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Home » You wouldn’t think it possible to make Kathy Griffin look relatively tactful in comparison

You wouldn’t think it possible to make Kathy Griffin look relatively tactful in comparison

The New Neo Posted on by

But it’s been accomplished by Ken Jennings, he of Jeopardy fame and author of children’s books.

Why do I say Jennings made Griffin look relatively tactful? Well, she targeted Trump is a stunningly tasteless way, but Jennings not only did that but also mocked 11-year-old Barron Trump:

“Barron Trump saw a very long necktie on a heap of expired deli meat in a dumpster,” Jennings tweeted on Wednesday. “He thought it was his dad & his little heart is breaking.”

The atmosphere of Twitter, where pithy comments of ever-escalating boldness are rewarded (that tweet of Jennings has garnered over 23,000 “likes”), encourages this sort of supposed witticism. Jennings’ tweet has also drawn much heated criticism, even from those who don’t like Trump, just as Griffin’s photo-op with the severed head did.

Now, in a recent press conference (see this), Griffin made it clear that she sees herself as the victim. And her lawyer sees Jennings as a fellow victim of Trump and his family.

You can’t make this stuff up. And who would want to?

That’s a rhetorical question.

Comments

You wouldn’t think it possible to make Kathy Griffin look relatively tactful in comparison — 47 Comments

  1. I guess we could have seen this coming. There’s never any real personal responsibility is there?.

  2. One upside to this: We now better know who the real liberal nuts are. I hope both of their careers are ruined.

  3. I find Jennings even more reprehensible. She’s only guilty of going “too far” in an already absurd realm in which comedy is defined. His excuse? For me, personally, it drives home the huge distinction between “knowledge” and “wisdom”. He is known for possessing knowledge, but has proven himself remarkably devoid of wisdom.

  4. I am a BIG Jeopardy fan; but, I stopped watching while Jennings was winning.

    Something about him just made me not like the guy and not care about his winning streak – I guess my “intuition” was spot on.

  5. On the theory that “There is no such thing as bad publicity,” I think both got bad advice. There is such a thing.

  6. Lisa Bloom, Griffin’s attorney, is the daughter of Gloria Allred. ‘Nuff said?

  10. I was serious in the journalist-punching thread. These people need to learn that their insane hate and petty viciousness has consequences. Ken Jennings needs to get serious, frightening death threats daily for a year. Kathy Griffin needs to be unemployable forever. Or both of them need to get punched.

    Ace had a post about this a few days ago: until now the Left has never suffered consequences for their revolting madness. Republicans have been nice guys and tried to “rise above it.” That only encouraged the Left. They could spew horrible hate and lies, laugh at how cruel they could be, and suffer no ill effects. Of course they kept doing it — and kept amping up the vileness, vying with each other to outdo themselves in being obscene, dishonest, and hateful.

    To save them from themselves, we have to start imposing consequences on them. If a few broken noses or destroyed careers are what is required, then so be it.

    The alternative to punching is letting the violent craziness boil over into bloodshed. We’re on the verge of that right now. Ironically, Based Stick Man and Gianforte may show the way to preventing worse violence.

  11. If not irredeemable as in beyond redemption, both have demonstrated themselves to be deplorables. Griffin is morally incapable of sincere remorse. Proven by her now claiming to be a victim.

    In verbally attacking a child, Jennings reveals himself to be bereft of even basic decency.

    Some people are just no damn good.

  13. I do not think Neo will approve of us “fighting back” with anything other than words.
    The left’s conduct is rooted in nobility. A counterpunch is fascist.

  15. Ann,

    I didn’t know that Bloom was Gloria Allred’s daughter. Explains a lot. And Jennings might be highly intelligent, but clearly lacking in basic common sense and human decency.

    Sad! Truly.

  16. Trimegistus Says:
    June 2nd, 2017 at 9:03 pm..

    Ace had a post about this a few days ago: until now the Left has never suffered consequences for their revolting madness. Republicans have been nice guys and tried to “rise above it.” That only encouraged the Left. They could spew horrible hate and lies, laugh at how cruel they could be, and suffer no ill effects. Of course they kept doing it – and kept amping up the vileness, vying with each other to outdo themselves in being obscene, dishonest, and hateful.

