- Some people will say that words like scum and rotten are wrong for Objective Journalism — which is true, but they miss the point. It was the built-in blind spots of the Objective rules and dogma that allowed Nixon to slither into the White House in the first place. He looked so good on paper that you could almost vote for him sight unseen. He seemed so all-American, so much like Horatio Alger, that he was able to slip through the cracks of Objective Journalism. You had to get Subjective to see Nixon clearly, and the shock of recognition was often painful.
– Hunter S. Thompson’s eulogy to Tricky Dick Nixon.
But watching Palin’s speech I had no doubt that I was witnessing a historic, iconic performance. The candidate sauntered to the lectern with the assurance of a sleepwalker – And immediately launched into a symphony of snorting and sneering remarks, taking time out in between the superior invective to present herself as just a humble gal with a beefcake husband and a brood of healthy, combat-ready spawn who just happened to be innocent targets of a communist and probably also homosexual media conspiracy. She appeared to be completely without shame and utterly full of shit, awing a room full of hardened reporters with her sickly sweet line about the high-school-flame-turned-hubby who “Five children later” is “Still my guy.” It was like watching Gidget address the Reichstag.
– Matt Taibbi, discussing the most disgraceful VP pick in history.
This is the ninth presidential campaign I’ve covered. I can’t remember a more scurrilous statement by a major party candidate. It smacks of desperation. It renews questions about whether McCain has the right temperament for the presidency. How sad.
– Joe Klein, discussing McCain’s willing and gleeful descent into the gutter.
He has poisoned our water forever. Nixon will be remembered as a classic case of a smart man shitting in his own nest. But he also shit in our nests, and that was the crime that history will burn on his memory like a brand. By disgracing and degrading the Presidency of the United States, by fleeing the White House like a diseased cur, Richard Nixon broke the heart of the American Dream.
–Hunter S. Thompson again.
In the last few days, the McCain campaign has decided to go full on sleaze, and we now have the spectacle of major party candidates routinely, in their stump speeches, questioning the patriotism of the opposition. Not only questioning the patriotism, but insinuating, quite clearly, that Sen. Obama is in league with terrorists. In addition, they have released a commercial and have falsely stated in speeches that Sen. Obama does not support the troops and has accused them of being wanton murderers.
Make no mistake, for those of you in the media who still want to pretend that McCain is not in control of his actions, or does not want to pursue this course. This is their strategy. This is a choice. They made the decision to turn this election into a sleazefest:
“We are looking for a very aggressive last 30 days,” said Greg Strimple, one of McCain’s top advisers. “We are looking forward to turning a page on this financial crisis and getting back to discussing Mr. Obama’s aggressively liberal record and how he will be too risky for Americans.”
And the base is reacting. Whipped into a froth by their venomous cheerleading vice-jingoist in chief, a self-styled pitbull in heels, they are now shouting “treason” and “traitor” and even getting one fellow inspired enough to yell “kill him” in regards to Bill Ayers. She was even unable to stop bashing Joe Biden as he was today attending his mother-in-law’s funeral- she found time to spew out some more of her home-spun bile with a smile as she continued to recite her litany of nonsense and babble.
Meanwhile, we are required to ignore the unsavory connections of John McCain and Sarah Palin. We have to pay no attention to McCain’s relationship with radicals and Nazis and his weighing in on behalf of a man who has admitted to murdering a civil rights leader. We are told the Keating 5 fiasco is old news, and besides, McCain was innocent anyway, despite having professed guilt for two decades (fun fact- McCain’s lawyer is John Dowd, who was also Monica Goodling’s lawyer). Now that is change you can believe in! We must ignore McCain’s decades old relationship with Nixon-era crook G. Gordon Liddy. We must pay no attention to the fact that Sarah Palin is married to a man who willingly belonged to a political party whose leaders openly proclaimed that “My government is my worst enemy. I’m going to fight them with any means at hand.”
Having failed to sell themselves to the American public, McCain and Palin have nothing left to do but fling shit and hope they can turn Obama into Osama bin Laden. And even then, the most recent polls are showing they are failing. With McCain/Palin trailing by almost ten points in multiple polls, and with the markets diving yet another 5% today, the Republican candidates have nothing left to do but to stir up virulent anti-Obama sentiment, question his patriotism, assert he is a liar, and hope for the best. Not the best for the country, mind you. The best for them. This is John McCain’s respectful campaign. This will be his enduring legacy.
