Look, I am as excited as anyone about Obama getting elected, but the media coverage of this is starting to get absurd. I know that it is a historic moment, and I know a lot of the enthusiasm is relief that we are simply pushing C plus Augustus out the door into the dustbin of history, but the fact that the media is doing live, non-stop commentary on the train from wherever to DC is just ridiculous. Shut up, already.
You don’t have to be a bitter Republican to think the glowing media coverage is over the top. Protip: the economy is still going to suck on Tuesday at 1 pm.
*** Update ***
And while I am at it, let me also grump about the experience I had at several stores this morning. I don’t know if this is because everyone is cutting back employees because of the economy, but every store I went to this morning, I had to stand for 15-20 minutes waiting for help. In every case, I stood by a register waiting for someone to show up, in two cases after paging the help, no one showed up, and I said “To hell with it, I will order it on Amazon.”
Also, get off my grass, you damned kids.
MikeJ
At least it shut them up about the plane ditching.
Comrade Mary, Would-Be Minion Of Bad Horse
Yeah, I’m a little Baracked out right now. My own damn fault, I guess, for leaving MSNBC on in the background. They need to wipe their collective chin already.
Person of Choler
"Isn’t the Messiah"? Now you tell me.
Nicholas Beaudrot
I think it’s being driven by at least three things.
(1) Obama is a huge driver for ratings.
(2) There’s not much other news besides Gaza (which is front page at CBS right now).
(3) He is the First Black President, which is kind of a big deal.
I think the cable nets are covering Obama proportionally more than network nightly news.
Sirkowski
Ceasar and Augustus?
cleek
God, in his infinite wisdom
Put Richard Nixon on this earth
To bring to us his heritage
One of priceless worth
A courageous leader
And a blessed man
Surely in God’s plan
His heritage is from Heaven
And the magic from above
The rapture of music and melody
Of culture and of love
Yes, God, in his infinite wisdom
Put Richard Nixon on this earth
To bring to us his heritage
One of priceless worth
A leader with endless courage
A miracle you might say
And all who have met Nixon love him so
The genius of his way
God, in his infinite wisdom
Put Richard Nixon on this earth
To bring to us his heritage
One of priceless worth
El Tiburon
Wait, we all spent the past bazillion years exposing, mocking, maligning and ridiculing the ridiculous entity known as our mainstreammediaidiots.
Why does anyone expect them to change their tune now?
I can honestly say since I don’t watch hardly any network or cable news of any kind (or much network TV of any kind) that I couldn’t even tell you what is going on as far as the planned festivities.
dbrown
John, you were once a wingnut repub-a-thug, right? Did you too see ‘star-bursts’ along with the media whores over that rotting corpse Regan when these assholes spent hours just staring at the plane sitting on the tarmac holding his coffin?! Talk about over the line lunacy and ass licking hero worship!
As for these events, a person of a race that were slaves a little over a hundred years ago (hell, I knew a man who’s father was a slave!), and for most years after slavery was outlawed, had zero rights is now the most powerful person in the world as president of the US. Stranger still, a country that is still mostly white voted for the guy. This media event, at least, is based on a historical occasion that will take a good section of every future history book. Get real.
demimondian
I know the economy will suck at 1 pm on 2009/01/20. The question is whether it will suck as 12:01pm on 2009/01/20, or whether George Bush’s era of prosperity will last until, say 12:30.
The real question, you see, is how long it will take for Obama to trash the prosperous nation with which he was entrusted.
Chuchundra
I think a lot of the enthusiasm over Obama is simply unrestrained joy that Bush will no longer occupy the White House. I mean, no matter your opinion of the MUP, who isn’t happy about Bush being shown the door?
Plus, can’t we happy for a little while? Just bear with us for a few more days and then it will be over, I promise.
Jay
@MikeJ:
Is exactly why I clicked on "comment"
Yes, it’s great and amazing how it turned out, but I’m sick to death of hearing about the "Miracle" as if God lets some planes go down with all killed, but saves others.
Did the plane loads that didn’t survive not pray hard enough?
————
Anybody see this anointing? Having grown up Shiite Baptist, I know these dickheads are doing this because they think Obama is the Antichrist.
JL
John, JFH and Laura have a cure for your grumpiness.
AkaDad
I’m starting to seriously question your support for Obama, Comrade. Did you even vote for him?
abbey
I disagree in a way. Yes, on Tuesday at 1 pm everything will still suck, but after 8 years I think people deserve a weekend to feel good about being American. I’m not watching it all day though. Just looking at pictures and turning it on every once in a while.
Though if you want less then glowing watch Fox. They are talking about George Soros! They are hilarious.
eb
Thanks, dbrown. If John had such a hard-on when he voted the first time for Bush, I question his judgment on almost everything. I don’t trust these repubs who have supposedly seen the light (Sullivan, Arovosis, Cole–although John is the most amusing). The fact that they were so duped by Bush makes me think they don’t quite see the world the way the rest of us do in the reality-based community. Really, being critical of the press treatment of the first African American president seems churlish, when the right framed the senile Reagan as the greatest president ever and, for reasons that completely elude me, tried to convince the sane among us that Bush was not just a regular guy (private school kid from Conn. with a phony Texas accent and fear of horses) but a great leader. I think we’ll see John C. quickly turn against Obama–not for any real reasons, but because he was burned by Bush and would rather speak out early against Obama than be made to seem a fool again. Aravosis has already done that–but his judgment seems even more impaired (after all, he worked for Ted Stevens). Hope I’m wrong.
Ed in NJ
The coverage, IMO, has more to do with the explosion of 24-hour news and the internet since 2001. I’m not sure that things would be much different for a McCain inauguration, in terms of the media coverage. Yes, enthusiasm for Obama is part of the coverage, but the media would have manufactured that either way.
But the excessive coverage does feed the perception on the right that there is a liberal media fawning over Obama.
John Cole
@eb: I don’t blame Obama for this coverage. I blame the media. Get a grip.
John Cole
@Ed in NJ: Yes.
demimondian
@Ed in NJ:
The presence of oxygen in the atmosphere fuels the perception on the right. No factual basis is needed, or wanted.
