Rare are the moments when Hugh Hewitt and I agree completely and totally on something, but this is one of those times. Hugh has devised a questionnaire for any Republican who wants to be elected to Leadership, and I have got to say, the questions are great:
Thank you for applying for the position of Majority Leader. Please return this completed form to NZ Bear.
Part I. The Money Stuff
1. Does Jack Abramoff have your cell-phone number in his Blackberry?
____. Yes. (You may skip the rest of the questions.)
____. No.
2. Did you have signature privileges at Signatures restaurant?
____. Yes. (That's it. You're done. And you might want to get a lawyer.)
____. No.
3. In the last four years, have you accepted greater than $10,000
in campaign contributions from Abramoff clients?_____. Yes. (Thank you, that will be all. We know it isn't fair,
but elections aren't fair.)_____. No. (Are you sure about that?)
Read the whole thing. I hope it is not too jaded of me to wonder if anyone in the GOP can successfully complete that form to my satisfaction.
Lines
Well, the part you copied was good, but then he slips right back into Wingnuttery:
Sorry, John, Hugh is still a putz and a pathetic lower life form whose only purpose is to suck the dog crap off of Bush’s shoes.
And besides, if you think he’s going to toss any Republican under the bus that hasn’t been caught, guess again. This is just Hugh covering Hugh’s ass for supporting these corrupt politicians for so long.
Pb
I’m all in favor of ascertaining the level of taint of our politicians, if you know what I mean…
Paddy O'Shea
Speaking of people taking tests they are probably not suited for:
Freepers Take The Homophobia Test
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1560466/posts
Funniest thing I’ve seen all week.
Pat R
It’s not just Republicans that will have a tough time with this questionnaire. See the story in the Link below which documents millions that also went to Democrats from Abramoff clients:
http://www.capitaleye.org/abramoff_recips.asp?sort=N
Paddy O'Shea
Damn Pat, if that horseshit gets posted one more time we’re going to have to cut your coffee intake.
Sh-sh-sh-sh-shaky now!
my cat
No money went directly from Abramof to Democrats. The editor of the National Review is clear on this–you can be, too. Democrats got some money from clients of Abramof’s but the money went from the client to the Democrat through a legal process that did not include Abramof. For example Patty murray got some tribal money–one of the tribes Abramof cheated.
Lines
don’t feed the troll. He’s ugly and has irritable bowel syndrome.
Pat R
Re comment from my cat, my comment is clear that the money in question went to Democrats, as well as Republicans, from CLIENTS OF ABRAMOFF.
jg
But not directly from Abramoff which is the point your missing.
Lines
Not a single client of Abramoff has been included in the scandal, and the fact remains that he bilked most of his clients, anyway. The client’s were free to pursue legilation and lobbying on their own without Abramoff, and did so. That money has every appearance of being clean and legal.
Now, would you like to join the real world or continue to wallow in your troll filth of ignorance?
Steve
One of the reasons why Republicans face a bigger problem is that Abramoff, a Republican, had clients who were traditional Democratic donors. (Indian tribes in general donate mostly to Democrats, while the tribes Abramoff represented gave 2-1 to Republicans.)
So if a tribe gave money to a Republican, the presumption is that it’s because Abramoff told them to, although that obviously doesn’t make it an automatic crime.
Whereas if a tribe gave money to a Democrat, that could easily be the type of donation they were making all along.
searp
There is a simple test for whether or not Abramoff is a Republican scandal: the number of Republicans and Democrats arrested or indicted.
I make it Republicans 4, Democrats 0….
Andrei
That Freepers thread would be funny if it was so damn obscene.
I took the homophobic test and scored 15, ranking as “high-grade non-homophobic.”
Reading the Freepers thread is about as sickening as it gets.
Andrei
Uh… should be:
That Freepers thread would be funny if it **WASN’T** so damn obscene.
Lines
17 – Your score rates you as “high-grade non-homophobic.”
Paddy O'Shea
The Republicans desperately need to find a Democrat to deflect at least some of the shit away from their highly corrupt selves. Do not be surprised if the always complicit Bush Justice Dept identifies a Democrat for show trial status. Doesn’t matter if they ever convict or not, just something to give the Limbaugh/Coulter/Hannity Axis and their myriad bloggy buttboys something to have hate sessions over.
You know, kind of like what is going on over on that “radical professors” thread.
Jack Roy
That Freepers thread is pretty funny, and a little worrisome. But you gotta hand it to the one poster with the line (paraphrasing): “Homophobic? Oh, I thought it was HOBOphobic.”
