Fresh off the news that Obama’s poll numbers have rebounded to 67% approval, some in the GOP have come up with an innovative new strategy to knock him down a peg:
Top Republicans charged President Barack Obama with driving the United States toward socialism on Friday, opening an ideological attack on his big spending plans.
While the tough rhetoric was certain to rev up hard-line Republicans — many of whom regard “socialism” as anathema to American life — it was unclear how much it would change the debate in the Democratic-led Congress, which begins hearings next week on Obama’s $3.55 trillion budget proposal.
John Boehner, Republican leader in the House of Representatives, on Friday called Obama’s new budget proposal and recently passed economic stimulus plan “one big down payment on a new American socialist experiment.”
***Senator Jim DeMint called Obama “the world’s best salesman of socialism,” while Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said Obama’s proposals recalled the “big government mentality” of former Democratic President Jimmy Carter — a favorite target for many in the conservative movement.
That is certainly a breath of fresh air, and really signifies the new thinking the GOP is going through while in the minority. Original ideas like this are sure to really do the trick. Has anyone tried to claim he pals around with terrorist? That probably hasn’t been tried before and I bet that would really help their cause.
Martin
More ‘our philosophy trumps your lack of a job and a pension’.
So, Obama at 73% after this GOP strategy?
TR
Bobby Jindal is next up for Time’s 10 Questions feature.
You can submit questions here.
Laura W
I was misled by the title.
I was hoping this was going to be covered here because I was over on youtube when David Shuster was discussing it.
josefina
No, seriously—where do they get the carbon-fiber titanium-clad double-dipped brass-plated balls to start bitching about "socialism" and "deficits" NOW?
flounder
I was thinking they could trot out some tax-dodging, unlicensed tradesman to say he doesn’t like the tax cut Obama is going to give him.
Rick Taylor
We’ve said it before. They have nothing. All they get excited about is what they’re against. That didn’t work for Democrats in 2006; it’s definitely not going to work for Republicans in 2010.
Incertus
@josefina: They’ve raised cognitive dissonance to an art form.
Incertus
@Rick Taylor: Think you mean "it didn’t work for Democrats in ’04." Because we didn’t try it in ’06.
Adam
OMG HE SAID THAT HE LIKED REAGAN AND IN KINDERGARTEN HE WANTED TO BE PRESIDENT
ALSO HE IS A JEWISH / MUSLIM / CHRISTIAN FUNDAMENTALIST / SLEEPER AGENT AND HE DOESN’T WEAR A FLAG PIN AND HE’S LIKE BRITNEY AND PARIS IF YOU REMEMBER THEM BECAUSE PEOPLE IN GERMANY WATCHED HIM SPEAK SO REALLY HE’S LIKE HITLER
ALSO HE IS BLACK
Comrade Stuck
Oh, that’s set for the summer re-runs of the winter re-runs. Next fall comes the new season of endless Stalin/Mao comparisons and maybe a little Ghengis Khan allegory. Should be fun and we will learn lots.
kid bitzer
thing is, they hit this note so long and loud before the elections, that they effectively gave him a *mandate* for socialism.
i mean, look: the republicans kept telling us he’s a socialist. palin kept telling us he’s a socialist. joe the plumber kept telling us he’s a socialist.
and he won by a really, really, big majority.
so i’d say that they american people pretty much wants him to be…a socialist.
(not that his budget contains anything that a serious person could characterize that way anyhow).
Chuck Butcher
I think there are some pretty good reasons the GOP is trapped where it is. I tried to cover it a bit, here.
joe from Lowell
I hear he told some guy that you can save gas by checking the tire pressure on your car.
Is that crazy, or what?
BongCrosby
"Governor Jindal, some say the ghost of Abraham Lincoln walks the White House. If you’re elected President, will you be conducting any exorcisms in the White House?