Karen
Amazon supplies even my coffee & tea every month. It simply cannot be beat by any store, for most anything. Order, wait 2 days, it’s here with no dealing with store personnel. Wonderful.
Yes, the coverage is over the top. Which is why my television is off.
Carrie
Hmmm….someone’s a little grumpy today.
I agree about the wall to wall coverage though…..
the only good thing about CNN is Soledad’s hat. I want that hat.
Laura W
Speaking of Amazon (and Circuit City last night), I got an email from them this morn that finally made me get off my ass and buy the TV/DVD for the bedroom. Warehouse Deals. I believe the 22" Toshiba I bought had a damaged box, and has been re-boxed. No cosmetic damage to the item itself. So I put it off for a couple weeks and saved a few bucks. Free shipping, easy to set up. Yay.
Now I should go buy the final season of Six Feet Under.
Too bad you don’t have an amazon partner affiliate whatever thingey, John. I could’ve paid for Tunch’s food for a
weekday.Brick Oven Bill
Lower expectations all you want John. It does not matter. He is the Messiah, by definition. Look it up in the dictionary or on Wikipedia. I can tell this also because he is still giving the Messiah dogma speech. This is how you support the Middle Class by forcing them to directly compete with $2/day labor.
Perhaps someone can explain that one to me. I hope everybody has fun on the train ride.
Anoniminous
Obama may not be the messiah but his touch does cure Scrofula. :-)
Anyway …
Echoing dbrown, above …
I grew-up in the South during the last days of Jim Crow. I remember the "Colored" water fountains, parks, beaches, restaurants, & blah, blah, blah. Never had any AA friends because the Law forbade white and black children from playing together. Spent many years working in SNCC to stomp that bullshit into the ground.
This is a Big Deal. The Obama presidency is an historic moment.
And if the Over-the-Top news blather bugs you … there’s this new device available on TV sets: it’s called the Off Switch.
shortstop
Hee, glad you said it, because I was just about to. Honey, just turn off the TV for a few hours. And go cook something nice.
harlana pepper
Yeah, we know it’s gonna suck. Many of us have already been living the big suck for a while. I have never been an Obama-bot or anything and I’m not following the pre-inaugural stuff, but I have no problem with others enjoying it. As other commenters have said, after the horror and agony of enduring Bush for 8 years and being equated with terrorists for even criticizing him, let the long-enlightened folks have their fun and a few moments of happiness. They’ve earned it. But I really don’t think John would deny them that, he’s just venting again.
Ssgt. White
Word to the wise: don’t try to be clever like me and hit Circuit City in hopes of finding a liquidation sale deal. You will only find first-ring suburbanites losing their minds over a 10-20% markdown, and lines longer than Blago’s rap-sheet.
Amazon is the only friend we have left, Mr. Cole.
shortstop
A lot of pieces of history are converging in this train trip. I just saw a photo of Obama shaking the hand of his black conductor, which got me thinking about how the only black person–employee or passenger–any U.S. president would have seen on his train back in the day was a member of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters. The BSCP was, of course, instrumental in the civil rights movement.
Mock me for my overthinking dorkery, but it is a historic day on a lot of levels. I just enjoy it online so as to avoid sticking a screwdriver in my ear to kill the sound of the beyond-annoying talking heads.
Gwendy
Actually, I’ve been looking forward to the media fawning I knew would happen this weekend for the inauguration because I’m sick of the "cabinet mis-steps" narrative and the "is Obama tainted by Blago" narrative, etc.
It seems to me from my recollection that all inaugurations get this kind of fluffy coverage. It’s just magnified because Obama is the first black President.
I expect that on January 21st, the "Obama hasn’t fixed the economy yet…is he an abysmal failure? We report, you decide" storyline to emerge.
JGabriel
JCole@Top:
That reminds me of a common criticism of the old Soviet Union, especially back in the 80’s: "You wanna have to stand in line for bread and toilet paper? Haina?"
It always seemed myopic. The only difference between their lines and ours was that at the end of the line, we had to pay for the privilege.
If anyone really believed that long lines were what separated us from the godless commies, they should have passed a law that said anyone waiting in line for more than 10 minutes gets to leave with all their goods and without paying.
.
Brian J
I’m a bit younger than you, John, but I have to say, as I have been going out more and more over the past few years, service has started to matter a lot more. Not that I am particularly picky, but it’s nice to see when people are doing their jobs correctly. I’m usually laid back enough not to care as long as I see the person is trying–I currently work in the service industry, so I know how things can get out of one’s control–but I do get pissed when I see the person working there doesn’t give a crap.
EL
It is over the top, but the media will do anything that gets ratings. It’s a "feel good" story at a time when we need one, like the airplane landing in the Hudson.
Although it may be overdone, I’d much rather have that than nonstop "runaway bride" or Natalee Holloway.
tim
John, just don’t watch television news.
It’s really that simple.
I suppose as part of what you do here you need to be aware of what the MSM is up to, but good lord, man, it may drive you mad.
I gave up on CNN in 2000 after similar, worshipful coverage of GWB. And THAT was after he stole Florida. They didn’t miss a beat.
Media Browski
Sorry if the noise from the party kept you up–or woke you up. We’re having a grand time here in DC!
EL
It’s also better than nonstop Reagan’s funeral or reverend Wright, for that matter.
KCinDC
Oh, I expect the "disappointing turnout for inauguration: can this presidency be saved?" stories to start up by late afternoon on the 20th.
evie
Calling him the Messiah is playing right into right wingers favorite criticism. Thanks.
Mazacote Yorquest
If only the media understood the importance of real civic rituals, like if Obama changed his name to Whitesoxbama. Oh well, all we have now are speeches and a train ride. Revolting.
harlana pepper
And if you need a distraction, tune in for a few episodes of "Snapped" this afternoon. There’s nothing like a story about a woman dissolving her murdered husband’s body in a vat of acid to completely "catapult the propaganda" right out of your brain.
Laura W
@Karen:
I ordered some sort of cable apparatus for my new teevee because someone in the reviews mentioned them. Placed order at 10:30am today…just got email notice of shipment.
If they would deliver meals, my life would be full, rich and complete.
