CNN is running a live feed from the Senate floor. Apparently, a convicted felon has seized control of a microphone and is giving a lengthy speech.
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Come for the politics, stay for the snark.
Just because you believe it, that doesn’t make it true.
Thanks to your bullshit, we are now under siege.
I’d like to think you all would remain faithful to me if i ever tried to have some of you killed.
I like you, you’re my kind of trouble.
I was promised a recession.
Whatever happens next week, the fight doesn’t end.
The words do not have to be perfect.
People are complicated. Love is not.
You don’t get rid of your umbrella while it’s still raining.
Historically it was a little unusual for the president to be an incoherent babbling moron.
So it was an October Surprise A Day, like an Advent calendar but for crime.
It’s the corruption, stupid.
Wow, you are pre-disappointed. How surprising.
When your entire life is steeped in white supremacy, equality feels like discrimination.
A thin legal pretext to veneer over their personal religious and political desires
Authoritarian republicans are opposed to freedom for the rest of us.
Conservatism: there are some people the law protects but does not bind and others who the law binds but does not protect.
Speaking of republicans, is there a way for a political party to declare intellectual bankruptcy?
Black Jesus loves a paper trail.
A Senator Walker would also be an insult to reason, rationality, and decency.
But frankly mr. cole, I’ll be happier when you get back to telling us to go fuck ourselves.
Let me eat cake. The rest of you could stand to lose some weight, frankly.
Let’s delete this post and never speak of this again.
Insiders who complain to politico: please report to the white house office of shut the fuck up.
CIRCVS MAXIMVS MMVIII
I see Harry Reid, but I’m assuming you meant Ted Stevens.
Okay, I admit, I’ve been on news blackout for the last week or so, last I heard Stevens was going to stay in the senate as long as possible, would somebody mind bringing me up to date? Sorry I’m an idiot, I was on politics overload and had to take a break. Many thanks to anyone who can provide the info.
Tymannosourus
@CIRCVS MAXIMVS MMVIII:
Well, he just conceded last night on the recount, so….. as long as possible won’t be that long.
Comrade Ed Drone
He even woke us up to say "Goodbye."
Ed
CIRCVS MAXIMVS MMVIII
OMG, I certainly didn’t hear that. Thank you! :) Great news.
Tymannosourus
@CIRCVS MAXIMVS MMVIII:
I love being the bearer of good news.
Michael D.
OT: I’d love to see Al Franken win, but seriously, challenging THIS ballot??? Please.
dr. bloor
I eagerly await the Spectator’s posting of some of Coleman’s challenges.
A sad state of affairs, but recounts have become a blood sport.
btchakir
Just listen to all the republicans (and Lieberman) praising Stephens and wishing him a fond farewell.
These guys are all corrupt.
Under The LobsterScope
Dennis - SGMM
CNN just said that a Federal judge has ordered the release of five Gitmo inmates. They’ve been held for seven years without charges.
gbear
Hmmm, if most of the challenged votes are as unambiguous as that one, the review committee should be able to blow thru the entire stack before lunchtime.
Tymannosourus
Re: ballot challenges
From our local paper here in St. Paul, picture of challenges made by Norm Coleman that are just as dubious as those made by Franken. Amazing that these weren’t featured on Drudge.
Joe Beese
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081120/ap_on_go_co/senate_stevens
With grief? Or in relief?
jenniebee
I like the way they made it sound like Franken personally picked that ballot out and objected to it.
That ballot looks to me like just one reason to rejoice at the coming ascendancy of the scantron generation. We already know how to fill in the circle completely, leaving no stray marks.
And who would ever have guessed that would turn out to be a life-skill?
scarshapedstar
Even better re: ballot challenges.
http://minnesota.publicradio.org/features/2008/11/19_challenged_ballots/
They’ve got pictures of challenged ballots — some are laughably obvious, others are head-scratchers — and a poll next to each one where you can vote on how you think they meant to vote.
Meta-democracy, bitches!
JGabriel
Michael D.:
Isn’t the difference between a convicted felon and a Republican Senator usually just a function of time?
(Barring Grassley and maybe a couple of other exceptions. And no, I’m not saying Grassley is a good senator, just an honest one.)
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Frank Sobotka
Nate Silver talked about the challenges and how most of them are frivolous. It’s all part of the game.
