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[…] Title of this post stolen shamelessly from the comments. […]
Come for the politics, stay for the snark.
Make the republican party small enough to drown in a bathtub.
Lick the third rail, it tastes like chocolate!
Well, whatever it is, it’s better than being a Republican.
You cannot shame the shameless.
Elections aren’t won by handwringing, cowering, and/or bashing your own candidates.
“Loving your country does not mean lying about it’s history.”
… gradually, and then suddenly.
Jack Smith: “Why did you start campaigning in the middle of my investigation?!”
Whoever he was, that guy was nuts.
Baby steps, because the Republican Party is full of angry babies.
How any woman could possibly vote for this smug smarmy piece of misogynistic crap is beyond understanding.
Since we are repeating ourselves, let me just say fuck that.
The arc of the moral universe doesn’t bend itself. it’s up to us.
Don’t expect peaches from an apple tree.
Seems like a complicated subject, have you tried yelling at it?
Yeah, with this crowd one never knows.
Dear elected officials: Trump is temporary, dishonor is forever.
Boeing: repeatedly making the case for high speed rail.
DeSantis transforming Florida into 1930s Germany with gators and theme parks.
A lot of Dems talk about what the media tells them to talk about. Not helpful.
Fight them, without becoming them!
America is going up in flames. The NYTimes fawns over MAGA celebrities. No longer a real newspaper.
Democracy cannot function without a free press.
New McCarthy, same old McCarthyism.
joshua Wilson
Bill Cunningham is his usual scumsucking self. See on the Manatee’s freakshow.
http://mediamatters.org/countyfair/200904290058?show=1
Das Internetkommissariat
Chrysler files Chapter 11
BenA
Ugh.
D. Mason
Here’s a neat little flash game i pimped in a few other threads. My Brute. Maybe some Juicers can have fun with it.
salacious crumb
Elizabeth Edwards new book ‘Resilience’ is almost out and Salon.com has a sneak preview of it. Bascially its confirms to us what a pompous gasbag John Edwards is. Liz basically says she found out about the affair (not the lovechild) few days after Edwards announced he was running for President. And contrary to media reports, she urged him not to run.
I always suspected Edwards was a phoney and a creep, and his ‘poverty tour’ was a sham. He just looked too clean cut and rich to be some one who really cared about the poor. Harpers has a story about how he started a charity for poor kids right before he announced his run for President, and prior to that announcement, he had never really cared about any charities that helped the needy. And guess what happened once he had to drop out from the race? the charity he started was disbanded.
That, and gosh this whole Obama’s 100 days shtick by the media is really getting on my nerves.
Dennis-SGMM
GM will be next. It looks like the only way they can shed dealers without running afoul of the states’ franchise protection laws. I just wonder how much the gov will have to pony up to keep their suppliers in business. The suppliers will get pennies on the dollar from a BK.
cleek
Mark Steyn is an idiot
maybe they can shed some of those pesky pension obligations, too. how lucky that would be, for them!
Cat Lady
Pat Buchanan REALLY hates Mexicans. Maybe he can join up with these guys, ‘cuz this has WIN all over it:
http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2009/04/29/gop-set-to-launch-rebranding-effort/
Dennis-SGMM
@cleek:
It will pretty much gut funding for retirees’ pensions and health care. I don’t know if the PBGC can cover more than a fraction of the automakers’ pension obligations.
Media Browski
You know what makes me happy? The Conservative Feedback loop the GOP has trapped itself in. This is the best of both nerdy math and wonky politics.
I think it was in Atwood’s Handmaid’s Tail that she proposed that conservativism is doomed because each successive generation will find the previous one too liberal. Smart lady.
I am thoroughly satisfied.
BenA
Toyota’s asking for money from the Japanese govt. now… want to bet they’ll get whatever they want?
As are apparently Honda and Mazda… but you know it’s only American car companies that are poorly run and need billions from the Govt.
SGEW
Expected, but still good news:
Justice Department Backs Plan to Eliminate Cocaine Sentencing Disparity
Every day, another piece of good news from this administration. I think I could get used to this.
Incertus
Timothy Egan compares the Republican Party to a raisin in the sun of the old Confederacy–did he not have to read Hughes and Hansberry in college?
Screamin' Demon
Yesterday, John declared Sadly, No! to be the masters of the shorter.
Sadly, no.
Here’s how it’s done. Short and sweet.
salacious crumb
BenA
You know Toyota and Honda delivered efficient long mileage cars to customers for at least a decade if not more (and Im being conservative)…when they ask their govt for me, I can say that they at least deserve it. Fuck the moronic American car manufacturers (as well as European) and their fucking unions for not demanding better mileage standards for at least the past 3 decades and instead showing the American consumers and the world the middle finger by belching out more of those Hummer monstrosities. Kudos to the American people for finally saying fuck you to GM and Ford.
salacious crumb
BenA
You know Toyota and Honda delivered efficient long mileage cars to customers for at least a decade if not more (and Im being conservative)…when they ask their govt for money, I can say that they at least deserve it. Fuck the moronic American car manufacturers (as well as European) and their fucking unions for not demanding better mileage standards for at least the past 3 decades and instead showing the American consumers and the world the middle finger by belching out more of those Hummer monstrosities. Kudos to the American people for finally saying fuck you to GM and Ford.
Bootlegger
@joshua Wilson:
Serious fun! Both the line (who was that?) and seeing Cunningham froth at the mouth.
SGEW
From the NYT today:
The article:
Britain Ends Combat Iraq Operations
Immediately followed by:
Britain to Add 700 Troops to Afghan War
As usual, someone else got there first:
U.S. Troops In Iraq Excited To Finally Return To Afghanistan
joe from Lowell
Nobody tell Joe Biden how Twitter works.
J.A.F. Rusty Shackleford
Something tells me this guy has a closet full of wetsuits.
The Other Steve
I am sooo glad that John Edwards lost. So fucking glad. His candidacy was the perfect example of idiot candidates Democrats generally run. Full of himself, and totally uncommitted to anything other than his own self-importance.
Major snake in the grass.
What was amazing to me was the number of people who just totally bought the act, and were so defensive of him over at the Great Orange Satan. I basically stopped going there because I was tired of the Edwards bullshit.
Bootlegger
@J.A.F. Rusty Shackleford: Wow. Just, wow. At least the dude has the stones to say what’s really on his mind. But Colmes must be desperate to be picking on people like that.
R-Jud
Turns out that there’s a lady with swine flu in the town where my husband delivers post. He has just called me to confirm that she lives on his route.
Mr Me: “But I’m not shagging her. Her dog, on the other hand…”
Me: “Oh. Well, use protection. Wear a mask.”
Mr Me: “I always do.”
Me: “A surgical mask?”
Mr. Me: “Ah.”
