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by John Cole| 73 Comments
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Come for the politics, stay for the snark.
I’m pretty sure there’s only one Jack Smith.
Donald Trump, welcome to your everything, everywhere, all at once.
We’re not going back!
In after Baud. Damn.
with the Kraken taking a plea, the Cheese stands alone.
Trump’s legal defense is going to be a dumpster fire inside a clown car on a derailing train.
Oh FFS you might as well trust a 6-year-old with a flamethrower.
You cannot shame the shameless.
It looks like winning debates is a black job!
Never give a known liar the benefit of the doubt.
It is possible to do the right thing without the promise of a cookie.
ha ha ha! Nice try weird people.
Baby steps, because the Republican Party is full of angry babies.
The poor and middle-class pay taxes, the rich pay accountants, the wealthy pay politicians.
T R E 4 5 O N
Everyone is in a bubble, but some bubbles model reality far better than others!
You don’t get rid of your umbrella while it’s still raining.
Red lights blinking on democracy’s dashboard
Speaking of republicans, is there a way for a political party to declare intellectual bankruptcy?
Meanwhile over at truth Social, the former president is busy confessing to crimes.
I’ve spoken to my cat about this, but it doesn’t seem to do any good.
White supremacy is terrorism.
I desperately hope that, yet again, I am wrong.
If you are in line to indict donald trump, stay in line.
bago
So what happened to that Tucker Thread?
Rick Taylor
Already posted this, but I’m taking advantage of the open thread.
Via Washington Monthly, Rachel Madow gave a great sum up of the situation with Joe Lieberman, and asked the perfect question of Evan Bayh: "You have been outspoken of Senator Lieberman keeping his role as chair of Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. Why do you think he’s the best Democrat for that job at this point?" Evan Bayh didn’t answer that question, but made it clear it’s all about buying Lieberman off so he doesn’t bolt the caucus or feel embittered. It was painful to watch; the distilled essence of a spineless Democrat. Ugh. He didn’t even try to argue that Lieberman would be a strong or able candidate for the position it was pure politics. If I wanted people appointed to positions of power based purely on politics, I would have voted Republican.
Evan Bayh did say Lieberman in return should give a sincere apology for the remarks he made about Obama during the campaign. Fat chance of that.
EnderWiggin
Watching these interviews that Palin is now giving at a constant pace, there are re-occurring themes, and hostility to the media itself is one of them. At first I thought it was a play towards the conservative belief that the whole media is out to get them. Assuming she knows that she is a joke to all but the extreme right, and that there is no hope of a national political campaign, I wondered what she was really looking for.
Given her apparent love of expensive goods, a pattern that seems to go further back than just this campaign, I think the motive is money. I believe she is looking for a major spot on the conservative pundit circuit. With her voice, manner and willingness to spew venom (Ayers! Ayers! Ayers!) she could be a talk radio presence on the level of Limbaugh and Hannity.
All that said, I am in agreement with Sullivan’s excellent piece “Why Palin Still Matters”. She is both a horrible symptom of the current state of conservatism and a disease in her own right. She needs to be watched until the conservative base rejects her.
Punchy
If Lieberman keeps his gig, that’s a fundemental and cataclismic (sp?) failure of Harold Reid. In ANY OTHER BIZ, if an upper management guy (Liebs) were to completely trash the company CEO (Barry) at viciously and openly as he did, he’d be out on the street.
There’s Dem Suckitude, there’s Dem capitulation, and then there’s this. Complete crap. And also, that.
Laura W
I recall an earlier thread about the perfect coffee cup. Here is my nomination. I’ve been using these every morn for over a decade. The perfect grip for my hand, and holds many fluid ounces.
They’ve become very hard to find and go for way too much $$ on eBay. (Coasters are superfluous.) I’ve had a few handles break off over the years but still have two yellow and one white in stock. I got my bright yellow foursome via Crate and Barrel.com along with four dinner plates, salad plates, and the greatest ringware soup bowls. I aspire to own some of the green shades one day. Maybe with all my upcoming tax cuts.
(I assume the link works even if one is not signed into eBay.)
