August 22, 2012

Romney said "bless his heart" about Obama.

How disrespectful is that?
A preemptive “don’t even try it” to the media: It is not racist in the slightest.
Here's the Urban Dictionary's top entry for "bless your heart":
1. This is a term used by the people of the southern United States particularly near the Gulf of Mexico to express to someone that they are an idiot without saying such harsh words.

2. "You are an idiot but I like you and care about you so I dont want to hurt your feelings."
 ADDED: Here's an old Metafilter discussion:
"Well, bless your heart!" and "How nice for you!" are two of my favorite barely-veiled criticisms. Can you provide me with some more?...

"Isn't that special."...

"Duly noted."...

"Good luck with that."

"Thank you for sharing."...

"I'll keep that in mind." 

114 comments:

rhhardin said...

The point is that it's ambiguous, and the audience itself supplies the fitting implication.

The trick is finding ambiguities that make the audience make the insult for you.

Pope on Bentley:

Where Bentley late tempestuous wont to sport
In troubled waters, but now sleeps in port

the audience feels clever for having spotted the cozy after dinner drink.

Let the audience make the point for you.

chickelit said...

I'm not convinced that Romney uesed the phrase in an "Urban Dictionary" sense.

On the other hand, we have a commenter here (Yin or Yang?) who loves to close his folksy homilies with "blessings, take care."

I find this disingenuous.

Michael K said...

It's probably a bit too subtle for Obama.

Amartel said...

"bless his heart" is a southern thing? Disagree with that.

I would add a third definition:
"You are an idiot but I have to be nice to you so I'm doing so explicitly in an insincere but novel way that my supporters will appreciate."

Curious George said...

"Michael K said...
It's probably a bit too subtle for Obama, bless his heart."

FIFY

rhhardin said...

Bless his heart is more about incompetence, in the North, as if of a child. The possibility of growing is not closed off.

Obama has childish ideas, would be an accurate characterization.

Amartel said...

It's the sort of thing people say about Biden.

Snap.

wef said...

This campaign season is getting really dirty. Tossing out the BHH is pretty bad.

Tim said...

Romney's gentle, condescending mock of the least experienced person ever elected to the presidency will surely drive the exquisitely sensitive and highly self-regarded Obama nuts.

If Obama reacts at all, he will overreact.

Subtlety is not his forte.

Well played by Romney.

chickelit said...

rhhardin is spot on at 5:03.

Urban Dictionary fail.

Ann Althouse said...

"I'm not convinced that Romney uesed the phrase in an "Urban Dictionary" sense."

It's the standard definition as far as I can tell. What other meaning are you thinking of?

chickelit said...

It's the standard definition as far as I can tell. What other meaning are you thinking of?

What rhhardin said at 5:03.

Also, if you google around, ignoring Urban Dictionary, you will find all kinds of innocuous meanings for the idiom, some of which stem from religious people. Now, I agree that Romney was probably chiding him, but in the sense that rhhardin suggested. Perhaps I'm biased because my ear was trained in the north and so was Romeny's I believe.

yashu said...

Heh, Romney being Palinesque. Love it.

Tom Spaulding said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Albatross said...

Didn't Pelosi say something similar about the Occupiers?

Tom Spaulding said...

Romney said "bless his heart" about Obama.
How disrespectful is that?



Obama told me, as a conservative, to "Sit in the back and shut up".

He urged Latinos to use their vote as if "we're gonna punish our enemies and we're gonna reward our friends who stand with us".

I am that enemy.

How disrespectful is that?

Find out in November.

Bob Ellison said...

I had to hunt around to find an actual link to the video.

"Bless ____ heart" is a pretty common phrase among Christians of various sorts. It's generally a light way of saying someone is not very bright. Bless Joe Biden's heart.

yashu said...

PS Palin recently used "bless his heart" about Akin.

Anonymous said...

Bless their hearts, if the Dems insinuate "bless his heart" racist, then they'll lose all Southern votes.

"Bless his heart" fits, they must admit.

wyo sis said...

It's condescending, but in a kindly not a vicious way. I'd bet it was meant to be mildly offensive to an overly sensitive person. If a southern woman had said it to another southern woman it would be much different.

