"Baptized in borrowed blood"

[WilliamPitt]

In this veil of tears in the aftermath of the Paris massacre, I wish to take note of a master of his craft.

Charles P. Pierce, in describing the Fox News hategasm that came in the aftermath, described the whole network as "baptizing itself in borrowed blood again."

Fuck my life. That, right there, is how you do that.

God. Damn.

I want to be Charlie when I grow up.

http://www.esquire.com/blogs/politics/Death_In_Paris

[mcar]

1. My favorite writer

Pierce is brilliant.

[Baitball Blogger]

2. I heard the term for the first time over twenty years ago.

"Sangre ajena." There had been an assassination where a politician was splattered with the blood of someone who was standing next to him. He then went on live t.v. without changing clothes and used the tragedy to score his own political points. Someone accused him of using sangre ajena.

[WilliamPitt]

3. Wow.

Thank you for the history lesson. Do you know who, where and when? That's a horrifying story.

[Baitball Blogger]

4. I'll ask my dad.

It would have involved a political event in Panama. It shouldn't be too hard to pinpoint because assassinations, or attempts at assassinations were not common in Panama, until after Noriega's time.

[WilliamPitt]

5. Thanks.

Take your time. I'm always here.

[11 Bravo]

6. Oh my dear sweet Lord. There are words, and then ...

there are fucking words! Mr. Pierce always seems to be at his best in moments like this.

And by the way, Señor Pitt. You're no slouch your own damn self.

[First Speaker]

7. Mr Pierce is America's Orwell...

...with a big lump of Mencken, Twain, and Carlin thrown in. He has the best moral sense of any political writer in my lifetime, and the ability to express this sense in words so eloquent that all I can do is bow in his general direction. No one can touch him. (But you come close, Mr Pitt, if that's any consolation...)