First National Bank of Face
Fixed for those of us who want a 462–a lot less Electoral Beatdown in 2012.
PaulW
1) keep calling your Democratic Senators and insist they shuffle Joe Lieberman over to the Small Business committee and give Feingold the Homeland Security chair.
2) I keep having vivid dreams of Kat Dennings.
3) NaNoWriMo is TOUGH! I’m flaking out over here! Seriously.
4) I submitted my resume to the Obama transition team. Everyone needs a librarian on staff, yo.
5) Why were the Mormons so virulently supportive of the California Amendment 8 that defined marriage as man-woman only? Didn’t the church realize that if we open up marriage rights to gays that marriage rights related to polygamy would be easier to defend? Talk about shooting yourself in the foot to spite your toes…
Atanarjuat
EnderWiggin, referring to Governor Sarah Palin:
I see. An ambitious woman with an "R next to her name who speaks out with her own voice is a pathogen.
She lost her bid for the U.S. Vice Presidency, but that doesn’t satisfy the liberal masses who are inarguably sore winners.
"She’s a disease," right? Hmmm… I wonder what "cure" can be found by supposedly tolerant leftists to expunge this disease from the body that is America?
Just another chapter in the continued misogynist beatdown of Sarah Palin. Sad. Very sad.
– Country First.
Bob In Pacifica
First thing I’d do is get rid of the term "Homeland". It’s like a knockoff of the Nazi "Fatherland" brand.
Then either divide up the committee’s duties and give Lieberman the lesser committee chair (say, the Antiques Roadshow Protection Committee) and move on.
And as far as politics are concerned, always cast him in a position where he’s betraying Connecticut when he betrays the Dems. Someone should be working full-time generating stats and polls on how folks in his home state support this while Lieberman is going along with the Repubs on that.
Then give him a shovel and let him decide if he’s working with the Dems or digging his own political grave.
MH
I need to start a kegging system for my homebrews. I don’t actually prefer kegs, but holy shit I am tired of washing bottles.
My only concern is that we’d have to actually finish the whole keg before racking a new batch, unless we wanted to just have multiple kegs sitting around. I like being able to keep a couple bottles back, for aging (stouts/porters especially).
Brick Oven Bill
That was a cheap shot at the Mormon Church PaulW. The Mormon Church does not allow polygamy. Although I would argue that polygamy is not a bad thing. It will probably make a comeback in places other than Islamic law.
Dork
I wholeheartedly agree.
greynoldsct00
And now Dodd and others, who are in support. This makes my head feel like its going to explode. As a nutmegger and someone who would have disliked what he said about Obama regardless, this is crazy. WTF are they thinking?
Comrade Darkness
In that picture of Malkin on the left on the "most popular videos" banner, she looks like she’s hit that dreaded Asian age where one goes from appearing permanent 14 to 50 years old in a two-year span. If she looks wizened I fear it’s going to accentuate her brownness too much for her audience.
TheHatOnMyCat
I really prefer the unquilted, to the quilted, toilet paper.
Also, I have an appendix scar.
Incertus
The bad economy is likely to make real changes in pro sports, and the PGA and NASCAR might bear the heaviest hit of all.
Dork
Your outrage de jour. Spreading like fire on the righty blogs.
God damn they never learn.
DRD 1812
It all fits together now.
Valerie Jarrett, Obama’s most trusted advisor and co-chair of his transition team, was born in Iran.
Teemu
@Rick Taylor: No way dems should put partisan bickering over national security by asking Joe to apologize. That would be disrespectful and reckless.
Comrade Darkness
There was a guy assigned to that the last two years. He ran out of paper and his pencils are all ground to nubs.
TheHatOnMyCat
Somewhere in grade school, we learn to recognize what a "trick question" is. This is a trick question. It attempts to frame the committee decision around whether or not Joe is the "best Democrat for that job," when in fact, the decision may center around issues that have nothing to do with that criterion.
Votes in the Senate are extremely expensive and difficult to come by. The real question about Lieberman centers around whether his support of McCain in the recent campaign is reason enough to basically throw his vote and his membership in the caucus away.
