Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

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

The revolution will be supervised.

Roe isn’t about choice, it’s about freedom.

Balloon Juice has never been a refuge for the linguistically delicate.

Accountability, motherfuckers.

This blog will pay for itself.

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

I did not have this on my fuck 2022 bingo card.

I know this must be bad for Joe Biden, I just don’t know how.

T R E 4 5 O N

This year has been the longest three days of putin’s life.

Not so fun when the rabbit gets the gun, is it?

Russian mouthpiece, go fuck yourself.

I see no possible difficulties whatsoever with this fool-proof plan.

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

Just because you believe it, that doesn’t make it true.

They traffic in fear. it is their only currency. if we are fearful, they are winning.

The cruelty is the point; the law be damned.

Impressively dumb. Congratulations.

Speaking of republicans, is there a way for a political party to declare intellectual bankruptcy?

If you are still in the GOP, you are an extremist.

“Can i answer the question? No you can not!”

Perhaps you mistook them for somebody who gives a damn.

Republicans in disarray!

You are here: Home / Politics / Dumb questions from Mark Halperin

Dumb questions from Mark Halperin

by | 129 Comments

This post is in: 

Halperin asks:

6. How much money will conservative groups spend to try to beat him?

How on earth could that possibly matter? It will be a shock if whatever whack job the Republicans nominate comes within ten points of Specter. He’s now a Democrat and a long-time incumbent in a blue state (comfy Obama win, huge rej advantage).

The era of conservative dominance is over. It lives on only in the minds of Beltway political pundits.

Reader Interactions

129Comments

  1. 1.

    Incertus

    It could matter if Republicans burn tons of money there in a misbegotten attempt at revenge and don’t fund races that are actually winnable. Shit, I hope they do it there so we can have a puncher’s chance here in Florida.

  3. 3.

    Existenz

    It’s not a totally pointless question. Every dollar that is spent to unseat Specter is a dollar that cannot be used to win other Senate seats.

  4. 4.

    John H. Farr

    The era of conservative dominance is over. It lives on only in the minds of Beltway political pundits.

    Like with real estate developers and Wall Street financiers, the evolutionary niche is closing. We actually won back in the ’60s, but these things take a lot longer than people expect.

  5. 5.

    dmsilev

    Has Halperin ever asked a non-dumb question?

    Also, it should be clear that John McCain won the day.

    -dms

  6. 6.

    Cat Lady

    Pundits are looking into the abyss themselves. They’re disoriented, because they’ve been nothing buy lazy sycophants. How’s that workin’ out?

  7. 7.

    Scruffy McSnufflepuss

    @Existenz:

    Exactly. The question should be phrased, “How much money will conservative groups squander trying to unseat him?”

  8. 8.

    Dave

    I would like to hope they spend eleventy billion dollars.
     
    Is there anyone pleased by this move? I haven’t visited Wingnuttia yet, where I assume this is seen as A Very Good Thing.

  9. 9.

    schrodinger's cat

    Slightly off-topic
    DougJ what did you think of Richard Cohen’s incoherent column in your favorite paper this morning?

  10. 10.

    lilysmom

    Dear What is left of the Republican Party,

    Please spend lots and lots and lots of money trying to defeat Specter or any other democratic candidate vying for the open Pennsylvania Senate seat in the 2010 election. I love watching you guys piddle away cash on losers. It just makes my day, sends a thrill up my leg. Jeebus…. morans

    xoxo,

    d

  12. 12.

    ThatLeftTurnInABQ

    Pundits are looking into the abyss themselves. They’re disoriented, because they’ve been nothing buy lazy sycophants. How’s that workin’ out?

    Hard working sycophants (see Klein, Joe) saw what was coming and left the sinking ship SS Wingnut while there was still time to find a berth elsewhere.

    David Broder and George Will on the other hand, they’ll get those deck chairs arranged in proper order as soon as they finish playing scrabble in the 1st class dining room. T – O – R – T – U – R, say does anybody have a vowl?

  13. 13.

    Jay Andrew Allen

    I haven’t visited Wingnuttia yet, where I assume this is seen as A Very Good Thing.