Issob Morocco said...

The Rust Belt Dictionary lists "Bless His Heart" phrase as one which means no matter how hard the 4th string QB tries to run the first string offense he will only do as well as his 4th string abilities allow. We used that phrase all of the time in Michigan so it is not just a southern thing, unless writing from the North Pole. Sort of good intentions lining the road to hell, but in this case I am not sure the One's intentions are indeed good for America.

Obama is our 4th String QB, and he is incapable of running our first class and world class economy. Time to bench him and hand the offense over to Mitt.

Triangle Man said...

It is used most often as a substitute for "how pathetic". Someone so inept that they are deserving of sympathy but will probably get ridicule instead. At least, that I how it has been used in the southeast for the last couple of decades. I hear it all the time there. Rarely, if ever, in the midwest or northeast.

Freeman Hunt said...

Bless his heart is more about incompetence, in the North, as if of a child. The possibility of growing is not closed off.

This is also how it is used in the South.

However, it also has an alternative, non-insulting meaning. It can also be used to recognize that someone is overwhelmed. Such as:

"Rhonda is busy these days. She is organizing the charity food drive, the 5k, the women's Bible study, and the youth ministry for her church. Also, her husband was just laid off, so she's gone back to work full time. Plus, her partners in the dog rescue just moved, so she has twenty dogs. Additionally, her roof caved in, and she's covered with boils."
"Bless her heart!"

B said...

wyo sis said...It's condescending, but in a kindly not a vicious way. I'd bet it was meant to be mildly offensive to an overly sensitive person.

This.

It's dismissive, but not aggressive and it's masterful.

virgil xenophon said...

Southern translation: "Well bless his little pea-pickin' heart."

Tom Spaulding said...

Bless his/her heart means:

"The poor thing doesn't know any better"

"Means well, but is ignorant about the topic at hand"

"Look at them, trying so hard and not achieving the goal, but too sure of themselves to be embarrassed at failing so thoroughly in public"

Often heard at talent shows and Dem conventions.

garage mahal said...

Obama told me, as a conservative, to "Sit in the back and shut up".

Unfortunately, it didn't work

Chef Mojo said...

In the South, "Bless his heart" is all about context and verbal nuance. It can be particularly cutting, and usually is. But it can also be applied to situations where great, well meaning effort has resulted in less than adequate results. It totally depends on the circumstances. Many were the times in my youth that I heard Robert E. Lee referred to in this way, usually accompanied with a sigh on the part of women.

Race is no barrier in the use of this term, though the context can tend to shift subtly. It undoubtly traveled North to Chicago with the Great Migration, and I'm sure Obama is very much aware of how Romney cut him of at the knees using it. Very effective on Romney's part.

Tom Spaulding said...

garage mahal said...
Obama told me, as a conservative, to "Sit in the back and shut up".

Unfortunately, it didn't work

8/22/12 5:33 PM
.

Why would it? I don't take orders from him. That'd be as likely as expecting you to cite a single, provable fact to back up any of your asinine bullshit.

Bless your heart.

Comanche Voter said...

I've always seen "well bless his or her heart" in the context of a Southern matron who will say the most terrible things; "that woman is ugly as a speckled pup, is the biggest slut in town, and is dumber than dirt" --while all this calumny is forgiven by adding "Bless her heart"

Romney has just said that The Bamster is as dumb as a box of rocks, runs a dirtier campaign than the Chicago Sewer Department, and has a campaign staff that regularly buggers little boys and girls--but "Bless his heart".

Hey--sounds right to me.

shiloh said...

Too clever by half aside, it's coming from mittens who is already unlikable.

But hey, his 34% con base will lap it up!

ie he's going after the moderate independent vote the best way he knows how lol.

garage mahal said...

Why would it? I don't take orders from him.

You seem awfully sensitive to what Democrats say. And I couldn't find the Obama "sit down and shut up" remark. Sure you're not imagining it?

shiloh said...

Being smug/cute is not Romney's problem :D as everyone already knows about this personal trait! And has judged him accordingly.