And they will fail, but you have to realize what we are in for these few weeks. If this is the rhetoric now, it is going to get worse. As such, a video for you all:
Yes, this is going to get worse, and no one should be surprised.
dmsilev
That clip always reminds me of the classic bit from the Onion’s Our Dumb Century: "Pentagon develops A-bomb-resistant desk".
We’re all going to need fallout shelters, or industrial-grade bullshit filters, over the next few weeks.
-dms
jp2
And with hilarious timing, take it away Cindy ‘Trollop’ McCain :
"[Cindy] McCain, who stopped to visit a half-dozen children at the Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt today, said the presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama has "waged the dirtiest campaign in American history."
http://www.tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20081007/NEWS0206/81007055
boonagain
I posted this on another thread.
What about Palin’s unmitigated gall re: Iran?
Shameless
Comrade Jake
I fully expect an Ayers question from Brokaw tonight. I don’t think he’s going to be able to help himself.
BTW, the vast majority of the public has NO IDEA how much of a scam this town hall is tonight.
DFD
McCain’s shit flinging reminded me of this
Caravelle
I’d seen a few "duck and cover" videos before, but it hadn’t struck me before how futile they seem.
My question is, how are the instructions in the case of a nuclear blast different from those for an earthquake ?
Conservatively Liberal
The so-called librul media on MSNBC has been letting Pat Buchanan rant on and on about everything, real or imagined (mostly imagined), that is negative about Obama. Pat mentioned Wright (‘that wacky preacher’) and Gregory lets him go on without mentioning Palin’s wacky minister. Pat rants on about Ayers and not a single mention of Palin’s AIP ties.
I am just listening to MSNBC (not viewing) and I have heard mostly negative stuff about Obama and what McCain has to do to take him down. When it comes to discussing McCain or Palin problems (other than how do they take Obama down a few notches) today, you can hear a pin drop on MSNBC.
The press is trying to revive the neck-and-neck perception of the race and they are focusing on the narratives that they hope will do it. Having Obama perceived as the leader and eventual winner will not generate the viewership numbers that they are looking for. They want drama, they want fighting and they want it to get as nasty as it can get just so they have something to talk about (other than Obama kicking McCain’s ass).
Over the last few years the MSM has become a sort of entertainment outlet for me, and that is all it is good for. If I want hard news then I go online. If I want to know what GE and the other big corporations want us to talk about, I watch TV ‘news’ so I can understand what the average low-info idiot is being fed.
It sucks, but the print and visual media are so controlled that we will never get the truth about much of anything. They have become virtually worthless and are making themselves more irrelevant every day.
Comrade Dreggas
It’s going to get worse, I agree. Part of me wonders if they can control this once they let it out of the box. What happens post election if/when Obama wins? It’s hard to stop a freight train once it’s rolling down the tracks.
boonagain
I think the Johnny Drama/Bible Spice campaign is proof positive that there is no God.
If there were, Cindy McBeer would be struck dead for her remarks about Obama’s dirty Campaign and Bible Spice would have been turned into a pillar of salt for her Terrorist Hypocrisy.
In regards to Obama’s ‘dirty’ campaigning , the Hillary dead-enders always complained of it, too, but I just never saw it. Did any of you?
Jeff
In a way, I hope he does because I could see Obama knocking Brokaw down a peg or two.
The Populist
I feel ashamed that people who live in this great country are showing up at these "events" and yelling hateful shit. I feel sorry for them and their kids if they truly believe such nonsense.
But then I wake up out of my empathetic mode and realize these people DESERVE the shit storm coming their way if they ignore economics because they are scared of the black man with the funny name.
Prematurely Grey
Expect more than an Ayers question from Brokaw. He’s on a one man jihad to "preserve" the journalistic integrity of the organization he gave his life to. Basically, it’s like watching a ghost of the 20th century haunting this election, trying to settle scores and keep the future from taking his glorious past from him. It’s incredibly selfish and I can’t believe this old man has hijacked the election coverage.