Brian J
It definitely is. Just think that nowhere else in the Western world has a man or woman who isn’t white risen to the position he’s in. Whether or not you supported him, it’s a proud moment to be an American, as we are leading the way once again. As I said around the time he was elected, I can’t believe that I am only 24 and have witnessed two of the most incredible moments in the history of the country–one bad in 9/11, one awesome in Obama’s election.
That said, I have Tuesday off, so I plan to watch this event but perhaps just the swearing in and the speech afterward. I don’t know if I can take hours of inane chit chat from whatever clowns the networks decide to drudge up.
aimai
I think we just don’t have a really good historical memory for things–this has all happened before, and it will all happen again (BSG). Obama combines personal charisma, sexiness, celebrity status and imperial power in one wholly salable package. I haven’t seen this kind of frenzy except once before and that was in a similar mash up: Charles and Diana’s wedding. I was in Britain right before the wedding and it was impossible not to see it, here it, know about it, buy the commemorative plates, etc…etc…etc… When she wanted to back out of the marriage right before hand her sister famously said to her "you can’t–your face is on the tea towels." And years later, such was her charisma and pull, they were still marketing a commemorative Princess Di doll that was described in the magazine ads in the most bizarre and anthropomorphized ways. Its eyes really saw you, its face really reflected the deep personal relationship you had with *her* and she had with you.
The country wants a new big daddy, and it wants to celebrate itself at the same time, and taste, calm, decorum and good sense are flying out the window. I have to say I’m kind of loving it, but I get a lot of it third hand and through a scrim so maybe its not bothering me as much as it is you.
But I have to agree with John "off my lawn" Cole that something is weird about the service sector. It is as though it has crumbled while still standing. I think they fired all the people with seniority to get them off the books while they consolidate for bankruptcy and what seems to be left are a lot of pimply faced youths who seem unclear on the concept of anything. I was in a drugstore this morning and saw one kid at one check out station shouting out helpful advice to another kid at another station who seemed baffled by his cash register "pick up the phone and tell them you need fives, or tens, or whatever you need." To which the second kid responds by picking up the phone and shouting desperately and incoherently "I need money!" to an uncaring universe.
aimai
Mike
Is it really worse that the wall-to-wall coverage of OJ or Princess Di? My examples are a bit moldy because I haven’t watched TV news for a decade, and I don’t miss it at all. (OK, last summer I went away with some friends who insisted on watching CNN, so I got to see a bunch of pundits debate whether Jesse Jackson should be condemned for using the concluding epithet in "Obama talks down to n——s". Like I said, don’t miss it at all.)
JGabriel
@Brick Oven Bill:
Sure, I can explain that one to you: it’s the result of 8 years of the Bush administration, and 28 years of Reaganism/Republicanism/Randism in general.
The intended result.
.
Helena Montana
I don’t get cable so I’m not getting the non-stop cable news stuff. But i must say, after 8 years of listening to the talking heads fawn over a retarded chimpanzee, his handler and his handler’s henchmen, it’s nice to think that they are now fawning over a man of energy, intelligence, and wisdom (I’m pretty sure). So even though I don’t always agree with Obama, this is WAY more pleasant to me than January 2001.
scruncher
Call me a sucker, but I’m loving every second of it. And, yes, my enthusiasm is as much a celebration of the end of the Bush reign as it is the beginning of the Obama presidency.
kommrade reproductive vigor
Poor Gramps. He’s lost his glasses and can’t see the power button on his remote.
I get that you’re sick of the mindless media’s endless loop babbling about Subject X. If it weren’t Obama or a million-to-one emergency plane landing it would be a missing blonde or something else. Soon enough* it will be wall-to-wall "With the Economy still in shambles, our panel will discuss the complete failure of the Obama Presidency."
However, complaining about what’s coming out of your TeeVee is exactly like banging your head against a wall and complaining about your headache.
*25 Feb. 2009
dbrown
Since I referenced the media whores, where are the endless talking heads speaking on the possible ‘smoking gun’ discovery of large amounts of seasonal methane that might be due to life on Mars? Talk about something that is historical. But except for a few small articles in the papers, why aren’t the 24/7 news whores bringing on experts and talking over this major scientific discovery? Hell, if the next Mars probe can ‘sniff’ out some of this methane and determine its atomic isotope ratio, we will know for certain if Mars has alien life. Talk about history.
Still John, I am wondering if you did watch the whole Regan corpse horror circus show that the media played when you were still one of the card carrying, anti-thinking Repud-a-thug crowd?
kay
@KCinDC:
Oh, I expect the "disappointing turnout for inauguration: can this presidency be saved?" stories to start up by late afternoon on the 20th.
Oh, I do too. It’s not my nature, but I’m trying to just enjoy the brief respite.
He’ll be battling these idiots soon enough. Christ. It’s exhausting.
Mazacote Yorquest
Here’s something we can do– READ!
Does anyone have Tom Friedman’s dental records? ‘Cuz after this piece, we might need them.
http://www.nypress.com/article-19271-flat-n-all-that.html
Laura W
BJ’s own Renato has arrived in DC and he posted his first entry on his photography blog today.
From his previous page:
I’ll be travelling to DC beginning Friday, January 16. If you’d like to follow the inauguration in near-real-time, bookmark this blog and return regularly especially the 19th and 20th. I’ll be updating regularly via Twitter and cellphone pics when I can’t be near a computer.
Mnemosyne
This is why I’m avoiding the cable news coverage. Plus, if I have to watch one more goddamned ad for commemorative Obama coins, I’m going to go Elvis on our TV.
J.
He isn’t? Then how do you explain this quote from David Brooks, a Conservative no less?!
For more about Capt. Chesley B. Sullenberger III (the other Messiah), US Airways Flight 1549, and pesky bird strikes, check this out.
Michael57
Dude, there are a lot of stores that provide excellent customer service. Stores on Main Street nationwide will go under if everyone just shops online. Those are your friends and neighbors. People who pay taxes and say hello to you in the street.
Why people can’t see that Amazon is the Wal-Mart of the Internet is beyond me. Their goal is metastatic growth, just like Wal-Mart. They squeeze their suppliers and mistreat their staff, just like Wal-mart. They try to avoid taxes, just like Wal-Mart. …They don’t even collect sales taxes! You starve your local governments with every dollar you send them instead of spending it locally.
