The weekend’s movies included “A Late Quartet,” which intrigued me with the trailer and sold me with the cast — Philip Seymour Hoffman, Catherine Keener, Christopher Walken. Plus, for a $4.99 rental via iTunes, it’s hard to go wrong.
And the film, while not perfect, was good enough. Too long by a tad, a little too much blah-blah, but these are people who deal with their problems via blah-blah, so hey, verisimilitude. It’s the story of a long-running, successful string quartet at a crisis point when their eldest member, the cellist, gets a Parkinson’s diagnosis. Artists are easy to caricature onscreen, but these people weren’t, and maybe one of the reasons I liked this is, I felt fully immersed in the classical-strings part of professional musicianship. They have money, but not a ton of it; they work very hard; they get on one another’s nerves. A lot like your job, maybe.
Kate’s bass teacher had an upright for sale for some time, a nice instrument he’d rescued and put a lot of work into restoring. Priced around $5,000, it was too rich for us, but at one point a concert player from Boston was interested, and sent a friend from the Detroit symphony to take it for a test-drive. The Bostonian passed, and decided to spend that sum on a bow instead. A $5,000 bow! I remember thinking at the time, but in this film you watch one of the characters build one from scratch, driving to a horse farm to buy hair imported from Siberia, and well — a $5,000 bow seems pretty reasonable.
If it floats by your on-demand menu, I think you’ll like it. Roger did.
I wish I had a more exciting report from my weekend, but eh. I spent much of Saturday feeling overall punky, not bad enough to be sick-sick but not good enough to do anything other than watch an iTunes movie and watch the snow fly outside the window. Didn’t even make it to the market.
Let’s hope for a better week ahead. In the meantime, some bloggage:
Because of the New York Times’ publication schedule, everyone was reading and commenting on the magazine cover story last week, but I didn’t read it until Sunday. It’s about the GOP’s continuing inability to hear what the world keeps trying to tell it. Here’s an account of a focus group in Columbus, Ohio:
When Anderson then wrote “Republican,” the outburst was immediate and vehement: “Corporate greed.”“Old.”“Middle-aged white men.” “Rich.” “Religious.” “Conservative.” “Hypocritical.” “Military retirees.” “Narrow-minded.” “Rigid.” “Not progressive.” “Polarizing.” “Stuck in their ways.” “Farmers.”
Anderson concluded the group on a somewhat beseeching note. “Let’s talk about Republicans,” she said. “What if anything could they do to earn your vote?”
A self-identified anti-abortion, “very conservative” 27-year-old Obama voter named Gretchen replied: “Don’t be so right wing! You know, on abortion, they’re so out there. That all-or-nothing type of thing, that’s the way Romney came across. And you know, come up with ways to compromise.”
“What would be the sign to you that the Republican Party is moving in the right direction?” Anderson asked them.
“Maybe actually pass something?” suggested a 28-year-old schoolteacher named Courtney, who also identified herself as conservative.
I know lots of Republicans who think gridlock is good, because it stops the Democrats from their onward march toward Marxism. Hmm.
The best story you’ll read about the end of the Jeopardy Teen Tournament. Olive long-sleeve!
We have black squirrels in Grosse Pointe. I’d like to send a delegation to Olney, Ill., so we can have a fully integrated squirrel civil-rights movement. And I’d like this guy to write a new song about it:
Take me there, I want to see the squirrels / Yeah, take me there, I hear they’re white as South Sea pearls…
Sooner or later Gawker will find this, but you heard it here first.
alex said on February 18, 2013 at 7:43 am
Speaking of squirrels, we have been seeing a most unusual specimen the last few days—a squirrel without a tail. I’m guessing that it must have been bitten off by some other animal. There’s only a small stump. The squirrel doesn’t seem to have any problems climbing or balancing but it casts a mighty odd silhouette.
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beb said on February 18, 2013 at 7:47 am
A white squirrel? “Oh My!” said in my best George Takai voice.
