Video: The most awkward C-SPAN clip ever

posted at 9:49 pm on October 18, 2010 by Allahpundit

I’d call it a palate cleanser but the sheer agony of it will having you weeping blood by the end. MKH has the definitive post on this, including e-mail comments on the clip from both of the principals. I figured it would go viral when I saw it this morning — and it has — but I didn’t think it’d get picked up even by outlets like Time magazine. But … it has. One nice thing about the beta male lifestyle, my friends: No awkward run-ins with the ex. On, er, national television.

R.S. McCain is friends with Helen Rittelmeyer, the target of this soliloquy, and calls her a “brilliant” and “amazing” writer. She handled herself well.

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Guy reminds me of one of the best lines I ever heard from a comedienne:
“Now you know what I use for birth control … my personality !!!”

TimLenox on October 19, 2010 at 12:40 AM

If half of what he claimed is true she wasn’t named Helen for nothing. The Greeks and Trojans would have been better off simply drowning her namesake at birth.

Seth Halpern on October 19, 2010 at 12:55 AM

The two are made for each other. They look and act alike. This might bring them back together.

Schadenfreude on October 19, 2010 at 1:02 AM

TimLenox on October 19, 2010 at 12:40 AM

You got that right, I wonder what a shrink would think of good ol ultra intelligent Toddy? A major nerd being nerd cool?

Not a putdown to nerds, I am a nerd myself, he is a putdown to nerds!

allrsn on October 19, 2010 at 1:03 AM

I’m not going to waste any more time trying to sort it out, though.

Todd “Weenie” Seavey

Oh, I doubt that very much, Todd. You’re going to waste quite a bit more time trying to sort this out, aren’t you?

Helen’s going to be dodging 3am phone calls from this pathetic geek for several more years…

Jaibones on October 19, 2010 at 1:10 AM

Oh my, poor Todd. I know Todd a bit and I have heard his side of things, but since they are both just acquaintances to me I have no idea where the truth lies. They already broke up and got back together 3 or 4 times, in spite of the continuing emotional damage, partly because Todd enjoyed her brilliance and intellect so much.

He does come out looking like the heavy here, but he’s a nice guy. Helen does admit on the video she “enjoys combativeness.”

They both knew each other was going to be on the panel. But why were they seated side by side?

YehuditTX on October 19, 2010 at 1:25 AM

Meh, he got burned, he burned back. Not that big of a deal.

angryed on October 19, 2010 at 12:16 AM

+

YehuditTX on October 19, 2010 at 1:31 AM

From MKH’s blog, Seavey’s personal ad:

You are still, as noted above, an immoral, inconsiderate fiend. I can do better, thanks. And when I say “do better,” I don’t even mean that there’s necessarily a woman on the planet above this sort of time-wasting, juvenile behavior. Maybe there isn’t…

NO THERE ISN’T. Women play games. That is their nature, that is how they distinguish the alphas from the betas and omegas. (Seavey is an omega- a man destined to a nearly sexless existence.) Men can judge a mate for the primary characteristic that drives a man’s choice, beauty, in one second. Women have a much harder time because they must assess personality to see if a man displays alpha characteristics.

Seavey’s mistake is believing that Rittelmeyer could be judged by her political philosophy and cultural heritage. She might be a Catholic but that won’t stop her from lubing up for a high status man just as a hetero man is incapable of ignoring a beautiful woman. It is our nature. Seavey has no game and if he ever wants to attract a woman he needs to learn what women want. They want a cocky, jerk who doesn’t care about her feelings and who has lots of options when it comes to women. Smart, sweet geeks need not apply.

Bill C on October 19, 2010 at 1:31 AM

An absolute moron. In fact, both of them are.

Virus-X on October 19, 2010 at 1:35 AM

I have almost completely given up cspan since it so often is boring, out of touch academics or bureaucrats droning on endlessly. At least this resembles human interaction. Maybe I’ll check in more often.

snaggletoothie on October 18, 2010 at 10:25 PM

Coming soon: CSPAN 4 The Public Service Dating Channel for Political Wonks?

JONAH, Let’s see. We’ve got Tanya, a 26 year old Republican from New Hampshire on the line. Go ahead, Tanya.

