Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

People are complicated. Love is not.

Don’t expect peaches from an apple tree.

Polls are now a reliable indicator of what corporate Republicans want us to think.

Our job is not to persuade republicans but to defeat them.

Every day Vance writes another chapter in the book called “Worst VP Pick Ever”.

if you can’t see it, then you are useless in the fight to stop it.

Optimism opens the door to great things.

Everybody saw this coming.

… gradually, and then suddenly.

The gop couldn’t organize an orgy in a whorehouse with a fist full of 50s.

One lie, alone, tears the fabric of reality.

We’ll be taking my thoughts and prayers to the ballot box.

Motown is Joe-Town!

Everyone is in a bubble, but some bubbles model reality far better than others!

Shallow, uninformed, and lacking identity

It could be worse. Vance could have said “post-menopausal sows.” Waiting for that audiotape to surface.

The revolution will be supervised.

A thin legal pretext to veneer over their personal religious and political desires.

The republican caucus is covering themselves with something, and it’s not glory.

Trump’s legal defense is going to be a dumpster fire inside a clown car on a derailing train.

It’s always darkest before the other shoe drops.

It’s all just conspiracy shit beamed down from the mothership.

“When somebody takes the time to draw up a playbook, they’re gonna use it.”

They traffic in fear. it is their only currency. if we are fearful, they are winning.

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42Comments

  1. 1.

    jake

    Gods, are we back to loin cloths and bear skins? Yech.
    Republicans can keep their pants and just scrape off the slimy coating of radical reactionaries they seem to have acquired. And for gods’ sake, someone stop the RNC from taking on Michael “Puppy Love” Steele. Seriously, I like to see a level playing field for everyone. Steele would be the equivalent of concrete shoes for a track race.

  3. 3.

    demimondian

    I feel pretty bad for the people of Connecticut. They really did think that Lieberman was “still a Democrat”, and didn’t understand that his departure from the party was real.

  5. 5.

    demimondian

    True enough, but a lot of Dems were taken in, too.

    I can’t understand why — I’m his target audience (life-long dem, strong national defense, liberal social policy, etc.) and I can’t imagine ever voting for him under the circumstances, even though I would not support Lamont in the primary.

  6. 6.

    Pb

    demimondian,

    He ran to the center (from the right) and sold himself as the moderate choice, and all of his flip-flopping on Iraq and phony bipartisan talk sold, apparently–he did capture the Independent vote. But there’s no way he could have won without the Republicans.

  7. 7.

    Pb

    Switching gears, mad props to Russ Feingold, for being himself. I wish he had been in the running for President, but I understand why he isn’t–and really, like Adlai Stevenson, he’s just too good to get elected, and yes, that favorite quote of mine applies here (taken from WikiQuote):

    Anecdote: During his 1956 presidential campaign, a woman called out to him, “You have the vote of every thinking person!” Stevenson called back, “That’s not enough, madam, we need a majority!”

  8. 8.

    Louise

    Tim! Why did you have to pick that?? Denny Hastert without pants? I need go go bleach my brain.

    (And don’t just switch it to the Dems, either. Joe Lieberman without pants? ACK.)

    May I suggest, as an alternative: “It is self-evident that Republicans will keep losing elections until they start eating worms.”

  9. 9.

    lightning_fast_draw

    I haven’t given up on conservatives, I’ve just given up on Republicans. For the time being, radicals have taken over the Republican party and thrown out the conservatives so I have no choice but to leave the party.
    I just finished reading Hinderaker’s rather benign interpretation on the terrorists’ view or our midterm elections. It efficiently stated the obvious, which seems to be the most powerful talking points of the Republican Party. That is, stating the obvious talking points that they want the American people to focus upon. There are many issues Republicans would rather we forget.
    What he fails to mention in his article is precisely what is lacking with our Republican leadership. The alternative to a winning strategy in Iraq is simply to wallow there without an objective, spending upwards of $8 billion a month just to make the terrorist uncomfortable.
    It is this non-strategy that American voters found unacceptable. So at the risk of making the terrorist temporarily happy, we chose a change of management. If you look at some of the ideas Rep. Murtha and others are prepared to implement with our military, this will surely be a temporary state of affairs for the terrorists. In fact, it should make them very uncomfortable, more so than they are right now.
    However, I noticed that Hinderaker failed to mention this in his article. Could it be that he failed to analyze some of the alternative strategies being proposed and enthuastically endorsed by our military leaders? He really should. It may give him a whole new view of American policy toward the war and a new way of looking at terrorist feelings. You see Americans voted for leadership. We are looking for vision and hope and have become very tired of people like Hinderaker who keep restating the obvious.