    To save them from themselves, we have to start imposing consequences on them. If a few broken noses or destroyed careers are what is required, then so be it.

    The alternative to punching is letting the violent craziness boil over into bloodshed.

    * *
    I agree that Griffin is kind of in the position of being the only guy being pulled over for speeding when everyone else on the highway is doing it too — see the endless fantasies of assassinating George Bush, and the particularly nasty things thrown at Sarah Palin and her family. (and the post linked below).

    However, if we start down the violence-in-vengeance road, we really would be just like the Muslims killing cartoonists.

    The response, as the 2A folks would say, is disproportionate to the offense.

    The proper response is not broken noses and punching back, but it is appropriate to call out, then shun, deplorable behaviour, not to reward it.

    If the result is a destroyed career, then that’s the game that the Left has been imposing on the rest of us for quite some time now, and if they can’t stand losing they should re-think their own rules.

    Contrary to Ace’s comment, I do think (some) conservatives have pushed back against the vileness of the Left, just to no effect, since the Left has a lock on popular culture and public institutions; and the “boiling over” led in part to the election of DJT.

    However, Griffin was indeed playing to an audience who actively encouraged similar excesses in the past, and whose perps skated, and she clearly didn’t know she had crossed the line until too late.

    Kind of like the old engineering answer to how you figure out the load limit of a bridge: drive trucks over until it fails, then rebuild it and post a sign.

    In re punching out noxious reporters, that seems a little more proportionate, as it is matching a specific physical defense to a specific physical offense, even if triggered by a general milieu:
    http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2017/06/thoughts-from-the-ammo-line-170.php

    I suppose now would be a good time to make the obligatory disclaimer that I do not condone or engage in any body-slamming, except gently in the privacy of my own bedroom, and not in the political arena for sure. And also that these views do not reflect those of the Power Line Boys (except Scott on a really bad day), their wives, journalist children, or any of their sponsors or advertisers, or the advertisers’ relatives or household help. But COME ON.

    We have all seen a reporter ask “How do you feel right now?” to a (pick one): World Series losing pitcher who is crying; shell-shocked woman whose home has just been blown away by a tornado; or devastated little girl who has just lost the Little Miss Contest, while shoving a microphone and camera into his or her face.

    Breathes there a man with soul so dead who never to himself has said, “That obnoxious, intrusive, misery-monger needs a good strong smack to the head”?

    We have all seen a Presidential press conference of a Republican president in which, to take but one example, the late and unlamented Helen Thomas would screech the same “asked and answered” question about “murderous, overreacting Israelis” over and over again.

    We have all read of 60 Minutes programs routinely interviewing their targets for hours and hours and then carefully editing all that footage to get exactly the “gotcha” spin they want. Sometimes even featuring an “answer” to a completely different question.

    And that doesn’t make you occasionally want to hit someone? No? Seriously? Well, you’re a better man than I am, Gunga Din.

    …

    The Left has done a heckuva LOT “before that.” Our speakers are shouted down with impunity. And that’s if they can even fight their way through the masked, ISIS-costumed, rioting antifas to a venue. If the sponsoring group has ponied up enough insurance (ransom) against the left’s violence. For eight long years, the mildly conservative Fox News was attacked by the President and his lickspittles, who would tolerate nothing but cringe-worthy fawning.

    And don’t give me, “We’re just as bad as they are if we engage in ‘violence.’” No, we aren’t. There really is such a thing as self-defense. As “Stand Your Ground.” Every child over the age of five understands the injustice of moral equivalence when “He started it.” They started it; they have been engaging in physical violence since long before the election. It’s way past time to say, “Hold my beer.”

  17. Traditional wisdom is correct that intelligence is a poor indicator of moral quality.

  18. “To save them from themselves, we have to start imposing consequences on them.”

    I understand there are conservative groups going after sponsors of Madcow and Morning Joe.

  19. Liz Says:
    June 2nd, 2017 at 10:08 pm
    Wow,what a news cycle! I read this and thought of an article —

    https://townhall.com/columnists/kurtschlichter/2017/05/29/liberals-are-shocked-to-find-were-starting-to-hate-them-right-back-n2332712

    Granted, Schlichter is crude and I don’t always agree with him, but he has a point that conservatives will start fighting back and the libs will be shocked.
    * * *
    I read that post a couple of days ago and concur.