Like when he jokes about his tax returns he will never release. He finds it amusing, voters, not so much.

btw, what fool doesn't release his tax returns and then continues to talk about it.

"No comment" should cover it, eh.

Chip Ahoy said...

if you say so



Issob Morocco said...

ShY and Low said:

Being smug/cute is not Romney's problem :D as everyone already knows about this personal trait! And has judged him accordingly.

Like when he jokes about his tax returns he will never release. He finds it amusing, voters, not so much.

btw, what fool doesn't release his tax returns and then continues to talk about it.

"No comment" should cover it, eh.

Smug and cute is also Obama's trait, like when he tells us how those evil straw men are the only reason he couldn't solve the economy issue.

Or when he says his campaign didn't call Romney a felon, even when Steph Cutter did on tape for all to hear and see.

Or letting every one know we killed Bin Laden right away so he could spike the football, but allow intelligence assets to be instantly vaporized by doing so.

Or telling us Romney should release his tax records when Obama has not released his medical records, nor his college records.

No Shiloh, Smug and Cute is what the current denizen of 1600 Pennsylvania Ave embodies. Foisted upon your own petard, you must now reap what you have sown.

Cheers!

Tom Spaulding said...

You seem awfully sensitive to what Democrats say. And I couldn't find the Obama "sit down and shut up" remark. Sure you're not imagining it?

Not sensitive, merely cognizant. That way, I can make intelligent comments on political threads. If I only knew what Republicans say and treated it as Gospel, relatively speaking, I'd be...you.

You do seem awfully lazy and stupid, as one might expect a Lib to be. But the good folks at Google can help your stunted skills. Just type in things called "key words" and they give results, like these below.

BTW, I do this only to point out how ill-informed you are and how much hubris (Webster's) and chutzpah (also Webster's) you display when you keep claiming like a choad (Urban Dictionary) that because you have no knowledge of a thing, that thing must not be. Even to the point of refusing the evidence presented as proof that the thing actually exists (see your willful ignorance regarding Bush Assassination Fantasy thread).

There will be no further free research, as I am done with you, except to deride and scorn you for voting for Barack Obama.

Obama's words are in quotes, the rest is relevant context:

...He said Republicans had driven the economy into a ditch and then stood by and criticized while Democrats pulled it out. Now that progress has been made, he said, “we can’t have special interests sitting shotgun. We gotta have middle class families up in front. We don’t mind the Republicans joining us. They can come for the ride, but they gotta sit in back.”

..."Another way of putting it is when I'm busy and Nancy is busy with our mop, cleaning up somebody else's mess –- we don't want somebody sitting back saying, you're not holding the mop the right way. Why don't you grab a mop, why don't you help clean up."

"I don't want the folks who created the mess to do a lot of talking. I want them to get out of the way so we can clean up the mess,”


Bless both your hearts

shiloh said...

IM's Obama fetish deflection is duly noted ...

Crunchy Frog said...

This thread is why I didn't understand how "Heckuva job, Brownie" wasn't interpreted as anything other than "Here's your gold watch, now don't let the door hit you in the ass on the way out."

TWM said...

Shades of Reagan's "there you go again?"

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

Ok.. if its not a republican dog whistle... its a puppy whistle ;)

garage mahal said...

Obama's words are in quotes, the rest is relevant context

Thanks for that, bless your heart. But you originally put quotes marks around a quote that doesn't exist, according to the text you yourself pasted as "proof".

Tim said...

"You do seem awfully lazy and stupid, as one might expect a Lib to be. But the good folks at Google can help your stunted skills. Just type in things called "key words" and they give results, like these below."

Garage Mahal's Theme Song:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=nauLgZISozs#t=3s

ad hoc said...

I heard "bless your/his/her heart" a lot when I was growing up (Mom grew up in rural WV). It seemed to me to be a very versatile phrase - its meaning ranging from condescending or dismissive (someone just doesn't get it)to meaning that someone is simply in over their head, in which case BHH was not unkindly meant at all.

Brian Brown said...

Romney said "bless his heart" about Obama.
How disrespectful is that?


Don't call my bluff, Eric.