A couple of guys whose names you might recognize, like Bill Clinton, and Barack Obama, seem to think that it might be more prudent to keep him. I despise Lieberman at least as much as any other poster here. My Five Minute Lieberman Hatred Test, purchased at Walgreens, proves it. It turns bright orange when I pee on the stick. However, I happen to agree with the former and future presidents, and I think that we would be better served by letting bygones be bygones.
What are we afraid of? That a stampede of Liebermans will shred the caucus because he sets such a stirring example?
Nose, face, spite. That’s what this stuff is all about. Next to Republican asininity, I find Democrat asininity to be the most irritating thing on earth. Well, after that and Sarah Palin. And Wolf Blitzer. But it’s up there.
Punchy
You wouldn’t punish your child for sassing you in public? Really, what’s the difference? While you surely wouldn’t abandon the kid, you’d take away an allowance for awhile. You’d demonstrate that it’s unacceptable to trash superiors (parents) openly and publicly. You’d set a precedent that respect (but not fealty) is demanded and enforced. Otherwise he continues to sass, but behind your back, and never matures.
Enter Joe Lieberman.
bago
In Soviet Russia, Motherland fails you!
Napoleon
Is that true? Regardless she is from one of the most prominent African American families in this nation. Her father is a prominant Dr. in Chicago, her grandfather, or perhaps it is her great grandfather, Robert Taylor,
was prominent (in fact one of Chicago’s most infamous housing projects that you could see off the the Dan Ryan as you drove into Chicago from Indiana was named after him, the Robert Taylor Homes) and you can trace her family back to being freed as slaves and with every generation her family has produced some outstanding individuals.
dmsilev
Lieberman basically got up in front of a national audience at the GOP Convention and said that Barack Obama would be bad for the security of the United States. On matters of national security, Lieberman acts like a Republican, and I would argue, should be treated like a Republican. If he wants to be Ranking Member of the Homeland Security Committee, fine. He just needs to convince Susan Collins to step aside. But he shouldn’t be given a plum position in an area where he’s incredibly out of synch with both the President-elect and the Democratic majority.
Secondly, this is a challenge to the leadership of Harry Reid. If Lieberman keeps his chair, that basically says that there is *nothing* a Senator can do short of an outright felony (see Stevens, Ted) that will result in significant repercussions. If Reid wants to cut his own throat to satisfy Joe’s ego and blackmail threats, well, then I guess we’re stuck.
-dms
bago
Seeing the pro-mob picture on the left with this post was funny in and of itself.
RE: Gateway.
TheHatOnMyCat
Yes, that’s right, we should arbitrarily decide to run the Senate as if it were a preschool. AFter all, it only exists for your amusement anyway.
Your argument is funny at a level that I seldom see in here. I call it not just funny, but Fuckin Funny. That level is explained in a booklet which you can order from me for $9.95, plus shipping and handling.
Xenos
Leiberman will get his comuppance. When it happens, the dish will be served cold and Obama’s fingerprints will not be on the stiletto thrust through the fish in Leiberman’s vest that will be placed in the tureen of vichyssoise… crap – I am not Sicilian, and I am mangling the extended metaphor.
There is a somewhat deeper game being played here. My guess is that after giving Leiberman the committee he wants that committee is going to lose the government oversight function and be left with a limited portfolio of reviewing whatever new agency it is that replaces Homeland Security.
Alternately, given the turnover in the committee, there will be a general insurrection and Leiberman won’t be able to get anything passed in the committee, making it a useless platform from which to attack the Obama Administration.
Napoleon
@Xenos:
??? Doesn’t the chairman get to determine what pending bills are brought up for vote, whether to hold hearings and subpoena people, etc. That alone could make him a thorn in their side, regardless of what actually passes.
JasonF
Prediction: In the coming year, Republicans in Congress will reflexively oppose various programs proposed by the Democrats. Conservative commentators will hail this as a return to small-government conservatism when it is in fact nothing more than partisan jockeying.
Punchy
Yes, the Senate amuses me to no end. And the next time Lieberman bounces a DHS corruption investigation request into the circular file, I’m sure both of us will be smiling.
