Fail:
There is your open thread.
SNL on Thursday, btw.
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Come for the politics, stay for the snark.
My right to basic bodily autonomy is not on the table. that’s the new deal.
They want us to be overwhelmed and exhausted. Focus. Resist. Oppose.
Come on, man.
An almost top 10,000 blog!
These are not very smart people, and things got out of hand.
Not all heroes wear capes.
I really should read my own blog.
Balloon Juice, where there is always someone who will say you’re doing it wrong.
Let me eat cake. The rest of you could stand to lose some weight, frankly.
Republicans are the party of chaos and catastrophe.
Lick the third rail, it tastes like chocolate!
Never give a known liar the benefit of the doubt.
This fight is for everything.
We need to vote them all out and restore sane Democratic government.
American history and black history cannot be separated.
The lights are all blinking red.
When they say they are pro-life, they do not mean yours.
The republican caucus is covering themselves with something, and it is not glory.
Black Jesus loves a paper trail.
If rights aren’t universal, they are privilege, not rights.
Shallow, uninformed, and lacking identity
Rupert, come get your orange boy, you petrified old dinosaur turd.
Everything is totally normal and fine!!!
Do we throw up our hands or do we roll up our sleeves? (hint, door #2)
Comrade Incertus
Well, since you offered…
American Airlines is blocking porn on their flights. I hope at least that people were taking their laptops to the toilet.
Comrade Incertus
Well, since you offered…
American Airlines is blocking porn on their in-air internet service. I hope at least that people were taking their laptops to the toilet.
smiley
That looks so much like my late, great cat that It brought tears to my eyes. Having to put him down after 16 years was awful.
Jesse Ewiak
Hey.
There was a great article a few days ago about McCain’s friendship to a 60’s radical who then became a Clinton adviser and due to their shared view on Israel I think, they became buddies. Unfortunately, I forgot to bookmark. Anybody have a link?
Brian J
We have a black Cocker Spaniel named Shadow, who is obese and possibly schizophrenic. She drives me crazy, but I love her. Meanwhile, our next door neighbors have a cat that looks exactly like the one above, also named Shadow, and she is sort of like the neighborhood watch for a few houses on the street. I constantly see her running around. She’ll lay around on my front lawn, but when I come home late at night, she’ll dart away. Still, I really like having her around. I feel…calm because of it. Is that weird?
Comrade Jake
Another couple posts like this one Cole and the right-wing trolls will really come out of the woodwork.
JWF
John Cole is a dickless wonder.
Comrade Incertus
Hmm. I’ve tried to whore myself out in this thread twice already and it hasn’t worked. Something wonky with the comments?
Guess not. Well, don’t get excited about airline porn.
Comrade Jake
That JWF site can’t be real. It has to be a spoof. Nobody’s that wacked.
SGEW
I know exactly what you mean. A friend of mine insists that cats are aware of ghosts, spirits, and vengeful wraiths, so if there’s a cat around you know you’re safe. I, of course, think this is all a bunch of pudding-headed hooey, but still . . . there’s something to it.
SGEW
Poe’s law. Also, have you seen NoQuarter recently?
Mr. Puddles
Right on cue…
Comrade Jake
Obama was on Smerconish’s show today, and discussed Ayers at length.
Of course, nothing will satisfy the wingnuts. This has got to be the biggest non-story trumped up by the fucktards, evah.
Laura W
Ah, there’s my Annie Bananie showing off her packing materials fetish.
She’s such a trip. Came to me as a rescued "foster" in Aug of 2007 when I was wanting a long-haired, white, fat, boy cat to replace my beloved Tubbo Walter who had died very suddenly in May. Never in my life would I choose a black cat, and I’ve had a lot of cats. She was maybe a year old, had already had a litter, was an outside stray (I assume) being fed by a woman in a trailer park who died, weighed 5.5lbs, and was all personality. You can not believe the eye-paw coordination on this girl. Natural athlete. Of course, the "foster" notion quickly proved to be delusional, and she joined the fam. She weighs 12+ pounds now and has never met a camera she does not like.
Thanks for giving her 15 minutes of fame, John.
kommrade jakevich
Oh mah Gawd! It’s one a them thar Black Panthers. Save me Senator McPOW!
Perry Como
@Comrade Jake: No, those people actually exist. You can usually tell who they are by the smell of cheetos and vaseline.
Zuzu's Petals
@Brian J:
One thing I like about walking around my neighborhood at night is the way the cats start to come out, one by one.
You wouldn’t notice if you weren’t looking, but there they are, silent as can be, pussyfooting their way through the dark as if on their way to the secret kittycat meeting.
Comrade Kevin
@Mr. Puddles:
I made the mistake of clicking on the link to his blog. He actually calls John Cole a "keyboard commando".
!http://icanhascheezburger.files.wordpress.com/2007/11/funny-pictures-bird-cat-cage.jpg!
