Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

I’m sure you banged some questionable people yourself. We’re allowed to grow past that.

We need to vote them all out and restore sane Democratic government.

Republicans in disarray!

There is no right way to do the wrong thing.

Something needs to be done about our bogus SCOTUS.

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

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

I conferred with the team and they all agree – still not tired of winning!

It’s easier to kill a dangerous animal than a man who just happens to have different thoughts/values than one’s own.

Second rate reporter says what?

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

As long as McCarthy is Speaker, the House will never be in order.

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

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

You cannot shame the shameless.

Hot air and ill-informed banter

Shallow, uninformed, and lacking identity

When do the post office & the dmv weigh in on the wuhan virus?

Jack be nimble, jack be quick, hurry up and indict this prick.

Meanwhile over at truth Social, the former president is busy confessing to crimes.

Everyone is in a bubble, but some bubbles model reality far better than others!

Technically true, but collectively nonsense

He really is that stupid.

Hi god, it’s us. Thanks a heap, you’re having a great week and it’s only Thursday!

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Reader Interactions

152Comments

  1. 1.

    Cat Lady

    You and Cole did yeoman’s work today. Well done!

    Irony’s dead. Long live irony!

    Cat Lady #4

  2. 2.

    Svensker

    I’m trying not to hate these people with a blinding hatred, because my brother is one of them. But it’s really hard. Actually trying to stay away from the innertubes a bit just to ramp down the anger. (That’s working, ain’t it?)

  3. 3.

    valdivia

    so enraging. I am going to try and not watch tv at all this weekend and stay away from the CW trotting blogs. ugh.

  4. 4.

    slag

    Isn’t it about time they change their chant from U-S-A! to G-O-P!? Or did John McCain already do that for them?

    Country-First-flag-pin-freedom!

  5. 5.

    DougJ

    I’m trying not to hate these people with a blinding hatred, because my brother is one of them. But it’s really hard. Actually trying to stay away from the innertubes a bit just to ramp down the anger. (That’s working, ain’t it?)

    Just laugh at it. I used to be disgusted, now I try to be amused, and mostly I succeed.

  6. 6.

    General Winfield Stuck

    Well, it looks like Charles Johnson of LGF has nearly broke the wingnut fever.

    This is where the rhetoric of “FAIL” leads — they’re openly celebrating when America loses, just because Barack Obama is President. And even though this Olympic bid was also promoted by George W. Bush.

    This completely puts the lie to the excuse that those who say they want Obama to fail really mean they want his policies to fail.

    Yes Charles, very much so.

    **I just registered to LGF, which must mean the apocalypse is nigh. So he’s got it opened up if anyones interested/

  8. 8.

    Blue Raven

    Glenn Beck’s a pimp.
    Hey, it’s hard out here for the Beckster. Y’all don’t recognize.

    +0 (really)

  10. 10.

    Elie

    DougJ @ 5

    Yes..

    Laughter and ignoring them.

    They need the attention and they work to get it however they can…

    They are constantly stimulated to get ever crazier because the public is “normalizing” their craziness so more craziness is necessary to get noticed..they need that fuel and they need to be responded to — otherwise, they disappear.

    Problem for them is that without the crazy stuff, (since they have no ideas to talk about) they DO disappear. The MSM which is in something of the same position, (about to disappear for failure of relevance or content), also must amplify crazy to keep people reading their crap. It is not a mystery to me that the right and failed MSM are bedfellows these days..

    We have to stay steady, not repeat the most absurd and horrible of what they put out and laugh and move on…

  11. 11.

    Seth 4:10

    I am filled with a profound sadness, we Chicagoans have not only lost the chance at a great experience, but this stuff is just so….I don’t know, we didn’t like that idiot, but we’re we ever like this when dum dum was in charge?

  12. 12.

    plus C

    Sorry if anyone already came up with this one, but it just popped into my head:

    Jim Fonda (R-SC)

  13. 13.

    General Winfield Stuck

    @JK:

    I’ve never seen such a bizarre fucking combination of hatred for Obama and cheerleading against your own country.

    Yes, but Chicago is now part of Eastasia. We’ve always been at war with Eastasia/

  17. 17.

    Davis X. Machina

    Bad day for USA. Good day for GOP?

    Correctly oriented cadres know that the State exists to serve the Party, not the other way round, because the Party is the Vanguard of the Revolution, and come the Revolution, the State is fated to wither away.

    All power to the Soviets of preachers and bond salesmen!

    The GOP is the largest remaining Leninist party in the parliamentary world.

  19. 19.

    Jason Bylinowski

    @Svensker: “my brother is one of them”

    *clasps hands together, looks sincere*

    I feel your pain.

    No, really, I do: My sister is sort of a glibertarian and a complete fool for money. It’s totally sad, because somewhere in there is a person who is cool, artistic and funny. My sis is a complete case of, “I’m insecure in my beliefs, but I’m kind of a hipster, so I’m just going to do what everybody else is doing, as long as I can appear nonconformist.” It sucks.

  20. 20.

    Elie

    We give ’em too much power and credit over us.

    Its hard to normalize our public discourse in an environment when the relatively trivial is given the same weight as the profoundly serious. The MSM do not appear to be able to make the distinction (for their own reasons I cite above) and the right wing, MUST do this to just exist or they disappear into nothingness.

    For us, what to do, what to do?

    Please do not become more cynical or disheartenned. Proceed normally to help to do what is important and to address what is important in our comments and support to one another. We are in an echo chamber of screaming — amplifying the screaming or trying to scream over it is pointless and truly unnecessary. We must be calm and patient and doggedly persistent. We must not CARE what they do. They want us to CARE desperately because that affirms them. Shouting at them in response to their screeching hysterics just reinforces and validates them.

    We make fun, then roll on, over the distortions and empty. Thats all.

  21. 21.

    Cerberus

    @Seth 4:10:

    We made fun of Texas sometimes, but it’s not like we cheered when the Texas Rangers lost.

    But that’s because we aren’t tribal petty small-minded middle managers with chips on our shoulders.

  23. 23.

    Cerberus

    I think it’s more interesting to ask just how privileged the GOP are. I mean all of us are connected to at least one issue we feel deeply. Maybe we’re a woman or queer or black and so we feel the institutional stuff right where we live, or we’re living paycheck to paycheck or we’ve got a sick family member, someone we love stuck in Iraq or even that hiking trail you always love that helps de-stress you from the work grind. We all have at least one issue that’s not just important but personal and many more we take personally, because of strong beliefs of morality and empathy for other human beings.