Josh Hueco
New Rule for Wingtards: You may use the word "socialism" in a conversation with me ONLY if you can tell me who Rosa Luxemburg and Robert Owen were without pausing to do a Google search. Otherwise, you’re a moron who doesn’t know what the fuck you’re talking about.
Laura W
@Incertus:
Or as some smart and funny person said in these comments this week: "Dissonance without the cognitive."
AnneLaurie
"Four legs good, two legs BETTER" worked so well as a rallying cry for the last 8 years. Surely they can milk it for another cycle or so, if only they can raise the volume enough!
Adam
He really dropped the ball on that gasoline tax thing, huh?
John Cole
I just had a terrifying thought. What if I had not been driven from the GOP and had to spend the last 3-4 years defending this nonsense? No wonder the right wing blogs are just phoning it in.
Dennis-SGMM
This attack will take down Obama because unrestrained capitalism is working out so well for so many.
Napoleon
Yeah, big government Jimmy, the guy who deregulated the airlines, brought hard monetary policy to the fed, etc., etc. and was so hard left that the right wing of the Democratic Party united behind Teddy Kennedy to try and defeat him in a primary. I have a hard time telling the difference between Carter and Castro.
mcc
I think this is great. If they keep up long enough this sustained campaign of associating "socialism" in the public mind with popular, pragmatic government solutions to problems, eventually the word is going to just lose all pejorative value whatsoever.
Comrade Stuck
The wingnuts will wail when he re-invents the wheel and uses it to save the world.
Ecks
OMG, nooooooes! Quick, call Obama’s emergency panic department, they’re playing the Carter card! Sweet heavens, the way Carter’s name hang as an omnipresent threat in the American political imagination, they’ve gone nuclear on us.
Sorry folks, it’s over. Looks like we’ll be back to solid GOP majorities again come 2010. Well, this was nice while it lasted.
/snark
demkat620
@John Cole: You’d be like my right wing friend, slowly going clinically insane trying to make reality fit your preconceptions.
evie
The Reds are coming! The Reds are coming!
Dennis-SGMM
@Napoleon:
Not to mention the fact that numbers of today’s voters were yet to be born when Carter was president.
Bring on the comfy chair!
Josh Hueco
And I can see ’em from my house, dontchaknow. (winks)
demkat620
Wait until they tell people he has no plans to start a war of choice. Obama’s political career will be over.
Porkulus, fka Media Browski
@John Cole: You’d likely be wearing the same bitter, manic grimace as Michelle Malkin.
Comrade Stuck
@John Cole:
You may have become Phil and wanked yourself into self parody. And now your a sensible democrat instead/ Ha
syl
Governor Jindal, which do you think will be more damaging to your political career, lying about Hurricane Katrina, or telling the truth about exorcisms?
flounder
Who do you think will be the Republican Congressman that take a pumpkin out in the backyard and shoots it to prove once and for all that Obama is a socialist?
Dennis-SGMM
Next up: Republicans land a telling blow as they compare Obama to Tiberius Gracchus.
dmsilev
I really don’t know how Obama does it, but he somehow manages to make his opponents turn themselves into complete fools. It goes back to his Senate campaign, where his first opponent managed to turn "was once married to hot TV actress" into a crippling liability (a minor matter of pressuring her into going to Parisian sex clubs), and his replacement was Alan Keyes.
It’s sort of like Batman’s lesser-known superpower of making his opponents act like idiots.
Hmmm. Perhaps Barack Obama *is* Batman. The Dark Knight was filmed in Chicago after all.
-ds
Incertus
@Dennis-SGMM: But were alive when he won the Nobel. Younger people have a far better opinion of Carter than people older than I am do.
Bad Horse's Filly
The Republicans have become like that one last mosquito in your room at night. A low whine that no matter how you swat at it, won’t go away. Small, annoying, disrupting your sleep, but not much of a threat.
Mainer
So, I called Boehner’s office today and asked why he had said that the era of big government is back and the American people are going to pay for it since — you know — 95% of Americans just got a tax cut and the only people’s taxes who are going up have incomes over 250K. My family’s income is certainly above the median for my state and it isn’t anywhere near 250K.