My daughter was out and about in Saturday’s snowfall. It was very pretty, large fluffy-white flakes, but hell to drive in.
Even a focus group that finds that the brand is all but dead is not going to convince the Republicans in Congress that things have got to change. And it’s not just focus groups, even the mainstream reporters are starting to mention how intransigent the Republicans have become, which is surprising because the media is hardwired to support the right these days. But we’re stuck with these bozos for another two years. It’s going to be a long two years. The president is going to go from the white hair he has already to no hair from stress before this all ends.
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ROGirl said on February 18, 2013 at 7:54 am
In my neighborhood there is squirrel miscegenation. We have black squirrels and brown squirrels, and I have seen a black squirrel with a brown tail. No white squirrels, however.
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beb said on February 18, 2013 at 8:01 am
We’ve all hear, I suppose, about the man who slapped a baby because it wouldn’t stop screaming as the plane landed. I saw this headline on the Detroit Free Press this morning. Pretty much summarizes the story.
Man charged with slapping toddler, using racial slur now out of a job
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basset said on February 18, 2013 at 8:34 am
We have the white squirrels in Tennessee, too:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/brent_nashville/7266802762/
They’re out in a small town about three hours west of Nashville, where we have the common grays and reds but no whites. Plenty of coyotes and a few armadillos, too.
The original Emancipation Proclamation, or at least one of several made at the time, is on display in Nashville this week, along with the original 13th Amendment, both signed by A. Lincoln himself. We went to see it this weekend, long line and timed tickets at the state museum even at six-thirty on a Saturday evening. They keep the line moving, you’re told the limit in front of the proclamation is fifteen seconds, quite a sight none the less.
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Julie Robinson said on February 18, 2013 at 8:36 am
Blah February weekend here too, highlighted by making reservations to join our daughter in Chicago when she comes back for her final ordination interview. Also, we saw the sun for a few hours.
But two stories this morning grabbed my interest. First, a methadone clinic whose lax take-home policies are allowing the drug to be sold on the street. One patient gave hers to a friend, who made herself a fatal drug cocktail. The clinic is operated by a company who is owned by…wait for it… Bain Capital. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-02-08/drug-users-turn-death-dealers-as-methadone-from-bain-hits-street.html
Second, a crusty Indiana farmer is being sued by Monsanto for patent infringement of their Roundup Ready soybeans. The lawsuit is fascinating and could have major implications, but I especially enjoyed the name of the Monsanto lawyer: David Snively. Do his friends call him Whiplash? Does he twirl his handlebar moustache?
As Dave Barry used to say, you can’t make this stuff up. http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2013/02/18/171896311/farmers-fight-with-monsanto-reaches-the-supreme-court
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Adrianne said on February 18, 2013 at 9:08 am
Nance! Killing off Matthew Crawley? Discuss!
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LAMary said on February 18, 2013 at 9:31 am
Today is my my arbitration. I can use any spare positive vibes anyone out there can spare.
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coozledad said on February 18, 2013 at 9:34 am
That song was brutal. Almost art brut(al).
Does someone make a decent electric upright yet?
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brian stouder said on February 18, 2013 at 9:40 am
Mary – I’ve broken open a fresh, icy-cold Diet Pepsi and raised it in your direction (a little south of west, from here) – and I’m fervently wishing you all the best!
Basset – very, very cool.
There’s something about seeing the pen strokes these folks – themselves -made, that is enthralling.
That note at your museum from Andy Jackson, where he’s challenging some chucklehead to a duel – and wherein he tells him “I’m going to kill you” – is the most extraordinary thing I’ve seen from (an eventual) US president
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LAMary said on February 18, 2013 at 9:48 am
On a lighter note, the hospital where I work is across the street from the original Disney studios. The squirrels that chase each other around outside my office window are cute and brown and fluffy and they make very Disneyesque cute chirpy squeaky sounds. They might in fact be trying to kill each other but they are adorable while doing so. Disney probably would not allow un-cute squirrels within a ten mile radius of the headquarters.
