Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

You don’t get to peddle hatred on saturday and offer condolences on sunday.

Putin must be throwing ketchup at the walls.

We’ve had enough carrots to last a lifetime. break out the sticks.

The next time the wall street journal editorial board speaks the truth will be the first.

Today’s GOP: why go just far enough when too far is right there?

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

Is it irresponsible to speculate? It is irresponsible not to.

He really is that stupid.

Let me eat cake. The rest of you could stand to lose some weight, frankly.

How can republicans represent us when they don’t trust women?

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

The willow is too close to the house.

We cannot abandon the truth and remain a free nation.

Teach a man to fish, and he’ll sit in a boat all day drinking beer.

The truth is, these are not very bright guys, and things got out of hand.

Joe Lieberman disappointingly reemerged to remind us that he’s still alive.

There are consequences to being an arrogant, sullen prick.

It’s the corruption, stupid.

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

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

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

We’ll be taking my thoughts and prayers to the ballot box.

Take your GOP plan out of the witness protection program.

Following reporting rules is only for the little people, apparently.

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Reader Interactions

107Comments

  2. 2.

    Ambergris

    I don’t care about the topic, I just want to know what John McCain has got to say about it.

  4. 4.

    Punchy

    It’s certain to be about Matt Cassel’s busted-up leg, putting an entire city into collective apoplexy.

  5. 5.

    geg6

    Looking at the Arlington pictures again this morning (and also having been there several times), I have to say that Jack really chose the spot, didn’t he? That is just such a lovely place. I must see the story of the floating homes. I wouldn’t mind living like that at all. The only thing I miss about my ex is our long seasons staying on our 32 footer and roaming the Beaver, Allegheny, Monongehela, and Ohio Rivers. Sigh. I loved being a boater and I really miss the relaxed lifestyle.

  8. 8.

    geg6

    arguingwithsignposts: I believe I have read in more than one place (but can’t cite from memory…getting old does that) that Jackie chose the spot based on Jack taking her there once and telling her that spot is where he wanted to be buried as he considered it the most beautiful spot in what is a pretty beautiful cemetery.

  9. 9.

    MikeJ

    Probably not rendition to Portugal.

    I’m not sure what the problem with those prisoners being released in Portugal is.

  10. 10.

    robertdsc

    I’d rather watch the series of TunchCam vids than McCain. However, apropos of the anniversary of his selection of the Quitta from Wasilla, I went looking for pictures of her for my phone. Made some good pickups. She’s purty. Brain dead, but purty.

  11. 11.

    Keith G

    All I know is that with my “weekend” (Mon-Tues) about to begin, the weather in Houston is cooperating. Yes, the day-time temps will be in the low 90s, but the dew points have, for now, dropped to the mid 60s. It’s still summer, but it’s easier to smile.

    Speaking of smiles, along the route that I walk to work (lucky me), is a house that is home to a young litter family of kittens. The mom is a grey tabby like mine. The kids are of various coats. At walk time, they seem always to be bouncing around the porch and yard. Mom is always around, watchfully aware of the kids and the strangers walking by.

    Maybe this will be a better week.

  13. 13.

    Comrade Jake

    Shorter McCain: “Senator Kennedy was a good man and a lifelong friend. Now that he’s passed and we’ve had time to grieve, I hope we can return to the business of spreading lies about the public option.”

  14. 14.

    Ann B. Nonymous

    Pundit 1: as a great senator, Edward Kennedy would have supported torture no matter what the political cost.

    Pundit 2: I liked Ted, since he could match me drink for drink, but why couldn’t he have been more like his great conservative brother, John F. Kennedy? JFK would have marched right into Hanoi and given Ho Chi Minh the what for, if it weren’t for that hippie Oswald.

    Pundit 3: frankly, the best Kennedy brother of them all was Joe Junior, whose plane blew up before he could fly it into a building. [contrarian eyebrow waggling] A Nazi building! [sighs of relief]

    Pundit 4: say, since our producers won’t let us mention Mary Jo Kopechne and that hilarious Volkswagen ad, we should mention the retard sister. Obamacare will lobotomize you!

  16. 16.

