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You are here: Home / Politics / Media / Tire-Swinging is Gender Neutral

Tire-Swinging is Gender Neutral

by John Cole|  October 26, 20094:11 pm| 205 Comments

This post is in: Media, Clown Shoes

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Maybe that is what Obama needs- a tire-swinging event at the White House to ease the wrath of Jake Tapper and Mark Knoller?

I’m sorry, I just have a hard time computing the notion that a WH correspondent has nothing better to do than make multiple posts about the gender make-up of Obama’s athletic activities, to include one post with college pictures of Kathleen Sebelius on her basketball team. Seriously.

The problem I have with the WH approach to Fox News is not that they are openly contemptuous of that wing of the GOP, but that they are not showing enough contempt for the rest of these folks at the other networks and organizations like the politico. If I were Robert Gibbs, I would open EVERY SINGLE press briefing, from here on out, with a five minute daily athletic/gender report, detailing what activities Obama took part in and what the male-female make-up was. And then I would deliver, daily, right there in the press briefing, a stack of signed affidavits from Hillary, Janet Napolitano, Kathleen Sebelius, and every other major female in the White House, stating that they were asked if they wanted to work out with Obama and Reggie Love this morning but they declined.

And I would drop them right on Jake Tapper’s lap. And I would do it every day from here on out until these clowns pull their heads out of their collective asses. And if the briefing was nearing the end of the allotted time and they still wanted to ask more questions, I would stop exactly when you are supposed to stop and point out that there would have been more time to answer questions, but that we had to spend the first five minutes of the briefing answering the important questions for ABC News.

God damned joke.

*** Update ***

An even better solution:

I think a better idea for Gibbs’ response to this: Every time Tapper raises his hand, Gibbs says “In the interests of gender equality, we’re skipping you. Helen, your next question, please.”

Perfect.

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Reader Interactions

205Comments

  1. 1.

    beltane

    October 26, 2009 at 4:16 pm

    I don’t happen to work at the White House, but I’d be totally into working out with Reggie Love and President Obama. Jake Tapper, the perpetual high school dweeb, can go kiss my ass.

  2. 2.

    Martin

    October 26, 2009 at 4:16 pm

    There is no greater documentation of Obama’s sexism than not serving white wine spritzers at the beer summit, to which, obviously no women were invited.

  3. 3.

    jrg

    October 26, 2009 at 4:17 pm

    Six years ago, the press (excluding comedy central) would not research legitimate issues about our cowboy approach to foreign policy, now they are sifting through Obama’s feces looking for oddly shaped chunks of peanut. Go figure.

  4. 4.

    ricky

    October 26, 2009 at 4:17 pm

    Perhaps he should invite Jake Tapper in for a private interview with a pool camera available for other networks and blow smoke in his face.

  5. 5.

    jl

    October 26, 2009 at 4:18 pm

    If I were press secratary, I would hold Australian rules press conferences:

    You, stupid, you gotta question?

    That is so dumb it is not even wrong.

    You call that a question?

    I’ll do you a favor and ignore that.

    And, soooo……. what?

    Some one got something to say before this snot-nosed punk opens his mouth and humiliates himself again?

    Do you understand simple English, or not?

    Some one help me out here, what is this loon gibbering about?

    I get better questions from kindergartners?

    This is April Fools Day, right? Tell me it’s April Fools Day.

  6. 6.

    cleek

    October 26, 2009 at 4:18 pm

    that would be Nixonian. or maybe Maoist. or something.

    whatever it is, it wouldn’t please Tapper, who seems to think he’s doing something useful by finding new standards for Obama to fail to meet.

  7. 7.

    Fergus Wooster

    October 26, 2009 at 4:18 pm

    In related news, and in keeping with your previous Slate Sucks thread, Slate has the following headline up now:

    Leave Cheney Alone
    He’s not the first veep to disparage a sitting president – and he won’t be the last, by Christopher Beam

    Hacktastic. Slate can join Politico in Room 101.

  8. 8.

    ricky

    October 26, 2009 at 4:18 pm

    @jrg:

    I can figure. They are allergic to shell legumes.

  9. 9.

    Napoleon

    October 26, 2009 at 4:19 pm

    As to whether Kathleen Sebelius would have participated I saw some testimony of hers over the weekend from what I assumed to be late in the week and she looked like she had a serious eye infection or had been in the bar fight to end all bar fights the night before, so she may not be a great example for Tapper or whoever to hang his theory on since all Gibbs needs to point to is that she is ill/injured.

  10. 10.

    Paul L.

    October 26, 2009 at 4:21 pm

    Memories
    Really- Just a Grieving Mother

    Maha Cindy speaks:

    While George golfed yesterday, the worst hurricane ever struck New Orleans; oil went up to over 68.00/barrel…

  11. 11.

    The Grand Panjandrum

    October 26, 2009 at 4:21 pm

    Has ABC ever had a female Chief White House correspondent? Sounds to me like Jake is part of the boys club … and I’ll bet Diane Sawyer could dunk on his punk ass.

  12. 12.

    Bob (Not B.o.B.)

    October 26, 2009 at 4:22 pm

    I am a male who is horrible at Basketball, and frankly most sports. (I suppose that makes me a total geek.)

    I am also involved in politics, which means I am completely at a disadvantage.

    Maybe I will sue.

  13. 13.

    ricky

    October 26, 2009 at 4:22 pm

    @cleek:

    Tapper, …seems to think he’s doing something useful by finding new standards for Obama to fail to meet.

    Tapper is merely trying to follow the giants who came before him. Quick, someone tell him his head will never swell enough to fill Sam Donaldson’s hairpiece.

  14. 14.

    Lev

    October 26, 2009 at 4:23 pm

    Great post. To be honest, Tapper annoys me more than Fox News. My impression has been that Fox News only claims to be fair and balanced to spaz out liberals, while Tapper clearly sees himself as a serious newsman who has important things to say. Then again, I suspect he’s the beginning of the post-journalistic generation of “reporters” who all just want to ape Politico.

  15. 15.

    beltane

    October 26, 2009 at 4:23 pm

    @The Grand Panjandrum: On that note, why isn’t Jake Tapper a woman? There is something sexist about this.

  16. 16.

    geg6

    October 26, 2009 at 4:24 pm

    I like your solution to this idiocy, John. Perhaps you should contact Gibbs and volunteer your services for this, I would think, rather satisfying task.

  17. 17.

    Dork

    October 26, 2009 at 4:26 pm

    OT

    RUH ROH! Facks have a lie-brul slant! But…..but…but all cyuntists are lyerz!

  18. 18.

    martha

    October 26, 2009 at 4:27 pm

    @jrg: Sadly, this is very, very true.

  19. 19.

    The Grand Panjandrum

    October 26, 2009 at 4:28 pm

    @beltane: Noooooooo! I love women … please don’t spoil it for me.

  20. 20.

    A Mom Anon

    October 26, 2009 at 4:28 pm

    It’s middle school,only with more money,more stupid,more mean,more petty and more fucking media access.

    I loathe these assholes.

  21. 21.

    Darius

    October 26, 2009 at 4:28 pm

    Fantastic post, John.

  22. 22.

    Warren Terra

    October 26, 2009 at 4:29 pm

    Paul L’s comment, if I read it right, is meant to inform us that no President should ever golf because George Dubya was an asshole.

    Good to know.

  23. 23.

    GReynoldsCT00

    October 26, 2009 at 4:29 pm

    hey, it’s a new day and a new accusation, this time misogyny

  24. 24.

    Napoleon

    October 26, 2009 at 4:30 pm

    One reason this is a phony scandle is that it is a total outlier to have a president who participates in any thing remotely like a contact sport (who was last, flag football with Jack Kennedy?). Do you really expect many middle aged and older people from the administration to play (not to mention the average woman who busted her butt to get in that position likely didn’t spend a lot of time as a kid shooting hoops).

  25. 25.

    Stefan

    October 26, 2009 at 4:30 pm

    I don’t happen to work at the White House, but I’d be totally into working out with Reggie Love and President Obama.

    Is “working out” some sort of euphemism….?

  26. 26.

    licensed to kill time

    October 26, 2009 at 4:30 pm

    Tapper’s always searching for the Gotcha Moment. He lives to play Gotcha. In his mind it’s the modern day equivalent of Woodward and Bernstein.

  27. 27.

    geg6

    October 26, 2009 at 4:31 pm

    @GReynoldsCT00:

    hey, it’s a new day and a new accusation, this time misogyny

    Yup. Can’t wait for BoB to come on over to this thread and start decrying Obama’s misogyny. I might have to turn off the pie filter for that.

  28. 28.