He’s not the only grown up in the room. He’s the other crankpot.
Comrade Dreggas
@Conservatively Liberal:
Yeah but that’s to be expected from David Gregory. He’s one of the biggest jackasses on the planet.
RoonieRoo, dontcha know
Great blast from the past video for me. I spent my elementary school years under my desk, I swear. Granted our "duck and cover" was more frequently practiced because I lived where it wasn’t uncommon to have multiple tornados ringing the city at any one spring evening.
But video aside, these next weeks are going to be a misery I suspect. We will now get to see the worst side of part of our nation and I will worry every day for Obama’s safety.
I’m also not sure I can watch this "debate" tonight. I’m hoping you kind balloonatics will be updating the threads tonight and watching the tranwreck for me.
The Populist
I worry that all this b.s. will spur some good ol’ boy to take matters in his own hands once Obama wins.
Laura W
Wonkette pretty much nails it:
Because of the National Crisis, there are no more frivolous drinking games. Just lots of quiet, angry drinking.
4tehlulz
@The Populist: Uh., why do you think they would wait that long?
Conservatively Liberal
Maybe that is why Gregory does such a great impersonation of Brokaw, he wants to become him…lol! I captured a clip off of MSNBC a few years ago of Gregory doing his Brokaw shtick because I thought it was hilarious. Now I keep it as a reminder of who Gregory admires.
Plus it’s still funny how he pokes fun at Brokaw’s speech and mannerisms.
Martin
In the case of nuclear blast, they omit the disclaimer: "These instructions are purely voluntary. No matter what you are going to die, but at least this gives you something to do while you wait." The earthquake instructions need no such disclaimer.
J. Maynard Gelinas
Regarding the Rolling Stone citation, click through to the article. Then look at that caricature of McCain holding a leash leading to Palin-as-pitbull-with-lipstick. Note McCain’s holding of the lipstick. Now ask yourself: what’s the first thought that enters your head upon viewing that lipstick container in his hand?
Mine?
That he was about to shove it up her doggie-ass. With that little all-knowing smile he wears, that seems to say: "Yeah? You’d want to do it too!"
That’s some pretty harsh artwork. Most appreciated.
Martin
Yeah, that fear is coming back to me as well. It’s one thing when the wingnuts sense that they are outside of what is socially acceptable, something entirely different when they sense that they are inside of it. Palin (far moreso than McCain) now seems intent on moving that line back to oh, around September 15, 1963.
Comrade Jake
I remember during the Dem convention, just before Bill Clinton’s speech, Brokaw said that Bill had to be careful about criticizing McCain because the latter is a "war hero".
I’m serious. That’s pretty much what he said. This is the asshat choosing the questions tonight. All of them. Even the ones coming from audience members.
harlana pepper
Strangely, the "Duck and Cover" ad makes me want to cry because it’s like the ultimate betrayal since it is aimed at kids. It conjures up images of 1950’s children being told that you could actually survive a nuclear attack by hiding under a desk. It conjures up memories of a time when we actually were in danger of being attacked on a massive, horrific scale. And from there, we had come so far, until now. John connected the dots. But apparently, history is just for fools until it’s too fucking late.
Krista
Ah yes, good old duck ‘n’ cover. I tell kids about that now (as part of my job, I give presentations to kids about nuclear disarmament), and they don’t believe me until I show them the clip.
It’s also amazing when you look at some of the footage of the nuclear test sites. We just saw a documentary about Joseph Rotblat this weekend, and it had footage of these tests — the observers would just stand there (wearing sunglasses) and would watch the tests, and would then get brushed off afterwards with corn brooms, to "clean off any radioactive material." Everybody in the audience was just shaking their heads and laughing.
Stuck in the Fun House
Well, they have at least one wingnut pundit on board for this tactic. Pat Buchanan is sounding like a angry white man tonight, over and over claiming Mccain should continue to hammer Obama as a liar about Ayers, and liar in general. I think it’s beginning to dawn on him that Obama is likely to win, and all the polite PC is breaking down to some core beliefs. He’s won’t be the only one as election day draws near.
sistermoon
It’s those Vicodin delusions again…
Then again, if I were married to John McCain, I’d be in a constant drug-induced stupor, too.
aarrgghh
i think moose gal is headed off to historical footnote territory with geraldine ferraro. i made her a little tribute video as a going away gift. i’ll miss the word salad poetry.