    However, it is best that the fighting be confined to words, and to the type of non-violent but still-vicious games the Left has excelled at, thinking it could poke at the bear without repercussion forever.

    That the consequences for offensive behavior have only flowed in one-direction is about to stop.
    To wit:
    * * *
    Mike K Says:
    June 2nd, 2017 at 10:55 pm
    “To save them from themselves, we have to start imposing consequences on them.”

    I understand there are conservative groups going after sponsors of Madcow and Morning Joe.

    * * *
    There are indeed.
    http://www.lifezette.com/polizette/right-begins-to-fight-conservatives-launch-offensive-against-hate-tv/

    Conservative groups are going on the offensive following the near takedown of Fox News host Sean Hannity and are pledging to use an “army” of activists to stop the left-wing media’s attempts at character assassination.

    “Every network and cable news channel is today on notice that the MRC will be closely monitoring their leftist opinion programs and informing their advertisers and the American public when these programs and hosts go beyond political commentary and engage in smear, hate, and political extremism,” Brent Bozell of the Media Research Center said on Wednesday in announcing his organization’s launch of a new campaign.
    …
    “Every time one of their on-air personalities go beyond political commentary and engage in smear and hate, we are going to unleash an army of activists to contact these advertisers by phone and through social media to ask them why they are advertising on programs that are so biased, repulsive, and morally bankrupt,” said Bozell.

    It’s a change of tune for the organization Bozell founded in 1987, which has focused on research, posting their findings online, but not usually with calls to action.

    Why now?

    “Because I’m sick and tired of these left-wing assassination campaigns,” Bozell told LifeZette on Wednesday. “We’re going to respond once and for all.”

    The new spirit of fight on the right is coming from several corners, and is fueled by an anger at the bullying tactics of leftists who have set out to silence all conservative and libertarian voices.
    …
    Other conservative groups have sprung up as well and are joining the fight to defend Hannity and others from left-wing campaigns by Media Matters for America, co-founded by Hillary Clinton and funded by Hungarian billionaire George Soros.

    One of them is the Media Equality Project, which announced its founding in a press release from New York on May 30, saying along with the Twitter hashtag “#StoptheScalpings” it will “push back against the attempt to silence those who dare to ask tough questions and pursue truth.” The group is organized by talk radio personalities Brian Maloney and Melanie Morgan.

    David Brock founded Media Matters in 2004, working with Soros to end Glenn Beck’s cable TV career and get Lou Dobbs fired from CNN.

    Media Matters may be better funded than all of the groups on the right put together. But money’s not all that matters, and in the age of email, Twitter and Facebook – all of them free – it may matter much less than it used to.

    “They’ve got lots of money, but we’ve got a following. They don’t,” says Bozell.

  20. This is the closest topic to fighting back, although in this case it is against inane attacks perpetrated by alleged conservatives.

    http://thefederalist.com/2017/06/01/washington-posts-fake-conservative-blogger-hated-the-paris-deal-until-trump-opposed-it/

    (the headline pretty much says it all, but the evidence for spurious principles is abundant)

    http://libertyunyielding.com/2017/06/02/david-brooks-disses-trump-competition-nation-state-ancient-athens/

    (I read Brooks’ column earlier today and couldn’t face the degree of Fisking required to rebut it, but Dyer covers the territory well.)

  21. Ok…Dear host…a hypothetical…

    What book or class would make either Griffin or Jennings give up this sort of behaviour?

    Short of that aforementioned (by Trimegistus) punch in the face?

    Outside of a personal spiritual conversion…I’m not seeing anything but a doubling down by the left. And people of good conscience & decent moral fibre are starting to think that we’ve about had e-freaking-nough. It won’t be long until Trimegistus & others like him start acting out their own suggestions.

  22. John Guilfoyle:

    Whoever said that a book or class would affect anyone and everyone, no matter how far gone?

    What a strange thought. And it’s certainly not one I’ve ever had, or ever expressed.

    The most I ever said is that I don’t believe everyone on the left is unreachable. Of course, that is not the same thing as saying that everyone on the left is reachable. I think that some number—and I made it clear I don’t know how big the number is—could be reached through a course in the history of tyranny (and not just a single book or a single class, either).