TANYA: Jonah, I’m a height & weight appropriate libertarian-curious conservative brunette & I’m looking for a small gov conservaterian who’s against both the death penalty and the flat tax, who likes to take long walks in the rain on the Mall and then cuddle up next to the fire reading the latest Senate Appropriations Subcommittee Markups.

leilani on October 19, 2010 at 1:38 AM

Bill C on October 19, 2010 at 1:31 AM

Apparently, you have absolutely no idea what you’re talking about, when you refer to omega males:

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=omega%20male

There was not an omega male on that stage, and she was definitely no omega female.

Virus-X on October 19, 2010 at 1:39 AM

she is hot…

equanimous on October 19, 2010 at 2:13 AM

I didn’t know the context when I laughed at it. It was a book promoting event, not the hilarious wonk-of-the-week roast among friends that I thought it was.

And the guy is cogent in leading up to the question: Is there anything you would not have us not do?

But then I read the links on MKH’s site and then a few more and the guy is seriously bitter in a somewhat narcissistic, twisted I-want-a-girl-just-like-the-girl-I-would-have-been-if-I-had-gotten-my-wish-and-been-one sort of way.

flicker on October 19, 2010 at 2:14 AM

Virus-X on October 19, 2010 at 1:39 AM

I’m using the third definition. Omega being the last letter in the Greek alphabet.

From the comments on MKH’s post:

Let me just go over the traits of a sociopath and see for yourself how well this matches up with this woman as described by the man.

- Lying
- Promiscuous
- Love of winning
- instead of normal emotions they play games just for the sake of winning
- plays with people and their emotions
- emotionally cold
- intelligent but superficially so, clever but not deep

I’ve dealt with one before. They get away with it because we, the normal people, think that we’re dealing with a normal person, with normal emotions and actions. We’re not. We give them the benefit of the doubt because we can’t imagine anyone who it seems LIKES us behaving like they HATE us. It doesn’t make sense to us. So we buy whatever claptrap they’re want us to believe, whatever excuse they come up with. The secret is that a sociopath is not like us. They are cold and heartless. Which doesn’t mean that they can’t be warm. They can be very warm. Then they can be cold. And then warm again. This confuses us.

I hope that Mr. Seavey reads this. I’m sure he’d recognize the pattern.

There is one other possibility I hadn’t considered until I saw this comment. There are certain people who are Emotional Vampires. They are narcissistic, self-centered people who are divorced from guilt or shame when it comes to human relations. Most people cannot hurt another person without feeling at least a bit of guilt but people with borderline and narcissistic personality disorder don’t necessarily have those feelings and that allows them to treat their loved ones cruelly. BTW, the incidence of BPD is much higher in women than men.

Bill C on October 19, 2010 at 2:15 AM

leilani on October 19, 2010 at 1:38 AM

lol nice

WisCon on October 19, 2010 at 2:20 AM

Bill C on October 19, 2010 at 2:15 AM

There is the distinct possibility that he is a somewhat biased observer.

sharrukin on October 19, 2010 at 2:29 AM

leilani on October 19, 2010 at 1:38 AM

Have you been bugging Carville and Matalin again?

flicker on October 19, 2010 at 2:31 AM

I would have been more impressed if she’d jabbed him in the ball sack with a ball point pen, but that’s just me.

di butler on October 19, 2010 at 5:28 AM

Bill C on October 19, 2010 at 2:15 AM

There is the distinct possibility that he is a somewhat biased observer.

sharrukin on October 19, 2010 at 2:29 AM

Yep. And methinks Bill might be a bit biased as well when it comes to women. I hope Bill has juuuuust experienced a painful break-up, because if this is a lifelong attitude…

I’ll just leave it at that.

Grace_is_sufficient on October 19, 2010 at 6:23 AM

If you freeze it a 1:13, you get this:

- the guy in the red is going “Dude, I cannot effing believe my Soc 410 professor made me come to this GeekFest. This is two hours of my life I will never, ever get back.”

- but the guy in the dark fleece is thinking “Yalie-nerd-Chick has got a serious pair of funbags; I’m staying with this thing.”

Jaibones on October 19, 2010 at 6:44 AM

It’s a good thing this happened on CSPAN. Can you imagine how embarrassing this would be if people watched it?

RINO in Name Only on October 19, 2010 at 6:59 AM

Those two must have had the worst sex in the history of man-woman coupling.

David2.0 on October 19, 2010 at 7:03 AM

That clip reminds me of an eerie blend of Samuel L. Bronkowitz’s Catholic High School Girls In Trouble from Kentucky Fried Movie and a segment of SNL’s classic Point/Counterpoint with Dan Aykroyd and Jane Curtin.