    Rey

    Heard Cheney and his precious daughter will grace our tv this fine Sunday morn. Sigh, such is life. What’s for dinner?

  17. 17.

    SiubhanDuinne

    Is anybody watching the CBS Sunday Morning segment on the family of Japanese bamboo artists? It’s just extraordinarily beautiful stuff. (It also feels like a rerun from a few months ago, unless I’m having a weird deja vu thingie.)

  18. 18.

    Throwin Stones

    Pork shoulder on the smoker, high ~75F, low humidity, and no bobbleheads today in the Stone’s house.
    Going to be a good day.

  19. 19.

    smiley

    I used to live down the street from a Frank Lloyd Wright house. It was somewhat distinctive in that neighborhood but was otherwise pretty unremarkable. I’ve also visited the Biltmore estate. What’s remarkable there is that people did, and do, live like that. That part of NC is really beautiful, btw. I think I retire there.

  21. 21.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Smiley

    I actually grew up in a Frank Lloyd Wright house, in a community with lots of them. Ours was not remarkable from the outside, as it was a remodeling job (1896 IIRC) of an existing Queen Anne — but the interior is pure early FLW and quite lovely. Lots of decorative woodwork, an overmantel carved in Japan for one of the five (!) fireplaces, and some gorgeous leaded glass windows in the library. Gosh I miss that house.

  22. 22.

    SGEW

    @geg6:

    From yesterday’s write up in th’ WaPo:

    On April 1963, President John F. Kennedy stood on the heights outside Arlington House, gazed across the vast cemetery below, the grand monuments of Washington in the distance, and said the spot was so beautiful he could live there the rest of his life.
    . . .
    Seven months later, after the tragedy of his assassination, he was buried just down the grassy hill from where he spoke that day.

  23. 23.

    D-Chance.

    Is cnn STILL running that stupid “Teddy In His Own Words” crap?

    Really? The guy was sober long enough to coherently utter THAT many words? Or do they cut to a “chorus” of repeated lines every few minutes to fill in the time?

  24. 24.

    geg6

    smiley: There are three absolutely spectacular FLW homes near me. I can’t remember the name of one of them, but Kentuck Knob and Fallingwater are anything but unremarkable. Fallingwater is possibly the most iconic Wright building anywhere.

  25. 25.

    SGEW

    @SiubhanDuinne: Neato. I grew up in a town with a FLW house (that was constantly changing hands: apparently it was an early effort and was almost unlivable, due to extremely low doorways and roof leakage problems – looked great, hard to live in), but you have some major architectural bragging rights.

  26. 26.

    John S.

    FLW also had a knack for commercial spaces. The Johnson & Johnson building is one of my favorite projects of his, if only because it shows how interesting a workplace can be.

  29. 29.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @SGEW. LOL, the adults in my family were forever complaining about various “unliveable” features — FLW evidently feeling that aesthetics trumped comfort any day of the week — but my generation didn’t notice or didn’t care. Of course at the time we also didn’t appreciate what a gem it was in so many ways — it was just the house we lived in. We were there (at least my grandmother was) for 32 years, so it couldn’t have been all THAT unliveable!

  31. 31.

    Laura W

    I have a big favor to ask of the animal-loving BJ readers:
    Evelyn Bridges, the woman who fed and then trapped my stray Annie two years ago, is a tireless animal rescuer. She works real estate solely to fund her rescue work. She never stops; she never refuses an animal; and she never complains. She even cat sat for me last March, stopping in twice a day to medicate, feed, love and scoop my four.

    She is raising money to fund the creation of her own 5013c.

    Friends and Family: My fellow REALTORS with Steve Owen and Associates are helping us raise money in order to receive funds to create a non-profit organization to further help our efforts in animal rescue. This will allow us to have fund raisers, accept donations that are tax deductible for the donors, to apply for grant money, to pull animals from the shelters and do so much more to help our abused, thrown away, neglected, abandoned, unloved, sick animals. It will be called the Charlie Powers Memorial Animal Rescue in honor of my father who loved and cared for animals his entire life and taught me to do the same by his example.It has been a labor of love for me to rescue and help the animals for almost 50 years.

