Slash and burn.

I was one of the last Americans to learn about the dirty movie featuring the Sarah Palin lookalike, and I am grateful to the young man who told me, because if there’s one thing I need to have scratching around my skull on a long bike ride, it’s imagined dialogue sketches between a pretty woman with an updo and glasses and two Russian sailors whose rowboat has drifted ashore on the American side of the Aleutians.

At least, I think that’s the setup.

Now we discover that, as usual, truth is stranger than even Larry Flynt’s fiction:

At the GOP convention in St. Paul, Palin was completely unfazed by the boys’ club fraternity she had just joined. One night, Steve Schmidt and Mark Salter went to her hotel room to brief her. After a minute, Palin sailed into the room wearing nothing but a towel, with another on her wet hair. She told them to chat with her laconic husband, Todd. “I’ll be just a minute,” she said.

I guess I shouldn’t be suprised. She’s a natural for the take-off-the-glasses, shake-out-the-bun scene, too.

As you know if you’ve clicked around the web in the last 24 hours, this is part of an anonymously sourced Night of the Long Knives designed to place blame for the McCain campaign disaster where it properly belongs: Anywhere but on the anonymous sources’ shoulders. The Fox report going around (she didn’t know Africa was a continent, not a country), the NYT story today (her clothing was originally budgeted at $20,000 to $25,000, and her eye-popping overages were for such items as jewelry and luggage and outfits for the family) — these are to be expected. The entertainment factor, as Roy and TBogg and LGM point out, is just gravy. (And that’s not the entertainment of seeing Palin trashed, by the way; what fun is that? Rather, it’s the fun of watching Michelle Malkin, et al, threaten those who violate message discipline. Somewhere in Hell, Stalin chuckles.)

Anyway I find the whole thing sort of depressing. You wouldn’t think the ability to make William Kristol’s worm turn could carry a woman so far in the world, but never underestimate the power of a strategic flirtation. Or that of the so-called played-out, intellectually bankrupt, last-century MSM. Which brings us to our next topic today, when I called Alan at work yesterday and he said, “You’ll never believe what I’m looking at,” and began to describe people lined up in the street below his window. I thought maybe Barack Obama had parachuted in to the AFSCME offices across the street to spontaneously thank union members for their support, and word had gotten around.

No. They were there to buy a newspaper. Across the country, it’s the same story, as people lined up — at printing plants! — to buy dozens of extra copies. I think we’ve found a solution to our problems, comrades. All we need is…news.

Unfortunately, all the reporters have been laid off. Funny how that works.

Some quick bloggage today, because I’m well-rested, the sun is shining, and I plan to get both strength and cardio workouts in today:

Someone tell Joe the Douchebag his 15 minutes are up. HT: Detroitist.

“Heartwarming” + “unforgettable” + “opening on Christmas Day” = a movie you couldn’t get me to at gunpoint.

Weights class in 20 minutes. Must fly.

Posted at 9:43 am in Current events, Media, Same ol' same ol' |
 

85 responses to “Slash and burn.”

  1. Kirk said on November 6, 2008 at 10:07 am

    Off topic, as they say, but the puppies are mixing it up.

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  2. brian stouder said on November 6, 2008 at 10:08 am

    Thanks for the Joe the D-bag site; Made me laugh out loud!

    Serious question: Why would a guy thoroughly shave his head, but leave all the stubble on his face?

    PS – re Palin: I confess to a certain amount of dark-hearted joy at the absurd rightwing spectacle of the massive (and instantaneous) conversion from a joyouse circle jerk over her INTO a massive circular firing squad. It gives a whole new spin to the old “This is my rifle, this is my gun” saying.

    And the circular firing squad continues, with Uncle Rush (et al) racing to…the further right!! Memo: that’s how a national party shrinks into a regional one, and then out of existence.

    To paraphrase the rifle/gun saying (infelicitously!), “Here is my country, and here is a pundit; One requires preserving and far-sighted stewardship; and the other doesn’t”

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  3. moe99 said on November 6, 2008 at 10:55 am

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=thOxW19vsTg

    CNN’s first use of a hologram. Is this the future?

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  4. Lex said on November 6, 2008 at 11:09 am

    We’ve also experienced visits and calls from people wanting copy of Wednesday’s paper, including one guy who bought 200 copies.

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  5. James said on November 6, 2008 at 11:09 am

    Not a “real” hologram, and a pretty noisy, unneeded, and silly effect.

    Oh… I guess I was impressed with the processing going on, taking a buncha cameras in a green-screened tent, and tracking a live studio camera as to perspective, but it was choppy, and the edges were fuzzy and noisy. Have they lost the ability to correctly key talent, but gained in that real-time tracking skills? What was the point?

    Feh!

    I have an idea. If the idea is to “beam up” folks into the studios from live events, howabout just skipping the sending them to the live event, and just have them in the studio? Or just do the live shot, and show what’s going on?

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  6. coozledad said on November 6, 2008 at 11:18 am

    We were getting ready to recycle a few boxes of Obama campaign literature, door hangers, “register now” posters, etc. when it suddenly became apparent these are collector’s items.
    The Durham office just put their stuff out on the sidewalk, and it disappeared faster than those Japanese emo-robots. Strange times.

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  7. Julie Robinson said on November 6, 2008 at 11:22 am

    Marley and Me will be meh, especially with Owen Wilson and Jennifer Anniston, both very meh. Here’s the movie I’d like to see–a new version of Hello Dolly with Queen Latifah in the title role. With maybe Bryan Stokes Mitchell opposite her.

    Oh wait, I meant to post that on the Geeks for Musicals blog.

    And by the way, the Straight No Chaser men’s acappella Christmas CD is mighty fine and will be in heavy rotation at our house this year.

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  8. Lex said on November 6, 2008 at 11:25 am

    wanting COPIES. Proofreading is your friend.

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  9. nancy said on November 6, 2008 at 11:31 am

    How does Mr. Black continue to sleep while his siblings fight, literally, on top of him? Oh, wait. Now he’s up. And Mr. Green is getting some payback.

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  10. Colleen said on November 6, 2008 at 11:37 am

    OHhh, Mr. Green is QUITE aggressive. I was concerned that perhaps Mr Black was dead…

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  11. nancy said on November 6, 2008 at 11:40 am

    BTW, Brian — that “circle jerk becomes circular firing squad” line is great. If you ever start your own blog, I am so finished around here.

