Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Those who are easily outraged are easily manipulated.

Let’s delete this post and never speak of this again.

“Alexa, change the president.”

The gop is a fucking disgrace.

Russian mouthpiece, go fuck yourself.

When I was faster i was always behind.

The National Guard is not Batman.

The “burn-it-down” people are good with that until they become part of the kindling.

Nancy smash is sick of your bullshit.

Motto for the House: Flip 5 and lose none.

Republicans seem to think life begins at the candlelight dinner the night before.

Technically true, but collectively nonsense

Incompetence, fear, or corruption? why not all three?

I’ve spoken to my cat about this, but it doesn’t seem to do any good.

He wakes up lying, and he lies all day.

They fucked up the fucking up of the fuckup!

There is no compromise when it comes to body autonomy. You either have it or you do not.

75% of people clapping liked the show!

When we show up, we win.

Republican speaker of the house Mike Johnson is the bland and smiling face of evil.

Too little, too late, ftfnyt. fuck all the way off.

It is not hopeless, and we are not helpless.

Not loving this new fraud based economy.

“Just close your eyes and kiss the girl and go where the tilt-a-whirl takes you.” ~OzarkHillbilly

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Archives for 2008

Connect The Dots

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Ron Fournier:

Never count the Clintons out. They are brilliant politicians who defied conventional wisdom countless times in Arkansas and Washington. But time is running out.

Two senior Clinton advisers, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the race candidly, said the campaign feels the New York senator needs to quickly change the dynamic by forcing Obama into a poor debate performance, going negative or encouraging the media to attack Obama. They’re grasping at straws, but the advisers said they can’t see any other way that her campaign will be sustainable after losing 10 in a row.

Poor debate performances or going negative. Why not both:

Sen. Hillary Clinton launched her first negative ad today in Wisconsin against rival Sen. Barack Obama, taking him to task for not signaling whether he will participate in a debate at Marquette University prior to the state’s Feb. 19 primary.

Obama is in Wisconsin on a campaign swing while Clinton is traveling through Texas. “With serious challenges facing the next president of the U.S., Wisconsin voters deserve to hear both candidates debate the issues that matter,” the Clinton campaign said in a statement. “Hillary Clinton has accepted an invitation to debate at Marquette University in advance of Tuesday’s primary, and is prepared to show she has real solutions for the problems facing residents of the Badger State.”

I am sure that is just a coincidence.

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Don’t Bet On Ohio

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Probably making the most out of a necessity, the Clinton campaign has gambled everything on big wins in Ohio and Texas to counteract Barack Obama’s ridiculous momentum in February states. Rudy Giuliani’s campaign manager thinks that is a great idea, and indeed recent polls have Hillary ahead by seventeen points.

That’s nice, but it won’t be enough. Let’s count off the reasons – a 17% win in both big states won’t provide enough extra delegates to overcome Obama’s lead, every poll is trending Obama’s way and Obama consistently outperforms the polls on election day. The last bit is especially interesting because i still don’t think that most people have entirely grokked what it means for a race with Obama in it. One Virginia poll had Obama up by 15 points, some last-minute tracking polls put him up by about 20; Obama won by almost 30 points.

Across the various states since February 5th it seems undeniable that Obama consistently outperforms expectations. This probably has a lot to do with momentum; polling necessarily happens before voting. But I suspect that a large part of the disparity comes from the fact that Obama is increasingly bringing in demographics that normally don’t vote (e.g. young voters, single women etc.) or normally don’t vote Democratic. I bet that pony mania is playing hell with likely voter formulas.

Anyhow, given that and the big mo’, I don’t think that a 17-point lead in Ohio is very good news for Clinton at all.

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The Weirdest Thing

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About this excellent report about the predatory lending practices of the “payday loan” racket is that not only is it a truly outstanding piece of journalism, but that it appeared in the WSJ of all places. There really can be a great divide from the fact free zone known as the WSJ editorial pages and what appears in the rest of that paper.

