Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Wow, you are pre-disappointed. How surprising.

And now I have baud making fun of me. this day can’t get worse.

You can’t attract Republican voters. You can only out organize them.

This must be what justice looks like, not vengeful, just peaceful exuberance.

“The defense has a certain level of trust in defendant that the government does not.”

“I was told there would be no fact checking.”

You know it’s bad when the Project 2025 people have to create training videos on “How To Be Normal”.

The Supreme Court cannot be allowed to become the ultimate, unaccountable arbiter of everything.

That’s my take and I am available for criticism at this time.

One lie, alone, tears the fabric of reality.

Take hopelessness and turn it into resilience.

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

Sadly, there is no cure for stupid.

They were going to turn on one another at some point. It was inevitable.

Somebody needs to explain to DeSantis that nobody needs to do anything to make him look bad.

Let’s show the world that autocracy can be defeated.

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

It may be funny to you motherfucker, but it’s not funny to me.

Shallow, uninformed, and lacking identity

Fuck these fucking interesting times.

Since when do we limit our critiques to things we could do better ourselves?

At some point, the ability to learn is a factor of character, not IQ.

Never entrust democracy to any process that requires Republicans to act in good faith.

Come on, media. you have one job. start doing it.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Tommy Daschle Raphael

Reader Interactions

74Comments

  2. 2.

    tomjones

    It is obviously a dog whistle to Marxists. He "sees" their point of view. Or something insane.
    /wing nut

  5. 5.

    Joshua Norton

    Someone should tell him the Sally Jesse Raphael look went out with the ’90’s.

    You really shouldn’t order that kind of stuff off eBay.

  8. 8.

    MikeJ

    Those glasses are a slap in the face. Or cover the fact that he’s been slapped in the face.

    They should be thrown under a bus.

  9. 9.

    Keith

    I don’t even know how to make an actual joke out of that…it just defies words. All that comes to mind is Rick Moranis and a Ferrari paint job.

  15. 15.

    jibeaux

    @Andre:

    Your link took me here, which led to the following thoughts:

    1. ^ "Boob" is slang for "breast": see Oxford Pocket Dictionary (8th ed, 1992).

    1. Did that *really* need a cite?
    and
    2. I never really thought of myself as "big", but judging from that picture I’d qualify, at least in Britain in 1984. Cool!

  17. 17.

    donovong

    I don’t give a shit if he wears a pink tutu and wears clashing eyeshadow – if he can make headway on the fucked up health process in this country, I’m fine with it. Hell, if he can get me health insurance fo rless than the fucking national debt each month, I’ll wear the goddam glasses and pink tutu myself, if it’ll help!

  19. 19.

    TenguPhule

    Am I the only one who thinks these glasses weren’t thoroughly vetted by the Obama administration?

    Given how through they’ve been so far, those may be the only things that weren’t.

  21. 21.

    gypsy howell

    Those glasses might be the thing I like best about Daschle. Maybe the only thing I like about him at the moment….

    Lobbyists and payoffs and taxes … oh my!

  22. 22.

    Indylib

    Just got done listening to Dreams of my Father on audiobook. Holy shit, folks! What an incredible treat to listen to a person who has become President of the United states be articulate and thoughtful. I was impressed with the book when I read it, the writing is very well done, imho. But the audio version was gripping. It had me it tears several times, which didn’t happen when I read the printed version.
    edit addition – those glasses are fugly

  24. 24.

    gypsy howell

    Look at Obama’s expression

    Maybe he’s having second thoughts.

    "Damn. Rahm didn’t mention those glasses either …."

  26. 26.

    Keith

    I wonder if he’s got the directions to the Ark of the Covenant burned into his hand. That’d probably help with universal health care.

  27. 27.

    Bootlegger

    $10 says his hottie wife picked ’em out and told him he looked all sexy. Probably has on the matching ladies undies too.

  29. 29.

    Incertus

    Last time I owned a pair of glasses that had plastic color in the frames, I was eight and my family made barely too much to be on food stamps, and the frames were green. I think I managed to destroy all of my school photos from that year.

    On an open thread note, Utah needs to DIAF. Next they’ll want to be keeping women out of the schools.

  30. 30.

    AnneLaurie

    I think he was shooting for "jaunty," but he has missed the mark.

    Bingo. ‘Jaunty’, unfortunately, is one of those states that can only be achieved by accident (serendipity), so if you’re trying, you have already failed.

    On the other hand, the too-cute glasses do help distinguish him from the other 1,575,487 nearly-identical old white men hanging around the Capital. Kinda like when a dog breeder ties different colors of rick rack around the necks of a litter of newborn puppies.

  32. 32.

    Incertus

    @HyperIon: Bush said it best back in 2005–rich people don’t pay taxes, no matter how much you raise the rates. They find ways around it and don’t pay unless someone comes after them. And while he was in office, if you were rich (or a corporation), the IRS found plenty of other people to go after–like supposed EITC cheats.

  33. 33.