JasonF
In terms of the ballot linked to in comment 6, I’d want to see how the other races were marked. If that’s the way the voter filled in all his ovals, I’d say it’s a pretty clear vote for Senator Coleman. If all the other ovals are neatly filled in, then it looks a lot more like someone who started to vote for Senator Coleman then crossed it out.
AhabTRuler
I keep having to remind myself that politics has always been a blood sport, there’s just more opportunity to watch the sausage-making process.
Rick Taylor
And he’s getting a standing ovation. . . .
Kind of reminds me of the court-room scene from Monty Python.
Michael D.
@JGabriel:
Democrats and Republicans alike, I’m afraid. When it comes right down to it, there are very few politicians I admire, on either side of the aisle.
I have high expectations for Obama though. I honestly believe he will come through for the country.
And excuse me for saying this, but as the first African American president, I think he is under tremendous pressure to be a decent, honest, successful, responsive president. That might not be fair, but I think it will be a good motivator for him. I think there’ll be no scandals in the Obama administration that will be his doing.
Doesn’t “The Obama Administration” sound awesome??
Montysano (All Hail Marx & Lennon)
Will there be shackles and a frog march at the conclusion of the speech? If so……. popcorn!
Glenn Fayard
Well. Of course Mr. Franken did this personally and not some coffee-starved worker bee at 8:00 AM or something.
Haon123
Right, that’s *not* a vote for Coleman.
Just like when hanging chads for Gore were not counted, this is not a vote.
The instructions are clear, and if you have to have someone help you fill out the ballot, you have that option. I did that once on a scantron form and it got marked wrong. My bastard UC Berkeley prof asked if I read the instructions, and told me to STFU.
Fill in the bubble, it’s not rocket surgery.
/god bless public education
Michael D.
OT again: Isn’t “presuming to know the mind of God?” supposed to be a cardinal sin or something?
Garrigus Carraig
Cherrypicking challenged ballots & attributing the challenge to the candidate(s) is one way to enjoy this recount.
As for me, I’m going to hit myself over the head with this Dean-Barkley-shaped paperweight.
Edmund Dantes
Well these are probably the same type of people that were praying in front of the Wall Street Bull for a market recovery. You can’t expect them to know which parts of the bible they can and can’t ignore.
Cyrus
@Tymannosourus: From the link:
That’s just weird. Why would they both challenge it? Either they figure the vote is theirs or they figure it isn’t.
@jenniebee: You’d think the damn things would be as easy as a standardized test, but they still find ways to make it complicated. Here in Virginia there are arrows next to each name with a chunk missing from the middle of the arrow. The instructions say to fill in the chunk to vote for the person – but not completely!
Joshua Norton
And throw in an oogedy-boogedy or two.
Sucks to be him.
Joshua Norton
That’s exactly what the San Francisco absentee ballots look like, plus they unfold to about the size of the New York Times.
Objective Scrutator
@ Michael
Democrats are pathetic people. They try to scream that the 2000 and 2004 elections were stolen, when there really isn’t any evidence that they did (2004 had Bush solidly beating Kerry, and 2000 was so close it had to be decided on a tie). OTOH, there’s lots of evidence Obama stole the election, and this incident right here is obvious evidence that Franken is nothing but a little snit.
You see, when we ask that liberals be sent to Guantanamo, this is one of the many, many reasons why.
BTW Stevens was innocent.
Michael D.
@Objective Scrutator: I’m going to go out on a limb and assume that was snark.
Bostondreams
@Objective Scrutator:
Oh, how I love parody. Well done!
bootlegger
Both sides are going to challenge every thing that even remotely resembles a mistake. Its the Nature of the Beast.
Frankly (tee-hee), I want the Comic to win simply because it will be so damned entertaining. Who knew Stuart Smally was "good enough"!
Ack, Sysadmin of Evil
Obviously Scrotumeater:
Embrace the suck.
Joshua Norton
So was OJ according to some people. Maybe they can carpool to the penitentiary together and swap stories on how "innocent" they both were.
Tymannosourus
I just can’t help myself, Scurator. I’m glad that you decided not to call him "Iraq Hussein Osama" like you did on your American Spectator comment post, but I would still love to see a scintilla of logic in your cute little tirades.
Tymannosourus
@Michael D.:
I wouldn’t be so sure, since Scurator’s web link is "Calvinist 4 Conservatism."
Pooh
Despite being an Alaskan with little use for the current Ted Stevens, the guy was a Senator for 42 years, so I’m ok with the body showing him a reasonably fond farewell.