    General Winfield Stuck

    October 26, 2009 at 4:34 pm

    They have a point. If Obama would quit holding up the movement for equal gender pay, and get behind something like the Ledbetter Act and push congress for it, he wouldn’t be getting scrutiny from Tapper on his coed gap sporting.

  29. 29.

    Zifnab

    October 26, 2009 at 4:34 pm

    And I would do it every day from here on out until these clowns pull their heads out of their collective asses. And if the briefing was nearing the end of the allotted time and they still wanted to ask more questions, I would stop exactly when you are supposed to stop and point out that there would have been more time to answer questions, but that we had to spend the first five minutes of the briefing answering the important questions for ABC News.

    And they would be perfectly happy with this, because Jack Tapper is the DC Gossip and has absolutely zero interest in real news.

    The thin slice of America that DOES give a shit about real news coming out of a White House Press Briefing, however, would be absolutely furious with Gibbs for wasting our collective time. And the GOP would have a field day a thousand times over.

    If the White House wants real journalism, they’re going to have to find more real journalists. I think letting HuffPo into the press room was a big step. Taking more questions from Mother Jones and TPM definitely moves the ball in the right direction. Ultimately, the MSM wants to waste your time on trivialities. You can’t let them. FOX is just obsessed with the bullshit Cavuto question, so they’re a lost cause. But every now and then a Big 3 media reporter will have a question that doesn’t involve Kanye West or SNL or American Idol. Obama’s office needs to cultivate those people and they need to prune out the rest.

  30. 30.

    Butch

    October 26, 2009 at 4:36 pm

    Here in Denver, since the demise in March of the Rocky Mountain News, we’re stuck with the Denver Post. This thing about the gender makeup of Obama’s sporting events courtesy of Mark Knoller was front page (yes, front page) on the Sunday Post, leading me to question once again why I renewed the subscription. Got any bong water I can drink?

  31. 31.

    Ash

    October 26, 2009 at 4:36 pm

    @licensed to kill time: He probably spends his days googling actors who can play him in the movie that will eventually be made about his life and how he broke the HUGE story on how Obama only recycles paper and not plastic.

    May I suggest Shia LaBeouf? The new Robert Redford, for sure.

  32. 32.

    gwangung

    October 26, 2009 at 4:36 pm

    Do you really expect many middle aged and older people from the administration to play (not to mention the average woman who busted her butt to get in that position likely didn’t spend a lot of time as a kid shooting hoops).

    Although….20 years from now…

    (Though I doubt that many women, even in the WNBA, could play with Reggie Love now….).

  33. 33.

    cleek

    October 26, 2009 at 4:38 pm

    Obama should invite Tapper to play b-ball, and if he accepts, run his little gossipy ass into the ground.

  34. 34.

    Makewi

    October 26, 2009 at 4:38 pm

    Good idea. Gibbs should add a daily “sweetie” count to that briefing as well. In the interest of open government.

  35. 35.

    Nutella

    October 26, 2009 at 4:39 pm

    I think a better idea for Gibbs’ response to this: Every time Tapper raises his hand, Gibbs says “In the interests of gender equality, we’re skipping you. Helen, your next question, please.”

  36. 36.

    General Winfield Stuck

    October 26, 2009 at 4:39 pm

    @Makewi:

    Looky here, Scarlett found an Acorn/

  37. 37.

    Pete

    October 26, 2009 at 4:40 pm

    Tomorrows Tapper: “Does Obama’s 100% black family reflect racism? We contacted the Klan for comment and they are ‘troubled.”

  38. 38.

    gwangung

    October 26, 2009 at 4:40 pm

    But every now and then a Big 3 media reporter will have a question that doesn’t involve Kanye West or SNL or American Idol. Obama’s office needs to cultivate those people and they need to prune out the rest.

    Hell, yeah…

    (Though you can probable count those on one hand….)

  39. 39.

    slag

    October 26, 2009 at 4:40 pm

    @Stefan:

    Is “working out” some sort of euphemism….?

    Haha.

    Also, I’m glad to see senate Dems have finally come to their senses and included the public option in the senate bill. Now, they better freakin’ pass something soon.

  40. 40.

    Mike in NC

    October 26, 2009 at 4:41 pm

    Tapper needs to clear a spot on the mantle for the Pulitzer he’ll take home for busting open this Hoops-gate sandal. Bonus points if he sees any players wearing nicotine patches.

  41. 41.

    gwangung

    October 26, 2009 at 4:42 pm

    @General Winfield Stuck: Meh. Pretty much the definition of “knows the words but not the music.”

  42. 42.

    Redshirt

    October 26, 2009 at 4:42 pm

    Has anyone asked Tapper why he’s not a woman? It seems irresponsible not to find out.

  43. 43.

    geg6

    October 26, 2009 at 4:42 pm

    @Nutella:

    Me likey.

  44. 44.

    jl

    October 26, 2009 at 4:42 pm

    On second thought I would be very polite, if I were the “press sec” I would invite regional papers and only ask them questions.

    Sacramento Bee, Atlanta Journal-C, Denver Post, Seattle Times, Houston Chronicle(?) you folks have some questions.

    And what was Molly Ivins’ papers? I’d let them ask questions.

    And any paper that had a good editorial cartoonist. NY Times has no editorial cartoons, so no questions.

    No questions for the knuckleheads we see on the TeeVee all the time.

  45. 45.

    Kris

    October 26, 2009 at 4:42 pm

    I love the white men trying to basically accuse our first black prez of discrimination.

  46. 46.

    licensed to kill time

    October 26, 2009 at 4:43 pm

    @Makewi:

    Oh, go burn your brouhaha, sweetie.

  47. 47.

    handy

    October 26, 2009 at 4:44 pm

    @Kris:

    White men are down with folks. Yes they are. Word to your mother. Also.

  48. 48.

    geg6

    October 26, 2009 at 4:44 pm

    @General Winfield Stuck:

    As I said to this asshole in the last thread…Obama can call me sweetie all he wants as long as he keeps signing bills like Lily Ledbetter’s.

  49. 49.

    Nutella

    October 26, 2009 at 4:45 pm

    @Redshirt:

    Has anyone asked Tapper if he’s a woman? It seems irresponsible not to speculate.

  50. 50.

    slag

    October 26, 2009 at 4:45 pm

    @Makewi: Ooooh. You really know how to hurt a guy. He called a woman “sweetie”. Next, we’ll hear that he calls Timothy Geithner “dude”. Does his misogyny know no bounds?

  51. 51.

    geg6

    October 26, 2009 at 4:46 pm

    OT, but anyone seen Fuckhead? I gave him some links regarding VA health benefits, but don’t know if he saw that.

  52. 52.

    LoveMonkey

    October 26, 2009 at 4:46 pm

    Also, or B, where are the gays on Obama’s pickup teams? Clearly he is deliberately slighting all alternative lifestyles. Is there DADT in the White House staff, too?

  53. 53.

    jl

    October 26, 2009 at 4:46 pm

    Also. Seems like Tapper feels needy and is trolling to be the founder of an ‘issue’ of the day. As I noted before. he askes a rep for a women’s organization if the boys’ club was a problem, then dangled her rather extreme position that essentially said only quota to get 50/50 gender split was OK.

    Sounds like he is madly casting until he hooks a big ‘un. What the big ‘un is, who cares, as long as he can make some noise and get some attention on some angle or other. He’ll get somebody coming or going, whatever it takes.

    Maybe he can parlay it into something at a presser, who knows? Maybe Todd will bite and string it out with a doozy.

  54. 54.

    dfd

    October 26, 2009 at 4:47 pm

    The real question, “Is Michelle jealous?”

  55. 55.

    Trinity

    October 26, 2009 at 4:48 pm

    @Pete: LOL

  56. 56.

    xj - not the auto

    October 26, 2009 at 4:50 pm

    Reminder… vote Bitsy

  57. 57.

    licensed to kill time

    October 26, 2009 at 4:50 pm

    @Ash:

    He probably spends his days googling actors who can play him in the movie that will eventually be made about his life and how he broke the HUGE story on how Obama only recycles paper and not plastic.
    May I suggest Shia LaBeouf? The new Robert Redford, for sure.

    “All The President’s Players, Paper, and Plastic “- starring Shia Laboeuf as the courageous Jake “Gotcha!” Tapper

  58. 58.

    martha

    October 26, 2009 at 4:51 pm

    @Makewi: I’d rather be called a sweetie than a Republican (especially these days).

  59. 59.

    dr. bloor

    October 26, 2009 at 4:52 pm

    @jrg:

    Six years ago, the press (excluding comedy central) would not research legitimate issues about our cowboy approach to foreign policy, now they are sifting through Obama’s feces looking for oddly shaped chunks of peanut. Go figure.

