Come for the politics, stay for the snark.
by John Cole| 5 Comments
This post is in: Democratic Stupidity
To those of you who doubted me yesterday when I said Josh Marshall is nothing more than a two-nbit hack, Paul begala with a degree- check this out.
Marshall links approvingly to a painting claiming Iraq was all about oil and states:
“A painting that rather sums up President Bush and Iraq.”
What a tedious fool.
*** Update ***
A reader notes this Mencken quip:
“It is the classic fallacy of our time that a moron run through a university and decorated with a Ph.D. will thereby cease to be a moron.”
by John Cole| 27 Comments
This post is in: General Stupidity
I guess Oliver is gunning for the Jesse Jackson Race Pimp award today with this post:
Blacks? Don’t Need ‘Em
Regardless of the NAACP’s endorsements, it is the leading organization for civil rights for black Americans.
That is Oliver’s reaction to Bush turning down a request to speak to a group of people who have compared him to the taliban, told him that he is little more than an apologist for the confederacy, and paid for and produced the odious Byrd dragging commercials. I am shocked, shocked, I say, that Bush won’t speak to them.
Furthermore, the notion that the NAACP is a civil rights organization is for me a topic of debate. I see them as nothing morethan an illegal arm of the DNC, operating under the financial loopholes provided to ‘non-profit’ organizations.
What civil rights advances has the NAACP championed lately? What have they accomplished, other than to entrench themselves into the Democratic party to such an extent that both parties can ignore them.
The notion that the NAACP fights for all blacks is just absurd. The notion that they are fighting for civil rights is also questionable. Go look at the criteria for the ‘civil rights scorecard’ issued by the NAACP.
Wait until the the NAACP voter guides come out- it will look eerily similar to a the Democratic party platform.
*** Update ***
After reading this post by Jesse, in which he makes a total asshole out of himself, I have changed my mind. Bush should send Cheney, who can promptly tell Julian Bond and Kweisi Mfume to go fuck themselves.
by John Cole| 17 Comments
This post is in: Open Threads
A reader suggests that the only thing Edwards brings to the Kerry campaign is big money trial lawyer connections, and thus wonders if the Kerry/Edwards ticket should be called the “Cash and Kerry” ticket.
Henry Hanks thinks this ticket should be called the “September 10th ticket.”
I prefer to call the “Tax and Sue in 2004.
Please list your entries below.
This post is in: Politics
What do Democrats think aboutthe Edwards selection? Mark Kleiman and one of his readers have a little back-and-forth.
Again, it is important to note that the core Democratic argument for president is not “Kerry in 2004,” but rather it is a more forceful “Not Bush in 2004.” How is this going to affect voting?
by John Cole| 5 Comments
This post is in: Democratic Stupidity
It is about time that serious people started to dissect and dismiss the overheated bloviating coming from Josh Marshall. Marshall prides himself as an astute insider with a keen eye on international policy, when in reality he is nothing more than Paul Begala with a PhD, toeing the Democrat line on every issue and dissembling anything and evrtrything in as anti-Bush a tone as he believes he can cedibly get away with.
This is not the first time that Marshall has been called on his nonsense, he has been wrong about almost every aspect of the North Korean issue since day one.
The flap started with this article extolling Kerry’s firm realism in the field of foreign policy and this follow-up post.
What is the big deal? A.) He spins Kerry’s probable foreign policy appraoch, which judging by his rhetoric and votes would be neo-isolationist, with most foreign policy conducted according to the will of a majority vote of multinational organizations into what MArshall calls ‘realism.’ Go figure.
B.) He lies about the Bush record regarding thepromotion of Democracy.
I don;thave the energy to waste on him- but Robert Tagorda, Dan Drezner, David Adesnik, and The Belgravia Dispatch.
Make sure you read Drezner’s comments, and get an extra chuckle at the people touting Kerry’s realism while pissily stating that Bush has not done enough to promote Democracy in Pakistan. Internal consistency is not a strongpoint for Marshall or the Democrats in general.
This post is in: Politics
No wonder the uber-partisan Democrats hate Mickey Kaus. Look at what he has to say about Kerry:
As a Democrat, I have two big fears about John Kerry. The first is that he’ll lose. The second is that he’ll win. Let’s take the second possibility first. One reason Kerry might lose, after all, is an inchoate public intuition that he would not be a successful president…
Kaus then notes that Kerry does not work or play well with others, has no political courage, no vision, and no ability to sell his ideas.
Sounds like Kaus will be voting for Bush, right?
Seriously, though- if that is what Kerry supporters (even marginal ones) are saying,it is going to be a long couple of months.
by John Cole| 20 Comments
This post is in: Democratic Stupidity
If Republicans want to win this campaign, they don’t need to attack Kerry (although his handlers call anything said about him an attack)- all the GOP needs to do is inform. Say, or example, just letting the American people know where Kerry’s campaign slogan came from:
Kerry wrote the preface to a new collection of Hughes’s poems that will be published by Vintage this month, just in time for the Democratic National Convention. The paperback edition will feature nine Hughes poems “about freedom, brotherhood and the American dream.”
In May, Kerry invoked the first two lines of Hughes