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Deborah said on February 18, 2013 at 9:56 am
Sending positive vibes to LA Mary.
My cold has finally broken. I took Julie’s advice and sat out in the sun for awhile, maybe that’s what did it. Highs near 50 here the last few days, and sunny.
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Danny said on February 18, 2013 at 10:07 am
And it’s not just focus groups, even the mainstream reporters are starting to mention how intransigent the Republicans have become, which is surprising because the media is hardwired to support the right these days.
?!… ?????…. !!!!!!!!!
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Dorothy said on February 18, 2013 at 10:09 am
Fingers, toes and eyebrows crossed for you, Mary. I saw “Silver Linings Playbook” at last and really enjoyed it. And we finally got around to seeing a Netflix movie we had delivered on or about January 10th called “Bernie.” It was just so-so. Jack Black is really good, but the movie didn’t sweep me away.
I have felt a little light-headed all weekend, but I am at work today. I don’t like feeling like I’m going to keel over every time I stand up. Mike really LOVED seeing The Who last night, Danny. He especially liked the opening act “Vintage Trouble”, as we saw them on Letterman a couple of weeks ago.
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DellaDash said on February 18, 2013 at 10:17 am
Albino squirrels.
‘Downton’ is set up to record in the wee hours, tonight. Spoilers are ok with me (don’t watch the show for plot or character authenticity), so I leaped on over to TLo for the lowdown on the latest death exit (mentioned above). Nancy, weren’t you just you just sayin the other day that all that mushy pillow talk between Matthew and Mary did not bode well for them? Spot on!
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basset said on February 18, 2013 at 10:27 am
When the Who played at IU in 1974 the opening act was a reggae band, Toots & the Maytals, and they might actually have been louder than the Who, at least at the bass end. I remember standing about halfway back on the floor of Assembly Hall with my pants flapping in the air motion from the speakers.
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DellaDash said on February 18, 2013 at 10:32 am
All of my jamdown playlists are liberally salted with Toots, basset, with the added attraction of volume control. It isn’t live reggae without sonic boom bass that’ll rattle your teeth.
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Pam said on February 18, 2013 at 10:33 am
The NYT article was very interesting. Here’s my favorite paragraph.
Young Republicans now lament that no one from their side has stepped up to organize a conservative version of RootsCamp. Michael Turk, a 42-year-old Republican digital guru, suggested that the failure of G.O.P. technologists to do this springs from a uniquely Republican trait. “They all wanted to make money,” he said. “And so as a result, Katie Harbath, who was one of my deputies at the R.N.C., is now at Facebook, and Mindy Finn” — a longtime G.O.P. digital operative — “is at Twitter, and Patrick and I each started our own companies. We all found ways to parlay that into a living for our families, as opposed to just doing it for the cause.”
No one has stepped up?? Why not you? I noticed for some time now that ex-Democratic Presidents almost always get involved with giving back after their tenure as President is over. Ex-Republican Presidents go home and count their money.
I’m through with Downton! I googled and learned that Julian Fellowes felt that he had no choice but to kill off Matthew because the actor is leaving the series. Rubbish, I say! And Dan Stevens will likely regret his decision. Actors who leave shows in the height of popularity, well, I don’t know what . . . Fellowes could have hired someone like Matthew Goode, for instance. Viewers would have adjusted. Now I suppose, Mary and Branson will run the estate and Mary will become the dowager eventually. And to leave Mrs. Crawley alone? This sucks.
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Dave said on February 18, 2013 at 10:41 am
Mary, you go!
I’ve lost two friends this past weekend, one expected and one completely unexpected. Mary’s success will be a welcome uplift!
Beb, that story was on the local news last night. http://tinyurl.com/b82zwg4
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Jenine said on February 18, 2013 at 10:53 am
Thinking of you Mary.
