Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

I know this must be bad for Joe Biden, I just don’t know how.

Cole is on a roll !

Following reporting rules is only for the little people, apparently.

Hot air and ill-informed banter

When do the post office & the dmv weigh in on the wuhan virus?

In short, I come down firmly on all sides of the issue.

The most dangerous place for a black man in America is in a white man’s imagination.

I was confident that someone would point it out and thought why not me.

So many bastards, so little time.

I was promised a recession.

I’ve spoken to my cat about this, but it doesn’t seem to do any good.

It’s easy to sit in safety and prescribe what other people should be doing.

Jesus, Mary, & Joseph how is that election even close?

“Why isn’t this Snickers bar only a nickle?”

I’m pretty sure there’s only one Jack Smith.

… riddled with inexplicable and elementary errors of law and fact

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

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

A lot of Dems talk about what the media tells them to talk about. Not helpful.

Republicans want to make it harder to vote and easier for them to cheat.

Meanwhile over at truth Social, the former president is busy confessing to crimes.

Sadly, there is no cure for stupid.

Why is it so hard for them to condemn hate?

Do not shrug your shoulders and accept the normalization of untruths.

You are here: Home / Past Elections / Election 2008 / So True

So True

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This is a great find– while the McCain campaign has Sarah Palin hermetically sealed in a press free zone, terrified that she might speak without a teleprompter, and while they are getting the vapors about things like… opposition research, it might be instructive to remember what certain campaign operatives thought about fact-finding in headier times. For example, how did our intrepid right-wing citizen journalists and conservative mainstream journalists react to noted politician and seventh grader Graeme Frost? Take it away, Mark Steyn:

The Democrats chose to outsource their airtime to a Seventh Grader. If a political party is desperate enough to send a boy to do a man’s job, then the boy is fair game. As it is, the Dems do enough cynical and opportunist hiding behind biography and identity, and it’s incredibly tedious.

Graeme Frost- Tougher than the Original Mavericks. And he has never even gutted a moose.

Reader Interactions

55Comments

  2. 2.

    libarbarian

    Graeme Frost- Tougher than the Original Mavericks. And he has never even gutted a moose.

    I thought he had antler counter-tops.

  4. 4.

    Zach

    Ah the Frosts!

    It was hilarious to see The Corner whip out the jump to conclusions mat in full force that week. Living on roughly the same block as the Frosts (in a neighborhood including roughly zero affluent white families with school-age children), it’s plainly obvious how the housing bubble could’ve driven houses blocks away to near a million dollars without pulling their family out of the middle class. To think that Michelle Malkin could’ve thought it worth the time to drive by snapping covert photos of houses on the block without stopping to ask someone and do some actual reporting… such an astounding waste of time for someone who’s had some degree of success.

  5. 5.

    mantis

    Speaking of which, this is a damn good idea (especially the last part).

    I would call a press conference tomorrow to discuss the financial crisis. Do it in New York City. Even better, on Wall Street. Begin with a fifteen minute statement outlining why the crisis has occurred and what, generally, the government should do about it. Contrast your approach sharply with that of McCain and the Republicans. Take questions for an hour from reporters. Finally, issue a challenge to McCain to debate the issue by week’s end. And offer to allow McCain to bring Sarah Palin and Phil Gramm at his side if he needs them to advise him on the issues.

  6. 6.

    Svensker

    And he has never even gutted a moose.

    Do you have proof of that?

    Typical loon blogger — no backup for the assertions.

    McCain/Palin! Cuz we LIKE being f*cked!

  7. 7.

    bootlegger

    Obama v. McCain, not Obama v. Palin. The only thing he needs to say about Palin is that it shows McCain’s bad judgment.
    I actually think Glenzilla has the winning narrative, though I think The Whippersnapper should wait until late in the campaign to fire it off–McCain will get us into more foreign misadventures, i.e. wars. From the Bush Doctrine, to Bomb, Bomb, Bomb Iran to protecting the other Georgia from Russia, make the case that this guy is a dangerous loose cannon. Repeat it over and over and don’t give them time to coordinate a response.