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  12. brian stouder said on November 6, 2008 at 11:42 am

    You know, I was thinking “Mr Black….Conrad Black? This is a media reference? But who is Mr Green? Bob Green? No, can’t be….”

    and a Google search lead me here

    http://www.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080719080512AArcPkl

    an excerpt:

    Mr.Black and Mrs.White [at a party with Mr Green, and Doctor Red, and Reverend Purple] must not sit together. Calculate the number of different ways these 6 people can sit at the table without Mr.Black, and Mrs. White sitting together.

    and I remained mystified right up ’til it HIT me….

    puppies!!

    arrrrrggghhh!!

    PS – I will never, ever, ever have a blog! My existential internet role is ‘slacker/commenter’. Pam has a nice blog, and since I incur her wrath when I link it here, I won’t…but there’s a cool Dinosaur Boogie’ clip there now…!

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  13. Jeff Borden said on November 6, 2008 at 11:47 am

    Interesting question about the 21st century media world.

    Going through my late father’s stuff, I found a large number of newspapers he had saved –everything from the Stars and Stripes coverage of VJ Day through the JFK and MLK assassinations to Challenger explosion and beyond– which were fascinating windows on the world at that time.

    How will famous events in the future be saved? A screenshot? I know I’m a dinosaur, but holding those old papers and reading not only the big stories, but the small ones, the advertisements, etc. means something. I’m not sure a saved file on my laptop will have the same emotional and historical weight.

    Thoughts?

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  14. nancy said on November 6, 2008 at 11:51 am

    The puppies are the new black. One of the big Gawker sites did something on them, so they’re big stars now.

    I’m struck by how often, during naptimes, one will wake up and stir long enough to climb to the top of the pile, then immediately fall back to sleep. They really seem to want to be on top of one another. I wonder if it’s a comfort thing, like swaddling babies, or some other instinct.

    Anyway, they’re puppies. Who doesn’t like puppies?

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  15. Kirk said on November 6, 2008 at 11:57 am

    Borden, you’re right. I still have stuff from JFK’s death, 9/11 and a number of other events, many of them sports-related (including the shameful “Woody Hayes resigns” edition of The Dispatch).

    There’s no way that something you have to look at on a computer screen can have the same intrinsic value as something you can carry around (or frame or stick on a shelf). There’s more there than just the information it contains.

    We had people lined up halfway down the block to State Street most of the day yesterday, and we’re still selling lots of Wednesday papers today. And, prompted by a reader inquiry, we’re doing a story on how to preserve/take care of such keepsakes.

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  16. Kirk said on November 6, 2008 at 11:58 am

    Puppies sleep all over each other for a time because that’s how it was when they were all crammed into their mama.

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  17. moe99 said on November 6, 2008 at 12:12 pm

    Nancy, you are too modest. Your line about bill kristol was to die for.

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  18. del said on November 6, 2008 at 12:27 pm

    Brian’s expression about the “joyous circle jerk” around Sarah Palin brings to mind a pagan Republican high mass ritual, a gathering around the Maypole, or the religious ecstasy of whirling dervishes. It’s just so very rich as imagery.

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  19. Rana said on November 6, 2008 at 12:28 pm

    One of the first things I did yesterday was walk down to the newspaper box on the corner and buy a copy, and one of my friends blogged about how, despite all the phone calls, emails, and texts, and internet and tv, it didn’t feel real until she saw it in the paper the next morning.

    (Actually made a nice connection with the local bead store owner as a result of the walk; serendipitous networking is a great thing.)

    Somewhere in the basement is a bagged-and-sealed pile of newspapers from about 7 years ago kept for similar reasons.

    That Green puppy is a terror! He(?) seems to need so much less sleep than the others, and keeps biting them to wake them up!

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  20. brian stouder said on November 6, 2008 at 12:30 pm

    Congratulations to Coozledad, et al – North Carolina is Obama’s, and fairly won!

    PS – but indeed, Nance’s reference to Kristol’s turned-worm still has me chuckling! (you might say, the laughter is unabated, to continue the worm imagery!)

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  21. Connie said on November 6, 2008 at 12:44 pm

    I heard the story about the newspaper lines as well, and as I checked into my Indy hotel last night I grabbed the last USA Today and bought the last Indy Star, remembering the Chicago papers my parents brought home, where they were vacationing when Kennedy was assassinated.

    I heard on the news this morning that the Obama girls want a goldendoodle.

    I am using the nice computer lab at the Vigo County Library in Terre Haute, where my meeting starts in 15 minutes. I spent last night in Indy, where my original intent was to take my college kid out for dinner. Instead I picked her up at the St. Vincent’s emergency where the university health center had sent her – via ambulance – for an emergency IV rehydration. She is fine, but instead of the planned night out in Broad Ripple I bought her a load of groceries and tucked her in for a nap.

    A few weeks ago I had the lovely experience of driving my husband to the emergency room where he immediately had an angioplasty and stents. For both him and my daughter, it is the first trip to the emergency room. Let’s hope this bad thing doesn’t come in threes.

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  22. Jeff Borden said on November 6, 2008 at 12:48 pm

    Re: William Kristol.

    There are rumors the NYT may not renew his contract. I can’t image why — the guy is ALWAYS so accurate in his assessments and predictions. How a guy with a fancy schmancy background and degrees from the best schools fell over for an empty head like Sarah Palin continues to amaze me.

    Meanwhile, Tribune newspapers run columns by Jonah Goldberg, for gawd’s sake, truly one of the weakest thinkers and worst writers on the right, which is saying something considering the field includes Ann Coulter.

    I’m a liberal, but always enjoyed the writing of William Safire. The guy had a brain. These days the overwrought romance novel style work of Peggy Noonan is what passes for the benchmark of rightwing writing.

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  23. sue said on November 6, 2008 at 12:57 pm

    Mr. Blue is dreaming!

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  24. coozledad said on November 6, 2008 at 1:04 pm

    Thanks Brian: We lost Person county by a thousand or so votes, but it wasn’t for want of effort. At least now we have a more active democratic party, and the local consensus will be significantly less racist. Our field organizer, along with many others, has been offered a job with the administration.
    I told her she ought to hold out for a spot with USAID in Belize.

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  25. MichaelG said on November 6, 2008 at 1:07 pm

    Years ago I was redoing the floors in a place where I used to live. Pulling up the ancient linoleum revealed a sort of underlay of old newspapers from the 1920’s. No special days or events, just old papers. Reading through them was a lot of fun and killed progress on the job for an hour or so.

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  26. moe99 said on November 6, 2008 at 1:49 pm

    Oh, Connie, I do hope your daughter is ok!

