Groucho Marx Of The Blogosphere

I recently saw an old Dick Cavett interview with Groucho Marx on Turner Classic Movies (TCM). I laughed for the whole 75 minutes.  Groucho Marx could read his grocery list and it'd be funny. 

Mr. Epp seems to have taken a cue from Groucho.  Mr. Epp is frustrated that he can't have a serious argument with us.  Let's review.  I posted a link to a piece by Martin Albl on Amendment C.  Mr. Epp went ballistic.  What a great routine.  He pretended not to know the difference between "dismiss" and "disagree."  Then he accuses Mr. Albl (or as Mr. Epp calls him, Mr. Albi) of being prejudiced and advocating something similar to the "one child policy" of Communist China.  Hilarious.  Because telling a woman she cannot kill her baby is exactly the moral equivalent of telling her she must kill her baby.  Both tell adults what to do with their bodies (or actually someone else's body, but who's counting). And killing babies and opposing same-sex marraige? Same thing.  Where does he get this stuff!  Todd's arguments against Mr. Albl (and me) include: your ideas are old; your ideas don't match my experience; adults should be able to do whatever they want with their bodies (I await Mr. Epp's arguments for legalizing prostitution, the sale of body parts, public nudity and drug use).

My colleague Ken Blanchard then wrote this post about Mr. Epp's interpretation of the novel 1984. Ken takes off on Epp's reference to Ken and Jim Seeber as the "Hardy Boys" to give Mr. Epp the appellation "Doctor of Thinkology."  I am pretty sure Ken was being funny.  It seems to be in the spirit of the "Hardy Boys" gag of Mr. Epp.  But perhaps I overestimate Mr. Epp's comedic talents.  Perhaps he actually thinks Blanchard and Seeber are in fact the Hardy Boys incarnate. In that case this post where he takes (self) righteous indignation at having his credentials questioned makes more sense.  Perhaps Mr. Epp has lost his sense of humor.  When I was a kid and I lost something it was often in the toy box.  Perhaps Mr. Epp should check there first.  Unless he is practicing irony in this post.  In that case: comedic genius! 

I loved this last one, where he says he can't get a decent argument from us while calling us jackasses.  Why isn't this guy on Leno?  So in the course of three posts Mr. Epp presents virtually no actual arguments defending his positions, but proceeds to call his opponents: prejudiced, bigots, totalitarians like the Communist Chinese, authoritarians (as distinct from totalitarians), elitist apologists for oppression, stuck in the Dark Ages,  haters, and we use our education to "perpetrate illegal wars, discriminate against the citizens, support crony capitalists, and belittle anyone who doesn't agree with those power elites," and (big finish!) jackasses.  And he's really mad at all the name calling and is frustrated that he can't get a serious argument.  What a routine.  Bravo! Perhaps he is making a riff on Groucho's routine from Horse Feathers: Whatever they're for, I'm against it!  Here's the sound file.