Comrade Incertus
I think the birth certificate is a bigger non-story, personally, but I guess that didn’t get the traction this one did.
SGEW
So, a topic I’ve had on my mind for a little while now, re: William Ayers and the Weather Underground.
Basic disclosure: I am a non-violent political protester. I believe that property damage can be construed as violent, and have therefore pledged to eschew and condemn any potentially physicaly destructive activism. Additionally, the use of explosives as a method of property damage and messaging is criminally negligent, and is both ethically repugnant and counter-productive.
However, I put forth this assertion: William Ayers is not, and has never been, a "terrorist."
Even in the proliferation of definions of "terrorism" that have exploded after 9/11, virtually all of them require an act "intended to cause death or serious bodily harm to civilians or non-combatants." Neither Ayers nor any other member of the Weather Undergrond ever intended, even peripherally, to cause death or serious bodily harm to anyone.
I will not excuse the extraordinarily negligent nature of using such dangerous methods*, but it must be pointed out that no one was ever physically harmed by the Weather Underground except for three members who accidentally died while making a bomb**. This speaks to a tremendous amount of luck, perhaps, but it also speaks to their commitment and care in never hurting anyone (the Weather Underground did set off dozens of bombs, after all).
And, finally, after seeing the excellent documentary about the Weather Underground, and thinking about the times those people lived through (I was born in the seventies, after the Vietnam war), I cannot with all honesty say that I definitely would not have acted similarly to them. If my government was busy carpet bombing and murdering millions (millions!) of innocent people, I would have gone rather insane as well***.
*Explosives are not toys, kids.
**Id.
***Yes, yes, Iraq and Afghanistan and Somalia and Palestine are bad. But not Vietnam/Cambodia/Laos bad. Seriously.
Perry Como
If anyone wants to watch a systematic meltdown, go watch the Asian markets. I’m sure the rightwing pearl clutchers will still want to talk about Ayers tomorrow.
Brian J
Of course it’s a non-story. The Republicans know if the elections are decided about the issues, this year in particular, they are going to lose, rather badly.
You know, a lot of people said they thought Obama was going to win, but they didn’t think he was going to win by the eight or so points predicted by Emory political scientist Alan Abramowitz. I don’t know how his equation is constructed, but I do wonder how the events of the last few weeks have affected it, if at all. Lord knows it can’t be good for McCain, but could it get much worse than what Abramowitz had predicted?
Dennis - SGMM
What, did you want them to run on the issues, or on their accomplishments? How about the Republican record of the past eight years? Before this is over they’ll have "proof" that Obama spray painted bullseyes on the WTC.
Comrade Jake
I wish you were right Perry. Unfortunately, the morning shows have been covering it, even as the markets collapse around them. One of the McCain schills was on NBC this morning (Nicole Wallace?) saying how they really don’t want to talk about Ayers, they really want to talk about the economy, but they really have to talk about Ayers first.
Fuckers.
Common Sense
Ahh the sound of a million wingnuts’ heads exploding:
I predict:
1000 verses of "Why do they need an Obama infomercial? They get that every night!"
500 verses of "How can he waste money on big ad buys when the average American is losing their retirement?" It will not occur to them that those retirees purchased the ads by donating to Obama rather than the approved McCain strategy of spending our tax money on accusations of terrorism.
The McCain campaign will brilliantly respond with a 30 minute ad buy on the Outdoor Network at 3AM.
The same networks will dutifully replay it on the nightly news, followed by a 10 second clip from a bobblehead deploring both sides’ negativity.
Obama will win by 10.
Comrade Nikolita
@Jesse Ewiak:
I don’t have a link, sorry.
However, Keith Olbermann did a really good clip last night or the night before on some of Palin’s connections/associations/her husband’s associations, and he called some of them terrorists.
@SGEW: I’ve heard of that too.
Conservatively Liberal
I will never again say that someone ‘could never believe that’. I learned long ago that there is no bottom for a human being gone bad. People will go as low as they need to so they get what they want. People take pride in the intelligence that humans have, they point at what we have created as proof of that. The sky is the limit when humans want to get something good done.
As with many other things in life, the exact reverse is also true. We have the same capacity for great evil and there are plenty of people out there who live and love that life. They love what they hate, it gives them something that ‘love’ doesn’t. Some of these people gravitate towards each other because they all love themselves and hate everyone else, so they work together to get what they want. If one of them is cut and bleeds, the others, being the opportunistic creatures they are, turn on them. They feed on this crap, some willingly, some gleefully and some unknowingly by their support of these people. Some of the unknowing are waking up and realizing what they have been supporting. The Republicans have been distilling themselves down to a congealed mess at the bottom of the barrel and they are almost done.
On another topic, I went out to work today as usual only to come home and find out that the money I earned is worth less than it was this morning. The Republicans are making a huge mistake if they think that racism and hate will deliver the election to McPalin, especially in the times we are in now.
