Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Too often we hand the biggest microphones to the cynics and the critics who delight in declaring failure.

Take hopelessness and turn it into resilience.

The words do not have to be perfect.

The snowflake in chief appeared visibly frustrated when questioned by a reporter about egg prices.

Optimism opens the door to great things.

All hail the time of the bunny!

rich, arrogant assholes who equate luck with genius

Just because you believe it, that does not make it true.

There are some who say that there are too many strawmen arguments on this blog.

If you voted for Trump, you don’t get to speak about ethics, morals, or rule of law.

Museums are not America’s attic for its racist shit.

Relentless negativity is not a sign that you are more realistic.

Hey hey, RFK, how many kids did you kill today?

The National Guard is not Batman.

When you’re in more danger from the IDF than from Russian shelling, that’s really bad.

Hi god, it’s us. Thanks a heap, you’re having a great week and it’s only Thursday!

Beware of advice from anyone for whom Democrats are “they” and not “we.”

We still have time to mess this up!

Many life forms that would benefit from greater intelligence, sadly, do not have it.

How any woman could possibly vote for this smug smarmy piece of misogynistic crap is beyond understanding.

“Can i answer the question? No you can not!”

The real work of an opposition party is to oppose.

Hell hath no fury like a farmer bankrupted.

Innocent people do not delay justice.

You are here: Home / Archives for 2008

Archives for 2008

And The Train Wreck Continues

by | 293 Comments

This post is in: , ,

The big money Clinton backers, pissy that their candidate is doing poorly and stands no chance at winning unless the super-delegates overrule the voters, are putting the screws to Pelosi:

Twenty top Hillary fundraisers and donors have sent a scathing private letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, chastising her for publicly saying that the super-delegates should support the winner of the pledged delegate count and demanding that she say that they should make an “independent” choice.

Greg Sargent has the whole letter.

As someone new to the party, I have to say the awesomeness of the Democratic circular firing squad really can not be explained to outsiders. You can try to explain it, but it just doesn’t sink in until you are actually a part of it. The Bush administration and Republican rule has been an unmitigated disaster for this country, and the Clinton camp seems dead set on making sure we get four more years of it. Bush’s poll number are worse than syphillis, and yet the Clinton campaign and their supporters keep making me yearn for the decency and the integrity of the say-anything Romney crowd.

This primary has truly been full of win for me, and a real eye-opener. While the GOP is turning lemons into lemonade with McCain, the Democrats are showing the world they know how to turn filet mignon into a shit sandwich. Impressive work.

I think I am going to start drinking again.

And The Train Wreck ContinuesPost + Comments (293)

Random Thoughts

by | 93 Comments

This post is in: 

I am tired of talking about the primary, so here are some random thoughts I had during the last episode of John Adams:

1.) One thing I absolutely can not watch, and for some reason they insist on showing in every period piece that features war, is amputations. The thought of not being anesthetized, held down with a leather strap in your mouth while someone slowly saws off your appendage with an unsanitary and probably dull saw gives me fits. I have to change the channel. Somewhat related, I can not watch executions.

2.) The scene where Adams is at the dinner table in France, and is getting increasingly agitated while they are chattering idly well dressed to the nines and feels like he is in a surreal moment, reminds me of how I feel about the Democratic party. Are you all insane? Why the fratricide? Why are you doing this? Just stop. What the hell is wrong with you people?

3.) Everyone is so dirty. I seriously could not handle never showering. I remember going weeks in Kuwait without a shower, and then we would shower by dangling containers of water off the M1 gun tube. It sucked. I need my morning blast of scalding hot water and firm washcloth with clean soap.

Consider this an open thread.

*** Update ***

4.) How could I forget no painkillers or effective medicine, especially after my ear infection last week…

Random ThoughtsPost + Comments (93)

The “Do as I Say, Not As I Do” Candidate

by | 124 Comments

This post is in: , ,


Clinton with her new BFF, Richard Mellon Scaife. Next up, lunch with Ann Coulter.
“I want to run a very positive campaign, and I sure don’t want Democrats or supporters of Democrats to be engaging in the politics of personal destruction,” she said. “I think we should stay focused on what we’re going to do for America.”

Hillary Clinton, February 2007

What a difference a year makes:

Watching from 12 time zones away, I’ve tried to stay out of campaign blow-by-blow.

But if, as I assume is true based on Marc Ambinder’s report, the Hillary Clinton campaign is circulating a hit job from the American Spectator, this is simply disgusting. (Marc has just confirmed to me that indeed the article came in an on-the-record email from Phil Singer, the Clinton campaign spokesman.)

That the Clinton family would dignify the American Spectator, of all publications, is astonishing to anyone who was alive in the 1990s.

That they would bless this attempt to paint Merrill McPeak as an anti-Semite is grotesque.

Please make this stop. I swear I will eat my vegetables and work out more and donate time to charity. Just please make this stop.

The “Do as I Say, Not As I Do” CandidatePost + Comments (124)

Self-Inflicted Wounds

by | 85 Comments

This post is in: ,

Good news for the GOP:

A sizable proportion of Democrats would vote for John McCain next November if he is matched against the candidate they do not support for the Democratic nomination. This is particularly true for Hillary Clinton supporters, more than a quarter of whom currently say they would vote for McCain if Barack Obama is the Democratic nominee.

As would be expected, almost all Democratic voters who say they support Obama for their party’s nomination also say they would vote for him in a general election matchup against McCain. But only 59% of Democratic voters who support Clinton say they would vote for Obama against McCain, while 28% say they would vote for the Republican McCain. This suggests that some Clinton supporters are so strongly opposed to Obama (or so loyal to Clinton) that they would go so far as to vote for the “other” party’s candidate next November if Obama is the Democratic nominee.