Tymannosourus
@Cyrus:
Welcome to Minnesota politics.
Katie
Me too. He’s done an awful lot for this state and I think that shouldn’t be ignored. What’s more, a lot of what he’s done has been pretty much under the radar and has really helped a lot of the little guys–not just corporations.
I did vote for him. He’s the only republican I voted for, but I really felt that his contributions over 40 years far outweighed his slip(s) in recent years.
I still can’t figure out how in the hell Don Young got re-elected…..
JGabriel
Pooh:
I’m with Pooh.
Er, that came out wrong. Oh, well. At least it’s not as bad as the infamously titled "Cooking with Pooh".
Anyway. When David Vitter gets a standing ovation from the Republican Caucus for returning after his felonies were made public (albeit unindicted), that’s shameful.
But when Stevens gets an ovation for leaving, I think I’m OK with that.
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Punchy
Speakin of corrupt Congressmen, what the hell ever happened to Delay? Wasn’t he indicted over 2 years ago? did I miss his trial?
JGabriel
Punchy:
(Cue "Wind blowing across tumbleweeds sound effect". Cue western music.)
There’s a reason they call him: Delay.
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Comrade Darkness
You can "where are they now?" the full perp walk of republican cesspool dwellers here
passerby
In such a fashion we witness the death of common sense.
This is exactly how this country, this culture, has been reduced to and maintained at the lowest common denominator. This has not been a phenomenon of solely the Bush admin. This has been going on for decades.
Sad.
"First kill all the lawyers"–Shakespeare?
JGabriel
Totally OT, but:
OMG! Ken Lay is now the subject for a Nigerian scam. I just got this in e-mail (yes, for real):
I honestly can think of no tribute more sincere or deserved.
I especially like the "presently dead" part, as if he’s gonna come back in a few years – so hurry while this offer lasts!
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Michael D.
@JGabriel: LOL!! Send me a screenshot of that!! [email protected]
Comrade Darkness
After blurry-eyed hours of staring at ballots with multiple Xs and circles in a single race, for which interpretation rules have been well established, an X and a circle on the same line would carry a different meaning than it does out of context.
But both sides are challenging ballots for questionable reasons. Coleman challenged one because the person had written notes on it. If Florida taught any lesson its that you’ll get taken advantage of if you don’t play equally dirty to your opponent.
The Moar You Know
@Objective Scrutator: massive fail
Ash Can
@Michael D.: I don’t know about other religions, but I don’t think mine (Catholicism) would consider it so much sinful as just plain 24-karat stupid.
@Objective Scrutator: LOL! That’s some cracked-out shit there.
Punchy
Merry Christmas to all the ex-wives/husbands/in-laws/neighborhood douchebags….
I wonder if there’ll be any tips on just how much teflon tape to use for a 1.5 inch pipe thread…..
ppcli
I can hardly wait for Stevens to offer a reward for the capture of the real bribetaker.
dr. bloor
@Katie:
Well, you seem like a fairly reasonable person, you still saw fit to vote for a convicted felon, and you had a hell of a lot of company. Young hasn’t even been indicted yet, so it’s hard to imagine anyone gave voting for Young a second thought.
JGabriel
Michael D.:
Sent. It’s in JPG and PNG formats. I have a bitmap, too, but it’s about 2.5 MB. Let me know if you want it, though I’m not really sure why you would.
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Nathan R
Speaking of CNN, I haven’t watched them during the day in a while, but what happened to them? Are they a morning zoo radio show now or something? Seriously, Facebook and Twitter as sources of commentary? Why?
JGabriel
ppcli:
Actually? Stevens blamed his wife.
Nice guy. Votes Republican, doncha know.
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Joshua Norton
Actually, Catholics were real big on that being a sin back in their burning-at-the-stake days. It’s one of the things Joan of Arc was found guilty of doing. That’s also why they banned the common folk from reading the bible. Only a priest was qualified to read the "word of God". The rabble would only misinterpret everything.
Rick
Of course. Clearly, the Most Important Thing that the Most Important People in our Most Important Country need to be doing right now is giving a felon their undivided attention. It’s not like they have anything important to worry about, such as, to quote the best description I’ve seen so far, "the parade of unorganized Special Olympics events that is The Bailout."
Svensker
Actually, judging by the way some of our present day evangelicals are interpreting the bible, those ol’ Catholic curmudgeons may have had a point. Very hard for a Protestant to admit, but…
bago
Now This is a ballot I can believe in!