“I won"

ricpic said...

In the South "Bless his heart" is always spoken in reference to a pathetic creature, a schlemiel (clumsy dolt), or a schlimazel (continual victim of bad luck).

Freeman Hunt said...

oMy "Bless her heart!" link is not partisan. You will laugh no matter who you are (as you also despair.)

Dust Bunny Queen said...

Freeman's version of "Bless her/his heart" as acknowledgement of a person being overwhelmed, best upon is the version that I know.

Bless your pointy little head. Is the one we say when it is obvious that the person is clueless. I guess Romney couldn't say that.

The pat answer to stall and idea or action or to just not commit to anything in our household is. "We'll see."

As in. "Gee honey don't you think we should buy a new ski boat?" "We'll see."

Wow. Let's build a big 8 foot fence around the garden and keep the deer out." "We'll see."

Dust Bunny Queen said...

beset upon

n.n said...

If the "Urban Dictionary" is to be considered a standard, then there is no standard at all. We lose a lot of good words when we permit anyone and everyone to define standards on a whim. We lost a lot of perfectly good words to the civil and human "rights" movements and to progressive corruption in general.

Oh well. We live under a tyranny of a minority, where thought crimes are part of a business and political model.

Craig said...

Have always associated that phrase with Jimmy Dean, the country western sausage maker, not the movie star.

Tom Spaulding said...

But you originally put quotes marks around a quote that doesn't exist, according to the text you yourself pasted as "proof".

Consider that a "composite quote" ... and hang on to that pedantry, it's all you've got. left.

BTW, Governor Walker was wondering if you've got an Indictment Upate to share with us yet?

Methadras said...

kthxdie?

Synova said...

Yes, it's disrespectful, but it can also be affectionate.

Seriously, garage. The "quotes" were wrong? Maybe so. But the paraphrases were entirely faithful to what Obama said.

Sit in the back.

Don't talk.

"I won."

Synova said...

Seriously imagine if someone told *Obama* to sit in the back.

It would be like racial armageddon or something.

Shanna said...

You have to give respect to get it.

Obama doesn't know enough southern people to get this insult anyway.

furious_a said...

It's condescending, but in a kindly not a vicious way.

If you say so.

Shanna said...


I've always seen "well bless his or her heart" in the context of a Southern matron who will say the most terrible things; "that woman is ugly as a speckled pup, is the biggest slut in town, and is dumber than dirt" --while all this calumny is forgiven by adding "Bless her heart"


Heh. Yes, this is generally how I use it. I've also heard Freemans version.

Hagar said...

The few times I have heard this expression, it has been from border staters and used about well-loved family members.

Of course, the people I know generally are not very "hip," but then that is also said about Governor Romney.

bagoh20 said...

Remember when Obama said: “You’re likable enough, Hillary.”?

Freeman Hunt said...

I don't like it used in the pointedly insulting way because I think it's too mean and crosses some line to sarcastically ask God for blessings on people.

There are shades to how people say it though. The sincere "oh poor, hapless creature who can't get things right" way is less objectionable because it isn't sarcastic.

bagoh20 said...

Romney used it exactly the way I've always heard it. It's saying the person does his best, but the results are what they are. In my experience, it's more of a term of endearment with pity. I often hear it after sex.

bagoh20 said...

Academic model: Romney will take 52.9% of the vote, 320 electoral votes

Mr. D said...

I've usually heard it in the context of someone being overwhelmed and unable to cope. That certainly fits Romney's meaning, too.

Mr. D said...

To answer the professor's question:

Can you provide me with some more?...

A classic Minnesota version of expressing disapproval about something: "well that's different."

garage mahal said...

Their forecast suggests that President Obama will lose in almost all of the swing states, including North Carolina, Virginia, New Hampshire, Colorado, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Florida…

LULZ. They're smoking some good shit.

bagoh20 said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
bagoh20 said...

"LULZ. They're smoking some good shit."

It's a model(numbers), and it works on every election going back to 1980.

