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You are here: Home / Politics / Give Him a Medal

Give Him a Medal

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I saw this on CNN yesterday, and forgot about it until someone mentioned it in the comments. Roland Martin deserves a damned medal for this response to the question as to whether Obama’s picks are diverse enough (it started specifically with a special report featuring Kim Gandy from NOW claiming there are not enough women):

ROLAND MARTIN, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: This is the most utterly useless conversations that exists every four years, because folks always do this, Republicans and Democrats.

I actually got an e-mail from somebody who complained that there were not enough dark-skinned African-Americans. Obama was only choosing light-skinned African-Americans. That’s how crazy this conversation is. How many women should he choose? Should it be 10 out of the 20? Should it be 50 percent, as opposed to 25 percent?

It is a ridiculous conversation. The focus of any of these groups, whether you’re women, African-American, Hispanic, whether you’re progressive, should be, what are the policies that are going to be initiated?

When President Bush, when he first made his appointments, you had Colin Powell, who obviously was secretary of state. But one of the things people never talked about, there were four African-Americans who were in the number-two positions at the various departments, they were the ones who operated as the chief operating officers. And so, this whole notion that you should only look at those folks it’s a policy position.

Look at Melanie Barnes. She’s over — when it comes to domestic policy. You got people in critical jobs. It’s not always just about the cabinet level jobs.

I honestly do not know how Democrats win as often as they do. With all the infighting and elbowing and whining and kicking and screaming, the fact that Clinton was elected twice and now Obama in the past 20 years just shows how bad the Republicans are. Otherwise, no party this fractious and petty and short-sighted could ever win anything, especially when they willingly feed a media environment that just LOVES this kind of BS story.

And yes, I am fully aware that I will get ten huffy emails saying I just can’t handle dissent and blah blah blah. Go air it in the damned grievances below. I’m cranky today.

Reader Interactions

182Comments

  2. 2.

    The Grand Panjandrum

    I honestly do not know how Democrats win as often as they do.

    Republicans don’t lube you up, or kiss you, when they fuck you. Most of us like it a little rough now and again, but not every damned time. That and the fact that they are generally right on more issues than the other party.

  4. 4.

    Jason Eckelman

    Here’s my damned grievance: You’re pretty disappointing lately. No amount of trying to make you see the other side of this issue is going to work, apparently, so fuck it. At least some people get it.

  5. 5.

    SGEW

    I honestly do not know how Democrats win as often as they do.

    The question is really: why don’t Democrats win all the time? I mean, take a good look at the Republican party – I have a very hard time understanding why anyone with any decency or intelligence* could ever possibly vote for any candidate with an R next to their name, even if they were running against a stuffed iguana.

    The answer, obviously, is that Democrats do everything in their (our?) power to undermine their own political success. It’s called checks and balances, I guess. The beauty of a two party system.

    *Yes I know: this is the alternative answer. However, "Most Americans Are Evil And Retarded" is not a very insightful political analysis.

  7. 7.

    Comrade Dread

    I’m actually kind of glad the Democrats are that dysfunctional. It’s both highly entertaining and it probably diverts enough energy from enacting a full Progressive agenda into mollifying various groups within the party.

    Unfortunately, it just really, really, really sucks that the only alternative to Democrats are Republicans.

  8. 8.

    r€nato

    good for you John. I agree completely.

    Diverse Cabinet? Great!

    This bickering, however, over whether there should be X% blacks/females/hispanics/gays and Obama only nominated Y%, is ridiculous. I believe in affirmative action; I don’t believe in quotas.

    I want a Cabinet that looks like America; but I also want one composed of competent people. Filling racial quotas is not something Democrats should be wasting time upon.

  10. 10.

    Reverend Dennis

    No amount of trying to make you see the other side of this issue is going to work, apparently, so fuck it. At least some people get it.

    Some people don’t just get it, some people seem to feel that it’s the only fucking thing that ever happened in the history of the world. They’re the ones who only see one side; theirs.

  11. 11.

    Scotty

    Just for shits and giggles Obama should appoint a transvestite. So, when NOW complains that it isn’t a true woman they can be marginalized as a group who doesn’t welcome inclusion. The end.

  12. 12.

    The Other Steve

    I am disappointed we didn’t elect Ralph Nader.

    Nader would have had a properly consistent diverse cabinet with 68% non-hispanic white, 15% hispanic, 12% african american, 5% asian… of which 52% shall be female, and 48% shall be male. Their socio-economic make up would reflect that of the US population as well, with 1% making the top 1% of income, 20% making the top 20% of income, and the remainder making the bottom 80% of income.

    This would be the perfect socio-ethnically economic diverse cabinet. It would be nirvana, and all decisions would flow perfectly and efficiently from this hive.

    But then we didn’t elect Ralph Nader, so we’re stuck with this racist classless, homophobic, mysygonistic mutt for now.

  13. 13.

    Comrade Dread

    Or we could make it like a scavenger hunt.

    "Let’s see, I’ve got a woman, someone under four foot eleven, a Jewish American, twin Asian females, and an old white guy. Now I just need to find an African-American Transgendered Male with a tattoo over six feet tall to Secretary of Education and we’re done…"

  14. 14.

    Brachiator

    I saw this on CNN yesterday, and forgot about it until someone mentioned it in the comments. Roland Martin deserves a damned medal for this response to the question as to whether Obama’s picks are diverse enough (it started specifically with a special report featuring Kim Gandy from NOW claiming there are not enough women).

    Funny, I was led to believe that Hillary Clinton was the equivalent of 100 ordinary women.

    Give Roland Martin 2 medals. So far, Obama’s appointments (including Senator Clinton) are heavy on competence and light on the smug ignorance, incompetence and cronyism that marked the Dubya regime.

    Obama’s recent science advisory appointees alone call for a round of fist bumps. Has he got around to Surgeon General, yet?

    Those people who live in that special alternate universe where "diversity" and defined "communities" must be represented will have a fine old time at Festivus airing their grievances, but they have clearly under-estimated Obama’s ability to focus on real issues, as opposed to indulge in empty political theater.

    And oh yes, a gratuitous slap in the face to all those morons (it seems like it was just yesterday) who thought that Obama vacationing in Hawaii was another sign that he was "too exotic." Aloha, bitches. And Cokie Roberts, especially.

  15. 15.

    Comrade Stuck

    I honestly do not know how Democrats win as often as they do. With all the infighting and elbowing and whining and kicking and screaming

    It’s because on the bread and butter, kitchen table issues a large majority in this country agree with dems. It’s only when times are good that they are vulnerable to the wingnut spin of smear and fear. And obviously times aren’t too good right now.

    I may be wrong, but it seems to me that nominating a black man for Attorney General counts for quite a bit more than any two or three cabinet posts. All in all though, the raucus elbowing and posturing for pet issues and representation is totally normal for dems, especially after being out of power for so long.

