Public Response to Public Smears
Minor Threat, Seein’ Red
The guys who run the blog Butt Head Ass Hat Rump Roast took it upon themselves to say some really shitty things about me because I objected to something one of their writers wrote about my friend, Susie Madrak.
As if parroting PUMA nonsense back in the day wasn’t enough of a drag on her credibility, Mandrak is the type of writer who edits her pieces on HuffPo to make it appear as if she didn’t make boneheaded errors in the original piece that were pointed out to her in comments. And fails to note doing so. Hack.
This was part of an ongoing thread that constituted little more than a relentless character assassination of someone I know quite well (and with who i have argued strenuously over Clinton/Obama). From what I know of Susie, she edits on the fly, and makes copious use of the strike tags when she does.
I asked Susie who was writing this stuff since she didn’t offer a link, and once she pointed me in the right direction, I felt compelled to comment, because I would want my friends to stand up for me in the same kind of situation:
as a regular reader of susie’s site, and as someone who disagreed with her stance on clinton and argued with her strenuously on her site and in her comments, I have to say this post is some pretty weak shit.
betty cracker’s comments are especially stupid. I came her to see what this “editing” brouhaha was about, and I am thoroughly underwhelmed.
as for manipulating comments, madrak has ALWAYS removed comments that are offensive: personal attacks, invective and the like. However, she does not delete comments simply because contradict her own point of view. if that was the case, none of mine would be there anymore.
And I can’t blame her for that either: i won’t stand for people callign me names at MY blog and she shouldn’t either.
one thing madrak is NOT is a hack. that’s just absurd on its face.
I wasn’t on the internet for the evening, and awoke to find an email from Susie, alerting me to the fact that now I was fodder. Here are some great examples:
Some twit called brendancalling has popped up late on the “Damned if you do, damned if you don’t” post, defending Madrak and doubting Betty and our word about the HuffPo editing idiocy.
FWIW, I did my best to put him straight. Is it worth emailing him to invite him back to say sorry? ;o)
Comment by YAFB on 08/26/09 at 04:58 PM
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YAFB – I actually know Brendan slightly. He used to be the chapter lead for Drinking Liberally in center city Philly and I’ve been there quite a few times. He gave up that chapter due to his issues.He’s part of the original Philly bloggers group – BooMan, Madrak, Duncan Black, etc. I can see his defending his friend Susie. Not making excuses for it.
Comment by gimmeabreak on 08/26/09 at 05:37 PM
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I hate to sound mean, and I’d probably need to follow his blog more, but it comes off as fairly self centered shit to me. I still think he owes Betty the apology.
Comment by marindenver on 08/26/09 at 05:39 PM
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Oh well. He gave a spoof email address. I can’t get my Wordpress login to work, so if somebody else feels like going over to his place and inviting him back …
Comment by YAFB on 08/26/09 at 05:55 PM
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Heh, the coincidence of lil’ Brendan turning up here the day after Susie’s little sub-meatprod sickly ironic “the ones who spend most of their time critiquing and reading the minds of other bloggers” whinefest is a bit rich. Was it Madrak or her henchbug Lambert who let him know where to look, I wonder?Fuck him.
In army boots. After some of the shit I’ve put myself through reading today on various blogs, I really wasn’t in the mood for his crap.
Comment by YAFB on 08/26/09 at 07:00 PM
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I’d never heard of her until recently myself! Young Brendan certainly is devoted, though:You’re not a hack. I’m a hack.
No argument, Brendan!
He certainly makes people jump through hoops to visit his depressing blog. Evidently, Brendan Calling is a lot more frequent than Calling Brendan.
Comment by Mrs. Polly on 08/26/09 at 07:29 PM
All from a bunch of people too cowardly to use their real names, and who don’t know me except for someone who claims I stopped hosting drinking liberally due to my “issues”, which is actually factually inaccurate.
For a bunch of people who go on and on ad nauseum about Susie being a hack, they certainly have a funny way of fact-checking, to say nothing their lack of reading comprehension. So I responded in kind at their site. And because public attacks are, well, public, I think it’s only fair to copy my response here:
Hi guys,
Boy all this stuff about my issues and everything is really awesome. It’s clear that you mean business: a bunch of people with imaginary names talking about someone they don’t know and have never met, while setting up an awesome straw man to boot. Thus, I’d like to address a few misconceptions and downright errors you experts on journalism and writing have made.
So the problem is that I called Betty Cracker “stupid”, right? That’s the beef?
I suggest you go read what I wrote, OK? Here, I’ll make it easy for you. Pay close attention to the second graf, blockquoted below:
betty cracker’s comments are especially stupid. I came her to see what this “editing” brouhaha was about, and I am thoroughly underwhelmed.
I didn’t call Betty Cracker stupid. I called her/his comment stupid, which is a very different thing. The former is a rank character attack, the latter a legitimate attack on a comment. You may not know this, but smart people say stupid things all the time. Just ask Joe Biden or Hilary Clinton.
Speaking of stupid statements, YAHB’s speculation that Lambert Strether told me to come here is about as.. well as stupid as it gets. Why? Because anyone with actual knowledge of me and my POV knows I’ve been mocking Lambert relentlessly since the 2008 election hysteria began, at Susie’s website no less. Not only do i not know the guy outside of the blogosphere, I don’t even like him or read his stuff. For the record, I saw Susie’s post, asked her what the deal was, and she pointed me over here.
But hey, don’t let that stop you from attacking my character under the shield of pseudonyms.
My email is bfstemp-AT-yahoo-DOT-com, and it’s not a spoof as YAFB claimed. My email says YAFB wrote me at 5:49, and when i didn’t respond by 5:55, he claimed the email was a spoof.