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coozledad said on February 18, 2013 at 10:54 am
Rock steady?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ldsaLw8478Q
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DellaDash said on February 18, 2013 at 11:19 am
‘What a Bam Bam’…what a classic!
Rock Steady, (favored beat for ‘rub-a-dub’ action on the dancefloor),came into vogue right after Ska (irresitibly danceable), and just before Reggae bust the island sound wide open.
‘Sweet and Dandy’ has always been my favorite Toots. There was a country western-reggae hybrid he was singing all over the radio waves when I first went down to JA in the early eighties…something about “…when I was just a young man, my faddah said to me, son you bettah something…something…blah…blah…blah…”. I’ve looked and looked for that song, but it seems to have vaporized.
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Catherine said on February 18, 2013 at 11:28 am
LAMary, I’d say I’m praying for justice, but really I just hope they totally screw the bastard.
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brian stouder said on February 18, 2013 at 11:34 am
Thread win: Catherine!!
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Charlotte said on February 18, 2013 at 11:38 am
Thinking good thoughts for you LA Mary —
While we have squirrels, the winner of the cutest-animal-of-the-year award goes to an ermine we saw on a late-fall hike in Yellowstone. Unbelievably cute. And flirty! I thought it was going to scamper down the log and into my Chuck’s pocket it was so flirty … four, five minutes it played with us.
No news here — getting my mother’s inheritance settled, slowly. The greed. The greed. It astonishes me — I do not understand being pissy when a very old woman you hadn’t spoken to in over 20 years does not leave you anything. She’s getting part of a trust fund set up by a great aunt — what must 400K have been worth in 1955? Not that much now, but yikes. I suppose it’s that she can’t quite wrap her head around not being Lady Mary after wasting a lifetime thinking she was … sigh.
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Julie Robinson said on February 18, 2013 at 11:38 am
Mary, we all have everything crossed for you.
Deborah, I don’t know that it has any medical basis, but the sun always feels healing when I’m sick. Glad you’re better.
DA: I had already seen the last episode but it wasn’t pleasant watching it again. Rose is not appealing as written or acted and it seems Julian Fellowes thinks she’s enough to reboot the series. I just read that Dan Stevens refused to come back for even a couple of episodes in season 4, as did Jessica Findlay, and that Stevens decided to leave after the miraculous/ridiculous spine healing of season 2. Also, the gowns and jewelry of the 20’s don’t enthrall me like those of the earlier seasons, so it’s gonna be hard to muster enthusiasm for the future.
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Dexter said on February 18, 2013 at 11:51 am
brianstouder: We all better read up on these damning reports on diet soda additives. A diabetic dude I know, age 49, with three implanted heart stents, has gone back to sugar pop because of all this information coming out just blasting the diet soda ingredients. OK, not smart on the dude’s part, and yes, I still haven’t weaned off my own diet pop habit, and my wife still drinks a gallon or more of Diet Pepsi a day, but I also have cut way back. And since I only drink one 12 ounce can of pop a day, I sometimes make it a real sugar Coca-Cola.
Why? New evidence is out here…diet soda is causing diabetes! Why did it take so damn long to find this out?
I may be the most patient movie lover, ever. I have wanted to see Daniel Day-Lewis in “My Left Foot” for about 24 years.
Last night , in the middle of the night, it was on Showtime. I watched it. Another bucket list thing checked off. 🙂
I suppose this screening was listed to call attention to what a great actor Mr. Lewis really is and has been for so long, as he vies for best actor once again.
And now it’s time for a pot of coffee. Coke and Diet Coke can wait for summer and I wouldn’t miss it once I got the Coca-Cola jones controlled for a month or so. And soda pop is as addictive as beer or smokes or chocolate candy. Just another monkey on our backs. 🙁
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Julie Robinson said on February 18, 2013 at 11:56 am
Catherine gets the spit-take award for sure!
