Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Conservative bloggers question my manhood and (may) want to kick my ass 

James Wolcott at Vanity Fair alerted me to the possibility that Jeff Goldstein might want to beat my ass. See, back in the day I got into a roundabout with Jeff G. when he was at Protein Wisdom. Now he's saying that there's about "a half dozen" people who he has "gotten into it" with over the years, whose asses he would kick without hesitation. Gorsh, I hope I'm not on his sh-tlist.


In related news, Avman at Louisiana Conservative responded to my recent post (without bothering to link to it). Avman explains by saying that the video he posted was a joke, and he doesn't really think Mitch Landrieu is racist, but that he stands by his strained Trent Lott/Strom Thurmond parallel. Go read the post if you want, I have trouble teasing out all the backtracking and illogic. Then Avman directs some comments at me:
ever since you started your blog, you’ve been attacking people so don’t give me this self righteous lecture about being a meanie… by the way, I hear you throw a mean punch at your shadow. The difference between you and I is that I’m man enough to face the people I’ve talked about... you hide your identity like you’re Clarke Kent.


"Avman" claims I hide my identity, and that I don't face the people I've talked about. First of all, you really have to be a super sleuth to find out my true identity the way I hide it from everyone. Who could possibly out the oyster? Whatever you do, Avman, don't ask your former blogmate Chad Rogers about me. Rogers knows me, and I was "man enough" to meet him in person at a blogger conference even though I've been his most ferocious online critic. So I don't think the "difference" between Avman and myself is manliness. We'll have to look elsewhere. Perhaps "the difference" is something as simple as me having thumbs, or perhaps it's Avman's willingness to make bold, Abramoffian fashion statements.

[Photo of Avman found on Google removed at Avman's request.]

Nice hat.


In my post I didn't lecture Avman about being "mean" or anything else. I simply responded to his deathless inanity in crushing fashion. I don't have problems with meanieheads, per se, I have problems with stupid lying hacks on stilts who try to sabotage New Orleans.

Naturally Avman has nothing to say about the false claim at the heart of his earlier post regarding the retracted Drudge story about the DNC helping Landrieu. He skips right over that blunder and... whaddya know, he goes on to spew more falsehoods:

But Mitch, you care so much for New Orleans you’d rather smother those ideas with your tired and tried ideas that has brought New Orleans from the city you once knew to the city it became. And it’s not just that, because four years ago, I sat here and said nothing while our Lt. Governor ran for the Mayor of New Orleans, because even though I didn’t like it, you’re not the only one to run for another office while holding one, even if it were a lesser office.

Oh gracious. That's pretty funny. I guess we should review Avman's version of saying "nothing" about Mitch Landrieu's run for office in 2006. Keep this first Avman quote in mind as we review selected excerpts from Avman's Louisiana Conservative blog from the spring of 2006. And please don't skip the last one:

[W]hile debating liberals, I want to win. Not only do I want to win, I want them to feel stupid for disagreeing with me. Okay, that's arrogant, sure but it's my goal.


Post from 2/12/06

We have the Lt. Governor, Mitch Landrieu, running for mayor of New Orleans. Why would anybody leave a position that's just a heartbeat away from being the most powerful man in the state, to run for mayor instead? Sounds like somebody is looking to line his own personal pockets.

Post from 2/22/06

Mitch Landrieu Announced his bid to be the milk in the chocolate city. Headlines in tomorrows paper should be Mitch Vows to Restore Father's Crooked Ways in Nawlins, but no word yet whether or not the Lt. Governor will step down from his currnet position so that Louisiana can have a full time Lt. Governor. Lord knows this state needs somebody ready to go. Question is, how serious is Mitch Landrieu? If he wants to win, shouldn't he step down as Lt. Governor? If he wants to be Lt. Governor, why is he in this race?
Mary Landrieu supported Mitch Landrieu, as if the people in this state needed anymore reason to not like this lady.

From Avman's 4/22/06 "Liberal Sermon XIV" (it's sarcastic, but it shows you how the GOP viewed the last N.O. mayoral election through the lens of partisan, state and national party politics. Most New Orleans residents had bigger worries):

We just got news that Mitch Landrieu and Ray Nagin will meet in the runoff as Nagin failed to muster 50% of the vote. Nagin should have listened to us when we told him he better not try to work with Bush or else.
Now it's too late for Nagin. How dare he put New Orleans over the Democrat party! When we have an opportunity to nail Bush to the cross he should have got out of our way. He's a Democrat, he should know better! He should never put New Orleans as his priority when we are busy trying to destroy a Republican President! Kathleen Blanco followed orders, just as many of you did. You got on your blogs and blamed Bush for everything. You did an excellent job and should be commended. In fact, your work paid off! 57% of the general public believes that George Bush personally ordered Hurricane Katrina to hit only African American nieghborhoods and signed an executive order to delay FEMA from helping out in New Orleans.
However, Nagin refused. He tried to get New Orleans under control. Why on earth would he do something so stupid? He's not fit to be an elected Democratic official. We'll see to it that Mitch Landrieu is the next mayor of New Orleans, even if we have to rig the election to do it. We are the party of compassion, caring, understanding and free speech. We are the party that deserves to be in power. Ray Nagin didn't understand that so and we will make an example out of him!