Good find, Allah!

Jack Deth on October 19, 2010 at 7:26 AM

Oh my, poor Todd. I know Todd a bit and I have heard his side of things, but since they are both just acquaintances to me I have no idea where the truth lies. They already broke up and got back together 3 or 4 times, in spite of the continuing emotional damage, partly because Todd enjoyed her brilliance and intellect so much.

He does come out looking like the heavy here, but he’s a nice guy. Helen does admit on the video she “enjoys combativeness.”

They both knew each other was going to be on the panel. But why were they seated side by side?
YehuditTX on October 19, 2010 at 1:25 AM

So you’re saying this might have been foreplay? Dude.

hoosiermama on October 19, 2010 at 7:30 AM

…but I didn’t think it’d get picked up even by outlets like Time magazine. But … it has.

With predictably stupid and dull comments from the Left which are all about how fug ugly they are (compared to what? The Breck Girl? Lurch? Chris Coombs?…), unsubstantiated speculation about how “beggars” would be treated, and others such witless droning.

Buy Danish on October 19, 2010 at 7:47 AM

WTF was THAT? Doesn’t anyone at CSPAN know how to cut a microphone off? Notice to Pawn Shops – DO NOT SELL A FIREARM TO THIS MAN!!!!!!

On a side note, I guess if I’d dated a girl this ugly, I’d flip out too (but she does have huge…….tracts of land!)

olesparkie on October 19, 2010 at 7:51 AM

Okay, we know the story Buddy. You couldn’t get it up and so she dumped your ass. No need to be bitter. That’s why they make viagra. she sounds like a freak in the bedroom and you couldn’t hold onto her? She has needs. She doesn’t want to stay up all night talking about stuffy dead authors, she wants to ride you like a ten speed.

Stop whining like a little b*tch and take it like a man.

Pcoop on October 19, 2010 at 7:56 AM

I have no sympathy for a guy who hooks up with a tarantula like this.

You know what she is. Women like this are a PITA from the moment you meet them.

Some guys are willing to overlook that fact for obvious reasons, but I never could.

Pretty on the outside does not trump ugly on the inside.

NoDonkey on October 19, 2010 at 7:59 AM

Dude?

Fella?

Disturb the Universe on October 19, 2010 at 8:27 AM

It cracks me up when these young “intellectuals” try to emulate the great and brilliant William Buckley style, grammar, voice modulation.
They come off sounding like a boy going to vocal puberty…

right2bright on October 19, 2010 at 8:46 AM

Those two must have had the worst sex in the history of man-woman coupling.

David2.0 on October 19, 2010 at 7:03 AM

First, if you follow his whiny attack you’ll understand that they didn’t have sex, which seems to be the source of the conflict. But also, make no mistake — she’s a wildcat.

Jaibones on October 19, 2010 at 8:47 AM

One nice thing about the beta male lifestyle, my friends: No awkward run-ins with the ex. On, er, national television.

AP

But Big A — isn’t this ultra-Beta male train wreck pretty much proof that even the low profile life can spin out of control, epically?

Jaibones on October 19, 2010 at 8:49 AM

Please Lord don’t let these two ever have children together or separately!

hip shot on October 19, 2010 at 8:56 AM

Grace_is_sufficient on October 19, 2010 at 6:23 AM

The nature of women is pretty ugly.

Pcoop on October 19, 2010 at 7:56 AM

The attack of first resort when a woman is truly insulted is to go after his manhood.

Bill C on October 19, 2010 at 9:10 AM

First, if you follow his whiny attack you’ll understand that they didn’t have sex, which seems to be the source of the conflict. But also, make no mistake — she’s a wildcat.

Jaibones on October 19, 2010 at 8:47 AM

I disagree. She’s a dead fish. Both of them are so self-absorbed as to not be able to function in a normal, healthy relationship… emotionally or sexually. The only way their relationship would’ve been more awkward is if she had one of those bras that refuses to come undone, or they both had braces and got them locked together in a geeky, nerdy, bloody-lipped kiss.

That being said, this whole affair was just awful. Jonah Goldberg should be beet-faced embarrassed that this happened in his forum. Pick your panelists more carefully next time, JG!