    If Sullivan’s wrap-up is a fair indicator, you would be right. Publicly, at least. The only people who seem to be lamenting this publicly are the few remaining GOP moderates who have remained immune to the sight of torches and pitchforks outside their window.

    Privately, I’m sure the Republican leadership is shitting itself.

  15. 15.

    mcc

    It’s still a valid question. But the answer is most likely “very little, since even conservative think tanks are probably smart enough to realize Pat Toomey can’t defeat any Democrat and spend their money elsewhere”.

  17. 17.

    Martin

    It’s a good question. Much of the gains in 2008 were because the GOP simply ran out of money to compete. PA is an expensive state with two relatively expensive media markets, and they’re going up against a Democratic governor with a big ground machine. They GOP will have to blow a huge chunk of cash to win in PA. So the question is, will they bother, or will they just walk away?

  18. 18.

    Zifnab25

    Where oh where are the Santorums of yesteryear? This is the chance Republicans have been looking for to really prove what a center right nation we really are. If Specter keeps his seat, it will only be because Penn Republicans were not conservative enough.

  21. 21.

    cleek

    The era of conservative dominance is over.

    so, it’s time for the Permanent Democratic Majority ?

    pundit restrain thyself.

  22. 22.

    demkat620

    Boy, that protracted Dem primary is looking a helluva a lot better everyday.
    Operation Chaos claims another victim. Thanks Rush!

  23. 23.

    JenJen

    The money kind-of matters, though. I predict they’ll actually dump a lot of cash into one of the most expensive states in the union in which to win a state-wide election.

    Why on earth, given their tone-deaf, frankly irrational behavior ever since the Obama Landslide, would I think the GOP would do something smart and skip the race altogether?

  24. 24.

    r€nato

    Will the last person to leave the Republican party, please turn out the lights? Thank you.

  25. 25.

    demkat620

    @Martin: All the GOP pressure will be on Charlie Crist now to take FL of the Senate table. If he passes, Katie bar the door. They’ll have to throw every dime they have into keeping that seat.

  26. 26.

    Jack T.

    If any of those super old folks on the Supreme Court want to retire (cough cough Scalia cough), now’s as a good a time as any.

  29. 29.

    jayackroyd

    Keep in mind that without the Beltway’s need for two sides on every issue, hell on pretty much every fact, the GOP would be finished. When party self-id hits the teens, Halperin, Politico and Drudge will the party’s only source of legitimacy.

  30. 30.

    Mr. Stuck

    @demkat620:

    Boy, that protracted Dem primary is looking a helluva a lot better everyday.
    Operation Chaos claims another victim. Thanks Rush!

    The Tri-feckless Wingnut High Command of General Malkin, Field Marshall Limbaugh, and Grigori Beck, are furiously trying to peel the onion off Obama’s latest Marxist Plot for World Domination. I suspect it will have to do with hasty Flu Pandemic emergency invocations, or maybe suspicious hand shakes, and RINO defection.

    Meanwhile, the walls of the Doom Room move in a little closer.

  31. 31.

    bayville

    Out of Halperin’s 8 unanswered questions – only 5 I would consider dumb – or better yet moronic.

    7. What Republican Senator will be the point person on the first Obama Supreme Court nominee?

    I know this is a question every normal person has probably been kickin’ around for months now, right?

  35. 35.

    JenJen

    Limbaugh Speaks!

    Limbaugh to Specter: Take McCain And His Daughter With You

    Like John Cole wrote in his previous post, is the GOP small enough to drown in a bathtub yet? Maybe a backyard kiddie pool?

    Deep Thought: Maybe the GOP would be better off if they tried to cultivate the Specters that are actually remaining in their party? I dunno. Crazy talk, huh?

    Edit: Interesting David Frum comment from the article linked-to above:

    “The Specter defection is too severe a catastrophe to qualify as a “wake-up call.” His defection is the thing we needed the wake-up call to warn us against! For a long time, the loudest and most powerful voices in the conservative world have told us that people like Specter aren’t real Republicans — that they don’t belong in the party. Now he’s gone, and with him the last Republican leverage within any of the elected branches of government.

    For years, many in the conservative world have wished for an ideologically purer GOP. Their wish has been granted. Happy?”

    WOW.

