What's a swirlie, you ask? It's pretty much when you take your beaten and submissive opponent's head, stick it firmly down the gaping hole of the nearest toilet seat, and proceed to flush. Repeatedly.
Well that's precisely the maneuver Randi Rhodes performed on CNN's Larry King Live tonight, to 24-year old conservative talk radio puffball Ben Ferguson.
What happens when you're young, conservative, on a national talk show, and complain that liberals are the reason we are "losing" the war on terror? You get your under-exercised ass handed to you, with a dollop of public humiliation thrown in for seasoning. Transcript below.
I know there are important things happening, and that it's only a TV show, and while Larry King Live sounds sorta/kinda impressive, Larry wasn't there, John Robers (the reporter) was guest hosting. But while it may ultimately be trite, I'll be damned if I'll be shamed out of the simple joy of seeing a conservative made a fool of while the "ON AIR" light was flashing. Read the transcript, the payoff comes near the end. I don't want to spoil the surprise if you haven't seen it, but suffice it to say
Operation Yellow Elephant would appear to have a new recruit...
About 45 minutes into the program, the subject turned to Iraq:
ROBERTS: Well, Dennis Prager, how long can the president continue to wait when all the polls are showing that the majority of the American people don't think Iraq is a good idea?
PRAGER: Look, the issue for a president is to use it as a bully pulpit. If I were president, I would have made the case virtually every day of my administration that we are fighting the greatest evil since World War II.
FERGUSON: Absolutely.
PRAGER: That this is this generation's form of Nazism. The president, however, felt that it was so obvious that we're fighting extremely evil people that he didn't have to make it, and he can go on to things like responsible Social Security reform.
RHODES: Oh, my God.
PRAGER: He made a mistake. He made a political mistake. He should have been making the case for this war. It can still be made. It is an evil. It's interesting. I'd like to ask my two liberal colleagues there one question. And I'm not asking you to support the war or anything. I just want to know if you're prepared to say -- I swear it's not a trick question. It's just to understand your view. Would you say that by and large the people that we are fighting in Iraq are evil?
RHODES: No. They're Iraqis, and we occupy their country.
PRAGER: OK. OK. There you go, folks.
RHODES: There's a civil war going on.
PRAGER: That is what the left believes. We are not fighting evil.
RHODES: Of course, the left believes it because there were no weapons of mass destruction.
PRAGER: And that is what they will not win. That is it. You heard it now.
RHODES:And the generals warned you, if you went there, you'd open up the gates of hell, and that is what you've done. You've encouraged terrorism. You've encouraged hatred for the United States.
FERGUSON: Who said war was easy?
RHODES: Our troops don't get the support they need. They're there without the proper troop numbers.
FERGUSON: Because you guys are say that it's a quagmire.
RHODES: They are there without the proper body armor. They're there without the proper exit strategy.
FERGUSON: You're right. There's no support from the left because you say it is a quagmire, it's a waste of time, we shouldn't be there. We need to come home.
RHODES: There is no leadership. Eight generals have come out, and maybe they know a little more than you do...
FERGUSON: They don't need your support, you're absolutely right.
RHODES: ...Ben and Dennis Prager.
FERGUSON: Randi, I have friends in Iraq, OK?
RHODES: Listen, YOU should be in Iraq. You're 22. When I was 22, I was in the military. WHY AREN'T YOU THERE?
FERGUSON: I'm 24 years old.
RHODES: Why aren't you there? Then GO.
FERGUSON: And just because I support something doesn't mean I have to always go fight.
RHODES: YOU GO. YOU GO. Go ahead. YOU go and then you come back because you know what happens when we come back?
FERGUSON: I support the Yankees doesn't mean I wear their uniform.
RHODES: Once you've served, you come back, and you're suddenly a liberal. Do you know why, Ben? Because you're only as good as the weakest link. And that's why you aren't in the military.
FERGUSON: Then why did so many people vote for the president that wore a uniform, Randi?
(CROSSTALK)
Haven't found any video online yet, but it's worth watching the rerun this evening. Randi seems to be catching on as CNN's "crazy liberal" of choice, presumably because they assume people find her grating and annoying. What they may be in the process of finding out, however, is that she's pretty well read on the subjects at hand, and can't be intimidated during any argument. She was hardly flawless tonight, but she sure pulled it out at the end, as it were.
I have no analysis to add or offer, beyond looking up hyperlinks pertaining to "swirlies," but I thought it was exciting and significant for a young Republican flack to get called out about military service on national TV. Ferguson's pitiful response ("the Yankees?" "Voted for a President in a uniform?" WTF??) only served to underline how, for Young Republican Rush Wannabes, there is literally no defense to that charge. Tonight, for a few fleeting moments, the shoe fit, and crow was served, nay, feasted upon. Now, on to tomorrow's regularly scheduled program.