    The shape of the peanut chunks is irrelevant. All they need is proof that Obama has not made his administration sufficiently accessible to those with peanut allergies.

  60. 60.

    GReynoldsCT00

    October 26, 2009 at 4:53 pm

    @geg6:

    He was on yesterday…

  61. 61.

    flounder

    October 26, 2009 at 4:53 pm

    I think they should also hand out a copy of a different fake birth certificate every day, and then Gibbs should ask Major Garrett how his employers investigation into yesterday’s birth certificate is going.

  62. 62.

    Makewi

    October 26, 2009 at 4:54 pm

    @martha:

    Of course you would martha. That goes without saying.

  63. 63.

    slag

    October 26, 2009 at 4:56 pm

    @dfd:

    The real question, “Is Michelle jealous?”

    Seriously.

    I remember back when the big controversy was whether or not Michelle Obama feminized Barack because she wasn’t appropriately deferential.

    These people have all the self-awareness of a Makewi.

  64. 64.

    bayville

    October 26, 2009 at 5:04 pm

    Wow, these guys are serious!

    Originally, I thought this was an item pulled from a Kurtz Tweet, a Drudge headline or a typical Hannity rant.
    But Perry Bacon considers this a big story, which I of course dismissed Perry Bacon just being Perry Bacon.

    I guess “the boys” playing hoops was a hot topic at Sally Quinn’s Saturday night soirée.

  65. 65.

    freelancer

    October 26, 2009 at 5:06 pm

    @martha:

    Makewi’s not a “Republican”, she’s a “Conservative”. They’re, like, miles apart. Duh.

  66. 66.

    GambitRF

    October 26, 2009 at 5:06 pm

    This super important story–of which there’s currently 181 separate articles–is now on Google News’ front page under U.S News, nestled between 14 Americans dying in helicopter crashes in Afghanistan and health care. Kill me now.

  67. 67.

    Makewi

    October 26, 2009 at 5:08 pm

    @freelancer:

    The great part about your comment is the amount of self parody it contains.

  68. 68.

    Shawn in WhowMe

    October 26, 2009 at 5:09 pm

    Obama should invite Tapper to play b-ball, and if he accepts, run have Malia run his little gossipy ass into the ground.

    Fixed.

  69. 69.

    freelancer

    October 26, 2009 at 5:12 pm

    @Makewi:

    Why thank you.

  70. 70.

    LoveMonkey

    October 26, 2009 at 5:12 pm

    Just when I thought TweetieMatthews was doing a great job (last week) he shows up today and sounds like a hyperventilating version of George Will.

    Obama is doing that “same old fundraising” stuff in front of those “same old people” and that’s not the change we believed in.

    Right. Obama was going to eliminate political fundraising, and start by removing the single most powerful fundraising tool on the planet, the Presidential Seal, from the fray. How he has betrayed us! We have been pwned!

    Just fucking shoot me.

  71. 71.

    LoveMonkey

    October 26, 2009 at 5:14 pm

    @Makewi:

    A certain front pager has too much time on his hands again today, I see.

  72. 72.

    freelancer

    October 26, 2009 at 5:16 pm

    @LoveMonkey:

    Unfortunately, she’s not a spoof. Everyone else here but you is actually DougJ, though. oops.

  73. 73.

    martha

    October 26, 2009 at 5:16 pm

    @freelancer: I should have prolly noted the difference between a Conservative and a Republican. But it’s late in the afternoon and I just can’t solve the problems of an entire (and rapidly diminishing) segment of the American political landscape. And don’t even get me started on the Rockefeller Republicans versus the Goldwater crowd.

  74. 74.

    Violet

    October 26, 2009 at 5:19 pm

    Looks like the dog contest is on hold. Maybe? Joel Margulies, who created the brand of dog food and contest posted a really long post on some Facebook site. Why he didn’t post on his own website, I don’t know. Last bit:

    “For the moment, I think it best to put the competiion on hold and resolve these issues together. I will ask that you vote your point of view on the site.

    Tonight we will post the questions and ask that you vote your hearts and minds. For a ballot to count we need all of you to vote… just ONCE.”

    So maybe we all have to vote tonight? Sheesh, this contest gets weirder and weirder.

  75. 75.

    ironranger

    October 26, 2009 at 5:19 pm

    John, if the WH followed your suggestions as fun as they are to imagine, the media snoots would have one gigantic tantrum. Or maybe they would secretly love it because they would be able to make the news all about them 100% which it appears to be their dearest wish.

  76. 76.

    freelancer

    October 26, 2009 at 5:19 pm

    @martha:

    I wasn’t trying to correct you, I was mocking how the Right Wing has been visited by the Men in Black and has had the memory of the last decade just burned out of their collective heads.

    “I don’t think Bush did a good job either! But…”

    The premise is a lie, and the follow-through is schizophrenic.

  77. 77.

    slag

    October 26, 2009 at 5:19 pm

    @Makewi: You and the rest of the Heathers know all about self-parody.

    Shouldn’t you be out finding some room to talk somewhere?

  78. 78.

    Violet

    October 26, 2009 at 5:19 pm

    Sorry, forgot link to whole post by the Joel Margulies guy. Can’t edit, so new post.

  79. 79.

    ironranger

    October 26, 2009 at 5:22 pm

    @martha:
    I second that.

  80. 80.

    SiubhanDuinne

    October 26, 2009 at 5:23 pm

    John Cole: Love the update! I would pay really good money to see Gibbs say that.

  81. 81.

    martha

    October 26, 2009 at 5:24 pm

    @freelancer: Oh you’re fine…and you’re right.

  82. 82.

    Makewi

    October 26, 2009 at 5:25 pm

    @freelancer:

    I love this thinking. We can do whatever we want because, BOOOOOOOOOOSSSSHHHHH. Nothing like putting infants in charge of the rhetoric to have a quick turnaround in the party in charge.

  83. 83.

    licensed to kill time

    October 26, 2009 at 5:25 pm

    @Violet:

    I hate to say it, because while the Little Bitsy cause is certainly worthy, the whole cutest dog contest just seems like a massive e-mail addy gathering, click count scam. Sometimes I think it might have been more worthwhile to just ask the BJ crowd to donate directly. Especially after reading that the “million dollar prize” is to be paid out at $30,000 a year over a 30 year period.

  84. 84.

    ricky

    October 26, 2009 at 5:27 pm

    @licensed to kill time:

    Tapper’s always searching for the Gotcha Moment. He lives to play Gotcha.

    Yes, and since puberty he has become adept at doing it with either hand.

  85. 85.

    Neutron Flux

    October 26, 2009 at 5:27 pm

    @jrg: Disgusting, but funny as hell.

  86. 86.

    Violet

    October 26, 2009 at 5:28 pm

    @licensed to kill time:
    Yeah, I agree. One of the reasons I used a junk account to vote. I check it about once a month, just to keep it active. Do have to say, though, I get a lot more spam from Barack Obama than I ever have from the dog guys.

  87. 87.

    gopher2b

    October 26, 2009 at 5:34 pm

    This is what the world looks like when you spend every waking moment worried about “diversity.” Get over it.

  88. 88.

    Brian J

    October 26, 2009 at 5:34 pm

    I think I skimmed through the piece in The Times but haven’t seen anything else on this topic. That said, all of this sounds like relatively harmless fluff. I have better things to do than to spend a lot of time researching this, but I have to ask, hasn’t anyone considered that the woman in the White House just don’t want to participate? Isn’t this is a case of the most likely answer being the right one?

  89. 89.

    mcc

    October 26, 2009 at 5:34 pm

    @Napoleon:

    As to whether Kathleen Sebelius would have participated I saw some testimony of hers over the weekend from what I assumed to be late in the week and she looked like she had a serious eye infection or had been in the bar fight to end all bar fights the night before

    Via the Washington Post:

    Sebelius had a basal cell carcinoma removed from her forehead on Tuesday during a successful standard outpatient procedure, according to HHS spokeswoman Jenny Backus.

  90. 90.

    slag

    October 26, 2009 at 5:35 pm

    @Makewi:

    I love this thinking. We can do whatever we want because, BOOOOOOOOOOSSSSHHHHH.

    You know what? Fuck that. And fuck you. Bush was never anything more than a symptom of our problems. You. You’re the problem. You and everyone who cheered that stupid frat boy’s misadventures and who still think they have anything to say worth listening to anymore. My goddamn cat has more self-awareness than you. At least when he misbehaves he has the good sense to look sheepish about it. But you…When you make wee, you have the nerve to look around and complain that no one’s cleaning up your goddamn mess fast enough. Rolling around in any piece of gossipy bullshit in an effort to distract from your stunning lack of judgment and ability. So, I say again, fuck you. And the fucking dinosaur you rode in on.