So what did he say? Oh, Obama IS going to do it and he’ll raise taxes on small businesses. I told him that one of the wage earners in my family is a sole proprietor and we don’t think that 250K in earnings is what SMALL businesses earn.
I must say that, although I was calm, this young man got really worked up and could NOT answer with anything other than assertions. He claimed that Gibbs had admitted taxes will go up on small businesses, that he said it in his WH briefing. But I saw the briefing myself and I knew he didn’t say it.
All in all, it was a demonstration of the CLAP LOUDER rule. They can fool themselves, but not anyone who knows anything. And Obama has repeated the 95% folks getting a tax cut information plenty of times, but he and his folks have got to keep repeating it.
Laura W
@John Cole: Well, obviously, you would not have the large majority of us spending our days/nights/weekends/holidays with you and your fellow front pagers and commenters.
You’re a piece of work, but at least now, you’re "our" piece of work.
Sorry…have to fit in another of my Favoritest Songs somehow.
Josh Hueco
I have to admit I always smirk a little when I see or hear the word ‘Porkulus.’ It sounds like the title character of some B-grade monster movie that features a 70-foot-tall red duroc rampaging through a middle-American city. Watch out for those power lines! Mmmmm….bacon explosion.
Comrade Stuck
@evie:
to that from this
Napoleon
@Dennis-SGMM:
Plus to the extent the young may know him he comes off as a heck of a lot nicer of a guy then dicks like Bush, Boner, Mitch M, Cantor, etc. It is kind of hard to demonize him.
mr. whipple
I almost feel sorry for ’em. Almost.
The sad thing is, I think having two functioning parties with fresh ideas is good for the country, but the Republicans seem intent on destroying themselves.
Nutters.
Martin
I love this article. Reaffirms what I’ve been told from colleagues:
Utah highest porn consumers
J. Michael Neal
Eh. I pick them for fourth. They will finish ahead of the Pirates and the Astros, but I don’t think that qualifies as much of an accomplishment.
J. Michael Neal
I do my best to help Minnesota’s numbers, but they keep lowering my credit card limits.
JL
@John Cole: If you have any thoughts of going to the dark side, read the Red States blogs about TPM and then read what TPM actually wrote. Since I tend to be pollyannish, I visited their site thinking they would actually be writing about Jindal’s lies.
Eric K
My analogy is the right is like an American tourist in some German village trying to talk to a shop keeper who doesn’t speak English, so they keep saying the same thing louder and slower thinking now they’ll understand me. Anyone who’s traveled has probably seen them.
Brandon T.
This is a little like shooting fish in a barrel, but has everyone seen this video yet? (Via Ana Marie Cox’s twitter)
"The Littlest Conservative"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_vz1TVpwme0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oc_kFmuSXoE
So the younger generation isn’t TOTALLY lost to the Republicans. Although, it’s a little creepy the way his mannerisms are a fusion of Hannity and Gingrich…
Tax Analyst
John Cole, you don’t strike me as someone able to balance and rationalize the sort of idiocy the GOPer’s have been flogging lately. I sort of recall you threw in the towel on them with the Terri Schiavo mess. You probably should have done it a little sooner, but I suspect you had a long-standing dislike of the Democratic party that kept you hanging around the reservation long after their collective wigwams turned into intellectual crack houses.
Ned R.
Hey, I found a good one just now — first, Rick Moran of Right Wing Nut House, who is actually pretty sane in comparison to many other feebs:
This gets linked by Daily Pundit, who complains:
They’re honest bigots! Keep ’em around for their honesty!
Man, I love fools.
Tsulagi
Looking at those Gallup numbers, it seems there has been a 15% increase in Obama’s job approval rating among…Republicans.
Oh noes! More RINOs needing to be leperized! Quick, RSSFers, stop dreaming about rough men at the ready and send them your balls!!