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  27. Catherine said on November 6, 2008 at 2:00 pm

    Whilst praising Brian’s turn of phrase, has anyone mentioned the daring rhyming of “pundit” and “doesn’t?”

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  28. Gasman said on November 6, 2008 at 2:26 pm

    Jeff B,
    I’ve actually thought of applying for a column to the NYT and the National Review. Bill Kristol has a batting average of like .001%, yet keeps getting published, keeps getting calls to be an on air talking head (or rather, a talking air-head). I could guarantee both NYT and NR that I would be accurate at least SOME of the time, which is far more than Kristol can claim. Has he been right about anything in 8 years?

    It’s pretty clear that Sarah Palin was Kristol’s answer to ED, sans Viagra. He has been a rutting fool over Palin, drooling as he mentions her name. Ever notice how he’s always sitting down when he talks about her? Hmmm. As the true extent of her stupidity is revealed more fully, I wonder how long it will take for him to back away from her? He may be hopelessly horny, but he’s not congenitally stupid. His ardent support for Palin has to be a source of some embarrassment now.

    The absolute lack of substance in the Republican Party is exemplified by her elevation to the V.P. nominee. The shallowness extends far beyond McCain and his senior campaign staff. She and McCain were precisely what this Republican Party deserved.

    Let the sniping and back stabbing begin!

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  29. John said on November 6, 2008 at 2:29 pm

    angioplasty and stents

    Connie, is your husband doing some cardiac rehab? I know it really helped me when I had the same treatment in 2002. Knock on wood, the drugs appear to be working on keeping this condition in check for the time being.

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  30. Dorothy said on November 6, 2008 at 2:56 pm

    First sighting of Mama dog – for me, anyway. And they pups are nursing! While she stands, mind you. What a woman.

    EDIT: Crap – one second she was there and then she was gone.

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  31. John said on November 6, 2008 at 3:35 pm

    We are “out the house” for a well deserved vacation in Cancun for the week. Please all stay safe! Don’t jump off any ledges!

    Catch you all in a week.

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  32. coozledad said on November 6, 2008 at 3:38 pm

    So funny, because so true. At least I can clean the house now.
    http://www.theonion.com/content/video/obama_win_causes_obsessive?utm_source=embedded_video

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  33. Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on November 6, 2008 at 4:19 pm

    Marley and Me, no; Four Christmases, maybe — Lovely Wife says “why pay to watch that when we can just go do it in INdy/Bloomington?”

    I’m banking on the fiction being more entertaining is why, but i’ve been wrong about movies before (not to mention candidates!).

    I have a theory about the Palin stories, all to the same “highly placed campaign source,” and it has more to do with the horror of having to work on a campaign for the next four years that involves going to Alaska regularly, as opposed to, oh, New York or Boston (or Baton Rouge or Minneapolis), so someone is working on ensuring their viability in the system, to borrow one of Bill Clinton’s more useful turns of phrase, while also trying guarantee that their viability won’t be tied to willingness to cheer snow machine races at -20 and eat mooseburgers out on the back deck between two kids who want to show you their rock collection, and mom encourages you “gwan, give ’em a look.”

    The most damaging thing revealed about Palin to date that i take seriously is that she didn’t realize that closeted with your own top staff behind closed doors, you still don’t just say “OK guys, so let me make sure i don’t screw this up — who all exactly is IN this NAFTA?” Or say back honestly to your own aide “American exceptionalism, what is that?”

    I attribute much of the infamous Couric interview to the same touching but mildly worrisome naivety, from a mom who watched the Today Show for years and came to think of Katie as, well, Katie, and was utterly thrown off by feeling absolute hostility radiating off of Ms. Couric, anchor and interviewer. That’s why she did fine with Gibson, but seemed to come apart with Couric — she not only didn’t expect it, she didn’t see it coming. That doesn’t mean she couldn’t handle Chavez or Ahmadinawhatsis, because she’d expect them to be scornful and pushing back.

    But the idea that we’re to be horrified that Palin walks around in her own hotel suite in a towel? And LBJ called reporters into the can, and Poppy tried to make them throw up on his speedboat at Kennebunkport, and Clinton almost cursed as much and as nastily as Nixon — i really don’t get the horror.

    If she appoints herself senator, though, i look forward to the immediate demise of her popularity and impending defeat. If she doesn’t, i still say she’s smart, and learning fast the stuff she doesn’t know.

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  34. joodyb said on November 6, 2008 at 4:34 pm

    Marley (puking noises). watch the puppycam. hours of fun for the whole family.

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  35. brian stouder said on November 6, 2008 at 5:03 pm

    Things that make you go “hmmmm”

    http://www.newsweek.com/id/167905

    an excerpt:

    In midsummer, the Obama campaign’s computers were attacked by a virus. The campaign’s tech experts spotted it and took standard precautions, such as putting in a firewall. At first, the campaign figured it was a routine “phishing” attack, using common methods. Or so it seemed. In fact, the campaign had been the target of sophisticated foreign cyber-espionage.

    The next day, the Obama headquarters had two visitors: from the FBI and the Secret Service. “You have a problem way bigger than what you understand,” said an FBI agent. “You have been compromised, and a serious amount of files have been loaded off your system.” The Feds were cryptic and did not answer too many questions. But the next day, Obama campaign chief David Plouffe heard from White House chief of staff Josh Bolten. “You have a real problem,” Bolten told the Obama aide. “It’s way bigger than you guys think and you have to deal with it.”

    And it goes on from there, saying that the same thing happened to the McCain campaign.

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  36. joodyb said on November 6, 2008 at 5:26 pm

    del, ever heard of bohemian grove?

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  37. joodyb said on November 6, 2008 at 5:37 pm

    at 75+#, Jax and Kenny still sleep on each other however possible.

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  38. Gasman said on November 6, 2008 at 6:04 pm

    Jeff (tmmo),
    “… and was utterly thrown off by feeling absolute hostility radiating off of Ms. Couric, anchor and interviewer.”

    Was there a Couric interview that I missed? I saw not a hint of “absolute hostility” at any point in any interview. If you’d be so kind, please provide video links to these so I can see them too. I had actually not heard anyone else trot out that excuse, Jeff.

    “That doesn’t mean she couldn’t handle Chavez or Ahmadinawhatsis, because she’d expect them to be scornful and pushing back.”

    Are you kidding? Couric was sweetness and light and you are seriously contending that Palin has the intellect and the toughness to take on Putin? I am fairly certain that Sarah Palin has never uttered the word “exceptionalism” in her entire life.