Atanarjuat
Most of you here are inarguably correct. Ted Stevens is a hopelessly corrupt man who has the gall to walk among decent people while pretending that he wasn’t recently convicted for his very criminal activities during his tenure as U.S. Senator.
In fact, paying massive fines and imprisonment is not sufficient for soon-to-be-ex-Senator Stevens to even begin atoning for all his moral and social failings (aside from the obvious criminal outrages). The only way for the scales of justice to be truly balanced is to have Ted Stevens tied to a telephone pole and get beaten to within an inch of his life. The lynching should be so severe that even the awful beating inflicted on Matthew Shepard would look like a visit to a day spa in comparison. Everyone who has ever had a low opinion of Stevens (i.e., most BJ commentators) should get a turn at swinging a tire iron, baseball bat, or other blunt object at his head, with the bonus of having shattered cranial bits adorning the sleeves and shirts of the righteously indignant and the morally vindicated.
Only in this way can liberal disapproval of Republican criminality ever be fully satisfied. After all, only the GOP wear the black hats and are the villains in every piece. If you don’t believe me, just ask any Democrat or liberal; he or she will tell you so.
– Country First.
dr. bloor
@Atanarjuat:
I got dibs on the tire iron.
JGabriel
Atanarjuat:
Notice how it’s always the wingnuts that are the first to suggest and advocate for physical violence?
What is it with them?
Read through the thread, Atarnarjuat. No one, I repeat NO ONE, has suggested violence, beating, rape, torture, or any of the usual right wing palliatives as an appropriate punishment for Stevens. Until you came along.
Stevens has hardly been mentioned, outside of a few posts expressing ambivalence about to tepid approval for the Senate applauding Stevens’ farewell address.
And you wonder why we have such a low opinion of you, and wingers in general. You’re always either advocating inappropriate violence, or falsely accusing us of advocating it.
What a wanker you are.
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DFH no.6
Atarnajuat:
I know it’s like telling a fish not to swim, but try not to be such an ass all the time.
No one wants to do any of those horrible things you imagine people want to do to Stevens (nice touch from the hate-the-gay side using Matthew Shepard).
Stevens was convicted on seven felony counts related to bribery specifically tied to his position as a U.S. Senator. From the evidence presented, and the words and actions of his co-sonspirators, it seems justly so.
We the people just want him out of the Senate (done, if just barely) and paying whatever penalty is imposed.
He’s 85, so that likely won’t involve any jail time. Probably some fine, to go with the disgrace. That’s justice enough for me. I believe it’s the same for the vast, vast majority of Democrats and liberals.
Your head is apparently filled with a boatload of ridiculous shit, so it’s no surprise you believe the opposite.
Tymannosourus
No, just NOT being re-elected into the second most important elected office in the country and serving out the time outlined in federal sentencing guidelines will suffice. But thanks for the "knee-jerk" emotion-filled commentary, Atanarjuat.
TenguPhule
In Other news, The Bush Depression continues to explore new depths in losing other people’s money.
What a way to queer the incoming Obama admin.
alhutch
@Atanarjuat:
You’ve got it all wrong. I have zero interest in personally visiting violence onto Mr. Stevens for his crimes.
Him spending some quality time in a federal prison sounds about right though. Oh, and somebody needs to repossess 1 level of his ‘chalet’. Ill-gotten booty shan’t be retained.
Ash Can
Hey, Atanarjuat, when’s your sociology project on trolling political blogs due?
That One - Cain
Gosh, this blog is kind of boring without John. I feel like Charlie Brown when Snoopy left to stay with his original owner in one of the Charlie Brown cartoon specials.
cain
Punchy
I’ve never seen so many peeps responding so seriously to such obvious spoof.
Comrade Tax Analyst
Atanarjuat,
Yup, I just went back through the thread – not a single mention of harming even a single thinning hair on Stevens’ head or chinny-chin-chin in any way until you came along and suggested the commenter’s here were akin to a blood-thirsty lynch mob, frothing at the mouth and screaming for disembowelment and then maybe soon-to-be-former Senator Stevens’ head on a pike. I could not for the life of me locate a single BJ villager stalking towards the Capitol carrying torch, pitchfork, or tire iron. The harshest suggestion I could find (other than your’s) was that Stevens should be made to do the Frog Walk with shackles on…oh, and maybe have to ride to the pen with OJ as a car-pool buddy. Actually, a majority of this thread’s comments are about the recount dog-and-pony show in Minnesota…and the criticisms for the most part are mostly of the non-partisan variety.