Charlotte, I assure you that 400K is still worth quite a bit in my world, but I did watch my dad’s family almost come to blows about who was getting the stupid grandfather clock. I told my sister our folks didn’t own anything valuable enough to come between the two of us. Our kids are so anti-materialistic that they’ll probably just bring in an auctioneer to disburse it all.
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Deborah said on February 18, 2013 at 11:56 am
Charlotte, I Googled it and found that $1 value in 1955 is comparable to $8.50 now. So someone is better at math than me should be able to figure it out.
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Deborah said on February 18, 2013 at 11:57 am
there’s an extra “is” in that sentence.
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brian stouder said on February 18, 2013 at 12:09 pm
Dex – word.
I’m a 44 ounce/day man…sometimes more.
You can get into a genuine argument, if not a lawsuit(!) – for saying there’s “sugar” in Coca-Cola.
The sugar-cane growers say that sugar from corn (aka “corn sweeteners”) isn’t really sugar the way sugar from cane is….
The hell of it is, when I conciously skip soda pop, I often go to (“sugar-free”) lemonade – of which we almost always have a pitcher in the ‘fridge….and if the sweeteners in the Diet Pepsi are gonna kill me, the lemonade ain’t pushing that day any further from me!
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brian stouder said on February 18, 2013 at 12:19 pm
Good news from the Fort Wayne Children’s Zoo –
http://www.wane.com/dpp/news/local/two-sumatran-tigers-coming-to-fort-wayne-childrens-zoo
the lead:
FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) – Two Sumatran tigers are coming to the Fort Wayne Children’s Zoo as part of a cooperative effort to increase the population of the critically endangered species.
and then –
About 65 Sumatran tigers currently live in accredited United States zoos, and four were born in 2012. There are fewer than 400 Sumatran tigers living in the wild.
Completely aside from that, too bad about Ms Mcready
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Charlotte said on February 18, 2013 at 12:21 pm
Here’s hoping I can keep my mother clothed and fed on her social security + her portion of the trust … It’s the huge difference between out generations — my grandmother was the only child in her generation, so inherited a few small fortunes — apparently my mother thought they should have been hers. I’ve known since I got my first job at 14 that I was on my own … it’s the delusion that we’re some sort of fallen aristocracy I find so odd.
Not a pop person here — was never allowed to drink it as a kid so I never developed the habit. And our family doctor thought diet pop was poison way back in the 1980s — now wine, that’s another story … you’ll pry my half-bottle of wine from my cold dead hands …
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jcburns said on February 18, 2013 at 12:22 pm
White squirrel? I think that’s a marten.
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coozledad said on February 18, 2013 at 12:32 pm
Dexter: There are a bunch of stevia sweetened diet colas that are good. There are a few studies suggesting stevia decreases insulin resistance. I drink a lot of this.
http://www.zevia.com/cola
Something about the combination of nutmeg oil and caffeine gets me all hopped up.
I have avoided alcohol since Sir Elton camped out in my skull for three days singing the Goodbye Yellow Brick Road album. Maybe that’s why they knighted him. Got the King’s touch.
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basset said on February 18, 2013 at 12:45 pm
Wasn’t it Toots who did the reggae version of “Take Me Home, Country Roads”?
They had maybe two pounds of weed on hand the night of the show and asked one of my friends where they could find some more because they gettin’ low, mon. Rolling it up in Ramada Inn stationery, hate to think what that would cost now. Or must have cost then, for that matter.
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Judybusy said on February 18, 2013 at 12:49 pm
LA Mary, what Catherine said at #23! Let us know how it goes.
Jeopardy link loved and shared.