  9. 9.

    PK

    I wonder what Sarah Palin thinks about the current economic crisis? Maybe some enterprising news organization will air drop a reporter who can get close enough to her to ask this question.

  10. 10.

    Dennis - SGMM

    McCain spokesliar Carly Fiorina on MSNBC this morning whining about SNL’s Palin/Clinton skit:

    “The portrait was very dismissive of the substance of Sarah Palin, and so, in that sense, they were defining Hillary Clinton as very substantive and Sarah Palin as totally superficial. I think that continues the line of argument that is disrespectful in the extreme and yes, I would say, sexist, in the sense that just because Sarah Palin has different views than Hillary Clinton does not mean that she lacks substance.”

    From “Through the Looking Glass:”

    ‘When I use a word,’ Humpty Dumpty said, in a rather scornful tone,’ it means just what I choose it to mean, neither more nor less.’

    ‘The question is,’ said Alice, ‘whether you can make words mean so many different things.’

    ‘The question is,’ said Humpty Dumpty, ‘which is to be master – that’s all.’

  11. 11.

    Rick James

    Finally, issue a challenge to McCain to debate the issue by week’s end. And offer to allow McCain to bring Sarah Palin and Phil Gramm at his side if he needs them to advise him on the issues.

    Palin would wipe the floor with that fool Obama. She attended 5 schools in 6 years so she has lottsa book learnin’, bitches!

  12. 12.

    Joshau Norton

    As it is, the Dems do enough cynical and opportunist hiding behind biography and identity,

    Yeah! And Palin went to 6, count ’em, 6 colleges. Obama only went to ONE!

    That makes her 6 times as cool.

  13. 13.

    TheFountainHead

    “The portrait was very dismissive of the substance of Sarah Palin, and so, in that sense, they were defining Hillary Clinton as very substantive and Sarah Palin as totally superficial.”

    Kinda hard not to.

  15. 15.

    bootlegger

    Yeah! And Palin went to 6, count ‘em, 6 colleges.

    Goddammit! I’m sick and fuckin’ tired of this tripe that our smartest citizens make lousy presidents. “Elite”? So what?! I want my president to be an elite scholar, not the kid who barely got through college but can con others with personality. This isn’t a reality show kids!

  16. 16.

    JGabriel

    Donald Luskin @ WaPo:

    1988-89, there were 1,004 failures — almost an order of magnitude more than today. Since the Great Depression, the average number of bank failures each year has been 94.

    Wow. I just saw this and I’m pretty shocked by the obvious dishonesty here.

    Skip whether or not the numbers are accurate, just assume for the sake of argument that they are.

    If there were 1004 bank failures in 1988-89, then that would lift the average number of failures by about 10-15 failures per year – all by itself. Any other years with especially high numbers of failures would have a similiar effect on the average number.

    Instead, what one is interested in is the median number (50 percentile mark) of failures per year – almost certain to be far less than the average that Luskin quotes. Averages can have a tendency to skew very high from the median given a few randomly high numbers in a mix without a ceiling; for instance, the average US yearly income is about 75K per year, whereas the median is only about 45K.

    For Luskin to quote an average rather than median figure in this context, when he knows it is skewed and misleading, is one of the heights of dishonest argument (outside of outright lying and/or making shit up).

    Yeah, yeah, I know the publication timing of Luskin’s op-ed is so ironically bad as to overwhelm other considerations about it, but it seemed somehow necessary to note Luskin’s fundamental dishonesty too.

    .

  18. 18.

    gbear

    Yeah! And Palin went to 6, count ‘em, 6 colleges. Obama only went to ONE!

    That makes her 6 times as cool.

    Nah, it just means she has 6 times as many sweatshirts.

  19. 19.

    Dennis - SGMM

    Yeah, yeah, I know the publication timing of Luskin’s op-ed is so ironically bad as to overwhelm other considerations about it, but it seemed somehow necessary to note Luskin’s fundamental dishonesty too.