Laura W
I’ve worried about this every day since Feb of 2007. Like all of us.
Every time I watch him work a rope line, or casually saunter around a group of people, I watch the Secret Service around him. And I thank them, and just want to hug them till they swear at me to let go.
Who wants to think about this shit? But how can you not?
The courage that he, and Michelle, have to muster up every single day just to feel "safe" in their own country is beyond comprehension.
Speaking of the next First Lady, tomorrow on Larry King.
Ugh. King.
jcricket
I was reading the great orange satan and saw the polls showing "huge shifts" towards Obama. I would love a 400 to 150 electoral blow-out, or even 350 to 200. Would shut up (not really) the Republicans who look at maps that show a lot of red (mostly covering empty areas) and say "see, the country is conservative).
But what’s still depressing is that McCain will end up with 40% of the vote, no matter what. Short of him having an affair with Palin and it being caught on tape and Todd being involved, 40% of the people in this country who vote think McCain and Palin are a reasonable choice.
To me it would be like 40% of the people in France voting for Le Pen (sp) – instead of the 19% he actually got.
This country is fucking insane.
Comrade Jake
We are not the quickest on the uptake, Americans. A full quarter+ still think Bush is doing a good job, for Chrissakes.
ThymeZone
Yes, it will get worse. But it won’t work.
Keep your eye on the ball, don’t get shoved off track by these disgusting tactics
CIRCVS MAXIMVS MMVIII
Video not posting for me, not sure why, hmmmm!
I get the feeling that we have to endure this for a lot longer than a few more weeks. I think we’re headed for a civil war (and God forbid, possibly another assassination).
I wouldn’t put it past these ugly, treacherous jerks.
Kamishna ya Watu Xenos
Shorter Palin by late October:
"Will no one relieve me of this troublesome Senator?"
Comrade Peter J
@harlana pepper:
Actually, all you need to do to survive is to hide inside a lead-insulated fridge. Problem is, you really can’t or should teach kids to hide in fridges.
And they say blockbuster movies will never teach you anything…
Geeno
Fixed that for you
CIRCVS MAXIMVS MMVIII
Jake,
My father died in 1986 believing Nixon was an innocent man who got railroaded. Some people NEVER figure it out.
rasta
Some one on the intertubes said it best.
Taking off the gloves and putting on the hoods.
Stevenovitch
All of the smart money is invested in alcohol, revolvers, and high pressure water brooms.
colleeniem
Cross posted at TNC, because I’m lazy, but love you ballooners for your snark and sometimes tangible animosity.
Here’s what I want in a leader, because that is what we’re choosing–one who, upon hearing a supporter call his an opponent a terrorist out loud, has the balls and honor to disavow that person in no uncertain terms. Because that leader is only condoning the behavior by ignoring it. Full stop.
Maybe we can make that a bright line of presidential politics.
It really shouldn’t be too damn difficult.
Just Some Fuckhead
Matt Taibbi would be about perfect if he didn’t have that too-cool-for-school attitude and those chiclet teeth. Sorry Martin.
Laura W
You know, I’ve had MSNBC on for about 4 (5, 6?) hours now, and I’ve heard "Ayers" 987,765 times. I think I’ve heard Keating twice.
WTF??????
Jeff
Gun sales are booming.
Mnemosyne
Don’t forget about McCain’s good friend and campaign donor, convicted felon G. Gordon "Killing ATF Agents Is Your Patriotic Duty" Liddy.
Zuzu Hussein's Petals
Ah yes, Joe Klein expressing shock over McCain’s "scurrilous" statement that Obama would rather lose a war than lose a campaign.
It’s hard to believe that was only last July. It just seems so long ago in its innocence.
Comrade Scrutinizer
@Laura W:
C’mon, Laura, you know WTF. This race is over unless the tradmed can make it seem close. So they carry water for whoever’s behind. You saw it for Hilary, too.
Michael D.
