted by: DingoJack | August 19, 2009 12:14 PM
@Herod #12
That's great. One more reason to love Barney Frank.
@Scott Hanley & Ramel
Glad you like it. By all means please use it. Inventing a new word that becomes popular enough to get added to the dictionary is one of my life goals. It all starts with you. Grok?
Posted by: Abby Normal | August 19, 2009 12:14 PM
Kettleblind is nice, but since the saying goes "The pot calling the kettle black"... how about Potricide? It sort of implies the murdering of truth by twisting it to death.
Posted by: Strummer | August 19, 2009 12:17 PM
I third (or fourth, or whatever number we're at now) the nomination of kettle-blind, but would prefer it more if it was spelled with a hyphen -- the silent "e" could make it difficult for the moronic to read. ;)
Posted by: mercurianferret | August 19, 2009 12:18 PM
So it's settled then: Kettleblind -the total lack of self-awareness that allows someone to write something massivley hypocritical with a straight face.
Posted by: Ramel | August 19, 2009 12:30 PM
ORLY?!?!?!?!?!? YOU WRITE FOR WND AND YOUR ARTICLE IS GOING TO "controversial?" WOW, THIS ARTICLE REALLY ENGAGES THE READER FROM THE START!
But should we expect any less from WingNutDouches?
"Lowering the bar for journalistic mediocrity" - that's what their slogan should be, except these kooks wouldn't be able to reach mediocrity if they were standing on their toes with a yardstick.
Posted by: Elyse >^..^< | August 19, 2009 12:30 PM
Obama's transgressions include....(???)
oh and
(separate bullet point than abortion.)It's all so obvious now...
OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! FOURTH REICH!!!!!!!!! EVERYONE PANIC!!!!!!!!! SAVE THE CHRISTIANS!!!!!!!!!!!
Posted by: Elyse >^..^< | August 19, 2009 12:40 PM
"tu quoque" might be the right term to apply here.
Posted by: Smith Powell | August 19, 2009 12:51 PM
Re Pierce Butler
I meant biggest scumbag in terms of scuminess, not physical size. Novak was actually rather short in physical stature.
Posted by: SLC | August 19, 2009 1:03 PM
ultra-hypocrisy?
Posted by: catgirl | August 19, 2009 1:09 PM
Don't bother with a new word. Just pass the link.
Oh, and any similarities between Joseph Farah and mr Slave are purely coincidental.
Posted by: C.W | August 19, 2009 1:48 PM
Demonizing political opponents
Heh. An ironic post.
Posted by: tom van dyke | August 19, 2009 2:21 PM
Ah yes the ol' Nazis were really a left wing movement gambit I see--and the revisionist's are the one's claimimg it was a right-wing thing. I would like Farah or anyone who really believes this to go to a Nazi skin head rally or a Arayan supremacy meeting and accuse one of them of being a left-winger. Let's see if he gets out of there alive.
Posted by: neokortex | August 19, 2009 3:15 PM
There's just as much of this kind of stuff to be found in Farah's propagandist video maker, Molotov Mitchell. In this video : http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=98644
he bitches about the DHS worrying about right wing extremists, and then IMMEDIATELY afterwards advocates a right wing armed uprising! And that really is the tip of the iceberg with this guy.
Posted by: Mg | August 19, 2009 3:42 PM
"tu quoque" might be the right term to apply here.
Maybe "too tu quoque"?
Posted by: John Pieret | August 19, 2009 4:34 PM
steve s:
"Tard" is a term that should not be used upon any person, even those well deserving of insult. At the same time you insult the bilious felch monkey in question, you are dragging in millions of people with mental disability who do not deserve to have their identity used as a slur.
Posted by: Nentuaby | August 19, 2009 5:18 PM
Nentuaby
Our society has warped the sense of the word retarded. It means, simply, slow and most usually with respect to mental processes. That certainly describes the WND crowd to a T. I also used to retard the timing on my Chevy Nova when tuning it (weekly). Sadly, retarded also has become a slur because it has been used as a pejorative to demean people with a natural mental deficit. Perfectly good word ruined.
Posted by: MikeMa | August 19, 2009 6:44 PM
Mikema,
I'm not sure exactly what you're getting at. Yes, of course "retarded" was once a clinically descriptive term. It is not anymore. It is a slur. The fact that this is unfortunate in terms of the discourse (which it absolutely is) doesn't make it not true; our society is not warped in finding it offensive but in having made it offensive.
Moreover, even if it were not a slur to begin with, using a term to insult somebody else inescapably serves as an insult to those it actually applies to. Exemplia Gratia: "Jewish" is a neutral, factual identity. Yet if the quivering asshole in question were to leave his waitress a 3% gratuity and I were to say "Farah really jewed out on that tip," people would go deservedly ballistic.
There's just no way to say "Person Y is X," in the context of an insult, and not also say "people who are actually X are not deserving of respect." Why else would you even say it?
Posted by: Nentuaby | August 19, 2009 7:28 PM
Nentuaby
Not arguing the slur. We most certainly changed the word so that it cannot be used in the way you state without the insult bouncing back to the insulter. Just lamenting the time in my youth when my neighbor, who had cerebral palsy, was indeed retarded and it was just description of his condition. By the time I was in high school, the term had degenerated into the slur it is today.
Posted by: MikeMa | August 19, 2009 7:59 PM
SLC @ # 30: I meant biggest scumbag in terms of scuminess, not physical size. Novak was actually rather short in physical stature.
Even so - numerous others leave a larger, stinkier and bloodier trail of slime during their stately progress through our nation's capital than the unlamented Novak.
A certain other RN comes immediately to mind, but there are clearly extant and incumbent scumbags who make Novak seem the proverbial Boy Scout. You needn't go further than C Street to meet a panoply of major contenders...