People are looking at their wealth (what little the general public has left to look at) evaporate, and while they are looking for somewhere to place the blame for this mess they are also looking for someone with the leadership skills necessary to get us out of it. Some of the prominent media conservatives are looking at this financial disaster and evaluating the candidates approaches to a win this fall and it is becoming clear to them that their guy McCain is coming up short.
Some of them are even speaking out about it, decrying the path that the McCain campaign has taken. People who regularly read these conservatives may not listen to them at first, but as the financial crisis deepens and they find themselves poorer and poorer you can bet the are going to start paying attention.
If McCain and the wingnuts keep on this path, barring some calamity, this election is over and the Republicans have lost. Good. I hope they will spend many many years wandering around in the wilderness. Even better, I hope they eventually get lost and never return. Small hope though as the lizard brains may still help them find some way home.
Ted
Um, what does this mean?
Brian J
I’d also say that if he speaks as if he’s the president addressing the nation, he’ll be compared to whatever dictator is on the minds of the wingnuts at the moment.
I’d bet decent money that if Obama’s thirty minute block of time is used for something substantive, it will work well for him, not just for his own appearance, but because when contrasted with the inevitable temper-tantrum-like reaction from McCain, the media will take notice. Obama will look serious and presidential; McCain will look like a chump. Even if McCain attempts to try something similar, which I doubt he will, as he doesn’t have the money and doesn’t have the ideas, he will look like he’s following Obama.
Comrade Jake
From a comment over at Politico:
Awesome.
Comrade Jake
The McCain campaign just released a report clearing Palin of any wrongdoing in Troopergate. That’s kinda mavericky. Also. Reagan.
Bey
Don’t worry, it will be. I’ve stopped secondguessing this campaign and Obama’s judgement.
While I would find it perfectly in keeping for McCain/Palin to waste our time with 30 minutes of self-congratulating, I fully expect substance from the campaign that has been all about substance from the start.
slackjawed gawker
Snark in the headline? Even the AP is turning against McFailin.
Brian J
I guess I should have been a little clearer. Like you, I don’t doubt that it will be substantive. But will he throw any sort of jabs at McCain and the Republicans? Or will it be mostly soft taps, with phrases like "my opponents" and "the opposition"? In other words, will it be a mix of substance and politics, or will it be largely free of politics? I ask because I think if he keeps the politics to a minimum, it might connect with voters more and look better in the media.
JL
Since this is an open thread, I have a question for John. When Obama wins on the 4th, will you please change your title to read,
?
Josh Huaco
ALLAHU BARACKBAR BITCHES!!!!!
Much better.
John Cole
@Ted: There was an SNL special on tonight on NBC.
@slackjawed gawker: I don;t want them turning one way or another. How hard is it to just be a neutral source of news. Jeebus.
A Squirrel
@slackjawed gawker: I had to double-take to make sure it wasn’t a spoof site. It was funny.
John is right, though. If they swing to far, they’ll probably swing back (in addition to it being questionable journalism).
Still, the headline is accurate, if a bit snarky for "serious" media standards.
Comrade Jake
They caricatured McCain pretty well on SNL tonight. Obama? I think it’s much more difficult. All in all, though, I thought it was pretty average.
Ted
Damn, didn’t know about it. Any good? Tina Fey do her thing again?
Beej
Jesse Ewiak,
What you’re looking for is at Huffington Post for October 5 or 6, I think. Don’t have the link, but you should be able to locate it.
Jesse Ewiak
Beej,
Bingo. Thanks. I knew it was somewhere, but I completely lost where it was in my head. Too. Many. Blogs. :-)
Brachiator
@Conservatively Liberal:
Excellent take on an unfortunate truth.
This also brings to mind my impression that McCain’s ambition to become president has become so desperate that he is willing to flirt with and provoke the most base and vile impulses in some of his supporters. And having surrendered any pretense of honor, he is starting to remind me of Derek Jacobi in "I, Claudius," finally giving in to the venal corruption that surrounds him, saying with resignatioin: "Let all the poisons that lurk in the mud hatch out! … "
harlana pepper
I’d call that a success, actually. Kitty got on bag, has carboard necklace and looks quite satisfied with herself.
harlana pepper
Brachiator: that line has been playing through my head for some time; in the context, however, of desperation over the massive corruption and infinite lack of accountability of the Bush administration. At some point, I said that to myself. It has to get much, MUCH worse before it gets better for the people to see the immense damage wreaked by these individuals. It has and the people have finally seen the light, because it affects them personally. It is unfortunate, but apparently, it is the American way.
ET
Laura W – thought that was my cat for a second but mine is not a camera fan…..
Maggy & Zoey & Ann
Annie Geegaw: Number One Politicat
She’s got our vote!