  91. 91.

    BDeevDad

    October 26, 2009 at 5:35 pm

    There was a story during the campaign about Obama at one of his daughter’s soccer games and him pulling his other daughter aside to have a daughter/dad time and so she didn’t feel left out. This story puts all that in a new perspective. He actually hates going to their games and watching their inferior play compared to boys’ their age. So, he must of pulled his daughter aside to get a moment where he didn’t have to watch the game.

    /sarcasm

  92. 92.

    BDeevDad

    October 26, 2009 at 5:35 pm

    There was a story during the campaign about Obama at one of his daughter’s soccer games and him pulling his other daughter aside to have a daughter/dad time and so she didn’t feel left out. This story puts all that in a new perspective. He actually hates going to their games and watching their inferior play compared to boys’ their age. So, he must of pulled his daughter aside to get a moment where he didn’t have to watch the game.

    /sarcasm

  93. 93.

    LD50

    October 26, 2009 at 5:36 pm

    Where’s Soonergrunt? He did a fab job chasing Make Wee out of here last week…

  94. 94.

    ironranger

    October 26, 2009 at 5:36 pm

    I wondered if this Tapper twit was married. He is to a Jennifer Brown who is/was a field manager for Planned Parenthood. I didn’t expect that. So many media types seem to be married to corporate lobbyists, bankers or another villager.

  95. 95.

    LD50

    October 26, 2009 at 5:37 pm

    @Makewi:

    The great part about your comment is the amount of self parody it contains.

    Which we can assume you cannot give a coherent explanation of.

  96. 96.

    handy

    October 26, 2009 at 5:37 pm

    At least when DFHs got apoplectic about something Dubya did, it usually it was about him bombing people who didn’t do anything to us or fiddling while cities were flooding.

    Better poutrage please.

  97. 97.

    LD50

    October 26, 2009 at 5:39 pm

    @freelancer:

    Makewi’s not a “Republican”, she’s a “Conservative”. They’re, like, miles apart. Duh.

    Indeed. Republicans bash Democrats only and praise Republicans only. Makewi bashes Democrats and avoids talking about Republicans. Big diff.

  98. 98.

    Makewi

    October 26, 2009 at 5:39 pm

    @slag:

    Ha. Here’s some self awareness for you buddy boy. You and everyone on this thread are willing to sell out any ideal for a small bit of grace. As long as daddy gives you lilly ledbetter you’re fine with him calling you sweetie. As long as Clinton mouths platitudes about gender equality, you’re fine with his string of sexual harassment’s.

    There is nothing you won’t look the other way for so long as you can find the political justifications to do so.

  99. 99.

    SiubhanDuinne

    October 26, 2009 at 5:40 pm

    Speaking of daughters . . . did anyone see this little gem of sick-inducing filth from Malkin?

    Surprise! Michelle Malkin mocks David Axelrod and his disabled daughter
    October 26, 2009 1:50 pm ET by Eric Boehlert

    Obama Derangement Syndrome truly knows no bounds in Malkin’s hate-driven world. It’s a demented zone where children are always targeted for political attack. Incredibly, Malkin today unveils dripping contempt for White House aide David Axelrod and his epileptic daughter. Why? Because Axelrod had the nerve to appear on 60 Minutes and discuss the disease.

    Here’s Malkin in full-shriek mode:

    So is White House senior adviser/Astroturf master/Big Pharma beneficiary David Axelrod, who appeared on 60 Minutes with Katie Couric this weekend to talk about the epilectic daughter he never sees because he’s so busy trying to salvage his boss’s government health care takeover plans. The AP dutifully recycled the story — which itself had been recycled from February’s Parade magazine.

    Got that over at Media Matters http://mediamatters.org/blog/200910260019

    There are times when I have to pinch myself very hard and repeat, “I do believe in First Amendment rights, I do believe in First Amendment rights, I do I do I do believe.”

  100. 100.

    licensed to kill time

    October 26, 2009 at 5:41 pm

    @ricky:

    I snuck over to Urban Dictionary to see if there was some secret meaning for Gotcha that could be done with either hand, other than the obvious inference. Not so much, though some of those defs are nasty.

    @Violet:

    I worried about the spam possibility but so far none, or the filter has caught it. But it’s why I never do those sort of things – only the awesome Balloon Juice-fu turned me into a zombie who is compelled to vote every day.

    Also, Makewi is exceedingly tiresome.

  101. 101.

    LoveMonkey

    October 26, 2009 at 5:41 pm

    @licensed to kill time:

    If it isn’t, it sure as hell looks like one. Reason enough to stay away from it.

  102. 102.

    Demo Woman

    October 26, 2009 at 5:42 pm

    @Makewi: Actions actually count.

  103. 103.

    SiubhanDuinne

    October 26, 2009 at 5:42 pm

    Um, edit function? Everything from Surprise! through February’s Parade magazine should have been block-quoted.

  104. 104.

    Betsy

    October 26, 2009 at 5:44 pm

    @Makewi:

    As long as daddy gives you lilly ledbetter you’re fine with him calling you sweetie.

    No, you moron, it’s just that some of us have what’s called “a sense of proportion.” We have two brain cells to rub together, and thus can figure out that the Lily Ledbetter act is way the fuck more important to women on a day to day basis than whether Obama once called someone “sweetie.” And we understand that while Obama can and did have some sexist moments, he is worlds away better for women than any living Republican.

  105. 105.

    General Winfield Stuck

    October 26, 2009 at 5:44 pm

    @Makewi:

    Makewi — The little engine that couldn’t/

  106. 106.

    freelancer

    October 26, 2009 at 5:44 pm

    As long as daddy gives you lilly ledbetter you’re fine with him calling you sweetie.

    I don’t know why, but I could really go for some Pearl Jam right about now.

  107. 107.

    LD50

    October 26, 2009 at 5:46 pm

    @Makewi:

    Ha. Here’s some self awareness for you buddy boy

    Ah, I see Makewee is one of those ‘tough chick Republicans Conservatives’.

    Maybe that explains the fisting obsession?

  108. 108.

    SiubhanDuinne

    October 26, 2009 at 5:47 pm

    (I’m just going to try it again, a different way:

    Speaking of daughters, did anyone see this little gem of sick-inducing filth from Malkin?

    Surprise! Michelle Malkin mocks David Axelrod and his disabled daughter
    October 26, 2009 1:50 pm ET by Eric Boehlert

    Obama Derangement Syndrome truly knows no bounds in Malkin’s hate-driven world. It’s a demented zone where children are always targeted for political attack. Incredibly, Malkin today unveils dripping contempt for White House aide David Axelrod and his epileptic daughter. Why? Because Axelrod had the nerve to appear on 60 Minutes and discuss the disease.

    Here’s Malkin in full-shriek mode:

    So is White House senior adviser/Astroturf master/Big Pharma beneficiary David Axelrod, who appeared on 60 Minutes with Katie Couric this weekend to talk about the epilectic daughter he never sees because he’s so busy trying to salvage his boss’s government health care takeover plans. The AP dutifully recycled the story — which itself had been recycled from February’s Parade magazine.

    Got that over at Media Matters http://mediamatters.org/blog/200910260019

    There are times when I have to pinch myself very hard and repeat, “I do believe in First Amendment rights, I do believe in First Amendment rights, I do I do I do believe.”

    (Let’s see if that’s more readable.)

  109. 109.

    SiubhanDuinne

    October 26, 2009 at 5:47 pm

    Okay, dammit, no. I give up on bolding or blockquoting more than one paragraph.

  110. 110.

    LD50

    October 26, 2009 at 5:47 pm

    @Makewi:

    I love this thinking. We can do whatever we want because, BOOOOOOOOOOSSSSHHHHH.

    Uh, you’re repeating your material from last week, buddy.

  111. 111.

    dfd

    October 26, 2009 at 5:49 pm

    Bush demonstrated his sensitivity for women’s issues when he gave a thoughtful backrub to the German Chancellor.

  112. 112.

    Midnight Marauder

    October 26, 2009 at 5:51 pm

    @Makewi:

    Ha. Here’s some self awareness for you buddy boy. You and everyone on this thread are willing to sell out any ideal for a small bit of grace. As long as daddy gives you lilly ledbetter you’re fine with him calling you sweetie. As long as Clinton mouths platitudes about gender equality, you’re fine with his string of sexual harassment’s.
    There is nothing you won’t look the other way for so long as you can find the political justifications to do so.

