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Open Season

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Another breathlessly hyped dispatch has arrived from once legitimate journalist and now attention-starved, sensationalist scribbler, Bud Buck.

Messenger Shot, Attacker Collects Reward
By Bud Buck

Newt Gingrich, the winner of Saturday’s South Carolina Primary, is widely thought to have received that prize as a reward for taking extreme umbrage to a question from reporter John King during last week’s CNN “debate”. Gingrich said he was “appalled” that King would open the proceedings by repeating accusations from Gingrich’s second wife that he wanted her to agree to an ‘open marriage’ so he could stay with her and continue a relationship with the woman who ultimately became his third wife.

The audience cheered Gingrich’s response, and he went on to win handily. Today, my head is spinning. How can a person who behaves like Newt Gingrich win favor with any segment of the American populace? I didn’t think such a thing was possible, but by merely attacking a reporter he has managed to pull it off.

This is alarming news for journalists everywhere. I’m afraid it is proof positive that we now have open season on anyone with a microphone, camera or notebook. If delivering a verbal slapping to John King is all it takes to make a quarter million people believe someone as caustic and overblown as Newt Gingrich should be president, no reporter anywhere is safe. And I say this with the full understanding that in South Carolina, marital infidelity and lying by high officials is as common as dirt. And I mean actual dirt.

In the immediate future, look for this trend – whenever a reporter asks a question that is uncomfortable for the candidate on the receiving end, that journalist will be told in no uncertain terms how horrid and despicable he/she is. In fact, I suspect the remaining candidates are busily scouting around right now for a reporter to lambast. If Romney, Paul and Santorum don’t get a John King of their own, this contest could be over by February.

Of course no respectable journalist can hold back on the tough questions in this charged environment. And yet it is by asking tough questions that we will make it possible for the politicians to deflect attention from the miserable things they’ve done. And not just politicians! I expect the captain of that Italian cruise ship to go after the media very soon. What could he possibly lose? The world already thinks he’s a cowardly, selfish boor.
A little bit of scribe bashing could only help his image.

That is why I, Bud Buck, would like to offer myself as a reportorial sacrifice. Yes, I am making myself available to any campaign that would like to have a journalist to chide, browbeat and abuse. I’ll be your hapless media elite. I can ask Romney about the dog on the roof of his car. I can bring the “Google search” question to Santorum. And I can get in Ron Paul’s grill about those old newsletters. Why would I set myself up for such harsh treatment? Because it’s obvious – American hates journalists. And if that’s the only kind of spotlight that’s truly available for the reporting class, I want it all. The most despised journalist in America is, by default, number one! Newt Gingrich learned this long ago.

Getting attention is the only thing that matters.

Candidates, call me! This is Bud Buck!

I doubt any major campaigns will choose Bud Buck to be their designated whipping boy, but Mitt Romney has to go ballistic on someone, and soon. Who will it be?

When have you been yelled at?

66 thoughts on “Open Season”

  1. i find yelling at me whan i ask a question is standard practice. i think newt is a person who is in tune with modern day society. when i ask my children about finishing a task or how work is coming on a goal we agreed on the response is often a anguished cry of despair and the poor victim of circumstances beyond their control is then left no alternative but to lash out in self defense at the men spirited accuser in a life saving effort to maintain uprightedness. poor newt, o one understands how hard it was to tell his wife while she was in the hospitla with her cancer thing that he was disappointed in her disapproval of his infidelity and that he could not believe she would have the audacity to stop him from doinking the help while she was unable to facilitate the newtster. his daughters understand why not the rest of america. by the way dont discuss his daughters that would be unscrupulous to bring up. many people try to keep their children form being dragged through the muck of a father who abandons his family for the sake of a little nookie but not newt. bring em on as sheild against the tyranny of the media. make him my countries leader. if the world comes down on him he can always throw his family under the bus and point out how he was right and they were there to stand by him ( or be abandoned by him ) as proof of his leadership abilities.
    you want to yell at me i have 5 kids and an ex wife in addition to my current wife who will all be there to give an overwhelming response to whatever the accusation is in spite of the truth of it. they never let that stand in the way at all.

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    1. You don’t have to yell to make a point. This is the first line from yesterday’s reading from First Corinthians. The wonderful woman reading it simply paused appropriately. ‘

      What I mean, brothers, is that the time has become limited, and from now on, those who have spouses should live as though they had none; “

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    2. A director I worked with years and years ago said to a group of middle school kids, “I won’t yell. Yelling crushes the creative spirit”.
      I wrote that down because I knew that was worth remembering.