  36. 36.

    ThatLeftTurnInABQ

    Meanwhile, the walls of the Doom Room move in a little closer.

    Quick, call C3PO on the comm-link. Maybe R2D2 can stop the garbage compactors on the ObamaDeathStar from compacting…

  37. 37.

    Martin

    All the GOP pressure will be on Charlie Crist now to take FL of the Senate table. If he passes, Katie bar the door. They’ll have to throw every dime they have into keeping that seat.

    Agreed. The GOP needs some easy wins, and they really don’t have many lined up. The GOPs only real hope is that Obama fucks up. Unfortunately, that seems to be their admittedly only strategy right now, and hope that a few popular folks can hold on.

  38. 38.

    R-Jud

    The only people who seem to be lamenting this publicly are the few remaining GOP moderates who have remained immune to the sight of torches and pitchforks outside their window.

    Olympia Snowe was especially scathing about “the Republican party leadership at the national level”. Hope they start poking her right out of the party with those pitchforks.

    Also, a relative of mine involved with the Dem party in PA pointed out that they can now funnel money they would’ve spent fighting Specter into their candidates for US house. So that may pick up a few more seats from the GOP right there, as well. Whoopsie!

    OT: Apparently Ahmadinejad is using “We Can!” as his campaign slogan for re-election. Conspiracy theories in 5…4…3…2…

  39. 39.

    Dennis-SGMM

    How much money will conservative groups spend to try to beat him?

    Oh, at least as much as they spent on that ol’ game changer Tedisco.

  41. 41.

    omen

    isn’t mccain also vulnerable to a primary challenge?

    a scenario of him switching is probably highly unlikely, but still fun to imagine.

  43. 43.

    kid bitzer

    my hope is that harry reid will use arlen’s sorry ass for a few votes until 2010, and then dump him for rendell in the primaries.

    the next senator from pa is going to be a democrat. the party already owns that seat, given the pa electorate.

    why the hell are we giving a perfectly good democratic senatorial seat to a feckless, time-serving, unprincipled, washed-up republican hack like specter?

    what does he bring to the table? what’s he got, after 2010, that we want?

    fnck him. welcome him with open arms, and then dump him in the primary.

  44. 44.

    JK

    @omen: McCain’s chief primary challenger is a co-founder of the Minutemen. Last poll I saw had McCain leading by 50 or 60 points.

    Obama did that ungrateful bastard McCain a tremendous favor by choosing Napolitano for DHS Secy. She was the only Dem with a legitimate shot at beating McCain in the general election.

  45. 45.

    omen

    @cleek:
    i don’t read the Washington Times very often, but wow, this is pathetic.

    i still don’t understand how republicans getting help from an insane cultist, the man who owns the washington times, hasn’t been turned into a serious liability. rev. wright has nothing on sun myung moon.

  46. 46.

    valdivia

    cleek that article is incredible. So according to the Washington Times Obama is the least popular president ever? Huh?

  47. 47.

    WMass

    I’m more interested in whether a Democrat will run against Specter in the primary. While it’s nice to have another vote for cloture (presumably), a real Democrat would be much nicer.

  49. 49.

    anonevent

    On topic only because we’re talking about wingnuts, I actually saw a bumper sticker that said “Don’t blame me, I voted for Sarah Palin.”

  50. 50.

    r€nato

    As if there weren’t enough ponies today… an even better headline than “Specter joins Dems”:

    Gun Owners Attack Rush Limbaugh

    Rush Limbaugh’s new pet project — fighting animal cruelty for the Humane Society of the United States — is riling sportsmen from coast to coast, prompting fears that the talkster typically supportive of gun rights is aiding a group they say has a secret agenda to end all hunting in America.

    They want an apology from him. Heh.

  51. 51.

    valdivia

    sorry I have to return to the cleek linked article–didn’t Gallup just publish an overview showing how Obama is much more popular compared to previous presidents? where are they getting their info? their asses?

  52. 52.

    dmv

    Be careful, y’all, is all I’m saying.

    If you get too cocky or triumphalist, people are like to take you down a notch. Quiet, determined pressure on the right by implementing ideas and programs and being seen to care and to try is more important than having a circle-jerk over the problems of the Republicans.

