S.F. Bay Guardian’s Weird Plug for My Commonwealth Club Talk

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The San Francisco Bay Guardian is a serious, if at times irreverent, weekly paper, a "free alternative newspaper" that has been around since 1966. You can check out the online version here. The paper’s alternative spirit is reflected in the plug that they published for my talk next week at the Commonwealth Club, which is not your standard dull announcement:

MONDAY (9th)

"Putting an End to Jerks and Bullies at Work and in Society"
Commonwealth Club, 595 Market, SF; www.commonwealthclub.org. 6pm, $18.
If only I’d read Robert Sutton’s The No Asshole Rule before receiving my
one and only wedgie in the first grade, things might’ve been different. I might
have grown up well-adjusted instead of becoming a misanthropic calendar editor
with a freezer full of severed heads. Damn you, Sutton, for writing your book 30
years too late! Who’s the asshole now?*

P.S. John R. Bolton, former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, speaks at the Commonwealth Club about a week after me, on July 17th. Note that (if the press reports and congressional record are accurate), Bolton appears to qualify as a certified asshole. According to the Los Angeles Times, for example, former subordinate and fellow Republican Carl Ford Jr. ‘described Bolton as a serial abuser of underlings and a
"quintessential kiss-up, kick-down sort of guy."‘ This argument is developed in The No Asshole Rule, but I was not the first to suggest in print that Bolton appears to qualify as a workplace asshole. The Village Voice ran a story on April 14th, 2005 about Bolton under the headline "Wanted: Complete Asshole For U.N. Ambassador."

It sounds like a well-matched pair of talks!

Comments

6 responses to “S.F. Bay Guardian’s Weird Plug for My Commonwealth Club Talk”

July 4, 2007

Lee

John Bolton has been smeared by – dare I say it – a bunch of whiny assholes.

Reply
July 7, 2007

brownshoes

Agreed. In times like these, and especially in fatally values-compromised bodies like the UN, America needs a jerk, a figure who embodies the power and authority our country has to display abroad if it is to protect itself at home.

Reply
July 7, 2007

JMG3Y

Perhaps you could leave behind a signed copy for Bolton? Maybe even highlighted in the appropriate places. 🙂

Reply
July 7, 2007

Bob Sutton

A few comments. First, it is pretty funny, as now Bolton and I are pictured right next to each other on the Commonwealth website. As for Bolton being smeared, to quote Will Rogers, all I know is what I read in the newspapers, and if it is true, it isn’t pretty, as the reports about his nastiness and unwillingness to listen are so consistent, as well his vindictiveness … all classic asshole traits. Note I am not doing this to “get” him because he is a conservative Republican. Note these complaints are mostly from fellow Republicans, and I name plenty of Democrats as possible assholes in my book, including Steve Jobs and Scott Rudin.
As for additional reports about Bolton, check:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7614769/site/newsweek/
http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/05/03/news/bolton.php
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/04/12/politics/main687391.shtml
I wonder, you two guys who are defending him, would you really want to work for a guy like that?

Reply
July 30, 2007

brownshoes

You bet I would work for him. I would be his most energetic backer. In times like these, America cannot defend its principles by playing by them. We need people in power who are hard, who will not tolerate opposition abroad OR at home.

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August 15, 2007

irtisaam

“John Bolton has been smeared by – dare I say it – a bunch of whiny assholes.”
This is an non-cogent argument and a fallacious-a sweeping generalization. The product of hasty thinking at best, debile thinking at worst, it adds nothing to this conversation. A better post would be a claim with a premise, an argument, evidence and a conclusion. Or even better, a question.

Reply