    Please take a few seconds each day to click on the following link and vote for Little Bitsy. You will only have to register to vote the first time. You can vote every day. Each new week begins on Sunday and continues until end of October. Let’s help her win so she can help the other dogs and cats that have not yet been rescued.

    It takes a second to register and Little Bitsy only has four votes as of this moment. Flooding the voting booth in the way only this community can would probably do it! Thanks!
    Check out the ears on this girl!

    (please let my link work.)

  32. 32.

    Montysano

    We’ve visited a number of Wright structures over the years, an activity that I would recommend to anyone; they’re quite remarkable.

    I finally got around to visiting the Rosenbaum House, which is only 60 miles from where we live. It’s considered one of the finest examples of his Usonian style. Well worth it if you’re in the neighborhood.

  33. 33.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Keith G:

    You can do it! Hang in there! Don’t give in to the demons of temptation! We’re there for you! Excelsior!

  35. 35.

    SGEW

    @Laura W: Done – and I almost never register for those things (it’s only ’cause it’s you, Laura . . . use your power over us wisely).

    And even tho’ it’s for a good cause, I gotta admit that Bitsy is, indeed, kind of ridiculously cute, and deserves a vote just for that.

  37. 37.

    mclaren

    CBS SUNDAY MORNING

    Today’s possible topics:

    [1] “Is the failure of the Obama administration due to its extremist far-left fanaticism, or its bizarre insistence on indulging weird radical fetishes like the Bill of Rights?”

    [2] “After his decision to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate torture allegations in the previous administration, a reasonable centrist journalist must ask the question — is Eric Holder a kook? Or a traitor?”

    [3] “Victory in America’s middle eastern wars — within 100 years? Or only 40 years?”

    [4] “Should far-left fanatics who want to murder babies under the guise of extending health care be shot by firing squad, or merely garotted?”

    [5] “Lt. Calley 40 years later: misunderstood hero and visionary far ahead of his time.”

    [6] “Soberly correcting Ronald Reagan’s place in the history books — he failed by not lowering taxes enough, and not deregulating enough industries. Now let’s hear a balanced even-handed debate between Newt Gingrich and Sean Hannity on the Reagan legacy.”

    [7] “World-renowned economist Arthur Laffer joins us to explain why getting the government involved with Medicare would be an unmitigated disaster.”

  38. 38.

    SGEW

    Wow, I was expecting a DPJ win, but I didn’t expect this big of a win:

    The [Democratic Party of Japan] has won 300 seats in the 480-seat lower house, ending 50 years of almost unbroken rule by the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), NHK TV says.

    I have no idea how much the DPJ will be able to reverse the debt, or the unemployment numbers, or the poor relationship with China, or the unequal relationship with the U.S.A., but this is still pretty amazing. MacArthur just rolled over in his grave a little, I think.

  39. 39.

    r€nato

    Just wondering… I had to read the news story about Ted Kennedy’s letter to the Pope to make sure I heard correctly what I heard when watching his funeral service at Arlington cemetery…

    did the Pope really have someone else write a letter on his behalf in response to Ted Kennedy? Seriously? He couldn’t write a letter himself? It’s not like this was just some average, everyday parishioner…

  40. 40.

    Laura W

    @SGEW: Thanks everyone! In an attempt to really pull the heartstrings that will pull the voting levers for Little Bitsy, this just in from Evelyn. I told her I posted it on a highly animal-loving, highly-trafficked political blog:

    Oh that is great about additional posting. I found Little Bitsy on Old Toxaway Road..Skin and bones..had been hit by car. According to vet, car accident was several weeks before I got her. Had seen her several times and would stop and feed her but took a while to get her to come to me. She is now is a great home..Sleeps in bed with them under the covers..Great ending.

  41. 41.

    smiley

    @SiubhanDuinne: Cool. I don’t think anyone would claim credit for the house(s) I grew up in. The FLW house in my old neighborhood is recognizable as one of his but usually only after being told so. There’s a reason it’s not one of the famous ones. It was also kind of run down when I lived there.

  42. 42.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @ Montysano: I feel like an idiot for not knowing about the Rosenbaum house. It would be an easy drive for me, and I’ll make a point of going to Florence sometime in the next few weeks.