    But to be able to entirely slip away into the game. To treat it all like one big spectator sport that will never ever impact you on any major level, to be that shielded from the everyday to such a degree that other people, other people’s dreams and hopes are wholly alien to you?

    How does that happen? How does one human get so twisted?

    Though, perhaps it’s unfair to cite just the GOP as our media seems to have the same affliction, but still spins my head. It’s also why I’ve been loving Olbermann on health care, Stewart on the economy, Maddow on queer rights. Cause you know then it’s not just empathy, not just morality, not just right and wrong and experience, it’s fucking personal.

  25. 25.

    jl

    Trivial pursuit at Drudgico. They should hire Perez Hilton. He is the guy who provides pictures with commentary scrawled on them with crayon, right? Then Drudgico could be a dowdy Wonkette style internet gossip service.

    Olympics stuff is silly. And competent macroeconomists (that is, from the Krugman, Stiglitz, Galbraith commie wing) have predicted the course of the labor market for months now.

    In the ‘real world’ I think some positive developments did occur on one major crisis, though I did not detect them in the generic doom and usual gloom learned-futility, and the ‘bomb-em now’, pundits on the radio news this morning.

    ” Iran accepted a demand Thursday at the talks in a villa outside Geneva to allow U.N. inspectors into its covertly built enrichment plant, in a move that appeared to defuse tensions that had been building for weeks.

    Western officials at the session said the Islamic republic had also agreed to allow Russia to take some of its enriched uranium and enrich it to higher levels to fuel its research reactor in Tehran, a potentially significant move that would show greater flexibility by both sides. ”

    Iran, world powers agree to further nuclear talks
    http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091002/ap_on_re_mi_ea/eu_iran_nuclear_talks

  26. 26.

    Jason Bylinowski

    @Elie: This is a great comment. I feel like that part in the Dark Crystal when the UrRu spirits tower over the mere mortals and bestow them with wisdom and kickassity.

    +1, just getting started

  27. 27.

    DougJ

    Punchy: you know what bugs me in that song? The “fucked around and got a triple double”. Who keeps track of assists in a pick-up game?

  29. 29.

    Left Coast Tom

    There are 200 or so countries, more often than not a US bid for the Olympics will, and should, lose. But there’s no sense in not making a bid, a sure route to defeat would be in not trying.

    So the very people who bashed Obama for trying in the same manner as every other bidder was trying, are celebrating a defeat. Then I guess I can literally, rather than snarkily, ask: Why do Republicans hate America?

  31. 31.

    DougJ

    I know several people that would

    Seriously?

    Some day I’d like to do a post about playground basketball. It’s so misunderstood. All the stuff about people playing tough, it’s bullshit. When you’re outdoors, people respect that the game is about scoring and looking good, not hacking people and taking charges.

  32. 32.

    Comrade Darkness

    @Jason Bylinowski: as long as I can appear nonconformist.

    I would have thought that being an activist democrat, and therefore a terrorist, would be appropriately nonconformist.

  33. 33.

    Sentient Puddle

    @General Winfield Stuck: Registration is still up, and I’m sitting here seriously pondering it too. Normally I’d be all “what the hell” and not think twice about it, but I too am fearing that it would lead to some catastrophe for the universe a la smearing Branston Pickle on a copy of No More Heroes.

    +2 (and that is so going up tonight)

  34. 34.

    The Populist

    The GOP don’t care about America so it’s always a bad day for the USA when they are opening their yappers.

  39. 39.

    Joe Beese

    [[ Who keeps track of assists in a pick-up game? ]]

    The kind of guy who gets out of South Central and becomes a multi-millionaire.

  40. 40.

    Jason Bylinowski

    @Cerberus: “How does that happen? How does one human get so twisted?”

    I’m not overly cynical. But.
    I think you are complaining about the default state of man. It is in man’s nature to think of himself first. All we can do is consciously choose to rise above it, and even that is hard. For example, the other day I was sitting down in the captain’s chair, getting ready to check BJ as a matter of fact, when all of a sudden my son (who is almost three) comes over to me says “Daddy!” and then proceeds to grab a mighty hold of my meat and potatoes. Truth be told, it was mainly just the taters. But I digress. I immediately jumped out of my chair, starting screaming like a banshee and slapped him twice on the back until he let go. Now, everybody is fine, noone was hurt from the issue, but I DO NOT HIT MY SON. I don’t hit anybody, it’s really not my style, but slap a little fear of injury in my head and suddenly I turn into a caveman. & That is just one tiny example of the many ways I contradict myself, and it is part of what we all have to go through at this time. I think the social regression at the heart of conservatism revolves around this kind of fear response. & I’m not saying that is totally a bad thing either. I don’t think everybody should be a liberal or a Democrat, because the world doesn’t reward one ideology over another, and life is too complex for it. After all, there really are tigers out there in the world, and if I’m going hunting for dinner I want a conservative there to be paranoid about it. At the same time though, I gotta eat, and I’m not going to let his fear keep me from moving forward.

    tl;dr: Most conservatives are lapsed cavemen, gotta keep some around because being a caveman can be handy.

  43. 43.

    jl

    I didn’t even know that Rio put in a bid for the Olympics. I am also bored enough with the Olympics to not keep up with that racket, and I did not know that South America has never had one.

    Why did anyone else even bother? Why didn’t they all just go home and save the expense.

    I mean, dude, the Olympics, in Rio de Janeiro? Brazil? That is hot and happening.

    I went to LA when I was a relative youngin’ and Atlanta. I guess I am Olympic’d out and have little interest now. But even I am thinking it would be cool to go to Rio for the Olympics.

    Maybe I have 20 20 hindsight, but I think Rio was a natural, unless they were going to hold it all on the beach, lit by torches after dark. But even then,that at least would be something different.

    Places in the US that want an Olympics, bleh. Chicago, San Francisco, Bakersfield, Macon. Whatever, who cares. Maybe they would have an ElderOlympics, then maybe a US Olympics or a RichSwindlerOlympics would make sense.

    The US is a sad, corrupt, fading empire slowly devouring and bankrupting itself. Screw those losers, I say.