Jon H
@BenA: “Toyota’s asking for money from the Japanese govt. now… want to bet they’ll get whatever they want?”
Probably will, but then, they’ll have an easier time making the case that their problems are due to economic factors beyond their control, rather than being caused by the management’s long-term incompetence.
South of I-10
My little niece has type A flu, they are sending if off for further testing to see if it is swine flu. Her doctor started her on Tamiflu today. I am working from home today because my daughter’s school is shut down, at least until Monday, because there’s a group of kids with type A flu – those results have also been sent off for more testing.
BenA
@salacious crumb:
The reason Chrysler is going bankrupt isn’t because they failed to produce high MPG cars. It’s because the credit market froze up and they have HUGE legacy costs that Japanese car manufacturers don’t have to bear… EVEN with those built in advantages the Japanese auto makers ARE STILL in trouble.
Oh and last time I checked GM and Ford weren’t declaring bankruptcy…
BenA
@Jon H:
That has very little to do with it. The Japanese government would hand blank checks to Toyota EVEN IF they were the worst run car company in the world… sort of like we’re doing with Citi and BoA..
The Other Steve
Careful with that nut. I got into an argument with him in the comments at youtube. His first response was to threaten to sue me.
The guy is mentally unstable.
cleek
GM would be long gone if we weren’t funding them.
Zifnab
@The Other Steve:
Well, I never liked you either. :-p
I was all jazzed up over John Edwards and I had a big heart for Chris Dodd. Which, I guess, goes to show my absolutely abysmal political judgment. Le sigh.
4tehlulz
@BenA: Being owned by a hedge fun with Dan Quayle as a figurehead doesn’t help Chrysler much at all.
The only really good thing about a Chrysler BK is that Cerberus gets wiped out.
SGEW
@South of I-10: Yikes. Sounds like all of the right things are being done, but still: that’s got to be pretty terrifying. Tell your niece that some random anonymous person on the internets hope she gets well soon.
TheOfficialHatOnMyCat
This thread reminds me a lot of the “comment” threads you see on all the newspaper sites now, where there are “comments” on every story.
Yesterday a “comment” section on a news site had some “comments” about Obama’s trip to a Missouri high school. “Maybe he will finally learn something,” said the “commenter.” HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Get it?
So another thing that struck me today was a promo spot I heard on MSNBC just a few minutes ago:
This is a slight paraphrase, but almost word for word:
“Keith Olbermann looked at President Obama’s first 100 days in office. Now he raises the bar on what Obama needs to do next.”
Get it? Keith Olbermann is raising the bar on Obama. The same pompous gasbag (to borrow a phrase from this thread) who, after last night’s news conference and all of its topics, prattled on and on after the presser about, you know, the torture story, as if this tedious story were anywhere even close to the most important thing on anyone’s mind at that moment.
The newsfucks, which is what I am calling them now, want you to believe in the supreme importance of whatever they think is supremely important in order to keep you tuned in and listening to their bullshit.
BenA
@cleek:
… and Citi and BoA and probably a half dozen other huge banks.
Tom65
I’m getting a little creeped out by having to look at Anne Coulter’s dead, dead eyes every time I get here.
The Moar You Know
@J.A.F. Rusty Shackleford: Neal Horsley’s a very dangerous man. The beastiality thing is the least of it; he published plans a few years ago for some “Christian Patriots” to steal a nuclear warhead and use it to blackmail the US into giving him and his Jesus Strike Force their own homeland.
And yet he is not in jail. Fucking unbelievable.
El Cid
Well, I hope that their dream explodes because it’s been deferred.
John Cole
I would like to point out that John Edwards is one of the few time my instincts were right. I always thought he was full of shit, said so, and held my ground when people freaked out on me for saying as much.
John Edwards is full of shit.
BenA
@4tehlulz:
Yeah I have absolutely no pitty for Cerberus… but want to bet they make out okay… and somehow Fiat/Chrysler doesn’t have to assume financial responsibility for the legacy pension costs… and I’m not exactly sure right now is the best time to shed 50-100k more jobs..
South of I-10
@SGEW: My niece is only 3, so really any flu is not good. One of the girls at my daughter’s school went on a cruise to Mexico with her parents over spring break, so I think that is why they closed the school (or Dept of Health closed the school).
BenA
I have real mixed fealings about Chris Dodd… the guy ligitimately did a lot and wrote some decent legislation… he was also bought and paid for by Wall Street and the defense industry… but that’s what you get with a CT senator… really we could have done a lot worse….
Beauzeaux
Has Michelle Bachmann said anything unbelievably stupid yet today? I mean publicly.
harlana pepper
@salacious crumb:
I adored both the Edwards. I still love Elizabeth to pieces. Edwards broke my heart and he shocked the shit out of me (not the cheating, but the denials and lack of judgment). After Lewinsky, I cannot imagine a guy running for prez while ACTIVELY screwing behind his wife’s back, a cancer-stricken wife, no less – stunning that he thot he could get away with it and then vehemently deny it. I knew in my heart that despite his statements to the contrary, he had to be a cheater or had cheated at LEAST once. More than anything, I was shocked at his lack of judgement. I voted for the guy. Only time in my life I have ever been wrong about anything. ;)
SGEW
No need to feel too bad, Zifnab. After all, Edwards’ and Dodd’s policy platforms sounded fantastic on paper (I was an Obama supporter during the primaries but I had to admit that Edwards’ health care plan looked better in some respects than my candidate’s). When wonks start comparing white papers, “political” considerations sometimes take a back seat (I mean, did anyone really think that Dodd could win a national election? Lord love him, but those were some wooden speeches). So I mostly kept my “for some reason I just can’t trust that guy” feeling about Edwards to myself, as I couldn’t really back it up with anything substantive or evidential.
Turns out I had reason (sleazy cheating guys bug the shit out of me – I guess I can smell ’em, or something), but I mostly feel that we dodged a bullet with Edwards. Can you imagine if he won th’ nom and the affair broke during the last two weeks of the general election? We would’ve had President McCain up at the podium last night, taking questions from WorldNetDaily.
4tehlulz
@BenA: Actually, I doubt it. The Administration was playing major league hardball with the hedge funds; I don’t think he would do that unless he knew they would get fucked in BK court.
cleek
yesterday she got down with a little anti-ACORN legislative action.
jrg
So Specter, in order to deal with the massive political shift that occurred due to Republican incompetence, is now responsible for Dubyah… And Specter is a raging, flaming librul (also, too). Could the GOP get any more pathetic?
Incertus
@John Cole: More full of shit than your average presidential politician?
salacious crumb
Beauzeaux
No Michelle ‘Diplosaurus’ Bachmann hasnt said anything stupid publicly today just yet, but its only 11 am.