    @Laura W: the link only partly works for me, but as usual I’m on the BlackBerry. Will register and vote tomorrow when I’m not limited to the handheld. (Among other annoyances, none of the graphics will load so I can’t even squeee about how cute she is!)

  44. 44.

    JenJen

    @Laura W: Done!!! And I would’ve voted for her anyway. :-)

    In other news, shrill bitter harpie Liz Cheney is on Steph’s roundtable today. It boggles the mind why everyone just gives up on her; she’s so effective at fillibustering and interrupting that everyone just kind of shrivels in her presence. Does she have magic powers, or something? I don’t understand why nobody ever, ever gives it back to her. Shorter Liz Cheney: “Torture is AWESOME and you suck. Repeat.”

    George Will declares that the country is having second thoughts about electing Barack Obama. I will bet you $100 that he said something quite similar at this point during Bill Clinton’s presidency.

    And finally, Conor Friedersdorf, one of Sully’s pretenders in his absence, is just an uber-hack. Yesterday’s masterpiece? “Hey, how come Barack Obama can’t deliver an inspiring speech the way Ronald Reagan could?”

  47. 47.

    SGEW

    @JenJen:

    Shorter Liz Cheney: “Torture is AWESOME and you suck. Repeat.”

    I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again:

    Shorter everything Liz Cheney says: “Please do not investigate my father’s wartime atrocities and prosecute him for his crimes against humanity. I am fond of my father, in my fashion, and would not like to see him executed. Additionally, I am complicit in his war crimes.”

  50. 50.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @SGEW: earlier this morning there was a report about the election results on NPR Sunday Weekend Edition, and the Tokyo reporter mentioned that two or three weeks ago when it was clear that the DPJ would win, the LDP leader was musing in public about how to “lose graciously.” Just — wow.

    @r€nato: I could be completely wrong about this, but I think there is a tradition of protocol against having many heads of state write their own letters (except to true intimates). I’ve read quite a lot about the British royals over the years, and I know that letters from the Queen don’t come from her and are never signed by her, but always come from a Lady in Waiting, and begin “I am commanded by The Queen to respond . . . . ” Don’t know for sure but it wouldn’t surprise me to learn that a similar protocol applies at the Vatican. Yes, even for Teddy Kennedy. I suppose the Pope just might write personally to a POTUS but I guess not to a US Senator, no matter how celebrated.

  52. 52.

    wasabi gasp

    DIES IN PARACHUTE FROM EIFFEL TOWER; Inventor, in Testing His Device, Had Scorned the Use of a Dummy.

    Franz Reichalt, an Austrian tailor, who had been experimenting with a new form of parachute, jumped to-day from the first platform of the Eiffel Tower, 180 feet high, and fell to the ground like a stone. He was killed instantly.

    New York Times – February 5, 1912

    Monty Python left off the byline.

  56. 56.

    ominira

    @SGEW: Yeah I was reading the news about their victory in Japan. Pretty amazing that the same party has run Japan for basically 53 years. I’d say they were just about overdue for a change.

    “The nation is very angry with the ruling party, and we are grateful for their deep support,” Hatoyama said after the polls closed. “We will not be arrogant and we will listen to the people.”

    The Democrats have also said they will seek a more independent relationship with Washington, while forging closer ties with Japan’s Asian neighbors, including China. But Hatoyama, who holds a doctorate in engineering from Stanford University, insists he will not seek dramatic change in Japan’s foreign policy, saying the U.S.-Japan alliance would “continue to be the cornerstone of Japanese diplomatic policy.”

    National broadcaster NHK, using projections based on exit polls of roughly 400,000 voters, said the Democratic Party was set to win 300 seats and the Liberal Democrats only about 100. TV Asahi, another major network, said the Democratic Party would win 315 seats, up from the 112 seats it held before parliament was dissolved in July.

    As voting closed Sunday night, officials said turnout was high, despite an approaching typhoon, indicating the intense level of public interest in the hotly contested campaigns.