    …”i still say she’s smart, and learning fast the stuff she doesn’t know.”

    Can you provide any evidence of this? Can you cite a single video link of Palin speaking extemporaneously on any subject of importance in this election? Being able to read a tele-prompter is not evidence of intelligence. Being able to formulate your own articulate take on issues is. She hasn’t shown that she can do that.

    Face it Jeff, she is a pretty moron and you and your party were punked when she was picked as the V.P. nominee. She is arrogant and uninformed, a diva to the Nth degree, and too clueless to realize that she is a parody of herself. By all means, go ahead and defend her. I sincerely hope that your side trots her out again as your presidential nominee. That would be even more illuminating as to how “fast” she’s learnin’ “the stuff she doesn’t know.”

    Or am I confusing you with the facts? This isn’t all that will emerge on her. How much you want to bet that some vindictive staffer has hard copy, or even video or audio evidence of the charges against her?

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  39. moe99 said on November 6, 2008 at 6:05 pm

    Jeff (tmmo), you really got it bad for Sarah don’t you? It’s ok. Guys get that way sometimes. Even Krugman had a blind spot for Hillary.

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  40. caliban said on November 6, 2008 at 6:13 pm

    The idea that this is some sort of middle right, kiss my ass. Glycerine. What some asshole like Robert Novak says, He said 2004 a mandate, for W. We don’t believe in racism. I was in Grant Park in 1968. I gave as good as I got. Bloodied myself and blood handed to those assholes that thought to drive us down..

    My parents stood for equality. They deserved my comittment. They marched in Blooomfield Hills and Grosse Pointe.. If you didn’t believe in open housing, what sort of ocscene bastard racism did you actually believe in? You probably find Barack unacceptable to this day, because your a racist bastard.

    This doesn’t have anything to do with Socialism. Tou can’t define Socialism. Socialism abd Barack, miles and miles, assholes. It’s not just a happenstance that we’ve got socialism and trashing your civil rights. These aholes believe they ought to be able to mine your every communication. You’re a terriss.

    People need to understand that there’s been an assault on the Constitution. It’s one thing for Grover to talk about strangling government, it’s another for a nitwit to say he just invalidates everything Congress says.

    You think I’m an asshole or you think Dickless Cheney is? You people have allowed these scumbgs to trash your Constitytion, and your Constitutional rights.

    You are some serious morons. You bought Cheney. You thought you were somehow endangered and the endangerment wasn’t these aholes turning the country into McCarthyville. Those Hollywood types? Sure as shit more reliable than Rovians.

    Was a word these assholes said about Iraq true? Is Saudi Arabia the hotbed for anti-American anti-aAmericanism? Kuwait? Pulleaze. These bastards slant drilled. US said it was fine. US sent April Glaspie. She told them it was fine. Please consider. In 1998, William Kristol and David Addington tried to talk Clinton into invading Iraq.. Their idea was cash on the barrelhead from Shell, Mobil, etc. big gucks for Cheney. Nice try.

    Cheney made a fortune nonetheless. And wrote himself in as WP and catspaw for Enron before they bailed. Anybody that doesn;t understand the illegal operation that enriched Cheney is an idiot.

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  41. Catherine said on November 6, 2008 at 6:24 pm

    Joody, an ex-friend is a member. You’ve got it just about right, except picture REALLY old guys, not just kinda old. Followed by bridge.

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  42. caliban said on November 6, 2008 at 6:42 pm

    Republicans believe in racism. If you think that’s not true, you’re an idiot. These morons claimed Barack was a socialist. Do they have a clue what socialism is? Apparently not. Are they that stupid? Nope.So were they just lying there ass off? Yeah, they were. Every republican that claimed Ogama was a socialist was lying his ass off.

    But you know, they also know John Kerry is a hero. They know Kerry told the truth about dealing with terrorists, It’s police work. They know when dealing with the Republic of VietNam, and MIAs, McCain was lying and Kerry was telling the truth. In the history of American political politics, the Swift Boat shit was the most despicable crap anybody’s ever pulled, and Ken Blackwell had to steal seeveral counties. So Robert Novak? You fucked the country over, and you know it.

    Assholes, sstole the election in Cuyago, stole the election in Volusia, stole the election and shat on the Copnstitution, And what we got was Mission Accomplished.

    Republicans wan’t to claim Americans just lobed Reagan. The’se bastard’s were wll into bacging the Constitution. They took you for fools. Long Con, and if you belibed thase aholes ever believed in the Constitution, or American pricnciples, you were had.

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  43. caliban said on November 6, 2008 at 6:52 pm

    Sweiftboat bullshit was pperpetrated by Nixon’s favorite. Since you didn’t take part, like the Nixon scum, how would you have the slightest idea? Republicans lie their asses off.

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  44. Danny said on November 6, 2008 at 8:03 pm

    Okay, is anyone going tell caliban that the election is over and his guy won? Or that this is 2008? Or that this is reality?

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  45. Danny said on November 6, 2008 at 8:14 pm

    Jeff, I too am puzzled by these deep throat(s) from within the McCain campaign. It seems some of these same internal sources were skewering him a few weeks back. Wierd.

    Discord within political campaigns is not unheard of (indeed it may be more the rule), but I can’t fathom an angle for gain even if any of it is true. Pointing fingers and saying it wasn’t your fault is really not going to fly for any of the people who worked on McCain’s campaign. One can look at how poorly it was run even before Palin was aboard and see that there was a problem and some of these folks were not very bright.

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  46. alex said on November 6, 2008 at 8:41 pm

    And that McCain’s an impetuous rogue. (Maverick’s a tad too kind a description but focus-groups well in the libertarian west.)

    I listened to the creme de la creme of the GOP loyal here in flyover country cross over because… ta-da… Obama’s one of them. That’s right. Somebody who’d bust his balls to be president of the law review. And wasn’t from a family of lawyers but came from nowhere.

    Bush and McCain were both spoiled brats who got where they did despite their fuckups because The First Bank of Dad could buy their way out of anything. Easy enough to support in good times, but not when people like Warren Buffett are backing the other guy.

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  47. caliban said on November 6, 2008 at 8:48 pm

    If people had had the sense, and the balls, to understand the grotesque lies, wouldn’t we be looking at a more manageable fuckup than we are looking at now?