Ned R.
@Tsulagi:
They should be bolder. Send ’em each others’ balls.
John Cole
@JL: I kinda think Jindal is getting somewhat of a bum rap. I think it is pretty clear he embellished a little, but I never for a minute thought that when he said ‘during Katrina’ thought he meant during the actual damned storm. We all watched the storm- no one was doing anything during the actual storm. I sort of took it to mean “during the entire two week to month long ordeal” when he said it.
That being said, the whole invocation of Katrina made no damned sense at all.
Just Some Fuckhead
@Laura W:
Careful now, don’t want him getting a big head. Uh, bigger.
demkat620
I can’t imagine what it will take to make them understand they need more than just a better advertising strategy and Twitter.
Ned R.
@John Cole: Well, Katrina is sort of seen as the turning point for Bush in the end, isn’t it? The rest of that year ground things down further — the Harriet Miers sideshow in October, for one. It’s almost as if it’s an attempt to somehow reclaim Katrina from the Heckuva Job scenario.
John Cole
This is OT and is going to sound like a Brick Oven comment, but I bought these tube socks at Target, and I was all excited to put on a new pair of socks, throw on the slippers, and sit on the couch and watch some tube (my Friday nights have really gone downhill as far as excitement factor), but every pair I put on has this annoying seam that no matter what I do is rubbing on my toes in an irritating manner. I guess I will just cut them up and use them as rags, because I feel silly wasting them and I doubt any charity wants used socks, but it seems like such a waste. And yes, they are that uncomfortable and I am not just being a prima donna.
Martin
So the GOP is down to getting some 7th grader to explain to them what conservatism is? They’ve totally given up on adults, then? They do realize he can’t run for president until 2032, right?
Martin
You didn’t explain how the socks brought about the end of the Ottoman Empire, nor did you describe the armpit hair of the chubby, but pleasant looking girl that sold them to you.
Then it would sound like a BOB comment.
Dr. Rockso
58 – Turn them inside out for now.
Ed Marshall
But, but…Brick Oven Bill had this little chart that showed that Obama would be in impeachmentland by June or something. It’s almost like he doesn’t understand how fucking stupid it is to grab a trend line on a graph and extrapolate things straight out!
Just Some Fuckhead
@Martin: I understand they’re testing the Mark Foley Touches a Teenager Outreach program. They’ve also got the Michael Steele Homeless Republican For a Day program.
SpotWeld
What is the GOP going to do if someone actually tells people what socialism is?
Just Some Fuckhead
Can I say I just can’t stand Ewan MacGregor or anything he does? If that makes me suckie, I accept my fate.
Laura W
@Just Some Fuckhead: That seams a little unseemly, Fuckhead.
JL
@John Cole: I volunteer at a clothes closet (charity) and slightly worn socks are really appreciated. Before you take the scissors to them please check with the organization that you use.
Bubblegum Tate
@mcc:
I’ve been enjoying that, too. Pretty soon, the GOP is going to unintentionally redefine "socialism" to mean something people would actually want.
Ed Marshall
Phil to! He’s got PHDish economic skillz! How he did he fuck up and make such an obviously, simple, error in logic?
TenguPhule
Then we would have been mocking at you instead of mocking with you. Fear the wrath of the Spoof Squadron!
Lihtox
I’d like someone to do a poll to find out how Americans feel about the word "socialism". Given how ineffective this tactic has been, I have a sneaking suspicion that the word doesn’t really bother most people, particularly younger folk who weren’t around during the McCarthy era. I wonder if this is just the last remnant of the Cold Warriors, pining for the days of the Soviet Union when they still mattered.
PeakVT
Top Republicans charged President Barack Obama with driving the United States toward socialism on Friday
If by socialism they mean a national health care system, a 35 hour work week, 20+ days of paid vacation per year, and SUPERTRAINS between most major cities, I say: it can’t happen soon enough.
But I’ll settle for the partial socialism of a national health care system.