    Keep your eye in the ball.

    (P.S. It is pretty awesome, though. :D)

  53. 53.

    Cat Lady

    Re punditry – Dan Balz has gotten the memo:

    From a high-water mark of 35 percent in the fall of 2003, Republicans have slid steadily to their present state of affairs. It’s just not as cool to be a Republican as it once was.

    He’s talking about himself surely, but I think we can assume that as one of the KoolKidz, he speaks for the others.

    http://voices.washingtonpost.com/44/2009/04/28/specters_departure_a_wake_up_c.html?hpid=topnews

    Edit: when was it ever cool to be a Republican? I’m pretty old, and it’s always been a tell that you weren’t cool if you were a Republican.

  54. 54.

    DougJ

    DougJ what did you think of Richard Cohen’s incoherent column in your favorite paper this morning?

    An embarrassment.

  55. 55.

    JK

    @WMass: I’ve read that Joe Sestak was on MSNBC and said he’s taking a “wait and see” approach before deciding whether or not to run in the Dem primary for the PA Sen seat.

  56. 56.

    Poopyman

    Yeah, Incertus hits it on the first try.

    Republican dollars are getting very tiny.

    Itty bitty teensy weensy Confederate dollars.

  57. 57.

    DougJ

    It’s a good question. Much of the gains in 2008 were because the GOP simply ran out of money to compete.

    Nope, they lost because Democrats have a sixteen point rej advantage. A fact’s a fact.

  58. 58.

    Michael Sheridan

    6. How much money will conservative groups spend to try to beat him?

    Well, it’s not ideal as stimulus, but I taking a Keynesian view I suppose every little bit helps.

    If the Treasury were to fill old bottles with banknotes, bury them at suitable depths in disused coalmines which are then filled up to the surface with town rubbish, and leave it to private enterprise on well-tried principles of laissez-faire to dig the notes up again (the right to do so being obtained, of course, by tendering for leases of the note-bearing territory), there need be no more unemployment and, with the help of the repercussions, the real income of the community, and its capital wealth also, would probably become a good deal greater than it actually is. It would, indeed, be more sensible to build houses and the like; but if there are political and practical difficulties in the way of this, the above would be better than nothing.

  59. 59.

    omen

    via greenwald:

    Today is the best day to watch Fox News since the election — mass grieving flavored by impotent bitterness.

    oh, please, please, please get this up on youtube.

  60. 60.

    JK

    OT

    WTF with Norm Coleman’s latest statement

    “No matter who wins the race, there’s always going to be a cloud hanging over them — did they really get more votes than the other guy,” said Coleman. “That’s a reality. And there’s nothing you can do to change that.”

    h/t TPM

  61. 61.

    smiley

    Funny. Benen:

    “Quite the opposite,” DeMint said. “We’re seeing across the country right now that the biggest tent of all is the tent of freedom.”
    “What the hell does that mean?” Sanchez asked. “The ‘biggest tent’ is ‘freedom’? Freedom? You’ve got to do better than that!”
    In response, DeMint argued that Americans are actually embracing the Republican message: “Americans who are normally not even political are coming out to ‘Tea Parties’ and protesting.” This, DeMint suggested, is proof of the Republican message connecting with the electorate.
    He wasn’t kidding. The future of the GOP is Tea Baggers and the tent of freedom. It sounds like the message you might read in a greeting card written by Joe the Plumber.

    Edit: Hmmm, blockquote broke. That’s all a quote from Benen. I especially like the Joe the plumber crack.

  62. 62.

    Zifnab

    @WMass: Rep. Joe Sestak was the guy I believe Kos and Digby and the like were backing for the job. I wouldn’t mind seeing Specter take a great deal of heat from the left now that he’s “one of us”.

    I mean, it seems kinda silly. Didn’t we just primary OUT Joe Lieberman two years ago? Why do we need a new one all of a sudden?

  63. 63.

    El Cid

    Today is the best day to watch Fox News since the election—mass grieving flavored by impotent bitterness.

    I still don’t think anything can match watching the FOXNOOZ morning shows the day after the 2006 elections, because they weren’t expecting to lose. All the FOXNFIENDS looked like they’d barf, especially Brian Kilmeade and that pig-nosed lady.