  10. 10.

    demimondian

    Indeed. Mad props to Feingold. I still think that Greenwald was wrong, and that Feingold’s resolution was a somewhat selfish tactical mistake, which could have all-too-easily blown up in our faces. Then again, that’s why he’s a successful politician, and I’m not.

  11. 11.

    Pb

    demimondian,

    I think Feingold was entirely right for pushing it–if you don’t fight, you can’t win, and I can’t think of many things more worth fighting for. Rule of law, baby!

  13. 13.

    VidaLoca

    Mad props to Feingold.

    Indeed. I’m one of his constituents; I was really hoping he would run — not only because of who he is but because so many of the other choices are recycled DLC hacks. Blergh.

    Anybody heard anything from Wesley Clark of late?

  14. 14.

    demimondian

    We’ll never lose another election once the voters get to see our huge, swinging, cocks.

    Tim F.’s recommendation only delineates a necessary step, and, as always, necessity is not sufficiency.

    As long as you all wear diapers, you also won’t win elections.

  15. 15.

    Perry Como

    It is self-evident that Republicans will go on losing elections until they stop wearing pants.

    All Real Men wear kilts. Since you aren’t wearing a kilt, you aren’t a Real Man.

  18. 18.

    Pb

    The Other Steve,

    I think he was too quick on the draw the first time, and shot into the wrong thread. Over-excited, perhaps?

  26. 26.

    VidaLoca

    What drama!

    Dad’s team was back—a remarkable course correction in the political life of the son and, quite possibly, in the life of the nation.

    What horseshit.

    It’s all based on two premises, the first false and the second questionable:

    1. The premise that the US controls events in Iraq in any meaningfult way. In reality, two or three years ago, we were more in control of more events, and back then looking at our options might have been useful. Now, not so much.

    2. The premise that Junior will respect any advice he doesn’t want to listen to. In reality, he’s the Decider.

    What result can we expect from the Iraq Study Group?

    In the end there will be pious mention of the need for a “Congress of the Nations” involved in the present drama in the region.

    This will be “admired” as a thought.

    There will be an option paper recommending withdrawal in some form.

    This will be rejected with much chest thumping among the unscarred.

    There will be an option paper recommending “staying the course.”

    This will be accepted as “the right thing to do.”

    cite, more here.

    This is a kabuki study group.

  27. 27.

    jcricket

    Tim – I think you just gave me an idea for the title of my next #1 seller for the conservative book club:

    “Logical Fascism: The Liberal plot to make Republicans look bad and install lesbian Hillary Clinton as our next Dictator”

  28. 28.

    Pooh

    I can’t understand why—I’m his target audience (life-long dem, strong national defense, liberal social policy, etc.) and I can’t imagine ever voting for him under the circumstances, even though I would not support Lamont in the primary.

    Imagine you live in Connecticut – Lieberman, (w/seniority) can do a whole lot more for you (as a CT resident) than can Lamont. Methinks if Reid/Schumer had announced that he was losing seniority for not abiding the primary vote, he loses. Not that I blame them, because it looked 50-50 coming out of the primary, and if you throw him off the bus then, he certainly goes GOP if he wins.

  29. 29.

    jcricket

    So, here’s an example of why Democrats should support, and mildly push, ongoing investigations into actual Republican malfeasance. We picked up 6 governorships already, is a 7th in the cards via special election?

  30. 30.

    Zifnab

    “The American people have put their feet on the right path by … realizing their president’s betrayal in supporting Israel,” the terror leader said. “So they voted for something reasonable in the last elections.” He did not explain his logic.

    ~Crazy Ass Terrorist Abu Hamza al-Muhajir

    The funny thing about Islamo-extremist rhetoric is that they really do believe the world revolves around Isreal. The funny thing about conservative columnists is that they really do believe the world revolves around Washington D.C.

    The really funny thing about conservatives commenting on Islamo-extremists is how absolutely wrong said commentary is, consistantly and in every way possible.