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      1. I had a theater prof yell at me while I was in college – he said I needed to hear it so I would be “tough” for the “real world.” All it did was make me question his teaching methods and resolve to never ever yell at someone who wasn’t getting the work done on a show – ask what help or support they need to finish, yes, but not yell. Ever.

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  2. Rise and Shine Baboons!

    Bud Buck, you swine, you GOAT, YOU ARE A POOH – FLINGING BABOON WHO DOES NOT DESERVE ANY SPACE IN THE ETHERNET. HOW DARE YOU ASK THIS QUESTION OF ME. I DESERVE BETTER!!!!!!!! Don’t you know, Bud, the rules are that I get to do whatever I want, If you question me I will shame you. This is the profile of a Narcissist and maybe a Sociopath.

    I have been yelled at like this by a supervisor and a notorious manager at work. It went on for about 3 years as I recovered from cancer. It is a miserable existence when you are in it. I never understood the rational for it. A friend finally said, “Jacque, it is because it is the first time you have been vulnerable. They can’t let that go.” As soon as I could and I knew the cancer would not kill me, I found a different job.

    I think Newt would be bad for the country.

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    1. i thin newt would be bad as a parking lot attendant. he could run the lot but no one would enjoy it or ever go there a second time. who wants to listen to a gasbag pontificate on the notions of his overly self impotant moment. not me. talk about the ugly american. he would make george bush look like a wussy

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  3. Like tim, I’ve been yelled at a lot; as a child, usually by my mother and my sister.

    In recent history, my next door neighbor, who reported to me at the school where we both worked, has yelled at me numerous times; that’s his style. he yells at everybody. When, after years’ of trying to get him to do his job (he was the school’s janitor) and numerous warnings, I finally fired him, he threatened to kill both me and our dog. Because we have been neighbors for over thirty years, I really didn’t want to fire him, but the situation had simply become intolerable. Despite all his yelling, he is really a sweet man with a very big heart.

    About Newt, here’s a little day brightener:
    http://www.myspace.com/video/writch/austin-lounge-lizards-sing-gingrich-the-newt/35083568

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    1. Thank you, that is always a welcome bit of music. These days, however, I think of him less as a newt and more like a chameleon.

      Whither the Newt who was so roundly criticized as a RINO and keel-hauled for criticizing the proposals by Paul Ryan?

      This is someone who knows that all you have to do to garner attention and votes is throw out large chunks of red meat to the slavering masses.

      I grieve for my country. Are that many of my fellow citizens really this blood-thirsty?

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      1. That’s not fair to the chameleon, Anna; a pompous horse’s patoot is more like it. But I know what you mean, I share your grief. I keep telling myself that when push comes to shove, the American people will surely not elect someone like Newt. Hope I’m right about that!

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      3. PJ – You are correct…I am appalled with the current so-called political process. While the past is not exactly rosy either, the current climate of mud-slinging, pouncing on any weakness, and name calling is uncouth, unseemly, and several other “un” things. It is possible, though you might not suspect this with some of the antics of the last several years, to have our elected leaders disagree about policies and ideals without stooping to the behavior of bullies and boors.

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  4. I’m wondering if most folks are aware of Newt’s first marriage………he was a tender lad of only 16 when he began an affair with his then 23-year old high school teacher. These days, the teacher would be thrown in jail! As to King being beaten up; all indications are that Newt relished the possibility of getting this question and was well-rehearsed for it as well. Let’s see – so far the Tea Party audiences have: booed a gay serviceman; cheered for a man dying due to no health insurance; yelled out approval for Perry’s record number of executions; and now heartily disapproved of a candidate being asked about his character. No wonder we’re the world’s laughing stock presently.

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    1. Newt’s phony tantrum at King worked in the short run to help him win a primary, but the tactic won’t carry him far. American voters (real, normal American voters, not psychotic T-Party zealots) want their leaders to be optimistic. Walter Mondale recently noted that he lost to Ronald Reagan because, “Reagan was telling voters it was Morning in America and I was trying to sell them a root canal.”

      If Newt gets stuck on this sharp, sour note, he won’t go far. If he argues “It is time to be pissed off and spiteful in America,” his campaign will pheep out spectacularly.

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      1. I do hope you’re right about that, Steve. On the other hand, a friend of mine, a very engaged and politically active guy, was elated on Saturday at the prospect of Obama facing Gingrich as the Republican nominee in the election. I guess his reasoning is that Newt is so obnoxious that it can only improve Obama’s chances.

