
A political science professor once told me about a friend of his who claimed that Richard Nixon killed his father. Every time Nixon appeared on television, this guy would start shouting. “That lying bastard!” And so on. Well, one time Nixon came on the TV, the man started shouting at it, had a heart attack, and died.
I don’t watch much TV, but like many liberals, I never miss Up with Chris Hayes. One of the Hayes-approved conservatives is Avik Roy. I despise Avik Roy. Unlike Joss Barro (or even Ross Douthat), who often makes sense, all we ever get from Avik Roy is another Republican talking point dressed up with nice words and a calm demeanor. And like the father I spoke of above, I can’t help but yell at the screen.
At first, I am just trying to correct his deceptive statements. Unfortunately, there are so many, I can’t keep up and I just go full Tourette’s, “You fucking conservative lackey. I want to rip off your scrotum and suffocate you with it. Cock sucking plutocrat bastard!” I don’t think this is an accident. I think Avik Roy knows what he’s doing. So if I end up dead, you’ll know what happened.
Rather than show you what Avik Roy does, I’ll show the reaction. He manages to make David Cay Johnston quite angry, “We need to have a fundamental discussion about tax policy but we need to follow the 500 year old principal that gave birth to democracy: the greater your gain, the greater the burden you bear. And real conservatives believe that. It is the fake radicals who call themselves conservatives who are running the debate and who are totally ahistorical.”
Let’s get Avik Roy off the TV machine. If not for me at least for the great (And Republican!) Mr. Johnston.
See also Avik Roy: Charlatan