Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

In after Baud. Damn.

Hell hath no fury like a farmer bankrupted.

You know he’s going to shit a cat.

Republican also-rans: four mules fighting over a turnip.

When someone says they “love freedom”, rest assured they don’t mean yours.

Stand up, dammit!

… riddled with inexplicable and elementary errors of law and fact

I would gladly pay you tuesday for a hamburger today.

T R E 4 5 O N

American history and black history cannot be separated.

If you are still in the gop, you are either an extremist yourself, or in bed with those who are.

Trump should be leading, not lying.

Is it negotiation when the other party actually wants to shoot the hostage?

You are either for trump or for democracy. Pick one.

“Facilitate” is an active verb, not a weasel word.

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

Let’s not be the monsters we hate.

Polls are now a reliable indicator of what corporate Republicans want us to think.

“Everybody’s entitled to be an idiot.”

Teach a man to fish, and he’ll sit in a boat all day drinking beer.

Republicans are radicals, not conservatives.

Never give a known liar the benefit of the doubt.

Give the craziest people you know everything they want and hope they don’t ask for more? Great plan.

Finding joy where we can, and muddling through where we can’t.

You are here: Home / Archives for 2008

Archives for 2008

Fake But Accurate

by | 79 Comments

This post is in: ,

Oops:

A well-publicized weekend photo-op for Mitt Romney turns out to have been missing a piece of information that might have undermined its credibility: the unemployed single mom at the center of the event was the mother of a Romney staffer.

Local and national media outlets, including Politico.com, reported that Romney was the picture of empathy as he sat at the Marshall, Mich. kitchen table of 51-year-old Elizabeth Sachs, a single mother of two who lost her job as a retail manager – as well as her health insurance – and is running out of money as she tries to sell her house to move to Florida.

What wasn’t reported – and what the Romney campaign did not reveal at the time – was that one of Sachs’ sons, Steve Sachs, is a paid employee of Romney’s campaign, organizing five counties in Michigan.

I tried to call the Romney Campaign HQ to get Hugh Hewitt’s response, but he was unavailable. The WS branch office, headed by Dean Barnett, did have an op-ed fluffing Romney in the NY Times, though, and it featured this gem:

I hope Mr. Romney does well enough in Michigan today that he gets the opportunity to introduce the public to the real Mitt Romney. He is a wonderful and gifted guy. It would be nice if he and his campaign allowed the voters in on that secret.

Erick at Red State makes the following prediction:

I predict that, not only will he relaunch his campaign, but it’ll be themed as “unleashing the real Mitt Romney.” There’ll be a purge of consultants, etc. I take this as anticipating my prediction.

Betcha he is right.

*** Update ***

From the comments, someone asks if this is the same Elizabeth Sachs?

She says it’s a clear sign from God. That sign came in the form of a potato.

Marshall resident Elizabeth Sachs says she was making a twice baked potato for her son on April 4th. When she sliced the potato low and behold a figure of a cross inside.

Sachs does not believe this was a random message.

She says she was fired from her job and remains unemployed. She’s had to give up her dream home because she can no longer afford it.

Anyone know?

Fake But AccuratePost + Comments (79)

Where Did It Go?

by | 160 Comments

This post is in: 

Staring into the abyss:

Citigroup announced a steep cut in its stock dividend and another big investment by foreign investors on Tuesday after taking another big write-down related to subprime securities and posting a $9.83 billion loss for the fourth quarter.

Beginning what is expected to be a grim week for financial company earnings, Citigroup said it was writing down $18.1 billion because of soured mortgage-related investments.

As part of a plan to shore up Citigroup, the chief executive, Vikram S. Pandit, said the company would eliminate 4,200 jobs and cut its dividend by 41 percent, to 32 cents from 54 cents a share.

Citigroup also turned to wealthy foreign governments again and announced the sale of a $12.5 billion stake to the Kuwait Investment Authority and several others, including Prince Walid bin Talal of Saudi Arabia. In November, the company sold a $7.5 billion stake to a Middle Eastern fund, the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority.

The latest moves highlight the extent to which Citigroup’s capital position has weakened and raise questions about the company’s diversified business model.

First, the easy question (or maybe this is the hard question)- how many more of these write-downs can the securities firms withstand before we are no longer staring into the abyss, but are plunging headfirst? I am probably like most Americans, and this is something I simply do not understand.

Second the harder (or perhaps the easier) question- Where did the money go? Who profited? I am assuming that those who earned commissions writing the loans made some money on the deal initially, but how do we understand the losses from paper transactions.

Again, I am writing from a position of complete and total ignorance- I just understand that this is bad, bad, bad. So be gentle. But thorough.

*** Update ***

I added Calculated Risk to the blogroll, as it is one we will probably be following over the next few years.