Absolutely 100% off topic here, but I am trying to order a pair of running shoes online. What is the difference between:
11 M US
11 D
11 EEEE
when it comes to sizes? These are shoes that I already own and know are great, but they are about $20 cheaper on Amazon.
My other shoes just say 11 inside the tongue.
Kamishna ya Watu Xenos
That has got to be the funniest Michael D. satire yet. We have our own Tina Fey here.
Well played!
Jeff
@Michael D.: You are probably an M. They are just widths.
M – Normal
D – Wide
EEEE – Super Wide
Laura W
@Comrade Scrutinizer
Well yeah, but TWEETY too? I mean, I thought he loved us! Lately. Also.
@Michael D:
That is the best O/T I’ve seen in a very long time.
Bravo!
CT
If this election weren’t so important, it’d almost be funny how some in the media, under the guise of discussing how McCain has to throw trivial shit at the wall in order to change the subject from how he has no answers to how to address the real problems, immediately get to work sifting for corn chunks.
But it is, and its not.
ThymeZone
Michael D, have heard of Google? You can look things up and get answers. That frees the blog for things like useful conversation about stuff like politics, and cats, and the sexual perversions of … well, people like us.
Oh wait, it’s spoof Michael? Okay, then the D is for Deformed.
Michael D.
I’m glad I could amuse. I’ll go with the D.
John Cole
@ThymeZone: You forgot multiple entire posts for me to demonstrate my technological ignorance.
Comrade Scrutinizer
Wow. MSNBC has an "Audience Perception Meter." What an innovation!
CIRCVS MAXIMVS MMVIII
I see the video now, sorry for the scare. Not sure why I didn’t before. Must be a Vista thing.
Montysano (All Hail Marx & Lennon)
John, thanks for a taste of our dear departed Hunter Thompson. Even though his best days were long behind him, I’m still sad that he’s gone. Bush’s reelection in 2004 sent him over the edge.
But you gotta think that, in an election replete with moose and witchhunters and all, he could have had some real fun writing about it all.
Michael D.
@ThymeZone: I just thought you would know better. And I got an answer – right here on Balloogle Juice.
Laura W
OH NOSE!
MSNBC stolez CNN’s debate dial o’meter for PA undecided voters.
I can’t stop throwing up in my mouth a little today.
Is that going to get worse, too, over coming weeks?
Will I be, like, camping in my bathroom by Nov. 4?
CIRCVS MAXIMVS MMVIII
But I didn’t, John. I did a Google task for you earlier. ;)
Laura W
Everyone turn KO on now!
Comrade Scrutinizer
@Laura W:
Well, when I get back to Asheville this weekend, I’m going to vote, and then I’m going to duck and cover until the election is over.
Conservatively Liberal
It sounds like KO has a table of red meat laid out tonight. This ought to be good.
Just Some Fuckhead
I thought you were just trying to see how many random internet commenters you could make into yer personal monkey.
The Grand Panjandrum
Governor Palin has a terrorist problem of her own:
I look forward to Governor Palin explaining why she’s in bed with terrorists and her husband was literally an anti-American secessionist. Imagine the filthy fuckers on the Right if Michelle Obama had been a member of the Black Panthers.
Jesus! Why don’t they just call him Sambo?
John Cole
@Just Some Fuckhead: Matt Taibbi is the best we have this election.
If it were not for Taibbi, Eugene Robinson, and, surprisingly, Joe Klein, I would have given up all hope.
CIRCVS MAXIMVS MMVIII
Curious question:
With the polls coming in with double digit leads, is it possible for the media to turn this around by ignoring the damning evidence against the McPalin campaign?
cain
It’s called "Dear Lazyweb.." :-)
Is there a Larry Craig "wide stance" size?
cain
gbear
@jcricket:
I don’t really think that’s the case. It’s more that 40% of the people can’t vote for Obama. From what I’ve been hearing, a lot of them can’t vote for McCain now either. I think that a good chunk of that 40% is just going to stay home and get drunk on election day.
I think this link pretty well describes the condition that McCain/Palin is in right now.
Michael D.