    RIO, BABY! YEAH!!

    I might even watch it. Women’s beach volley ball in Rio. I’m game.

  44. 44.

    Comrade Darkness

    @meh: What? What? Mixed drink recipes that go over ice?

    Oh.

    You know. I should probably go read a book. +4 means -9 for quickness on the uptake.

  45. 45.

    ellaesther

    @Elie: Ok, well if you’re going to make so god-damn much SENSE, and all.

    I really like this: “We make fun, then roll on, over the distortions and empty.”

    “the distortions and empty”….

  46. 46.

    K. Grant

    I think it imperative to thrash the fools with their wretched hypocrisy. I am sick to death of these chumps and knaves hectoring me about my lack of patriotism and then turning around and pissing all over a city simply because the President hails from said city.

    As a Milwaukee kid, I have plenty of reason to piss on Chicago, I choose not to because…well, I am an adult. Pity those other wankers never quite got to that stage. Honestly.

  47. 47.

    ellaesther

    Imma bring some deep from our friend (I said FRIEND, dammit!) Andrew Sullivan, from his conversation with Ta-Nehisi Coates, over at the Atlantic. Just cause I like it!

    “If you stay still you’re not understanding the world…. [Politics is] a practical thing dependent upon people as they are, not as you wish them to be. It’s not theology. It’s not an eternal truth. Lower taxes are not always good in the way that Jesus is always the Son of God. There will be moments when you have to raise them!”

  48. 48.

    Elie

    Jason:

    The best hunters are calm and workmanlike — usually not prone to hysterical fantasies about the next scary thing around the next corner.

    The LAST thing I want if food is important to me is for my partner to come unglued and start shooting around at every sound and russle in the bushes. THAT is the conservatives right now — not the cool blooded hunter

  49. 49.

    valdivia

    @ellaesther:

    yeah that is good. the problem with the Reps is that they are into politics as theology, or more accurately political theology.

  51. 51.

    Jason Bylinowski

    @jl: “I am also bored enough with the Olympics to not keep up with that racket”

    Hear you and agree to some extent. I went to the Atlanta Olympics and completely had my fill of events, was there almost everyday (I live in the area) had a lot of fun there even though it was a tough time in my life. Was even there the day of the bombing, but far enough away that I didn’t feel anything but thrilled by it. Since then I’ve just not cared that much, but I think it really has more to do with the crappy media coverage than being burned out by it. Everytime they come back I inevitably think to myself, “Bob Costas, are you EVER going to DIE?” I just don’t like the guy due to complete overexposure.

  52. 52.

    Cerberus

    @Jason Bylinowski:

    Well I would disagree partially on some of what you say, but the far more important issue is that even given that, there responses don’t make sense.

    It would be one thing if they thought only of themselves and the shit that hit home, that were personal for them and couldn’t even extrapolate that to other people due to sociopathy. But these people treat life even the parts they’re supposedly living in as a game. I mean, how privileged do you have to be to not even have something you take personally like your ba.llsack in your example. What gets someone so twisted that they’d view the ba.llsack grab as a crucial way to prove liberals hate pen.is-bearing Americans rather than going aieee, a kid’s got my ba.lls, off off I say impudent wretch?

    That’s my question.

    I can (barely) understand how someone can be so privileged and sociopathic that they cannot manage empathy for others. How does one get so utterly divorced from any struggle or human experience that one cannot even manage empathy for oneself? Cannot take even one issue down home where it lives?

    That’s the shit that boggles my mind. How does life become a game you’re just an observer to?

  53. 53.

    El Cid

    Just discovered cheap, excellent Nicaraguan rum Flor de Caña, extra dry — simple and elegant. + 3. Why have I never heard of this before? This may be the best rum I’ve ever tasted, and it was less than $10.

  54. 54.

    Jason Bylinowski

    @Elie: It was more or less just a conceit. I never claimed to be Rousseau, but I think the point stands: conservatism has its place, though in my estimation its place is smaller than is current.

  55. 55.

    Cerberus

    Shoot, I didn’t use enough euphemisms and got a post stuck in moderation. Oh well. Main point was, I was less curious about the origins of sociopathy and a total lack of empathy. I can figure out how privilege and me-firstist isolation can dehumanize the other. I was more curious how one reaches a level of empty struggle-less life where one’s own life doesn’t even have anything personal in it, where one can be a spectator to their own life in such a way that it all becomes a game of political advantage above all else.

    How does that happen where you never even think about yourself in the sociopathy because you’re so focused on just beating the other in the game?

  56. 56.

    Jason Bylinowski

    @Comrade Darkness: “I would have thought that being an activist democrat, and therefore a terrorist, would be appropriately nonconformist.”

    Yeah, you’d think so, but then she would be like her brother (me), and we can’t have that. Kind of a long story of her vying for my parents’ favor. The weird thing is, she’s totally got it. She’s clearly their favorite! But it’s still an issue anyway. Maybe if I pretended to be jealous, it would help, but I’m not much of an actor.

  57. 57.

    valdivia

    @valdivia:
    duh. disregard my comment I did not read the comment that lead you to talk about hunting.
    Must. read.All.The.Thread.Carefully.

  58. 58.

    Anne Laurie

    @Comrade Darkness:

    I would have thought that being an activist democrat, and therefore a terrorist, would be appropriately nonconformist.

    See, the Democrats are the grown-up party. Be responsible, think about the future, compromise with others, exert yourself for people you don’t know who probably won’t ever thank you. Much more fun to hang with the glibertarians, rolling your eyes and mocking Teh Loosers who are not L33t like you. All the cool kids are doin’ the nonconformist lockstep! Ask Megan McArdle!

  59. 59.

    Jason Bylinowski

    @Cerberus: Yeah I actually got your point there at the bottom, but I couldn’t really address that part of it because, man, I am SOOOOOO far removed from that point of view that I can’t even empathize with it. Ask me again in twenty years, maybe if I’m rich and have a security detail by then I’ll know what is is to work the levers on the machines of society. Hopefully I won’t be a prick. But I probably will.

    And with that, I’m gonna take a break because I’m clearly posting too much. Having flashbacks of being kicked out of Talk Left.

  60. 60.

    inkadu

    @Cerberus: […] or even that hiking trail you always love that helps de-stress you from the work grind.