Heh heh heh. Not entirely sure I’d want a hobo-sexual as a roommate myself!
Lines
I think I’ll just assume that they are refering to Hobo spiders, since the latest Young Republican stunt was to beat 4 drunk hobos with a baseball bat.
If I thought they were poking fun at that, well I would think they were complicit and approving of a crime against humanity.
Steve
Let’s put it this way. Abramoff is a lifelong, hardcore Republican. He is cooperating with the feds, and if he were in a position to implicate ANY Dem, there is no reason on God’s green earth why he wouldn’t jump at it.
Viewed in this light, the fact that no Dem has been implicated yet probably means something. One way or the other, if there are any dirty Dems in this scandal, there is no way they are getting out of it without being named.
Krista
Ass…taint….
tee hee
Lines
knee high to a brownie (the level of taint)
Kimmitt
This whole thread just demonstrates how completely out of touch with the reality of Republican corruption the average conservative blogger is. See no evil, I guess.
Stormy70
Maybe they are too busy celebrating this.
Frankly, most righty blogs are coming down hard on the Republicans, and trying to affect some sort of change.
But Democrats look like idiots with the parsing of the Abernoff client money. “Only Republicans took money directly from Abernoff, but all the money the clients gave us are cool, man. It rightfully belonged to us, even though some Democrats are giving back the money, I am not. I did nothing wrong.” Who thought they could actually get this to play, when most people think this is the way all of Congress operates. Way to lose the high ground, Harry Reid. Keep all that nice gambling money, while denouncing Republicans for taking all that nice gambling money. Especially when some in the Democratic party are giving the money back, and some are not. Way to get on the same page. This scandal is already indide the beltway boring, so it is easy to hammer the Dems on their hypocrisy, and most of the public will see it this way. The Dems could have been a contender.
Let the indictments fall where they may, and good riddance, but the Dems have screwed this up politically. Mental midgets.
Lines
Hey Stormy, your little rant might play well on the Yahoo boards or other places where the commenters are as educated as a sack of bricks, but you need to have a little more substance here. Maybe you should keep up with that resolution and stop posting about politics.
Because poll after poll is showing that America is fed up with Republican corruption, its showing Republicans are losing in contestable states, and with many conservatives mentioning the I word, it shows that the President is vulnerable.
Now run along and get yourself a drink, if reality snuck up and bit you, you’re going to need it.
Steve
I think it is unwise, frankly, for Democrats who have not taken bribes to start giving back scads of money as though they had been. If we’re going to talk political savvy, that’s a good way to look just as corrupt as the Republicans.
Stormy takes the opposite view, and contends that unless the Democrats give back every penny, the public will stupidly believe this is a bipartisan scandal. Maybe she is right and I am wrong, but I am wary of taking advice from members of the opposing team, since they are not rooting for me.
The righty blogs, yeah, are being totally superprincipled, trying to find the best way to minimize the political damage. If they had shown one hint of remorse regarding the K Street Project or any other aspect of the Republican money machine before the Abramoff scandal broke, you could maybe convince me of their sincerity, but probably not. Moot point anyway, since they didn’t.
Paddy O'Shea
Stormy: You might love to believe that the Democrats are somehow going to screw this up and make all the accounts of Republican corruption and greed inconsequential, but so far the evidence is otherwise.
Rasmussen (1/18/06): Dems hold a 46-35 percent lead on Congressional election.
Dems lead among men by 4 points.
Dems lead among women by 17 points.
http://www.rasmussenreports.com
You need to include the Pathetic Factor. With all of their tap dancing, hang dog perp faces, sudden interest in ethics legislation and, of course, the patently ridiculous attempts to explain it all away, the Republicans have begun to look pathetic. And that is something that will be very hard for them to overcome.
Even the Democrats are going to find this one hard to screw up.
“It’s the corruption, stupid.”
Pb
Steve,
Yeah, that’s the real scandal–they’ve been working hard at this since 1994. Now that they’ve *finally* gotten caught with their head firmly in the cookie jar, they start talking about ‘reform’… blah.
Stormy70
This is easy to say, “If this money was so tainted, then why have Democrats taken Abernoff’s clients money, too? Why are some Democrats rushing to give back the money, but others are keeping it?” Simple to hammer home to people who already think both parties in Congress are as corrupt as the day is long.
Lines, your polls would convince me more if I hadn’t heard about polls showing the Republicans were toast before the 2002 and 2004 elections, ad nauseum.
Paddy O'Shea
(Stormy, fingers in ears, shouting as loudly as she possibly can:)
“I can’t hear you!!! La La La La La La La La La!!!!”