Where Did It Go?Post + Comments (160)

The Surge Worked!

by | 40 Comments

This post is in: , , ,

Here is the proof:

The Iraqi defense minister said Monday that his nation would not be able to take full responsibility for its internal security until 2012, nor be able on its own to defend Iraq’s borders from external threat until at least 2018.

Those comments from the minister, Abdul Qadir, were among the most specific public projections of a timeline for the American commitment in Iraq by officials in either Washington or Baghdad. And they suggested a longer commitment than either government had previously indicated.

Pentagon officials expressed no surprise at Mr. Qadir’s projections, which were even less optimistic than those he made last year.

As we contemplate the annual costs of permanent war in Iraq for the next dozen or so years, let’s stroll down memory lane and pick out our favorite quotes from early on in the war. I will start:

Paul Wolfowitz, 2003- “The oil revenues of that country could bring between $50 and $100 billion over the course of the next two or three years. Now, there are a lot of claims on that money, but… We are dealing with a country that can really finance its own reconstruction and relatively soon.”

I can’t believe I fell for this shit.

*** Update ***

BTW, it has been noted that the powers that be have labeled the ability for the Iraqi government to provide for their own security is a “medium term” goal. Permanent occupation, folks.

The Surge Worked!Post + Comments (40)

Who is Obsessed?

by | 22 Comments

This post is in: ,

You all claim I am obsessed with Obama (who, after a week of letting his surrogates smear the Clintons as racist for decidedly non-racist remarks has now seized back his title of uniter and transcender-in-chief), but if you really want to see obsession, check out Hugh. Check out the past day or so at Hugh’s:

John McCain: Open Borders And Closed Rivers
From The Hotline Blogometer: Conservatives Reject McCain
Michigan Crowd Boos John McCain Over His Immigration Proposals
John McCain and the GOP

And on and on and on and on. We are approaching John Cole/Cindy Sheehan levels here.

Who is Obsessed?Post + Comments (22)

K-Lo’s Greatest Hits

by | 32 Comments

This post is in: 

She has so many, but this, in response to a Mike Huckabee comment, has to be one of them:

Governor, I didn’t have silver spoons or boarding schools or a verb summer, but I know enough to thank God for the job creators, the natural economic stimulators, capitalism. Is this the Republican primary of a John Edwards rally?

WTF does that even mean?

K-Lo’s Greatest HitsPost + Comments (32)

Played the Fool

by | 139 Comments

This post is in: 

Are the Clintons playing me like a fiddle- this comment makes a lot of sense:

The Clintons aren’t racists, and that’s not the point. But the Clintons have done the math and they know they aren’t going to get the black vote this time. They need something else, and that something else is to make this black v. white in the most innocent ways they can.

Has anyone stopped to ask themselves what bamboozling scum like Johnson is doing over in the Clinton camp in the first place?

Who is Johnson, exactly. Also from the comments, this link, which was very enlightening.

Putting aside the vapid and gushing nonsense from Obama supporters, which will irritate me until the end of the second Obama term, am I being played as a fool by the Clinton camp?

*** Update ***

More here from Matt Bai.

*** Update ***

And then you have this from the comments:

Clinton? Really? Clinton is dragging down the dialogue? This is the shit that the modern day MSM will do to politics in general. Hillary Clinton – on the eve of the NH primaries – sits down at a town hall meeting and wonks the fuck out. People applaud her to a first place finish, and she just barely scrapes by Golden Boy Obama.

So now, as the media scratches its head wondering how Hillary could have won, the only conclusion they can come to is “OMFG! BRADLEY EFFECT! EVERYONE’S A RACIST!” And the only thing that gets reported on for the next week is tan lines.

Hey, fuckwads, perhaps Hillary Clinton won on her Health Care Plan™. You remember the Health Care Plan™, right? The central platform of the Democratic Party in ‘08? The only thing more potent than their Not Being In Iraq For A Century platform? The issue that touches the core of the party’s Big Responsible Government message?

Hillary’s got a comprehensive strategy. Obama – bless his heart, I love him – doesn’t. So what do we talk about between NH and Michigan? Negrophobia and who’s got it.

And that’s Clinton’s fault. Because she just sat right down and twisted Chris Matthew’s arm on this. And Karl Rove – saint that he is – couldn’t resist the desire to talk less about important policy issues and more about baiting bullshit.

Anyone who buys into this “Who’s the real racist?” bullshit is a tool, I’m sorry. We’ve got Bush itching to push the Go button on nuking Iran because someone’s jetski moistened an American Sailor. McCain/Lie-berman have begun the “Mission Accomplished—For Real This Time” drum beat. Newt Gingrich continues to get air time talking about government reform. And here we are talking about how racist the Democrats are.

Congratulations folks. Conservative Media just PWN’D you again. Enjoy your wetsuit.

Played the FoolPost + Comments (139)