Not to mention the CO2 results of shopping online. Think about it.
The next time your kid wants to sell raffle tickets, or space in their yearbook, go to Amazon. The next time you want to meet an author, I’m sure Amazon will host the booksigning. The next .. oh, what’s the use. People on the web think of Amazon as "their community bookstore." It’s like talking to a wall.
Shop local, it’s the progressive choice. Amazon is a right-wing dream of a store.
The Grand Panjandrum
This is almost as exciting as the helicopter camera shots of Anna Nicole’s hearse winding its way through town.
Cole you really should have watched your Eer’s Bballing v. USF. They just won.
JGabriel
@Mazacote Yorquest:
Thanks, Mazacote, that’s great. Nobody skewers Friedman like Taibbi does. Loved this line:
It’s one thing to just call Friedman a blithering idiot. But Taibbi also provides the illustrations.
.
kay
@scruncher:
I always feel some sympathy for people who are symbols, of anything. Obama strikes me as relentlessly practical, with a dry sense of humor. I honestly did not consider the First Black Person aspect of his candidacy until the Convention, because I was focusing on his getting nominated.
I completely sympathized with his difficulty in being a symbol while not allowing media to make that the sum total of his individual story, as a candidate. It’s a tough balance to hit just right.
sparky
kommrade reproductive vigor
Overdosing while you’re taking a dump on it won’t solve anything.
Joshua Norton
If Bill Kristol starts praising him, we’re all screwed.
MattF
Buy at Amazon (or iTunes store, now without DRM), stop watching teevee, read a book, stop listening to radio, use Pandora for music (the ‘Emmylou Harris channel’ is a good one), and get off my lawn.
jnfr
@scruncher:
Me too. I am happy, happy, happy, and intend to keep watching and dancing right through Tuesday. Most of my friends are, too.
JGabriel
@Joshua Norton:
That would be worrisome.
On the other hand, a black man named "Hussein", with a Muslim father, and associated with both a domestic terrorist and a liberationist theologist who damned America, got himself elected president – the first Democratic president to win with a popular majority since 1976.
If Obama can pull that off (admittedly, he had a lot of unintentional help from the GOP), I’m pretty he can survive anything Bill Kristol might agree with.
.
Andre
He’s a very naughty boy?
D-Chance.
May as well take a 96-hour vacation from the Idiot Box. If you think it’s bad now… it’s only going to get more nauseating each day for the next 4 days. But, on the bright side, on the fifth day, our budgets will be balanced, there will be peace on earth, manna will fall from Heaven, and those who touched the presidential garb will be cured of all ailments.
Behold, and amen.
Brick Oven Bill
JGabriel;
I’m afraid it goes a little higher than the Bush/Cheney team. I did not vote for Obama, but I could be won over if he made good on his promises to bring ‘good jobs to America’. The way to do this is to stop outsourcing labor through tariffs and develop our own energy resources. I will not talk about the oil shale ban.
The empty rhetoric leads me to believe that the boss remains the same. Nonetheless I hope they enjoy the train ride, I too love the Amtrak.
Austin Candyce
haha, Carrie! I have been coveting that hat all morning.
I’m enjoying every bit of the coverage, and do a pretty good job of filtering out the crap comments and just focusing on the sights at the various stops along the way. It’s the looks on people’s faces that really get to me. Joy is the word to describe them. I can’t be there, so I want to soak up as much of the excitement as possible. It’s been so, so long since I’ve felt this happy about our country.
sgwhiteinfla
Hey if you don’t want to watch the train ride all you have to do is switch to Faux Nooz. They want NO parts of it.
Right now they are trying to justify why the white cop shot the black guy in the BART station in Oakland. Oh the irony, it burnssssssssss
passerby
Here’s an item they dumped into the end of this week’s news cycle in order to bury it.
It’s a GAO report about how many corporations have subsidiaries in countries recognized to be tax havens (Summary Report here).
The report was written on Dec 18th and held until Jan 16th because "Our congressional requesters may hold reports up to 30 days before making them publicly available, so some may have earlier issue dates."
This story was a HuffPo headline for a while this morning but was pushed well below the fold by the Obama Peace Train story and continued gawking at the plane in the water. (Nice landing video, btw.)
The report does not assert that the corps were actually using the subsidiaries as tax havens but if I had to make a wild guess, I’d say Yes, they are dodging tax payments. But that’s just me.
It could be all very above board though.
(yeah, right.)
p.s. The point of the Huffpo story was that many of these corps are receiving bailout billions meanwhile, dodging having to pay billions in American taxes through these offshore holdings.
Just Some Fuckhead
I’m with John on this one. STFU and get on with fixing the country. MSM, you may want to report on what Danger Monkey has fubarred so Obama has a clear idea of where to start and some form of public awareness and/or support for radical measures.
I have a TV in the office at work and I turned it off shortly after November 4th. I just can’t look at one more breathless report about what’s on Sasha and Malia’s school lunch menu. We are so fucked.
The Grand Panjandrum
This little piece of reporting did my heart some good:
Next thing you know they’ll worried about white folks not being a majority anymore! Oh wait …
Obama isn’t the messiah but knowing that his presidency will make these rat-bastards worse nightmare come true is actually quite a thrill.
Laura W
@JL: I can see we are going to have to accelerate the pace of our Mission. I suspect Tiger One is in the field today stalking joy with his camera in hand.
(ooops…I see he has returned. Debriefing in order.)
(Double ooops…Tiger One is grumpy too.
Guess it all comes down to me. Gulp.)
Maus
It’s not because the media LOVES obama, it’s because the 24/7 media is lazy and stupid.
Just Some Fuckhead
"Potok" doesn’t sound very American to me. Prolly one of those dirty eastern Europeans or a commie.
Walter
John, cynicism almost destroyed America. I remember people saying there was no difference between Gore and Bush, and we got Bush. Let us have this moment of pride and hope. He is just a man, and he is our new President and it’s absolutely great!!!.
JGabriel
Just Some Fuckhead:
Well, to be fair, Obama really can’t get on with fixing the country until Tuesday or Wednesday.