    Usually, when my eyes unfortunately come across your name at the top of a post, I prepare myself to skim whatever breathtakingly stupid nonsense you have regurgitated up this time. But this shit here…clearly, you don’t even bother reading what people discuss here, otherwise you wouldn’t make such a grossly false statement. Or maybe you do read the discussion and you really are just that fucking stupid that you are unable to critically follow the back-and-forth interaction between the commentariat here.

    Because how you could ever spend the amount of time that you do here and come away with something as blatantly ludicrous as “You and everyone on this thread are willing to sell out any ideal for a small bit of grace” really just makes me wonder what pleasure you derive from your visits here. It’s clearly not about having thoughtful, intelligent discussions, because you shit on those as much as you can. Your entire act is so devoid of purpose, intellect, critical thinking/reading, and anything resembling cleverness or wit, that it has simply become sad to watch you write these half-cocked, clearly not thought out beforehand responses.

    I really do hope your performance in life outside of these virtual walls is simply the slightest bit more…competent. I sincerely do. Because I can’t imagine what it must be like to go through real life as such an obviously uneducated, emotionally stunted buffoon.

  113. 113.

    freelancer

    October 26, 2009 at 5:51 pm

    @dfd:

    Not to mention his appreciation of good doc’s.

  114. 114.

    kay

    October 26, 2009 at 5:53 pm

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    Malkin knows Cindy McCain is now a spokesperson for migraine research right, and has been since the campaign?

    Right? Because Cindy McCain suffers from migraine?

    They’re not even trying.

  115. 115.

    licensed to kill time

    October 26, 2009 at 5:54 pm

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    Siubhan, underscore is the trick to holding together multiple paragraphs in a blockquote.

    Watch me make a fool out of myself trying to demonstrate:
    _
    See? It probably won’t work.

  116. 116.

    licensed to kill time

    October 26, 2009 at 5:55 pm

    Ha! Hell, the Gassellipses do work, though. Ok, I’m finished being an idiot for now.

  117. 117.

    MikeJ

    October 26, 2009 at 5:58 pm

    Ha! Hell, the Gassellipses do work, though.

    Saw a troll over at deltoid today using the…favorite punctuation…of Gass.

  118. 118.

    licensed to kill time

    October 26, 2009 at 6:01 pm

    @licensed to kill time:

    Anyway, see this thread for examples. Somehow, I’ve lost my underscore key and I can’t get up!

  119. 119.

    gwangung

    October 26, 2009 at 6:01 pm

    @Midnight Marauder: Shrug. Just an attention whore, desperate for any response. Clearly doesn’t know and doesn’t care about Lily Ledbetter–doesn’t care about ANY substantive policy matter.

  120. 120.

    SiubhanDuinne

    October 26, 2009 at 6:04 pm

    @licensed to kill time: Thanks, timekiller with a (valid, government-issued) license to do so. I feel as though I tried that, or something quite similar, a couple of weeks ago as an experiment, and got nowhere. I didn’t try it this time. But someday, when there’s a nice big wide-open meandering open thread, and I’m feeling all leisurely, and am pretty sure I won’t piss people off if I try-and-fail-and-try-again, I’ll do some fancy tag-testing.

  121. 121.

    Demo Woman

    October 26, 2009 at 6:05 pm

    @MikeJ: Did he have wings on?

  122. 122.

    Makewi

    October 26, 2009 at 6:05 pm

    @Betsy:

    No, what you have is a sense of the political. In which you will accept crumbs because the right daddy is spreading them, and reject them only when the wrong one is.

    Because lord knows a poor little lady can’t be expected to file a lawsuit within the required 180 days. Well maybe if she has a man to help her out.

  123. 123.

    SiubhanDuinne

    October 26, 2009 at 6:05 pm

    @licensed to kill time: Many thanks, I meant to save that thread. I appreciate your finding it, I couldn’t remember what it was called or when it appeared.

  124. 124.

    soonergrunt

    October 26, 2009 at 6:07 pm

    @Makewi: Actually you stupid shit, it’s the difference between being disappointed with the President’s personal behavior while applauding his public leadership, and doing the conservative thing, which is to impeach the President to destroy any chance of something like the Lilly Ledbetter act from coming up. For a group as regressive as Conservatives, impeaching the President was their only option, because had a bill like the Lilly Ledbetter act come in front of the congress they controlled, they would’ve had to swallow their beliefs and vote for it, lest the entire country see them for what they really were ten years before the inevitable.
    Having dispensed with that sorry bit of sophistry, I’d like to know from you–how does your support of the President and Congress that quadrupled the national debt, attacked the wrong country to service the needs of a whole separate country (and do NOTHING for US national security,) invade an individual family’s privacy (Schiavo), mis-manage two wars to the point of near-failure, politicizing the Justice Department, the abrogation of treaties we helped write, and indeed, are based on our laws like the Geneva Conventions, the collapse of the military-procurement-system due to the destruction of the acquistions workforce, and I could go on and on and on–how does your support for the preceding comport with actual traditional conservative values?

  125. 125.

    licensed to kill time

    October 26, 2009 at 6:08 pm

    @SiubhanDuinne:
    You just have to be willing to make a public ass out of yourself like I just did! (I’m going to practice on some old threads before I try again…I was fond of the ellipse until a certain fellow came along and ruined it for all of us!

  126. 126.

    freelancer

    October 26, 2009 at 6:09 pm

    @gwangung:

    Indeed, Marauder should’ve signed that thing as Summer Glau.

  127. 127.

    kay

    October 26, 2009 at 6:10 pm

    Anything but covering boring health care reform. Or H1N1.

    Anything but that. That’s like a sentence to these people, the “substantive” assignment.

    I think we should spend more time on how their wants and needs weren’t met at that Treasury press conference. We haven’t explored all the implications of that, because we only spent three days on it.

  128. 128.

    Just Some Fuckhead

    October 26, 2009 at 6:10 pm

    @geg6: Got it, thanks.

  129. 129.

    Makewi

    October 26, 2009 at 6:12 pm

    @soonergrunt:

    My advice is less drugs. They clearly aren’t helping your sense of reality, your paranoia, or your ability to break up walls of text into readable pieces.

    You shit.

    Although bonus points for the idea that Clinton was impeached in order to stop wimens equality. That’s some creative shit right there.

  130. 130.

    gwangung

    October 26, 2009 at 6:12 pm

    @freelancer: Well all of us should be responding as Summer Glau to her.

  131. 131.

    General Winfield Stuck

    October 26, 2009 at 6:15 pm

    @Makewi:

    Choo Choo Choo Choo. …….hep hep hep me.

  132. 132.

    SiubhanDuinne

    October 26, 2009 at 6:15 pm

    @licensed to kill time: I don’t think that’s very funny… and neither do the helicopters!

  133. 133.

    handy

    October 26, 2009 at 6:16 pm

    @General Winfield Stuck:

    Hah. My soda-drenched monitor thanks you.

  134. 134.

    Calouste

    October 26, 2009 at 6:18 pm

    @soonergrunt:

    I don’t think anything what you have mentioned violated IGMFU, which is the quintesensial conservative value.

  135. 135.

    Makewi

    October 26, 2009 at 6:19 pm

    Back to the subject at hand, the problem is that NOW is just to Republican. You just can’t trust O’Neill to speak out for women, being the GOP shill she is.

  136. 136.

    dfd

    October 26, 2009 at 6:19 pm

    Ah, I get it now. Makewi is on a one person campaign against equal rights because… It’s a liberal chauvinist conspiracy!

  137. 137.

    Morbo

    October 26, 2009 at 6:22 pm

    Given the level of contempt that the previous administration dished out at the press corps with impunity, I can only conclude that Obama need to come up with some nicknames FAST. Suggestion #1: Jake “Goat-Tapper.”

  138. 138.

    LD50

    October 26, 2009 at 6:22 pm

    @Makewi:

    My advice is less drugs. They clearly aren’t helping your sense of reality, your paranoia, or your ability to break up walls of text into readable pieces. You shit.

    ‘Stupid shit’?

    You sure weren’t able to answer his questions last week, Miss Charm. Our memories aren’t as short as Republicans’, sweetie.

  139. 139.

    Cerberus

    October 26, 2009 at 6:22 pm

    Yeah, first, is there a more frat-influenced boy’s club world than the pundit class? I mean good god. So quite a bit rich on the surface.

    Second, there’s not a damn feminist blog that I can see joining in on Jake Tapper’s little “gotcha” moment. Not a damn one thinks that this is revealing or “worrisome” or worth endless posts. These are groups who have even covered the problems with the boy’s club nature of politics in general. But dead silence. It’s non-starter pretend-feminism bullshit like when the right-wingers out of excuses for their wars of choice tried to shame feminists about the mistreatment of women in Islamic culture unaware that the information on how bad it was came from the decades long diligent work of feminist organizations in the region supported by feminists over here.