J.A.F. Rusty Shackleford
@Dennis-SGMM:
Due to his frequent appearances on The Daily Show, Jimmy Carter is generally admired by those born after his term in office.
The best portrayal of Jimmy Carter I’ve seen in pop culture is his appearance on King of the Hill. Bobby mistakes Jimmy Carter for Jesus Christ because his Habitat for Humanity coveralls are monogrammed "JC" and he is so wise and reasonable.
"The Father, the Son and J.C."
December 16, 2001
Hank’s emotional outburst pushes him further from his father, so Bobby drafts Jimmy Carter (David Herman) to broker a Christmas peace.
TenguPhule
Comrade, I think you’re referring to this.
Comrade Stuck
@John Cole:
Sock comfort is a very important topic, despite fuckheads "little unseemly" remark. Don’t know what brand, but Jerzees makes your best all around comfortable cheap white sock. Though tubers are a little long in the leg imo. They are also highly durable and because they’re all white, matching them is not a problem. You might get called a nerd, but after the age of thirty that becomes true for most people anyway.
As for the bad ones you bought, you could always die them gaudy yellow/orange and call them terrible towelettes.
J.A.F. Rusty Shackleford
@syl:
That’s so awesome.
Mike in NC
And I thought my sex life was severely wanting…
Dennis-SGMM
@J.A.F. Rusty Shackleford:
That’s good to know. I voted for him and admired him when he was in office. The Republicans did a masterful job of turning him into a laughingstock and with discrediting the idea of energy conservation.
Tattoosydney
Good morning all…
And where do all of those new and exciting ideas come from?
TenguPhule
I’m surprised the type didn’t scream in agony and jump off of the pages from that.
Dennis-SGMM
Republicans revolting, from over at TBogg’s place. If it was anyone but the R’s I’d say that the signs had to have been Photoshopped.
Shawn in ShowMe
Fixed.
Brandon T.
@Tattoosydney
"Uncanny similarity"? The book’s so full of gross generalizations and strawmen ("anti-dog-eat-dog act"?) almost ANY time period in the modern era would be similar to the book.
"A principled and practical solution consistent with American values"?! As in, walk away and tell the world to fuck itself? Has that person even READ the damn book? They can’t be this dumb, can they?
Tattoosydney
Who will get in first?
@Brandon T.:
Yes.
SATSQ.
Dennis-SGMM
gbear
@demkat620:
Bill Kristol griping in the WaPo that Obama has no plans to start a war of choice. He’s most certainly one of the go-to writers of the modern conservative movement. A voice for the future.
JL
@John Cole: The reason that I will not give Jindal a pass is because we don’t know how much he embellished. I would love for the media to point out that Jindal’s statements about high speed trains or volcano monitoring were disingenuous but that is not how MSM works. (ask Al Gore) Actually I would like MSM to discuss exorcism but that won’t happen. Sorry but Jindal does not get a pass from me.
Alan
I’ve been waiting decades for our European friends to become economic basket cases due to their socialism. Who would have thunk our capitalist wizards of investment banking is what sunk the world’s banking system.
LaDonne
On Washington week, they couldn’t seem to figure out Obama’s long term plan, but the Republican’s long term strategery? Piece of cake.
Shawn in ShowMe
Can you imagine what Ayn Rand, who worshipped at the altar of intellectual exceptionalism, would think of Sarah the Plumber and Joe The Plumber? If she wasn’t already dead, their mindless blatherings would have killed her.
Laura W
@Tattoosydney: I’m so glad you showed up! Now I can post my third and final (I think) Favoritest Happy Song of The Night for You!
Martin
amorphous
THIS IS GREAT NEWS FOR JOHN MCCAIN!
I think their new strategy should be to do a barrel roll.
Tattoosydney
@gbear: \
Kristol is not alone…
Sometimes I don’t know why I go to the Corner and get stupid all over myself…
J.A.F. Rusty Shackleford
@Dennis-SGMM:
Did anybody get busted for doing something illegal in the Carter administration? Were there any scandals?