    The wildcard difference is now the activist base has a megaphone from the Ethers. They are treading where no one has tread before, really, so I suppose some inartful big footing and overall silliness is not to be unexpected.

  16. 16.

    theturtlemoves

    @Scotty: I find your ideas fascinating and would like to participate in your holiday rituals. We have a transvestite mayor here in Oregon he could pick. Plenty of political experience. But frankly not a very attractive woman…

  17. 17.

    Comrade Jake

    A lot of this sort of whining has to be associated with a basic lack of confidence that liberals will actually be able to sustain some kind of run in the WH. People assume that it might be another long eight years after Obama before another Dem is elected POTUS. They figure they better stake their claims early.

  19. 19.

    mr. whipple

    "I honestly do not know how Democrats win as often as they do."

    A fucking MEN!

    I just knew that the minute Obama was elected the whole LW bitchfest/bitch industry would crank right up. The same concern trolls that bitched about what Obama was doing wrong in his campaign switched right over to bitching about how it was all wrong afterwards. The Rachael Maddows and David Corns and The Nations were gonna be in their bitchfest glory.

    One by one I’ve eliminated tabs in my browser…just can’t handle the relentless negativity. Today it was my Americablog tab. Since the Warren thing it’s been almost 100% bash Obama, yesterday bitching that Obama didn’t pick any Jews for Cabinet and today posting the NOW critique, and for weeks about not picking an out Gay. How big is this fucking cabinet, anyway? As far as I can tell, there are also no Native Americans or physically challenged or…or…or.

    I think it was LBJ that said, "liberals are never so happy as when they are unhappy." And there’s an entire pissypants industry of whiners that are now in their glory. Jeebus, it almost makes it worth losing to get them to focus their ire elsewhere for a bit.

  20. 20.

    Atanarjuat

    Liberal infighting is chicken soup for the conservative soul.

    Keep ladling up more delicious bowfuls of this intra-party bickering, leftists. I’m loving every spoonful.

  23. 23.

    Comrade Dread

    Jeebus, it almost makes it worth losing to get them to focus their ire elsewhere for a bit.

    Well, unfortunately (or fortunately, depending upon your point of view) the stench of Bush is strong, so it will take a LOT of serious screw ups before the Republicans start looking like an attractive alternative again.

    Like, nuclear holocaust, fire and brimstone, human sacrifices, dogs and cats living together kind of screwups…

  24. 24.

    Brick Oven Bill

    ‘Diversity’ seems to me to be a mechanism to weaken the proletariat, and move the country strongly to the right following the collapse of the welfare state. People are not very willing to put their lives on the line for someone of another race. See the prison system.

    If you think that populations are infighting now, just wait until hunger in introduced. The only societies that seem to be able to pull off socialism are largely ethnically homogeneous.

  26. 26.

    Comrade Jake

    There was a time early on in the cabinet appointments where some pundits were crying over the lack of Latinos in the cabinet. Sam Donaldson (moron extraodinaire) was on ABC’s This Week beside himself that Obama wasn’t appointing more Latinos, given how strongly they came out for him during the election.

    Oh the stupid, how it burns.

  28. 28.

    chris

    Give us a little credit. It only takes one moron out there for cable news to make a stink. In a nation of 300,000,000 there’s always going to be one moron. So you gotta blame the news.

  29. 29.

    r€nato

    Today it was my Americablog tab.

    Americablog lost me long ago and Eschaton is starting to do the same, something I would have considered unthinkable until recently.

  30. 30.

    TenguPhule

    Welcome to the Democrats, the party that tries to please everyone and ends up pleasing nobody.

  31. 31.

    Brachiator

    @mr. whipple:

    I just knew that the minute Obama was elected the whole LW bitchfest/bitch industry would crank right up. The same concern trolls that bitched about what Obama was doing wrong in his campaign switched right over to bitching about how it was all wrong afterwards. The Rachael Maddows and David Corns and The Nations were gonna be in their bitchfest glory.

    Perspective, people! As an antidote to whining and griping, we have this (Obama Photos Trigger Web Delirium):

    Not perhaps since John F. Kennedy’s own beach photos has a nation been so stirred to seek out revealing images of the incoming commander-in-chief. Searches are soaring for "obama pictures" and, in a realm normally reserved for prepubescent idols, "obama shirtless." Yes, the man so far designated to stimulate the economy, restore American dignity abroad, and save the planet from global warming, has inspired lookups more befitting a, dare we say, heartthrob.

    Reassuringly, other recent Obama searches do dwell on the more relevant issues at hand ("obama inauguration," "obama cabinet picks"). The photo exposé, however, once again underscores the celebritization of Obama (as a John McCain ad once famously pointed out).

    The latest act of online voyeurism comes from a confluence of three recent pictorial events….

    The third event is his holiday trip back to his home state. …
    To those who would defend the dignity of the Oval Office and all its inhabitants, will their brains eventually soften with four years of headlines like the New York Post’s "O, My Bod!" (with yet another name twist in paragraph one: "Just call him ‘Ab’-bama.’"). Forget tabloids—the Honolulu Star-Bulletin reported regular citizens turning into paparazzi packs. Meanwhile, a true paparazzo snuck a shot, and the hosting site was promptly overwhelmed by political oglers.

    His photogenic vim and vigor have long evoked comparisons to the charismatic Kennedy, who similarly inspired a brouhaha over his beach photo. Former Vanity Fair magazine editor Tina Brown, in a CNN interview about Obama’s enormous star power, claimed that Obama is aware of his appeal and "he deliberately dials back on his charisma" to spare the masses. (Brown by the way once ventured on Greek God territory and called Obama "Apollonian.")

    Compared to this, the recent news story that Obama has been given permission to use Lincoln’s Bible at his inauguration is small cheese. Besides, he couldn’t get a hold of Lincoln’s copy of the Koran.

  32. 32.

    woody

    How Do I Fuck My Base? Let Me Count The Ways.
    A poem by ‘Barack Obama’

    How do I fuck my base.
    Let me count the ways?
    I fuck them by reaching out to homophobic pastors
    and the bigoted throngs they represent.
    I fuck them by embracing war-mongering apparatchiks
    and the neo-con wet dreams they blindly followed.
    I fuck them by allowing war-criminals and torturers
    to escape the punishment they so richly deserve.
    I fuck them by endorsing domestic spying
    and allowing the telecoms to profit from their complicity.
    I fuck them and smile
    as I reach out to everyone but them.

  35. 35.

    r€nato

    8 years of the worst possible Republican president short of Dickhead Cheney himself, the possibility of at least four years of Palin being a heartbeat away from the presidency, and we get the first African-American president in there, an uncommonly gifted statesman (not just a politician) and a beacon of hope to the entire world… plus a Democratic Congress…

    …and some people are dying to rip him to pieces already.

    There’s just no making some people happy. Maybe McCain should have won after all.

  36. 36.

    jrg

    Obama should hire whoever bitches the most, because everyone knows that whiners get shit done.