    Yep. I used to have a hiking trail like that, then I saw Mark Sanford hiking naked and I can never go back again. The GOP ruins everything.

    And if you think listening to the GOP crow about Chicago losing the Olympics, just imagine having to listen to Megan McArdle on NPR’s Marketplace and hear her say that “sadly,” the public option is likely dead. That’s a quadruple whammy — having to listen to megan mcardle at all, having a show i like pick her up, having her pretend that she actually was a fan of the publc option, and then having to contemplate the saddest and most pathetic failure of my party in what should be its moment of triumph…

    Weep for me.

  62. 62.

    jl

    @Jason Bylinowski: I am not enough of a sports fan to get all that into the Olympics or world championships, or even (gasp) NLF, LNF, whaterver it is, the American Football sporting contents.

    Further I believe that the Olympics dropped baseball and softball? No baseball? No softball? What?? What next, no field hockey? No curling? No octaghalon, or spetathalon, or whatever athalon? An outrage. The heck with them.

    But I agree, some of my boredom has to do with the coverage, which is too heavy on up close and personal vignettes and aggressively babbling sportscasters.

  63. 63.

    DougJ

    Imma bring some deep from our friend (I said FRIEND, dammit!) Andrew Sullivan

    I know there’s a lot of haters out there and I make no excuses for the Trig truth-squadding, the Bell Curve fluffing, B-Mac, or the three weeks of the Conors, but anyone who reads his blog day in, day out for a week has to view Sully as some kind of friend.

  64. 64.

    Comrade Luke

    Earlier today I posted this on Facebook:

    Good to see the Olympics continuing Obama’s stellar track record for the year.

    It was immediately “Liked” by a Republican friend of mine.

    After watching what happened all day wrt how the Republicans acted I felt bad for even saying it.

    I can’t even be bemused about my own party any more without the Republicans ruining it!

  65. 65.

    jl

    @Jason Bylinowski: Which reminds me, I have been massively down on traditional US sports coverage and bigshot sportscasters ever since I saw them have a big outraged tantrum over reform of US physical education programs a few years ago.

    Some innovative and enlightened PE instructors were getting away from the bootcamp and competitive sports attitude and trying new approaches. They were adapting fun, and often popular youth activities for school PE -skateboarding, that fake rockwall climbing stuff, hip hop moves (shit where you do a shoulder roll and stuff and jump up), in a noncompetitive environment.

    The old fart sportscasters were all outraged that old football, soccer, basketball, baseball drill would be abandoned, old fart coaches yelling about pull ups and pushups, and garbage. I remember Madden being the only one who talked sense about it.

    I think that debate is dead now, because we have become such a degraded civilization that the stinking kids don’t deserve no PE at all, or music, or art, or drama, or chess club, or any non rote learning activity at all, nor nothing.

  67. 67.

    Comrade Darkness

    @jl: I’ll care about the olympics again when they go back to the traditional sports of javelin, shotput, and wrestling naked while covered in lightly-scented olive oil.

    Oh, and quadrigae. Gotta have the chariots. The NASCAR crowd will love it. The inevitable crashes involve mixing blood and guts from human and equine sources.

  68. 68.

    Trinity

    Just got home from seeing Zombieland.

    It.Was.Awesome.

    Pure fucking comedy. By the end the audience was on their feet. Actual applause when the credits came up.

    If you like the genre, I could not recommend this movie more.

    Trinity +1…and counting!

  69. 69.

    Kirk Spencer

    @General Winfield Stuck: re the registration, I’ve been watching Charles’s registration process with amusement for quite some time.

    Oh, if I ever happened to be reading when he opens it I’d register, but I keep having other things to do and discover it was open about four hours after it closes.

    What’s fun is reading as they tell their new members the rules, laugh about the sock puppets that tried to register, and make in-jokes to confuse (and perhaps tempt into learning) the new folk. The more vicious (and true) game is the wagers on how many will flounce before the next open registration – or week, or month, or whatever.

    (Flounce. To claim to be leaving due to the offense they’ve taken, made loudly and with [hurt] feeling, usually done by the idiot you’re praying means it this time.)

  70. 70.

    Davis X. Machina

    In Olympic chariot racing the owner received the victor’s prize, and if you were really lucky, an epinicean ode by Pindar. The charioteer was just an employee, the horses, cattle.

    It would be very popular in the US.

  71. 71.

    jl

    @Comrade Darkness: Damn straight. I wanna see the 200 meter dash (my favorite track event, and I read someplace the oldest, which validated my preference) be the centerpiece event.

    And in honor of decadence and corruption, I want to see heads of state winning, with the help of as many lacky minions as possible, just like in the good old days with Nero.

  72. 72.

    inkadu

    @jl: Most of the “sports” PE classes at my school were a few of the guys, jocks usually, passing the ball among themselves (they wanted to win, after all), the other guys who tried but were mostly irrelevant, and the girls who walked slowly with glum looks on their faces and tried not to ruin their make up.

    PE is ridiculous anyway. It’s the equivalent of putting a random mix of first through eighth graders, waiting 15 minutes for them to sharpen their pencils, teaching them something they haven’t studied before and will not do any homework on, and then cutting class 15 minutes early to put their pencils away.

    BTW, unless it isn’t obvious, I hated gym. And it may be just be because i had a pair of loose underwear and it was back in the day when gym shorts were actually shorts. Loose underwear + short shorts = balltacular embarrassment.

    I was also packing an impressive set of moobs. Ah, youth.

  73. 73.

    JK

    @DougJ:

    Regardless of Andrew Sullivan’s mistakes, he deserves some credit for his detailed documentation of Sarah Palin’s lies.

  74. 74.

    catclub

    Nothing says Country First …
    like cheering when the US fails in its Olympics bid.

    These people will be cheering for the US Olympians to lose in 2012 and 2016 ( cause Obama will still be prez then.)

  75. 75.

    Wilson Heath

    That’s it. I’m gonna cybersquat on the domain http://www.10-02-09.com so I can sell it for a mint to Beck in about 11 months. It’s gonna be the next 9/12 to these loons.

    10/02/09 — We Will Never Forget.

  76. 76.

    Martin

    Who keeps track of assists in a pick-up game?

    Nobody does. Blocks and steals are a different matter, though – particularly in a street game. You don’t need assists for a triple-double. Hell, you don’t even need to score a point for a triple-double.