    Third, seriously? I mean, how does this even become a news story? I mean, hell, you like gotcha games? There’s a million you could work off of that’d have an actual benefit. Hell, want to play feminist, ask what are the next major legislation on behalf of women’s groups to come out or if there will be any follow-up to the tragic slaying of Dr. Tiller either to protect doctors or aid those seeking to replace his necessary work. But seriously, weak sauce.

    Fourth, can we start just dimming out those who have proven they refuse to do any real journalism? Maybe just for one session where the Jake Tapper’s have to spend the entire meeting listening to the questions from The Advocate and Helen Thomas to reflect on exactly what they are doing with their advice.

    Fifth, no seriously.

  140. 140.

    SiubhanDuinne

    October 26, 2009 at 6:23 pm

    @licensed to kill time: Seriously, great idea to practice on old threads. I’ll find me some pre-Bitsy stuff.

  141. 141.

    soonergrunt

    October 26, 2009 at 6:23 pm

    @Makewi:
    All of my drugs come from the VA you stupid shit. As a side note, I’ll bet that just kills you–your tax dollars going to somebody like me. After all, having served the country, I didn’t have the decency to go live under the overpass where I belong.
    But enough about me. I’m still wondering if you have an answer to my question, you stupid shit. How does your support of a political movement with all of the aforementioned failures comport with traditional conservative values, you stupid shit?
    And back to your little dodge there, you stupid shit, conservatives impeached Clinton to prevent him from doing something, anything that they figured he would do that would eventually put them on the horns of that particular dilemma.
    You stupid shit.

  142. 142.

    LD50

    October 26, 2009 at 6:24 pm

    @dfd: Correct. To Makewee, ‘conservatism’ is defined simply the opposite of liberalism, whatever that is.

  143. 143.

    Makewi

    October 26, 2009 at 6:33 pm

    @soonergrunt:

    I don’t blame you for wanting to change the subject. It must be hard to take when an organization as solidly in the Democrats camp as NOW calls out Obama for his misogyny. The great part is the best defense you guys can come up with is a play on “the bitch deserved” it because she got an extension on the timeline for lawsuits. Classic.

    You stupid shit. I’m glad you don’t live under a bridge. I think that’s nice for you.

  144. 144.

    javafascist

    October 26, 2009 at 6:33 pm

    Sometimes you need to turn off your own snark and just admire the beauty of another fine practitioner of the art. Bravo sir. Still LMAO.

  145. 145.

    ominira

    October 26, 2009 at 6:38 pm

    @Makewi:

    Because lord knows a poor little lady can’t be expected to file a lawsuit within the required 180 days.

    Yes, it really is a shame that Ledbetter missed out on learning the time traveling skills that we all received at the age of two. Even though she learned of the pay disparity years after the fact, it was incumbent on her to return back in time to file the lawsuit within the 180 day period.

  146. 146.

    Demo Woman

    October 26, 2009 at 6:41 pm

    @Makewi: O’Neill is doing a good job speaking out for health equality for all.
    The new health plan will go a long way in taking care of that disparity.
    Have you even thought about therapy?

  147. 147.

    slag

    October 26, 2009 at 6:43 pm

    @Makewi: You’re right. I don’t know how we dare defend our president for ever taking up the game of basketball. We should all be ashamed. I have seen the light. Thank you, Makewi, for daring me to look within and see how wrong I have been all this time. I am forever changed and will now vote Republican from here on out. For equality’s sake, if for no other. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

  148. 148.

    Ash Can

    October 26, 2009 at 6:43 pm

    @Makewi: HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

    Oh my God, that was BEAUTIFUL! More of this, please! That was a scream!

    Now, I can imagine spoofing’s very difficult. Quite frankly, I couldn’t do it myself. And, to be blunt, usually you come across as too dry or too narrow (as in, trading personal insults with an individual poster — boring). But this post hit the bullseye. Kudos.

  149. 149.

    soonergrunt

    October 26, 2009 at 6:47 pm

    @Makewi: It is only in your fevered imagination that somebody playing some pick-up basketball games is equivalent to intentionally underpaying someone for 30+ years because that someone has a vagina you stupid shit.
    Really you stupid shit. That’s just desperate you stupid shit. And sad you stupid shit.

    The great part is the best defense you guys can come up with is a play on “the bitch deserved” it because she got an extension on the timeline for lawsuits.

    I don’t know any Liberals or Democrats that have made this argument, and certainly not about Lilly Ledbetter, you stupid shit. “The bitch deserved it” is the kind of thing that Conservatives say, like when they’re trying to prevent rape victims from getting justice, you stupid shit.

  150. 150.

    Makewi

    October 26, 2009 at 6:50 pm

    @ominira:

    According to the court she only had to prove that there is no way she could have found out about it earlier. So no time machine required, just proof of a cover up to the discrimination.

  151. 151.

    Splitting Image

    October 26, 2009 at 6:52 pm

    @Makewi:

    No, you moron, it’s just that some of us have what’s called “a sense of proportion.” We have two brain cells to rub together, and thus can figure out that the Lily Ledbetter act is way the fuck more important to women on a day to day basis than whether Obama once called someone “sweetie.” And we understand that while Obama can and did have some sexist moments, he is worlds away better for women than any living Republican.

    This.

    Andrew Sullivan has been ranting for weeks that Obama has stalled on passing needed legislation while trying to placate the gay rights lobby with token speeches. I think he’s over-reacting, but at least he’s arguing the right way round. You’re seriously arguing that passing the legislation is a token effort and pretty speeches are what really matters? What planet are you from?

  152. 152.

    Makewi

    October 26, 2009 at 6:54 pm

    @soonergrunt:

    It’s not MY fevered imaginations you need to worry about. It’s the fact that the president of NOW also sees what a cad he is. Not for the first time either.

    You stupid shit. There is a lot of things you don’t know, but that doesn’t stop you from applying your fingers to the keyboard.

  153. 153.

    soonergrunt

    October 26, 2009 at 6:55 pm

    @Makewi: And now I’d like an answer to my question–

    how does your support of the President and Congress that quadrupled the national debt, attacked the wrong country to service the needs of a whole separate country (and do NOTHING for US national security,) invade an individual family’s privacy (Schiavo), mis-manage two wars to the point of near-failure, politicizing the Justice Department, the abrogation of treaties we helped write, and indeed, are based on our laws like the Geneva Conventions, the collapse of the military-procurement-system due to the destruction of the acquistions workforce, and I could go on and on and on—how does your support for the preceding comport with actual traditional conservative values?

    you stupid shit.

  154. 154.

    Makewi

    October 26, 2009 at 6:58 pm

    @Splitting Image:

    I get it, you don’t think it’s important that Obama respects the ladies. It’s something of a trend with Democratic presidents. OTOH, proving things like discrimination is hard, so why constrain the earning potential of litigators justice with things like time lines?

  155. 155.

    LD50

    October 26, 2009 at 6:59 pm

    You’re seriously arguing that passing the legislation is a token effort and pretty speeches are what really matters? What planet are you from?

    Planet Loser, basically. Let Makewee and her Republicans continue to fixate on symbols while ignoring substance. It served them so well in ’06 & ’08.

  156. 156.

    General Winfield Stuck

    October 26, 2009 at 7:00 pm

    @Splitting Image:

    The Allies have celebrated their victory and gone home, whilst Makewi sits alone on that little desert Isle, wanking it to the sound of monkey shines.

  157. 157.

    Makewi

    October 26, 2009 at 7:00 pm

    @soonergrunt:

    While I think it would be good for you to learn to deal with disappointment, my curiosity requires me to find out what you mean by the “collapse of the military-procurement-system due to the destruction of the acquistions workforce”, specifically.

  158. 158.

    Makewi

    October 26, 2009 at 7:01 pm

    almost forgot, you stupid shit.

  159. 159.

    LD50

    October 26, 2009 at 7:01 pm

    @Makewi:

    I get it, you don’t think it’s important that Obama respects the ladies.

    ‘The Ladies’? Who the fuck do you think you are, Tom Jones?

  160. 160.

    Demo Woman

    October 26, 2009 at 7:02 pm

    @Makewi: lol, lol, lol

  161. 161.

    Chad N Freude

    October 26, 2009 at 7:03 pm

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    First paragraph
    …
    Second paragraph
    …
    Third paragraph
    …

    Inserting “…” between paragraphs has worked in the past. Today, who knows?

  162. 162.