Steve
Point is, Stormy, you could accuse the Democrats of corruption if they gave the money back, and you could accuse them of corruption if they didn’t make the money back. It’s a bogus argument, but if you want to make it, there’s nothing they could do to stop you from making it. As you say, most people are predisposed to a certain point of view regarding politicians and don’t really care what the evidence shows.
Lines
Come on, Stormy just has to be a parody, right? I mean all this time I just thought it was a grossly stupid teenager that got done trolling the internet for porn and thought he’d tease some adults and giggle himself to sleep while the airplane glue dried.
Do you believe your little circle of wingnut blogs represents America, Stormy? Do you really believe that somehow all of the Republican Swift Boating is going to bring back the glory of the 2004 election?
Do you really not hear all of the whispers of impeachment circulating, not through liberal circles, but conservative ones?
How can you be so dense, day after day if you arn’t a parody? How do you remember to breathe? Some of your comments are so damn insepid its just impossible they came from a living, breathing, thinking person.
rilkefan
John, when are you going to comment on this?
Lines
thanks rilkefan, after the blatent ignorance of Stormy and Darrell I needed that.
jg
So your admitting that facts aren’t relevant so long as you put the right spin on the issue? Is your side really that gullible they can just be put off an issue if the right people say what they want to hear?
Lines
You know, Stormy, since there is a possibility that that $50 bill in your purse was handled by Jack Abramoff in the past, you should turn it over to me to avoid any of the scandal associated with it.
Never mind the scandal with how you got it, but I’m sure that stain on your dress will come out.
Paddy O'Shea
Oohhh, this is just so sweet! Looks like Jack Abramoff charged two of his clients $25,000 each to do lunch with the Little President.
So what is this about Jack and George never meeting?
http://www.texasobserver.org/showForPrint_new.asp?ArticleID=13
Pat R
The real question is why on earth was Abramoff able to fuck most of the Democrats, both male and female?
Pb
Pat R,
Wake me when there’s a sex tape.
Stormy70
Hey Lines, it must be lonely in your little world of rage and BDS. I see you have to personally insult everyone here that disagrees with you. Trust me, it has all been done before by better mudslingers that you. Sling away, I just print out these threads and show them to people around election time to get them riled up to go vote against your party. Makes for a fun election night. Of course, the leading lights in the party show you the way. Especially your Senators.
The Other Steve
You never know.
They may try to raise Schiavo from the dead.
Lines
Stormy, what is my party? Am I automatically a Democrat because I think you’re a simpleton and I disagree with every talking point you’ve ever tried to pawn off as original thought?
You’re a disgraceful human being, Stormy. From torture to your automatic defense of corruption you’ve done nothing to contribute to a single topic on these threads, except for a discussion on books. You are the fringe, the wild eyed maniac that frightens children, a political harpy thats long on talk and short on substance.
ppGaz
First the silly Nagin thread, and now this one … am I the only person around here who thinks that some of the BJ lefties are getting a little ridiculous?
Just asking.
The impact of Abramoff will come from the criminal cases that fall from his situation, not from blah-mania on the bluggasphere. I’d be in favor of taking it down a notch.
The Other Steve
Oh come now ppGaz, the only lefty who made the Nagin thread ridiculous was yourself by trying to defend the idiot.
The Other Steve
Since there’s no open thread, I am dirtying this one…
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/18/opinion/18webb.html?ex=1295240400&en=f3e1d4cd5b25ed71&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss
Nice Op-Ed from James Webb(sec. of Navy under Reagan) about how you properly treat our Veterans, and in particular lashes out at the recent trend of Republicans smearing our soldiers for political gain.
Sock Puppet
I’m a little unclear on some of the terminology being used here.
Stormy70 – You use the term BDS to describe Lines. What does that stand for? And the 70 in your name, is that the year you were born, or are you an older woman whose passion fires still burn?
PatR – Do you have any proof that Jack Abramoff had sex with Democrats, male and female? What I have heard is that he had most of his sex with Republican males. Which most likely explains at least one of the reasons he had more access to the White House than even Jeffy Guckert.
ppGaz – What exactly are BJ lefties? And do you know where I could maybe meet one?
Kimmitt
Again, near-total disconnect from reality. There isn’t any kind of “change” to be done. The Republican Party is an institution for the purpose of engendering and supporting corruption. The K Street Project has meant that it’s been leave or be complicit time for a long, long time now, and righty blogs’ sudden insistence that they are shocked, shocked that their guys got into power mostly by selling legislation and lying a lot represents a display of cognitive dissonance not seen since . . . well, last week or so. But still.