  64. 64.

    JenJen

    @anonevent: Just out of morbid curiosity, was this sighting followed by a “Don’t blame me, I crashed into your car because I was busy pondering the “I’M AN IDIOT” advertising so blatantly displayed on your bumper sticker” moment? :-D

  65. 65.

    Cat Lady

    @smiley:

    If we can get him to say that Republicans are twirling, twirling, twirling towards freedom, I’ll get squirted out of the universe on that moment.

    The crazy is all that’s left. As someone smarter said, they come pre-spoofed.

  66. 66.

    JenJen

    @Cat Lady:

    Edit: when was it ever cool to be a Republican? I’m pretty old, and it’s always been a tell that you weren’t cool if you were a Republican.

    I’ll never forget this moment when I was just a dumb kid in the early 80’s, and announced proudly to my darling mom that I had just joined the Young Republicans Club at my school.

    Mom replied, “Oh, sweetie. Don’t you know, there’s no such thing as a young Republican?”

    God love her. :-) One of my favorite Mom Memories.

  67. 67.

    Zifnab

    @Cat Lady:

    Edit: when was it ever cool to be a Republican? I’m pretty old, and it’s always been a tell that you weren’t cool if you were a Republican.

    I think back in the eighties, it was all hip to be square… or something. There was a lot of stupid shit in the 80s.

  68. 68.

    me

    Today is the best day to watch Fox News since the election—mass grieving flavored by impotent bitterness.

    Hmm… just turned to Fox and saw Glenn Beck saying “What does this big new health care program they are trying to push through have to do with eugenics?” There aren’t enough faces and palms in the world.

  69. 69.

    joes527

    @JK: Shorter Norm:

    I realize that I have no chance, so this is where I throw the game board into the air and storm out of the room.

  70. 70.

    jibeaux

    @JK:

    It’s just Republicans, Ever Gracious, And Also Introspective As To Potentially Their Own Respective Shortcomings and Open-Minded Vis A Vis Possible Areas for Improvement And To Better Represent The Views of Their Would-Be Constituents, in Defeat.

  71. 71.

    joes527

    @Zifnab:

    There was a lot of stupid shit in the 80s.

    I was mercifully out of the country and missed Max Headroom entirely.

    Unfortunately, Alf was still in reruns when I got back so, yeah, I hear you there.

  72. 72.

    TenguPhule

    Dumb questions from Mark Halperin

    What is the Sun Sets in the West, Alex?

    I’ll take Double downing on Insanity for $400.

  73. 73.

    demkat620

    Oooooo, Howard Fineman just teased the idea of Midge Rendell for the SCOTUS. I could live with that.

  74. 74.

    jibeaux

    @me:

    Average Fox News viewer: “The Eugenics? Won’t that that weird band in the ’80s with the tall chick with the real short hair?”

  76. 76.

    JL

    @smiley: Demint is also the person that said Toomey is the most mainstream candidate ever.. That might be right if most mainstream Americans cared more about embryos and fetuses than actual children.

  78. 78.

    smiley

    @Zifnab: Ever notice that many of the far-right-wing media personalities are all about the same age? Coulter, Hannity, Ingraham, Beck, at al? They all came of age politically during the reign of St. Ronnie. Same with their love of faux-country music. It starting getting big in the ’80’s too.

  79. 79.

    eric

    The Dems are happy because of the optics, not the seat itself.

    there are fewer people left to talk the GOP down from teh ledge that is bat$hit crazy.

    my real fear, and i mean this, is some nut taking a lot of people out with guns or explosives.

    I am not easily frightened, but when your party can deny peak oil, global warming, and a potential swine flu pandemic, how hard is it to deny that your own heated rhetoric is incendiary to the point of tragedy?

    I think that is the reason you will see the two Maineacs eventual leave the GOP because there will be collective guilt on their hands when the inevitable happens.

    They are preaching to the unbalanced while ignoring the very real harm it will cause (again).

  80. 80.

    SpotWeld

    This supermajorty… it’s like a political wonks version of that moment in Voltron when all the lions come together to form the big robot, right?

  81. 81.