In the meantime, may as well celebrate that Bush/Cheney are out the door, that the wicked witch is dead, and the Death Star is all explody and shit.
It’s better than sitting around and moaning about the economy for the next four days.
.
Fulcanelli
@Laura W: The final season and especially the final episode of Six Feet Under was probably the single best Adult Drama TV program I’ve ever watched. Period.
And I remember B & W TV and round VHF antennas you had to play with to get the signal clear…
I couldn’t breathe when I was watching it. It won an award or two, I believe. Jes’ sayin.
Laura W
@Just Some Fuckhead: Betcha don’t know what Malia’s favorite animal is.
Montysano
Speak for yourself.
Watching huge crowds cheer a politician, a brilliant African American man who is our next president, who is riding a train for Dog’s sake? More of this, plz. This will all be over Tuesday, then reality will set in. ‘Til then? Bring it on. It makes me smile.
Laura W
@Fulcanelli: Preachin’ to the funeral home choir here!
The final episode ROCKED. I’ve never been more satisfied with a final season, or final episode, ever.
Chills just imagining watching it again. In bed!
bago
Oh shit. I just saw Chris Matthews give Tony Blankely an epic burn. Sometimes a semi-competent loon will find a nugget. This is why we loathe the idiots who fail every goddamned day, like Bush.
Mazacote Yorquest
@JGabriel:
Don’t forget that 7 years after 9/11, he got elected with a name that was one letter off from "Osama."
scruncher
@jnfr:
Yep. We’re watching the end of one of, if not the, worst presidency in the history of the US and the beginning of an historic one. It doesn’t get any better than this. Might as well enjoy it, even the excess!
Montysano
@Laura W:
WOLVERINES??
Wini
I would like to know why I just saw that Nancy Pfoten-something lady on my teevee.
dmsilev
@Laura W:
Mail order service of the Gods: Place order at 11 AM. 3 hours later, the nice UPS driver stops by with the box. Not Amazon, though. This is an industrial supply house called McMaster-Carr (the place to shop should you happen to need a 3-foot bar of titanium, a complete conveyor belt system, or a plain ordinary screwdriver).
And that’s when we specify "ordinary shipping" on the order. We’ve speculated about what would happen if we asked for "expedited". Best guess is that that involves a very large catapult located on the grounds of their warehouse.
-dms
demimondian
@JGabriel: I don’t think that John or Fuckhead expect Obama to be fixing the economy yet — but it would be kind of, you know, nice if the press outlets which were Bush’s Willing Executioners would actually remind people that things are still going to be fucked at 12:01pm on the Twentieth?
I know, that would require them to take responsibility. Na Ga Happun.
JGabriel
Guess they missed OurCountryPac and the Freepers.
And we must also be ever vigilant against The Red State Strike Force.
demimondian
@dmsilev: For the right price, they’ll be glad to sell you their "temporal incongruity shipping drive", too.
Mazacote Yorquest
Wow, I thought Chaim Potok was dead– and Jewish!!
dmsilev
@demimondian:
Heh.
They’re not the cheapest place to shop for tools and the like, but the enormous selection, the speed, and the good service (an excellent website, and the people who answer the phone actually know and understand the stuff they sell) makes it worth the price.
-dms
JGabriel
@demimondian:
You’re a party animal, Buzzkill.
Seriously, I don’t actually disagree with you. I just don’t see the point. People already know the country and economy are not going to automagically improve the minute Obama takes the Presidential Oath. Anyone who doesn’t isn’t paying attention anyway.
.
Just Some Fuckhead
@Laura W: Tiger One is engaged in Saturday cleaning with a deadline approaching. Mrs. Fuckhead is having her friends over for "Game Night". I was able to find two bottles of joy, one red and one white and put them in the freezer. No pictures yet.
cleek
cable news? what’s the point?
donovong
Just change the channel or TURN OFF THE GODDAM TEEVEE already!
kommrade reproductive vigor
@Montysano: Nah, she’s the daughter of the Muslim Terrorist Fist Jabbing Anti-Christ. Surely it must be a Christian child on a leash.
JoyceH
I don’t see what the problem is. They do this for all inaugurations. They did it for Bush and had a heck of a time filming around the protests that were EVERYWHERE, in order to maintain their upbeat narrative about the peaceful transition of power.
And if not this – what? Yet another round of ‘amazing how that water landing was pulled off, eh?’
charlotte
I’m okay with all this because I stepped away from cable shortly after the election and got back to my life — and to reading some books and watching some movies.
I’m okay with the over the top coverage for right now … It feels good to be able to smile after 8 years of shouting at my tv set and having my husband tell me to stop cursing in front of the child.
Sometimes the only proper reaction is just to freak the fuck out and enjoy it. And, whenever I start feeling sticky, I recall W’s last press conference and think, Nah … It’s okay to feel glad … Besides David Shuster is having to go outside on the Mall, poor devil, without a coat on and freeze his ass off. Enjoy it, John Cole — You deserve to.
Laura W
@Just Some Fuckhead: Saturday what?
Geez…men who clean, men who cook, men who grocery shop, men who scoop litter.
You liberals are awesome.
I wonder could I get me a Cabana Boy on Amazon.com?
MikeJ
The republic of Witchistan? THe evil mooslims are already changing stuff!
Just Some Fuckhead
@Laura W: Fuckhead makes biscuits from scratch. Top that, liberal men.
Arachnae
I think cable news is reflecting the interests of the nation for once. Magazines are putting the Obamas on their covers because magazines with Obamas sell better than magazines without Obamas. Yay for free markets, I guess?
I’m enjoying watching the pundits grasping for things to talk about during the lulls – David Gergen gave us a description of George Washington’s inaugural journey, heh. I’m sure he was just a boy then, but you felt like you were there!
to laura: If they would deliver meals, my life would be full, rich and complete.
Are you anywhere that Peapod (from Giant) delivers? I’ve been getting a grocery delivery every week for several months now – I swear I’m spending less on groceries as a result; fewer trips to the actual store means fewer impulse purchases. I can go into a store for catfood and Coke and come out with a charcoal grill, a carrot cake and fourteen bags of stuff I had no intention of buying when I walked in.
jnfr
@Wini:
I thought it was adorable the way she clenched her teeth even harder than usual while expressing her pride and happiness on this momentous occasion.