I'm just going to reprint this one from 5/22/06 nearly in full because, you might say, it's a "keeper". New Orleanians of all flavors can cherish this analysis, especially of Nagin. The first sentence is the title of the post:

Why I Supported the Re-election of Nagin

Many of you outside of Louisiana are completely miffed that so many of us in Louisiana supported the re-election campaign of Ray-cist Nagin, especially after his chocolate city comments. The fact of the matter is, who was better to run the city than Ray Nagin?

Yeah, I read what Michelle Malkin and others had to say, but the fact of the matter is, Republicans put Nagin over the top. It's Nagin that most New Orleans Republicans voted for in the general election. Here's a few reasons why.

Let's take a look at what we had to choose from out of a field of several candidates:

Kimberly Butler.... Here is a most excellent choice, a lady who is facing both criminal charges and civil charges arising during. In her official role in city government, she disobeyed a judges order by not producing official documents as well as facing civil charges from Disney when she used Disney's New Orleans quarters photo from their website on her website touting her for mayor of New Orleans. Class act.

Peggy Wilson.... She had the endorsement of the Republican apparat, but once again, the Louisiana Republican apparat found itself at odds with the common Republican voter. Why does the Louisiana Republican apparat keep insisting that they have so much influence that their endorsement of one candidate over another Republican candidate actually makes us want to vote against the candidate we really like?

Couhig.... Here was the Republican with the best chance but quite frankly, I don't even remember his first name. I'd much rather have seen a Couhig- Nagin runoff than a Landrieu- Nagin runoff.

Mitch Landrieu Need I say more than Landrieu? Son of former mayor Moon Landrieu who helped bring New Orleans to the decadent city that it is (was). Sister of a United States Senator that threatened to punch George Bush, endorsed by Kathleen Blanco, the DNC, and most of the black Democrat apparat? If Mitch had won re-election, it would have been a body blow to Republican hopes for the future of Louisiana, and a sign against President Bush. He also outspent the incumbent mayor more than 6 to 1.

Mayor Ray-Cist Nagin Outside of saying racist and other stupid things, Mayor Nagin wasn't that bad of a mayor. A black mayor, who won by not winning the black vote, but won the white vote, Nagin was making strides in ending corruption in the city. He was a successful businessman, and a prominent black Democrat that endorsed both Bush for President and Republican Bobby Jindal for governor. He was, is, about as Republican as you are going to get within the city of New Orleans. Nagin's re-election is an endorsement for Bush and a sign that Kathleen Blanco really is in deep trouble.

More importantly, it's another lesson to Democrats, don't go into the states and cause trouble, lest ye be defeated. Like Florida and Ohio, the trouble that the Democrat party tried to cause in Louisiana is only helping Republicans.

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Update: It's beyond parody at this point. After bringing the "identity" issue into our debate, and saying that (unlike me) he is "man" enough to "face" the people he talks about, Avman has now reversed himself and is complaining that I crossed the line by posting his photo (which is readily available on the google). Instead of contacting me directly, he consulted a lawyer about it. He's worried I'm obsessed with him (I'm not) and know something about his personal life (I don't).

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posted by oyster @ 6:43 PM
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12 Comments:

Hilarious. Who is this proud Nagin-backing (and husky) Avman?

By Anonymous bigshot, at 8:07 PM  

And a new local character is born.

Avman!!!

Sure to be stalking you looking for a Rumble A La Ellis at the next Rising Tide.

By Anonymous Anonymous, at 8:29 PM  

In all fairness, Nagin had a decent term going before the storm, at least superior to his predecessor. His worst exploits occurred after his reelection. However, saying Nagin's reelection was an "endorsement for Bush" sounds more than a bit weird (because it obviously wasn't) and it sounds terrible in hindsight (because Nagin was so terrible for his entire second term).

(As for myself, I voted for Couhig the first round and simply didn't vote the second round. I couldn't stomach pulling the lever for either Landrieu or Nagin).

By Anonymous Owen Courrèges, at 10:48 PM  

Oyster,

I stand ready to bring a horde (ordu) of Mongolians to your rescue if needed. From the sounds of it I will likely only need 4-5 as the police sound incompetent. Then father sky willing we can rule NO with despotic fairness.

By Anonymous Anonymous, at 11:56 PM  

Owen writes

Nagin had a decent term going before the storm

Um no. I don't actually mean to be flip here (shocking) just not in the mood to go too far into it right now but really no. Worst Mayor Ever 2002 all the way through.

But actually I clicked here to say two things.

1) Couhig.... Here was the Republican with the best chance but quite frankly, I don't even remember his first name. Priceless.

2) Although it's only a pretty good album, Yo La Tengo's I am not afraid of you and I will beat your ass is one of the most brilliantly named records ever.