Nixon had Watergate, Ford pardoned Nixon, Reagan had Iran-Contra, Bush I pardoned the Iran-Contra folks, Clinton had Lewinsky and Bush II, well, where do you start? Was there anything during Carter’s time in office? (Besides the killer rabbit.)
Tattoosydney
@Laura W:
Ahhhhhhhhhh! My ears! My ears! Please help me stop the bleeding.
PS Mick Hucknall is the most unattractive man to have ever lived.
Martin
More purity please:
Napoleon
@JL:
There is another reason not to give Jindal a pass really has little to do with Jindal and everything about how the Democrats have to handle Republicans across the board. One really positive thing to come out of the 08 election cycle is a real hard pushback against the Rep. lies and I think it is finally getting through to the media, and I think pounding the Republicans every time they do it is a great idea since it reinforces the idea that they can’t be trusted to ever tell the truth (which they can’t). Jindal is part of a larger narrative.
gbear
If CPAC was being broadcast live on CSPAN, Obama would be at 97% right now. Worst party ever.
Just Some Fuckhead
Here is one of my favorite happy songs. Christ, I’m already up dancing.
Napoleon
@J.A.F. Rusty Shackleford:
Somebody should have gone to jail for selling Billy Beer to the public.
TenguPhule
Why yes, they are.
JL
@J.A.F. Rusty Shackleford: He did have lust in his heart so I’m sure that counts for something. Repubs just have lust in men’s rooms.
Laura W
@Tattoosydney: Oh damn. Here I thought you’d like that song.
FAIL.
gbear
My dad got a ticket for a rolling stop while we were on vacation one summer back then.
[delurk]...[/delurk]
I think I’ve figured out what the pathology is with these idiots. Now that they’re a regional party in the mountain South and Mormonia, with their rampant inbreeding and, at least in the former case, poverty, a lot of these wingnuts were probably raised in the same attic where they kept the crazy old grandfather, listening to the broken record of their insane obsessions. High on the list would be the War of Northern Aggression and Sociabilism (to avoid moderation.)
Outside of these primitive enclaves, nobody born in the 20th Century, and certainly not in the last 40 years, has the reaction to the bare word Sociabilism that they do, and yet they assume that their knee-jerk responses are universal, and all they have to do is use the proper dog-whistle buzzwords and everyone will recoil in horror.
I only wish I thought Obama was going to bring on Sociabilism, but being sane, I know better.
JL
@Just Some Fuckhead: OMG am I old. l remember that song although I passed on spending my allowance for that 45.
Shawn in ShowMe
Corny but not scandalous
Comrade Scrutinizer
@Martin: Dammit, I am not a Republican!
Wile E. Quixote
@J.A.F. Rusty Shackleford
All of the scandals during Carter’s tenure in the White House were pretty low-key. His brother was a drunken idiot who took a leak on the tarmac at the airport one day in front of a bunch of dignitaries and who was peripherally involved in some business dealings with the Libyans. The White House press secretary, Hamilton Jordan was accused of doing cocaine at Studio 54 as I recall and Dr. Peter Bourne had to resign from his position because he’d been at a party where people were doing cocaine and because he wrote an improper prescription.
And during the Carter years the GDP grew by an average of 2.9 percent a year, which beats Reagan, Ford, Bush I and Bush II.
AhabTRuler
Look, right now, Bobby Jindal is about as desirable as a wet fart, so pass or no, I’m not too worried about him.
Mr. Rogers clip. Best. 111!
AhabTRuler
@Shawn in ShowMe: No, NO! Not the Bee Gees! Anyone but the Bee Gees! Man, I hate those guys.
Tattoosydney
@Laura W:
Mr Hucknall is teh evil, sorry.
If I want to listen to a tiny unattractive man singing falsetto, then this is my choice….
Comrade Mary, Would-Be Minion Of Bad Horse
Happy songs? Hmmm …
p.a.