    I think it would take a great deal more to politically change Griffin and Jennings. It’s highly possible nothing could do it. But I am also virtually certain a punch in the face would do no good whatsoever.

  23. “Those that know don’t say, those that say don’r know.”

    Never punch anyone in the face. A baseball bat or lead pipe is a much better way to protect your fist.

  24. I get sick to my stomach everytime a commie bring up the 1st amendment to defend her indefendable hate speeches. you dont get to toss aside free speech when you weaponize hateful speeches to go after your political enemies like bill o’reilly and use it as a defense when you are under fire for the same charges. Griffin got thrown under the bus this time by the left only bc she is not top of the class careerwise as a comedian and quite dispenible. The left would have defended her if she had been more useful to their agenda like Colbert

  25. I personally dont Believe a female performer should be fired for her performance albert how tasteless the performance was，but blaming president trump for her being fired is illogical. CNN is the network that fired her and given cnns relationship with the president who would believe the idea that cnn would give in to any demands of the president to have anyone from the network fired. Obviously a strategic retreat by the left to justifly their demand of the firing of o’reilly and a way to maintain the legitimacy of using wrongful speeches as a way to have someone fired. They are cutting off any way for conservatives to take the high road to proactively forgive griffin as a way to delegitimise the left’s most powerful weapon

  26. I’m genuinely curious how any of you account for Ted Nugnent’s violent rhetoric against Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.

    He hasn’t apologized, not even disingenuously. And more importantly, far from condemning him, the leader of the American RWing has defended him and invited him to dinner at the White House.

  27. Thanks Neo…I appreciate your consistency…

    I contend we have reached the point where the cost for behaviour such as Griffin’s has to be supremely high to extinguish the behaviour. I care not one whit if she becomes a Trump supporter or ever votes for the nearest R candidate….She is free to keep her leftism. What must stop is the grotesque violent acting out of her fascist fantasies.

    I’ve stopped hoping leftists will agree with me ideologically. I want them to give up the reflexive demonic attacking of all people who disagree with them.

    And heretofore they have been rewarded & protected rather than forced to pay a cost for their violence. She has lost some paychecks…that’s a pretty good cost this time. But given that she seems to have learned nothing, maybe the cost must be higher. I’m not sure what that would be…

    But she, & the Jennings fellow, & the BLM folks…and you can make the list lots longer…have to be convinced to give up the shock & awe stuff one way or another.

  28. Manju,

    Here’s Nugent’s fairly lengthy reply to Griffith dredging up of his past rhetoric about Obama and Clinton in comparison with her own disturbing and pathetic stunt. Since you’re “genuinely curious,” I’d say that TN himself explains the difference pretty well. For the record, I’m not a fan of either “entertainer,” and I use that term loosely when it comes to Griffith:

    http://www.theblaze.com/news/2017/06/02/kathy-griffin-dredges-up-ted-nugents-comments-about-obama-heres-his-response/

  29. “she, & the Jennings fellow, & the BLM folks…and you can make the list lots longer…have to be convinced to give up the shock & awe stuff one way or another”

    Shock, revolting and cruel… as well as hypocritical. I think I am angrier regarding the Jennings tweet than I am at Griffen’s photo-shoot. Because he, for ghnu’s sake – is a kids book author! And he chooses to be sarcastic and cruel to … a kid! I’d be grimly pleased to see Simon&Schuster (his publisher) drop him as if he was a hot rock.

    It is not nice to torment a kid with the supposed death of a parent. When my daughter was fourteen, she was living with my parents while I did a tour in Korea. During that one year, there was the semiannual North Korean game of chicken over something or other – where they blustered and made threats … and it was a big enough of a story that it was discussed in one of my daughter’s school classes. Whereupon another kid said to my daughter, “Gee, I guess that means your mom is gonna die!”

    My daughter went ballistic. She wound up in the principal’s office, while the kid went to the nurses’ office. Yeah, my daughter had some anger issues that year. She is also incensed at Ken Jennings, for essentially doing the same thing to Barron Trump that the other kid did to her.

  30. There’s also the double standard at work here. If, say, Ted Nugent had actually posed with a severed Obama head mockup, he would almost certainly have been prosecuted. They wouldn’t have simply destroyed his career — that’s pretty much a fait accompli ever since he “came out” as a Gun Libertarian in the 1990s. No, they would insist on criminal charges, and shop around for a Soros-purchased DA willing to bring them.