    “We’ve worked so hard to achieve a leadership change and that has now become almost certain thanks to the support of many voters,” said Yoshihiko Noda, a senior member of the DPJ. “We feel a strong sense of responsibility to achieve each of our campaign promises.”

    Even before the vote was over, the Democrats pounded the ruling party for driving the country into a ditch.

    Japan’s unemployment has spiked to record 5.7 percent while deflation has intensified and families have cut spending because they are insecure about the future.

    I think the official results might not be as dramatic, but still, this is exciting. NPR interviewed two law school students in Japan last week and they basically said they didn’t trust either party but were ready for a change.

  57. 57.

    R-Jud

    @AhabTRuler:
    Very nice. I’d take a picture of the one I made last night (raspberry/blackberry/ Bramley apple), but we’ve already dug into it as a late-afternoon treat, with coffee and some proper whipped cream from a local dairy. It was good, though the crust was a bit tough. I think I handled it too much.

  58. 58.

    Brian J

    It’s probably been said already, but since I haven’t had much time to say it here over the past few days as I’ve been pretty busy, I figure I’ll say it now. A few things came to mind as Ted Kennedy was being memorialized. The first is that he did spend his life fighting for people that weren’t really of a central concern to his class. A lot of people may have disagreed with some of his solutions, but it’s commendable that he spent his time trying to make sure everyone had a chance to succeed rather than protecting his own status. Plus, the more I read about him, the more I see he showed an ideological flexibility that not many seem to have. I’m all for partisanship and extreme views as a way of introducing new ideas into the conversation, but a lot of times, people seem to rest on platitudes (tax cuts are good, government in health care is always better) rather than thinking through the issue.

    The second, and perhaps more striking, is that through his long Senate career, he became a titan that few today can seem to match. Maybe that’s because he served for so long and amassed such power that it’s simply not possible for other senators, who serve for shorter periods of time, to compare, or maybe it’s because he started with a particular class of influential legislators that he just became that way naturally. Regardless, can you imagine any Republican, or even most Democrats for that matter, who would be in the history books for anything else besides coming after the sentiment “Whoa, what a douchebag!”? I can’t.

    The third is that he didn’t view himself as a victim, or rather, if he did, it wasn’t apparent. My main proof for this is the video that, along with Hillary Clinton’s at the 2008 Democratic National Convention, simply celebrated his long and influential life. Those two were some of the most reviled politicians in American history (at least by some standards) and they didn’t act as if they were being unfairly maligned. Contrast that with the paranoid insanity coming from Republicans like Sarah Palin. It’s just one more reason why our leaders seem to be light years ahead of theirs, no matter what their flaws.

  59. 59.

    kay

    @JenJen:

    But Liz Cheney is losing on every real measure, and that’s ultimately what matters.
    1. lost on suppression of memos
    2. lost on suppression of CIA report
    3. lost on blocking appointment of prosecutor
    If you look at this the way I’m looking at it, that they’re trying this is the media, trying to apply pressure to influence the legal process, she’s losing every round, substantively.
    I don’t know how she’s doing on public opinion. Ultimately, that doesn’t matter though, as long as process goes forward. It matters in a political sense, of course, she can damage Obama, but she’s failing to halt process, and that’s what she set out to do.

  60. 60.

    ominira

    Blockquote fail @ 56 – the part from “The nation is very angry…” to “Japan’s unemployment has spiked to record 5.7…” should be in quotes.

    Just realized — we’d probably be rejoicing if the US unemployment rate was 5.7%.

  63. 63.

    Brian J

    Just realized—we’d probably be rejoicing if the US unemployment rate was 5.7%.

    Do they count their unemployed in the same way that we count ours?

    On a only somewhat related note, I took two classes in college from a pretty famous historian who won a Pulitzer prize for writing this book about Hirohito and his impact on the country. The impact that that one guy alone had on his country, not just during his time but basically ever since, is incredible.

  65. 65.

    Brachiator

    @SGEW:

    Wow, I was expecting a DPJ win, but I didn’t expect this big of a win.

    Thanks for the info on this. I particularly liked this bit in the BBC news report:

    The DPJ says it will shift the focus of government from supporting corporations to helping consumers and workers.