Shepherd Lover on October 19, 2010 at 9:26 AM

First of all, I hate these videos when people are trying to be funny and they are not at all. Secondly, I find it hard that this girl could seduce anyone. Third, these were the nerdiest people I have ever seen. Fourth, this “conservative” girl doesn’t really seem that conservative. Fifth, I have to ask, who ever believed thatObamacare was going to help people?????

Lastly, it is pretty awkward.

jeffn21 on October 19, 2010 at 9:29 AM

I predict that this guy will be Barney Frank’s next boyfriend!

wraithby on October 19, 2010 at 9:32 AM

Absolutely wrong on every level buck-o. Stay on topic, it’s not a cocktail party.

Mojave Mark on October 19, 2010 at 9:37 AM

They may both be emotional basket-case losers but I always consider who took the first swing. Seems this guy likes to air his dirty laundry in public. Bad form.

Extrafishy on October 19, 2010 at 10:08 AM

I saw this real-time on Book TV (yes, I am that big of a dork). After I closed my mouth from it having been dropped open throughout this pathetic guy’s monologue, the only thing I could think was, “oh, this is so going to be viral on the Internet!”

baldilocks on October 19, 2010 at 10:27 AM

Smart can be very sexy. But how did she end up with dumbo for two years?

He will never recover from that public display, at least not without an equally public apology.

doufree on October 19, 2010 at 10:33 AM

Put another way, “Still single Todd?”

doufree on October 19, 2010 at 10:36 AM

Something tells me this gal likes to be tossed about and the only thing the nerd could toss was a mean green salad.

TQM38a on October 19, 2010 at 11:03 AM

Bet you they end up married. No doubt in my mind that they are crazy about each other.

GoodBoy on October 19, 2010 at 11:37 AM

NO THERE ISN’T. Women play games. That is their nature, that is how they distinguish the alphas from the betas and omegas.
Bill C on October 19, 2010 at 1:31 AM

]
OK now Bill, I notice that on another thread here you’re doing this woman thing again.
I’m no feminist & I am the 1st of my sex to admit we can be nasty beasts which is why I have mostly male friends.
But you really are sounding quite bitter today concerning women.
Perhaps you could tone it down a bit.
Just tryin’ to help.

Badger40 on October 19, 2010 at 11:39 AM

The fact is, there’s a lot of this sort of conversation taking place. No, not the TMI stuff (I mean, damn!), but the devolving into argument for argument’s sake. Governor Jindal was quoted as saying that the Republicans need to be “the party of ideas.” When this happens, it gives the impression that conservatives have run out of ideas, and just want to complain. Eventually they run out of reasons to complain, and …

You get the idea.

manwithblackhat on October 19, 2010 at 3:12 PM

What a bitter, ugly little man.

Laura in Maryland on October 19, 2010 at 4:39 PM

Eeeeeeeeeeewwwwwwwwwww!!
This ended up being pure voyerism…not 15 year-old “got a gander at the neighbors doin’ it” kind of voyerism…more like 6 year-old “caught Johnny pickin’ his nose” sort of voyerism….

Two apparently professional ideologues (it matters not their political orientation) come off like Casper and Claudine Milquetoast, two anchor members of the chess club, and the wonder isn’t that ol’ Casper had the combination of cojones and bad taste to trash his ex on-air, but that either of ‘em had ever gotten laid in the first place!

This was icky to watch…mainly because there was a risk of somebody making a sexual inadequacy reference, giving rise to an involuntary subconscious picture of one or both of ‘em nekkid…Eeeeeeeeeeewwwwwwwwwww!!

Goldberg ‘s discomfort was palpable…poor dear…he did everything but itch….

Puritan1648 on October 19, 2010 at 4:52 PM

Those two must have had the worst sex in the history of man-woman coupling.

David2.0 on October 19, 2010 at 7:03 AM

…if that’s true, and if each has a sister, I can boast to have dated both of ‘em…and both of ‘em will have forgotten it by now….

*SIGH*

Puritan1648 on October 19, 2010 at 4:58 PM

leilani on October 19, 2010 at 1:38 AM

…this self-fascinated generation should be collectively (or at least metaphorically) tied in a chair and be forced to watch such a show…a’ la “Clockwork Orange”…have a lefty version on CSpan1, a doctrinaire righty version on CSpan2…let Simon Cowell host….

Puritan1648 on October 19, 2010 at 5:04 PM

Comment pages: 1 2