I felt a bit better about DT when I found out Matthew died because Stevens left, but I also thought: just bring in another actor. We’d get used to him. This household is not so excited about season 4. I think it would have been just fine to have ended the whole thing with Matthew alive, the family relatively happy and the heir in place. Oh, another plot line bugged me: Jimmy goes to see Thomas, who’s recovering from his beating. Thomas basically says, “Yeah, I was gay stalking you, but I hope we can be friends.” “Sure, no worries” says Jimmy, “Let me read to you from the newspaper.” This would be a bit awkward in today’s more accepting world. Then? Thomas so would have been fired and outta there after his attempt to kiss Jimmy. The household’s accepting attitude just rang false.
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MichaelG said on February 18, 2013 at 1:05 pm
Right on, Catherine! We’re all with you, Mary. If there’s any such thing as justice, you’ll prevail.
You’ve got it, Charlotte. I don’t drink soda either but wine, well, that’s another story. I feel like I should own half of Bogle vineyards.
Everyone was on a cruise the other day. Here’s Ken Levine:
http://kenlevine.blogspot.com/2005/12/ship-of-fools.html
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Ann said on February 18, 2013 at 1:06 pm
Our great TSA workers at O’Hare just broke a cellist’s rare bow, apparently by snapping the case down on it. http://www.thestrad.com/Article.asp?ArticleID=2524
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Julie Robinson said on February 18, 2013 at 1:19 pm
Judybusy, I’ve spent more time then I’d like to admit reading Downton stories, and apparently replacing an actor IS NOT DONE in England. Fellowes has certainly sent a message to the rest of the cast, though, hasn’t he?
The full press release from the zoo reflects the unhappy fate of the tigers we’re getting: “As hand-reared cats, they are not good candidates for breeding with tigers who were parent-reared. In addition, their genetic background makes them a low priority for breeding.” Poor things.
Way back in the dark ages of the mid-80’s the zoo made some baby lions available for a meet and greet. I’m pretty sure they wouldn’t allow patrons to cuddle with lions now, but it was a tremendous experience. They were very small, with those adorable big eyes and paws, and itty-bitty lion growls.
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Jean S said on February 18, 2013 at 1:20 pm
Oh, the Olney squirrels….as the husband’s parents were born in southern Illinois, the oldest sister-in-law has given us all white squirrel ornaments. I hate the little bugger.
BUT: If you can source a black squirrel ornament, I would go for it…
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Bitter Scribe said on February 18, 2013 at 1:45 pm
A double-bass player once told me about a fellow player who was pulled over by cops in South Dumbfuck. They were very suspicious of his rosin gel—the goopy stuff that gives string players a better grip, similar to the rosin bag for a pitcher. They thought it was some kind of weird designer drug.
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crinoidgirl said on February 18, 2013 at 1:57 pm
Cats – walking on your shit since the 15th Century.
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DellaDash said on February 18, 2013 at 2:43 pm
Yes, basset @36, ‘Country Roads’ is another Toots fav. And you should see some of the humongous spliffs rolled out of brown paper bags by a Rasta in the bush I know named Iyamus. Twenty Rizlas tongue-glued together wouldn’t be big enough to suit him.
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brian stouder said on February 18, 2013 at 2:46 pm
Julie – we (or rather, I) touched a tarantual at Science Central this past weekend…Chloe wouldn’t do it, though.
The young lady in charge instructed me to use the back of my finger, so as not to frighten her. I asked how you can tell a “him” from a “her”, and she explained that a “him” would have horns – the better to hold a “her” at bay, while mating, lest she kill him with her fangs. And so we learned another of nature’s lessons…
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brian stouder said on February 18, 2013 at 2:47 pm
tarantula
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DellaDash said on February 18, 2013 at 2:47 pm
I, for one, would have HATED a Matthew bait-and-switch on Downton.
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Dexter said on February 18, 2013 at 3:18 pm
coozledad, my Yellow Brick Road story:
The album with that beautiful cover was released in various countries from January to October, 1973.
I had instantly loved the entire album but alas, my wife absconded to eastern Virginia with one of the customers from the bar she was tending, taking our Dodge Polara and Yellow Brick Road along for the ride. The year was 1974.