    TenguPhule

    Quick, call C3PO on the comm-link. Maybe R2D2 can stop the garbage compactors on the ObamaDeathStar from compacting…

    That vulnerable little exhaust port at the end of the fortified trench turned out to actually be a missile launch tube.

  82. 82.

    Joshua Norton

    “Americans who are normally not even political are coming out to ‘Tea Parties’ and protesting.”

    Yeah, but only because they’re “not political” and completely ignorant of the situation. All they hear is “lower taxes”. They don’t seem to understand that their taxes are already being lowered. They’re a mob of useful idiots running towards the fat cat’s agenda like Hansel and Gretel running towards the witch’s gingerbread house.

    And the same results are to be expected.

  83. 83.

    TenguPhule

    Again I say – all they have left are sociopaths, the homeschooled, and the clinically insane.

    And can we tell them apart these days?

  84. 84.

    TenguPhule

    And the same results are to be expected.

    The Fat cats get pushed into their own oven and baked alive?

  85. 85.

    JK

    Chris “Motor Mouth” Matthews: “I think Specter is more liberal than he’s let on.”

  86. 86.

    Cat Lady

    @JenJen:
    Very funny, with the benefit of being totally true in my experience. I told my kids that I could deal with anything – drugs, bad grades, etc., but don’t ever come home either as or with a Republican or a Jesus freak. And they haven’t. And won’t.

  87. 87.

    IncandenzaH

    Slightly off topic, but DougF & others might like to know that neocon-ideolog-editor Fred Hiatt is on the WaPo chat tomorrow.

    Any questions?

  88. 88.

    Joshua Norton

    The Fat cats get pushed into their own oven and baked alive?

    Eventually. But not before Hansel and Gretel get trapped and have to figure out that they’re in a world of hurt because of their own greed. Or maybe they don’t and really do get eaten this time around.

  89. 89.

    JL

    Personally I think of Specter as a hypocrite and a snake oil salesman but for the next year and a half he will tow the line for the dems. He wants to win and orate in his later days like Strom and Byrd.

  90. 90.

    Library Grape

    officially the dumbest thing said today by anyone:

    Minn. Rep. Michelle Bachmann, speaking on Pajamas TV, noted: “I find it interesting that it was back in the 1970s that the swine flu broke out then under another Democrat president Jimmy Carter. And I’m not blaming this on President Obama, I just think it’s an interesting coincidence.“

    As Glenn Thrush noted:

    “The 1976 swine flu scare happened on Gerald Ford’s watch. We checked Wikipedia. Ford was a Republican.“

  92. 92.

    TenguPhule

    I just think it’s an interesting coincidence.“

    I think it’s an interest coincidence that Bachmann and her brain have never been seen in the same place at the same time.

    Robot or reptiloid?

  94. 94.

    kth

    The answer to Halperin’s question is oodles, because Republicans are creatures of spite, not rational seekers of the best electoral return for their campaign dollars.

  96. 96.

    JK

    @TenguPhule: No one brings home the crazy like Bachmann.

    Can’t wait to see Bachmann and Palin compete on Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader

  97. 97.

    Cat Lady

    @Library Grape:

    Bachmann/Joe Barton 2012.

    If Matthews, Mrs. Greenspan and Howie “my orange hair is gone” Fineman is any indication, today the Republicans have become a punch line. Chuck Todd breathlessly, almost disbelievingly, declaims Obama’s amazing popularity – it’s HIM! Not his policies!

    Funny how people actually think that having an attentive, thoughtful, serious person in charge of things might poll well in crises, and that circus clowns might serve as a counter-example.

  98. 98.

    anonevent

    @JenJen: Luckily, he was in the next lane over, or I’m not sure what would have happened. The big problem was that there were coworkers in my car who I don’t discuss politics with who would not have found my laughing funny, so I could only enjoy it internally.

  99. 99.

    garyb50

    Re: “The era of conservative dominance is over.”

    Has JC or other Balloon Juice posters ever done anything about Naomi Klein’s ‘Shock Doctrine?’ I did a search & couldn’t find anything but I may not know what I’m doing.

    Point is, you may ‘think,’ DougJ, that it’s over but you’re ignoring/forgetting all the think tanks out there constantly churning out the shit that will bite us in the ass again eventually. They just keep filing it away & waiting for the right moment.

