I loved how he spoke about the social conservative wing of the ReTHUGs and how they demand that you agree with all their BS. The Fundies are loonies!!

After a few years of NYU under his belt, he will be a valuable voice for our side.
Love that kid!

edit: typo

of theirs--although he plays it down when subbing for Tweety.

I suspect that clip will find its way to the dark side--if only to prove the dangers of a "librul" education. LOL!

just like the kid. He's legally an Independent now.

intelligent to be a real RWer.

Maher introduced his audience to Caiden Cowger, a fourteen-year-old conservative with his own radio show. Cowger got some national attention this month for accusing President Obama and Vice President Biden of “making kids gay.” Maher couldn’t get over the fact how much this teenager sounds like Rush Limbaugh. Maher also reminded viewers about Jonathan Krohn, the young teenager who spoke at CPAC a few years ago.

Maher said he understands that all teenagers can be assholes at one time or another in this important phase in their lives, mostly where politics aren’t concerned, so he saved his comments for adults in the conservative movement enabling kids like Cowger and Krohn.

“When 14-year-old boys sound exactly like you do and can produce radio shows and books and speeches that sound exactly like yours, maybe you should rethink the shit that comes out of your mouth.
“Remember the Republican debates we had this year? They applauded for the idea of letting a sick man without insurance die. Herman Cain got cheers for saying he’d electrify the border fence. They booed a gay man serving his country in the military. No wonder 14-year-old boys can do your act, you act exactly like 14-year-old boys. There’s no ideology here. It’s just about being a dick.”

him I saw somewhere, he was quoted as being embarrassed at being the butt of the same joke as the anti-gay crazy kid.

so it makes sense that now that he's actually doing some thinking, he's seeing through that nonsense. And he probably now has an above-average grasp of how emotional appeal and slogans work on people, and no longer works on him

A curious but incongruous combination.

When I was young I was conservative. Right wing radio to an impressional young teenager is very dangerous. I fell for trickle down completely, until I was to go to college. When I realized how the Republicans don't care for anyone but the rich.

I am sure each time he tells his story the conservative have a melt down.

Way to go Jonathan!

I was a hawk, and over the years I became an anti-war peace activist.

Domestically, I've always been very liberal, mainly because my mother
exposed us to all kinds of people, never met anyone she didn't make
friends with, and raised us in the true spirit of Jesus, love, and charity.

of Tricky Dick in 1960, for christ's sake! Defended him against my best high school friend, whose family were Democrats. Just swallowed the parental RW politics hook, line, and sinker.

Once I got to university, my capacity for critical thinking developed as did my political philosophy. Never looked back in spite of family derision.

did a lot of damage and should give all the $$$ he made back to the people who were stupid enough to buy his stupid books or give the $$$ to a decent charity. I find no victory in this at all and I think this kid is full of nothing but bullshit. I am betting that his parents who, btw, taught him all this conservative shit in the first place, are laughing all the way to the bank.

his 13-year-old ramblings, so much the better. I doubt that either he or his parents got very rich on the deal.

I also suspect that his social conscience will develop nicely once he gets to NYU in the fall. Give the kid a chance to grow up. He's not even old enough to vote yet.

At 14 it's what he knew in Georgia.

I was a conservative at his age. My parents were NY liberals. I did it to be "different" and a lot of it was bound is appearances and style.

But when I got to college I eventually realized that the "free market" would not follow the public accommodations act.

And then there was the Vietnam war, which put me over the edge as to being a lefty.

I just could not see what business I had being in a war in SE Asia.


--imm

On edit: I meant this for Raven. Sorry.

were apolitical and that his major influence was omnipresent RW talk radio.

I bought my parents' RW politics until I took a few Poli-Sci, Sociology and Philosophy classes at University.

Some of those professors just blew my world view wide open and I've never looked back. Only "lefty" in the family and always will be!

I can't believe they didn't have some role in this and I doubt he learned it all from talk radio. After all, he gave a speech at a major convention...his parents had to know something about that. I must be getting old and cynical but I smell another book deal in this...something along the lines of "how I converted and saw the light."

it was more of a recital than a speech, from what I saw. Wingers don't do substance.

Who knew? Amazingly ambitious and far-sighted.

Someone was listening to that BS - doubtful that a child would willingly tune in to that kind of hatred.

Ac

"He attended Christian schools until 2007, when his parents began to home-school him.[5] Krohn was active in plays and regional shows through the Christian Youth Theater,[4] In 2008, Krohn began taking weekly supplemental lessons at the Classical School, taught by Steve Gilchrist, who teaches from a Christian Biblical perspective"

Who gets the credit?