Remember the Clintonite spin after their string of losses that “real” Democrats were not the base of Obama’s support? if you don’t you can check commenter “F’s” babble in this thread, most notably this. Regardless, the protracted fight has a bunch of people worried:

Democrats are increasingly nervous about their party’s protracted nomination fight, and some prominent figures are publicly warning that the party needs to act fast to avoid disaster.

Chief among these voices is Phil Bredesen, the two-term governor of Tennessee who is uncommitted to either Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) or Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.).

In an interview this week with Politico, Bredesen said flatly that if the contentious slog continues until the Democrats’ late-August convention in Denver, the party would have a vastly diminished chance of recapturing the White House.

Well, you know Governor Bredesen, you could do something about this rather than wringing your hands in anxiety. You could get off your ass and endorse someone. Put up or shut up.

Self-Inflicted WoundsPost + Comments (85)

Mostest Vettedest Candidate EVAH!

by | 138 Comments

This post is in: ,

Hillary’s lies about Tuzla, her lies about NAFTA, and her unwillingness to release her tax forms (she is terrified what is going to happen when the blue-collar workers she is courting see the money Bill has been raking in on the speaking circuit) while attacking Obama for not releasing his is getting her past statements a little long overdue attention from the press:

In light of Tuzla-gate (catchy, no?), reporters are going over past statements by Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-NY, (and Sen. Barack Obama, D-Illinois) to see if others don’t stand more rigorous examination.

One that may get renewed scrutiny is a story she told “Women in Military Service” in 1994 — that shortly after the end of the Vietnam war, she looked into joining the Marines.

In June 1994, Clinton told an organization trying to build a memorial for women who had served in the armed forces, that while living in Fayetteville, Arkansas, in 1975, “I decided that I was very interested in having some experience in serving in some capacity in the military. So I walked into our local recruiting office…”

Don’t worry, Hillaryis44 readers. We have been told she is the most vetted candidate EVER and, after all, she is ready to be CinC from day one, so this should be no big deal. I am sure all her past statements will check out.

*** Update ***

I should probably add that I think this is a completely stupid non-issue. I am just going to enjoy watching the Clinton team deal with all this little crap the press kicks up. Especially after how she and her scummy campaign team have conducted themselves in regards to Obama. So hey, just chalk this up to schadenfreude for me.

Mostest Vettedest Candidate EVAH!Post + Comments (138)

Great Moments In National Security

by | 32 Comments

This post is in: 

The government that insists you have your phone conversations snooped to keep us safe can not tie its own shoes. Consider:

Court documents show an armed man arrested in January near the Capitol allegedly had explosives in his truck and was trying to make and set off a large bomb.

Michael Gorbey, 38, of Rapidan, Virginia, was arrested January 18th for carrying a shotgun outside the Capitol. No one was injured in the incident that caused gridlock for hours on Capitol Hill. Police searched his truck and said at the time there were propane tanks and wires but no immediate danger.

Terrance Gainer, the Senate sergeant-at-arms, tells The Washington Post that police searched the vehicle again several weeks later and found “explosive material.”

Also consider:

The Defense Department mistakenly shipped nuclear-missile fuses to Taiwan more than 18 months ago and did not learn the items were missing until last week, Pentagon officials said Tuesday, deepening concerns about the security of the U.S. nuclear arsenal.

While the shipment did not include nuclear materials, the error is particularly sensitive because China opposes U.S. weapons sales to Taiwan, which Beijing regards as a breakaway province.

Officials with the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) sent four nose-cone fuse assemblies to Taiwan in August 2006 instead of four replacement battery packs for use in its UH-1 Huey helicopters. The fuses help trigger nuclear warheads on Minuteman intercontinental ballistic missiles as they near their point of impact.

I am moving to Montana with Tunch and a goat, some tools, some seeds, and some “How-To” books and going off the grid.

Great Moments In National SecurityPost + Comments (32)

Iraq Iraq Iraq

by | 32 Comments

This post is in: , ,

We are never going to leave:

Heavy fighting broke out Tuesday in two of Iraq’s largest cities, as Iraqi ground forces and helicopters mounted a huge operation to break the grip of the Shiite militias controlling Basra, and Iraqi forces clashed with militias in Baghdad. The fighting threatened to destabilize a long-term truce that had helped reduce the level of violence in the five-year-old Iraq war.

The fighting continued on Wednesday, and a spokesman for the Iraqi military said 40 people had been killed and 200 wounded in the two days of fighting in the southern city of Basra, according to The Associated Press. The spokesman, Col. Karim al-Zaidi, did not specify how many were militiamen, Iraqi soldiers or civilians caught up in the fighting.

The battles, along with indications in recent weeks that militia and insurgent attacks had already been creeping up, raised fears across Iraq that Moktada al-Sadr, the renegade Shiite cleric, could pull out of a cease-fire he declared last summer. If his Mahdi Army militia does step up attacks, that could in turn slow American troop withdrawals.

A few thoughts:

1.) The military always “wins” face-to-face combat. We have the superior training, weaponry, and firepower. Not sure how useful that is in this situation, but if it is a conventional battle, this may be something our guys relish after months of being sniped at and blown up by road-side bombs.

2.) If I were a paranoid conspiracy theorist, I would note that several sources have claimed the Mahdi army are revolting and backing out of their truce because our military was covertly targeting their leadership. What better way to keep troop levels the same so that our negotiated long-term agreement demands the US in Iraq forever than provoking a battle with behind the scenes assassinations.

3.) WHo knows what role Iran is playing in all this.

Total mess. We are never leaving.

Iraq Iraq IraqPost + Comments (32)