El Cid
@cleek: I bet if somebody contacted Bachmann’s office she would be willing to denounce the Obama ACORN-Census conspiracy to GPS target ‘paint’ the houses of people who own pocket Constitutions for aerial warfare.
harlana pepper
PS, I liked Edwards b/c I thot he was a populist-type. I think my dad loved him cuz he made his fortune suing insurance companies. I was radically pro-Dean and against Edwards in 2004 b/c of his Iraq vote. I forgave him after he admitted he was wrong and was one of the very first to do so, when it was still very unpopular.
That said, continue on with the hating. He’s earned it. He was reckless as shit.
(PS, I’ve worked with lawyers for over 17 years, mebbe I had a blind spot)
D. Mason
My mother is a Chrysler retiree so this is all pretty grim news. I’m basically just wondering how long it will be before they tell her she isn’t getting paid any more.
omen
@salacious crumb:
what gets me is supporters were still loyal to him even after finding out he worked for a hedge fund that pressured manufacturers like maytag to relocate abroad to places like mexico. who knows how many jobs lost they were responsible for.
what the hell was edwards doing working for a hedgefund to begin with? a firm who was known to claim to be based in the cayman islands. this after campaigning throughout 2003/4 against corporations who were benedict arnold tax dodgers.
for edwards supporters to be so pious against obama when their own candidate was fatally flawed was jaw dropping.
Woody
As it’s an Open Thread, I feel no hesitation in inviting all the B-Juicers to attend the festivities on The Pond, where we’re celebrating our 3rd Bloggi-Versary.
harlana pepper
Hey, I caught all the “Bachmann is hot” discussions from last nite. Why do men go for batshit crazy bitches with empty eyes and frozen smiles?
Don’t mean to sound conceited here, but I’m every bit as good-looking as Bachmann and when you look into my eyes, you WILL see a soul. Also, as far as apparel is concerned, I have managed to move beyond the early 90’s.
Jeebus, I just looked at that and realized the internet dating thing is getting out of control.
The Moar You Know
@J.A.F. Rusty Shackleford:
I found it. Neal Horsley, mule-fucking psycho.
He took down the section about holding the US hostage with a nuke, and blocked the Wayback machine. Too bad.
sparky
Former Edwards supporter. In my case (familiar with lawyers *cough*) I thought other people didn’t like him because he came off the way many plaintiffs’ lawyers do–smarmy–and since I was used to that I paid more attention to the rhetoric.
I made a mistake, got disappointed rather than angry and switched back to Obama. Yeah, I’m a bit embarrassed about it, but not sure what the lesson is here other than that my judgement as to people sucks sometimes.
omen
jimmy carter once made a crack about people flying in new orleans for photo ops. he said they come in, work for 5 minutes, get their pictures taken wielding a hammer, and then leave. he could have been talking about george bush, but i suspect he was talking about john edwards too.
El Cid
@The Moar You Know: Holy crap! I love the Aztec pyramid fetus sacrifice in front of the Washington monument.
Cat Lady
@harlana pepper:
Me too. ; )
Actually, as a woman, I think Tamron Hall is the hottest woman on TV, hands down. She’s totally beautiful.
gex
Why does Ben Nelson talk about his own party as though it is the enemy?
And why is he drawing a line in the sand at treating college education as something we should encourage and invest in rather than grossly and abusively profit from?
omen
@harlana pepper:
you too had men praising your hotness last night.
John Cole
@harlana pepper: Pictures!
salacious crumb
um Harlana, Im willing to bet the same people who find Bachmann hot were the ones who found Palin hot as well. blech. ugh.
on the flip side, I have to say I find Michele Obama immensely attractive.
sparky
@harlana pepper: pretty simple, i think. males, even more than females, project what we want onto what appears an open face. it’s the same thing as guys on dating sites who don’t read the profiles.
not that i would ever do that :P
oh, and i agree with you about Edwards–if you were familiar with lawyers his smarmyness was not an issue. score one for the wisdom of not spending so much time with lawyers.
harlana pepper
Cat Lady, don’t know who that is, but some men sure do like them some shallow, crazy bitches who are moderately attractive who have absolutely so interest in self-reflection. I’ll bet she (MB) is ice-cold in the sack and/or wears majik underwear to bed every nite.
Sorry John, but you DID say this was an open thread.
And I’m sober now . . . but obviously, still talkin’ trash – heh
Okay, so I’m projecting. So call John Edwards and sue me.
SGEW
De gustibus non est disputandum.
harlana pepper
@salacious crumb:
Michelle is da bomb! I lurves her muches. Beautiful inside and out.
scott
Beauzeaux
Has Michelle Bachmann said anything unbelievably stupid yet today? I mean publicly.
_____
Only that she is thinking of changing jobs, she now claims to be a rental deceptionist.
sparky
@SGEW: true (sort of) but there’s a lot of cash to be made from it.
and Tamron Hall is definitely worth the goggle errr google.
cleek
to me they seem like the same kind of person: B+ looks, vapid, aggressive, probably prone to embarrassing their husbands at parties by flirting with all the other men after they’ve had five too many drinks.
omen
@J.A.F. Rusty Shackleford:
omg. no way. this isn’t satire?
gex
@cleek: I can’t get past the cult member eyes. They creep me out.
SGEW
@sparky: “. . . but there’s a lot of cash to be made from it.”
Well, caveat emptor, then.
harlana pepper
oh crap! I meant Michelle O
Incertus
@gex:
Because banks in Nebraska make out like bandits from the status quo. Same as it always was.
sparky
@SGEW: oh, now you’re just being un-Amerrrrucan.
harlana pepper
Number one most beautiful woman: Ava Gardner
salacious crumb
I always thought Michelle Bachmann, with her cultish freaky green eyes and fully open mouth (which picture is that I cant remember, maybe the one where she is trying to kiss Bush at the RNC convention) reminds me of the Dipolosaurus right before its getting ready to eat that computer programmer Neumann
SGEW
Biden, oh Biden!
Naturally, this came to mind.
harlana pepper
Yeah, Palin was attractive, too. She was a nice MILF and she “looks” more intelligent than Bachmann but then again, when she opens her mouth . . .
John Cole
@harlana pepper: I prefer Katherine Hepburn. Plus, she was nuts, which is always a bonus.
omen
why so much interest in michelle bachmann’s projected sex life? last night the bet was she was frigid. i don’t see it but why is this even given consideration?
harlana pepper
@salacious crumb:
LOL – oh yeah, the Bush grope – I’d forgotten about that
Is it a requirement that any attractive woman, besides Meghan McCain, who is still a member of the republican party has to be batshit crazy?
harlana pepper
@omen: because it’s fun to be sexist
Gordon, The Big Express Engine
@cleek: Mark Steyn is an idiot and I did not click through, but the dealer network at GM is a HUGE problem. The incentives for dealers are completely unaligned with GM. Dealers make most of their money on used cars and after service. In most cases it doesn’t matter if GM can’t be profitable selling most of its lines.