    LD50

    October 26, 2009 at 7:04 pm

    I get it, you don’t think it’s important that Obama respects the ladies. It’s something of a trend with Democratic presidents.

    So I guess women must have overwhelmingly voted Republican in ’08, right?

  163. 163.

    geg6

    October 26, 2009 at 7:06 pm

    So Makewi, you’re suddenly a member and supporter of NOW? Really? So you support women’s reproductive freedom? You support support freedom of choice? You support women in combat roles in all branches of service? You are making such a case for your feminist bona fides that I’m guessing I’ve see you at a meeting or a march or a convention? You have no idea what feminism is about. If you did, you would not make such a ridiculous argument as Ledbetter being such a small thing while the president calling someone sweetie once is such a huge insult to women. As I believe I’ve mentioned, I once stormed the barricades in the midst of the movement, so I think I have some cedibility here that you obviously don’t. And you know what? I still let my guy buy me dinner. He still opens doors and lets me enter first. And I like it. Feminism isn’t about any of that stuff. But you’re too stupid to understand that. But that’s why I’m on my side of the aisle with people who think about and see the big picture and you’re on yours. With the morans.

  164. 164.

    Ash Can

    October 26, 2009 at 7:08 pm

    @Makewi: OK, now that was a good personal insult. Obviously, I stand corrected; it’s all in the timing. And that was spot on. Well done.

  165. 165.

    Splitting Image

    October 26, 2009 at 7:11 pm

    @Makewi:

    I get it, you don’t think it’s important that Obama respects the ladies. It’s something of a trend with Democratic presidents. OTOH, proving things like discrimination is hard, so why constrain the earning potential of litigators justice with things like time lines?

    I don’t care whether Obama respects me, loathes me, or masturbates screaming my name. I care about the legislation that gets passed because of who controls the White House. And I support the Ledbetter act, as did every woman elected to Congress at the time.

  166. 166.

    Gwangung

    October 26, 2009 at 7:14 pm

    @Splitting Image: She’s not making serious arguments. No need to treat her seriously; she’s getting all the response she wants by flinging crap all over the place.

  167. 167.

    Makewi

    October 26, 2009 at 7:15 pm

    @geg6:

    You don’t believe exactly as I do, so just shut up. You don’t have the kind of credibility that only a fill in the blank needs to have in this sort of discussion, so just shut up.

    Why is it your arguments boil down to shut up? Not big on dissenting voices or do you just not like it that someone you have identified as the enemy is pointing out that the leader of NOW has a point regarding Obama’s obvious problems with women?

    Either way, you might just want to make your piece with the fact that you helped elect yet another Democratic cad.

    Remember the jr. UN ass staring? That was some good times eh?

  168. 168.

    Betsy

    October 26, 2009 at 7:16 pm

    @Makewi:

    LOLOLOLOLOL!!! Whew. [Wipes eyes.]

    That is some Rovian-level redirection/logic inversion you’ve got going on. I am impressed. It takes a certain chutzpah to claim that legislation that protects women from intentional pay discrimination is “crumbs,” and that we’d thus be better off under an administration that actively worked against women’s interests but didn’t (recently, publicly) call a woman sweetie. No, he only called them “cunts.” But that was during the 90s, dontcha know, so that was all right then.

  169. 169.

    whatsleft

    October 26, 2009 at 7:16 pm

    Wait – Obama’s playing b-ball with a fictional John Grisham lawyer??? What’s the fuss, she’s female after all.

  170. 170.

    Reason60

    October 26, 2009 at 7:18 pm

    “The problem I have with the WH approach to Fox News is not that they are openly contemptuous of that wing of the GOP, but that they are not showing enough contempt for the rest of these folks at the other networks and organizations ..”

    Amen. Fox may be the worst stream of partisan sewage, but at least they are obvious about it. The NY Times’ cheerleading of the Iraq war was far more insidious because they had a journalistic reputation.

    Greenwald nailed it- most of the Beltway media are stenographers.

  171. 171.

    soonergrunt

    October 26, 2009 at 7:19 pm

    @Makewi: This is one of those things about military contracting, you stupid shit. In addition to giving all that money to companies like Blackwater and KBR to do at greater expense what we already have military personnel to do, the Bush Administration, and the “greatest Secretary of Defense in history” destroyed the professional acquisitions workforce, you stupid shit. The deleted the positions from the federal payroll, and then contracted defense contractors to manage acquisition programs at higher cost than the civilians they fired you stupid shit. In fact, most of the civilians who were let go in this restructuring went to work for the very companies whose programs they had been managing you stupid shit. So not only did the very act of running the offices for acquisitions get more expensive, but the cost of RDT&E skyrocketed because there was nobody looking out for the taxpayer anymore, you stupid shit. It’s how we get programs like the multibillion-dollar waste called Future Combat Systems for the Army, which program was actually managed by the very contractors who were trying to sell the program, you stupid shit. It’s how we get F-35, with the program being ‘jointly managed,’ which really means that 95% of the program management is done by Lockheed Martin, who builds the fucking plane, you stupid shit. This is how these two boondoggles have ended up costing more than half a trillion taxpayer dollars while producing NO working vehicles for the Army and only two flying articles for the Air Force, you stupid shit.
    So now you know the answer to that question, and you can make an effort at explaining how supporting the authors of that, and the other failures of the Republican/Conservative movement actually comports with traditional conservatism, you stupid shit.

  172. 172.

    General Winfield Stuck

    October 26, 2009 at 7:20 pm

    @Gwangung:

    she’s getting all the response she wants by flinging crap all over the place.

    Even well below any semblance of spoof. Six year old’s could make more sense than this angle of attack. Waste of bandwidth and time, but nothing else much going on, like HCR. Scarlett has jumped that tea bag trawler before it sinks to the bottom of Lake Wingnut like a bucket of lead.

  173. 173.

    ominira

    October 26, 2009 at 7:25 pm

    @Makewi: Of course. In most workplaces, people gather around on payday and pass around their paystubs so that everyone knows who’s making what. That’s what Ruth Bader Ginsburg was alluding to in her affirmation of the court’s decision. Proving discrimination after the 180 day period is easy peasy and we never need legislation that addresses a problem exposed by a wrongheaded Supreme Court decision. I mean if the wisdom of past justices with the Dred Scott decision had been upheld through time, your current Obama nightmare wouldn’t exist. I truly feel your pain.

  174. 174.

    Makewi

    October 26, 2009 at 7:28 pm

    @soonergrunt:

    You seem very bitter, and on top of that while I imagine you think that was very specific, what it really was is a series of angry rants lacking any specificity whatsoever. Give me some facts to back up your paranoia. As it happens, I know a little about military procurement.

    Because, honestly, this…

    In addition to giving all that money to companies like Blackwater and KBR to do at greater expense what we already have military personnel to do, the Bush Administration, and the “greatest Secretary of Defense in history” destroyed the professional acquisitions workforce,

    …might as well be shortened to angrily screaming HALLIBURTON!!!! for all the specificity it contains.

  175. 175.

    Makewi

    October 26, 2009 at 7:28 pm

    you stupid shit.

  176. 176.

    Gwangung

    October 26, 2009 at 7:29 pm

    @General Winfield Stuck: Kinda sad, really. She comes in every day, determined to make at least one thread all about her. And, generally, she syceeds.

  177. 177.

    Makewi

    October 26, 2009 at 7:33 pm

    @ominira:

    The problem wasn’t a wrongheaded USSC decision. The problem was a short sighted clause in the law in question. The majority was correct in the proper means to remedy that kind of problem, through the legislature.

  178. 178.

    AhabTRuler

    October 26, 2009 at 7:34 pm

    She’s not making serious arguments. No need to treat her seriously; she’s getting all the response she wants by flinging crap all over the place.

    Bingo!

  179. 179.

    LD50

    October 26, 2009 at 7:35 pm

    @Gwangung: Her masochism kind of reminds me of that famous, uh, ‘essay’ about Ann Coulter. As such, we can all consider how it feels to be a disposable instrument in Makewi’s personal debasement fantasy.

  180. 180.

    AhabTRuler

    October 26, 2009 at 7:36 pm

    @soonergrunt: And it is also why “Insourcing” is on everyone’s lips, at least gubmint-wise.

  181. 181.

    Makewi

    October 26, 2009 at 7:36 pm

    @Gwangung:

    Oh, this isn’t about me. This is about how the pre-eminent organization for women’s rights in the US successful took the Obama administration to the woodshed over his WH boys club. It’s also a little about you guys not wanting to admit that it happened, or if it did, that it meant anything.

  182. 182.

    Mr Furious

    October 26, 2009 at 7:38 pm

    @Makewi:

    Remember the jr. UN ass staring? That was some good times eh?