So, the “debate” rules are:
1. Everyone in the audience has a question (or at least most)
2. They can go to the microphone and ask the question.
3. They don’t get to follow up if the candidate doesn’t answer the question or if they need clarification.
4. The camera cannot show the expression on the face of anyone in the audience as the candidate is answering.
5. The candidates have a limited area in which they can move around the stage. I.e., they cannot connect with the voters by going up to them and talking directly to them.
Are the candidates, Obama included, such pussies that they need to put these kind of dumbass restrictions in place? There had to be negotiations between the campaigns to decide how voters can talk to the candidates????
Disgraceful.
In addition, Brokaw gets to choose the questions that will be answered. In other words, out of the dozens of people there, there will be questions that Brokaw would have wanted to ask himself. In OTHER words, this is not a town hall. It amazes me that the media is taking this farce seriously. It really does.
Finally, who are undecided voters anyway? They are low-information voters. They don’t listen to the news or read papers. If people don’t have enough information by now to make a decision. they are quite stupid, in my opinion.
CIRCVS MAXIMVS MMVIII
Sadly, I can’t. Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!
Napoleon
Well I just can not watch tonight. It will drive my blood pressure through the roof.
My dad was in one of the first waves of occupying troops into Japan a few months after WWII and on one of his days off he was going to be permitted to take a jeep and drive to Hiroshima to check it out. The jeep ended up being broke that day and he never went. He told me later "I guess I was lucky".
harlana pepper
BTW, I have no problem with Olbermann ladeling it on and being a blowhard. For the last 7 years, I have waited and waited for dispassionate, reasonable newsfolk to be ‘balanced’ and at least dispassionately report the occasional fact vs. administration propaganda (see lead-up to Iraq war) and I’ll I got was "Fox News" channel on every TV in every restaurant and office lobby. That includes office elevator TV’s set to Fox with no channel changer, so you have to watch it just to get from floor to floor.
I’m good and damned ready for someone to bloviate on my behalf. I’m not so picky anymore.
ThymeZone
Yes, I like those. It’s job security for people like me, and in this day and age, job security is a great thing. Those mysterious configuration points that software "engineers" like to hide from you are things that put the IAMS into my 23 lb cat.
The cat says "meow" which I take to mean, "Hey ..are we running out of IAMS?"
SamFromUtah
@cain: Is there a Larry Craig "wide stance" size?
Look under tap shoes.
Clor
So the Trainwreck Express is coming to my hometown on Thursday (Waukesha, WI). I was thinking of strolling over to see the media circus but now, with the crowd’s mood getting uglier by the day, I wonder if it’s a not a good idea. Seeing as I don’t look like a typical McCain/Palin supporter.
CIRCVS MAXIMVS MMVIII
Yes, it’s EEEEeeeeeyyyyyaaahhhhhhhhhhh!
Just Some Fuckhead
Yeah, maybe. I like Robinson but he spends too much time agreeing with bullshit in an effort to be congenial and look reasonable rather than, for example, telling Chris Matthews to suck his big black cock when he says something stupid.
And Joe Klein can suck my big black cock. He’s got about 12 more years of debasement coming before any kudos get awarded.
CIRCVS MAXIMVS MMVIII
In other words, it’s a farce.
John O
Thanks, John.
I’ve been thinking about what my old hero HST would be saying and writing right about now when it comes to this campaign, I suppose mostly because "Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail" ’72 remains perhaps the one single book that got me interested in the details and dirt of politics. HST’s analysis of Nixon remains the most cogent real-time accurate accounting of a politician’s character, ever.
Though I’m sure some hoping someone’s writing about McCain now will give HST a run.
May he RIP, even though I’m sure he would resent the sentiment.
Laura W
Asheville? Well gosh darnit, howdy neighbor!
You betcha!!
; also ; also ; also ; also
Hugs!
gbear
I’m looking at this last month of the campaign the same way I look at February in MN waiting for the first 40 degree days to show up in March. You know winter is going to be over soon so you just have to ride it out.
I mean, it’s not like I have to pay attention to the campaign because I’m undecided about my vote…
ThymeZone
CM, you can watch the highlights later on the MSNBC website.
Most of his best material shows up there. I know it’s not as good as the real thing, but it will keep you KO’d enough to survive :)
ThymeZone
Teaser!