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    2. Cb, thanks for that little summary of Tea Party audience behavior – I helps keep in front of me what we’re dealing with.

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  5. My mother had mental problems that caused her to force me, from time to time, to listen to strange and seemingly endless arguments about my deficiencies. After years of suffering through those miserable discussions I realized that those moments were strictly problems of hers, having nothing to do with me. She was just releasing her anxieties, and she needed a target to do that. I became a calm and dispassionate observer when she came after me like that.

    The lesson was useful. I blogged several months ago about a time when someone got angry at me and made a spectacle of herself in a committee meeting. I was terrified going into that meeting, but I soon felt sorry for my antagonist.

    In my last job, writing for the Minnesota legislature, one afternoon my boss began yelling at me. I watched him but said little. When he was done I told him that yelling at me was about the worst way of getting me to perform well for him. He seemed jolted by that and never repeated the performance.

    When people yell at me it helps to think of them as Donald Duck blowing steam at Chip ‘n Dale. 🙂

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    2. SiSP, what a perfect approach, telling your boss that yelling wouldn’t get you to perform well. Sooo true.
      I had a yelling father, though he usually yelled at inanimate objects (the device that wouldn’t’ work, the tool that (apparently) hadn’t been put back in the right place, etc.). He rarely yelled at my sibs and me but I spent my childhood fearing that he would and so found eggshells underfoot. I’m so uncomfortable with yelling that i have extended it to any kind of raised voice, irritation, disagreement. Keeping-the-peace-R-us. I yelled once in a couples therapy session and my therapist was thrilled.

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      1. Welcome Lisa, or welcome back if you’ve been here before. Funny how that works. Some people react like you, others become hardened to it. While I don’t care for yelling, it doesn’t cause fear or discomfort in me. But I’m with Steve in that it’s not an effective way of motivating me.

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      2. Years ago, while working to heal from an unfortunate childhood, I did a little “movement therapy” which involved shouting “NO!!!!” over and over as loudly as I possibly could. Since my parents strictly prohibited any sign of overt anger or aggression whatsoever, this experience unraveled me. Like you, Lisa, even observing someone yell or be truly angry at someone else has me taking the position of a deer in headlights. In fact, I’ve pretty much lived my life strategically dodging anyone being angry at me! I consider this to be a true handicap relationally at times although it’s certainly kept me civil and accommodating.

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    3. Every now and then I get to the point where I have to have a good full blown ‘Hissy Fit’ generally directed at situations and things rather than people. And the people that know me well enough just sit there and smile at me while steam comes out of my ears and spittle flies from my mouth. But then it’s over.
      They are usually funny in retrospect…

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  6. Good morning to all. I really don’t like it when someone yells at me. I try to avoid yelling back. That’s hard to do and sometimes I am the one who started it. Like, tim, I do have to put up with some yelling from my family, usually not too much. More from one of the kids when she was at a difficult stage.

    A friend who is generally mild mannered told me how he faked anger and yelled at a man who he knew would give him trouble and, after that, the man never gave him any trouble. I’ve seen teachers yell very loudly at grade school kids to scare them and get them to shape up. I don’t like it when teachers do that. Putting a troublesome grown man in his place by acting angry might be okay if it works.

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    1. i dont even have to read it to understand why its sad. the us aint what it used to be and when we look at other countries if they act like we do we don’t like them or their performance too much. america is the ugly american i am afraid. couple of interesting discussions on bo edwards today on how dems dont get it. the republicans are raping and pilaging and we want to try to talk nice to each other

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  8. You would think that Newt would want to be careful about what he says about the press. Doesn’t he want them on his side as much as possible? I think the press has been too easy on Newt. Of course we want the press to do their job in a fair manner. After Newt’s attack on the press I would think they should at least not let him play the blame it on the press card too easily in the future and look for ways to let him know that they wouldn’t “play ball” with him if he is going use them that way.

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  9. Morning-

    Yelling. I warn the theater kids that I will yell. But it’s not AT them and they shouldn’t take it personally. I just yell to be heard or to warn people of things moving onstage. It’s my old ‘calling the cows’ voice.
    There wasn’t very much yelling in our house growing up; people got mad, and maybe voices were raised but it wasn’t yelling.