By Blogger jeffrey, at 12:35 AM  

Jeffrey's right, Owen. I've speculated that Katrina actually helped, rather than hurt, Nagin's reputation. Nagin was heading for a fall, but it might have taken a while because residents weren't paying attention and local journalists weren't willing to admit that a group of people as brilliant as themselves had conned by from the get-go -- it had to have been that Nagin was conned by Charles Rice. This Gambit article was written in March 2005. However, in a conversation with Clancy DuBos as recently as the 2008 Rising Tide, I got the impression that he thought Nagin was more of a nitwit and a dupe than a crook. The T/P also seemed ready to blame the unmistakable smell of corruption at City Hall on Charles Rice, but if you scroll around the Nagin Files, you'll see that most of the stories I've reprinted predate Katrina. I suspect that it would have taken the city going broke after the national economic downturn for Nagin to be totally exposed, because City Hall might not have put under as much of a microscope if not for Katrina. Now I think about it, I guess it is possible that it was Katrina that ruined Nagin's reputation.

By Blogger bayoustjohndavid, at 7:23 AM  

Nagin lost me before Katrina when he said in a radio interview that he was going to turn his attention to helping African Americans.

He didn't say helping the poor or the discriminated against. In reality what he did was turn his attention to helping the Privileged Disadvantaged.

By Blogger mominem, at 12:18 PM  

jeff, bayoustjohndavid,

I only mean "decent" compared with the guys before him. Morial was embarrassing. Nagin wasn't great, but he didn't appear to be corrupt and he had respectable approval ratings (as I recall). However, he completely fell off the wagon after the storm, and some of his mistakes only came to light later. I still mark the storm as a demarcation point.

By Anonymous Owen Courrèges, at 1:21 PM  

GRRRRR
Nobody threatens My Oyster!
(You might be surprised by how good it feels to finally say that:)(Then again perhaps not)
Lemme at'im!
Lemmeeeeee At...im!
Who'dat?

By Anonymous Editilla~New Orleans Ladder, at 3:00 PM  

I am quite over these neocoward Machiavelli'wannabe dip'whips.
They couldn't pee on a tree in a tornado.
They mommas were so strange they had to make a living in Med School Porn.
They daddy's wrote the book on Husbandry.
If Rush Limbaugh has had any children they are hidden away, the Boys from Boca Raton.
If Red Sarah could have any more children she would, and they would be called Lesions of Handmaiden's Tail.
If this latest batch of nasal Republicant Punditry represents the waft of sty from the Public Eye, then lets just put a fork in it and put these pigs out of their misery. We can put them on the Ship with all the God Peoples whom we have already booked passage for The Holy Land. Put them on the Ship with all the God Peoples, send them back to the Holy Land, let them work out their ahem "problem" over there, where Chezus is expected to return like a (Right Hand?) Thief in da'Night.
Most of them are Advanced Rapturists anyway, they'd love it!

Y'all forgive me. I'm losing a beloved friend and just looking for a pick-up game of Kick the NeoCon.

By Anonymous Editilla the Pun, at 3:20 PM  

He looks like a fat, disheveled Zorro...

By Blogger GO, at 12:26 PM  

Owen, you're right about the flood being a demarcation point in terms of public perception, but that doesn't mean he was a good mayor before Katrina -- you can fool all of the people some of the time, especially if they want to be fooled. Because I didn't pay much attention during his first term, I just assumed that the dog-and-pony show that started his first term (taxicab bureau spectacle) was all the reform we'd see out of him because he was a paper tiger. It didn't occur to me that he was corrupt himself until I went online and saw that the local press had reported on widespread waste, cronyism and apparent corruption during his first term. However, that reporting was low key, because it was assumed that it was Charles Rice taking advantage of Nagin's naivete. But, the fact that it takes awhile for somebody's shortcoming to come to light doesn't mean those shortcomings weren't there all along.

I'm not going to fault individual conservatives for either sitting out the runoff or voting for Nagin, because the anti-Nagin case wasn't made very well -- even by most of his harshest critics. I was at least half-serious when, in a comment made on an earlier post, I said that you couldn't fault Couhig and Boulet (a liberal Democrat, btw) for endorsing Nagin -- based on the case* that his worst critics (Clancy DuBos and most bloggers) made against him. However, if you're going to attempt to sway votes with an endorsement there's some obligation to do your own due diligence. As I argued at the time, it was obvious that Nagin's problem was more a lack of effort than a lack of ability. Beyond that, it was obvious to anybody that bothered to look that a whole lot of corruption had been swept under the rug. Ben Edwards' involvement should have been the red flag that caused anybody who considered endorsing Nagin to look. That's especially true of Couhig. Since he spoke in impressive detail about the costs involved in repairing the city's sewerage and water system, Edwards should have been on his radar. It's inconceivable that he wasn't.

* The case against was usually based on incompetence, or even stupidity. However, if I believe an incompetent is going to start listening to my advice, and get a better administration in Baton Rouge and more money from Washington, why shouldn't I think the incompetent will do better with more money and my brilliant advice? I often that most Nagin critics were as dense as Nagin because they missed the obvious criticisms would have led to the conclusion that he didn't really give a shit.

By Blogger bayoustjohndavid, at 8:46 AM