    I’d like to add that there should be a government mandate to hire Women’s Studies majors to do everything from designing bridges to performing open heart surgery.

    Sheesh. I know (and work with) a lot of successful women and minorities. They are all very different, but one thing they have in common is the fact that they consistently produce results, not excuses or tirades about entitlement.

  40. 40.

    RedLetter

    no party this fractious and petty and short-sighted could ever win anything, especially when they willingly feed a media environment that just LOVES this kind of BS story

    If you asked either party to design an aquatic animal. Republicans would build a Shark, and Democrats would build a Platypus. I say this as a Democrat.

  41. 41.

    Laura W

    Obama is aware of his appeal and "he deliberately dials back on his charisma" to spare the masses.

    Well, duh, ‘cuz like 876 women fainted at his appearances over the last months.
    Notice how he was always the first one to spot the vapors in action? Quick to call out for EMS and always "happened" to have a bottle of his own water to pass back to the swooner?
    Dude knows his power.
    I’m predicting he’ll do an Al Gore and grow a beard and gain 90 lbs while in office. Not that this keeps me from thinking Al is still gorgeous, mind you.
    Good thing Michelle "keeps him humble".
    In all seriousness, I hope their relationship is as solid and monogamous as they portray.
    Shit. There I go again, fixating on other peoples’ relationship dynamics.
    I might need to go get a life soon.

  42. 42.

    SGEW

    I WANT MY GODDAMN PURITY PONY

    srsly.

    What part of "Magical Unity Pony" do these people not understand?

    (I still think John Cole’s semi-quasi-notreallybutactuallymaybe-sarcastic "MUP" designation for Obama is one of the most spot-on nicknames yet for our President-Elect)

    Also:

    There I go again, fixating on other peoples’ relationship dynamics.

    After seein’ the latest paparrazzi shots of "Ab-Bama" in Hawaii (Spam Musubi represent, bra!), I’m having a hard time not fixating on his . . . um . . . "relationship dynamics" as well. Ahem.

  44. 44.

    Comrade Dread

    There I go again, fixating on other peoples’ relationship dynamics.

    Silly Democrat, fixating on the personal life of the President is for Republicans.

    Finding perceived slights and slaps to the face in every action, inaction, subtext, non-text, nonsense that the President does (or fails to do) is for Democrats.

  45. 45.

    grandpajohn

    mr. whipple

    You are right on target especially about america blog. I am about ready to do the same. I just posted them that they are weird, because they get their kicks out of beating dead horses.
    can anyone find a statement either pro or con about warren that has not been posted at least a dozen times. and that is just on america blog .
    .evidently gay marriage is the only fucking problem in the world. God what a bunch of whiners, they are turning off people that support them . someone should send them a copy of the book " How to win friends and influence people" since they are doing just the opposite.

  46. 46.

    BC

    I can’t wait until the criticism centers around policy. We Dems have a lot of disagreements, so we should be able to have someone criticize every policy Obama proposes. I think we would do very well without the Republicans at all – let them just wither and die – the Democrats can be the governing party and opposing party at the same time, and do both with integrity and more intelligence than anything the Republicans offered the past 8 years. We provide our own checks and balances.

  47. 47.

    demkat620

    We win because our kind of crazy is not as scary as the right wing kind of crazy.

    Plus we have better snacks.

  48. 48.

    Just Some Fuckhead

    @grandpajohn:

    can anyone find a statement either pro or con about warren that has not been posted at least a dozen times. and that is just on america blog .
    .evidently gay marriage is the only fucking problem in the world. God what a bunch of whiners, they are turning off people that support them . someone should send them a copy of the book " How to win friends and influence people" since they are doing just the opposite.

    Too late for me. I no longer support the gay rights movement since it’s about censoring differing viewpoints.

  49. 49.

    Zifnab

    I’m cranky today.

    It’s a Festivus Miracle!

    Also worth noting, if Colin Powell hadn’t been black we totally would have found those WMDs in Iraq. Just shows you what affirmative action gets you. What’s more, look how the wrong color/gender/religious people in the wrong cabinets have totally messed up the Bush Administration? Old white guy in the Treasury Department? Blam! Economic meltdown. Woman in the Department of Education? Zoop! Test scores down the drain. Another lesbian as head of the State Department? Ka-Pow! Eight less years of peace in the Middle East.

    And am I the only one who thinks Michael Chertoff and Henry Paulson are just the same guy plus or minus a beard?

  50. 50.

    mey

    Geez, John, what kind of fucking Festivus Spirit is this? It’s time for the Airing of the Grievances. Just wait for the Feats of Strength. 10,000 DFL/DFHs on a Twister mat trying to contort themselves to the screams from Dirty Fucking Flat-Earthers, "Left foot black! Right foot white! Left hand white! Right hand black!"

  52. 52.

    Perry Como

    People are not very willing to put their lives on the line for someone of another race. See the prison system.

    zomg, I’ve been missing this? This is pure Hal Turner(FBI), VDare, Stormfuck trolling gold.

  54. 54.

    p.a.

    I honestly do not know how Democrats win as often as they do. With all the infighting and elbowing and whining and kicking and screaming, the fact that Clinton was elected twice and now Obama in the past 20 years just shows how bad the Republicans are. Otherwise, no party this fractious and petty and short-sighted could ever win anything, especially when they willingly feed a media environment that just LOVES this kind of BS story

    Can John go from Republican to Democrat to Green/Libertarian/Natural Law/other assorted splinter-crank party in the space of 3 short years? Being a late 20th-early 21st century Democrat seems to be able to do that to people.

  55. 55.

    SGEW

    What’s more, look how the wrong color/gender/religious people in the wrong cabinets have totally messed up the Bush Administration?

    Which is why the Obama Administration should be staffed entirely by blind queer Native American transsexual apatheistic red-headed ambidextrous paraplegic little people. With mustaches.

    Now that’s Change You Can Believe In!

  57. 57.

    TheHatOnMyCat

    I reach out to everyone but them.

    Hm. I get email from them 2, 3 times a week. Snail mail too, not as often.

    " …. out of many, we are one …."

    "Please accept our deepest thanks. We will never forget you."

    Barack and Michelle Obama

  58. 58.

    jenniebee

    Firefly fans are egregiously underrepresented in the Obama cabinet.

    This would be a slap in the face to Adam Baldwin, except we can’t find anyone to deliver the slap (he looks like he’d hit back). Besides, every time he sees Michelle Obama he says "I’ll be in my bunk" and then we don’t see him for a while.

  59. 59.

    TheHatOnMyCat

    blind queer Native American transsexual apatheistic red-headed ambidextrous paraplegic little people.

    Check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check.

    Okay, gang’s all here. Welcome to my neighborhood.

  63. 63.

    liberal

    This is the most utterly useless conversations that exists every four years, because folks always do this, Republicans and Democrats.

    I agree—I despise this kind of tokenism.

  64. 64.

    The Moar You Know

    People are not very willing to put their lives on the line for someone of another race. See the prison system.