    When I was in high school, I unplugged the intercom so I wouldn’t have to listen to the director tell me some notes. And then I didn’t see her rushing up to the light booth (everybody else saw her coming and scattered; I was the only one pontificating so much I missed her coming). *She* yelled. And I sat there and took it.
    And I’ve been at some meetings where ‘the public’ yelled at me. Sometimes I yell back…

    Home on a ‘snow day’ here for the public schools. They started 2 hours late and then cancelled all together. Only 2″ of snow but a little ice from last night that’s causing some problems. And our long driveway is drifted over. Daughter has plans for us of sledding and snow tunnels. I’m not sure there’s enough snow for tunnels yet but we’ll see…

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  11. I was not yelled at as a child, but I have, on more occasions than I care to think about, yelled at my daughter. This was before we figured out she had ADHD, and coming to that realization and getting her the proper medication really has stopped my yelling.

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    1. I have had a couple moments like that, too, where I have become totally irrational about some behavior…and then there is that weird sensation where you observe yourself as that irrational being and think, “who the heck is that? where did she come from?”…I do my best to make sure that Daughter understands that I love her, no matter what, even if I’m not always fond of the behavior, but some days I’m better at it than others. 😦

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  12. I get yelled at on the phone at work. People who don’t like the DNR (or government in general) call and assume that I’m stupid, lazy and overpaid. They call for all kinds of reasons: they were cited for a game or fish violation, or they are unhappy because their application for a permit has been denied or modified in some way. In most cases, their problem isn’t even with DNR Fisheries, but with some other division or bureau. Sometimes I’m able to solve their problem for them and change them from an evil, fire breathing dragon to a tame kitten. Other times they threaten to get me fired (when I’m powerless to help them other than to provide them with someone else’s phone number).

    People seem to forget that government is not a thing to hate or to blame. It’s people. People who are just the same as everybody else. It took a long time before my skin thickened up. Now, I’m able to tell when someone has called only because they know that a state employee will answer and it’s okay to take out your frustrations on state employees. I’ve just learned to just listen, never argue, and let them pour it all out. It doesn’t really have anything to do with me. It’s about them getting it out of their system. Where is my counseling degree?

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    1. krista get a recorder and thell them that this conversation may be recorded to help with the training of office personel. we all have to deal with unpleasantaries and things we wish were different. do you have any suggestions you wish to voice as to how the problem couled be resolved? then let em rip. you have an ipod now i think you can adapt it to work in that capacity.

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    2. Being a lifelong “anger phobic”, I’ve learned that engaging angry people in a calm, rational manner guarantees that their anger will escalate, even to the point of rage. About the only thing that works is, as you’ve clearly discovered, allowing them to vent. It also helps to utter little comments like, “I’d be angry, too” or “I sure get why you’re so upset”, etc.

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      1. Yes, don’t fuel the fire by giving a response, you will probably only spark a longer string of verbal attacks like you say, CB. Even in a fairly level headed disgreement, responding with your side of the arguement usually gets you no place. Let it be or you will probably get into a contest to see who can have the last word and the person who is being most reasonable will probably lose. Of course, I think that I am almost always the reasonable one who should have the last word and doesn’t.

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    3. I admire you Krista. It’s not easy to be the person being yelled at.
      When I find myself in situations where I’m on the phone and mad at whatever, I try to make sure I tell that person ‘I’m not mad at YOU, I’m upset with the situation.’ And when it’s over, thank them for their help.
      I just remembered a friend following up on arrangements for his honeymoon. There were “issues”. It was probably Friday, the wedding is the next day and they still haven’t received the tickets for their trip. This was about 20 years ago. My friend is on the phone with the travel agency secretary and he tells her “I’m not mad at you, but YOUR BOSS IS AN IDIOT! YOU SHOULD QUIT! YOU SHOULDN’T BE WORKING THERE ANYMORE!”
      My laughter probably didn’t help anything…

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  13. I’ve been “anger phobic” since I can remember, and have successfully avoided being yelled at much. I can remember my mother saying loudly “Barbara Ann Britson!” to something I really shouldn’t have beend doing, but neither of my parents really yelled at us. Wow, I also don’t remember any teachers or bosses yelling. There must be something though, because I have a memory of leaving somewhere in a huff (and no doubt slamming the door behind me)… Hope to remember as the day wears on.

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    1. I’m thinking that there’s a solid biological reason many of us fear angry outbursts: part of the brain disengages from rationality during rage, therefore the person raging is temporarily out of control. Survival depends upon being relatively in control. Instinctively, self-preservation kicks in when there’s danger. Then again, I may just be making that up?
      Day after day, I see this on the Strib comments boards. Right wingers are repeatedly projecting that it’s the liberals who are hate-filled and rageful when their ideology is being questioned or countered when, in fact, they are the guilty party.