    (Oh, and by the way he HAS been getting death threats more or less continually over the years. That’s the double standard at work: Liberals are screaming when they get the treatment conservatives have been suffering for years. How come good moderates like Neo weren’t outraged on Nugent’s behalf twenty years ago?)

  32. I am so disappointed to learn that Kathy Griffin is American, not Canadian, which would make her deportable.

  33. Griffin is just trying to be the winner of the victimhood contest. The poor baby is being bullied by President Trump. Ever notice when you push back against the leftists they start shrieking that they are being persecuted?

  34. Griffin blaming the President that her career is now over due to the fallout from the controversy is as ridiculous as if OJ has blamed Nicole for his bankruptcy

  35. I think Griffin may have operated under the theme that “There is no bad publicity.” I think she was surprised at the reaction.

    Her big mistake, in my opinion, was lawyering up and holding that press conference. That reminded everyone of the matter after her apology started to calm things down.

  36. Yup, where were the free speech defending liberals when Bill O’Reilly had his career destroyed over trivial matters like asking the question if a woman who is wearing a wig that resembles James brown’ wig has borrowed her wig from James brown or calling a black woman hot chocolate? I don’t even like bill, but it makes my blood boiled every time when I see someone getting fired over some mentally fragil racist minorities with hearts so full of hate after many years of hatred indoctrination by the left seeing racism in even the most innocuous little things.

  39. I consider myself–and have been told by friends and acquaintances that I actually am–a good judge of character; and when I saw Ken Jennings on JEOPARDY, my impression was “I don’t care how much stuff he knows, this guy is slime.” Good to know my built-in slime detector is still infallible.

  40. “My daughter went ballistic. She wound up in the principal’s office, while the kid went to the nurses’ office.”

    God bless you for your service & God bless your daughter for her moxy!

  41. Hey — It was a fun twenty years, and most of it in peacetime, John. I’been well recompensed, then and in retirement. My daughter had moxy to spare — she served two hitches as a Marine, and one of those involved a depoyment to Iraq…
    Very few thinking human beings choose to get on the bad side of my daughter.

  42. Sgt Mom…now my day is complete! This smile’s not going away anytime soon…Glad we have folks who serve our country so faithfully.

  43. Sgt. Mom Says:
    June 3rd, 2017 at 6:38 pm
    Hey – It was a fun twenty years, and most of it in peacetime, John. I’been well, then and in retirement. My daughter had moxy to spare – she served two hitches as a Marine, and one of those involved a depoyment to Iraq…
    Very few thinking human beings choose to get on the bad side of my daughter.
    * * *
    Made my day.
    Kudos to you both.

    http://i1.wp.com/www.powerlineblog.com/ed-assets/2017/06/Trumps-Americans.jpeg

  44. TN himself explains the difference pretty well.

    CV…not even the FoxNews anchors (in your link) were buying that. But to go thru his excuses:

    1. Unlike Griffen, he never threatened the President. Well, here’s what he said:

    “Obama, he’s a piece of shit. I told him to suck on my machine gun. Hey Hillary, you might want to ride one of these into the sunset, you worthless bitch.”

    2. He says the Secret Service cleared him of making threats.

    Well that doesn’t really distinguish him from Griffen whose speech in all likelihood will also fail to meet the “true threat” standard for 1A exception.

    3. He says; “This is a world of Terrorism where Beheading is a reality and she referenced that to the President of the United States. We’re talking apples and grenades her.”

    Well, so did he: “We need to ride into that battlefield and chop their heads off in November,” He also said Obama and Clinton should be tried and hung for treason.

  45. Late as usual and my only contribution to this sorry affair:

    After brandishing Trump’s severed head,
    Ms. Griffin relented and said,
    “I agree it’s immoral,
    But let us not quarrel,
    For I am the victim instead.”

  46. Manju,

    This seems to ratify the old adage that “a picture is worth a thousand words.”

    Not defending Nugent, but saying that “We need to ride into that battlefield and chop their heads off in November,” (obviously a metaphor for defeating them) and the images of Griffin holding the bloody, severed head of Trump does elicit an emotional reaction greater than words.

  47. Is anyone going to argue NOW that the Left needs to stop amping up the violent rhetoric?

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