Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Fucking consultants! (of the political variety)

If you still can’t see these things even now, maybe politics isn’t your forte and you should stop writing about it.

It’s always darkest before the other shoe drops.

It is possible to do the right thing without the promise of a cookie.

Hey Washington Post, “Democracy Dies in Darkness” was supposed to be a warning, not a mission statement.

The Giant Orange Man Baby is having a bad day.

Republicans: slavery is when you own me. freedom is when I own you.

Tick tock motherfuckers!

The line between political reporting and fan fiction continues to blur.

Republicans don’t lie to be believed, they lie to be repeated.

Giving in to doom is how we fail to fight for ourselves & one another.

This must be what justice looks like, not vengeful, just peaceful exuberance.

Their freedom requires your slavery.

Republicans seem to think life begins at the candlelight dinner the night before.

I might just take the rest of the day off and do even more nothing than usual.

The low info voters probably won’t even notice or remember by their next lap around the goldfish bowl.

Perhaps you mistook them for somebody who gives a damn.

Let me file that under fuck it.

Beware of advice from anyone for whom Democrats are “they” and not “we.”

A snarling mass of vitriolic jackals

President Musk and Trump are both poorly raised, coddled 8 year old boys.

The media handbook says “controversial” is the most negative description that can be used for a Republican.

“They all knew.”

Hi god, it’s us. Thanks a heap, you’re having a great week and it’s only Thursday!

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Media Matters- That’s Why He is So Busy Distorting It

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Duncan Black, aka the Prince of Darkness, has another laugher up:

The Bush Blog links to this NRO article which contains absolutely disgusting attacks on Firefighters.

Generally speaking, the likelihood that a firefighter will vote for John Kerry is inversely proportional to the number of fires he has actually fought. Witness all those T-shirted “Fire Fighters for Kerry” you saw at the convention. A little soft around the middle some of them were, weren’t they? Do you think some of them could haul a hose pack up 50 flights of stairs? I’m not betting on it. I’m guessing the only fires many of them have seen lately were at IAFF barbecues.

That is it- the ‘absolutely disgusting attacks’ on firefighters was actually poking fun at the UNION leadership of the firefighters, who, predictably, vote a little bit different than their rank and file.

Who are the IAFF union bosses?

The IAFF played a critical role in helping Kerry secure the Democratic nomination and could play a role in the general election.

The group, seen as one of the most effective labor unions, admits that it usually has operated under the radar screen. However, the voice and stature of firefighters has increased since Sept. 11.

Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) called the firefighters “one of the most active and effective organizations in their endorsements. They really come out for whoever they endorse.”

And what about the rank and file? From the FireFighters For Bush website:

Letter of the Week – Johneen Castle, Alexandria-St.Albans Twp. Fire Dept.

I thank God for this website. I am truly tired of seeing the media coverage of Kerry and all his IAFF signs that show support for him. My husband is an IAFF as a full-timer and he does not support Kerry. I am part-time and not affiliated with the union but find the signage to be offensive.

For those outside of the fireservice, “IAFF” is nothing more than letters, but the fact that every news stories includes some pictures of firefighters for Kerry does not show the true opinion of the people.

After having read the letters of support from the IAFF magazine, I am disgruntled with the amount of propoganda that this publication has put forth.

Why did Firefighters For Bush start?

Firefighters for Bush is a loose-knit, grassroots organization with three very clear, very simple goals:

To counter the IAFF’s mischaracterization of firefighters as “offended” by President Bush’s campaign ads.

To provide a public voice for those firefighters who wish to declare their support for President Bush.

To empower America’s firefighters to fight back against the IAFF and the misrepresentation of firefighters by the media.

Toward these ends, we are freely providing the multiple resources available through this website as a public service to firefighters everywhere.

Can Atrios be honest about anything? Really, these Media Matters folks are quite the riot act.

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Aggregating Intelligence

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One of Dan Drezner’s summer reading recommmendations is James Surowiecki’s The Wisdom of Crowds: Why the Many Are Smarter Than the Few and How Collective Wisdom Shapes Business, Economies, Societies and Nations. Dan quotes part of the text:

What was missing from the intelligence community, though, was any real means of aggregating not just information but also judgments. In other words, there was no mechanism to tap into the collective wisdom of National Security Agency nerds, CIA spooks, and FBI agents. There was decentralization but no aggregation and therefore no organization. [Senator] Richard Shelby’s solution to the problem — creating a truly central intelligence agency — would solve the organization problem, and would make it easier for at least one agency to be in charge of all the information. But it would also forgo all of the enefits — diversity, llocal knowledge, independence — that decentralization brings. Shelby was right that information needed to be shared. But he assumed that someone — or a small group of someones — needed to be at the center, sifting through the information, figuring out what was important and what was not. But everything we know about cognition suggests that a small group of people, no matter how intelligent, simply will not be smrter than the larger group…. Centralization is not the answer. But aggregation is.

There was, not too long ago, a an idea for an informal, decentralized aggregator that would function very much like what is called for in this passage. Of course, I am referring to the Terrorism Futures Market.

