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Mel Gibson's Meltdown
Slate ^ | 07-31-06 | Christopher Hitchens

Posted on 07/31/2006 12:29:38 PM PDT by veronica

Edited on 07/31/2006 1:43:28 PM PDT by Admin Moderator. [history]

I was just in the middle of writing a long and tedious essay, about how to tell a real anti-Semite from a person who too-loudly rejects the charge of anti-Semitism, when a near-perfect real-life example came to hand. That bad actor and worse director Mel Gibson, pulled over for the alleged offense of speeding and the further alleged offense of speeding under the influence, decided that he needed to demand of the arresting officer whether he was or was not Jewish and that he furthermore needed to impart the information that all the world's wars are begun by those of Semitic extraction.

Call me thin-skinned if you must, but I think that this qualifies. I also think that the difference between the blood-alcohol levels—and indeed the speed limits—that occasioned the booking are insufficient to explain the expletives (as Gibson has since claimed in a typically self-pitying and verbose statement put out by his publicist). One does not abruptly decide, between the first and second vodka, or the ticks of the indicator of velocity, that the Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion are valid after all.

There's a lot to dislike about Gibson. He is given to furious tirades against homosexuals of the sort that make one wonder if he has some kind of subliminal or "unaddressed" problem. His vulgar and nasty movies, which also feature this prejudice, are additionally replete with the cheapest caricatures of the English.


TOPICS: Editorial; News/Current Events; Philosophy
KEYWORDS: hitchens; invinoveritas; melgibson
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To: ironangel; meandog
Don't like to take McCainiac meandog's side, but you should know that "Skeleton's in the Closet" is NOT a leftist wing site. They do numbers on RATS as well as Republicans.

Just because the site is not affiliated with the Democrats does not mean it is not a leftist site.

The site is run by a collective from Portland that has also paid for pro-abortion TV ads.

They are leftists, even if they are not members of America's largest leftist party.

And the president was a little evasive about his arrest, after all.

He was never arrested in the first place. How can you be evasive about an arrest that never happened?

381 posted on 08/01/2006 7:44:32 AM PDT by wideawake ("The nation which forgets its defenders will itself be forgotten." - Calvin Coolidge)
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To: Skooz

Just as there are those who will believe whatever they choose to believe about a person based upon a short article written by a third party and never having spoken with the person even once.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

I believe that I have blundered and given the wrong impression, at the time that I posted the line you responded to I had forgotten all about Mel Gibson, I have nothing negative to say about the man whatsoever, I have said far too many things under the influence myself. I only meant to comment on the effects of alcohol.


382 posted on 08/01/2006 7:50:17 AM PDT by RipSawyer (Does anybody still believe this is a free country?)
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To: wideawake
He was never arrested in the first place. How can you be evasive about an arrest that never happened?

Huh? How can someone not be arrested for DUI. Did he get special treatment or something? I honestly can't remember.

383 posted on 08/01/2006 7:50:23 AM PDT by ironangel
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To: presently no screen name
Supposedly, they also taped him.

Supposedly isn't proof. I've yet to read they have him on tape ranting anti-semetic slurs. Got a link by any chance?

384 posted on 08/01/2006 7:52:34 AM PDT by demkicker (democrats and terrorists are intimate bedfellows)
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To: RipSawyer

No problem.

Having had a few too many far more times than I could count, I know the alcohol = truth serum belief is fallacy.


385 posted on 08/01/2006 7:54:38 AM PDT by Skooz (Chastity prays for me, piety sings...Modesty hides my thighs in her wings...)
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To: demkicker

I don't know if there's tape, but the arresting officer took very careful notes...just as they do with all drunken idiots they arrest. Right?


386 posted on 08/01/2006 7:54:48 AM PDT by Mamzelle (in vino, veritas)
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To: veronica

I'm sure this author is unbiased.

I'm still waiting for Mel to show up and explain himself.


387 posted on 08/01/2006 7:58:28 AM PDT by <1/1,000,000th%
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To: ironangel
Huh? How can someone not be arrested for DUI. Did he get special treatment or something? I honestly can't remember.

Sound of crickets chirping from Bushbot "wideawake".

388 posted on 08/01/2006 8:06:22 AM PDT by meandog (While Clinton isn't worthy even to scrape Reagan's shoes' soles, Bush is worthy only to shine them!)
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To: ironangel; meandog
How can someone not be arrested for DUI.

At that time (before the MADD campaign that made DUI laws much harsher) one could voluntarily go with the officer to the station and sign a form acknowledging you are guilty of the DUI and pay a fine.

I'm sure the officer said something to the effect of: "Look, either I can arrest you and run you in, or you can come down to the station and sign the papers admitting guilt for what you did. I can make this easy or hard. Your choice."