It would be nice if AGW climate models match past results.

chickelit said...

bagoh20 wrote: Academic model: Romney will take 52.9% of the vote, 320 electoral votes

It's cocky, but I really hope it happens. Landslides need to happen every once and a while and on both sides. It's good for country unity. I'll bet there are a fair number of people out there who can't even remember the last one--I even voted for the losing side.

garage mahal said...

I have to say conservatives have been remarkable confident about their chances, even though I've yet to see a electoral map showing Romney ahead. On top of that Ryan provided no bump for Romney nationally and a hurricane is headed to their convention.

Rabel said...

Here's an article from an anti-Romney writer who called it back in April:

Props for the Prescience

R.L. Hunter said...

Can you provide me with some more?...

When I was in machine shop in high school, when someone screwed something up by not following instructions the teachers standard comment was "Huh, imagine that"

ricpic said...

...it's more of a term of endearment with pity. I often hear it after sex.

TMI, bagoh. ;^)

rcocean said...

Very interesting.
I'll consider that.
Yes, hmm...(changes subject)

bagoh20 said...

Garage, wait until the media turns on Obama. They can do it under guise of doing their job right for a change, when all they really will want is to be on the winning side. Your most powerful and reliable ally is getting wobbly. Be afraid, be very afraid.

chickelit said...

garage mahal said...
I have to say conservatives have been remarkable confident about their chances, even though I've yet to see a electoral map showing Romney ahead...

Pretty rich coming from the guy who completely miscalled the WI recall.

TOTAL RECALL!

I said it was cocky. I don't like cocky.

But I can hope for change can't I?

chickelit said...

Garage, wait until the media turns on Obama.

Exactly. Jake Tapper called it the other day. He as much as said that 2008 was unfair media coverage. If the MSM actually figures out that more people will watch them if they stop shilling, who or what's going to stop them?

Carnifex said...

GM on Althouse...

"I saw this in a cartoon once. I think I can do it."

The southern version of "Hey ya'll! Watch this!"

Let's try just for the sake of bringing up the IQ of the country...

GM! You do realize that Zero has been spending his election funds into the red with Romney spending practically nothing right? And yet the Zero hasn't done anything other than keep a tie with Mittens, a candidate whose base is pretty blase about? What little movement has been is Zero slipping in the polls, but it's within the margin of error. Until you remove the weighting the D's are being given by the pollsters.

Why would they be weighting D's you ask? To sell papers,pure and simple. More than they want Zero elected they want, no, they crave ratings. Like a heroin addict needs his horse. So they prop up the angry sock monkey with weighted polls so that gullible people(dem's and independents) will watch.

The anchors don't mind because they are rootin' for Zero anyway. Look at the internals of the polls, the truth is there. Zero will lose, by a comfortable margin...besides uber-libs and minorities, who would vote for him?

garage mahal said...

The media, like most people, hate Romney because he is such an insufferable dick. And the Golden Boy is getting exposed as the far right Ayn Rand zealot that he his. Finally. I don't think that adds up to a R win.

garage mahal said...

Pretty rich coming from the guy who completely miscalled the WI recall.

For the fiftieth fucking time. I didn't call anything!

Carnifex said...

GM

If you're hiking in the woods with your buddy and you come across a grizzly bear, how fast do you have to run to get away from the bear?

Faster than the other guy. Zero is that other guy. Alot of people are ambivilant about Mittens. Hell I can't stand him.

But he is not the out and out traitor that Zero is. It's that simple.

Carnifex said...

@rcocean

Lay off Bagoh. I don't even get the sex and I have to hear that. ;-)

Tom Spaulding said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Tom Spaulding said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
bagoh20 said...

If Obama wins, you guys should start up the process of having California removed from the union. 55 Electoral votes that are in the hands of what is clearly the stupidest, most irresponsible electorate ever to sit in glorious sunshine smoking sticky buds of medicinal inspiration. And, we just might be the basket of hay on the fiscal disaster camel's back. You really need to get rid of us. What's the word for forced secession? Eviction? OK, evict us, we deserve it. If we were a Kennedy, we'd be lobotomized by now.

Tom Spaulding said...

garage mahal said...

For the fiftieth fucking time. I didn't call anything!

You seem awful sensitive to what Althouse commenters say.

garage mahal said...