    Laura W

    @Indylib: Thanks for the mention. I keep meaning to read the book. Along those lines…

    I was behind an SUV of some sort today at a red light. There was a "Veterans for Obama" bumper sticker alongside a "Retired US Army" sticker. I immediately started to tear up, and I was not having a weepy day at all prior.

    I realized that I get so emotionally blunted and habituated to all of the online and teevee political blah blah crap I consume every day that when one of these in-your-face, in-real-life, golden moments comes along, it’s a real start. It plugs me right back into the wonder, joy, gratitude and RELIEF that his election holds for me, and the country/world, admitted or not.
    It was a very nice moment in time.

  34. 34.

    theturtlemoves

    I kind of dig them. Of course, he spoke at my college graduation and I’m a SoDak native, so I’m probably not very objective.

  35. 35.

    TenguPhule

    On an open thread note, Utah needs to DIAF. Next they’ll want to be keeping women out of the schools.

    I think they’re already damned by being forced to live in Utah.

    All they need is two other competing religions to fight with the Mormons and it’ll be our own domestic Iraq.

  39. 39.

    TenguPhule

    like supposed EITC cheats.

    To be fair, to actually qualify for EITC, you’re probably either cheating or homeless. The restrictions are so draconian that it’s crazy. It’s like it was designed by Republicans specifically to say they have a tax credit for the poor and then taunt them for not being able to use it.

  41. 41.

    wagonjak

    All Tom needs is a cowlick and some freckles, and he could be a passable Alfalfa from Little Rascals…heh!

  42. 42.

    lutton

    haha, my wife says they look like her friend’s glasses from second grade, except her friend’s glasses had little Strawberry Shortcakes on the temples!

  43. 43.

    ricky

    Again I ask who was the cartographic mastermind who determined Dakota should be divided North and South rather than East and West. The latter would have made America appear slimmer on any globe.

  44. 44.

    ricky

    All they need is two other competing religions to fight with the Mormons and it’ll be our own domestic Iraq.

    Not wanting to do all the work I will nominate Oklahoma.
    Someobdy else can offer up Church of Christ or Scientology.

  45. 45.

    Incertus

    @TenguPhule: Not really. I’ve qualified for it in the not too recent past–all it takes is being a single parent who’s not making a ton of money and you can get something. But I will say that I was helped by the fact that my g/f and I co-habitate, so that helped my living conditions a bit.

  46. 46.

    kay

    In all fairness, he sometimes wears less colorful glasses, and even no glasses at all. I was just reading the news. His photo is all over the place. There’s really no telling which pair he’ll be wearing .
    These are a mistake, no doubt, but are they "signature" glasses? I just don’t know.
    It’s an isolated incident, rather than a pattern?

  47. 47.

    Krista

    The glasses aren’t really to my taste, but it does make me wonder if there’s more to him than would be implied by the staid suit ‘n’ tie combo. They’re like a rockabilly version of John Lennon glasses — it makes me wonder what this fellow is like in his free time.

  48. 48.

    Reverend Dennis

    Hard Lessons: The Iraq Reconstruction Experience is now available as a free download here.
    Hard Lessons was prepared by the office of the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction and the work presents a look at how billions of dollars were spent and mis-spent on the reconstruction of Iraq.

  49. 49.

    Phoebe

    1. The Neti pot is now painful to use, as though I’m pouring battery acid through my nose or something. Why? What do I do? I’m not even using salt and it’s this painful.

    2. Those glasses are a cry for help.

    3. All those interested in Utah should read "Under The Banner of Heaven", because holy shit is it freaky.

  50. 50.

    TheHatOnMyCat

    makes me wonder what this fellow is like in his free time.

    There was a documentary on him a few years ago, when he was still in the Senate. On a regular basis, he would take a car and drive, by himself, all over South Dakota and just pull into towns and walk into places and start talking to people. Basically the most down to earth, guy next door conversation you ever heard in your life. Small town stuff. How’s the wheat this year? Been warmer than usual. Is there anything you’d like me to take with me back to Washington, I’m there to represent you.

    Amazing, most unassuming character you ever saw.

  51. 51.

    Rick Taylor

    Looks like we may be planning to give the banks hundreds of billions more of our dollars. I really hope we can overcome our fear of the n word and nationalize the banks that are failing, instead of throwing huge amounts of money at them, then hoping their management will being acting like public servants. If any private firm paid the amount of money we’re thinking of paying, they’d own these banks and there’d be no questions asked. (most here have probably already read Krugman’s latest, but here it is anyway)

  52. 52.

    jibeaux

    Man, you guys stayed steadfastly mostly on topic, despite the open thread AND me dropping "boobs" in there all casual-like. You should be proud of yourselves!

    On to taxes. This is a long shot, but you guys are a resourceful lot and already more helpful than the tech support from the IRS website, which was not at all helpful. I am trying to avail myself of the free fillable forms available to all taxpayers this year, so I can e-file for free. I cannot for the life of me figure out how to do, on the free forms, an attachment, which is when you run out of room on the schedule to list something. Basically on the paper forms you’d just attach a sheet of paper with your additional listings. If anyone has started their taxes with these forms and has successfully figured out how to do this, please let me know and I will love you forever.