The decision to have dealerships NOT be company owned as opposed to having them be franchises was made decades for the simple reason that in tough times, the Big 3 could cram down inventory and force the dealerships to take cars that were not selling. The states enacted tough franchise laws partly in response to protect their small business owners.
Now the worm has turned and GM can’t close the dealerships without spending a lot of money…
Emma Anne
I’ll ‘fess up to having been an Edwards supporter. Sigh. I do think he got health care and income disparity higher on the agenda than it would have been. That’s about all I can say.
harlana pepper
Good taste, John – I loves me some Kate
Kate tidbit: One day I read she believed the ideal marriage for her was husband and wife living in separate but nearby homes and visit each other often. Sensible gal.
sparky
@John Cole: that’s why i like Carole Lombard.
Peter J
Not knowing anything about Georgia farmers, I don’t know if he has, by that admission, lost their vote or if he’ll get all of them since they now know he’s one of them.
SGEW
Yes. And I’m not so sure about Ms. McCain.
Beauzeaux
Katherine Hepburn was nuts? What?
El Cid
@Emma Anne: Agreed. I feel like we got the best deal out of his candidacy — it raised the right issues, and went nowhere, and then he was gone forever.
harlana pepper
Emma Anne – you’re not alone, that’s why I supported him back in the day
omen
@salacious crumb
:
Fuck the moronic American car manufacturers (as well as European) and their fucking unions for not demanding better mileage standards
hey, why are you blaming unions?
wasabi gasp
A crazy chick just might kill you. That’s way more exciting than thoughts of suicide.
omen
@Woody:
happy anniversary, woody.
Punchy
Not trying to be insensitive here, but there is no difference between the “normal” flu and swine flu, symptom-wise. This insane media over-hyping of swine flu is infuriating, acting as if it’s the Black Plague or something.
It’s a mild form of the normal flu bug. NBD. This hype and fearmongering and closing schools is pure insanity. And inanity.
JGabriel
@J.A.F. Rusty Shackleford:
Wow, screwing a mule – that guy really redefines the term, “ass-man”.
.
cleek
MSNBC:
sweeet.
omen
@wasabi gasp:
lol
don’t make me worry about you.
Darius
Halperin’s obsessing over “The View” again.
Corner Stone
John Edwards – knew he was a phony from day one. Never had a doubt.
Then the way he pissed his pants when the Catholic nutjob challenged him over his hiring an internet outreach team that may have said an indelicate thing or two. That screamed “not the real deal” and “not ready for prime time”, at least to me.
Fuck John Edwards, fuck him up his stupid ass!
Corner Stone
@harlana pepper:
Can’t say I ever fell on the Elizabeth Bandwagon either.
cleek
oh yeah. same here. that was astoundingly dumb.
garyb50
Just checking if it’s only in the ‘Artists’ thread my comments don’t show up.
Wisdom
@TheOfficialHatOnMyCat:
Some of you liberals sound more like Rush every day.
Corner Stone
@harlana pepper:
And now I think you’re really going to have to tell us more. Or will the all-blog tease just continue mercilessly?
Personally I can’t believe Cole refused your request for an internet dating open thread. He seems to fold like an accordion every other time a woman tells him to do something.
JK
To any John Edwards fans out there
(Admittedly, the quote is from Mark Halperin, but maybe it’s true anyway)
BILL GEDDIE: Haven’t we heard all along that [John Edwards] doesn’t like [Hillary Clinton], haven’t we heard this?
MARK HALPERIN: Yes, that’s right. And I can tell you, he’s really skeptical of her ability to be the kind of president he wants. But, he kinda thinks Obama is..he thinks Obama is kind of a pussy. He has real questions about Obama’s toughness, his readiness for the office.he has real doubts about Obama, not just as a president, but as a general election candidate.
From http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/02/13/times-halperin-_n_86504.html
harlana pepper
@Corner Stone:
I got breast cancer right around the time she had her recurrence of same (same type as mine, but more advanced). I think that might have played a part. I really didn’t like to read or hear about cancer stories until that happened so I was really watching her and I liked what I saw/heard.
I’m a goner for Michelle O. Class, class, class.
Phoebe
I loved Ava’s autobiography, “Ava”. Very interesting, plus adorable.
So is EE divorcing JE or what?
omen
katherine hepburn remained beautiful in her old age. it’s a shame vehicles weren’t created for her like they did for peter o’toole in venus. she would have liked to remain working, i think.
WereBear
I liked what Edwards said, but never got enthused, though I thought Elizabeth was a class act.
Then he dropped out right before the NY primary, letting us vote for Obama quite happily.
I think he gets some credit for putting income disparity on the table, though it turns out to be totally self-serving.
harlana pepper
@Corner Stone:
You’ll just have to let your imagination run wild! I’ve been told I look like Melanie Griffith but have never been able to see it myself, at all.
I have a bigger schnoz (hers is petite) and I don’t have skinny calves.
:^D
Gawd, you guys must think I am obsessed with my looks. Actually, I do know that a lot of us women place a lot more emphasis on looks than men do – I mean I know it’s a factor, but some of us blow it waaay out of proportion (yours truly??) in terms of what we think a guy is looking for — most of the ladies on here seem to be much smarter and more grounded than me, tho.
J.A.F. Rusty Shackleford
@Cat Lady:
Yeah, I was saying the other day that David Shuster could hardly be upset about losing his 1600 Penn Ave show because now he gets to work with Tamron Hall every day.
During the summer I watched Hall’s Olympics highlight show on MSNBC more than I did of the actual events. She is teh hawt.
The Moar You Know
@wasabi gasp: Glad someone else here gets it.
Comrade Darkness
@Punchy, um, dude, your ignorance is showing.
I’ll try to dumb this down sufficiently. Tough, but I’ll try. Flu comes in strains, genetic strains, if you will. Your body has immunity to one kind of flu because it’s seen similar flus before (last year’s flu with mutations, essentially) When a flu type starts circulating big time for which no one has any previous immunity there is a huge unknown about how the broad sample of human immune systems are going to cope with it. See also http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cytokine_storm
If it turns out to be no more fatal than usual flu strains then we should be grateful and we can call it a trial run of the world’s ability to cooperate for the next time. There will be a next time.
Maybe this will help put things in perspective.
Ordinary flu fatality rate: 0.5%
Spanish flu fatality rate (also H1N1, btw, killed an estimated 50-100 million people): 2.5%
JK
From what I’ve perused within the blogosphere, this seems to be the the most commonly expressed observation
Palin and Bachmann – Irresistably Hot, Dangerously Dumb
Palin and Bachmann are the Dimmer Twins
Ignorance is Strength
Palin/Bachmann 2012
harlana pepper
Um, hence, we like to tear apart people like Michelle Bachmann who just go around making people miserable and have nothing of value to contribute to society.