We all remember what happened there- the idiots won and the project was cancelled. The usual suspects, of course, were loud and wrong, which is usually the correct combination to defeat anything that might do good:

“There is something very sick about it,” a clearly angry Boxer said, adding that those responsible should be fired…

“I couldn’t believe that we would actually commit $8 million to create a Web site that would encourage investors to bet on futures involving terrorist attacks and public assassinations,” Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle, D-South Dakota, said on the Senate floor. ” … I can’t believe that anybody would seriously propose that we trade in death … How long would it be before you saw traders investing in a way that would bring about the desired result?”

Monday, Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Oregon, said, “The idea of a federal betting parlor on atrocities and terrorism is ridiculous and it’s grotesque.”

Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-North Dakota, called the idea “stupid.”

Wyden and Dorgan brought the proposal to public attention Monday.

The ranking Democrat on the Armed Services Committee, Sen. Carl Levin of Michigan, said that as reports surfaced about the plan, “Our first reaction was that it was a hoax.”

*** Update ***

Turns out it is not surprising that passage reminded me of the terrorism futures market. Last year, the author himself wrote a lengthy piece in Slate defending the plan.

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Actively Working Against Us

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The Belgravia Dispatch details the backtracking regarding the latest terrorist plans, and predictably, the NY Times is leaving a trail of slime. Equally predictable, some fools are still insisting that the terror alerts were released for political gain. These younger members of the Democratic party are true believers- check out this vile ‘win-win’ scenario for Democrats:

Democrats aren’t wrong about Bush politicizing terrorism warnings. But if a terrorist attack happens on American soil, whether Democrats were right or wrong to doubt the terror warning, Bush becomes responsible. Right now, Democrats are talking about how Bush handles the preparation for potential terrorist attacks. If one gets pulled off, it doesn’t really matter what Democrats said about the warnings, because Bush would have failed. Yes, Democrats are going to criticize him, especially when he does things that are worth criticism.

Isn’t that a gem?

Democrats aren’t wrong about Bush politicizing terrorism warnings.

Even though it has been proven to such a degree that they are, in fact, wrong, and the adminstration has been acting responsibly regarding the new threat information.

But if a terrorist attack happens on American soil, whether Democrats were right or wrong to doubt the terror warning, Bush becomes responsible.

Even if we are wrong- IT’S STILL A WIN! Depsite our actively working against the administration, if we get hit before the election, we can pin it on Bush!

If one gets pulled off, it doesn’t really matter what Democrats said about the warnings, because Bush would have failed.

Despite our doing everything we can to work against him, we can pin any tragedy on Bush. And, it doesn’ matter what we said!

Yes, Democrats are going to criticize him, especially when he does things that are worth criticism.

Even, as Jesse has ably proven, when there is absolutely no reason to criticze them at all.

Personally, I am going to take Jesse’s advice:

…it doesn’t really matter what Democrats said about the warnings.

It really doesn’t matter what they say- theyhave proven they will do and say anything to win. As Jesse seems to suggest, we should probably just start ignoring them, which would be easy if they were not so vile.

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Gay Marriage

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Here is the real reason Andrew Sullivan wants to makes sure the gay marriage issue is resolved in the courts:

Missouri voters overwhelmingly approved a constitutional amendment Tuesday to ban gay marriage, the first such vote since the historic ruling in Massachusetts last year that legalized same-sex weddings there.

Although the ban was widely expected to pass in conservative Missouri, experts said the campaign served as a key barometer for which strategies work as the gay marriage battle spreads to ballot boxes around the nation. At least nine other states, and perhaps as many as 12, will vote on similar amendments this year.

The amendment had garnered 70 percent of the vote with 91 percent of precincts reporting.

I really think the gay community overplayed their hand with the rash of gay marriages earlier this year. At any rate, I wonder if Sully will come back from vacation to tell everyone in Missouri that they are bigots?

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The Sounds of Desperation

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Joe Wilson- up in smoke.

Sandy Berger- stuffing documents down his pants.

16 words- accurate then and still true.

What do the Democrats have left? Well, there is this:

Plane Diverted For Bush Twins

Last Saturday, a flight from Boston to Washington was redirected to Albany in order pick up Barbara and Jenna Bush, the Washington Post reports. “In addition to the Bush twins, 22 other beleaguered passengers also boarded in Albany.”

From the Post: “‘We land in Albany, and the doors open and in come Jenna and Barbara and several Secret Service agents,” our spy, who declined to be named ‘for fear of going to Gitmo,’ told us. ‘I kept thinking, I haven’t heard of anybody diverting planes for all these other people being inconvenienced. This doesn’t fit in the norm of airline travel.'” The plane eventually arrived two hours late in Washington.

Oliver wants you to think that the only reason the plane was diiverted, inconveniencing the ‘common man,’ was to pick up the Bush twins. Otherwise, he certainly would have included this bit:

But before blame goes to the first daughters, it turns out that it’s not unusual for US Airways to make such diversions. “Yes, there are times when we will divert an airplane to pick up passengers off of another canceled flight. We do that when we have no other way to accommodate those customers,” said airline spokesman David Castelveter. In addition to the Bush twins, 22 other beleaguered passengers also boarded in Albany.

Petty, transparent, and desparate. It will get worse.

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