    @Brick Oven Bill: The habits of the involuntary residents of the US prison system are a perfectly acceptable surrogate example for trying to draw conclusions about American society at large, amirite?

    Christ. Sometimes you’re only a little stupid, and sometimes you are full-bore facepunched idiotic. This goes beyond that – you are drifting squarely into Paul L. territory.

  65. 65.

    Jason Eckelman

    @ John Cole The issue: inviting Warren in the first place was shitting on the gay community (see, I even cooked up a new cliche for you). What I meant by my comment is that you don’t (or won’t) understand what’s behind the gay community’s reaction to Warren being at the inauguration. You don’t think it’s a snub – you have made that crystal clear. I do. Also, you have made clear that you don’t think it’s a big deal in any event. I do. So, that’s what I meant. No amount of going over this is going to make you understand why this is pissing off the gay community. You have the right to think this is a bunch of nonsense, and I have the right to think you’re completely wrong. So, that’s it. I’m not going to post anymore on it because it’s pointless – just thought I’d clarify that before I sign off for good.

    Cheers~

  67. 67.

    Comrade Stuck

    Watching Shuster on MSNBC and he’s asking ’bout Obama, the question we all want answered, of course right after the explanation of why his preznitcency has failed. And that is why is the p-elect being photographed in swimming trunks? And is that a slap in the cheeky cheek cheeks?

  68. 68.

    sgwhiteinfla

    Prepare for another hissy fit. Joe Lowery just told David Shuster that he has never said he agrees with gay marriage but he does endorse civil unions.

    Oh Noes, another bigot on the inauguration program. What is we gone do?

    snark

  70. 70.

    Laura W

    @Wini: A Wini Sighting!
    A sage, longtime B-J poster told me: "Cranky comes and goes. Sometimes we just are."
    Deep, huh?
    I’m thinking of changing my 2009 B-J handle to "Cranky Pants", as a matter of fact.
    How goes law school?

  72. 72.

    Genine

    Obama, yesterday bitching that Obama didn’t pick any Jews for Cabinet and today posting the NOW critique, and for weeks about not picking an out Gay.

    Nancy Sutley is an openly gay woman. She was picked as chairman of Environmental Quality as part of his science team. She is the first openly gay person to be picked for his cabinet.

    But I guess it doesn’t count because Rick Warren is giving a three minute prayer.

  73. 73.

    Genine

    I’m cranky today.

    Not surprising since you said you vacillate between cranky and pissed off. There was a 50% chance it was going to happen.

  75. 75.

    SGEW

    Dennis Prager, Dennis Prager . . . why is that name so familiar?

    Keith Ellison, D-Minn., the first Muslim elected to the United States Congress, has announced that he will not take his oath of office on the Bible, but on the bible of Islam, the Koran.

    He should not be allowed to do so — not because of any American hostility to the Koran, but because the act undermines American civilization.

    Oh yeah. That guy.

  76. 76.

    mr. whipple

    "mr. whipple

    You are right on target especially about america blog. I am about ready to do the same. I just posted them that they are weird, because they get their kicks out of beating dead horses."

    Well, I can see their point. Really. It’s just that I can’t stand monomaniacal posting of any stripe…whether it’s the hemp people or the gold standard people or the fetus people. To me, it’s counterproductive and frankly boring as shit.

    The media will do its part to whip up the controversy, but even without them there is an entire LW outrage industry that is worse when a dem is potus then when a gooper is…it’s a freaking goldmine for their sanctimonious little circular firing squads of purity and ‘you-owe-me-isms’.

    "Joe Lowery just told David Shuster that he has never said he agrees with gay marriage .."

    ZMOG!!!!! The fact is no one would have been acceptable. A Catholic? Jeebus, think what that would have wrought. Probably 20% of the LW doesn’t want any religious speaker at all, let alone being able to agree with any particular one.

  78. 78.

    JL

    @D-Chance.: Probably not a good post for me. The hubby of 32 years moved to live with his sister in the mountains of John’s state. I obviously didn’t listen to Prager’s advice. Maybe it’s time to visit the festivus link.

  80. 80.

    mey

    I think pedophiles are pretty pissed off that Warren lumped them in with the gays.

    Arkansas residents, too.

  82. 82.

    Reverend Dennis

    @Comrade Stuck:
    Here’s the good part:

    The two were accused of being in cahoots with more than a dozen lenders to defraud minority home buyers, most of whom had imperfect credit records.

    Weren’t the wingers insisting that forcing banks to grant loans to unqualified minorities was the cause of the whole collapse?
    This should take the Marc Rich pardon off of the table when Eric Holder comes up for confirmation.

  83. 83.

    iluvsummr

    At least the whiners in the Democratic party haven’t yet got to the point where they declare their preference for McCain and Palin. Call me when that happens, that would be something to see.

  84. 84.

    Comrade Stuck

    @Reverend Dennis:

    This should take the Marc Rich pardon off of the table when Eric Holder comes up for confirmation.

    Yep, and the oft quoted wingnut meme of Rich being a Dem supporter and contributor.

    What’s more, Toussie’s father gave $28,500 to the Republican National Committee this year, according to a RAW STORY analysis of federal campaign finance records available at the nonpartisan campaign finance watchdog Open Secrets

  87. 87.

    Laura W

    @Just Some Fuckhead: HA! I was all set to come back here and swoon over the gorgeous lake and the lighting and the cozy village feel and how warm and fuzzy it made me (of course I had to go back thru puppies and bunnies, too) and then I clicked on Baby Jeebus being thrown under the train.
    Now THAT is a Christmas Miracle.
    Great job. Your kids must think you are the bomb.
    (Was that your pool table?)

  89. 89.

    John Cole

    @JL: I am sorry to hear that, JL.

    On a happier topic, is there anything better than a white pizza with spinach, onions, tomatoes, and mushrooms?

    + two ice cold diet A & W root beers.

    Go team.

  90. 90.

    Wini

    Hi Laura! I am on my Blackberry, so I can’t "reply" to your comment (or more likely I don’t know how).

    Law school… is law school :-) I drove through all sorts of wintry weather to make it "home" for Christmas.. I think that is part of the source of my crankiness. How are you?

    Wini +2

  91. 91.

    Laura W

    @John Cole: Yes. Add garlic, olives (Greek) and pesto to the pizza, and a bottle of Meridian 2006 Pinot. My new favorite value wine.
    Diet Root Beer? Really? Are you OK?

  95. 95.

    Comrade Dread

    On a happier topic, is there anything better than a white pizza with spinach, onions, tomatoes, and mushrooms?

    Carne Asada, guacamole, warm corn tortillas, and some fine tequila.

  96. 96.

    JL

    @John Cole: Maybe your should do another post about Subarus and hippies. The pizza sounds good. Have you ever tried artichokes instead of the spinach? Awesome. I’ve been a fan a long time.

  97. 97.