John Cole
@Phoebe: She is not long for this world, I am afraid, Phoebe. I doubt they divorce.
Corner Stone
@wasabi gasp: The thing about being with a crazy chick is it’s a lot like being in the GOP right now.
No matter how straight you play it, no matter how much you reassure her she’s the only one you’re seeing – it’s never enough. She will continue to draw the circle tighter until she’s the only person in your world. And then she’ll become convinced that you were never really what she thought you were in the first place and hence, not deserving of her or her affections. So, she’ll either try to kill you or ruin you. She won’t back out gracefully with a clean break. It’ll be ugly and possibly violent.
Of course, unlike the GOP, the sex is likely to be mindblowing for the first part of the relationship.
Hmmm, let’s see…freaky out of this world sex with a high probability of violence or professional ruin. Or…uh, lost my train of thought, sorry.
JK
Condi Rice Pulls A Nixon: When the President Does It, That Means It is Not Illegal
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/cenk-uygur/condi-rice-pulls-a-nixon_b_193379.html
gwangung
@Comrade Darkness:
Look at Effect Measure for up to date and pretty scientifically sound data.
The takeaway is
Wisdom
@Punchy:
We did try to tell you about crazy Uncle Joe, but you must have been infected by this confined blog.
Now we have Janet Napolitano, that paragon of accurate messaging, channeling what Joe really meant. As though Joe’s thought processes could ever make sense.
We need someone slightly less crazy in that job. Maybe Joycelyn Elders is available.
harlana pepper
@Corner Stone:
Oh, shit, never mind. Actually, I never was quite that crazy.
Shawn in ShowMe
Looks like we have an outbreak of the Brainy Smurf virus with regard to John Edwards: “I was right! I was riii-ght!”
The cool thing about politics in the South is that you really can judge a book by its cover. Edwards looked phoney and it turns out he is, Dubya really is an idiot frat boy, Jimmy Carter really is a nice man you wants to do God’s work and Bubba really was the guy you wouldn’t leave your woman alone with.
JL
@Wisdom: Sebelius should be up to speed and I assume she will take a more public role.
During a normal flu season, most deaths are linked to the very young and the elderly. This appears to hit those under 45 the hardest. Maybe it’s possible that the immunities of the elderly are stronger due to more exposure to various viruses.
Do we have any scientists on the site?
Wisdom
@harlana pepper:
I do not think that was meant as a compliment.
Melanie makes Joe look like a rocket scientist.
kay
@WereBear:
I never liked Edwards. He’s dishonest, and he’ll say anything to win an argument. He did it in the debates. He planted the whole idea that if I’m a nurse, and I donate to a political campaign, that’s the same as “the health care industry” donating to a campaign. We’re now stuck with that lie for the rest of our lives, because the media are too stupid to figure out the difference. I liked watching Obama’s and Hillary’s face when he said that, over and over. They were pissed because it’s a lie and he knows it’s a lie.
I did like Elizabeth. I went to see her at a local college in 2004. She’s disarmingly blunt, and very tough. Luckily, no one covered her appearances in 2004, or we would have been hearing about “gaffes”. She doesn’t pretty things up.
She took her shoes off for Q and A, and I do that, given any excuse, so I was sympathetic.
bayville
The PowerLine boys are going to bat for Bachman.
Yep. the AP has been e-z on the Dems.
(with the exception of this, this, this, this, this, etc.…)
Cat Lady
@Shawn in ShowMe:
Haley Barbour the redneck, Trent Lott the smooth talking hood wearer, and Tom DeLay the backwoods back slapping bag man. You’re totally right.
harlana pepper
@Wisdom: Well, strictly talking looks, here, I hope they were talking about her appearance b-4 she got her lips blown out like bicycle tires
amocz
@Tom65:
Don’t look at Teh Gorgon, just rejoice in what the banner plainly reads:
and it suddenly transforms into a benediction!
PaulW
Photo of the week
wilfred
McClatchey did:
200 people blown up in April is a ‘legitimate cause for concern’ and le Philosophe-Roi counts like Bush.
cleek
here’s a good explanation:
yay!
Corner Stone
@Shawn in ShowMe:
I love that Family Guy episode where Clinton smoothtalks both Lois and Peter into the sack.
JL
@cleek: Thanks for the info.
Corner Stone
@cleek: Listen, there’s a simple solution here. Recently everyone in my extended family was hit with some version of walking pneumonia. Knocked the crap outta all 15 or so of them, they all had to get steroids and anti-biotics. Everyone but me. Never missed a beat. The reason?
I’m close to four parts vodka by volume. I suggest it as a preventive remedy for everyone.
Dennis-SGMM
@wilfred:
What did you want him to do, burst out in tears? Those Iraqis were blown to bits by other Iraqis – not by US forces. You move right on past that fact because it would interfere with your protracted surrogate martyrdom. You never seem to get around to condemning those whose political and/or sectarian beliefs lead them to blow up their own countrymen for the same reason.
asiangrrlMN
Ha! Look what I have started with the whole hotness issue last night. Well, you know, I was never on the Edwards’ bandwagon. I didn’t hate him, either. I was just lukewarm towards him and his wife.
As for an internet dating thread, um, John, are you listening? I gotta reiterate that trading post-stupid does bupkus for me. I am not like harlana pepper in that I am not so sure of my physical pulchritude. However, I think I am not unpleasing to the eye. I do think some men are afraid of the size of my brain, though.
sparky, I agree with you on the personal thing. I have posted personals that are very specific in what I want (wit and humor), and I get responses that did not exhibit either.
John Cole, let’s have a Balloon Juice dating thread!
Punchy
Dude, your condecension is infuriating. No shit, really? Genotypes of the flu strain change every year? Wow, thanks for the obvious.
Please tell me where you got your 2.5% rate, btw, if you’re referring to the current outbreak. Because I’d love to see it with statistics and age-group breakdown. Otherwise this shit is no more lethal in this country than any other strain of recent flu virus. Fuck you and your “dumbing down” shit.
omen
@wilfred:
there are a thousand ways you can parse a statement.
wilfred
@Dennis-SGMM:
Piss off you pompous asshole. I’m condemning Obama for being a lying, uncaring shit, the same way I condemned Bush. Burst into tears? Hardly, but Obama’s response is the intellectual’s equivalent of Bush’s chimp smirk.
According to your ‘reasoning’ then, Obama’s comment is completely senseless since the only people who should be concerned are the Iraqis, who are doing it to themselves. Correct?
harlana pepper
@omen: I DID?? how did i miss this?? rats!
harlana pepper
@asiangrrlMN: Don’t pay me any mind. I’m really not that conceited except when it comes to Michelle Bachmann. I’m just manic today. ;)
Brachiator
@harlana pepper:
What does a soul have to do with anything? One of the pleasures of a potential tryst with la Bachmann is that a guy knows that there is absolutely no point in having any kind of discussion with her afterwards.