Posted by: Pierce R. Butler | August 19, 2009 8:03 PM
Nentuaby -- aren't you contradicting yourself? On one hand you say "well, it's a slur now, and too bad it is, but that's how it is". On the other, if you used "retarded" (and I don't believe the term "mental retardation" is entirely defunct) in your own example instead of "Jewish", why would people not deservedly go ballistic? Would the outrage be less deserved if "Jewish" were a widespread insult? I may be misunderstanding you, but if the argument is "even if you automatically insult the group whose name you use an insult -- if it's widespread enough, it's fair game", I disagree. Same way I'll never find the use of "gay" as an insult acceptable in any way, and that is very widespread.
Posted by: catta | August 19, 2009 8:10 PM
Catta:
Er, you're entirely and exactly reversing my argument. It was in fact my entire point that, regardless of whether the word begins as a slur or not, using it to insult a third party is insulting and wrong. I only used the example of Jewish identity because people tend to see the hurt in Anti-Semitism more readily than in cases of Ablism.
Posted by: Nentuaby | August 19, 2009 8:20 PM
I have it on good authority that Hitler totally ignored the United States Constitution.
Posted by: Anton Mates | August 19, 2009 8:56 PM
Well, here's one set of definitions:
–noun 3. a slowing down, diminution, or hindrance, as in a machine.
4. Slang: Disparaging. a. a mentally retarded person.
b. a person who is stupid, obtuse, or ineffective in some way: a hopeless social retard.
5. Automotive, Machinery. an adjustment made in the setting of the distributor of an internal-combustion engine so that the spark for ignition in each cylinder is generated later in the cycle.
We call people a lot of names here, some of them offend some folks, others offend other folks.
Posted by: democommie | August 19, 2009 11:40 PM
Kettleblind FTW!
Posted by: Woof | August 20, 2009 12:47 AM
Posted by: Snoof | August 20, 2009 1:33 AM
Re Pierce Butler
Opus Dei is the Roman Catholic counterpart to C Street.
Posted by: SLC | August 20, 2009 6:51 AM
SLC @ 48 - My representative, Bart Stupak, who lives at C Street and who Jeff Sharlet identified as an active member of The Family, is also a Catholic. I'm not disputing your post, merely adding some additional perspective.
Posted by: Michael Heath | August 20, 2009 7:31 AM
Loonocrisy
Posted by: JC | August 20, 2009 8:19 AM
SLC @ # 48: Opus Dei is the Roman Catholic counterpart to C Street.
Well, when ya put it that way...
But still - how does blowing one of the few CIA operations that people around the world and across the political spectrum could approve of (countering nuclear weapons proliferation) really compare to knowingly perpetuating a denial of health care to millions of one's fellow citizens or exacerbating future massive climate disruptions for the sake of petty venality?
Scumbagginess, as a multidimensional phenomenon, requires an elaborate set of measurements and calculations. If Novak scores the lowest numbers on the X axis, while (say) Inhofe is at the bottom on the Y axis and Rove on Z, which one takes home the nickel-plated Scummy award at the end of the night?
Posted by: Pierce R. Butler | August 20, 2009 10:07 AM
The problem with using "chutzpah" is that there is a strong connotation the the impudence results from deliberate decision, rather than (as I suspect Ed would prefer implying) resulting from complete ability for self-introspective cognition.
"Kettleblind" seems the best single choice presented. Perhaps the combination of "kettleblind chutzpah" might give the desired nuance?
Pierce R. Butler: If Novak scores the lowest numbers on the X axis, while (say) Inhofe is at the bottom on the Y axis and Rove on Z, which one takes home the nickel-plated Scummy award at the end of the night?
Whichever one steals it. Duh.
Posted by: abb3w | August 20, 2009 12:32 PM
Nobody takes the "Scummy" home. It's a likeness of a hagfish, complete with a slime generator, makes a greased pig seem like it's got handgrips.
Abby Normal:
I was thinking KettlePah but that got me into thinking about a Ma & Pa Kettle retrospective.
Posted by: democommie | August 20, 2009 3:01 PM
I also vote for "kettleblind". It is full of awesome.
Posted by: Jason Baur | August 20, 2009 4:16 PM
It is reassuring to read herein; people of intellect & humor , rating the various low lifes that ran the USA for the past eight years, & the pundits that mischaractetize evrything decent & smacking of liberty & justice for all. Do be careful , though, that you don't end up with E-coli infections while immersed in such primordial & fecal slime.
I'd like to suggest that the name Robert knight be added to the the anencephalic list of public figures whose rhetoric could easily incite violence; like Coulter , Limbaugh , & Beck. In a reprinted with permission article on the badly misnamed webite "Concerned Women for America' , entitled 'The undeclared war to ENDA our liberty'.That the opening line is somewhat of a suggestion is self evident." Massive spending & the federal power grab are driving the brave talks of dispatching the scoundrels & restoring constitutional government. I hope & pray that it happens."
Posted by: Hugh (Bart) Vincelette | August 20, 2009 6:02 PM
Your second commenter was exactly right, you're describing what Freud called "projection."
http://tinyurl.com/a7a2r
I don't mean to dampen the fun of making up a new word but this is an old discussion and it's silly to manufacture a word when there is one and it means exactly what you want to say.
Projection was a frequent topic of discussion among liberal bloggers several years back. It was used so prevalently that the right wing bloggers finally picked up on it and started throwing it back at the left (getting the concept as 180• wrong as Farah does).
Posted by: Mark Gisleson | August 20, 2009 9:53 PM
I think that the "Bullshit catapult" meme was a good one.
Posted by: democommie | August 21, 2009 7:49 AM
Posted by: Modusoperandi | August 21, 2009 4:02 PM