    Luskin neglects to mention that these failures occurred during the S&L meltdown. That’s understandable because that was another financial disaster caused by Republican deregulation.

  20. 20.

    dslak

    These attempted defenses of Palin can’t be helping feminism any, as it’s not sexist to point out that a female lacks substance unless the fact that she’s a female is used to explain that she lacks substance.

    Of course, the mouthbreathing contingent on the right probably thinks that “liberals” consider any and all criticism of a woman to be sexist, because they can’t tell the difference between making a legitimate criticism and being an asshole.

  22. 22.

    The Moar You Know

    The walkback, throwing lies all the way.

    I know that McCain was a POW – not that he was tortured or anything, but somehow his arms are all screwed up. Anyway, in spite of him not being tortured but having screwed up arms, that fucker can dance better than Fred Astaire.

    Someone needs to tell the AP to coordinate their spin on McCain. I get really confused with them lurching back and forth every couple of days.

  23. 23.

    Martin

    Yeah, yeah, I know the publication timing of Luskin’s op-ed is so ironically bad as to overwhelm other considerations about it, but it seemed somehow necessary to note Luskin’s fundamental dishonesty too.

    And even median is misleading. What % of banks failed, or even better, how much did the FDIC have to step up and insure in each of those years.

    I mean, if 1004 Joe-Bob’s Banks failed vs. one Bank of America, I think we’d be more worried about the latter than the former, and there was a LOT of bank consolidation after 88-89. Are there even 1004 banks left out there?

  25. 25.

    Incertus

    just because Sarah Palin has different views than Hillary Clinton does not mean that she lacks substance.”

    Hmmm. It’s not the difference of opinion that makes Palin substance-less. It’s the lack of substance in her opinions. For instance, I’d suggest that, in her prime, Margaret Thatcher had radically difference ideas from those of Hillary Clinton, but she was far from substance-less. She was a formidable woman who just happened to have priorities I found horrific. But Sarah Palin is no Margaret Thatcher.

  26. 26.

    Delia

    From John Scalzi:

    When there is no real-world penalty for lying, distorting and demonizing, then the only thing to stop you is your own moral compunctions.

    Of course there seems to be little real-world penalty within American politics. The payback comes when teh stupid overwhelms us within the actual real world. Didn’t I hear something just today about some big banks going under? And that frakkin’ war in Afghanistan is being expanded into Pakistan. That’ll go well. Four or eight more years of this, and we might as well just break up the Union.

  28. 28.

    b. hussein canuckistani

    But Sarah Palin is no Margaret Thatcher.

    You can’t see the Falklands from London, so Thatcher had to learn the old fashioned way.

  29. 29.

    Cris

    But Sarah Palin is no Margaret Thatcher.

    Sarah Palin is no Jeane Kirkpatrick either.

    Hillary Clinton, on the other hand, could play in that company. (Significant policy differences aside.)

  30. 30.

    The Moar You Know

    Four or eight more years of this, and we might as well just break up the Union.

    I’m ready to sign off on this one. If the South wants to establish their own nation of Fucktardia, I’m ready to let them have it. Small price to pay.

  31. 31.

    J.A.F. Rusty Shackleford

    Joshau Norton Says:

    Yeah! And Palin went to 6, count ‘em, 6 colleges. Obama only went to ONE!

    September 15th, 2008 at 2:05 pm

    I think Obama started at Occidental and graduated from Columbia for undergraduate. Harvard for law school. Taught at Univ. of Chicago.

  32. 32.

    Brian J

    Speaking of which, this is a damn good idea (especially the last part).

    I would call a press conference tomorrow to discuss the financial crisis. Do it in New York City. Even better, on Wall Street. Begin with a fifteen minute statement outlining why the crisis has occurred and what, generally, the government should do about it. Contrast your approach sharply with that of McCain and the Republicans. Take questions for an hour from reporters. Finally, issue a challenge to McCain to debate the issue by week’s end. And offer to allow McCain to bring Sarah Palin and Phil Gramm at his side if he needs them to advise him on the issues.