  77. 77.

    Martin

    So, would the bestest day for the GOP be when Chicago gets nuked?

    They’ve actually sorta suggested that a few times, haven’t they?

  78. 78.

    andy

    It’s probably been mentioned here in the last week or so, but Thomas Friedman was on some NPR podcast I was listening to recently and said (paraphrasing): “There’s something wrong when the only way a political party can win is if their country loses.”

    As a former Republican turned independent, these people disgust me to no end.

  79. 79.

    Left Coast Tom

    @Martin:

    So, would the bestest day for the GOP be when Chicago gets nuked?

    They’ve actually sorta suggested that a few times, haven’t they?

    When did they stop wishing for the SF Bay Area to get nuked?

  84. 84.

    El Cid

    Yeah. You give me a choice between Summer Olympics in Rio or Chicago, there’s no fucking decision at all. Rio.

  86. 86.

    gocart mozart

    This should get some kind of a Hissy Fit Award or something.

    http://corner.nationalreview.com/post/?q=OTlhMGJlMjJkY2Y0MDNiODhiZTlkMjAxNDQzMDVlMTU=

    “From a reader of Asian descent judging from his name:”

    (snip)

    Update: From a reader:
    “You should probably clarify by using a term that is a little more specific.
    Asia is a large territory with distinct cultures and religions.
    I am an Asian-American physician (grew up here). Agree with almost all
    your views.”

    [The big man. I mean fat man responds thusly]

    “Oh. Seriously, my sincere apologies to anyone who takes offense. I was simply posting fast. I didn’t mean to ascribe anything to Asians qua Asians. I was simply trying to protect the anonymity of the initial idiotic emailer while providing a little context. Anyway, I think the first emailer is from Japan. But I’d hate for anyone to think I was implying anything about the Japanese more generally.”

    Does anyone object if I use this Jonah Goldberg excuse anytime I say something stupid on the intertubes? It should be an internet tradition and someday may be in the balloon juice lexicon.

    “Oh. Seriously, my sincere apologies to anyone who takes offense. I was simply posting fast.”

  93. 93.

    gocart mozart

    Meh! That should be “Mad men drummers . . . ” My sincere apologies to anyone who takes offense. I was simply posting fast.

  96. 96.

    Jason Bylinowski

    On the story of the day century: the Olympic selection coverage is just the perfect example of a slow news week. I mean, sure, healthcare is still going on but everyone’s pretty much “meh” at this point. I will say this though: you could tell that Chicago did expect to get it. I mean, Oprah was all over this thing, so it’s no surprise, really, that the media picked up on it. What they should have done was tone down the hype just a bit, because making a spectacle of things generally tends to hurt your credibility as a candidate for these things.

    But so what?, I gotta say it was a good day, didn’t even have to use my AK, etc.

  98. 98.

    Midnight Marauder

    I think this song is more than appropriate to conclude such a week:

    Stevie Wonder: You Haven’t Done Nothin’

    We are amazed but not amused
    By all the things you say that you’ll do
    Though much concerned but not involved
    With decisions that are made by you

    But we are sick and tired of hearing your song
    Telling how you are gonna change right from wrong
    ‘Cause if you really want to hear our views
    “You haven’t done nothing”!

  100. 100.

    JK

    @Midnight Marauder:

    The Republican Party is now the Seinfeld Party. It’s the party of nothing. The only goddamn idea these fuckers can unite around is their pathological, fanatical hated of Obama.

  101. 101.

    Jason Bylinowski

    @gizmo: I agreed with his first three reasons for why we probably didn’t get it. I am from Atlanta, and I remember exactly how fucked up that situation got. Atlanta is the only Olympic games in recent times that pretty damn near lost money for the city, and you can guess why (to be fair, some of this was unavoidable, what with the anti-abortion terrorism going on). The last few however I think are fairly ridiculous arguments, and in fact made me throw up in my mouth a little bit. In fact, that whole post made me see, just for a split second, exactly what it is about liberals that ticks off conservatives so much. Too much self-flagellation in that post for my taste. & I’m not even saying he’s totally wrong, but it seems simplistic and insulting from my point of view as an American as well as from the point of view of the IOC and the rest of the world in general. If there’s such a thing as liberal guilt, Chris Bowers has got a case of it.

  104. 104.

    ellaesther

    @Elie: I just found this, by David Brooks, who, yes, I understand that as a loyal Bjer, I’m supposed to have contempt for him (or something), but what can I say, I occasionally find him to be un-odious.

    And, aside from anything else, look at what he said today, writing about Limbaugh, Beck, and their ilk: “No matter how often their hollowness is exposed, the jocks still reweave the myth of their own power. They still ride the airwaves claiming to speak for millions. They still confuse listeners with voters. And they are aided in this endeavor by their enablers. They are enabled by cynical Democrats, who love to claim that Rush Limbaugh controls the G.O.P. They are enabled by lazy pundits who find it easier to argue with showmen than with people whose opinions are based on knowledge. They are enabled by the slightly educated snobs who believe that Glenn Beck really is the voice of Middle America…. Just months after the election and the humiliation, everyone is again convinced that Limbaugh, Beck, Hannity and the rest possess real power. And the saddest thing is that even Republican politicians come to believe it. They mistake media for reality. They pre-emptively surrender to armies that don’t exist.”

    Other than the “cynical Democrats” part (I, for one, am a frightened Democrat, worried more that they will inspire one or two assassins than millions of voters) – yea, verily, Brooks speaks the Truth.

  105. 105.

    Midnight Marauder

    @Wag:

    Why does the GOP hate America?

    Because they know, once halftime is over, we are going to fucking destroy them.

    Space Jam style.

    +7

  106. 106.

    Sentient Puddle

    +1 more

    Trying an IPA I brewed for the first time. Went with continuous hopping on this one, so I was really curious how it would turn out. And it tastes…kinda not like an IPA, or at least not like any I’ve had. Weirds me out a bit.

  107. 107.

    gocart mozart

    @jurassicpork:
    “You will defund ACORN, ya hear, boy?!” “Yassa, Massa Legree!”

    Absolutely right jurassicpork. The only way to stand up to bullies is to stand up to bullies. ACORN is a good organization. The average Acorn worker is a much better American than the average Republican.