Pooh
Tee hee
Pb
Kimmitt,
You are ever hopeful. Far too many of these righties don’t even know what fascism is, so why would they know anything about K Street?
Pooh
Kimmit
I disagree, the GOP has been an instrument rather than the motivating force, but that’s largely splitting hairs at this point.
chopper
i would figure most indian tribes who are in the casino business donate to both parties. republicans, because of the pro-business factor, and dems, at least in part for the ‘dems are for helping indians’ factor (whether or not you believe either).
reid got money from one of these tribes. then again, he’s a pro-casino senator in nevada, so it makes a lot of sense that he’d get campaign contributions from a casino-running tribe, whether or not they had abramoff for a lobbyist.
Steve
Casinos are not your typical business. Republicans, in general, tend to be rather anti-gambling (when other people do it).
ppGaz
Aren’t you the genius who tried to say that I was employing the KKK’s argument because I asserted that choosing a place to live might not be a racist act?
You want to have another round of that argument, Steve? Because you were wrong then and I would be more than happy to slap your ass around this thread too.
Go ahead, tell me again how the mayor of a town whose future rests on tourism was really saying “Whitey ain’t welcome here.” Wasn’t that your asinine statement?
Lines
ppGaz, my knocks against Stormy’s inability to be honest or upfront about a single thing on these threads has nothing to do with my liberalness or my lack of it. It has to do with the desire for a discussion without a pile of shit being dropped on it from a flyby Stormy or Darrell.
ppGaz
Yes, lines, I feel your pain … I don’t think that I have to re-earn my credentials in this area, Stormy and Darrell will both tell you that I have given them a large ration of shite over just such things in the past.
However, I’m sad to tell you, Stormy and Darrell are right about something. They are right about the fact that the bluggasphere lefties are totally doctrinaire, just like they accuse their adversaries of being. They are tin-eared, just like they accuse their adversaries of being.
They are unreasonable, too. It’s no wonder to me that they think we are a bunch of stubborn, obnoxious assholes, because …. we are. Lately some of the attacks on John Cole that I’ve seen are really over the top, and hardly a lefty has stepped up to say hey, wait a minute ….
Some of the rhetoric has just been absurd, such as the Nagin thread, and the “content” of some of the stuff in this thread, as an example.
In a world where all truth is political and all politics is truth, intellectual integrity is the only thing we have that will let us climb up out of the swamp of noise and crap that we wallow in here every day. And right now, some of our lefty friends could use a strong dose of it, and a dose of humility.
Steve
ppGaz, you act like someone is going to give you a gold star for being the “reasonable Democrat.”
I try to strike an appropriate tone, and maybe sometimes I even succeed, but I don’t go around acting all holier-than-thou because of it.
Paddy O'Shea
Eeesh.
ppGaz
Yeah, you know, I’ve used every rhetorical tactic there is in these wars at one time or another, so I am not a good subject for trying them out on. “Holier than thou” is a rhetorical characterization and it’s bullshit.
I say what I think and I don’t care much who likes it and who doesn’t.
What I’m saying here is that the lefties on this blog are acting like a bunch of stubborn, unreasonable and gotcha-driven assholes. It’s time to step back. If I am part of the that trend, which some would surely argue that I am, then I am just the person to say what I’m saying here.
If you don’t like it, fuck you. If the shoe fits, wear it. If not, then this isn’t for you.
Pb
…and they’re the reasonable ones…
Steve
I don’t know what the proper term is for a statement like “if you don’t like it, fuck you,” but at least it’s not one of those horrible “rhetorical characterizations”!
To my eye, ppGaz’ last comment basically says “even if I’m an asshole, that makes me uniquely qualified to tell everyone else they’re an asshole.” I’m not sure I agree with that.
Paddy O'Shea
I can’t believe anyone takes this bullshit that seriously. I post here for 2 reasons:
1) Long conference calls at work. Keeps me busy.
2) I watch the kids on the weekend while the missus works.
Beyond that this is all pretty useless in my opinion.
ppGaz
Really? Direct, fuck-you communication never ocurred to you? What a sheltered life you must lead.
I don’t much about you or your “eye” so I can’t be sure. But my statement requires no interpretation. It’s simple and to the point: Lefties here are acting worse than the asshole righties they think are so impossible. Doctrinaire, not listening. Knee-jerk reactions.
Whether I’m an asshole or not has nothing to do with it. It’s either true, or it isn’t. I say it is. And I’m right. If I were the world’s nicest guy, which I actually am, it would make no difference. If I were Jesus H. Christ himself, no difference. The thing is either true, or not.