What is it men in women do require?
The lineaments of gratified Desire.
What is it women do in men require?
The lineaments of gratified Desire
The Question Answered, William Blake
harlana pepper
@asiangrrlMN:
Internet Dating Story:
4/28/09 – Received phone call from this guy. He was on the road and put me through a looong questionnaire, revealing very little about himself, other than he was a former Catholic who occasionally attended a Baptist church (warning bells went off, of course). This freaking “questionnaire” was so long I should have gotten irritated at some point but I’d had a couple of beers, was feeling frisky, so I thought I’d politely play along just out of curiosity.
Okay, so he gets to the “what’s your political affiliation?” part to which I replied I considered myself a progressive Dem. Immediately he says, “oh, I have a call coming in from my son’s teacher, I’d better take this!” I’m like okay, sure.
Then I went to take out the trash, no pun intended. When I got back, he had left a message on my machine saying that, after our conversation, he did not think I was appropriate as a “mate.”
harlana pepper
@Brachiator:
If I was teh gayest woman on earth, not in a gazillion years. But yeah, men are different creatures.
bow, chicka, bow, chicka bow wow
cleek
shorter erikerikson:
the teaparty scene was so much cooler when it was all about the fans. now it’s all about the greedheads and their self-serving corporate agenda! uncool !
HitlerWorshippingPuppyKicker
@JK:
Well, this is an aspect of the problem set that people don’t seem to get.
Nixon wasn’t kidding, he meant it, and he was right.
By that I mean, the power of the Unitary Executive is vast and deep.
The people gave the thumbs up to the unchecked executive a long time ago, after WWII, and stood by while we substituted the War Powers Act for the Constitution. Once that line was crossed, the game was over. There is no effective check on the powers of the executive and its war machine.
The problem here is not that a few guys crossed some line, the problem is that Americans demanded … not asked for, but demanded, at the polls … a ‘protect me at any cost’ government. Gave the executive unchecked power. And got what they asked for.
Now some people want to come along and say, oh no, we didn’t mean you could do that. Prosecute them!
Uh, no, that is not going to work, and even if you got the prosecutions and convictions, which is not likely, you will have done nothing whatever to check the next executive gang that takes the blank check and spends all your ethical capital as it sees fit.
If you want a checked executive, and a government that thinks before it shoots, then you have to start electing governments like that. Otherwise you are just pissing against the tide.
Joel
@Punchy: I think the concern about this strain of influenza is legitimate for the following reasons:
1) it’s spreading pretty rapidly
2) we don’t have a vaccine
3) even if the virus is not deadly, the possibility of shutting down schools and workplaces will do further damage to our economy
Dennis-SGMM
@wilfred:
You just need to relax and stop wearing your asshole on your sleeve.
asiangrrlMN
@wasabi gasp: I get the crazy chick thing. I really do. It’s like the female equivalent to being attracted to the troubled guy. I just don’t get the stupid part.
@harlana pepper: That’s really funny about the guy asking you about your political affiliation. I know you’re not being conceited–just dumbfounded like me over the *starbursts* sent by Palin and Bachmann.
Guys are teh funny.
HitlerWorshippingPuppyKicker
@Joel:
That’s about right. It’s the fact that there is no pool of immunity out there and not enough time to vaccinate our way into one in time to prevent a rapid (pandemic) spread.
Not that this particular flu is so dangerous, but that it is so new to the immunity pool. The surge in cases can overwhelm the medical resources, and cause economic and other disruptions.
Panic and stupid responses are already happening. Witness the slaughter of swine in the middle east, and the demands here for “closing our borders.” To say nothing of the claim that bad flus happen under Democratic administrations. Heh.
My hunch right now is that this flu will be more typical in its mortality rate than atypical, but that is still TBD from what I can see.
Punchy
First of all, we dont have a vaccine for a vast, vast majority of flu strains. The flu “vaccine” that comes yearly only covers one genotype, and that’s somewhat of an inexact science to figger which one to make.
Secondly, you’ve illustrated my point. Never, ever has a school closed down due to one student having the flu. Yet since it’s swine flu (basically ordinarily flu with a funny name), people are acting irrationally and closing down shit everywhere. A total and vast overreaction fed by the insane media. Absolutlely NO REASON to shut down workplaces for the flu, unless the media has so scared shitless the clueless. Which they have.
Grrrrrrrr.
harlana pepper
@asiangrrlMN:
I think he was a pro-lifer so I think that’s what clinched it. Just as well, he looked a little to clean-cut/uptight to me. But I was trying to keep an open mind. Regardless of his political affiliation, the guy had been divorced for 8 freaking years and he’s subjecting women to an “interview” on the first phone call (e.g., he hasn’t learned SHIT about dating and relationships in those 8 years). What a turd! But hey, I dodged a bullet so I should be grateful. Icky old repubelican.
Also, I have dated many a crazy dude, but yeah, they were all relatively intelligent guys.
South of I-10
The flu in a 3 year old is nothing to mess around with, swine flu or no. She did get a flu shot this year. My sister-in-law just had a very hard time finding Tamiflu. She finally found some at Target and they only had a few doses. She said there was an older couple in front of her who were going out of town and had some prescribed “just in case”. I think some words may have been exchanged. Oh and my sister-in-law is running fever now too. Apparently my school had 5 or 6 kids with confirmed type A flu that was sent for further testing, but 30-40 kids called in sick that were in the same grade as the 5 or 6.
R-Jud
@South of I-10:
I hope your niece recovers quickly.
The Other Steve
Long time ago, before I met my wife I had some similar experiences using eHarmony. Their process is you go back and forth picking questions and multiple choice answers, and then you get to actually email the person.
So this one woman, her first message was something like “I don’t want to waste any time, so here it is. I want a man to be a father for my children. I hate men who watch porn and wipe their mouths on the kitchen dish towel….” and it went on like that.
Basically she didn’t want her ex. :-)
Still not as good as the woman I dated back in college who proclaimed on our first lunch date that she wanted a 12 children, and a big house so that her mom could move in and help raise the kids. She was a sweetheart, and on the bright side six weeks later she met Mr. boyscout who was President of the local volunteer club and such. They were married a year later, and I fully expect they have 12 children and a big house now. :-)
Brachiator
@harlana pepper:
Yeah, men are different. This reminds me of a recent news story out of the UK:
The average guy would never hook up with a violent prison inmate. Unless she was smokin’ hot.
Don’t care. Not my business.
Odd non sequitur. I don’t see how being clean cut connects with compassion. Edwards was a flawed candidate (and never one of my choices), but some of his good work speaks for itself.
gwangung
Punchy, luv ya to death, but I trust the professionals a whole lot more than I do you.