South of I-10
@Laura W: Thanks for reminding me! I totally forgot we were going to have someone on the scene. I need to go add to my RSS feed.
Laura W
@Arachnae:
That would be NO.
Here’s where I am: this town has two delivery services. One college kid catering "pizza" place that sucks ass, and Domino’s. If I want the suck ass pizza (which I do not), I must drive two miles south and meet the driver at a gas station. If I want Domino’s (which I don’t), I have to drive 3 miles north and meet the driver at a gas station.
mmmmmmmm…carrot cake! My very fave desert ever.
That needs to go on the Must Be Skilled In list for Cabana Boy.
Just Some Fuckhead
Can’t you just give him cash??
Cain
@Carrie:
I haven’t watched tv in awhile. I’m living in a void. I only hav bittorrent, various news site that I look at and I read the paper. I don’t see any hype and it’s great because I only have that feeling change is coming on Tuesday and I’m holding it all in until that oath. THEN and ONLY THEN I know that the Bush era is behind us.
Thank FSM!
cain
Elie
John —
When you get really tired of hearing/seeing the celebration, remember your guy, the one you voted for twice, and his sidekick are riding out of town clean as whistles. No accountability, just a nice mess to clean up and thousands of dollars lost from my retirement.
Remember, you voted for him. Leave us our little celebration, will you? Its the thing we have instead of justice before its time to roll up sleaves and shovel shit.
John Cole
I’m dying over here.
Phoenician in a time of Romans
It definitely is. Just think that nowhere else in the Western world has a man or woman who isn’t white risen to the position he’s in.
Brian, it’s really difficult to tell sarcasm from stupidity on the Internet.
On the assumption that you’re serious, other Western countries don’t tend to have a lot of African-Americans – blacks make up 2% on the UK population. Disraeli was born Jewish, and was PM of England in 1868.
Mike in NC
Yeah, it’s just unbelievable that we’re more than two weeks into a new year and there hasn’t yet been a story about some hot missing blonde. The MSM is a disgrace!
Laura W
@Just Some Fuckhead:
(See 67. Shoot the faces on the teevee screen. I’ll get the apetay.)
(and take the freakin’ red wine out of the freezer, for cripe’s sake.)
demimondian
@Just Some Fuckhead: Demi makes biscuits and red eye gravy from scratch. Including, by the way, the sausage.
Cain
@MattF:
I do tend to buy at Amazon, but my reasons are that I buy from the great state of Oregon first, the northwest second, and national conglomerates last. Amazon is the exception since they are located in the northwest.
Buy big box last. Keep your money in your state as much as possible IMHO.
cain
John Cole
RE: Buying local. I do, as often as I can. But sometimes you need things quick, and the easiest thing to do is go to Best Buy or Target. I even used to buy vegetables at the local co-op before they went out of business.
Just Some Fuckhead
@Laura W: I refuse to get caught up in the momentousness of the inauguration until I actually see Obama’s hand on the Koran. Until then, it’s just something that might happen on Tuesday. And the minute after, Obama is most likely destined to be a mediocre one term president presiding over the decline of the American empire. He’s prolly dusting off Carter’s malaise speech right now.
If Danger Monkey exited the White House into the waiting arms of Interpol, I could prolly summon up some joy.
Michael D.
Ahmmm, sorry JC.
– 200 years ago, he would have been in chains.
– 50-60 years ago, he would have been the victim of a lynch mob for daring to kiss a white child or woman
– 40 years ago, any crowd he drew would have been dispersed by fire hoses.
– In 3 days, he will be the President of the United States.
So yeah, it’s a big deal, and it warrants the attention.
We have a black man, with an African sounding name, with a black wife, and black kids who is going to be president. When people walk the halls of the White House in the future, and when they walk past the portraits of presidents, HIS is going to stick out like a sore thumb. HIS will be the one people stop at.
It’s good that we can look at the coverage and say it’s overdone. It shows how far we’ve come.
But it is a moment that will not just go down in history, but will be one of THE most important moments in US history.
TheHatOnMyCat
Nobody wanted this more than I did, but I tell you, the next four to eight years are going to be stressful.
I cannot watch this coverage where Barack is going into crowds without cringing. I am frankly terrified that something is going to happen to him. I suppose living through two Kennedy assassinations and that of Martin Luther King have made me a little PTSD, but damn. I am a nervous wreck.
Back to your regularly scheduled programming.
Somebody, talk me down. Please.
kay
@TheHatOnMyCat:
I read Peggy Noonan’s column this morning, where she makes an oblique reference to Obama’s visit to a private home to meet with the conservative columnists.
She said you find the house by looking for the sharpshooters on the roof. That gave me pause.
It’s probably standard, for any Prez, but there’s that reality again, rearing its ugly head.
Just Some Fuckhead
@demimondian: Well shit, I do that too, but I use real eyes in my red eye gravy. Hmm?
Elie
Nothing is going to happen to Obama, at least not physically. He is insurance for what is left of what we thought of as the US government, to some extent, and the world the way we knew it before Bush/Cheney fixed things up.
He/we can’t really afford to fail and even some of the right wing bone heads know that. The alternative would have us all digging holes to hide in including Dick "Lon" Cheney with the bad heart…As much as we want change, I don’t think most of us had THAT in mind…
dbrown
@Mazacote Yorquest: Hey brilliant and insightful ass-wipe – get this: dog spelled backwards is god! Wait, it gets even deeper – God spelled backwards is doG; what deep, deep insight people as stupid as you have. That capital G really should give you a chance to work out the secret of the universe.
TheHatOnMyCat
Sure, but do you raise and slaughter your own meat animals?
Grow all your own herbs? Make your own salt in your own evaporator? Do you use the animal waste for fuel to fire your stove and cook your food?
I thought not, Mister Bourgeois Dilettante.
Comrade Mary, Would-Be Minion Of Bad Horse
I photosynthesize effortlessly.