Carnifex
When you're carping about the media and how polls are weighted, I think you already lost.

I Have Misplaced My Pants said...

Romney's use of it is consistent with how I see him vs. Obama. Obama is like a teenager who Mom thought could maybe handle staying home alone over the weekend, but he set the kitchen on fire and, oops!, let the pothead from down the street move into the basement. Bless his heart for trying, but thank God dad's home now and can get this mess straightened out.

bagoh20 said...

"When you're carping about the media and how polls are weighted, I think you already lost."

You misread that - we aren't harping, we love it. It's the rope-a-dope of politics, the decoy, the trap.

garage mahal said...

Very little will change whoever wins. There is really nothing to get excited about, aside from SCOTUS. The only reason I pay attention.

Jim Howard said...

The Urban Dictionary is completely wrong. Here's your first clue. "Urban".

BHH is a rural term. It is a way of excusing unfortunate or embarrassing behavior of someone whom we otherwise love and respect.

'Old Uncle George, BHH, never did figure out how to fix a car.'

'Remember when Grandma Jones, BHH, fractured Grampa's skull with a frying pan'.

Revenant said...

For the fiftieth fucking time. I didn't call anything!

And it is still just as funny as it was the first time you said it.

yashu said...

The media, like most people, hate Romney because he is such an insufferable dick. And the Golden Boy is getting exposed as the far right Ayn Rand zealot that he his. Finally. I don't think that adds up to a R win.

1) "Insufferable dicks" are in the eyes of the beholder. Since 2008, many more people (including MSM journalists, who've been treated like dirt by Obama) have come to see Obama as one.

2) When younger, Ryan read and appreciated some of the political insights found in Rand novels.

When younger, Obama found friends and political mentors among the likes of Ayers and Dohrn.

Americans elected Obama POTUS. I don't think they'd have a problem electing Ryan as VP.

garage mahal said...

And it is still just as funny as it was the first time you said it.

Know what's even funnier? The same exact people that accuse me of predicting a Walker loss also accuse me of going away for two weeks because I knew Walker would win. I wonder if they even know they do it?

bagoh20 said...

"Very little will change whoever wins."

Well that sucks.

No hope / no change. What happened?

ad hoc said...

Chikelit said,
Exactly. Jake Tapper called it the other day. He as much as said that 2008 was unfair media coverage. If the MSM actually figures out that more people will watch them if they stop shilling, who or what's going to stop them?

I’m not so sure that viewership is a deciding factor. But if they think that Romney stands a decent chance to win (and actually does win), then they may no longer wish to be lap-dog shills, but would then prefer to be aggressive watch-dogs.

Dust Bunny Queen said...

OK, evict us, we deserve it. If we were a Kennedy, we'd be lobotomized by now.

LOL. I agree Bago... California is the crazy uncle in the attic who is always screwing things up and costing you money. Seriously. Evict us.

Actually many of us have been trying to get away from the rest of you in California for decades. STATE OF JEFFERSON. A dream that still lives. I think we might have 8 or so electoral votes :-)

garage mahal said...

LOL. I agree Bago... California is the crazy uncle in the attic who is always screwing things up and costing you money

Yet none of the independent rugged conservatives that complain about California want to move out. Haven't heard anyone want to move to Wisconsin with all the great Tea Party reforms. Real odd?

Known Unknown said...

Yet none of the independent rugged conservatives that complain about California want to move out.

If it weren't for surfing in the morning and snow skiing in the afternoon, who knows how many people would leave California?

Outside of the politics, California can be pretty nice.

KCFleming said...

"Yet none of the independent rugged conservatives that complain about California want to move out. Haven't heard anyone want to move to Wisconsin with all the great Tea Party reforms."

"Since at least 2005, more residents have left California than arrived here from other states."

garage mahal said...

f it weren't for surfing in the morning and snow skiing in the afternoon, who knows how many people would leave California?

You poor thing! ;)

I'd like to live in Cali, but wouldn't even know where to begin. I do love it out west.

bagoh20 said...

"Yet none of the independent rugged conservatives that complain about California want to move out."

