Interesting Back Story on @matthewstoller Getting Punched In The Face

Sep 20 2008 Published by under Bloggers, Craziness, Crime, Dating, Sex, Stuck On Stupid

The Blog World Expo is bringing people together across the partisan divide. I have had some really interesting discussions with some people on the left. As a result, it seems I owe Matt Stoller an apology.

I had previously posted on Matt Stoller’s late spring run in with the business end of a fist, and didn’t have the story quite right. My earlier post was based on a report that Matt had an argument with someone that turned violent. While I still stand by the person who gave me the story, it seems there was a little more to it than meets the eye.

Matt has always claimed that the guy sucker punched him. When he made that claim here, I pointed out that I have been in a lot of fights, have never been hit or thrown a punch without knowing exactly why that happened, and was pretty sure Matt knew why he got hit.

Well it turns out that Matt did get hit out of the blue, but the story of why was still untold – but I was right, Matt knows why.

The story was the ex-boyfriend of Matt’s then girlfriend saw the two of them together, and punched Matt in the face. That appears to be true.

Sources, however, tell me there was a bit more going on. It seems Matt was banging the assailant’s girlfriend while she and he were engaged to be married. Mr. Fisticuffs was apparently a little upset that trust fund baby was nailing his fiance. When given the opportunity to exact a little payback on Stoller, he took it.

As I said at the time of the original post, “I suspect there is at least a fair probability that it was provoked.” Turns out I was right.

On a related note, conversation also turned to a psychoanalysis of the type of girl that would date Matt to begin with. There was heated debate over whether she must have serious daddy issues or simply massively low self-esteem.

Consensus was reached on one point, however. In trying to describe the awkward thought of Matt and his paramour being in union, everyone agreed it probably went something like this:

(As young lass is trying to pleasure Matt, she hears) No. Nobody does it that way. Anyone who does it like that must be stupid and not worth my time… It feels awkward… Like knowing that John McCain will die of cancer in office… By the way, did I mention that Republicans are all racist? They are…

One note of caution, Matt. Watch out for those teeth when your girl wakes up to your bullshit.

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@MatthewStoller: Getting It Wrong For 30 Years

Aug 25 2008 Published by under Stuck On Stupid

After my post this weekend regarding Matt Stoller’s venomous attack on cancer patients (oh, and John McCain, too), it looks like some others have been doing some digging on Matt’s unsubstantiated claims.

Jon Henke at the next right also took issue with Stoller’s claim that POWs suffer more illness than others. What did he find?

Stoller provided no citation for his claim – and I cannot imagine what the link could be between being a former POW and getting cancer (he does not offer suggestions) – so I checked. According to a Institute of Medicine study of WWII and Korean War POW’s, he’s wrong.

In summary, excepting psychiatric illness, this report shows little evidence of wide spread ill health among former prisoners of war compared with their non-POW veteran counterparts.

While there are some medical conditions associated with POW’s, they are largely things like joint pain and issues related to the physical duress. These are quality-of-life, and not mortality, issues. Otherwise, there is “little evidence of wide spread ill health among former” POW’s.

The Institute of Medicine study did except psychiatric illnesses – which, I assume consists of PTSD, readjustment to civilian life and the like – which would seem in one degree or another to most veterans of war. I checked on that, as well. According to the Journal of the American Medical Association, which did research specifically on the subject of “the relative cognitive status of US Navy Vietnam-era POWs”…

The few statistically significant differences between repatriated POWs and controls showed better intellectual functioning in the POWs.

Yup. As I suspected, Matt Stoller just made that up – as he does with most of his “facts”. There is little to support the idea that POWs suffer anymore health problems than others, and in fact, POWs seemed to be more mentally acute, rather than less.

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When Are The Democrats Going To Denounce Matt Stoller?

Aug 23 2008 Published by under Bloggers, Craziness, Stuck On Stupid

My dear friend Matthew “Go Ahead Punch Me In The Face” Stoller is at it again.

It is very likely that McCain has cancer or some other serious illness. There’s no reason McCain wouldn’t let reporters look at his records otherwise. McCain is 72 years old and he was a POW, a member of a group with high rates of illness due to ill-treatment on the part of their captors.

Stoller makes the claim that McCain is hiding something despite the fact that earlier in the same post he points out that reporters were invited to look at his records – albeit with conditions. It’s simply not true that McCain won’t let the media look at them (as Matt states before contradicting himself). What McCain refused to do is let our ridiculous stable of yellow journalists give him a drive by colonoscopy, so to speak. He chose not to let them pour over every minute detail looking for something they could exploit to make news.

Stoller, compared to real journalists, doesn’t actually need facts. He just makes stuff up, or quotes what sounds like they might actually be facts without ever backing them up. For instance:

[McCain] was a POW, a member of a group with high rates of illness due to ill-treatment on the part of their captors.

Is that true? Sounds like it could be, but who knows. Did he actually do any research to verify that claim? He certainly didn’t cite a source. Did he make it up? It would be his style.

Further, Matt jumps clearly afield with this little bit of stupidity

Cancer is relevant to the Presidency. Misleading the press about one’s health is relevant to the Presidency. This is not just a dude looking for a job, he’s going to have his hand on the nuclear trigger. Imminent death from a terminal disease kind of skews your perspective on this, you know what I’m saying?

Actually, Matt, I have no idea what your saying. Most people that I have been close to who died after a long fight with terminal illness (three grandparents among them), had developed an incredible respect for life. They had come to intimately understand the fragile nature of it and felt it was precious – not something to throw away.

Stoller, on the other hand, seems to imply that someone close to death from a terminal disease would be more than happy to take those around him down with them. That’s simply not a logical argument to make if you account for the number of deathbed confessions, last minute searches for God, and people trying to reconcile themselves with the great beyond.