OH…somebody did ask if they could wield the tire iron right AFTER your blood-drenched tirade. However, it seemed more like a well-timed/placed snark than a real-life desire.
DFH no.6
As far as the Senate’s little Kabuki theater performance in saying goodbye to the distinguished… I mean, disgraced, Ted Stevens, I just say "feh".
Yes, it looks foolish (at least) and I think demonstrates, once again, how out of touch the ruling classes can be (sort of a daily affirmation these days), but in the grand scheme it amounts to little or nothing.
If their silly show of senatorial collegiality (however sincere or insincere on the part of individual senators) helps, even in small measure, to get some needful things done, then fine.
But even if it doesn’t, it will very soon be washed away into the River Lethe, like most things that are simply theater in politics. Joe the Plumber, for instance, comes to mind. But not for long.
JGabriel
Punchy:
It’s not spoof.
A spoof requires a target to exist. Since no one in this thread, even jokingly, suggested that Stevens should suffer some extrajudicial violent punishment, Atanarjuat’s "spoof" has no existing target.
That means it’s not "spoof" but a false allegation, aka propaganda. It’s an attempt to create a liberal strawman that advocates violence against wingers, a projection, a mirror image of the wingers like Atanarjuat so they/he/she can claim both sides do it – when in fact, the preceding thread contains no such threats, not even as jokes, and provides no evidence to support Atanarjuat’s accusation.
It’s a libel.
So yeah, we’re responding seriously.
And in any event, Atanarjuat is still a wanker. Or a flawless imitation.
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DFH no.6
Punchy,
You say "obvious spoof", I say "wingnut violence projection".
Who can say who’s right?
Maybe it’s like Schroedinger’s Cat, and not only will we not know unless and until we crack open Atarnajuat’s head to see, it won’t even be decided for sure until that point.
And "crack open Atarnajuat’s head" is meant figuratively, of course.
Tymannosourus
The Comments 66 and 67 are like the two assholes at the comment party in the corner that no one wants to talk to because of their air of superiority.
Cheer up, comments 66 and 67.
That One - Cain
@Tymannosourus:
Hey, when you got the talent, use it is what I say.
cain
Atanarjuat
JGabriel said:
But the reason for that low opinion is so obvious, JGabriel. I even helpfully supplied the reason for you in the message you scathingly replied to:
Even though liberals hate conservatives with the intensity of an exploding sun, the simple fact is that without us around you’d have no one to blame for all the social and financial ills of this nation. You can deny that axiomatic aspect of liberal self-validation all you’d like, but it doesn’t make it any less true.
Meanwhile, your own disdainful response to the liberal wet dream I outlined with regard to Senator Stevens’ "deserved" beating suggests that you’d be the type who’d be very eager to tie the knots that would secure Steven to said telephone pole.
Either that, or wielding a lead pipe.
– Country First.
Tymannosourus
@That One – Cain:
Teach me.
JGabriel
Atanarjuat:
Atanarjuat, you supply the evidence that you are the bad guy, the only one to advocate a violent punishment, then act shocked and hurt when people take you at your word – and further, accuse them of your own desires.
You’re like that apocryphal guy who murdered his parents, then asked for mercy because now he’s an orphan: Pathological.
(Or a flawless imitation.)
No wonder you call yourself "Fast Runner". Running fast is probably the only way you can avoid the court mandated psychological institutionalization.
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That One - Cain
@Tymannosourus:
Naw, too much work.
:)
cain
Ash Can
Is that your way of telling us that you’re actually Atanarjuat?
Comrade Darkness
Arg, I was hopeful that when I came back Attaturkinijad would not have been invited with a red carpet to hijack yet another thread.
Sure, make me get a life. Curses on you all.
JGabriel
Atanarjuat:
No, not really. And you should keep in mind that, unless a code word has previously been agreed upon, "No" really does mean "No".
You’ll save yourself from being criminally indicted… again.
And I think I speak for all of us here when I say that as far as your fetishes and wet dreams are concerned, please, don’t share.
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JGabriel
Comrade Darkness: There’s a new thread above. You can continue without a life, if you’re so inclined.
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The Disenfranchised Voter
Bwhahahaha.
BTW Objective Scrutator you are delusional.