    I mean, W and Viet Nam? He wasn’t buying that shit. He was partying and buying out. Do we believe the USA is the bully? Do we blow up weddings in Afghanistan and insist we were were right? Are Afghan weddings bait like storms find trailer parks? Things aren’t going well, and my country tis of thee is missing enemies and blowing up innocents.

    We’d better do something about that sort of shit.

    When HW left office, he made sure Clinton would deal with a shitstorm in Somlia. He made sure. W is trying to make sure the environment is fucked. No matter what anybody thinks about blobal warming and endangered species, W and his surrogates are trying to leave a bigger problem than anybody could imagine, and dthey’te trying to leave an environmental holocaust it will be difficult to turn toward good.

    You can try to claim Michael Chriihton wasn’t an asshole, but his legacy is the idea that global warming is a hoax. Sure it is, you jackass, and Ihhofe isn’t insane. Republicans stick with Ihhofe and Sam Brownback, and science isn’t science. He wrote one good book, ‘Eaters of the Dead’. God knows where that came from, but everything else was bogus.

    McCain tried to put “quotation mards” around
    How did anybody vote for W vs. Kerry with any sort of clear conscience? This boggles my mind. I’d think people did, and bastards in Ohio hijacked the vote. Here’s the deal. Anybody that doesn’t think Ohio wa jobbed i a fucking idiot. Robbed in Florida in 20000, robbed without a doubt in Ohio in 2004. They lied, they cheated, they manufactured in Ohio. Thee ahole that tole that election have blood on their hand.

    It’s my demographic that seems so difficult to comprehend. Kerry chose to serve. He wa a hero. He aved live. McCain blew up the Forrestal. McCain had Kerry’s back until it went afoul of the Raygunistas. He realized the people we were supposed to believe in lied their ass off. He repudiated his status as a hero. He turned traitor on Kerry. when the Swiftboat hit the fan.

    Maybe thats not what he did when he was tortured, I wasn;t there, But he turned his back on Kerry when Kerry exposed the great movement to fuck over the Constitution.

    If I’m wrong about this, lets hear the opposition. Kerry is to fine a man to expose McCain. They knew among them what a despicable.

    Obama is seriouiusly like Bobby. Not Jack But shit,’ like Bobby. But nobody’s like Bobby. Nobody’s like Bobby, He’s like Bobby, A lot. But nobodyy’s that cool. Bobby is better than anybody, by a mile. Whatever. Bobby Kennedy was better than anybody. He was just better than anybody. If you don’t get that you’re a moron.

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  48. joodyb said on November 6, 2008 at 8:49 pm

    I’m wondering if the whiplash knife show might not be some lizard-brain way of fending off the same kind of Barnum & Bailey-esque hat-rabbit selection in the future. these guys could be just that awkward that they don’t want to say it outright. and i think there’s something to the mukluks-in-2012 scenario for the press, as well. i sure as hell wouldn’t wanna have to cover a 2-year campaign based in alaska.

    caliban, you won. i think.

    catherine: my sister knows some participants too! or maybe it’s ‘knew,’ now! hahahaha; gallows humor. oh, she said mucho cigaros during/after bridge as well.
    there are books and books about it.

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  49. Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on November 6, 2008 at 9:44 pm

    Personally, if i never hear the word maverick again, unless in reference to Samuel Maverick (in the immortal words of Rosie, “google it, people”), i’m ok with that.

    The following link was, IMHO, heartwarming — i especially liked the “You complete me,” but you’d expect that of me, wouldn’t you?

    Click it anyhow: http://www.zefrank.com/from52to48withlove/

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  50. Jolene said on November 6, 2008 at 10:01 pm

    Good grief, Jeff. “Absolute hostility” radiating from Katie Couric? You must be joking. I saw straightforward, persistent questioning. And no, she did not do well in the Gibson interview either.

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  51. Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on November 6, 2008 at 10:06 pm

    Fine, fine — Palin is a ditsy hausfrau plucked from deserved obscurity by the symbol machine of Rovian Wingnuts, Couric was thoughtful and cheerily inquiring, Greta is a craven toady not worth hearing from, and all GOP anonymous operatives are utterly trustworthy.

    On to puppies and recipes!

    (Can i get my release papers from the re-education camp now? Or at least a weekend pass? Thanks!)

    Seriously, try http://www.zefrank.com/from52to48withlove/

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  52. Danny said on November 6, 2008 at 10:23 pm

    You know, one of the reasons that we would like to see more of Sarah Palin in politics is we want to see more of Piper Palin. That 7-year old has the cutest, fattest cheeks. And the wife and I sat around and watched her eat a load of Halloween candy while her mom was distracted during and interview with Greta. Every time we see that little cherub, we crack up!

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  53. moe99 said on November 6, 2008 at 10:39 pm

    Maybe they can have a Piper cam like the puppy cam, Danny.

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  54. Bruce Fields said on November 6, 2008 at 10:55 pm

    “That doesn’t mean she couldn’t handle Chavez or Ahmadinawhatsis, because she’d expect them to be scornful and pushing back.”

    ‘Cause of course in the real world everybody comes with clear “friend” and “enemy” nametags, and nobody ever has an attitude or a question that’s surprising.

    No “reeducation” here, I’m just curious what people think.

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  55. Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on November 6, 2008 at 11:26 pm

    And i said that i could understand that you could say there is a dangerous level of naivety in not knowing that some of your own closest advisors might sell you out in a heartbeat . . . but i return to her debate with Biden, and years of speeches before energy groups, not to mention facing off Don Young, Ted Stevens, and Rudy Whatshisname in her state party org, to say that the most potentially damning stuff being claimed by anonymous sources is utter crapola.

    This is Romney/Giuliani/Boehner/Whitman GOP maneuvering, and may their spawn wither and vanish from the earth like Joseph’s second crop of grain, like Haman’s inheritance, or Jezebel’s heirs.

    McCain only sketched a future Republican outline, and we need more new voices like Palin’s to describe the fully detailed structure that is to come. The aforementioned GOPers just claim to be Democrats, only less so. Ooooooh . . . there’s a plan worth getting excited over — “We’re kinda like them, only less so! Vote for us!!!!!”

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  56. Bruce Fields said on November 7, 2008 at 12:03 am

    “years of speeches before energy groups”

    For example?

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  57. Gasman said on November 7, 2008 at 12:44 am

    Jeff (tmmo),
    “and we need more new voices like Palin’s to describe the fully detailed structure that is to come.”

    If the Republican Party’s take on this election is that they weren’t conservative enough, then you’ll lose even more in 2010. Face it. Conservatism isn’t selling nationally. Those wedge issues are not motivating beyond the far right of the Republican base. Every indicator says that trend will continue and those issues will be less important with each passing election.