    The voter’s rejection of the LDP was perhaps foreshadowed by stuff like this:

    Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso has advised young people who are poor in his country not to get married…. He added it was difficult for him to see how someone without pay could be seen as an object of respect. It was an unfortunate remark because a lack of job security, along with the large number of people on short-term job contracts is of prime concern to many in this election.

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8218731.stm

    Hmm. Sounds a lot like Republican Party boilerplate, doesn’t it?

  66. 66.

    Mike in NC

    Now let’s hear a balanced even-handed debate between Newt Gingrich and Sean Hannity on the Reagan legacy.

    I think this actually did happen, knowing FOX.

  67. 67.

    JenJen

    @kay: Don’t you think the Cheney Camp, to the extent it still exists, heavily influenced that atrocious WaPo piece yesterday?

    I’m not convinced that Liz Cheney is particularly persuasive in the political sense, mostly because she is an abrasive, rude sycophant, but apparently people in her party are attracted to that kind of personality. But I do have to hand it to her and her pops… this woman, whom most of us had never seen or heard from before, has been on my TV practically daily since the Inauguration. They planned this out carefully, and the media happily gave her the air time that she never really earned, without once acknowledging the ridiculous premise that anyone would bring a man’s daughter on as his chief defender, and take her seriously.

    In that sense… they’re winning.

  71. 71.

    geg6

    I can’t believe I’m saying this but David Gregory gets props from me today. He had a wonderful salute to Ted. A montage of his MTP appearances over 45 years. No Goopers. Only people who knew and loved Ted, with Doris Kearns Goodwin thrown in as a Kennedy historian. Maria Shriver, Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, Bob Shrum, and Senators Kerry and Dodd. And Gregory pretty much let them talk. It was the best thing I’ve ever seen Gregory do.

  72. 72.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @AhabTRuler: I gotta say, AhabT, that is some kind awesome-looking pie. Thank you for taking those pie poses I requested last night. I hope it tastes even a fraction (heh) as yummy as it looks.

  74. 74.

    kay

    @JenJen:

    She has an objective (GOP shill, discredit Democrats on nat sec) and then she has THE objective (shut this inquiry down).

    I would argue she’s winning # 1 (maybe, I can’t tell yet) and losing # 2.

    This was always going to be a political loser. Losing #1 was inevitable. Eric Holder can’t appear on Sunday shows and present a defense, nor should he. You’re only hearing one side because the other side can’t weigh in.

    But it doesn’t matter how many pundits buy her political argument, as long as the process goes forward. She’s losing on every substantive step in the process, and this is a process, however imperfect, and it is going forward.

  75. 75.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @geg6: yes! I meant to post more-or-less identical comments earlier but got distracted by something shiny and forgot. I still cringe when the camera is on David Gregory’s smarmy face, but the program itself was fine. I think MSNBC rebroadcasts MTP later in the day but I’m not sure what time. If I can find it, though, I’ll watch it again.

  76. 76.

    JenJen

    @kay: I mostly agree with this. I suppose I disagree that her objective was to shut any inquiries down, because, from where I’m sitting, that was impossible from the beginning. I always felt that her only objective was #1… make the inevitable inquiries so politically unpopular that they not only hurt the new President, but that their results can be discounted by half the country the moment they are revealed.

    And, of course, the cynic in me has felt for a long time now that much of this is preemptive spin in the event of another terrorist attack on the US. I certainly don’t see Obama’s approval going up into the 90’s if we suffer another horrible event. Last thing in the world the modern GOP will tolerate is a united country.

    I really do hope I’m wrong on all counts. I’m just so tired of seeing that awful, awful woman on television. And I’m frustrated that nobody ever points out how ludicrous her defense is, on its face.

    If Liz Cheney were a country, I’d bomb her. (only half-kidding.)

  77. 77.

    kay

    @JenJen:

    Here’s my comparison. It’s not apples/apples, but I’m using it.

    Remember when the Chrysler bondholders were screaming for two weeks on television before they got to bankruptcy hearing about how they wuz robbed, illegal, etc?

    Then it got to hearing and they lost?

  79. 79.

    kay

    @JenJen:

    I think you can track the arguments. They started with a legal argument (memo release). They then went to nat sec, and now the former VP is reduced to discrediting the process ITSELF.