"California has lost over 720,000 taxpayers 48 billion of AGI from us migration from 1993-2008."

That was before the crash when things were going well. They have been moving out in droves for a long time, and the budget shows it.

I've been working hard to find a way to move with my entire business and it's 100 taxpayers, and I'd save millions in a very short time, but my employees have roots too deep here to force them into that just to save money, and the business exist for them.

My employees' standard of living would double with a 300 mile move to Las Vegas, but I haven't sold them on it yet. I would hate Las Vegas' 110 degrees summers, but I could buy a lot of air conditioning for the taxes I'd save.

Most people in California have a kind of emotional attachment to the idea of being here, and it has a lot of great assets, but even if your battering spouse cleans up real nice on the weekend, they still beat you most nights, because they think you'll never leave them. They have been wrong for a long time, and it might be too late now, so the talk is starting top get serious about state bankruptcy.


http://www.taxabletalk.com/2011/12/06/california-has-lost-over-720000-taxpayers-48-billion-of-agi-from-us-migration-from-1993-2008/

Ken said...

"He should live and be well..."

Ken said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Christy said...

"Bless your heart" is all of a peice with "If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all" which our mothers have drilled into us all our lives. "Bless your heart" is what we say when we can't say anything nice.

Unknown said...

Military equivalent is, "With all due respect." The hearer can be sure that what comes next will not be respectful.

Rusty said...

EMD said...
Yet none of the independent rugged conservatives that complain about California want to move out.

If it weren't for surfing in the morning and snow skiing in the afternoon, who knows how many people would leave California?

Outside of the politics, California can be pretty nice.


A great place to visit, but you wouldn't want to live there. Not without a ton of cash. Which the state will be happy to take from at any provocation.
Besides Wisconsin has better trout fishing.

damikesc said...

If only he'd label Obama's attempts to explain economics as "adorable"...

Too clever by half aside, it's coming from mittens who is already unlikable.

Aww, how ADORABLE!

It's so cute watching you try to explain things.

Like when he jokes about his tax returns he will never release. He finds it amusing, voters, not so much.

Again...how ADORABLE!

The media, like most people, hate Romney because he is such an insufferable dick.

Bless your heart. You try to make points but...again, bless your heart, son.

When you're carping about the media and how polls are weighted, I think you already lost.

You know who whines, a lot, about "unfair" media coverage?

Obama.

Isn't that cute?

And it is still just as funny as it was the first time you said it.

Rev, should we ask him about those John Doe indictments now?

Military equivalent is, "With all due respect." The hearer can be sure that what comes next will not be respectful.

Is it as bad as a request for permission to speak freely?

Roger J. said...

I've only hear BHH used in the south--the other term, which I have mostly heard in the south is "fine." which means, in woman speak--FU

Joaquin said...

"Well, good for you" is my favorite.

Dante said...

It's the standard definition as far as I can tell. What other meaning are you thinking of?

The way I've always thought of it as a way to describe a well intentioned, but inept person, such as:

"John, bless his heart, sent an anniversary card to Jane and Jack, even though he had attended Jack's funeral the year before."

lemondog said...

He tries Bless his heart .......**snort**

shiloh said...

damikesc trying really, really hard to be cute aside ... he's the only one at Althouse who uses bold instead of "".

Aww, how ADORABLE!

ok, ok, damikesc wants everyone to know he's special! er anal retentive. :-P

paul a'barge said...

"Well, there you go again"
- Ronald Reagan to Jimmah Carter

racist? No. Why? Because Barack Hussein Obama is a spoiled, arrogant child of a man.

Jim Howard said...

I just ran across an authentic use of BHH in an article about truck safety in south Texas:


Truck drivers like Bernard Garcia say they feel governmental regulations on trucking keeps them safe. Garcia is an eight-year veteran of highway hauling. In years’ past, he said drivers like his uncle would put the pedal to the metal to meet demands.

"He’d go to California and back and be back in three days, God bless his heart, rest his soul. Back then they didn’t have the law books," said Garcia, "and he’d just drive and drive and drive."


Mr Garcia was not being disrespectful or insulting towards his uncle.