    I sincerely hope the Rs do put Palin out in front of the party. She is a very large and slow moving target. As a liberal Democrat I would rather enjoy more of her interviews and encounters with the press. It would also be entertaining to watch her have to go head to head with Romney, Giuliani, Jindal, et al.

    I suspect, however, that very few within the party will be quick to anoint Palin. I heard polling data yesterday that said that only 18% of Republicans want Palin in a prominent national role.

    You guys shot yourself in the foot with the Palin pick, and already you’re clamoring to reload and start blasting away again. You’ve illustrated much of what is wrong with the Republican Party in 2008.

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  58. moe99 said on November 7, 2008 at 12:56 am

    Jeff,
    You’ve really drunk deeply from the punch bowl, haven’t you? Palin is an ill educated, but beautiful woman, and you’re thinking with the wrong set of brains here, clearly. She has offered no new thinking on any issue, no deep thinking on any pre-existing issue. What she’s good at is reading cue cards, which ws about the only thing her tv journalism degree prepared her for. Your outlandish claims for her ability to chart the future of the Republican party do you no credit. Her debate with Biden offered nothing of substance to support your claims.

    And, neither she nor anyone else associated with her has stepped forward to dispute the claims about her actions during the campaign. If they were lies, I would have thought she would have spoken up now. But perhaps you are a member of the Red state circular firing squad:

    http://www.redstate.com/diaries/erick/2008/nov/05/operation-leper/

    RedState is pleased to announce it is engaging in a special project: Operation Leper.

    We’re tracking down all the people from the McCain campaign now whispering smears against Governor Palin to Carl Cameron and others. Michelle Malkin has the details.

    We intend to constantly remind the base about these people, monitor who they are working for, and, when 2012 rolls around, see which candidates hire them. Naturally then, you’ll see us go to war against those candidates.

    It is our expressed intention to make these few people political lepers.

    They’ll just have to be stuck at CBS with Katie’s failed ratings.

    Initial list:

    Nicolle Wallace
    Steve Schmidt
    Mark McKinnon

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  59. Jolene said on November 7, 2008 at 1:07 am

    Palin’s debate performance was only slightly better than her interviews. Most of what she had to say was either rehearsed soundbites or answers that were completely unresponsive to the questions.

    It’s unbecoming to you, Jeff, to defend such a wildly underprepared person. There’s nothing honorable or appealing about ignorance, and the idea that it’s elitist to be concerned about gaps in basic knowledge and inability to express oneself is revolting. McCain should have stuck to his convictions and chosen Lieberman. He’d probably have lost anyway, but at least he wouldn’t have embarrassed himself.

    That said, yes, Piper is pretty darn cute. But so are Malia and Sasha.

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  60. moe99 said on November 7, 2008 at 1:45 am

    I’ll take part of what I said back. Palin has issued a non denial denial:

    http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2008/11/06/palin-camp-fires-back-over-claims-by-some-mccain-aides/

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  61. del said on November 7, 2008 at 2:55 am

    joodyb, didn’t know about Bohemian Grove. Interesting stuff. I’ve got a book called Who Rules America Now? by the Domhoff guy who also apparently wrote a book about Bohemian Grove.

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  62. Linda said on November 7, 2008 at 6:46 am

    I love the concept of Operation Leper. What could be a more terrifying punishment for your sins than being cast out by a small knot of impotent, irrelevant people? The thought of it would make me quake in my boots.

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  63. Kirk said on November 7, 2008 at 7:53 am

    The late, lamented Spy magazine did a great story on Bohemian Grove back in the ’80s.

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  64. Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on November 7, 2008 at 8:01 am

    Many Republicans’ take on this election was not “that they weren’t conservative enough,” but that they weren’t much of anything — “they” being anyone from Mitch McConnell to Chris Shays.

    I’ll keep posting this chart for a while, because it makes the first of two general points the GOP has to organize around. My wife and i pay a total of 34% of our income in taxes (fed income/payroll, state income/sales, local income/property), and we’re still trying to get to six figures. We will, beyond a shadow of a doubt, be paying more in taxes over the next four years, and that was a given no matter who was elected a couple days back. Give us shadowy “middle class tax cuts ” and silly “stimulus payments” every 18 months or so, and it just means other taxes are going to have to be raised sooner or later to pay for things like, oh, Baby Boomer Retirement (which is gonna get really interesting as the unfunded SocSec trust fund looms while we realize we have huge numbers of new elderly who simply can’t keep working past 67, 69, 72, but have NO MONEY set aside at all, which is why they kept working).

    We can have a cheery, reasoned argument about what we should spend federal money on, but there’s a partisan point that folks likely will take sides on — how much taxation is not only fair, but workable?

    The GOP can and should also continue to stand for the principle that decisions should be kept as local as possible. Again, room for plenty of cheerful disputation about what’s what, but there will seemingly be an inevitable partisan line beyond which some folks, not to use the s-word, think the more we make decisions about the width of crosswalks and typefaces in textbooks on the federal level, the better for everyone.

    Health insurance was an interesting tragedy for the McCain folks — the tax credit idea was a step that offered Axelrod an ideal opportunity to deceptively demonize “taxing your health insurance for the first time in history,” and he did it well . . . and any fool would have seen that line of attack and prepared your concise, articulate defense accordingly. Rove explained it in two lines to Scarborough on Morning Joe, and he was stunned — “I’ve never heard it explained that way before!” Rove sadly replied “I know you haven’t.” Obama’s plan won’t work the way he lightly explained it, because it can’t, and employers will flee from providing health insurance in any way they can, which i expect is the actual longer-term policy point (which longtime readers here know i resignedly think is where we’ll have to go, anyhow, for reasons to do with globalization and technology).

    The other main pivot besides tax/spending/mandate policy is rising libertarianism — Palin, all you obsessives out there, was the best national voice for libertarian policy we’ve had in a long while in the GOP. The necessary resolution, for instance, to the marriage debate (which went conservative just about everywhere it was voted on, Gasman, i’m just sayin’), the only resolution, is for “the state” to get out of the “marriage” biz and give it back to churches/faith communities from whence it came. The gov should register and support civil unions, with different states offering that in differing arrangements and for varying lengths (see entry Heinlein, Robt. A.); then various communions can say who they conduct “Holy Matrimony” for and under what restrictions. Episcopalians and UCCs will marry any two persons (at least), and Southern Baptists can say they will only marry any man and any female virgin but no one else, and that’s their choice. But guaranteeing rights to such couples would be a federal discussion, and has to be supported by a libertarian sense of justice.