Cain
@Laura W:
Make your own? I made my own a couple of times and it was yummy! And I can put all hte wierd dog meat I want on it and it totally rocks!
cain
Comrade Mary, Would-Be Minion Of Bad Horse
Is this where the bread-baking discussion starts? I’m ready for that.
Zuzu's Petals
Think of it as a mini-vacation from "Joe" the "Plumber" updates.
Laura W
@Comrade Mary, Would-Be Minion Of Bad Horse: I thought you were just comfortably high.
I tried to kill the thread that follows myself just now, also screaming.
(Shoot. You edited. I thought it was funny.)
Cain
@John Cole:
Yeah, it’s not a hard and fast rule. I certainly don’t think it should be some kind of litmus test! :) But I know that it’s a good rule for self preservation by keeping my fellow in-stater flushed with cash especially if you can afford it.
cain
TheHatOnMyCat
Did I stumble onto the drunk thread?
Just Some Fuckhead
@TheHatOnMyCat: I just now wondered the same thing.
Laura W
@Cain: What’s with you and all the chewing on dogs anyway?
Yeah, I used to make my own. (You mean Boboli, right?) I’m not eating pizza now anyway, but when I was trying to eat more carbs per day than Tunch’s weight…I’d just get a Digornio if I was sloppy slumming, Amy’s if I was feeling more virtuous.
I sense an impending visit from BOB. This is right up his oven.
TheHatOnMyCat
Battery Operated Boyfriend? Wow, this IS a great thread ……
charlotte
What Michael D said at 4:42 … Thank you, MD!
Re pizza … either go with what’s delivered, make your own (check out the Breadman’s Ultimate Pizza Oven, awesome), or eat something else. Make your own dough is where I draw the line … Anyone foisting their I make my own sausage jazz on top of me, great as all that is, is going to be met with Don’t Care.
When this jubilation is over, and I’m enjoying the hell out of it, I want to see the matter or Gaza addressed. Outrageous and obviously undertaken with a nod from the USA.
demimondian
@Just Some Fuckhead: Well, of course. Pigs eyes, in my case, but, no matter what, you’ve *just gotta have the CNS tissue*. Otherwise, where’s the little frisson of fear at the thought of mad cow disease?
Deborah
Protip: the economy is still going to suck on Tuesday at 1 pm.
The weather is evidently going to approve, though. That’s a pretty good first step.
demimondian
@TheHatOnMyCat: Dude — I created the fscking Universe. Isn’t that enough?
Zuzu's Petals
Oh, never mind.
demimondian
@Zuzu’s Petals: Um…yeah. There’s lots of things to which I pay no mind. Which one did you intend for me to ignore?
Svensker
@TheHatOnMyCat:
Hey, you’re the one stumbling…
Svensker
Or, as Matt Taibbi would say, better two cell phones than a fish in your zipper.
Laura W
I have nothing to say after all, it seems.
Just Some Fuckhead
@Laura W: Haha, you remembered wrong. He was the one that said throw them in the microwave.
Laura W
@Just Some Fuckhead: Oh. Still time to edit. Thanks!
Cain
@TheHatOnMyCat:
It’s going to turn into one in a couple of hours. Dinner party tonight. Here’s the menu:
* Butter Chicken
* home-made Naan
* Potato Cutlets with mint&coriander&green chilly chutney and sweet tamarind chutney
* greek salad
* Bondas (that’s going to be my contribution.. mmm..bonda)
* home made samosas (if we have time)
Most of the recipes from vahrehvah.com.. that man is a fucking genius. Every damn recipe has turned out awesome.
Of course, lots of alcohol.. :-)
cain
Cain
@Laura W:
I’m just teasing. You’re such a nice lady who seems to have a lot of love to go around, you deserve to be teased!
cain
ps this is turning into a drunken thread already, and I haven’t even had anything to drink yet.
Ash Can
Speaking of food and the MUP, after watching that "lost" episode of "Check, Please!" last night, I can see why the producers felt funny about airing it. The scuttlebutt was right — Obama dominated the conversation, even with heavy editing of the tape. He couldn’t help it; he was simply the superior communicator. The other two reviewers were perfectly delightful folks in their own right, but he made them seem like parts of the studio set. He was intelligent, personable, totally at ease, and just a fun guy.
And one of the places reviewed on the program was one of our favorite local joints. It got kudos all around. Very nice, but it’s a good thing we went there last week. The line for tables is probably going to be out the door and down the street tonight. (And the owners probably have a banner up on the wall that reads, "Hey, the Prez loves us!")
Laura W
@Cain: Ahhhh…..that is SO sweet, Cain!
(Are you mocking me?)
I thought of you on my walk today, BTW.
(fucked up the link…sorry)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qc3v2cPmYck
Just Some Fuckhead
@Laura W: I think that might be cheating.
Zuzu's Petals
@demimondian:
Sorry ’bout that. Unable to delete a less than stellar comment, so edited to replace with a less than stellar space filler.
Laura W
@Just Some Fuckhead: Cheating? How? Explain joke please.
Seemed like a charitable act to me.
Gots to go quarter my sprouts.
Comrade Darkness
I am not Barryed or Ferry-rescued out because I never ever have a television on. If you watch the idiot box, you become the idiot box.
My mood at the moment is: if Obama does 1/10 of what he says, I’ll be ecstatic. 5% I’ll call it good. I’m just thrilled at the mo that the hemorrhaging will stop.
Glenn
Obama needs guys on his team like the Capt. that brought that crippled airliner down safely the other day. Right now the Nat’l economy is like that plane it’s engines have flamed out and were descending fast.
Brick Oven Bill
I have pledged to not talk about that subject TheHatonMyCat. But I am not battery powered. My wood powered brick oven reaches temperatures of 800F. Beginning at only 600F, pyrolysis is induced in kerogen, further inducing catagenesis, yielding wonderful shale oil. Its hot.
Cain
@Laura W:
pish posh.. of course not! I always mean my compliments and not mean the nasty things I say. :-)
and great link! I enjoyed it! I get blamed for a lot of things.. nice to know there is a song about it. :-) Uh oh.. cat has come to investigate the music.
cain
JL
@Comrade Darkness:
Thanks to President Bush, Obama does have a long grace period.