    Yeah, it was good times watching you, Ann Althouse and every other brain-dead jackass pundit on the right have a conniption fit over a complete non-story.

  183. 183.

    General Winfield Stuck

    October 26, 2009 at 7:41 pm

    @Gwangung:

    And, generally, she syceeds.

    that’s alright. She came to make an effort, however small, to play a part in defeating HCR. Looks like the effort was for naught, and now her balloon is spewing the last of it’s hot air describing the shape of her own navel.

  184. 184.

    ominira

    October 26, 2009 at 7:42 pm

    @Makewi: I see. But you don’t like the Ledbetter legislation because according to you, it discriminates against women. And you’ve worked hard to get your congresscritters to address that short sighted legal clause in a different way, right? One in keeping with Republicanconservative, feminist values. Brava!

  185. 185.

    Chad N Freude

    October 26, 2009 at 7:44 pm

    @Makewi: I wasn’t going to comment on this particular catfight, but I couldn’t pass this up:

    You don’t believe exactly as I do, so just shut up.

    Well, OK, nothing I could say could make the point better than the unadorned quote.

    Re Ledbetter:

    Because lord knows a poor little lady can’t be expected to file a lawsuit within the required 180 days.

    The problem was that Ledbetter didn’t learn of the discriminatory pay until after the 180-day period:

    “A worker knows immediately if she is denied a promotion or transfer, if she is fired or refused employment. And promotions, transfers, hirings, and firings are generally public events, known to co-workers. When an employer makes a decision of such open and definitive character, an employee can immediately seek out an explanation and evaluate it for pretext. Compensation disparities, in contrast, are often hidden from sight.”
    — Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg, dissenting with the majority opinion that found Ledbetter’s case was invalid, May 29, 2007

    She didn’t need outside help, she needed knowledge that was withheld. See Time Magazine. The new law was passed to correct the Supreme Court majority interpretation of the prior law.

  186. 186.

    soonergrunt

    October 26, 2009 at 7:45 pm

    @Makewi: That would be serviced by you reading the rest of the referenced post, you stupid shit.
    And if you “know a little about military procurement,” then you know exactly what I’m talking about, you stupid shit.

  187. 187.

    Pete Start

    October 26, 2009 at 7:47 pm

    Regrettably, Jake Tapper got mistaken for an Actual Journalist during the 2008 election. Which is a what I believe is commonly known as Real Shame.

    For us all, ultimately.

  188. 188.

    Chad N Freude

    October 26, 2009 at 7:47 pm

    You don’t believe exactly as I do, so just shut up

    John, could you make this a tag? Please? Bitsy wants you to do it.

  189. 189.

    soonergrunt

    October 26, 2009 at 7:49 pm

    @AhabTRuler: The ‘insourcing’ term refers to the act, under the current administration and congress to recapture the acquisitions workforce back into the federal bureaucracy.
    A few people with whom I am familiar have had their contractor positions converted over to federal Civil Service or NSPS positions.

  190. 190.

    kay

    October 26, 2009 at 7:55 pm

    @soonergrunt:

    Thanks for posting all this.

    I had suspected something like this was going on, with the conservative ideologically-based fetish for outsourcing everything that isn’t tied down, but I was just going by disparate scattered references I had come across.

    They ruin everything they touch, don’t they?

    The destruction is so thorough. Never building, always tearing down.

  191. 191.

    gwangung

    October 26, 2009 at 7:57 pm

    @Makewi: There, there, it’s all right.

    We’re giving you what you want.

  192. 192.

    DougL (frmrly: Conservatively Liberal)

    October 26, 2009 at 8:06 pm

    jl: “Sounds like he is madly casting until he hooks a big ‘un. What the big ‘un is, who cares, as long as he can make some noise and get some attention on some angle or other. He’ll get somebody coming or going, whatever it takes.”

    Exactly. I think the problem is that Obama is not giving them ‘meat’ (something scandalous) to chew on so they (Tapper and his ilk) are casting about in an attempt to find ‘The Next BIG Story’ in the absence of one. This is a democratic president and the MSM knows they can safely rip into him just for that reason. They are fishing for something that will bring in the eyes and ears, the ratings they love and live for.

    It’s like they really don’t give a shit about reporting the usual mundane news about sausage making, the stuff that informs us but is as boring as watching paint dry. They want hype, they want sexy,  they want intrigue, they want conflict, the regular boring old news just isn’t enough any more. They want dirty laundry.

    They want ‘American Idol’ news, that’s all. That the world is falling apart around us isn’t sexy enough for them, they want what they want and they send their dogs out to look for it.

    The problem is that they are sending out the poodles and not the bloodhounds.

  193. 193.

    General Winfield Stuck

    October 26, 2009 at 8:15 pm

    @DougL (frmrly: Conservatively Liberal):

    The problem is that they are sending out the poodles and not the bloodhounds.

    LOL, that’s a keeper!

  194. 194.

    AhabTRuler

    October 26, 2009 at 8:17 pm

    @soonergrunt: Not just acquisitions. From my limited understanding, outsourcing is being rethought in government staffing circles.

  195. 195.

    AhabTRuler

    October 26, 2009 at 8:30 pm

    Sorry, widely rethought…

  196. 196.

    TenguPhule

    October 26, 2009 at 8:45 pm

    You don’t have the kind of credibility that only a fill in the blank needs to have in this sort of discussion, so just shut up.

    Makewi, BJ’s own walking talking Irony of the Day.

  197. 197.

    BongCrosby

    October 26, 2009 at 8:46 pm

    >>As it happens, I know a little about military procurement.

    “Hi there, sailor — need a date?”

  198. 198.

    kommrade reproductive vigor

    October 26, 2009 at 8:56 pm

    I think a better idea for Gibbs’ response to this: Every time Tapper raises his hand, Gibbs says “In the interests of gender equality, we’re skipping you. Helen, your next question, please.”

    Excellent.

    The only thing better would be if every time Tapper asked a question, an out of work reporter got to kick him in the balls.

  199. 199.

    soonergrunt

    October 26, 2009 at 9:02 pm

    @AhabTRuler: Well, in my civilian job, I work in for a bunch of acquisitions people for the military.
    Don’t get me wrong, there’s a lot to be said for the idea that private companies have agility and other abilities as a structural matter that make them more cost effective than government bureaucracies. But here’s what happens. That only works when the customer is also capable of a certain minimum amount of agility, and the federal government as a whole, and DoD in particular are just not that agile. They have to plan for, and use equipment for several years and decades in some cases. The result is that these contractors inevitibly begin to abuse their power as the supplier to their non-agile, locked-in customer. Where else is DoD going to go? It’s not like we can suddenly beging buying Eurofighters instead of F-35s. Our suppliers happen to have a great deal of say as to who sets our policies.

  200. 200.

    You don’t believe exactly as I do, so just shut up

    October 26, 2009 at 9:48 pm

    Trying on a new identity to see how it fits.
    H/T Makewi

  201. 201.

    JenJen

    October 26, 2009 at 10:09 pm

    @Violet: It’s up on the Cutest Dog blog now. Grrrr.

  202. 202.

    Steeplejack

    October 27, 2009 at 12:38 am

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    I don’t have edit, so let me see if I can get this right in one go.

    Here is how I get “good” blockquotes (h/t AsiangrrlMN and Monkeyboy):
    put two underscore characters on the lines between paragraphs. They don’t print and they keep the blockquote together. Go figure.

    Lemme see if I can show the code:

    . . . last line of “normal” text above blockquote (no blank line before blockquote to avoid boldface in blockquote)
    &#060blockquote&#062
    Paragraph 1
    &#095&#095
    Paragraph 2
    &#095&#095
    Paragraph 3, etc.
    &#060/blockquote&#062

    Fingers crossed.

  203. 203.

    Steeplejack

    October 27, 2009 at 12:41 am

    @Steeplejack:

    The code in my comment above will come out looking like this:

    Paragraph 1
    __
    Paragraph 2
    __
    Paragraph 3, etc.

    And back to normal text.

  204. 204.

    Makewi

    October 27, 2009 at 1:56 pm

    @DougL (frmrly: Conservatively Liberal):

    Nice theory, so long as you continue to ignore the head of NOW thinking it’s an actual issue, which is apparently what you intend to do when you are confronted with uncomfortable truths.

  205. 205.

    Makewi

    October 27, 2009 at 1:59 pm

    @soonergrunt:

    No, I don’t know “exactly what you are talking about” and apparently you aren’t knowledgeable enough about it to give specifics. As I figured, you just want to scream about the CORPORATIONS and the evil right wingers and how they “took r jebs!”

    You stupid shit.

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