By the way, one of the reasons people on the right don’t understand why people are feeling the pinch despite the “glowing” economic news of the previous few years is the number of ways the banking and credit card industry (with an assist from their partners in congress) have found to well and truly screw people on the lower end of the economic spectrum. I am not going to say that those in their position are totally innocent, as they are not (read the story about the woman who had NO business buying the computer that exacerbated her economic problems), but the system has them set up to fail (older posts on the subject can be found here and here).

And while we are at it, read Robert Reich’s depressing assessment in the NYT today:

WE’RE sliding into recession, or worse, and Washington is turning to the normal remedies for economic downturns. But the normal remedies are not likely to work this time, because this isn’t a normal downturn.

The problem lies deeper. It is the culmination of three decades during which American consumers have spent beyond their means. That era is now coming to an end. Consumers have run out of ways to keep the spending binge going.

I really think the economy is melting down. I hope I am wrong.

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A Modest Question

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If private contractors insist on treating major crimes like gang rape about as seriously as using the boss’s parking space, it seems like there isn’t much incentive for the perps not to just shoot women after raping them. As long as the administration remains dead set on looking the other way while corporate chums make off with the reconstruction budget, and considering the PR problems when living victims talk to the press, where’s the downside?

Before anyone misunderstands my meaning, I don’t think much of murder as an accounting policy. The idea is inhuman and repellent, but that’s the point. Guaranteed crony contracts and minimal oversight are not just a waste of money, they create an incentive system that ensures fraud by management and crime by worker bees as inevitably as gravity pushes water downhill. Even granting that America had to knock over Saddam and park our blood and treasure in Iraq, which we didn’t, it still amazes me that the government rebuilt like a pack of morons who never hired a roofing contractor.

The absolutist kneejerk ideology that wrecked every aspect of Iraq is just part of Republican disease. It’s the basic reason why thinking conservatives like this blog’s proprietor won’t think of voting for even a seemingly reasonable Republican like John McCain. One “reasonable” guy won’t change party’s profound illness. Maybe an old-fashioned bleeding plus some fresh wilderness air will bring the patient back. Maybe even that won’t clean out DeLay corrupticons, Malkinite authoritarians and slobbering neocon torture fetishists, in which case it’s time to start shopping around for hospice care. Either way it’s gratifying to see large majorities recognizing that political power is no more in the patient’s best interest than America’s.

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Running the Numbers

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Josh Trevino runs the numbers for McCain:

The probable opponent there is now Barack Obama. Hillary Clinton is not out yet, but barring a stunning turnaround in the March 4th primaries in Texas and Ohio, she will continue to fade. Assuming this continues, it is worth comparing McCain and Obama as they performed in the handful of states they have both won so far. It is a short list of eight, and though we cannot assess the candidates in a direct contest — yet — we can compare the turnout for each. Suffice it to say that Barack Obama’s vote totals blow McCain’s out of the water. The states, and the percentage advantage for Obama, follow:

# Connecticut: Obama had 226% more votes than McCain.

# Delaware: Obama had 226% more votes than McCain.


# Illinois: Obama had 307% more votes than McCain.


# Maryland: Obama had 295% more votes than McCain.


# Missouri: Obama had 208% more votes than McCain.


# South Carolina: Obama had 200% more votes than McCain.


# Washington: Obama had 623% more votes than McCain.


# Virginia: Obama had 255% more votes than McCain.

This comparison is of limited utility, of course: the lopsided totals in places like Connecticut and Illinois may simply reflect the anemic Republican apparatus in each. But how to explain the comparative blowouts in Missouri, South Carolina, and Virginia? The Democrats aren’t just winning the turnout battle: they’re dominating it by orders of magnitude, even in Republican strongholds. Between the strange loss of the pro-war vote, and the massive Democratic turnout advantage to date, John McCain cannot afford to rest on his laurels, nor cruise to his inevitable nomination, if he wants to win in nine months.

I am beginning to think my theory (by theory, I mean wild speculation) is right- they know this is going to be a blowout, and Mccain is the fall guy. How many Huckabee votes are “conservatives” offering themselves the option to say “Don’t blame me, I voted for Huckabee” after the November blowout?

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