And right about there is the place Erick Erickson jumped the shark.
Recall, dear reader, the story of Republican proto-presidential candidate Mike Huckabee shilling for extremely sketchy
cinnamon-based diabetes cures and prepackaged survival food. Have you recalled that? Good.
Shot:
“This is a plague on conservatives,” said Erick Erickson, the founder of the influential blog Red State, who has criticized ads for products and outside political groups that he calls “hucksters,” which prey on conservatives.
While a radio or TV host might not be able to choose his sponsors, Mr. Huckabee can presumably pick who he sells space to on email commentaries. “I don’t know that a potential presidential candidate should be running survival food ads,” Mr. Erickson said.
Chaser:
While the Times gave Erickson a platform to contrast himself favorably with "hucksters," Erickson's own RedState site has repeatedly sold out its readers to the very same groups.
For example, RedState sent out a paid advertisement last month featuring the Huckabee diabetes infomercial that was the focus of the Times article.
A plague, you say.
Blast from the Past. At Daily Kos on this date in 2005—Torturing People Can Be Fun:
Eugene Volokh created quite a dustup when he endorsed the notion that torturing people before killing them can sometimes be a good thing:
I like civilization, but some forms of savagery deserve to be met not just with cold, bloodless justice but with the deliberate infliction of pain, with cruel vengeance rather than with supposed humaneness or squeamishness. I think it slights the burning injustice of the murders, and the pain of the families, to react in any other way.
And, yes, I know this aligns me in this instance with the Iranian government -- but even a stopped clock is right twice a day, and in this instance the Iranians are quite correct.
Hey, it's not just the Iranian government. Radical religious conservatives throughout the world agree: torturing people Can Be Fun. (Plus, it's a great outing for the family!)
Tweet of the Day
NOAA: This winter was the warmest on record, and last month was the 2nd warmest February on record - @washingtonpost
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— @LOrion
On
today's Kagro in the Morning show: sorting out the press narratives on the Aaron Schock resignation.
Greg Dworkin brings us Israeli election results, and notes a new poll showing no eGhazi impact & little other change. Seems James O'Keefe is back at it. Something, something, Donald Trump. Having been in transit and missed the opportunity to comment on Schock,
Joan McCarter joins us from even further west than usual. She considers whether Boehner is really ready to surrender the "doc fix" hostage, the Senate's use of Loretta Lynch as a hostage on the unrelated trafficking bill, and her fascinating look at the physical undersea infrastructure of the Internet.
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