Yesterday I was challenged by a pair of lefty Twitter users for not denouncing Jerome Corsi, an extremist fruit cake unfortunately aligned with the GOP. Now, anybody who has asked me about Corsi’s book has heard me decry his brand of venom. I had not, however, posted on the topic, so somehow I was abetting Corsi.

If that’s the measure we are to use, where are the Democrats who will step up and denounce Stoller for his repeated and over-the-top, Anne Coulter-esque diatribes? Why is the left, which was quick to challenge me, so unwilling to call out Matt Stoller and his absurd rants?

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An Open Challenge to Matt Stoller

Jun 18 2008 Published by under Bloggers, Candidates, Democrats, Elections, Political Parties, Politics, Polls, Republicans, The Internet

I recently wrote a post about the fact that someone punched Matt Stoller in the face, and suggested it might have had something to do with him accusing people of being racist at every opportunity. Matt even weighed in and (correctly) pointed out that the post I had linked to was not drafted by him. He didn’t argue that charge that he likes to cry racism, he just argued the post’s authorship.

Well now he’s at it again.

In a post referring to an overtly racist pin some jackass was selling at the Texas GOP convention, Matt can’t help but make the claim that this is evidence of rampant racism in the Republican Party.

Every time I go on C-Span, and I’ve been on five times now, I get asked about race by callers on both sides. And while I try to make the point that the Republican Party is pretty racist on an institutional basis, the regular Republican activists are just so much more eloquent at expressing this point themselves.

His Twitter post of the same linked post said simply:

Texas Republicans, adorably racist as usual

Now this isn’t the first time Stoller has leveled this charge against Republicans. In a February 2006 post about a commenter at RedState, he claims to throw the term around sparingly.

I don’t throw around the racist word very often, because to me it is a very very serious charge. But there’s no other way to say it; this right-wing blogger ‘Blanton’ at Redstate is racist, and all the commenter freaks nodding in frothing agreement to his screed seem mighty close as well.

Yet his Twitter post, his current piece on the pin, his post on McCain’s “racist dogwhistle” in Meridian, a March 2006 post about the GOP’s “deeply racist institutional nature” and other Stoller diatribes have been pretty loose with the term and the generalization that Republicans are racist. (Granted, the McCain post was later updated to reflect his error, but how many of the people who linked initially updated their posts later to note his retraction?)

So a guy who claims to be conservative in the frequency with which he levels that particular charge uses some pretty generalized language whenever he does.

I find this interesting give the Democratic Primary voters who indicated that race was the sole or significant factor in casting their vote. Based on exit polls in a variety of states, you could easily argue that 15-20% of the Democratic base is racist. They openly declared that they voted based on that, or it was a significant factor in their decision.

So here’s my challenge to Matt…

I have $100 for him and will, on the day after the election, issue via this blog, TheNextRight, RedState, and TechPresident both a public apology for my “black eye post” as well as a formal acknowledgement that my party is more racist than the Democrats.

The conditions

On election day, if the final exit polls show Republican voters are significantly more racist, I will give Matt the hundred dollars and the apology. (By significantly, I’ll propose a 10% variation – so if Democrats report 15%, the Republicans can be no higher than 16.5%. If the Democrats are 20%, the Republicans can’t exceed 22%)

If, however, the number of Republicans who say that they voted based on race is lower than, or not significantly higher than the number of Democrats who say the same, Matt will give me $100 and post on OpenLeft, MyDD, and DailyKos a written statement that he is wrong, and Republicans are not institutionally racist, and his own party, is in fact, more so.

Pu your money where your mouth is, Matt. How sure are you about the GOP given your own party’s proclivity to declare their racism openly?

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It Was Just A Matter Of Time Before Someone Punched Matt Stoller

May 14 2008 Published by under Craziness, Miscellany

I’m not normally one to find amusement in the misfortune of others, but I found this hysterical.

Stoller's Black Eye

You can only go around calling every single person you meet a racist for so long before one of them punches you in the face. I’m not positive that’s what happened, and other than complaining about headaches and pain, he’s been pretty tight lipped about it.

My understanding is the story begins with “I was outside a bar in New York City…”

Since no story with a happy ending starts that way, that should have been warning enough. But here’s the dialog that I assume preceded the thumping.

(camera pulls back to reveal Matt Stoller standing outside a bar. Thor, a large heavy set biker walks out the door behind him and taps Matt on the shoulder)

Thor: Did I hear you say something about me you skinny little shit?

Matt: Um, no sir.

Thor: You didn’t call me a racist?

Matt: Oh that? Well yeah, of course I did.

Thor: How do you figure I’m a racist you scrawny white puke?

Matt: Well gee, Mr. Biker, you’re drinking a light beer. Everyone knows that drinking light beer is a reflection of your negative views toward people of color. Only white supremacists drink light beer, just like only homophobes drink Zima.

Thor: You little punk, I’m drinking light beer because it’s on special. And not that it matters, but for your information, I’m half black.

Matt: You see. It’s a classic case of a self-loathing rac—-

(cut to scene of Stoller holding his eye and lying in a pool of his own urine as Thor walks back inside.)

Now I don’t have any witnesses that can confirm this is what happened, but it’s the scene that has been playing over and over in my head since I saw the picture.

Oh, and by the way, check out the number of comments on the post that say, “I used to get my ass beat by bullies in high school…” I get the sense that this is what happens to the kids of those hippies that thought teaching non-violence to kids was a good idea. We’re raising a whole generation of douchebags that won’t be able to take a beating without whining about it.

Sooner or later in life you’re going to get punched in the face – either physically or metaphorically. Take it like a man and move on.

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