    He’s banging the table and saying the prosecutor has it in for him.

    I don’t know how that’s anything but a retreat.

  81. 81.

    ominira

    @Brian J:

    Do they count their unemployed in the same way that we count ours?

    Good question. I have no idea how Japan counts the unemployed versus the US. I thought it was similar across industrialized countries except for some quibbling about whether some people should be categorized as unemployed or disabled (a way of keeping the unemployment rate lower by excluding people who want to work but can’t because of illness or disability).

  84. 84.

    smiley

    @SGEW: That’s an awesome video. I’ll bet [your favorite team here] could get one of those cheaper than a good left-hander.

  85. 85.

    JenJen

    @kay: This morning on Fox News Sunday, Dick Cheney specifically told Chris Wallace that he had broken the law, and that there is absolutely nothing wrong with that.

    http://www.considerthisnews.com/index.php/site/thefeed/cheney_ok_to_break_the_law/

    I don’t know that he’s retreating. I imagine Cheney always knew he was breaking the law, dispatched Yoo to somehow “make it legal,” but honestly, never cared one way or another.

    How does it all end? With Cheney going to prison? I just don’t see it happening. I believe the reality here is that the only person who is going to suffer from Bush/Cheney’s utter disregard for the rule of law is President Obama.

    Don’t get me wrong… I’m not saying that’s ok, and I’m not saying we shouldn’t investigate. One of the many reasons I worked so hard for Obama’s election is that I felt he was the one candidate who might actually be willing to look back and heal the wounds inflicted on the country by Bush/Cheney. I’m just saying that the Cheney strategy here is very appealing to all of those on the right who were silent during their administration, and remain silent today about that administration. I doubt there’s a single teabagger out there who realizes the horror of what Cheney did. I no longer understand these people, but I acknowledge that they are beyond persuasion and reason, and Cheney’s got their number.

    You and I are on the same side here, but I think I’m viewing it more through the prism of politics. After reading your arguments, I’m going to try to rethink that. I’m hoping I’m very, very wrong.

  86. 86.

    Steeplejack

    @Laura W:

    Tried to vote, but it looks like that site may be having problems right now. Hopefully because of the crush of Balloon Juicers rigging the election. I got to the cute dog pic and registered, but I get “Service unavailable” when I try to vote.

  87. 87.

    Karen

    Ok, I get (now) what Liz Cheney is hoping to do.

    What I don’t get is why they don’t put something akin to a shock collar on her to shut her up when other people have something to say. George needs to get a little tougher.

  90. 90.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Smiley 12:12pm

    2:00 PM EDT.

    Thanks. I’m watching it again then.

    For insomniacs, or people in remote time zones, MTP is also on MSNBC at 2:00 AM and again at 4:00 AM EDT Monday morning. So depending on how well I sleep tonight, I may or may not end up watching it three or four times in something under 24 hours.

    O/T, but it’s thundering and raining like a big sumbitch.

  91. 91.

    kay

    @JenJen:

    I’m not as confident in Obama’s bravery as you are. I’m disappointed in what I see as too many concessions, not on this matter, but on domestic issues. I’m afraid (and I hope I’m wrong) that Obama has some of that “kiss Republican ass” lack of confidence that certain liberals are afflicted with. Either that or he’s being a Senator when we need a President. I’m not happy. Not because I had unrealistic expectations, but because he won’t even fight.
    I would just say this: you can look at torture as a series of moves and parries. I can even look at Holder’s actions so far as strategic. For example, one good reason to accept the legal premise of the memos is that doing so moves process forward.
    They produce memos, Holder says fine, I accept that, but guess what? You violated even that authority, and we go forward, rather than a 6 month battle over whether the memos were valid.
    If the point is to move forward, out of the media forum and into the legal realm, and it is, to me, Cheney is losing.
    The political cost IS heartbreaking, and the eventual outcome IS uncertain, but I guess we’re in it now, it’s too late to second-guess the decision to go forward, and I’d like to prevail.

  94. 94.