    I’ve gone on too long, but abortion just isn’t the “wedge” issue some of you want to think it is, which Obama may yet dent his keel on; most of America thinks both NARAL and Operation Rescue are nuts, but are deeply disturbed by easy acceptance of abortion and just won’t go there — Roe is dead law walking, thanks to science marching on, and the new landscape will be differences by state and region, and we’ll see how that sorts out, but a federal standard is not likely to work, governmentally or politically.

    That’s the new GOP, or the outline of a new party that will shoulder them aside. Onwards!

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  65. Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on November 7, 2008 at 8:06 am

    btw, for all you touchy folk — when i say Axelrod “demonized” the tax credit plan part of McCain’s health insurance plan, i mean he did a fair and reasonable and expected political thing, which any fool would therefore expect him to do, and say “nicely played, old chap” to your tv when the ads first went up . . . then turn to your media guy and say “alrighty, release the hounds!” to cue your planned response ad.

    McCain’s campaign had no hounds.

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  66. caliban said on November 7, 2008 at 8:11 am

    I’m prejudiced. A collie. Smartest, best looking, most intuitive of human feeling. I’m prejudice (Isn’t that a part of speech like bias?) I had two great collies when I was a kid. Both died too young.

    I was thinking about the greatest chord nonsense. It’s quite obviously the unidentifiable chord in interim and at the end of Day in the Life. Serious sustain. Or that Link Wray E-chord repeated at the beginning of ‘Rumble’.

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  67. Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on November 7, 2008 at 9:07 am

    Start of “Hard Day’s Night”?

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  68. Kirk said on November 7, 2008 at 9:11 am

    Or start of “I Feel Fine.”

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  69. beb said on November 7, 2008 at 9:28 am

    A long comment like yours deserves a long (and hopefully thoughtful) comment in reply.

    TAXES: For people making under a million dollars a year taxes haven’t changed much in 30 years. Sure rates have gone up or down a percentage point or two, but it’s been nothing like the changes for the super wealthy where capital gain taxes went from 30-something to 15%. Likewise what point is there to eliminating the inheritance tax? If I were to win the mega-Millions lottery for $200 million I’m expected to pay taxes on all that. If my father dies and I happen to be named Forbes and inherit $200 million why should I expect to receive this windfall income tax-free? Eliminating just the Bush tax cuts would do so much towards balancing the federal budget without raising taxes on the bulk of Americans.

    UNFUNDED SOCIAL SECURITY TRUST FUND. It was Bush who waved around a US Treasury note held by the Social Security Administration and declared it was worthless. If the US government defaults on its own Treasury Notes what are the foreign governments around the world who currently hold trillions of dollars in Treasury Notes going to think? With those Treasury Notes SS is solvent for the next 30-40 years. Simply put, the US does not have a Social Security “problem.” What it does have is a pending huge drain on the General Fund as these Treasury Notes are redeemed. Thanks to Republican anti-tax policies the federal government is not prepared to redeem these Treasury Notes.

    The GOP can and should also continue to stand for the principle that decisions should be kept as local as possible. Except when it comes to abortion, gay rights, (ie, gay marriage) consumer protection, worker protection, usury, etc.

    “…the width of crosswalks…” Detroit is in a world of hurt currently because it is claimed that most of the crosswalk renovations the City has made weren’t up to code. The City’s position is that the Code changed when they were half way finished and the City shouldn’t have to re-do the crosswalks they’ve already renovated. At issue are the cut-aways for wheelchairs. The City has been putting a single cutaway spreading to to both sides of the intersection. The Code, however currently wants cut-aways that point directly to the other side of the street. The purpose of this is so that the blind can orient themselves to where the other side of the street is. This makes a lot of sense to me. But more importantly is that this idea only works if all cities in the country follow the same rule. So not all decisions can or should be made locally.

    Don’t get me started on libertarianism — grown up people who still act like they’re in the “Terrible Twos.”

    MARRIAGE – Marriage has nothing to do with religion and everything to do with civil contracts so the state ought to remove marriage entirely from churches and deal with it strictly as a civil contract. Buying a house is harder than getting married, maybe that’s why divorce is so common. Easy in — Easy out. Gay people want to get married for all the legal rights and priviledges it confers — from hospital visitation and treatment of partners, to inheritance, adoption, survivor benefits (if a non-working wife can collect survivor benefits from SS so should the long-time companions of gay men). The whole reason the California Supreme Court approved gay marriage was its realization that with anti-discrimination laws such as they are, it would be unconstitutional to bar gay people the right to marriage.

    By the way, marriage did not come out of the religious community. Historically one can see from all the talk about dowers and bride prices that marriage was a financial transaction between two families/clans. Asking for a blessing from the God(s) came after the civil contract was made.

    I have no idea why people would think NARAL is nuts since all it wants is safe, legal abortions for women who want one. NARAL has never insisted that all women had to get abortions. Right to Life groups with their covert support for the murder of doctors who reform abortions — those people are nuts. It’s not a symmetric situation. One group supports various extreme actions to prevent women from making a choice about their lives, their bodies. The other side simple says women have a right to make a choice. Libertarian principles would side with NARAL

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  70. coozledad said on November 7, 2008 at 9:30 am

    Or any of the chords from the coda from the Firebird. Or this:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PaZGAz6IDTM
    But that’s a different ballgame altogether.

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  71. Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on November 7, 2008 at 9:37 am

    Beb — “The GOP can and should also continue to stand for the principle that decisions should be kept as local as possible. Except when it comes to abortion, gay rights, (ie, gay marriage) consumer protection, worker protection, usury, etc.”

    Broadly, i agree with what i think is your intended irony — R’s need to step back and be more libertarian in those areas (i won’t use up more of Nancy’s pixels to debate marriage vs. contract/civil union).

    What i spent yesterday doing, to affirm alladat: Homelessness awareness with empty shoes on Courthouse Square, an idea i stole seven years ago (with attribution!) from the Holocaust Museum in DC.

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  72. Jolene said on November 7, 2008 at 9:49 am

    Good lord. Have you all seen the just released jobs numbers? Two hundred and forty thousand jobs were lost in October, and the figures for September were revised upward. In the two-month period more than half a million jobs were lost. The unemployment rare is now 6.5%. Have to wonder where all this is headed.

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  73. LA Mary said on November 7, 2008 at 10:01 am

    “Maybe they can have a Piper cam like the puppy cam, Danny.”