  101. 101.

    TenguPhule

    Can’t wait to see Bachmann and Palin compete on Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader

    That would be an insult to 5th graders.

    Chris Matthews might be able to face them on even terms.

  102. 102.

    J.A.F. Rusty Shackleford

    It will be a shock if whatever whack job the Republicans nominate comes within ten points of Specter.

    What about Tom Ridge?

  103. 103.

    Joshua Norton

    Lieberman is still a wild card. He’s obviously at the end of his career so he could readily show his true color (red) whenever it suits him.

  104. 104.

    geg6

    @WMass:

    Specter will not be primaried by any Dem who wants to ever run for office again. Rendell was one of the major players in this little drama (along with Biden) and Rendell owns the Democratic Party in this state. Also, people seem to be under the impression that PA is some sort of very blue, very progressive place. In downtown Philadelphia, yes. In every other part of the state including the city of Pittsburgh? Not even a little bit. Your typical Western PA Democrat loves them some Blue Dogs. Why do you think both Hillary (for her manly foreign policy) and Sarah Palin were so popular here in Pennsyltucky?

  106. 106.

    passerby

    @Cat Lady:

    Pundits are looking into the abyss themselves. They’re disoriented, because they’ve been nothing buy lazy sycophants. How’s that workin’ out?

    Good point. It’s getting harder and harder to echo and/or defend the batshit insane talking points of the GOP and their surrogates.

    1) Fact: Torture is a war crime.

    2) Fact: Waterboarding is torture.

    3) Fact: Those who waterboarded have broken both, domestic and international law.

    4) Walk on by.

    Insane.

    And as ThatLeftTurninABQ pointed out, everyone is being given a chance to choose now. Joe Klein et al understand that insanity is just not a smart thing to justify. Their coming to reason gives me hope.

  107. 107.

    JL

    Earlier today I posted a comment about Specter’s news conference roiling about the social conservatives and how they lost Chafee’s seat. Pretty much he said that as a majority leader, he would have been able to push through the rest of Bush’s judicial nominees that would have helped them, if they would have just kept their mouths shut.
    Specter might tow the line until the primary but anyone who has watched him for years knows that he is all about himself.
    At least social conservatives are honest about their love for embryos and fetuses, Arlen Specter not so much.

  108. 108.

    MikeJ

    What are the odds that Bachmann is just another Colbert like parody who decided to run with it when the GOP took her seriously?

  110. 110.

    Cain

    @Library Grape:

    hey! how can Republicans be powerless when the Florida legislature just approved a new vanity license plate featuring Jesus Christ dying on the cross? i wonder if Brick Oven Bill plans to relocate…

    It’s kind of sick, having a guy dying on your license plate. Even if it is the son of God. Why not the resurrection which is a lot more positive than the Son of God getting tortured. Bleah. Sick bastards.

    cain

  112. 112.

    Joshua Norton

    Why not the resurrection which is a lot more positive than the Son of God getting tortured.

    Good question. In fact, if the Fundies were really all about literal interpretation of the bible, they’d observe Easter in the correct way. Sealed in a cave for 3 days.

  113. 113.

    Eric U.

    I swear, living in Pennsylvania has provided no end of political frustration for me. We have most of our Democratic politicians because of Philly. Many of them are only dems because they could never win as a Republican. So they don’t fight the Republicans. And in the center of the state, the Dems are beaten down so bad they don’t fight. We end up with 2 dems for senators, and I can’t exactly see either of them as very good Dems. arrgh

  114. 114.

    Origuy

    I can’t get the “attached chart” from that Moonie Times article to display. The Flash ads on that page take over IE; Firefox doesn’t display it either, and Flash wasn’t installed in it. Gallup’s website doesn’t have anything of the sort.

  116. 116.

    JenJen

    @Zifnab:

    I think back in the eighties, it was all hip to be square… or something. There was a lot of stupid shit in the 80s.

    Alex P. Keaton, et al.

    I loved growing up in the 80’s. We ended up seeing everything change. It took longer than we realized for it to really reach its nexus, and for the change to be real and practical, but I think it has arrived.