  31. 31.

    jcricket

    And here’s some good info about why Democrats should never, ever, ever listen to Republican pundits, Karl Rove or DLC “concern trolls” when they claim that some Democratic action will hurt the Democrats (e.g. sticking together against the President’s SS plan, Feingold’s censure resolution).

    I take that back. Any time one of those concern trolls says something will hurt the Democrats, the Democrats should push that thing/plan even harder, because they’re just displaying their fear in public.

  32. 32.

    demimondian

    I think Lieberman goes to the GOP eventually no matter what — but, then again, I’ve always thought that. The truth here is that I view him as attempting to leverage his current power while he’s got it, and the best way to leverage it is to start a bidding war between Democrats and Republicans. I think the Democrats need to anticipate that he’ll eventually turn coat completely, and throw him off the bus now.

    But what do I know? I wanted Reid/Schumer to pull his seniority in the last couple of weeks before the election, once it became clear that he might well wind up being the linchpin of a Democratic minority.

  33. 33.

    p.lukasiak

    Anybody heard anything from Wesley Clark of late?

    Wes is definitely running…. he was EVERYWHERE during the 2006 election, raising money for a host of progressive candidates (check out his ActBlue pages)

    and with Feingold out, Wes is my next choice….

    ****************

    As for Lieberman…. he doesn’t say that he’ll caucus with the GOP (making it 50/50), just that he may well decide to identify himself much as Jeffords did (as an “independent” who caucuses with the Dems). In other words, the “defection” he is talking about is of little relevance at this point…

    But if he does defect…. does Connecticut have a recall provision for its Senators?

  34. 34.

    demimondian

    [D]oes Connecticut have a recall provision for its Senators?

    Not according to Article I, which I always took to be binding on the government.

    Of course, that was before Nixon, to say nothing of Bush II.

  35. 35.

    jcricket

    Lieberman will caucus with the Democrats, but occasionally stick it in their eye by voting on some critical issue with the Republicans. But he’s not vindictive enough (he’s no Delay or Lott) to pull scorched earth tactics wrt his Democratic colleagues.

    If Democrats pick up even more seats in 2 years, he’ll move further to the left. He’s a political wind “catcher”, despite his newfound “independence”.

  36. 36.

    Tara the anti-social social worker

    No pants? So, Condi ’08 then? That would mean Dick Morris was right about something, and I’m not sure the universe could handle that.

  37. 37.

    jake

    It is self-evident that Republicans will go on losing elections until they stop wearing pants talking about dogs.
    Rick Santorum: Compared being gay to having sex with dogs. Gone.
    Michael Steele: Said he loved puppies (in a platonic way one assumes). Gone.

    Ergo: The Republicans will go on losing until they shut up about dogs.

  38. 38.

    VidaLoca

    I wanted Reid/Schumer to pull his seniority in the last couple of weeks…

    I saw the comment made on one of the other blogs that the CT race was an anomaly in that both of the major parties threw their respective candidates under the bus.

    For the Republicans, this seemed like a smart move assuming they held control of the Senate: Lieberman would owe his re-election to them; he would at least be an ally even if he didn’t change parties outright. He was a stronger candidate than the regular GOP nominee in any case.

    For the Democrats, this seemed like the height of foolishness: why support a traitor? I think the reason to do so was that Schumer and the DLC barons are more concerned with maintaining control of the Party, even if it means shafting a popular candidate and losing an election to the likes of Lieberman. Being the minority party, being losers — that they can live with, they’re used to it. Lose control of the party, however, and they’ve lost it all.

  39. 39.

    Krista

    Anybody heard anything from Wesley Clark of late?

    Wes is definitely running…. he was EVERYWHERE during the 2006 election, raising money for a host of progressive candidates (check out his ActBlue pages)

    and with Feingold out, Wes is my next choice….

    I just hope that whoever the Dems pick to run in 2008, they don’t base their pick solely on “electability”. That’s what got them Kerry, who was about as inspiring as a day-old, smushed kernel of popcorn under the sofa cushion.

  41. 41.

    Mark

    I think it’s a good thing. Republicans are letting evangelicals run the party, which is why they were run out of the House and Senate by voters all over this country. As long as the Republican party panders to those homophobic, self-loathing Jesus freaks, they should lose every election.

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