    I had to redo my makeup this morning because I choked on my coffee my eyes were tearing.

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  74. Kirk said on November 7, 2008 at 10:05 am

    The puppies are up and at ’em.

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  75. brian stouder said on November 7, 2008 at 11:05 am

    Two hundred and forty thousand jobs were lost in October, and the figures for September were revised upward. In the two-month period more than half a million jobs were lost. The unemployment rare is now 6.5%. Have to wonder where all this is headed.

    It is ALL Obama’s fault, doncha know? The market fell drastically the day after the election, and THAT’S because the markets are hurt by his election!! Give us a few years, and this whole damned crash will be entirely Obama’s fault! – right along with the whole Iraq-fiasco.

    ‘course, the problem with this attack by the rabid right and the hate-radio crowd, is that it marries THEM to defeat; they are then invested in bad times – just as they accused the D’s of being. And when, by and by, times get BETTER instead of WORSE (and indeed, 4 years is plenty of time for an intelligent administration to guide us back onto the right road) President Obama will look like a genius…..compelling the right to hope that things get steadily more terrible!

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  76. del said on November 7, 2008 at 11:49 am

    “Don’t get me started on libertarianism — grown up people who still act like they’re in the “Terrible Twos.” Well put, beb.

    I take issue with Jeff’s comment that “The GOP can and should also continue to stand for the principle that decisions should be kept as local as possible.” In truth, the federal vs. states right positions are often pretexts for advancing either liberal or conservative agendas. Bush’s FDA is taking a wildly “federal” position in connection with suits against drug manufacturers. Historically, FDA approval for a drug was merely a minumum standard, a “floor,” and drug companies could still be held to state law negligence standards. Now, however, Bush’s FDA takes an anti-states-rights position that drug companies that get FDA approval for a drug are immune under state law for failure to warn, etc. Astonishing, really. GOP advances broad national standards to protect corporations instead of people.

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  77. Gasman said on November 7, 2008 at 1:04 pm

    Jeff (tmmo),
    You are delusional regarding the longevity of Roe v. Wade. Unless there is some unexpected activity in the Supreme Court in the next few weeks, it will remain law for the foreseeable future. I find it odd that conservatives routinely rail about governmental intrusion into our lives, but think it appropriate to tell women that they should have no say in whether or not they will be forced into bearing children. I can think of no greater intrusion than to have the federal government dictate to women what they must do with their bodies. A significant percentage of the anti-abortion foes would ban it for all reasons, no exceptions. There is no way in hell that this country will allow federal bureaucrats to tell women that they will go to jail unless they bring to term pregnancies caused by rape or by incest.

    Furthermore, the notion that fetal life – at any stage of pregnancy – automatically trumps maternal life is untenable and grossly unjust.

    I believe that it is in our nation’s interest to make abortion extremely rare – even virtually non-existent as routine birth control – but ultimately, it is a decision made by women, with their partners, doctors, and if appropriate, clergy. These are not decisions which are appropriate for “one size fits all” types of legislation that essentially give voice to particularly conservative religious convictions.

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  78. Linda said on November 7, 2008 at 1:55 pm

    Jeff, and all of you, I don’t know why Palin is the second coming of anything. She is what my late father would have called a finagler–somebody who can work any angle to their own advantage. A voice for libertarianism, for instance, would not have found a way for the state to COMP THEM FOR STAYING IN THEIR OWN HOME. Even if it is technically legal. And doing state biz over a personal e-mail address? Both sneaky and dumb. She is a great white north version of Kwame Kilpatrick, and will probably be indicted for something before 2012.

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  79. del said on November 7, 2008 at 2:57 pm

    She’s a bit of a Rorschach inkblot. Some people see an anvil, others see a butterfly . . . and others see a Georgia O’Keefe stylized mushy vortex. It’s odd that the same people who praise her down home just-like-one-of-us sweetness also approve of her donning the cloak of political assassin. Did her job well, they say.
    The behavioral paradox of the religious right? Villify, attack, crusade . . . and of course, love.

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  80. Thomas said on November 7, 2008 at 3:57 pm

    I don’t know what’s true about what she knows or doesn’t know, but given her native intelligence I certainly wouldn’t hold it against her if the school system let her down. The same lib establishment that protects bad teachers and disdains school accountability is the one looking down upon someone who, in the service of making the world a better place, hasn’t had the lesiure to become an autodidact.

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  81. Linda said on November 7, 2008 at 7:07 pm

    Thomas, she has been out of the evil public school system for well over 20 years, and between then and now could have filled in the gaps of her knowledge, if these reports are true (I have my doubts about them as a whole.). And if her job was to be a public servant, with ambitions beyond becoming a small town mayor, self-teaching would not be a “leisure” activity, but a part and parcel of her job training.

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  82. del said on November 7, 2008 at 10:32 pm

    If the school system let her down and she’s not self taught, she ought to check her ambition and let another more qualified person step forward. Another commenter described her as a post turtle — a turtle atop a fence post (legs over the edges). Don’t know how it got there, but it didn’t get there by itself.

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  83. Gasman said on November 7, 2008 at 11:03 pm

    del,
    I posted (no pun intended) the post turtle reference about a month ago. Mom gets the credit for that one, too.

    The story goes like this:

    After suturing a cut on a 75 year old Texas rancher, whose hand had been caught in a gate while working cattle, the doctor struck up a conversation with the rancher. Eventually the topic got around to candidates – specifically Sarah Palin

    The old rancher said, “well, ya know, Sarah is a post turtle”. Not being familiar with the term, the doctor asked him what a ‘post turtle’ was.

    The old rancher said when you’re driving down a country road, and you come across a fence post with a turtle balanced on top, that’s a post turtle. The old rancher noticed a puzzled look on the doctor’s face, so he continued to explain.

    “You know she didn’t get up there by herself, she doesn’t belong up there, and she doesn’t know what to do while she is up there, and you have to just wonder what kind of idiot put her up there in the first place.”

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  84. del said on November 8, 2008 at 10:10 am

    Beautifully told gasman.

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  85. Ricardo said on November 9, 2008 at 7:09 pm

    On the last few days of the campaign, I thought I saw some warm chemistry between Cindy McCain and Joe the plumber’s helper. I thought that maybe she invited him to ride on her jet to help ease the monotony on the long, boring trips.

    Turns out that Joe (nee Samuel) was twice on welfare. Wonder what he thought about wealth distribution during those unfortunate periods in his life.

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