    Very funny, with the benefit of being totally true in my experience. I told my kids that I could deal with anything – drugs, bad grades, etc., but don’t ever come home either as or with a Republican or a Jesus freak. And they haven’t. And won’t.

    My mom took great pleasure in embarrasing us. It was surprisingly effective, her technique, by I admire yours all the more. :-)

  117. 117.

    Shawn in ShowMe

    it’s morning in america. who says the era of conservative dominance is over?

    DougJ said the era of conservative dominance is over. He didn’t say a cure for stupidity has been found. Maybe if we can find a few more billion for stem cell research.

  118. 118.

    Laura W Darling

    Breaking OT News: (at least for me, as per Bri Bri Williams)
    It is no longer PC to call the upcoming pandemic “Swine Flu”. That is discriminatory to pigs.
    Please refer to it as H1N1.
    Thank you for your cooperation.

  120. 120.

    MikeJ

    I don’t think calling the flu by it’s proper name is “PC”. H1N1 is just more accurate. It’s not as if you catch it from hanging out with pigs. Mika Brzezinski would be in an oxygen tent if you could.

  121. 121.

    John D.

    @Laura W Darling:
    A) Who cares whether or not it is PC?
    B) H1N1 is a FAMILY of influenza viruses. On the QuikTest(R) style test, it shows up as Influenza Type A. If you’ve gotten a flu shot in the last 5 years, you’ve gotten antibodies to some H1N1 variants, but none to the particular strain that we call “Swine Flu”.

  122. 122.

    Indylib

    The fearless Republican leader of the Senate thinks Specter’s switcheroo is dangerous for the country.

    “Obviously, we are not happy that Senator Specter has decided to become a Democrat,” McConnell said. “If we are not successful in Minnesota … Democrats, at least on paper, will have 60 votes. I think the danger of that for the country is that there won’t automatically be an ability to restrain the excess that is typically associated with big majorities and single-party rule.”

    The hypocrisy level of the wingnuts is beyond belief. I don’t see how they can listen to their own voices in their own mostly empty heads without the cognitive dissonance leaking out of their ears.

  123. 123.

    Laura W Darling

    @MikeJ:

    I don’t think calling the flu by it’s proper name is “PC”. H1N1 is just more accurate. It’s not as if you catch it from hanging out with pigs. Mika Brzezinski would be in an oxygen tent if you could.

    I could see Brian totally dying to make that very point but his producers kept him on a very short harness. Alas.

  124. 124.

    Dennis-SGMM

    More Republican Reaction to Specter’s defection:
    “No hard feelings. In fact, I’ve invited Senator Specter to go hunting with me.”
    -Dick Cheney

    “Arlene who? Well it’s just like the Democrat party to hire more inspectors to pry into the lives of Real Americans.”
    -Sarah Palin

    “During hurricane Katrina, while I was rescuing people from a lifeboat that I whittled out of a telephone pole…”
    -Bobby Jindal

    “Ever notice the way Specter’s eyes kind of tilt up at the corners? I’d say he’s a North Korean sleeper agent.”
    -Rick Perry

  127. 127.

    Hob

    @JenJen: I guess I know what you mean about growing up in the ’80s, but I don’t feel so good about it. I remember being really creeped out as a kid by the way certain qualities of mean dumb bully kids seemed to be getting really popular… I mean pop culture things like Rambo, and also the way Reagan’s jingo talk came across on TV, even when it mostly went over my head. I was a nerdy kid from a lefty family so of course everything would seem that way, but I still think there was a special ugly spirit that got perfected then. It settled into a kind of dull background noise of dumbassery in the ’90s but when Bush II came around, it all seemed awfully familiar– like as the previous generation of conservatives started being replaced by people within 10 years of my age, all that ’80s know-nothing ugliness really started to shine.

  128. 128.

    Nathanael

    “so, it’s time for the Permanent Democratic Majority ?”

    Permanent until the Democrats break into five squabbling parties, as they most certainly will as soon as the Republicans stop being a threat. :-)

  129. 129.

    Burghman

    Pennsylvania seems to be where republicans want to stage a takeover as there’s nothing but right wing talk radio. At least on the western side of the state.

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