    JL

    @Laura W: On a previous post, I noticed that you mentioned the new pics about Obama. I called a friend and said that I was personally concerned because I also noticed the pictures. I did not want to come across like the Peggy Noonan’s of the world drooling about Bush in a flight suit. She mentioned that it was not comparable because looking at Obama was admiring his healthy outlook on life and looking at Bush that way was about sex. What do you think?

  98. 98.

    Laura W

    @JL:

    Have you ever tried artichokes instead of the spinach?

    Why choose? Have both! And add goat cheese. Did we say eggplant? I forget.
    (ppsssssstttt: The people with cars are fighting the people with bikes over in the Festivus thread. I think we are doing this holiday justice.)

    Speaking of bikes…didn’t I once tell you I could bike to your M-I-L’s from my house? If you are still friendly with her and visit, let me know. We’ll do lunch. Or dinner. Or drinks. Or all three.

  100. 100.

    Reverend Dennis

    What’s more, Toussie’s father gave $28,500 to the Republican National Committee this year, according to a RAW STORY analysis of federal campaign finance records available at the nonpartisan campaign finance watchdog Open Secrets.

    Hmmmm. Wonder how much he gave to AIPAC.

  101. 101.

    Laura W

    @JL: I think your friend is full of shit and wants Obama for sex, bad.
    Not that anyone in their right mind, straight female, bi, or gay male, would blame her.
    I don’t even think Rick Warren would blame her at this point, frankly.
    (Disclaimer: I mean NO disrespect to our POTUS-E. After witnessing Bush-chokes-on-a-pretzel-watching-football on a mountain bike, and Bill-double-fries-with-that jogging into a doughnut shop, you are just not going to tell ME that I should be ashamed of my visceral reaction to Obama. He’s hot. Deal.
    (And so is his wife.)

  102. 102.

    Comrade grumpy realist

    The people over at Pandagon have been having a Merry Olde Tyme mocking Prager’s nitwittedness: "uh, dude, there’s a reason why we stopped thinking marital rape was An Acceptable Thing….you might want to join the modern world." (And the modern legal system, come to that.)

    Commentators have also pointed out that Prager has been divorced twice already, and that his views on wifey providing-sex-to-the-husband-on-demand might have had some relevance….

  105. 105.

    JL

    Have you ever tried the soda Moxie. It’s one of the oldest carbonated beverages in the U.S. (1876) My pup is named in honor of the soda.

  107. 107.

    p.a.

    add feta and a shake of crushed red pepper to the pizza. (or as we called it growing up, "lapizz’")! marinated artichoke hearts or water packed?

    rootbeer? i’ll try it but i’m not enthusiastic. coke or a lager with pizza for me.

    if you like it now, wait ’till actual policies get implemented. it’s a truism that some tents can get too big.

  108. 108.

    South of I-10

    Y’all have been busy. Happy Festivus! I pretty much agree with John regarding the topic at hand. As for the Prager article referenced above, if he questions why he isn’t getting any, perhaps a mirror would be helpful.

  109. 109.

    Wini

    LOVE diet root beer, but only A&W.and I just found out today that Fresca is diet.. I had no idea.

    Laura, I would love to comment more often, but people here are so damn sharp, as noted by many before me,and it can be somewhat intimidating :-) Rest assured, I am a near-constant lurker.

  110. 110.

    Cain

    @theturtlemoves:

    @Scotty: I find your ideas fascinating and would like to participate in your holiday rituals. We have a transvestite mayor here in Oregon he could pick. Plenty of political experience. But frankly not a very attractive woman…

    Wait, you’re talking about Portland’s mayor? Damn, he’s one pretty boy. I knew he was gay when I saw how he dressed up. I didn’t really care about whether he was though, cuz well..

    cain

  113. 113.

    p.a.

    Wini
    LOVE diet root beer, but only A&W.and I just found out today that Fresca is diet.. I had no idea. Laura, I would love to comment more often, but people here are so damn sharp, as noted by many before me,and it can be somewhat intimidating :-) Rest assured, I am a near-constant lurker.

    Haven’t read the labels lately, but for a while I believe Fresca and Tab were saccharine bitter-enders, not having made the move to aspertame or whatever is ‘hot’ now.

    And you shouldn’t be any more intimidated than if you were having a conversation in a pub. Unless you are a troll. Of course, if the proprietor here is having a bad day…

  114. 114.

    Laura W

    @JL: What JL said, Wini.
    Not everyone here is sharp (have you looked around lately?) Everyone has their little niche of idiot savant specialityism.
    Thus the "juice" part.
    For cripe’s sake…you’re in law school. That only makes you 98x smarter than me and I blather all the time, it seems.
    Sorry. I meant to inspire you.
    Fail.

  115. 115.

    Comrade Stuck

    @p.a.:

    Of course, if the proprietor here is having a bad day

    Well, if that were a limiting factor BJ would be a cricket farm. And Wini, no need to feel intimidated if you keep in mind that most here are just smart alicks with a keyboard. Excepting Moi’ of course. :)

  116. 116.

    kay

    It’s funny. For the first time in years I really like being a Democrat.

    I think some liberal ideas and approaches have been absolutely vindicated, particularly on the economy. That’s not the same as "the ideas and approaches of Democrats" of course, but it’s as close as I’m going to get.

    I never minded the herding cats aspect of the Democratic Party, even when we were losing. When I’m not tearing my hair out, I just enjoy the hell out of that.

  117. 117.

    Wini

    This is very funny :-) I love this place. Also, I’m somewhat of a non-traditional student.. so I have worked for the last 10 years or so, and continue to do so while going to school. Yes, I’m nearly certifiable !

  118. 118.

    JL

    @Wini: Then you definitely fit here!! By the way did you air your grievance? My big one was the former PTA president and mayor of Wasilla and her rants about who is and who isn’t a real American.

  119. 119.

    Brick Oven Bill

    This is pure Hal Turner(FBI), VDare, Stormfuck trolling gold.
    The abuse. Allow me to clarify, and if you can find hate tell me where.

    The whole Republican-Democrat thing is just a takeoff on the tribal cohesion instinct that has been bred into us from back when our ancestors were banging each other over the head with rocks. The ability of a group to act cohesively, like a school of fish, increased the likelihood of survival and DNA propagation.

    The way I see it, this instinct would have been suppressed in civil societies where the ability to act in specialized organizations (irrigation, manufacture, mechanized armies), was more valuable to propagating DNA than protecting your sibling from a guy with a rock. The Age of Oil has further suppressed this instinct as everybody is presently provided for in rich countries.

    So, The Moar You Know is correct in noting that prison populations are not a good analogy so long as civil society remains functioning. But the fact that whites in mixed prisons all seem to join gangs, leads me to believe that the tribal cohesion instinct is a suppressed trait, not an extinct trait in whites.