  108. 108.

    ellaesther

    I am so sad that I do not drink and thus will never be able to play the “+ whatever” game.

    Really, it’s kind of pathetic how disappointed I am by this realization!

  109. 109.

    JK

    @ellaesther:

    My problem with Brooks is that phrase cynical democrats.

    He can’t criticize Limbaugh, Hannity, and Beck without taking a gratuitous, cheap shot at democrats. In the past, he’s also taken cheap shots at Olbermann and Maddow and compared them to Limbaugh, Hannity, and Beck. Brooks is still a tool in my book.

  110. 110.

    PanAmerican

    These bid processes aren’t exactly transparent and folks have a pretty good idea of how the vote is going to go down. I’ve seen credible claims the deals have already been cut for awarding the US the 2018 World Cup.

    No one wanted to say no to Daley. It was his last to do on the legacy vis-a-vis the old man. He’s ossified, no longer on the top of the game and the public is getting restless.

  111. 111.

    DougJ

    My problem with Brooks is that phrase cynical democrats.

    Also his distinction between “shock jocks” and those who speak from knowledge. Could he be any more self-serving?

    I don’t hate Bobo. I read his column and often find it interesting, but when he plays the “I’m so reasonable game”, it pisses me off.

  113. 113.

    ellaesther

    @JK: Fair enough!

    But I will just mention, for the record, that there are some fairly cynical Democrats out there, too. I could start naming names but that seems a very depressing way to start the weekend….

  114. 114.

    JK

    @DougJ:

    I wonder if this column will come up in the discussion on Sunday’s Meet the Press where the roundtable will include Rachel Maddow and E.J. Dionne. I don’t have a problem with principled opposition to Obama from the right, but I’ve yet to see any conservative critic who has principles.

    I wish I could be around 100 years from now to read the histories that will be written about Obama’s presidency. I’d like to see how the wingnut opposition is depicted in those books. I know FDR, LBJ, Nixon, Clinton, and Bush all had their share of opponents who hated them with a passion, but this Obama Derangement Syndrome is completely off the charts and it started so soon after he took office. At least in the case of his predecessors, the hatred had a longer gestation period.

  115. 115.

    Ash Can

    In an earlier thread, poster “athena” provided this link to a Tribune Corp. news story that gives as thorough and honest-to-goodness factual summary of why Chicago didn’t win the Olympics bid as I’ve seen so far, at this early stage. After all the mad flailing and hysteria from the Obama-haters, it’s nice to get a little insight into what actually went down, and how it happened.

  116. 116.

    JK

    @ellaesther:

    I just resent the cynicism of David Brooks. He knows damn well that Limbaugh, Hannity, and Beck don’t need an assist from cynical democrats for their messages to reverberate in this political climate.

  117. 117.

    GregB

    The state of affairs in this nation just makes me want to smear Vick’s Vapor Rub on my eyes and weep and weep and weep.

    -G

  118. 118.

    gocart mozart

    @JK:
    awesome link Jk. I’m gonna cut & paste.

    ‘Glenn Beck Raped and Murdered’ website fights back in domain name flap

    By Eriq Gardner
    An individual named Isaac Eiland-Hall is sticking up for his right to run a website called glennbeckrapedandmurderedayounggirlin1990.com.
    Fox News host and recent Time Magazine cover boy Glenn Beck is the target of the satirical site whose domain name is a riff on a joke made by comedian Gilbert Gottfried at a Comedy Central roast that rumors that “Bob Saget raped and murdered a girl in 1990” have to stop. After a commenter on the odd-news website Fark asked, “Why haven’t we had an official response to the rumor that Glenn Beck raped and murdered a girl in 1990?” the joke became a web sensation on Digg, Reddit and other social-media websites.
    Beck, who has become notorious for his conspiratorial rants, wasn’t amused when Eiland-Hall registered glennbeckrapedandmurderedayounggirlin1990.com — featuring videos of crying women and purportedly examining Beck’s lack of denial about the rape/murder — and earlier this month he filed an administrative complaint with WIPO. The complaint claimed that the website was improperly using a trademark and the domain name was registered and being used in bad faith. (Beck also seems to be exploring a defamation claim.)
    Yesterday, Eiland-Hall’s lawyer, Marc Randazza, filed his response. In it, he says the site should be his because it’s a valid critique of Beck’s politics.

    And comments also. Also.

    Becktime
    “The website is a legitimate criticism site, consists of political satire, and thus the Respondent has legitimate rights in the domain name,” the response brief reads. “Mr. Beck’s attempt to censor this criticism is improper and should be rejected.”

    The brief offers an history of esoteric inside jokes that became Internet meme phenomena, from “Mr. Spock Ate My Balls” to Richard Gere’s unflattering “Gerbil story.” But this case also makes a political point, noting an interview Beck conducted with Congressman Keith Ellison, a Muslim, in which Beck said, “I like Muslims, I’ve been to mosques…And I have to tell you, I have been nervous about this interview because what I feel like saying is, sir, prove to me that you are not working with our enemies.”

    Isaac Eiland-Hall should close the site. That’s deplorable. If you want to be cute, atleast say he did something other than rape and murder a girl in 1990. How about Glenn Beck sodomizes bunnies…
    Your URL is deplorable, and not funny. You will be lucky not to get prosecuted by someone with the stature and media fame of Glenn Beck.

    Please! The site CLEARLY states that it is trying to put to bed the vicious RUMOR that Glenn Beck raped and murdered a girl in 1990.
    No where on the site does it state that Glenn Beck raped and murdered a girl in 1990. It simply asks why hasn’t Glenn Beck publicly denied the vicious rumor that he raped and murdered a girl in 1990.
    Clearly, if only Mr. Beck would publicly state the evidence proving his lack of guilt in the murder of a young girl in 1990, this whole sordid business would come to a quick end.

    Please explain, my friend, why glenn beck has chosen to spend a huge amount of money hiring legal counsel to gag his accusers rather than respond truthfully to the charges? Does that sound to you like a man with nothing to hide? It would be very simple to answer the charges and provide the necessary proof. It would be far easier than fighting multiple court battles to silence the people who have brought this to light. Yet glenn takes the path of hiding and covering up. Please, please glenn for all of our sakes come out into the open and just once tell the truth. We need to put this behind with a little honesty. If glenn would simply do that the problem would end. Assuming he is innocent. If he possibly were it would be so simple. Why can’t the phony CONservatives see that. If they believe in the rule of law they should want to have these accusations of criminal behavior cleared up. Why does glenn beck not plainly, simply and honestly answer the charges and provide proof?