The folks at Science Blogs are fairly concerned about the genetic novelty of this particular flu, probably because most of the flu varieties that sweep through the country have some genetic relatedness to previous strains; this particular strain is relatively novel.
Second, ANY increase in sickness that this strain might cause is a reason for concern, because the public health infratstructure is over-loaded and the idiots in the previous eight years made absolutely no move to strengthen it. So ANY new strain is going to be a problem if the spread is large scale.
And remember…the watchword is be careful…but don’t be stupid.
BruceFromOhio
@Corner Stone:
Worked in the original “Andromeda Strain,” no?
That cytokine storm shit is just scary.
harlana pepper
@Brachiator: You are correct, sir! On all counts.
Flu discussions aside, I just can’t seem to leave this thread. I need an intervention.
JK
An urgent heartfelt appeal from the Progressive Republican coaltion
http://progressiverepublican.info/2009/04/29/open-letter-to-my-fellow-republicans/
KRK
@sparky:
The argument, even in jest, that you couldn’t tell that Edwards was a phony because your familiarity with lawyers dulled your BS-detector is a bunch of BS.
Corner Stone
@JK: They quote John Cornyn.
Epic fails.
Corner Stone
@KRK: Is that because the phoniness shone thru so brightly it had to be seen, or is it because familiarity with lawyers should’ve sharpened the BS detector?
asiangrrlMN
@The Other Steve: Yeah, well, I got rejected by eHarmony because I hated their crazy test which I thought was a bunch of psychobabble, and bad psychobabble at that (I was a psych major). I got to take it free, and they were boasting how eighty-percent of the population could be matched by them. I turned out to be in the other twenty percent.
Then, they go on to boast that they match something like ninety-some percent of their patrons. Well, duh. They weeded out all us freaks in the beginning.
@harlana pepper: Yeah, a phone interview as first contact? Um, no.
harlana pepper
KRK, in sparky’s defense, I’ve worked for defense lawyers a lot of years. Edwards was one of those plaintiff’s lawyers who, if he’s really good, can make tons of money, more than defense (corporate paid) lawyers.
Hence, I’ve had to deal with plaintiff’s lawyers who are usually pissed at us b/c we are on the other side. My point being, and I think the point of some of the others here who say they overlooked some things in Edwards b/c they worked with lawyers, is YES, you are USED TO the bullshit and you know it’s just part of the job of a plaintiff’s attorney to bullshit and smarm. So you tend to overlook the shellaque (sp?), the veneer — I was paying attention to his policy proposals, not his perfect hair, etc.
I don’t know what makes that BS, calm down.
Or not.
Joel
@Punchy: Right, we don’t have vaccines for most strains of influenza but:
1) rarely does a single strain spread so far, wide, and quickly
2) this strain has the unusual effect of killing people in their prime ages (at least in mexico)
3) as puppykicker pointed out, most influenza strains are beat back by local pools of immunity
look, i hate panic and irrational behavior. i don’t watch the television media, and i imagine it would infuriate me. but the CDC and WHO don’t scream “fire” in a crowded movie theater.
harlana pepper
@JK:
Um, so there really IS a Hip Hop Republican coalition? I thought that was only in Michael Steele’s mind.
JK
@harlana pepper: Hip Hop Republican Theme Song
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ybpTWjVKUmo
harlana pepper
@asiangrrlMN:
eharmony is bullshit – everytime i see one of those commercials, i want to barf
omen
@Brachiator:
i’ve never met a social justice activist who was preoccupied with how his hair looked.
omen
@harlana pepper:
his campaign rhetoric didn’t match his senate voting record.
KRK
@Corner Stone:
Well, I would say both of those are true. If you know lawyers who are very good at salesmanship, then I’d expect you to be more, not less, skeptical of Edwards’s whole schtick.
But what’s really absurd is the implication that “lawyers” is a category of people with uniform behaviors and traits, smarminess chief among them. Biden, Clinton, Dodd, Edwards, and Obama are all lawyers, but they each gave off a totally different vibe in the primary.
asiangrrlMN
@harlana pepper: Yes. I mute commercials, but just the look of them–blech.
JOHN COLE, I am formally requesting a hook-up thread! If anything, it will be extremely amusing.
harlana pepper
@omen: you haz appoint, but i wasn’t thrilled with Obama’s record either, at the time — I was a Dean supporter and anti-Edwards in 2003/4 – didn’t trust Obama this past primary b/c I was not in the mood to embrace the enemy, I was wrong, he knew what the hell he was doing, what can I say — OCCASIONALLY I am wrong about some things ;^)
harlana pepper
@asiangrrlMN: the couples all look so “air-brushed” don’t they? :)
JK
@harlana pepper:
@asiangrrlMN:
Founder Neal Clark Warren built up the service by promoting it on radio broadcasts of Focus on the Family. Warren is also anti-gay.
@omen:
I was never a John Edwards fan, but when I heard that quote that Edwards had called Obama a pussy in a conversation with Mark Halperin, I lost even more respect for the guy.
I think it stuck in Edwards’ craw that he lost to Obama
harlana pepper
@omen: Also, would you not say that Obama’s campaign rhetoric was not nearly as progressive as his policies now? How could I have known? The best I had to work with was rhetoric (hoping the party would hold Edwards to it) since I was not thrilled with any of the Dem candidates voting records on various issues, Iraq being foremost in my mind. I had to weigh that against a candidate who seemed, while campaigning, to want to appease the right.
And the love child thing. I was a dope. How many times do you want me to say it?
And yes, I know Obama spoke out against the war when he was an Illinois senator but he himself admitted he might have voted for it had he been in the Senate at the time. Not being in the Senate, it was daring but not as dangerous to speak out. And I really felt deep in my heart that had he been in the Senate, he would have voted for the war, just like Edwards and many Dem candidates did
Corner Stone
@harlana pepper:
Of course he would have. There can be no debate about that.
That One - Cain
I think probably why Bachmann is attractive is that she’s a bit of a “bad girl” (well, a stupid bad girl heh) I can’t help but think that there might be some underlying issue of dominance of the male part. Trying to control the crazy through sex. Just an idea. I find her attractive too for some reason and it’s precisely because she’s crazy.
cain
asiangrrlMN
@That One – Cain: Containing through sex? I get the crazy part–it’s the stupid part I can’t abide.
@harlana pepper: I actually think Obama’s doing exactly what he’s promised during his campaign. That’s what’s freaking the media out. I am not as sure he would have voted for the war, but eh. I don’t know either way.
As for eHarmony, they can bite me.
Comrade Darkness
@Punchy: Turn off your fucking tv if it is driving you to the stupid panic. The health authorities are learning some serious shit about communication and coordination right now. If you had your way, they’d be sucking their thumbs or something.