But see, there’s this whole other part of the world called “real life”, and from 5:49 pm through bedtime, i was busy hanging out with my girlfriend, making dinner, playing with the cat, and watching Simpsons reruns. I know you were all kind of busy talking shit about someone you don’t know, so maybe you didn’t notice that my last post of the day on wednesday was the “darth vader plays the blues” youtube. That shoulda told you i wasn’t really online all that much last night, but why let that get in the way of pretending my email was a spoof if it makes you feel like Sherlock Hemlock, world’s greatest detective?
I didn’t actually see the bravely anonymous YAFB’s email until this morning, and I responded to him/her rather respectfully for someone who goes around publicly calling me “a twit”. By the way, it’s after 3:30 EST as I write this, with no response even though I emailed YAFB at about 9:00 this AM. So I guess that 6-minute response time only applies to me, right?
Which reminds me: “gimmeabreak”, you claim to know me. Why not have some actual balls and confront me face to face since you live in Philly and come to DL, since you obviously have a problem with me. Seriously: email me, we’ll meet up and work this all out like adults instead of you hiding behind a pseudonym and throwing out potshots about my “issues”, a/k/a “shit you know nothing about”. i’m around all weekend. In fact, I’ll be at Fergie’s on friday night (1214 sansom street, phila) from 6-8 PM. Come on out, i’d love to meet you and hear what you have to say about these “issues” of mine you feel you’re entitled to speculate about. See you there?
So to recap: i never called anyone stupid: that’s YOUR false claim. Lambert Strether did not send me over here as you falsely speculated he did. My email address is not a spoof as you falsely say it is. And unlike the rest of you name-calling pseudonymed cowards, i use my own name, Brendan Skwire, and would be happy to interact with any of you face to face.
That about cover it?
Sorry to bring my regular readers into the arcana of blogwars, but this nonsense at Fuck Wad Colostomy Bag Intestinal Parasite Rumpty Pumpty Stupid Ass was unnecessary and cowardly. If anyone’s owed an apology, it’s me, and until I get one the folks at Toilet Bowl or whatever they call themselves have one fewer friend in Pennsylvania.
But it does bring me to one concern that has been raised a few times: quite a few of the mensa members at that site had troubles registering to comment here. I know, who cares: but the thing is a lot of regualr readers have expressed the same. We’ve tried to fix the problem, but it keeps coming back: I think the spam filter is too sensitive or something. So if you’re a reader who isn’t able to comment, email me directly at bfstemp AT yahoo DOT com, and I’ll see what we can do to get your registration working.
And for the record, I’ll be REALLY surprised if “gimmeabreak” shows up tomorrow at Fergies, which reminds me, I have a poster to make. Hope y’all don’t mind the hugging pickles again…
August 27th, 2009 at 6:15 pm
Dude- you got called a blithering fuck knuckle.
I really don’t understand the back story on this internet slap fight you’ve gotten your self in, but getting called that makes me giggle.
August 27th, 2009 at 6:20 pm
Which reminds me: gimmeabreak, you claim to know me. Why not have some actual balls and confront me face to face since you live in Philly and come to DL, since you obviously have a problem with me. Seriously: email me, we’ll meet up and work this all out like adults instead of you hiding behind a pseudonym and throwing out potshots about my “issues”, a/k/a “shit you know nothing about”
Brendan, you misread my meaning completely. I was explaining how I met you and why you were no longer the chapter lead of DL (I have the Pennsauken, NJ chapter, btw, and was inspired to do so by your Center City chapter). I was not dumping on you, but in fact explaining who you are to my bretheren and sisteren here reflecting our flippant and snarky way. If I am incorrect that you gave up hosting DL due to personal responsibilities, please accept my apology.
Since you have an issue with pseudonymous nomenclature used nearly universally in blogosphere comments, I have used gimmeabreak for 1/2 a dozen years now, but for you I’m Denise Williams.
Thanks for the invite to Fergies, however I do have other plans. I’ll catch you there another time – haven’t been to that DL yet.
Cross-posted at Rumproast
August 27th, 2009 at 6:21 pm
“Which reminds me: gimmeabreak, you claim to know me. Why not have some actual balls and confront me face to face since you live in Philly and come to DL, since you obviously have a problem with me. Seriously: email me, we’ll meet up and work this all out like adults instead of you hiding behind a pseudonym and throwing out potshots about my “issues”, a/k/a “shit you know nothing about””
Brendan, you misread my meaning completely. I was explaining how I met you and why you were no longer the chapter lead of DL (I have the Pennsauken, NJ chapter, btw, and was inspired to do so by your Center City chapter). I was not dumping on you, but in fact explaining who you are to my bretheren and sisteren here reflecting our flippant and snarky way. If I am incorrect that you gave up hosting DL due to personal responsibilities, please accept my apology.
Since you have an issue with pseudonymous nomenclature used nearly universally in blogosphere comments, I have used gimmeabreak for 1/2 a dozen years now, but for you I’m Denise Williams.
Thanks for the invite to Fergies, however I do have other plans. I’ll catch you there another time – haven’t been to that DL yet.
Cross-posted at Rumproast
August 27th, 2009 at 6:52 pm
Didja see my first post?
August 27th, 2009 at 7:12 pm
” I was explaining how I met you and why you were no longer the chapter lead of DL “
No you weren’t. You were piling on. I read what you wrote, and as I’m a professional writer myself, I know a little bit about context. If you mean “personal responsibilities” you would have said so. Everyone is familiar with the connotation of “he has issues”. Don’t try to bullshit me.
August 27th, 2009 at 7:19 pm
I’m in! Great elation. Brendan! When Denise said, “gave up DL because of his issues,” I assumed she was referring to health or finance.
Then you go and make it abundantly clear! Gah! That defensive headleak–you should think about having it looked at.