--imm

Good grief.

For example, I voted for both GW Bush and Jesse "The Body" Ventura when I was a stupid teenager.

The shame of that will haunt me until the day I die.

instead of challenging his changing ideas, they jut call him a fag and move on like nothing happened.

tarred with their worst insult as we speak: "He's so GAAAYYYYY!"

They're so predictable and so revolting!

when the tag line can be: "An ideology so flawed, an 8th grader can see through it?"

but even so, like I said upthread, he can already out-think and out-debate the RWers using their own talking points.

Escapees from the asylum have an especially piercing vision from their time behind the walls!

mushier, oozier sound--brains splattering on the ground.

No wonder the RW is so determined to keep that from happening as much as possible.

of critical and higher-level thinking skills.

Their fear and loathing of anything intellectual should be considered criminal negligence.

They're purposely creating a nation of half-literate half-wits.

Then I grew up and voted for Dukakis in 1988, when I was 18.

Civics class.

He might have also discovered he's gay in those 3 years-he hints when he says he's for same-sex marriage.

Straight folks are often liberal and favor equal rights for all. Just in case that's news.

Is all I'm claiming. But I think his debate with Thom Hartmann might have had a profound effect on him a couple years ago. He followed him like a puppy dog after the debate supposedly.

He's also pro-choice. Maybe that means he's already knocked up a girl and availed himself of abortion services?

I sent this to a RWer yesterday and this was the reply today.

"This is such a JOKE I don't even know where to start. Yes, he was 13 -- so what? NOW he's 17. Wow! That just proves he's ALL grown up and can now make adult decisions! NOT!!! Give me a break. You know the old saying, "I was a democrat until I grew up." Give the poor little confused boy time -- he'll eventually grow up, wake up and make a wise decision to become a conservative. As it is, he is FAR too young to be making ANY political decisions.

If you want to talk about switching parties -- let's talk not only about an adult, not only a cogressman, but a BLACK congressman from Alabama! Artur Davis just switched from the dem party to the rep party. He's an adult, he's a CONGRESSMAN AND he's BLACK!!! Now, THERE'S someone to be watching and listening to and quoting and following. Certainly NOT a 17 year old but, then, the dems ARE very very immature and they all ACT like they're 17. All actions and decisions are based on pure emotion and NOT reality or wisdom. Did you see the president of the United States of America MOCK Artur Davis recently? Are you kidding me? We have never had a more immature president in the history of our country. Presidents have never been as blaming and mocking as this one. .....blah blah blah"

blatant political calculation after realizing he would be more electable as the token black guy GOPer in dark red Alabama.

As for Dems acting like immature 17-year-olds, direct his attention to the clown act that was the Repuke primary circus...

Only a R-Winger would talk about "quoting and following" somebody as if they were worthy of worshipful reverence. That's RW speak.

Seriously, did you really feel it necessary to quote this piece of crap in its entirety?

I dont know anything about Davis but I did tell her there have been several Con to Dem switches too. And that's a good one about the Republican primaries! I'll have to remind her of that juvenile contest. This person is so saturated with RW baloney I dont think I'll ever get thru to her but I will keep trying. My goal is to get her to vote for Obama by Nov!!

common and often incurable RW diseases--verbal diarrhea and cranial-rectal insertion.

Your dedication to the task of informing her and leading her to the light is commendable. I'm afraid I would've already run out of patience.

He was very impressive in the interview.

intellect. With a few more years of training in creative and critical thinking at NYU, he'll become an even more impressive voice.

He gives off positive vibes--a sincere kid looking to expand his world.

... expand our world.

with the genuine innocence of youth but open to ideas, encountered conservatism first and embraced it in all ignorance, then still acquiring knowledge like a sponge, outgrew conservatism within a year and headed directly into progressivism. I think his political evolution is a great example of where intellectual growth takes one politically.

lean to the left.

As the great Colbert says: "Truth has a liberal bias!"

and that the major influence on his early political thinking was omnipresent RW talk radio in Georgia.

So, heavy metal has a left-leaning bias? Who knew? I guess it makes sense, though--just the sheer rebellious energy would tend to offend RW sensibilities.

I kept waiting for him to say "Well, I just grew up." But I did think Michael asked the best questions of all the interviews I've seen with this kid.

in a corner. As much as I love Matthews, he would not have been as sensitive.

His mouth gets ahead of his brain and he often talks over the best part of an interview--the punch line at the end!