Must be tough being a dick all day long.
BethanyAnne
I haven’t seen this in any thread here yet, and I thought it was fab: Your tears, they are delicious.
:-)
Bethany
jibeaux
What I don’t get about Lieberman is that if we had 59 and he was #60, I see how he would have leverage. But it doesn’t look like we’re going to have 59, does it? I guess if AL and MN go our way. But if we don’t have 59, I say tell him to go play in traffic.
The Other Steve
Palin? Who is this Palin you keep speaking of?
aarrgghh
this time they’ve got him.
the birth certificate’s still working its way thru the supreme court. api’s "rant" tape is still on schedule to be aired. forget larry’s "whitey" tape and the la time’s "khalidi" tape.
tireless crusader for all that is right (wing) debbie schussel’s finally got the goods on ol’ hussein (with requisite scanned document!):
The Other Steve
Punchy…punchy…punchy… this is so sad. Have you no faith?
Now that Obama is President, I can GUARANTEE that Lieberman will be launching all sorts of investigations!
How else do you expect him to prove how bipartisan he is?
TheFountainHead
Are we still talking about Lieberman? Really?
I think I might need to start ending all of my posts with the following:
"Obama is smarter than you. STFU. Chill. He’s got this."
Comrade Jake
I think people dramatically underestimate Obama’s political instincts with regard to JoeMentum at their own peril.
Look, I’d like to see the guy tossed out of the Senate on his ass, I really would. I’d love to see him get his comeuppance.
OTOH, given a choice between having him go along with 99% of what Obama wants to do over the next four years, vs. having him show up every Sunday on the morning shows to piss all over the new President’s agenda, it’s an easy call for me. The goal here should be for him to be largely inconsequential, and I think that’s still quite possible. Anything else is just going to be a lot of useless drama.
Paul L.
Strange,
No outrage from John and the pro-choicers over the superior British state run health care system forcing a girl to get treatment she does not want.
From Ace:
Teen Refuses Heart Transplant
Unlike the Terri Schiavo care.
TheFountainHead
Oooooo, Gateway to Nowhere Pundit Commentariat Gold:
This is pretty humorous on a number of levels. Not the least of which is the idea that Bush will actually retire to Crawford.
Napoleon
@TheFountainHead:
A month ago I saw a clip of Bush at a fund raiser saying that Laura had been house hunting in Dallas. The ranch in Crawford always was a prop to make him look like Reagan.
liberal
@Brick Oven Bill:
Actually, polygamy is a terrible thing.
Put aside all the "yuck" factor stuff, and all the "it oppresses women" stuff.
If there’s rampant polygamy, there’s a good fraction of men who don’t have partners. Those men will be inclined to act on their unhappiness.
Josh Hueco
@Paul L.:
Paul, your mom’s going to be awfully upset when she goes to launder her knickers and finds cheeto dust smeared all over them.
ppcli
Her dad (a physician) was doing some kind of missionary work running a hospital there when she was born.
DaveB
Anyone see that Wolf Blitzer asked Palin if she would be willing to help him if Obama were to ask her expertise on something like energy or special-needs kids? WTF? I’m sure she’s on the short list of experts to be consulted on those subjects. Gee, we need expertise on energy, who’s on the list? T. Boone Pickens, an oliman for 50 years and acknowledged expert on energy? Nah, let’s get Sarah Palin, she showed how much she knew when she said Alaska produced 20% of the US energy (more like 3% to 7% depending on what you include). Expert on special-needs kids? Does Palin even know which one of her kids is special-needs?
And, of course, this was after she repeated her concerns about him asscoiated with terrorists. My guess is that Rahm Emmanuel will figure out some portion of payback for Palin. Might take a while but he seems like the type that will carry a long-term grudge.
The parts of Blitzer’s interview with Palin I saw were embarassing. The first question should always be:
Do you believe that Obama pals around with terrorist and that he is a Socialist? If she says no, then the follow-up is then why did you repeatedly say so during the campaign. And when she says that it is the normal rough and tumble of politics, the follow-up is that’s not true, show me an example in modern history where a VP candidate went so far over the line as to accuse the candidate of essentially being a traitor.