Did he get special treatment or something?

Not at all. That was apparently standard practice in ME and elsewhere back then for first-time offenders.

He paid the standard fine and got the standard penalty - suspension of driving privileges for a mandatory 30 days.

Again, the leftist spin is that Bush was read his rights, handcuffed and thrown into a holding cell and then hauled in front of a judge.

Nope.

Part of the spin is the suggestion that the Bush family somehow had the records associated with this arrest sealed or destroyed.

In reality they were right there in the York County records office for anyone to find - and of course, someone did find them.

389 posted on 08/01/2006 8:07:13 AM PDT by wideawake ("The nation which forgets its defenders will itself be forgotten." - Calvin Coolidge)
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To: demkicker

There is a TAPE of his statements.


390 posted on 08/01/2006 8:10:09 AM PDT by juliej (juliej)
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To: midnightson

There are people who insist on defnding Gibson and his wackey father til the bitter end.


391 posted on 08/01/2006 8:11:25 AM PDT by juliej (juliej)
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To: sinkspur

Very well put. Unfortunately, some of the Jew-haters are lurking on this site!


392 posted on 08/01/2006 8:12:14 AM PDT by juliej (juliej)
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To: MinuteGal

But it doesn't mean that this particular entry on his blog is incorrect.


393 posted on 08/01/2006 8:13:51 AM PDT by juliej (juliej)
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To: juliej

See post #'s 344, 384 and 386.

I'll ask again. Do you have a link stating that there's a tape of his statements?


394 posted on 08/01/2006 8:15:24 AM PDT by demkicker (democrats and terrorists are intimate bedfellows)
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To: demkicker
I haven't seen any hard news acccount of the existence of a tape. The most recent report on Fr is about Sheriff Mees who commented on how there were two reports because they considered and discussed and argued over not making the antisemitic remarks public. Mees sounds like a standup guy, even mentioned Gibson's past efforts to raise money for the police.

If there was a tape, there's no need for debate.

My bet--there is no tape, or it is not definitive.

395 posted on 08/01/2006 8:21:32 AM PDT by Mamzelle (in vino, veritas)
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To: juliej
Since Hitchens leaped at the opportunity to pontificate and educate us on Mel Gibson's inner workings and darker side from his lofty intellectual heights, I feel it was only fair and balanced of me to comment on Hitchen's background and darker side from my plebian depths.

Leni

396 posted on 08/01/2006 8:37:36 AM PDT by MinuteGal
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To: Mamzelle
I don't think a tape exists. But the damage has been done to Mel's reputation. You're right about Sheriff Mees, who is a Jew:

He seems to be a nice guy only concerned about Mel's drinking and driving.

397 posted on 08/01/2006 8:37:59 AM PDT by demkicker (democrats and terrorists are intimate bedfellows)
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To: MinuteGal
That's a great take on Hitchens. I especially like the last sentence:

He's a drinker himself, anti-Christian, and a rather lapsed socialist, having enjoyed the bountiful fruits of the heartless capitalistic system in America where he's been embedded for years

Hitchens the hypocrite has a nice ring....

398 posted on 08/01/2006 8:42:21 AM PDT by demkicker (democrats and terrorists are intimate bedfellows)
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To: ironangel; wideawake
At that time (before the MADD campaign that made DUI laws much harsher) one could voluntarily go with the officer to the station and sign a form acknowledging you are guilty of the DUI and pay a fine.

I'm sure the officer said something to the effect of: "Look, either I can arrest you and run you in, or you can come down to the station and sign the papers admitting guilt for what you did. I can make this easy or hard. Your choice."

LOL! If you believe that, Ironangel, I'll can sell you a scenic waterfront lot near the Dismal Swamp here in Virginia. When I was stopped for the same thing back in 1978 and failed a field sobriety test the cop sure didn't tell me that I could "come down to the station and sign the papers admitting guilt". I was put in the back of a cruiser and taken straight to the hoosegow where I was given a breathalizer test. But, then again, if your name is "Bush" or "Kennedy"...

Did he get special treatment or something?

Not at all. That was apparently standard practice in ME and elsewhere back then for first-time offenders.

Wonder how the officer knew he was a "first-time" offender? Again, if your name is ... YOU GET SPECIAL TREATMENT!

399 posted on 08/01/2006 8:55:07 AM PDT by meandog (While Clinton isn't worthy even to scrape Reagan's shoes' soles, Bush is worthy only to shine them!)
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To: juliej
Oh, so you blame the victim. Shows you're a very enlightened person.

I merely asked a question in that post, you paranoid fool!

Get a life.

400 posted on 08/01/2006 9:02:47 AM PDT by beyond the sea (The truth exists even when it is ignored.)
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