Just Some Fuckhead
I posted a link to a shot of my crotch in another thread, thinking of you when I did it. :)
Laura W
Man. I am sitting here and sitting here trying to think of something witty and non-self-revealing to say but…alas…
I think I’ll go mix another Ketel One and Perrier.
Sometimes a girl knows when to just shut up and let the images speak for themselves.
What is with these
cockblock quotes?Why do you have to cram it all up together anyway?
Um…
Conservatively Liberal
The media has to pretend that they are relevant and their job is to convince people that they are. Controlling the questions is one way for them to control the narrative. The questions that are selected by Brokaw are things he wants asked. I would not be surprised to find out that if a question that Brokaw wants asked is not in the questions posed by the public then he would just add it.
The way this should have been handled is to allow each campaign select one-third of the questions to be asked and provide them the list to select from then let the press select one-third for themselves to ask (in the faint hope that they would actually ask something that is relevant).
While listening to the farce debate/townhall, I should have Styx’s The Grand Illusion playing in the background.
harlana pepper
Yay for Asheville, Hippie Town! (I mean that in the kindest way possible) :)
From the Heart of SC Repube-land.
DonkeyKong
When Rachel Maddow talk’s about her "civil" relationship with Pat Buchanan, I want to tell her, honey, he’s one of the infected.
ThymeZone
That was your crotch? I thought it was a caterpillar crawling between two laundry bags.
Comrade Jake
You mean you have all your teeth?
Punchy
Brokaw’s in teh tank for McCant tonite.
Remember that.
Krista
This thread is proving to be extremely delightful, isn’t it?
Michael D.
@CIRCVS MAXIMVS MMVIII: You’re not kidding. It’s basically going to be a contest about who can look best for the camera.
It really is an embarrassment that the candidates think so little of the electorate. And I mean Obama too, as I am sure he was partof these “rules.”
I don’t know where I read it, but our political class is not even “second-best,” and we’re no better for demanding so little from them.
gbear
The Jed Report tends to get stuff up pretty quickly too. I just went there to see if it might be up. Not posted yet but I found this instead. McCain Running From The Issues. Kinda cute.
Zuzu Hussein's Petals
@Clor:
I was just thinking how much I would LOVE to stand outside each and every Pit Bull Palin rally with a sign that says "SHAME" in big red letters, just like I did in DC on 1/21/01.
Or else a picture of a bar of soap with a warning that folks will need to scrub off after that "speech."
Oh, how I wish I could be there.
CIRCVS MAXIMVS MMVIII
Wow, that gives Miss America a whole new meaning.
Conservatively Liberal
That is f’ing funny! Ouch.
Laura W
Word, Sister Friend!
(please let me know when John starts a new one so I can run to wherever the party moves next.)
Laura W
You are going to be somewhere WAY Betta!
OH-HI-OH.
Will you send postcards?
Krista
There will have to be lots of notice given so that everybody can drag their respective big black cock over to the next thread.
CIRCVS MAXIMVS MMVIII
The ending lines to Suite Madame Blue are still our best hope though:
gbear
I bought a baseball cap a long time ago for the Asheville Tourists. Their logo is a bear in a hawaian shirt and sunglasses toting a camera, a suitcase and a baseball bat. That team still around? We’ve got The Saints up here. Their games are fun but their logo isn’t nearly so cool.
CIRCVS MAXIMVS MMVIII
I guess I’m not invited.
kilo
PG-13’d, you betcha! Also.
Michael Demmons
You people are so devolving.
Punchy
Am I the only one with a white rooster?
CIRCVS MAXIMVS MMVIII
Oh, big block quotes? Well, I got those, does this mean I am invited?
The Bag of Health and Politics
The upside of this is that I don’t see how the Republican Party will recover if it loses. There will be lots of internal battles, and each side is likely to break off. The Democrats will be sitting with a new majority coalition. I can see the Republicans becoming the hard-right party and the Libertarians becoming Center-right.
I also don’t see how whipping up a frenzy and targeting Obama in this way helps McCain. In the primaries, there was definitely a trend to vote in sympathy with the center of a media storm. I don’t see how getting this personal works. Plus, it probably irritates a lot of moderates. Since the crap started, we have seen lots of polls. They’ve all been very, very good for Obama. I think this is the kind of "strategy" which could lead to losing some states McCain should win–GA, MS, SC–just because people won’t want to be affiliated with the kind of bullshit being spewed now. They’ll either stay home or vote third party. Either way, McCain’s share goes down while Obama’s remains stagnant. Either way, Obama wins. I think this is idiotic strategy.