    MSD, if you have evidence that refutes the fact that Glenn Beck raped and murdered a young girl in 1990, you should go directly to the authorities. Seriously, no one should not withhold any evidence that can either prove or disprove the rape and murder of a young girl by Glenn Beck in 1990.

  119. 119.

    JK

    @Ash Can:

    Christine Brennan from USA Today echoed some of these same sentiments (the turnover in the USOC, the tv network plans) on the NewsHour with Jim Lehrer tonight. Of course, facts don’t mean a goddamn thing to knuckle dragging assholes like Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, and Michelle Malkin. For these simpletons, it’s simply a matter of we won, Obama lost.

  120. 120.

    gocart mozart

    Sorry for the long cut & paste job and my sincere apologies to anyone who takes offense. I was simply posting fast.

  121. 121.

    Midnight Marauder

    @gocart mozart:

    Sorry for the long cut & paste job and my sincere apologies to anyone who takes offense. I was simply posting fast.

    To the Lexicon with you!

  122. 122.

    Elie

    valdivia way back at 50

    Not I donot hunt my food. I’m not much on shooting things but I do think of fishing (particularly fly fishing), some day. My hubbie and I chase down Dungeness crabs when in season — pretty fun — have to be a little careful with those claws though..

    But I respect those who do hunt, ethically and have learned a thing or two from some of friends who do…

  123. 123.

    Phil.

    Evening douchebags! Unlike most of you, I’m a Chicagoland resident who never wanted the Olympics to begin with, which puts me in a virtual tie with the people of Illinois who did.

    http://www.chicagobreakingnews.com/2009/09/poll-olympic-support-in-chicago-fades.html

    “Nearly as many city residents oppose Mayor Richard Daley’s Olympic plans, 45 percent, as support them, 47 percent. And residents increasingly and overwhelmingly oppose using tax dollars to cover any financial shortfalls for the Games, with 84 percent disapproving of the use of public money.”

    And I felt that way before I found out John Cole’s boyfriend was even going to Copenhagen. And I know many liberals in Chicagoland who felt that way too.

    It’s just even more hysterical now that John’s loser boyfriend made a personal pitch and got bitch-slapped by the IOC.

    Guess what? Most Americans don’t care all that much about the Olympics. And somehow I doubt that most of you were in favor of publicly financed stadiums until…oh say about a couple of days ago when your man-crush decided to personally vouch for the Olympics in Chicago.

    And most Americans certainly wouldn’t compare gloating and schadenfreude over John’s boyfriend’s failures to win the games with the Left’s desire to have America LOSE A WAR as they did in the past 6 years. Unlike you shitheads, I actually want Barry to succeed in Afghanistan. Hell, he can award himself a goddamn Medal of Honor for all I fucking care. I will never foot for the US to lose militarily no matter who the President is, even though you assholes did do that during the previous President’s administration.

    Nor will you hear our majority leader declaring that a “war is lost” while men are in the field of battle (an utterance that also proved to be completely WRONG)

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jyDOAmJYFFA

    You have quite the audacity to accuse people who opposed the Olympics with your tactics of the past 8 years. But that’s ok. The public is catching on. Jimmy Carter’s second term is being recognized for the total failure that it is by more and more people every day. I just had two friends who are moderates but voted for John’s boyfriend acknowledge that today alone. The magic is gone – the tingle up the leg is fading fast.

    2010 is going to be a blast. It’s been fun watching your “progressive” bullshit world view be demolished in front of your very eyes. It’s also been particularly fun watching that bootlicker John Cole continue to be a hanger on during all of it.

    How’s that “conservative of conscience” thing working out for John? I hope Soros pays well.

  124. 124.

    Ash Can

    @JK: “For these simpletons, it’s simply a matter of we won, Obama lost.”

    Oh, to be sure. They’re desperately searching for something, anything, to affirm themselves and their opinions, and are reduced to the spectacle we saw today. The facts as stated in the Trib article aren’t for their benefit, they’re for ours, and for the benefit of the rest of the reality-based world.

    And speaking solely for myself, as one of the many Chicagoans who thinks the Olympics are very cool but would just as soon avoid the headaches inherent in hosting them, I’m pleased to see straight news stories out there to offset the inane and ludicrously uninformed bluster from the RW morans.

  126. 126.

    RadioOne

    Every day turns out to be a pretty much a good day for the fringe of the GOP. It won’t translate well into winning elections. but at least they’ll win a ton of media attention to their causes.

  127. 127.

    JasonF

    @gocart mozart:

    “Mad men, bummers and Indians in the summer.” is Max Wienburg, the Boss gets depressed sometimes, and the name of his little league baseball team.

    Far be it from me to argue with the one and only gocart mozart, but Bruce didn’t meet Max Weinberg until a couple of years after he wrote and recorded Blinded by the Light. I suppose it could be a reference to original E Street drummer Vini “Mad Dog” Lopez.

  128. 128.

    Phil.

    Hey Ash Can,

    I was opposed to the Olympics coming to Chicago well before Barry trotted off to Copenhagen. You and I both know Daley and his cronies just wanted graft to siphon off to his machine buddies.

    Hello parking meter fiasco! Hello cronies buying South Side property where the games’ facilities would largely be built!

    Stop thinking everything revolves around your man crush. I didn’t want the Olympics two months ago or two weeks ago and I didn’t want them today.

    But it was rather glorious to see our completely ineffective Narcissist in Chief get shit on by the IOC.

  131. 131.

    Ash Can

    @JK: Aye, there’s the rub. I have very little confidence in the Very Serious Pundits and Journalists being creative and/or industrious enough to scare up any actual Chicagoans who were involved in the process (other than the obvious ones such as Oprah or the Obamas) or any actual IOC members to get some first-hand insight into what all went down. As you imply, I fully expect the big-media pundits to basically interview each other about it, and nod in agreement with each other and murmur about each other’s brilliance. Lather, rinse, repeat. It’s why, in a nutshell, I make no effort to watch the Sunday morning bobblehead shows.