    The charge of ‘not diverse enough’ is the tribal cohesion instinct in non-whites wanting ethnocentric representation. This instinct is stronger in these groups because of historic poor treatment, often at the hands of whites, and residence in the US for a shorter period of time. People don’t leave their homes in many parts of Central America because there is a very real chance of getting shot by a rival. Think also Africa and the Middle East.

    Personally, I wish Americans were evolved enough to simply pick the most qualified people to be our leaders. Ain’t gonna happen, see CNN. Since the monied classes are more or less homogeneous and are unified by greed, thus my theory on the right wing conspiracy. A Bolshevik-style uprising is now impossible in America.

  120. 120.

    Wini

    JL: I have a few.. But I can’t articulate very well right now (+4)

    I am reading "Why We Suck" (Dr. Denis Leary), so I guess I would say I agree with some things he mentions.

  121. 121.

    JL

    @Brick Oven Bill: I can only speak for myself but I know that I want an America with a strong Middle Class. It’s not only the wealthy that have degraded the middle class, it’s the shoppers looking for the best price. Locally there are super markets that pay above minimum wage to their employee with good benefits but their employees shop at Walmart to stretch their dollars without realizing that they are hurting their own job. It’s like the search for the bottom. There is great uproar about the automobile unions earning a few more dollars that foreign car companies. If those unions were not there, wages would be even lower across the board. Like Walmart, the foreign car companies would not have the incentive to pay decent wages. It’s definitely a top problem, but it’s also a bottom problem also. We need to reeducate our consumers. It’s worth paying a few pennies more for a more stable, healthy environment.

  122. 122.

    EL

    I agree, John. I’m female and Jewish, and I suppose I could whine about the number of either in the cabinet, or in other high positions.

    Instead, I’d rather say I’m GRATEFUL that Obama apparently picked for competence, rather than trying to satisfy every subset of geographic, ethnic, sexual orientation, etc.

  123. 123.

    PETE

    I dropped Americablog too. You could not possibly satire Aravosis at this point. He could not be more whiny. First the 9/11 Truthers and now this?

  125. 125.

    Comrade Stuck

    OT

    Today’s lesson for wingnut logic. Mary Katherine Ham from The Weekly Slander gives her take on the OBlago report.

    The whole scenario comes off a little shady, so why release the report this way if there’s nothing untoward in it?

    an open thread would be nice.

  126. 126.

    Vincent

    I shrug at all this. People like to bitch whether they’re Democrat or Republican. I don’t see it causing any harm so who the hell cares? Yeah, all this infighting is messy and can be stupid and silly at times but the alternative is to be mindless lock-step Republicans.

    Or in other words, John Cole, take a chill pill. The republic will still be around next month regardless of how much complaining there is about how diverse his Cabinet is or who he chooses to give his invocation.

  127. 127.

    mapaghimagsik

    Okay, I’m enormously unread, because the only person I see making any kind of grand statement like this is on your Blog.

    Its why I read it so, because I’m groovin on the minutia.

    I do find this current fetish a bit irritating, and ignites my Christophobia, but that only adds to the Festivus miracle.

  128. 128.

    Brick Oven Bill

    JL;

    I would like to protect the Middle Class as well. This is why I support tariffs. Worldwide protectionism hurt America during the ‘Great Depression’ BECAUSE AMERICA WAS THE WORLD’s BIGGEST EXPORTER BACK THEN.

    America is now the world’s biggest importer. Protectionism helped England during the Great Depression because England was an importer at the time, and the tariffs created English jobs. Modern trade restrictions can do nothing but help the American Middle Class. America is food independent and energy independent, once we choose to be.

  129. 129.

    kommrade reproductive vigor

    Der Missbrauch. Erlauben Sie mir zu erklären und wenn Sie Hass finden können, zu erklären mir wo. Die vollständige Republikanisch-Democrat-Sache ist gerade ein Start auf dem Stammes- Zusammenhanginstinkt, der in uns von der Rückseite gezüchtet worden ist, als unsere Vorfahren über dem Kopf mit Felsen sich schlugen. Die Fähigkeit einer Gruppe, wie eine Schule der Fische zusammenhängend zu fungieren, erhöhte die Wahrscheinlichkeit des Überlebens und DER DNA-Ausbreitung. Die Weise, die ich sie, diesen Instinkt sehe, würde in den Zivilgesellschaften unterdrückt worden sein, in denen die Fähigkeit, in fachkundigen Organisationen (Bewässerung, Fertigung, mechanisierte Armeen) zu fungieren, zur Fortpflanzung von DNA als wertvoller war, Ihre Geschwister vor einem Kerl mit einem Felsen schützend. Das Alter des Öls hat weiter diesen Instinkt unterdrückt, wie jeder momentan für in reiche Länder bereitgestellt wird. So ist das Moar, das Sie kennen, korrekt, wenn er merkt, dass Gefängnisbevölkerungen nicht eine gute Analogie sind, solange Zivilgesellschaft arbeitend bleibt. Aber die Tatsache, dass alle Weiß in Mischgefängnissen scheint, Gruppen zu verbinden, führt mich, zu glauben, dass der Stammes- Zusammenhanginstinkt ein unterdrücktes Merkmal ist, nicht ein ausgestorbenes Merkmal im Weiß. Die Gebühr `des nicht verschiedenen enough ist der Stammes- Zusammenhanginstinkt in den Non-whites, die ethnocentric Darstellung wünschen. Dieser Instinkt ist in diesen Gruppen wegen der historischen armen Behandlung, häufig an den Händen von Weiß und im Wohnsitz in den US während eines kürzeren Zeitabschnitts stärker. Leute verlassen ihre Häuser nicht in viele Teile von Mittelamerika, weil es eine sehr reale Wahrscheinlichkeit des Erhaltens des Schusses durch einen Rivalen gibt. Denken Sie auch Afrika und den Mittlere Osten. Persönlich wünsche ich, dass Amerikaner genug entwickelt wurden, um die qualifiziertesten Leute einfach auszuwählen, um unsere Führer zu sein. Wird nicht geschehen, sehen CNN. Da die monied Kategorien mehr oder weniger homogen sind und durch Habsucht vereinheitlicht werden, so meine Theorie auf der Rechteverschwörung. Ein Bolshevik-Art Aufstieg ist jetzt in Amerika unmöglich.

  130. 130.

    Rosali

    I’m a little late to the party but I have a Festivus grievance. I don’t like slapstick humor so I never found Kramer to be funny. Then, after seeing Michael Richards’ racist nigg*r rant, I don’t even want to give him 2 minutes of my attention. I did not buy his apology since I think he was expressing a deep-rooted racism that resides within him. He can slink off to obscurity for all I care.

  135. 135.

    cleek

    JC, you’re reading my mind with this stuff. the Dems’ uniting principle is something like "there must be a better way" – they just can’t agree on what that way is, but they know everyone else is wrong.

    of course Will Rogers was onto this decades ago.