Why don’t they just rename themselves the American Party ("Know-Nothings") and be done with it. Ah, the socialist menace (is that also the title of Star Wars Episode 7?). Maybe they’ll drive off the neocons and the Catholic League next by resurrecting the Hebrew and Papist menaces; after all look how successful the ‘Negro Problem’ has been for them recruiting African-Americans.
BTW, the term Know-Nothing did not evolve as a comment on their ignorance (that was just a fortuitous coincidence). The name derives from the secret nature of the party. Adherents were supposed to respond to questions about their membership by saying "I know nothing about that" etc.
I believe denial is also a basic tenet of some Druse sects.
p.a.
Music? How about somber yet beautiful? (Also describes the artist)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FzIXZdtPeeQ
les
I don’t know what you people are so excited about.
Why, just today Juan Williams came on NPR to tell me that repub congresscritters were making a big comeback in the polls and the prez is in trouble. And he knows, too. Also.
Tropical Fats
You know what? If "socialism" means I could live in a world where I could get sick and not be financially ruined because I didn’t have insurance, or because my insurance company didn’t decide to enhance its quarterly profit by just denying all my claims and daring me to sue them – if that’s socialism, then sign me up for a big fucking mess o’ socialism right now.
More socialism, please!
HRA
In their (Republicans) to get their party united and on the move, they have opened a Pandora’s box. I decided to click on an AOL news title about Michelle Obama’s new softer look (style and dress) Then I decided to see a few of the comments about it. Vile is too mild a word to use as a description. Trashing is closer for a description. They’ve adopted the idiotic Republican and their in the pocket media talking points as gospel. It’s definitely ignorance while it’s also very scary.
Johnny Pez
DeMint-y fresh!
gopher2b
I attended a Purged Republican meeting today (me and another guy from work had lunch). We decided that we deserved to have our taxes raised as penance for voting for Bush twice. We voted and decided to not oppose the Obama budget.
Just Some Fuckhead
@gopher2b: We don’t want yer money if yer in the lower 95%. Yer punishment is you gotta gay marry yer friend from work.
Conservatively Liberal
@Martin:
They haven’t discovered the free porn yet? Now that is funny! One of my customers is a big Mormon muckety-muck in the local church. One time his computer crapped out and he dropped it off for service. A few days later he came by to pick it up and he asked me if there was any way to remove all traces of porn from his computer. I told him that he could but there were a few deliberate steps that he would have to take to clean out his cache, browser history, system history and such.
He told me that he ‘made the mistake of looking at some porn’ and wanted to make sure his wife and kids would not come across anything on the computer. He told me that he had used a temporary credit card to check it out and I joked back ‘you mean you haven’t found the free porn online?’ That perked his ears right up and I even showed him a way to easily locate free porn. I am sure I made his day…lol! I explained to him that anyone who has tried ‘free’ software via warez sites also looks for ‘cracks’, which when entered into a search returns what? Yup. There is so much free porn out there people are nuts paying for it. Now he is getting his jollies for free and knows how to clean up his tracks.
Funny that he trusts a DFH like me to keep his secret. Oh well, at least I know he will pay his bills. ;)
A high school friend of my wife’s called tonight. She was a punk rocker, into weed and acid, an absolute slut and into group sex. Now she is the respectable church going, Civil War re-enacting (for the South, of course), librul hating, Sunday school teaching, Republican voting wife of a Border Patrol agent stationed in California. Her and my wife got into a bit of a heated discussion regarding Clinton where she told my wife that she ‘was sorry’ that we voted for ‘that pervert’. My wife decided to knock her down a few notches by reminding her that she was no angel and reminding her of one event (of many) that she would not be too proud about others knowing. My wife had no such history to worry about but she was fascinated by those who did…lol! Good thing I came along and married her before she became corrupted. I got to do it!