Brick Oven Bill
I have a fear that the oil, at 800F, could ignite, raising the temperature, and taking us to that final stop, metagenesis. At this point the fuel becomes gaseous and the whole damn oven could explode.
So if you see a news story about a guy getting killed by an exploding brick oven, and then you no longer hear from me, you will know what happened.
Attention authorities: this research is done on my private property at no risk to the public. The oven door and chimney are big and would prevent any pressure build-up large enough to move any part of the oven off of my private property. It might move five feet, tops.
T. Scheisskopf
Well, John, the British do something like this to their pop stars: they build them up to be bigger than oxygen, then they tear them down, dogging them with photogs and seeking every way under the sun, fair or foul, to come up with dirt on them. They will print anything, too, from the most unreliable sources.
And that’s what the press is up to with Obama.
I got offered 30,000 pounds to do a full-on gut dump on Duran Duran when I left their employ. By the Daily Mirror. I turned it down. I wanted to continue working in the business.
Comrade Darkness
@Brick Oven Bill, we often have a fire in our perfectly ordinary fireplace. Our infrared thermometer reports the glowing coals clock in at 700C. That’s in the range of 1200F.
Needless to say, we’ve been finagling things to cook in the hearth. Charred eggplant for babaganoush, foil-wrapped potatoes, chestnuts… still thinking of arranging some kind of skewered meat over that heat.
The Moar You Know
@Brick Oven Bill: Your oven wouldn’t explode. It will just do what any chimney will do when you have a creosote fire; turn into a ramjet until the fuel is all consumed. Noisy and kinda scary, but since it isn’t attached to a house it won’t burn your house down.
Just Some Fuckhead
@Laura W: You changed your answer after I gave you the correct answer. That’s generally considered cheating. :)
Laura W
@TheHatOnMyCat:
Would you hold it against me if I called you a dildo?
(Had to take it.)
Laura W
@Just Some Fuckhead: S’ok ‘cuz I replaced it with a more accurate one.
Brick Oven Bill
The temperature is on the white-hot oven roof at around 800F. You can even ask Rado, the guru. But even at 800F, it is not necessarily healthy to introduce a accelerating, self-generating natural gas source into an enclosed hot space, at least not a lot of it.
This is what happened at Chernobyl. As the reactor got hotter, the rate of fission increased, causing more friction friction friction, and giving off increasing rates of heat. Steam bubble, kaboom. This is called a positive temperature coefficient of reaction, and is not ideal.
Our nuclear reactors have a negative temperature coefficient of reaction, and shut themselves down when they get hot, so comparisons to Chernobyl are dishonest and misleading. Brick ovens, when used as experimental mini-refineries, can have a positive temperature coefficient of reaction however.
Zzyzx
I live in Seattle, have many friends who worked there, and twice almost was employed there myself. Therefore I love to support Amazon.
Deborah
On topic, if the news continues to be "Everyone is happy that Obama is becoming president" and "What a joy that the jet crash killed no one"–that is, Bush doesn’t take any last stabs at making news by invading Iran or doing the last minute pardon-resign-pardon thing with Cheney–I’ll be happy.
JWW
Jeez John,
You just took notice too this love. You really have no idea where you stand, though it may be in your own shoes.
Just Some Fuckhead
@Laura W: You’re being a little short now. Is this about the clandestine gas station meetings?
Laura W
@Just Some Fuckhead: Short? You’re losin’ me here, Tiger One. (I was referring to 162. Did you get that?)
And FWIW, Mr. Clandestine Meeting Fantasy Guy, both times I tried those two "pizza" services the drivers were women.
How’s that for fueling the flame?
kommrade reproductive vigor
@T. Scheisskopf: Man you must have had to fight the reflex to take the money. I guess it would have been harder to resist if you’d been hungry like a wolf but I admire you for donning the silver halo.
[Runs]
craigie
how can you be sure?
JL
@Deborah: Yeah, but Bush did triple the import duty on Roquefort Cheese. It was his special way of saying f*ck you to France.
TheHatOnMyCat
No.
TheHatOnMyCat
Hey, you can say that again. But seriously, I already knew that 600 degrees was hot.
I live in Phoenix and that is the temperature of a steering wheel here in July.
Limniade
I have the supreme advantage of not having cable, and not having good TV reception without cable. The absence of media overload allows me to indulge my happy feeling of Yay! at Obama being president, and all the awesomeness that it represents: first black president, first president in the 21st century who isn’t a fucking moron, first president in 8 years who was elected legitimately, and who would rather DO right than BE right.
It’s seeing the sun after a long fucking cold dark winter.
I disagree that most people know that Obama can’t wave his magic wand and fix the economy in 6 months, because there certainly is the contingent on both sides of the political spectrum who expect precisely that. Some because they’re unsophisticated enough to believe it’s possible, some because they are waiting for the first day on the 7th month so they can pronounce Obama a failure and start campaigning for 2012.
Here’s what I hope Obama does:
1. Makes smart policy decisions that genuinely benefit the infrastructure of this country.
2. Use his unquestionably superior intellect, diplomacy, charisma, eloquence and popularity to begin reversing the shitty-ass reputation Bush earned our country with his bull-in-the-China-shop routine.
3. Earn the respect of both parties through an insistence on focusing on the issues and the requirement of bipartisan support. I’d like to see a cease-fire in the political wars, please. Just because someone voted for the other side doesn’t make them a dirty, subversive traitor, asshole. That kind of attitude needs to go back to the remote Idaho compounds from whence it came.
Dave_No_Longer_Laughing
Buddy, the "bitter Republicans" are all going to sit back and enjoy the show.
bago
Another former ex-amazon employee.
And in what world does a pile of decaying uranium cause friction?
mey
Now, don’t ruin their fun. There’s so much more to enjoy if you build-build-BUILD someone up, and then teeeeeeaaaaaarrrrr him down.
The Tim Channel
He ought to promote pilot Sully to head the FAA.
Enjoy.
The Tim Channel
Deb, I managed to combine the two in my previous comment before scrolling up to see your post. My point was a little more subtle than yours, but we’re serendipitously thinking alike nonetheless.
Enjoy,
mclaren
Be glad there’s anything on store shelves to wait in line for. This time next year, there may not be.