CIRCVS MAXIMVS MMVIII
Dammit! I don’t even have a rooster, let alone a black one!
Laura W
I knew I’d like you from the very first night I hung out over here and all the dudes were promising that you’d flash your ta tas. Or tee tees. Or couchi couchis, or some other word someone threw out and then all the dudes had to correct each other as to the correct slang for boobs. You had to be there, really. (But you were not, lucky for you.)
Totally off cock topic but I hated Debbie W-Schultz when she was rabid in the tank for Hill. But god bless her…she’s been all over MSNBC all day today, from the debate site, as an Obama surrogate.
She’s adorable! And a fucking awesome surrogate.
OOOOOOOO…Gore is there too.
Ooooooooooo…….
Comrade Jake
Count me among those who are happy the embedded images don’t work any longer.
Soylent Green
It’s well known that the New York Stock Exchange has a liberal bias.
cain
I’m about to see a erect dick when the debate starts. I’m not sure I want to go back and see another. One dick at a time, please.
cain
Krista
Yeah, I missed that thread. John was wasted and said I’d flash my hoo-has at him, at which point many people pointed out that a hoo-ha is more commonly used to refer to the lower lady bits, and that if there were multiple hoo-has, then indeed it would be something to see.
I don’t remember where the hell I was during this conversation.
cain
In front of a computer?
cain
Laura W
Elsewhere, blessedly.
OMIGOD.
Finemann just said "Sarah Palin is not afraid to touch it."
This is getting really dirty.
Punchy
Not so sure…..
Just Some Fuckhead
Christ, I had clothes on. Don’t let Teez distract ya with lurid imagery designed to enflame the loins.
Laura W
Thread moved.
Nowhere near as fun as this one, though.
Conservatively Liberal
I heard a rumor that McCain was starting to slouch when he is standing so they dosed him with v i a g r a tonight so he will stand tall and proud for a few hours.
cain
Laura W. – new thread.
I did my duty – cain
Dork
New thready, Laura Dub! FYI
Just Some Fuckhead
Desperately, red-faced trying to hide your supernumerary hooha?
cain
Viva Viagra?
cain
Just Some Fuckhead
Wow. Great handshake by McCain. I’m going to go ahead and call it over with McCain as the winner.
jcricket
Wow – just flipped by CNNHD and somehow it’s turned into CNBC with the amount of data on the screen!
Zuzu Hussein's Petals
Twue, twue.
Oh you betcha!
Chuck Butcher
Regarding the video, that is my childhood right there. As I stuffed my eight year old ass under the desk and looked at the bank of six foot tall windows in the wall next to me I thought, "That can’t be good."
I did the drills without complaint and never questioned the adults out loud, but that may have been the beginning of my leftist leanings…
Comrade Tax Analyst
Chuck, I remember those stupid fucking drills, too. I sort of recall something about jumping into a lake being touted as a "survival action" or some such bullshit. I remember that even at that young age it didn’t take long for most of the boys in the class to cleverly add an additional step to all those "survival techniques"…"then put your head between your legs and kiss your ass ‘good-bye’…"
Dave(patriot,christ follower)
I googled G Gordon Liddy to gain some insight because David Letterman refered to him while interviewing McCain… I ended up here…WOW I always here liberals preaching tolerance, some of you have valid arguments, most of you just sound like your way of thinking is the only way and all others are "stupid". Smug I guess is what it is in your glass house where you havn’t had to worry about terrorists for 7 years, hoping your next president wasn’t aborted 43 years ago and that if someone breaks into your house you won’t have a gun to protect your family. I have heard a lot of crap from both sides of the isle in my 43 years, but those of you who have no respect for your fellow Americans are a pitifull example of what has happened to our country in the last few decades. I disagree with most of you on your political views, but to resort to swearing, name calling, personal attacks, I guess they just don’t teach that anymore. I wonder what it will be like in 20 years?