The next question should be do you regret the tone of your rallies, that turned into Kaln-style hatefests, that ended up with people shouting "terrorist", "traitor", "string him up", and the like?
Instead we get a continuous string of softballs.
Incertus
@Comrade Jake: I’m hoping that Lieberman’s willingness to go along with what Obama and the caucus wants is part of the deal, and that they’ll be ready to yank him from the chair if he gets out of line. I have nothing to base that hope on, but I’m hoping it all the same.
liberal
@TheHatOnMyCat:
Uh, among other things, Lieberthug’s potential misuse of the power of subpoena.
Cain
I’d really like to smack Harry Reid around some. Part of me probably doesn’t understand senate politics. Not that I saw much of anything in the past two years from democrats. I can’t wait to spend the next couple of years preparing to help bring challenges to the rest of these senate dodos and get them replaced.
cain
Comrade Mary, Would-Be Minion Of Bad Horse
TZ, Lieberman didn’t just campaign for his old friend McCain, badmouthing Obama all the while. He campaigned for the likes of Coleman in Minnesota. He has repeatedly demonstrated absolutely no loyalty to the Democratic Party. I’m fine with keeping him in the caucus, but I don’t want to bribe the little quisling with a chairmanship that should go to a Democrat. The potential damage that venal little shit can can cause isn’t worth it. I think the odds are pretty damn good that he would use his powers to harass and investigate Obama at the slightest pretext. Welcome to the Clinton Years, Part Deux.
And my blood ran cold when that dipshit Bayh said on Maddow last night that if Joe acted up in the future, the Democrats could always take his chairmanship away. Riiiight. The optics would be totally fucking awesome on that, wouldn’t it?
I can’t believe that Obama is so stupid that this danger hasn’t occurred to him. I have to think that he has to play it cool, maybe twisting some arms behind the scenes, to keep Lieberman in caucus but dump him from the chairmanship.
The Other Steve
MUST watch video…
Ninja Kittens
liberal
@TheHatOnMyCat:
Yeah? And if Lieberthug starts voting with the Republicans on crucial issues, what do you reckon his chances of getting reelected are?
liberal
@Incertus:
Way too dangerous. If Holy Joe opens some investigation just to harass Obama (e.g., as not being pro-Likud enough), it’ll look bad if the Dems try to shut him down.
Englischlehrer
One more class and I’m off for a long weekend to barcelona with my folks and girlfriend.
All this speculation about Obama and his intentions is killing me because we don’t know what he’s gonna do, I already know I’ll be disappointed by some of what he wants to do but some things cannot be compromised on:
*closing guantanamo
*bringing an end to the iraq war.
if we don’t do those two things, we are barely different at all from those other dudes…
Comrade Mary, Would-Be Minion Of Bad Horse
The Other Steve, I’ll see your Aussie advert and raise you a Kiwi advert.
liberal
@DaveB:
Well, she’s certainly an expert on "how to attempt to kill your Downs kid by taking a long trip after your water breaks, despite universal acknowledgement that Downs pregnancies are high-risk."
The Other Steve
I’m so glad you found a hobby.
smiley
@TheFountainHead:
Oh, he’ll retire to Crawford and there will be a big show of it in the press. He just won’t spend any time there. I’m thinking Dallas. Maybe they’ll get a permanent hotel suite there like his mom and dad have in Houston.
The Other Steve
I doubt any news cameras will even show up.
Reed
The Bushes are in fact buying a house in one of the more elite areas of Dallas, close to his new library at SMU. The Crawford ranch may remain, but all he’ll do is weedwhack (which, come to think of it, is similar to his actions in the White House the last few months).
… Reed
Comrade Jake
@liberal:
Practically speaking, is it even possible for him to do something like this? How much control does the committee chair have to launch investigations? Wouldn’t he need the support of the other Dems on the committee?
I don’t know folks, I think if there were a real danger of this, there’s simply no way the Democratic Senators would let him keep his chair.
bedlam UK
@ Paul L
That Teen won her case when the doctors decided that further operations would put her life at risk anyway.