    Hey, I suggested the same thing last night. I also said it again just before at Kevin Drum’s blog, where the topic was the campaign following advice that you give and not being sure whether that’s a good idea.

    The idea of Obama confronting McCain on this issue is perfect. It’s definitely a substantive issue, it’s an area where McCain and particularly Palin aren’t comfortable, and by getting out in front, he could take the mantle of change back and look like serious statesman. And he should definitely do it on Wall Street. It has that aura of seriousness that a speech in Ohio or Michigan, like I said he could also do, wouldn’t give him.

  35. 35.

    JGabriel

    The Moar You Know:

    If the South wants to establish their own nation of Fucktardia, I’m ready to let them have it.

    I agree. And then we can tell all those redneck assholes outside the South that fly confederate flags to go to Fucktardia if they don’t like it here.

    .

  37. 37.

    J.A.F. Rusty Shackleford

    The Moar You Know Says:

    I’m ready to sign off on this one. If the South wants to establish their own nation of Fucktardia, I’m ready to let them have it. Small price to pay.

    September 15th, 2008 at 4:46 pm

    The first round of S’mores flavored schnapps is on me!

  38. 38.

    Delia

    Yeah, apparently we’ve lost another American city. But never fear. The Bushies have learned from their mistakes and this time they’re on the job and trying to make sure that no one sees what happened. More from Think Progress.

    (hope this goes through, it’s been a fab afternoon for WordPress Error.)

  40. 40.

    dslak

    My brother was a first responder during Gustav, and he said that even then they weren’t receiving any food or drink. Their meals were out-of-pocket.

  41. 41.

    Cris

    JGabriel Says:

    The Moar You Know:
    If the South wants to establish their own nation of Fucktardia, I’m ready to let them have it.

    I agree. And then we can tell all those redneck assholes outside the South that fly confederate flags to go to Fucktardia if they don’t like it here.

    This reminds me of Code Hubbard, from Robert Anton Wilson’s Schrodinger’s Cat trilogy.

    Crimes of violence were defined as the natural, inevitable, tragic, but intolerable resultant of some combination of genes, imprints, and conditioning. The biots who committed such acts were sent, without condemnation but irrevocably, to Hell.

    Hell had previously been the state of Mississippi. After the aborigines were resettled in an environment suitable for two-circuit (prehominid) primates, Mississippi became Hell by simply surrounding it with a laser shield that made escape impossible. Everything within the shield was intact. The violent biots were free to do what they wanted, and they soon had several forms of feudalism, war, piracy, commerce, slavery, and other early primate institutions functioning in a manner that seemed normal to them.

    Many violent biots and gene pools moved to Hell voluntarily, since it was the only remaining part of the world that fit their notions of proper primate society. Among those who migrated en masse and established sizable governments or robber bands in Hell were the Ku Klux Klan, the Black Panthers, the American Nazi Party, Hell’s Angels, and most of the People’s Ecology Party.

  42. 42.

    SGEW

    Yeah, fuck the South! And screw the minorities living there, and those too poor to leave!

    If the Union ever broke apart, I’ve always thought that we should have an open immigration policy and a Federal Refugee Agency that finds new lives for those who make it out of the South (tho’ I do like “Fucktardia”), accompanied by a massive covert operation a la the underground railroad.

    Then encourage Mexico to invade.

    (not really: just a funny thought to this born and bred Yankee)

  43. 43.

    JGabriel

    Delia:

    Yeah, apparently we’ve lost another American city.

    Somehow, Bush often reminds me of the poem “One Art” by Elizabeth Bishop. Here’s an excerpt:

    The art of losing isn’t hard to master;
    so many things seem filled with the intent
    to be lost that their loss is no disaster.

    […]

    I lost two cities, lovely ones. And, vaster,
    some realms I owned, two rivers, a continent.
    I miss them, but it wasn’t a disaster.

    I’m pretty much an agnostic. But if there is a God, he/she is clearly punishing us for electing Bush.

    .

  45. 45.

    The Moar You Know

    dslak Says:

    Yeah, fuck the South! And screw the minorities living there, and those too poor to leave!