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    2. Oh yeah! When your full name is being used by a parent, you KNOW you’re in trouble.

      My mother was very unpredictable. Paired with a volatile temper and poor anger management, she often resorted to physical violence; I was afraid of her until, at 16, I decided I had had enough. From that point forward, threats of any kind, from her or anyone else, no matter how physically threatening or LOUD just makes me stand taller and fight back. You will NOT threaten me into submission. Don’t know if this is a good or a bad thing, but I know it is. I’m a peace activist, but I think I’d have a hard time not reciprocating if someone resorted to violence. Non-violence is a concept I greatly admire; don’t know successful I’d be at practicing it.

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  14. I can relate one specific story about someone calling and complaining to me at work. This woman wasn’t as abusive as some have been – it was her complaint that was so memorable.

    Me, “Good afternoon, DNR Fisheries.”
    She, “Yes, I’d like to complain about my campsite at Itasca State Park?”
    Me, “OK. I can relay your complaint to that park manager for you, if you’d like.”
    She, “OK. Thank you. There were ants in my campsite.”
    Me, flummoxed, “Ants?”
    She, “YES. ANTS. They were in the fire ring.”
    Me, “I understand there were ants in the fire ring.”
    She, “Yes. They seemed to be coming from the woods.”
    I was stifling laughter. Even though it’s wonderful that people go camping and enjoy Minnesota’s beautiful parks, there are just some people who have a hard time making an adjustment to being outdoors. I took her name and phone number and promised to have someone from Itasca State Park call her back. She was one of the customers who went away happy because someone had listened and promised to take action. I’ll never forget that conversation.

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      1. Trust me, PJ, she’s not the only one. We were talking about nature deficit disorder not too long ago. I don’t think it’s a problem for only kids. Those kids got it from their parents. I’m ashamed to say that many of those who seem to be afflicted with the disorder are roughly my own age.

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      1. When I called the park and told them a camper had complained about ants in one of their campsites, I was met with silence. Then, “Really?”

        I confess. There was some pretty uproarious laughter after that. Ants are campers too, Steve!

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      2. Just goes to prove how lazy and inefficient government workers are. Looking on the bright side, most campsites a free of lions, and tigers, and bears…..no wait, they have problems with bears in some places too, don’t they?

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  15. my Mom would hit first and then yell. no early warning system!
    if someone yells at me i tend to laugh nervously. that does NOT help.
    i’m not proud of it, but i do yell at the goats at times. it doesn’t phase them a tad. but if i put my pointer fingers up next to my head (like ears) and stare, that stops them in their tracks.
    OT we had a teeny bit of snow today – but only about two inches. certainly not enough.

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  16. I’m wondering if maybe I unconsciously chose jobs and bosses who didn’t yell – it seems odd to me that I can’t recall a single one.

    I did finally remember who I did get in yelling fights with – my Ex – but I’ll have to say he taught me to fight “fair”, at least, and to throw, say, the phone book at the floor instead of him. (This would be the NYC phone book before they started separating the Yellow and White Pages.)

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  17. Hi all… I’m home finally. Now I have several days of Trail to catch up on.

    Being in the service industry, I have to say I get yelled at on a fairly regular basis. The latest was a guy who was made about his flight getting him to Grand Cayman at 8:30 at night. Unforunately since he didn’t register when he was supposed to, the earlier flight filled up. Not much I can do about that. So most of the time I can handle them until they calm down – but every now and then I do have to explain to these guys that if they keep yelling, I’m going to have to hang up and wait until they call me back in a calmer mood. That usually works pretty well!

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    1. I love this quote by Maya Angelou: “I’ve learned that you can tell a lot about a person by the way he/she handles these three things: a rainy day, lost luggage, and tangled Christmas tree lights.” For me, those particular three things aren’t a challenge, so I substitute the ones that I know are; makes me stop and think.

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      1. I like rainy days and have never had any luggage lost. The Christmas tree lights, though…I have to count to ten a lot.

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      2. Well, as you know Linda, I saw my luggage sitting on the tarmac as the plane pulled away from the gate. Didn’t discover it was mine until I arrived in Mexico. At that point I was more amused by the fact that I had commented to the woman sitting next to me on the plane that we had left some poor slobs luggage behind, not realizing at the time that the poor slob was me.

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