2.5% fatality rate is usually cited one for the 1918 Spanish Flu. Doesn’t sound bad does it? I was trying to point out to Your Braininess that the difference between a normal flu outbreak and a pandemic is a scant 2%.
But, we should never, ever prepare for anything because Punchy might pee his pants. Duly noted.
Just Some Fuckhead
You fuckers need to climb down off of Punchy’s nuts.
HitlerWorshippingPuppyKicker
Well, not really. All flu viruses are different, that’s what makes them so lovable. The virus re-bolts itself together like a new Frankenstein regularly and stays a step or two ahead of the immunity inventory out there.
It’s only called “swine” because it apparently traveled through swine on its way to its current incarnation. It is more correctly called an H1N1 variant. The pigs put their stamp of approval on it but it’s really not theirs any more.
HitlerWorshippingPuppyKicker
I haven’t been a fucker today, but can I get in on this?
j/k
Really, I have no beef with anybody today. Or, pork, for that matter.
Comrade Darkness
@Just Some Fuckhead,
The notion of reducing our national dialog to the retarded level that would be required to avoid the f*cktard talking heads on the teevee from blowing it all out of proportion scares the living, jesus-blessed crap out of me.
Paula
It’s weird to hear Maddow and Hurley deride Obama for not declaring that the Bushies were torturing criminals and having one of their proofs be that the president of the united states does not determine whether or not something is a criminal act.
Also, IMO Greenwald’s derisive use of “pretty words” to describe Obama’s threading of the torture issue that, at this point, is not AT ALL within the POTUS’ jurisdiction to prosecute either formally by order to his AG or informally in a press conference (as GG himself has pointed out) is a rhetorical turn that seems to justify the greater right wing’s mockery of Obama’s ability to highlight nuance within the blunt force simplicity of public discourse.
You want Obama to stop running verbal circles around the issue? Bone up on your own logic before you bring it to his face.
omen
@harlana pepper:
How many times do you want me to say it?
i didn’t mean for you to feel prosecuted. i was just sayin’.
(shrug)
Brachiator
@omen:
Maybe you should get out more. Besides, Edwards was a successful trial lawyer and politician. As I noted earlier, his record speaks for itself.
We have a president who “doesn’t look the part” to the wingnut fringe. This alone should remind everyone about the foolishness of insisting that people’s looks or grooming habits say something about their intrinsic value as a person.
Impossible to verify and now entirely beside the point.
A little on Edwards: I never thought much of him as a presidential candidate. He was stale bread for me after the last election cycle and never stepped up to the challange in the primaries. However, I thought that he might have been interesting as a potential Attorney General, before the love-child scandal doomed him.
omen
@Brachiator:
looks are one thing. excessive grooming is another.
omen
@Brachiator:
at one democratic conference in florida where edwards was a keynote speaker, he once bragged about having been included in people magazine’s “most beautiful people” list and being on the cover. doesn’t that suggest just a wee bit of narcissism?
Brachiator
@omen:
Yes. And, so? Bill Clinton was charismatic and narcissistic (and a sexual houndog). And a successful politician and president.
Real people are complex. I know that some people need for their social justice activists to be humble and plain, but this is an issue that they have to work out for themselves.
It’s a mix of “holier-than-thou” mushiness and the hot fantasy that Bush and Cheney will be prosecuted as war criminals. Not. Gonna. Happen.
Paula
Bitch rant no. 2
I suspect that the only people who care about JE outside of his fam and friends are
1) people who are really embarrassed that they trusted and supported him so fervently in the primaries and want to paint their support as being hopefully, but naively, about the “issues”. (And who are now feverishly penning screeds against “trusting obama” — I take Booman Tribune and Al Giordano with grains of salt but they were right on about the childishness of the netroots left — may the lord deliver me from “trusting” any politician, as those who do deserve what they get.)
2) people who want to stick it to the people above.
Fuck him. He derailed himself and tried to take his party with him. He took away a lot of Elizabeth’s political face too — she would have been an incredible ally on health care reform.
But yeah, I didn’t need an affair or haircuts to be skeptical of the guy. Politics is about power, and he was talking a good game with an incredibly weak hand and, like HRC, a seeming inability to create a buffer against Obama 08’s rapidly expanding ground game. And if you cannot understand/implement the basic tenet of constituency building @ this high a level, then you’re done. Forget anti poverty initiatives — you aren’t even going to get a budget expansion passed.
[Gawd, everything’s pissing me off today. Had to de-lurk.]
Paula
Hell, I have no problem with wanting Bush and Cheney tried as war criminals. But no reasonable person can expect the following administration, still mired in all matter of partisan bull-crap on a whole host of OTHER equally important issues, to be the one leading the charge. It’s stupid and “not right”, but I suspect that the unwritten rule that fellow presidents don’t go after each other directly is something that’s affecting how the White House goes about this.
Plus, separation of powers and shit. It’s not for the POTUS to determine law and order in this country. As we keep being reminded. Because if you sanction Obama’s use of the bully pulpit on this issue then you give him the right to use it in others where it may equally not be his business.
Joe K
I just heard Daniel Shore say some stupid shit on NPR. He talked about “Democratic calls for prosecution” for torture, as if it’s a partisan issue rather than a test of our alleged rule-of-law; and how Obama is trying to “pass the buck” to Eric Holder. If NPR is supposed to represent the biased left-wing press, all I can say is “WTF?”
omen
@Brachiator:
Yes. And, so? Bill Clinton was charismatic and narcissistic (and a sexual houndog). And a successful politician and president.
don’t get me started on clinton.
edwards’ narcissism wouldn’t be half as annoying if he had managed to champion a progressive agenda when it counted, while he was in the senate.
Corner Stone
@omen:
I too am still a little confused as to Edwards’ record that speaks for itself. He served one term in the Senate and according to Wikipedia he co-sponsored 203 bills – a few of which he later regretted.
His family sponsored a foundation to honor his son Wade but otherwise I’m a little lost as to what his great contributions were/are.
omen
@Corner Stone:
not sure, but i think they mean edwards personal injury cases where he made his name. yes, he won justice for families injured, but he also greatly enriched himself by them.
the downside of this is while there were victories for select few in court, they didn’t advance justice for the rest of us. too often the awards are made secret without admission of guilt. there isn’t a guarantee that negligence that lead to the damage in the first place was reformed as a result. too often corporations followed the practice that paying court awarded damages was cheaper than doing an overhaul and fixing the root of the problem.
otherswise, i don’t have a clue. edwards certainly wasn’t about two americas and standing up for the little guy while he was in senate.
RememberNovember
@J.A.F. Rusty Shackleford:
He prefers the term inter-species relations, omfg.
He really bakes the stereotype.
RememberNovember
@John Cole:
and spooge, apparently- enough to go around.