That incident was in the 90’s. They just started talking again a few months ago. My wife was talking to one of their kids while waiting for their mom to return to the phone and the kid asked my wife about how his dad acted in high school (like mom, of course). My poor wife sounded like George Bush trying to talk, spluttering and not really saying much other than ‘he was kind of loud but nice’.
I was rolling on the floor choking with laughter and my wife was trying to keep me quiet. Wingnutz sure are fun…lol!
jehrler
The problem with giving Bobby a pass is that he was trying to take credit for being a hero and helping the Sheriff buck the stoopid bureaucrats.
In reality, by the time he and the Sheriff became involved, some unknown good samaritans/deputies had already told whomever was insisting on registration/floatation devices to shove it and had headed out to help the victims.
That is why it bothers me…taking credit for *someone elses* courage/convictions.
Juan del Llano
Geez, what the hell is wrong with socialism?
Steeplejack
@Laura W:
Excellent song. I like "Fairground." Just sayin’.
Steeplejack
@Josh Hueco:
I have been laughing all week at Cole’s mention of Porkulus: The Porkening. I think we could get green-lighted on this Monday morning if we could show that Adrienne Barbeau is available and interested.
Janet Strange
@John Cole: OK, this thread is long dead and you’ll probably never see this, but what you said is really bugging me. The issue was never when the incident took place, it was that it never happened at all. He claimed that he was in the room with the sheriff during the phone call and backing him up. He wasn’t. Jindal’s "story"
It doesn’t matter when it supposedly happened – it’s that Jindal overheard an interview that the sheriff was giving about the rescue and out of that overheard interview JIndal came up with the above. He wasn’t there during the phone call. He never "told" him anything during the phone call. In other words, what jehrler said.
Steeplejack
Well, your Google hits would be more like "That jagoff at Balloon Juice said . . ." rather than "More cat p0rn, please!"
Steeplejack
@gbear:
LOL! But I’m at about +5 for the evening, for what it’s worth.
Steeplejack
@p.a.:
Less bagpipe, please.
Steeplejack
@Janet Strange:
No response to your comment. Just want to say that I feel your pain, because this is my default condition on this blog. I have this weird work schedule right now that makes it so that I am always commenting on dead threads. Welcome, sister.
Chuck Butcher
The left coast causes a bit of that also…
Steeplejack
@Chuck Butcher:
As long as we’re the only ones up, remind me at some point in the future that I want to grill you about contact lenses vs. bifocals. I am sliding into middle-aged senescence, currently wearing "seamless" bifocal glasses. Used to wear "basic" contact lenses. I infer from your earlier comments about gnarly work environment that you have found a good compromise with contacts for detail-oriented work. My needs could be characterized as somewhere between "close copyediting" and "woodworking." Make of that what you will. I guess my question is that I haven’t researched contact lenses in a while and am wondering about the state of the art for middle-aged eyes.
Laura W Darling
@Steeplejack:
Ya know…I coulda used your support last night when I was being viciously ridiculed in public for my crappy taste in music. Log on from work. Everyone else around here seems to.
bago
WARBLOGGING!
gex
@John Cole: Try wearing them inside out first. Maybe the seams won’t be so annoying.
Or is that just weird advice? I’m a computer geek (Aspberger like personality) and often find myself having put my clothes on inside out and not noticing for a good long while.
Steeplejack
@Laura W Darling:
My support wouldn’t have done you any good, sister. On another thread I tried three times to post a YouTube link to a song, and the B.J. software kept prefixing its own address to the URL. Made me feel like a tool.
Anyway, everybody’s got crappy musical taste. It’s a crapshoot: your pop music taste is formed by whatever is in the air when you hit puberty. And so we’ve all got our guilty little pleasures.
Edit: Damn it! It’s doing it to me again. And I swear the code is correct in the message. I’m looking at it right now!
CalD
I would say they’re fighting the last war, but of course they’re reaching back more like three of four wars on this one.
The Red Scare? Dude…
Takes you back though, don’t it? (If you’re like, old.)