I began spending my weekends in what was then called the “Newtown” section of Chicago, bar-hopping mostly along Broadway. One of my favorite places was a bar called Brian Boru. Friendly people, almost all my age (25), lots of hottie nurses from the local hospital stopped in; it was a great place, with many other joints along the street. I made fast friends and had some goddam wonderful times at crazy all-night parties. One late Saturday afternoon I had just pulled into town from Indiana and secured my barstool at a bar that had about four end seats facing the street, so that a drinker could people-watch and not stare at racks of booze bottles and a bar-back mirror.
I was having a good old time watching a drunken well-dressed geezer smash first the car parked ahead of him then WHAM!, the car parked behind him, until he got free of the parked-in situation. I then noticed a record store. EJ was on the jukebox. I had to go buy Yellow Brick Road; I had been missing the hell out of it.
A girl in the bar must have watched me cross the street and return with my album. She came around to my barstool and asked me what record I had just purchased.
She looked at her friend and they giggled and rolled their glazzy eyeballs in disapproval. “You DO know that album has been out a LONG time, don’t you?”, she said, derision dripping from her sneered lip.
“Yep.” I said. ” “Introducing the Beatles” was all sold out.”
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Bob (not Greene) said on February 18, 2013 at 3:23 pm
For additional info on Dexter’s old stomping ground: http://www.chibarproject.com/Memoriam/BrianBoru/BrianBoru.htm
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Dexter said on February 18, 2013 at 3:32 pm
Thanks, Bob. They never ran out of Guinness or Harp in that place, and damn-nearly everybody drank Harp Lager. Great beer.
Hey , I know spring training baseball is popular, but even with Igor from “Young Frankenstein, or Smeagol?
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151507179103760&set=a.133077503759.132828.44027083759&type=1&relevant_count=1&ref=nf
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Jeff Borden said on February 18, 2013 at 4:59 pm
Danny,
As a big-time lefty progressive liberal whatever, let me weigh in briefly on the sentence that caught your eye.
What the author means, at least in my opinion, is that all media institutions have greatly increased coverage of right-wing figures, even when it is readily apparent that they have no chance at all. Witness the ridiculous, breathless coverage of Michele Bachmann, Herman Cain, Rick Santorum and even that walking Hair Club for Men commercial Donald Trump. All were treated with sober, even-handed coverage in the news columns despite the fact that none ever had a snowball’s chance in hell of winning the GOP nomination.
The right has “worked the refs” for years about media liberal bias, which as a liberal I really don’t see. My liberal NYT is home to right-wingers like David Brooks and Ross Douthat. Marc Theissen, an appartchik for the Bush administration who is still defending torture, is a columnist for the Washington Post, as is Charles Krauthammer. Even blatantly liberal outfits like MSNBC have right-wingers on staff, ie., Joe Scarborough.
You’ll see no such quid pro quo on Faux or in the pages of right-wing rags like the Washington Times, where such journalistic eminences as Ted Nugent write away.
So,yeah, after a few years of pretending that both parties and both political movements engage in the exact same behavior, apparently some media types are now noticing that the GOP House is crazy as shit and unwilling to do anything at all lest it might be good for the country and, by extension, for Obama.
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Prospero said on February 18, 2013 at 6:52 pm
I am your density. You would think even anti-sciencee GOPers would be embarrassed by this blithering asshat.
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Suzanne said on February 18, 2013 at 8:04 pm
Charlotte, I’m with you. I don’t drink a lot of carbonated stuff as I try to limit my beverages to those that occur in nature. Thus, I skip the soda and go for the wine!
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Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on February 18, 2013 at 10:30 pm
Belated grace and peace to you, Mary, on Hyperion Avenue — or do I misremember where Walt hung his shingle?
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LAMary said on February 18, 2013 at 11:46 pm
Buena Vista Street in Burbank.
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