    AhabTRuler

    @AhabTRuler: I hand sliced the apples very thin (not quite paper, but certainly between a nickle’s and a dime’s width), and used dark brown sugar and 1 metric shitload (SL) of cinnamon, giving it the wonderfully dark coloration.

    The crust was made with 2:3 white flour and white wheat flour (King Arthur, w00t!), and a mixture of half butter and half manteca (which is merely the Spanish word for lard, but it helps avoid the funny looks for using real lard) for the shortening. I would use the wheat flour again (I was forced to by circumstances this time), but I would probably revers the ratio.

  96. 96.

    SGEW

    Gah! There’s a Project Wonderful ad up on th’ left now for LSAT tutorials!

    Painful flashbacks! Logic Puzzles of Doom! Noooo!

    (curls up into ball and quivers from traumatic memories)

  98. 98.

    kay

    @JenJen:

    I share your disgust, by the way. I think McCain is particularly dishonest, actually.
    He opposes torture, admits there was torture, weeps and moans over torture, so gets the moral credit, but incredibly (and this flies! with “journalists”!) then announces summarily that he opposes any kind of inquiry or accountability.
    That’s a nice middle position, huh? Win/win for John McCain.

  99. 99.

    Woody

    It was the best thing I’ve ever seen Gregory do.

    Dead or alive, the BEST thing these cretinous fux do is tongue-lave the prostates of the powerful…Lew Lapham called Potato-head Russert the Head-waiter, serving the Villagers their pablum…

  100. 100.

    JenJen

    @kay: You and I are not apart on any of these issues, we just view them differently, and then, only slightly.

    President John McCain… sigh. What is there to say about Mr. Maverick who has voted with the GOP I’m guessing 99-100% of the time since he lost the 2008 election in a 10,000,000 vote landslide? Yet, just like Liz Cheney, there he is, on my teevee, every freaking Sunday.

    His daughter is co-hosting The View starting next week or maybe the week after. And, I just read a few minutes ago that Jenna Bush has been hired as The Today Show’s new Education Correspondent.

    You never lose when you’re a Republican, or the kid of a famous Republican.

  101. 101.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @ JenJen 2:13 pm

    Seriously? Liz Cheney is going to co-host “The View”? (Not that I ever watch it.)

    Jenna Bush is going to be edufarkingcation reporter for the “Today Show”? (Not that I ever watch more than the first 10 minutes of it, if that.)

    I have to wonder if any of these programs ever approached Chelsea Clinton — or Amy Carter — or Caroline Kennedy — and offered them high-profile media jobs. Or maybe Chelsea-Amy-Caroline had better sense than to mud-wrestle with pigs.

  102. 102.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @SiubhanDuinne: oops. Not Liz Cheney. Megan McCain. How easy it is to conflate them — although seeing my mistake, I now actually feel relieved. But still.

  103. 103.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @SiubhanDuinne: obviously, I realize there are plenty of Dem relatives who have gone on to media careers. Um — Maria Shriver — and I guess you could make a case for Margaret Truman. Any others? Cokie Roberts, I guess — her old man was Rep. Hale Boggs. And RFK Jr. has, or had, a weekly program on Air America. And JFK Jr. had his “George” magazine. So I’m probably being oversensitive when I hear about Megan and Jenna getting regular gigs and seeing Liz on George Snuffleupagus’s show all the time.

  104. 104.

    JenJen

    @SiubhanDuinne: You’re not being over-sensitive. What’s weird is that the GOP stands around 22% popularity, yet our MSM thinks it’s wise to bring even more conservative voices into the arena. Seriously, you never really lose when you’re a Republican. It’s unpossible!

  105. 105.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @JenJen. Yeah, exactly. As many others have pointed out: when the Reps are in power, they get invited as media voices because, after all, they’re in power. When the Dems are in power, the Reps get invited as media voices because, after all, we must have balance and bipartisanship.

  106. 106.

    ricky

    I thoroughly enjoyed George Will on another show state that the morality of an act is measured by whehter or not it works.

    Sure he was talking about torture. But it sounds like an endorsement of abortion or death panels to me.

  107. 107.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @ricky: That is a stunning thing for George Will to say. Which show? Would love to see a vid clip or transcript.

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