  136. 136.

    cmorenc

    I thought Obama being elected POTUS made him such a uber-quota-smasher diversifier all by himself that he could appoint a cabinet comprised of nothing but Minnesotans of the palest, blondest Swedish ancestry available. I’ll bet he could even find a transgendered lesbian among that crowd to fill *that* quota at the subcabinet level of his administration, provided the "blond" criteria could be relaxed just a bit if necessary.

  138. 138.

    Laura W

    @Comrade Stuck: I just skimmed that (which was far more attention than it deserves) and I’m not sure if I’m more nauseated or more angered that antiquated dreck like that even has a place in any venue today.
    I knew I should’ve logged off and gone to bed 5 minutes ago.
    What a fucking pile of crap.
    Really.
    An appropriate conclusion to Festivus, I suppose.

    In tough times like these, it would be nice to have a bit of that harmless White House mischief. And the Obamas are still a young couple. With ready access to government-sponsored childcare. No pressure of course, but would it be too much to ask to give the ol’ dice another roll? Maybe you can’t campaign with a son, but it sure sounds like fun to try and govern with one.

    Pop out another kid, guys, and this time, we want a Boy!

  139. 139.

    liberal

    @EL:

    Instead, I’d rather say I’m GRATEFUL that Obama apparently picked for competence…

    Re his economic apptments, would that it were so.

  140. 140.

    kommrade reproductive vigor

    @Comrade Stuck: Just wait until some fReichtard reads this and goes to DEFCON 1 because OMG, Michelle Obama must have aborted her baby daddy’s baby boys!

    However, I must confess to mild twinges of envy. If I handed in something that was 1/100th as incoherent and just plain stupid, I’d be fired. From a cannon. Meanwhile, this jackass shits all over a keyboard and gets a byline in fucking Time Magazine.

    P.S. Apologies to LauraW for pissing on her Festivus. But I know she won’t make too much of a fuss. That wouldn’t be ladylike. [Ducks, runs]

  143. 143.

    Comrade Stuck

    @kommrade reproductive vigor:

    There’s something in there for several PC groups to have a cow over. Feminists, Manists, Reichtard conspiracy nuts, and maybe even Druid Witches. The author could have been found frozen in a peat bog from another century and thawed back to life. Otherwise, unbelievable that Time would print it.

  144. 144.

    Conservatively Liberal

    Have you ever tried the soda Moxie. It’s one of the oldest carbonated beverages in the U.S. (1876) My pup is named in honor of the soda.

    Yes, once. I would rather drink a mix of Vegemite and Club Soda than drink another Moxie.

    I gotta gripe. Too damn many people have gripes.

    Carry on.

  145. 145.

    p.a.

    re:saving the middle class. i’m not usually as pessimistic as the following argument, but on my down days here’s what i think. a good argument can be made that in the US, without a strong left/labor party, the middle class that developed, really after WWII (unions tolerated, GI Bill, rest of the developed world a post war wreck) is the anomaly. The Gilded Age socioeconomic structure is the norm here, and we’ve returned to it in the last generation of free markets kleptocracy. Without a true left party, what we see now will be the norm for the US. And let’s face it, if the Democratic Party doesn’t morph into a true left-wing party after the last 8 years, it never will. (Left meaning not 5 year plans and collectivism, but a government active enough to provide equality of opportunity and enough equality of condition to allow everyone who can seize that opportunity to do so).

  147. 147.

    Comrade Stuck

    @p.a.:

    Obama’s new massive public works program sounds pretty left to me. I think it’s going to be something like a trillion dollars in the end. Given the circumstances, I don’t think the wingnuts have the votes to stop it and the only thing that would, would be dem in fighting to have their pet projects included. So, all in all, left will be the watchword, at least for economic issues for the near future. Wingnuts will howl socialism, but nobody will pay much attention. Let’s just hope things aren’t so screwed up by the Bushies, that they can be fixed.

  149. 149.

    Cain

    @jenniebee:

    Firefly fans are egregiously underrepresented in the Obama cabinet.

    Speaking of Firefly, knowing that the show has a mostly libertarian bent, I recently saw Die Hard Live Crappier or something like that. Jeezus, I just realized that every Die Hard movie is really some kind of republican propoganda film. I mean jeezus, it’s like Ayn Rand wrote the damn scripts. You got it all, incompetent government, lone guy who does it all. There was so many plot holes in Live Free or Die in a Fire that the mind boggles. Meh.

    Anyways.. what were talking about again? Wait, I’m on topic, I think I’m airing out a grievance! Oh happy day!

    cain

  152. 152.

    Cain

    @mapaghimagsik:

    Live Free or Die hard was especially horrid. A true Festivus miracle. I think movies like that are made for pure violence porn. Why go for the softcore stuff. Watch Saw.

    It didn’t even have the right kind of violence. I’m not doing horror that stuff gives me nightmares.

    cain

  153. 153.

    Tattoosydney

    @Just Some Fuckhead:

    Too late for me. I no longer support the gay rights movement since it’s about censoring differing viewpoints.

    Because it’s Fuckhead, I read an appropriate amount of snark into the stereotyping of the gay rights movement as only having one view, but then in making his argument Jason Eckelman does the same thing:

    No amount of going over this is going to make you understand why this is pissing off the gay community. You have the right to think this is a bunch of nonsense, and I have the right to think you’re completely wrong.

    The entire gay community is not pissed off, or at least not arguing that Warren is the most important and insulting thing to happen ever in the history of the world. We have as many different viewpoints as the damn Democrats (probably more!).

    I don’t want to turn this into a Warren thread (god forbid), but I can’t abide either "side" assuming that as a gay man I am part of some monolithic gay mind meld collective that all believe the same thing.

    Although, perhaps I’m the gay equivalent of an Uncle Tom, whatever that is, so don’t listen to me ….

  154. 154.

    Tattoosydney

    @kommrade reproductive vigor:

    I initially quoted this bit:

    In tough times like these, it would be nice to have a bit of that harmless White House mischief. And the Obamas are still a young couple. With ready access to government-sponsored childcare. No pressure of course, but would it be too much to ask to give the ol’ dice another roll? Maybe you can’t campaign with a son, but it sure sounds like fun to try and govern with one.

    and then said "What the fuck?" but I notice that Laura had the same reaction!

  155. 155.

    Maximus

    To quote the great Will Rogers:

    "Democrats never agree on anything, that’s why they’re Democrats. If they agreed with each other, they would be Republicans"

    and…

    "I am not a member of any organized political party. I am a Democrat."

    finally…

    "There are three kinds of men. The one that learns by reading. The few who learn by observation. The rest of them have to pee on the electric fence for themselves. "

  157. 157.

    kommrade reproductive vigor

    Maybe you can’t campaign with a son, but it sure sounds like fun to try and govern with one.

    It’s all fun and games until the little fucker decides he wants to be Prezdint jest like daddy when he grows up.

    Heh.

  158. 158.

    Xenos

    This country needs a Christian Socialist party, so people like me would be represented. But who would ever want to go to a convention run by such a group of wankers?

  160. 160.