    OniHanzo Says:

    What dslak said.

    Invincible ignorance knows no boundary or border.

    I want to make something clear. I’m not a Yankee. I’m the last Southern-born member of a family that has lived in the South since the 1790s. If there is one thing I’m grateful for, it’s that I no longer live in the South.

    You and I know some truths. There are decent folks in the South – about one in four. The other three out of four are the nastiest, meanest, most self-righteously ignorant people that live in this country.

    I figure it would be eaier to implement SGEW’s suggestion:

    If the Union ever broke apart, I’ve always thought that we should have an open immigration policy and a Federal Refugee Agency that finds new lives for those who make it out of the South (tho’ I do like “Fucktardia”), accompanied by a massive covert operation a la the underground railroad.

    than to implement the other possible course of action, which is to send all the big-trick-driving, Confederate-flag-waving, Jesus-hollering assholes to Antarctica. Don’t get me wrong, I’m OK with that course of action as well, it’s just a lot more expensive.

  46. 46.

    dslak

    Just because somebody’s an asshole doesn’t make it okay to violate their rights. Assholes are people, too!

  47. 47.

    rikyrah

    jeffreyw Says:

    OT, but damn!

    (second try at a comment)

    It’s the Gulf Coast all over again, and I am resentful that the media isn’t showing it, or the crappy job FEMA is doing.

  48. 48.

    rikyrah

    jeffreyw Says:

    OT, but damn!

    (second try at a comment)

    It’s the Gulf Coast all over again, and I am resentful that the media isn’t showing it, or the crappy job FEMA is doing.

  49. 49.

    blogreeder

    …terrified that she might speak without a teleprompter,

    Interesting story here about Obama and his teleprompter .
    For those of you that don’t follow links:

    It appears Barack Obama’s teleprompter is hitting the campaign trail.

    The Democratic presidential nominee has never tried to hide the fact he delivers speeches off the device,…

    Looks like she’s not the only one terrified.

  50. 50.

    blogreeder

    As long as we’re still vetting counter tops, anyone want to vet Palin’s tanning bed?

    Delia, it doesn’t seem anyone else is interested in this. I’ll give it a try. Did she pay for that with state funds? The link within your link doesn’t say. Did she get it as a gift? The link within your link doesn’t say. Your link does disclose:

    “Ear has a copy of a work order for installation of a tanning bed at the Governor’s Mansion. No, darlings, we didn’t pay for it, the Gov’s office assures Ear. Sarah bought it, used, as a gift for her daughters, they say. We are told electricians had to fiddle with outlets to make sure it runs properly.”

    Maybe, you should wait for some actual facts before linking to something?

    This is clearly a made up scandal, you know having a tanning ben while promoting cancer awareness (emphasis mine).

    Skin cancer is caused, overwhelmingly, by over-exposure to ultraviolet radiation from the sun and from tanning beds

    Over-exposure doesn’t mean no exposure. In fact, with Alaska’s yearly amount and quality of sunlight, a tanning bed would be the thing to have to ward off Vitamin D deficiency.

  51. 51.

    TenguPhule

    than to implement the other possible course of action, which is to send all the big-trick-driving, Confederate-flag-waving, Jesus-hollering assholes to Antarctica.

    Bullets are cheaper. And you can bill their estate afterwards.

  53. 53.

    cain

    than to implement the other possible course of action, which is to send all the big-trick-driving, Confederate-flag-waving, Jesus-hollering assholes to Antarctica. Don’t get me wrong, I’m OK with that course of action as well, it’s just a lot more expensive.

    Anybody who goes around waving the confederate flag is a fucking traitor. Flying the flag of rebellion is definitely traitorous. They say it’s part of their culture, but seem regretful that they lost the civil war. Can’t get over it. Goddam traitors.

    If the south does split off, it’ll turn into a banana republic with uncontrolled capitalism, uncontrolled religion, uncontrolled corruption, and uncontrolled guns. Reading their news would be like reading the Onion. Hell the onion would simply plagiarize what’s going on in fucktardia. haha

    cain

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