  132. 132.

    wasabi gasp

    @JK: That Glenn Beck raped and murdered a girl website is pretty brutal. There has got to be a kinder, gentler side to Beck that can be explored.

    Something like glennbecksuckedonmysnakebite.com

    There I was, walkin’ in the woods, just mindin’ my business and doin’ my thang when, wadda you know, a snake jumped up and bit me right on my ass.

    I screamed. It hurt. Yowza.

    Then all of a sudden god whipped up the miracles and out popped Glenn Beck from behind that spooky old tree. You know the one. The one where they once found a dead girl. Lucky me.

    I thought he thunk I been stung by a jellyfish. His pants were already down.

    But I surely was mistaken as Glenn Beck then sucked on my snake bite.

  133. 133.

    Jason Bylinowski

    Well guess what you farging corksoakers, I guess the discipline I am maintaining for my new healthier-eating lifestyle is giving me some terrible complex about drinking. Seriously, all I can think is, that’s another hundred calories, I could save that for two cookie! At least I got to +1.

    Ergo, +1 Maker’s Mark and +1 Cookie, not enough of either for my satisfaction. Bummer. Sigh and goodnight.

  137. 137.

    bago

    @Midnight Marauder: Funny story. First time I ever saw part of that movie involved a youthful indiscretion involving LSD. I thought it was a comedy. I mean the refrigerator was trying to eat the old woman! HA!

  140. 140.

    Texas Dem

    Yes, it’s unfortunate to see some GOPers cheering their country’s failure, but what choice do they have at this point? Their only hope for returning to power in the near future is that Obama fails, and fails catastrophically. Otherwise, they’re fucked.

    As to the Olympics clusterfuck, just because Republicans are assholes doesn’t mean they’re wrong. It was immensely foolish for Obama to put his prestige on the line like that without any assurance of success. A president’s prestige is a scarce resource that must be used judiciously. That’s politics 101. I wonder who persuaded him to go? Emmanuel? Jarrett? Whoever it was, they should have their head examined.

    Also, I wonder how much the decision by the IOC had to do with our delightful Nazi/KGB-style airport screening? I’m sure many IOC members have had unfortunate experiences with the TSA goons at our airports and didn’t want to go repeat the experience. And there’s never been an Olympics in South America anyway, has there? Shouldn’t the geniuses at the WH have been able to think this one through more clearly? And what does that suggest about their ability to get a decent health care bill?

  141. 141.

    Anne Laurie

    The state of affairs in this nation just makes me want to smear Vick’s Vapor Rub on my eyes…

    The state of affairs makes me want to smear Vick’s VapoRub on my upper lip, the way forensic coroners do, because there’s a very nasty smell coming from the Rightwing Heartland(tm) .

    Abnormally social weekend for me, collectors club tomorrow, Papillon (dog) gathering Sunday. Play nice, kids!

  142. 142.

    gocart mozart

    @Mike P:
    O.K., several people have won this thread including moi. What is this, some liberal/fascist plot to make every one win like some Nazi T-Ball game?

  143. 143.

    JK

    @Texas Dem:

    It was immensely foolish for Obama to put his prestige on the line like that without any assurance of success.

    I’m very sympathetic to your argument, but Obama was painted into a corner. I think he had to go to Copenhagen. He was damned if he did and damned if he didn’t. If Obama didn’t go to Copenhagen, Michelle Malkin, Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck et al would have been denouncing Obama till they were blue in the face. They would have slammed him mercilessly for being unpatriotic and failing to make the case for his hometown before the IOC in person.

  144. 144.

    jaime

    It was immensely foolish for Obama to put his prestige on the line like that without any assurance of success.

    So the leaders of Spain and Japan should feel foolish for campaigning in Copenhagen for the Olympics and failing?
    Obama took a shot and it didn’t work out. And now we have to be subjected to the most disgusting barrage of moronic babble and pure fucking lies. Where the fuck were Drudge’s sirens in 2005 when Bush and Hillary campaigned and lost the New York 2012 bid? Not enough brown killing each other to make good propaganda?

    We had every asshole wingnut outlet making the point loud and clear that black kids were killing other black kids in black Chicago and it was that uppity black Obama’s fault. “Look IOC, we can’t have the Olympics here with our ‘black’ problem.” These scum were shouting from the rooftops about how crime ridden and corrupt Chicago was while at the same time cheering for the victory of one of the most corrupt and crime ridden cities on the planet.

    And now they have the temerity to say with straight faces that cheering “Chicago Lost” “Chicago Lost” and “We’re Number Four” is actually concern about cost overruns and downtown Chicago traffic snarls? The right wing actively rooted for and celebrated the failure of America today. That is crystal fucking clear. Go Cheney yourselves “Patriots.”

  145. 145.

    MikeJ

    I don’t understand this loss of prestige argument. Is there anybody, domestic or foreign, who would have listened to policy ideas from Obama two days ago but refuses to deal with the shamed husk of a man he has become?

    I thought not.

  147. 147.

    Mako

    twitter my ass. Cuntsacks with their blackberries and nothing bettter to do, might as well just eat my feces.

    is that under 140 bytes?

  148. 148.

    ironranger

    @Cerberus:
    I puzzle over those same questions all the time. With the upfront, not an ounce of empathy whatsoever people it’s a lot easier to see where they are coming from. There is an open pride in their self-centeredness.
    I know others who are just not very bright & it’s easier to let Fox, Rush & Beck do their “thinking” for them. They don’t want pesky doubts creeping in.
    Many R’s are a combination of the two.
    I am really mystified by R friends & family who are bright, decent, caring people for the most part but make remarks that show a real lack of empathy. They have an aversion to connecting the dots.

  149. 149.

    chrome agnomen

    wingnut meme: obama actually went to the IOC to lobby for nairobi.
    why does he hate murka?

  151. 151.

    asiangrrlMN

    @MikeJ: Damn right. It’s the same stupid argument that if the Dems would just be bipartisan enough…ain’t no such fucking thing. If Obama had succeeded in getting the Olympics for Chicago, the right would have been apoplectic about him using his power for evil or something like that. If Obama is for it, they are agin it.

    What-the-fuck-ever.

    Oh, and Sully is no friend of mine. Never was and never will be. He reminds me too much of other conservatives who only see the light when it’s personal. Like Nancy Reagan and stem cell research. I will take the BJ front pagers, hands down, any day over Sully.

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