    Michael D.

    As a gay, every four years I get annoyed that between 4-6% of the cabinet positions don’t go to us. And even if they eventually do, you know god damned well they’re going to go to the fucking light-skinned gays.

    The well tanned can never catch a break.

  162. 162.

    Duke of Earl

    @liberal:

    Re his economic apptments, would that it were so.

    Yep, some of Obama’s picks are outfuckingstanding, others not so much.

    Once again I’m going to point out that I can’t think of a single damn thing that "teh far left" has been as calamitously wrong about as the right and the "moderate centrists" have been about invading Iraq and financial deregulation.

  163. 163.

    Duke of Earl

    @Tattoosydney:

    We have as many different viewpoints as the damn Democrats (probably more!).

    Three words, Log Cabin Republicans.

    Fuck Godwin, I still think gays voting for Repubs is like Jews voting for Nazis, there is a substantial portion of the Repub base that would feed teh gay to the ovens with a smile and a happy song.

    And I’m about as het as it’s possible to get.

  164. 164.

    Duke of Earl

    @Maximus:

    "There are three kinds of men. The one that learns by reading. The few who learn by observation. The rest of them have to pee on the electric fence for themselves. "

    Now that is a universal truth that I’ve never read before. Thanks for posting.

  165. 165.

    mapaghimagsik

    @Cain:

    Good point. The Saw franchise is the whole helpless watching badly done traps kind of violence porn.

    DH is guy wank porn, which a guy in a dirty shirt who can’t work with anyone just ‘gets ‘er done’.

    There is a third type of violence porn, where the end justifies the means, and the guy puts on a hoodie, and does horrible things in the name of dead or endangered wife/son/daughter/religious figure etc.

  167. 167.

    Comrade Dread

    I just realized that every Die Hard movie is really some kind of republican propoganda film.

    Nah, Die Hard is another version of Bond, pure guy movies/fantasy. Nothing really deep or political about it.

    I liked the last three for what they were, but they weren’t great movies by any means. The first one, however, remains a classic.

    24 remains the closest Neocon fantasy. Now if they just made Jack Bauer a tubby pundit who is ridiculed by librul intellectuals, who saves the day by bein’ a man and torturin’ folks and ends up nailing the hot office chick, it’d be like watching the wet dreams of most of the National Review folks.

    The entire gay community is not pissed off, or at least not arguing that Warren is the most important and insulting thing to happen ever in the history of the world. We have as many different viewpoints as the damn Democrats (probably more!).

    No. You’re part of the collective. We all know you really all think, act, and believe the exact same way in every case about everything. You refer to yourself with plural pronouns. Therefore, if one gay guy is pissed, the entire collective is pissed.

    Frankly, I’m starting to wonder if the Republicans are right and you’re going to try to assimilate us and make us wear hair product and moisturizer… /humor

  169. 169.

    flywheel

    I am just so deeply disappointed that there have not been enough women appointed who I can imagine wearing a thong and a teddy with a pushup doohickey.

    I demand reparations!

    I regret my vote so deeply that I may just burn the xmas tree.

  170. 170.

    over_educated

    @Jason Eckelman: I don’t think that John is arguing that the Rick Warren thing is nto a snub to the gay community. He is arguing that waht is important is Obama’s policies regarding gay and lesbian rights. I’m not a Rick Warren fan (especially after Schaivo) but I understand the politics being played. Going apeshit on John for not being sufficiently outraged is counterporductive.

  171. 171.

    Gwendy

    Times like these, it pays to avoid cable news and most of the blogosphere and just enjoy your holiday snacks.

    Obama’s earning an 82% approval rating for his transition according to the latest CNN poll. That would be real Dems, Republicans and Independents weighing in.

  173. 173.

    Kerry Reid

    I’ve wanted to give Roland Martin a medal ever since he ripped Sarah Palin for her "community organizer" gibes at the GOP convention. But he got the last word election night when he said something like "I think Sarah Palin just learned what it is that community organizers do."

    Bush/Cheney gave us a black man as Secretary of State and a black woman as Secretary of State. Remind me again how that worked out? And no, I’m not saying that Powell and Rice failed because of race or gender — I’m pointing out that competence should trump demographic concerns.

    And Kim Gandy is a useless tool. She had letters all over the gay press in Chicago last spring crying about how we HAD to fully count Florida and Michigan for HRC or democracy-as-we-know-it would end. (Maybe NOW’s new slogan should be "When Women Cheat, Women Win!" Oooh, empowering!) I wouldn’t trust her to do the math on the cabinet posts, either.

  175. 175.

    jake 4 that 1

    Frankly, I’m starting to wonder if the Republicans are right and you’re going to try to assimilate us and make us wear hair product and moisturizer… /humor

    First we came for Mitt Romney…

    Shit, the guy with the pitchfork is getting impatient.

  177. 177.

    TenguPhule

    There is a third type of violence porn, where the end justifies the means, and the guy puts on a hoodie, and does horrible things in the name of dead or endangered wife/son/daughter/religious figure etc.

    See Punisher, Warzone the Movie for this trope.

  178. 178.

    Michael57

    Trope or tripe? You decide.

    Anyway, Left Blogsylvania has realized pretty quickly that acquiescence=obsolescence. No one wants to read a blog where the writer says how happy he is and how much he agrees with the administration. It’s a complicated world and we’ll all have plenty to complain about no matter who’s in charge.

    I’m just very happy it’s Obama.

  179. 179.

    gil mann

    I can’t abide either "side" assuming that as a gay man I am part of some monolithic gay mind meld collective that all believe the same thing

    Oh, great. Now I’m gay.

    (I think Cole’s dead wrong about the Warren invite and I’d probably agree with Aravosis if I could stand to read that horrid blog of his, but identity-politics determinism is college-kid bullshit)

  180. 180.

    Martin

    The private college I went to, which was almost universally white, launched a diversity campaign while I was there and solicited input from students. I derailed the entire effort by insisting that the campus needed more midgets. They didn’t know how to respond to that tactfully or to express why black and latino students were more important than little people, blind people, or any other group. They ultimately gave up.

    It was a rather entertaining few months for me.

  181. 181.

    Dave_No_Longer_Laughing

    When President Bush, when he first made his appointments, you had Colin Powell, who obviously was secretary of state. But one of the things people never talked about, there were four African-Americans who were in the number-two positions at the various departments, they were the ones who operated as the chief operating officers.

    Whaaaaat? Bush actually had black people in the cabinet? OH MY GOD! I’M GOING TO COME! I DIDN’T KNOW THIS AT ALL!!! YOU MEAN FOR THE LAST FOUR YEARS, THAT EVIL, RACIST, FASCIST, HITLERITE, AWFUL BUSH JUNTA HAD BLACK PEOPLE DOING MORE THAN TAKING OUT THE TRASH???

    Miracles just don’t cease. And here I was, all the time, BEING TOLD (by the media…) that the White House was for whites-only. Who knew?

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