  53. 53.

    Krista

    What do I do? I’m not even using salt and it’s this painful.

    That’s why it’s painful. The water needs to basically have the same salinity of human tears. If you don’t feel like futzing about with salt, you can also buy plain old medical-grade saline at the pharmacy (it’s usually behind the counter).

  54. 54.

    Krista

    Man, you guys stayed steadfastly mostly on topic, despite the open thread AND me dropping "boobs" in there all casual-like

    Hee hee hee….boobs.

  55. 55.

    jibeaux

    Hee hee hee….boobs.

    This is what the SO’s of pregnant ladies start saying right about now-ish on your timeline, no? :) Or is that fairy expected a little later…

  56. 56.

    Krista

    Oh honey, the boob fairy arrived when I was nine. So now we’re just venturing into the realm of the ridiculous.

  57. 57.

    jibeaux

    Brag, brag, like it’s not enough to have that hair…

    /sighing, wondering how to meet men in Britain in 1984
    /kidding, happily married, don’t want the back problems anyway

  58. 58.

    headpan

    I’ll wear the goddam glasses and pink tutu myself, if it’ll help!

    I will wear them UNDER my pink tutu, if necessary

  59. 59.

    Ella in NM

    @Phoebe:

    The Neti pot is now painful to use, as though I’m pouring battery acid through my nose or something. Why? What do I do? I’m not even using salt and it’s this painful.

    We love the neti pot here in the desert. But I got in trouble using a solution that was too much on the salty side and had similar symptoms. I started using a standardized mix I purchased at Walgreens from Neil Med, and it works great.

    You must be careful that your solution is isotonic. If you are making your own, it is easy to push it to be too concentrated (hypertonic) or too dilute (hypotonic). Plain water is hypotonic to your sinuses, and can cause discomfort as much as a hypertonic solution. If you were using a hypertonic solution before, then it may have irritated your membranes topically. Lay off the pot for a couple of days, if using an isotonic solution still hurts. Otherwise, if this symptom just popped up, you probably have the beginnings of a cold or other infection starting.

    Good Luck!

  60. 60.

    Laura W

    @Krista: Funny, Krista!
    My Boob Fairy came around age 13. We moved into a new house with a big swimming pool. I swam all summer. When I went back to school, I was endowed.
    (looks up to be sure she is on an open thread.)
    It took me years to realize that the timing was probably more coincidental and having to do with, you know, turning 13, and had little to do with the swimming.
    Breast strokes, indeed.

  61. 61.

    theturtlemoves

    @TheHatOnMyCat: My mom actually gave him communion in our church when I was a kid and he visited the federal fish hatchery where my dad was working and that was about to be closed and expressed sympathy to everyone about to get transferred or forced into early retirement. Actually a pretty nice guy despite the taste in ocular corrective devices.

  62. 62.

    Mike in NC

    All those interested in Utah should read "Under The Banner of Heaven", because holy shit is it freaky.

    Great book. The towns run by the Mormon Fundamentalists sound like something out of the Twilight Zone.

  63. 63.

    jibeaux

    Okay, I get it, tech support for Neti pots, yes, taxes, no. I will have to call the stupid IRS help number from work…

  64. 64.

    TenguPhule

    I cannot for the life of me figure out how to do, on the free forms, an attachment, which is when you run out of room on the schedule to list something.

    You can’t do attachments.

    If you’re using freefile, you can just keep adding schedules/forms.

  66. 66.

    jibeaux

    @TenguPhule:

    What I am trying to do, specifically, is attach a statement to the Form 2441, the child care credit form. It gives you space for exactly two child care providers. I have to list a day care, an afterschool, and about four different summer camps. The instructions say to "attach a statement". I’ve generally gone with the $14 tax websites that file for you (TaxACT, I think), but was trying to save the $ this year because I know what my deductions are and I can fill out the forms myself…but I can’t figure this out. Possibly there’s just some way to attach a word document to the whole mess when I e-file it…I don’t know.

  67. 67.

    TenguPhule

    Possibly there’s just some way to attach a word document to the whole mess when I e-file it…I don’t know.

    There isn’t.

    See if you can add another 2441 or if there is a form for extension.

  72. 72.

    Jay Ballou

    Bush said it best

    A pretty good indication that what follows is complete and utter bullshit. If the rich didn’t pay taxes, Bush wouldn’t have bothered to cut them, and those cuts wouldn’t have had a severe effect on the economy. But there are people so pathetically stupid as to actually believe what Bush said, even when he said it — bizarrely enough — as a justification for not restoring the tax rates on the rich.

  73. 73.

    Jay Ballou

    does anybody else think Tom looks a LOT like Ted Haggard?

    You should consider a pair of glasses yourself.

  74. 74.

    Panurge

    You may think "John Lennon", but all I see is "This culture’s been going backward so long it thinks it’s forward, otherwise what’s with all the 1920’s glasses?" Making the frames red doesn’t help a bit. Give me my teardrop aviators, TUVM.

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