And the inability to see that, and stand back from the lefty talking point bullshit around here, is exactly what I am talking about.
ppGaz
So the next time you are consigning John to the scrap heap of humanity, I can tell you are full of shit, and you’ll just roll with it?
ppGaz
Heh. Just notice that.
Yeah, right. That’ll be the day. The Gold Finger, maybe.
Paddy O'Shea
Couldn’t care less.
You need a vacation, dude. This bloggy is just a tiny little world of the most marginal importance. You need to get a more realistic perspective. You’re making an ass of yourself.
Which is a shame, because much of what you have to say is pretty spot on in my opinion.
Step back. Take a deep breathe. Go get laid. Or drunk. Or something.
ppGaz
Oh yeah?
Okay: You are full of shit. Your drumbeat bashing of John is tedious, inappropriate, and unhelpful to the cause you think you are promoting here.
Back to you.
The Other Steve
No ppGaz, the direct argument you made was that “If people don’t want whites living in their neighborhood, it’s only because they are trying to protect their culture.”
I simply noted that was the same argument the KKK made as to why they want to keep blacks out of their neighborhood.
I leave it as an excercise to the readers to determine who is the reasonable one, and who is just being obstinate. The fact that Nagin apologized for his remarks, and you still defend them is a leading indicator of where that is going.
Steve
I defended Nagin’s comments, too, and I still think he got a bad rap. But the difference (and the reason why, in this case, I am the holiest of all) is that I didn’t try to make my case by accusing the rest of y’all of being the Angry Left.
nyrev
You ever wonder if one of these days John is gonna snap and decide to start playing Comments Survivor with us?
Personally, I’d vote Birdzilla off the island first. And did I mention that I can build a fire and catch fish?
ppGaz
Nagin’s remarks are about culture. He didn’t say “I don’t want whites living in my city.”
In fact your exact “interpretation” IIRC was “Whitey isn’t welcome here.”
Which pretty well marks the loony level to which the stupid thread descended, thanks to the overreactions of you and some others. It was pure bullshit.
If you want to see a truly well reasoned reaction to Nagin, try this:
Nagin’s gaffe as told by blksista
Not racism. More like dumbism and corruptism.
ppGaz
You mean, who made shit up, Mister Whitey Ain’t Welcome Here?
ppGaz
Make that “whites”, it was Darrell who said “whitey.”
The Other Steve
Let’s look at that again…
Nope… Nothing about culture, just race.
And last year he said this…
Did he mean race or culture?
So again, it’s not about you know wanting to move to some place where people share the same culture. It’s about keeping people out so your “culture” isn’t polluted.
And it’s interesting you posted a link to a radical liberal blog to prove your point after you went on a wild-eyed rant calling us all whacko liberals for taking Nagin to task.
Nagin apologized… as he should have.
And the fact that you keep beating this drum just shows what a fucking dumbshit you are. This is what makes anybody look bad… when they won’t admit they are wrong.
The Other Steve
No, you meant your strawman about China town.
GTinMN
Yup, you took a huge dump on it all right, with an incompetently labelled link which blewww out the page width,pissing off at least me for no good reason, no wonder nobody seems to like you.
Plus every time I gotta scroll back and forth just to figure out if somethings’ worth the trouble, the terrorists have won dammit!
Seriously, next time, put down the cheetos bag for a bit,type with both hands and do it right.
Paddy, that goes for you too.
Kinder and gentler link-whoring from now on kiddies, please!
ppGaz
You’ll never get this right, because your head is so far up your ass.
The Chinatown is the perfect, apt comparison. What the FUCK is a Chinatown except a neighborhood where people live together to share their culture?
If the mayor of Chinatown said, after some disaster had run off two thirds of his population, and in the face of (apparent or perceived, don’t know) pressures to rebuild a whiter or less Asian neighborhood, said “Let’s rebuild a good old soy sauce version of Chinatown … like it used to be” would you be sitting over there shouting “RACIST!” like you are now?
Well, you might, you are that much in love with your stupid idea. But you’d be wrong, just as you are about the New Orleans example, wrong.
You are so determined to get your brownie points — pun intended and leveraged to the hilt — for being a “Me too — let ME call him a racist too!!” stupid-assed white liberal that you can’t stop climbing all over yourself to stand up for complete and utter nonsense.
It was bullshit at the top of this thread, and it’s bullshit at the bottom.
ppGaz
Correction, bullshit at the top of the Mayor X thread, and bullshit at the bottom of this one. I forgot that we were spanning two threads.