We have a working ( currently ) NHS, that every man woman and child has full access too, and BUPA for the more well off if they want to jump the queue. And a working ( on occasion ) legal system.
We’re doing all right over here thanks.
How’s your Medical doing over there ?
( as a fan of HOUSE I am slightly jealous that that you might have a looker like Lisa Cuddy working in your hospitals )
I definately liked to read ‘Superior British’ bit. Can I use that as my sig?
gopher2b
"Obama’s economic advisers are now convinced that if General Motors Corp. doesn’t get a financial lifeline soon, it will have to file for bankruptcy by the end of January. And if the companies don’t get almost $50 billion, Obama will be dealing with the issue again by next summer."
In other words, they will blow through the 15-20 billion in a year. Then why give them the money. They need to go into bankruptcy and fix their labor problems. Use the money to take over the pensions. Terrible, terrible idea to bail these guys out.
And, not to say I told you so, but it appears like the banks didn’t need $700 billion after all. The credit card companies do which means the American people do…just in time for Christmas. What a joke.
jake 4 that 1
I note with a complete lack of surprise that Mark Foley hasn’t lost his Republican WATB chops.
Palin/Foley ’12!
Jeff
For those on twitter, the Ana Marie Cox tweets about Palin’s press conference today were awesome.
TenguPhule
TenguPhule
They need the money to avert a crippling dump of unemployed angry voters on the already faltering job market.
Frankly, we should just buy them out, strip the executives and management of bonuses and pensions and full out nationalize them.
It would be a lot cheaper.
Steve Balboni
Shot in the dark here but any interest in having a Balloon-Juice cocktail hour (or four) at the Hampton Phish shows in March? Seems like there may be a few of us on here.
Bonus, the show on the 8th is my 30th birthday.
Comrade Stuck
Welcome to the Wingnut Madrassa
—————————-
Alabama–The new Fodderland
Brachiator
@EnderWiggin:
You do realize that she is still a sitting governor? I don’t see her going all rogue and pundity when she still has a term to finish.
Apart from this, I think you may be missing something important here. A strong section of the Republican "base" loves Palin, and the attempt to undermine her over "fashiongate" is misfiring bigtime. It is, after all, the ultimate in hypocrisy, for a party that allowed Cindy McCain to appear swaddled in hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of clothing and jewelry to criticize Palin for getting her fashion freak on. It is doubly hypocritical for the Republicans to even attempt to condemn Palin for anything that was spent for Todd or the kids, when the GOP was seriously pimping out the entire Palin family.
Also, people are seriously underestimating Palin’s ambition. It took more than a few winks and a smile for her to become governor of Alaska, and even though there are some rumblings about her speeches and behavior back home, I have not seen anything that suggests that she is doing anything that remotely undermines her gubernatorial clout back home.
The GOP may find a way to push Palin to the sidelines. But they still have to come up with someone who will be as appealing as she clearly is to evangelicals and others. And if Palin smarts up and actually learns something about national affairs, she might become a considerable force to be dealt with. And keep in mind that McCain captured the nomination even though he was clearly not the favorite candidate of numerous GOP factions.
PaulW
@Brick Oven Bill:
Ahem. The Mormons officially used to practice it, got witch-hunted for it, and was forced to give it up in order for the church to keep its properties. There are factions of Mormonism that still preach it and practice it (and yes, they do go to jail for it if they get caught, but they still do it). If polygamy was made legal tomorrow you can bet every Mormon is gonna line up with a blonde, brunette and redhead in tow at the nearest Elvis chapel.
There has been, and continues to be, an earnest debate over monogamy vs. polygamy. All I’m saying is that this so-called pro-marriage amendment narrowing the options to just one man-one woman is gonna stomp on the polygamists’ arguments as well as the gays and lesbians.
Jeff
Scalzi gives the inside scoop on why Obama is playing nice with Liebermann
Zuzu's Petals
Well, I had the amazing experience of welcoming my beautiful granddaughter into the world yesterday.
I think things have been pretty well put in perspective for me!