Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

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

The lights are all blinking red.

We are aware of all internet traditions.

Good lord, these people are nuts.

Let me file that under fuck it.

It’s the corruption, stupid.

“What are Republicans afraid of?” Everything.

This fight is for everything.

Conservatism: there are people the law protects but does not bind and others who the law binds but does not protect.

Something needs to be done about our bogus SCOTUS.

In my day, never was longer.

“A king is only a king if we bow down.” – Rev. William Barber

I’ve spoken to my cat about this, but it doesn’t seem to do any good.

Optimism opens the door to great things.

You don’t get rid of your umbrella while it’s still raining.

Dumb motherfuckers cannot understand a consequence that most 4 year olds have fully sorted out.

Shut up, hissy kitty!

This has so much WTF written all over it that it is hard to comprehend.

Reality always gets a vote in the end.

“Jesus paying for the sins of everyone is an insult to those who paid for their own sins.”

The current Supreme Court is a dangerous, rogue court.

The worst democrat is better than the best republican.

The gop is a fucking disgrace.

I’m starting to think Jesus may have made a mistake saving people with no questions asked.

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Archives for 2009

Stewart on Beck

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This is, as always, brilliant:

The thing you need to keep in mind is that the lunatic he is mocking, Glenn Beck, is one of the driving forces behind the politics of the current GOP. No, the glibertarians at Reason won’t admit this is what they have been enabling, because they have their heads so far up their asses from years of false equivalences and chants of “BOTH PARTIES ARE BAD!” Plus, everyone knows that when teabaggers and Glenn Beck followers run around worked up over bullshit packing heat, it is their GOD GIVEN RIGHT A CITIZEN and nothing bad could happen. The threat of right-wing violence is radically overstated. Just ask the cops in Pittsburgh, who met an armed Glenn Beck fan.

And of course the media will not admit it. First and foremost, Fox news is their sister organization, right? Glenn Beck is one of them, and they surround us. Our political pundits and beltway betters can’t talk about the fact that Hoffman, the wingnut carpetbagger in the NY-23 special election, was a Glenn Beck follower. No, our talking heads on the cable networks are too busy talking about the rebirth of conservatism because Republicans LOST an election in NY for the first time in 15 decades and won a governor’s seat in… VIRGINIA.

Seriously. According to the “analysis” from the last few days, I’m supposed to think that a Republican winning in Virginia is the sign of the end for Democrats. Thank goodness the Republicans didn’t win a governor’s seat in Alabama, or some in the media would be calling for Obama’s impeachment.

I have agita.

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Same Old Same Old

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I just heard some former administration official (Bush era, I am assuming, since he wore a bow tie, and using the Tucker Carlson/George Will theorem, the surest sign that someone is both an asshole and about to start spewing bullshit, but who knows for sure) on CNN state that more stimulus money needs to be spent on road construction and infrastructure, because Rahm Emmanuel has spent the money on the Department of Education to achieve a political goal.

Anyone want to count the number of ways that statement is bullshit? We could start with the fact that Rahm Emmanuel had not one vote on the stimulus bill. We could also note that infrastructure spending was toned down by, guess who? We could also note that education spending on teachers is a good thing, because states not laying off teachers keeps people working. And on and on and on. Add your own.

The anchoress at CNN, of course, said nothing.

Another day with our failed media experiment.

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If conservatism is formless like water….

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Bobo on independents:

Independents are herds of cats who find out what they think through a meandering process of discovery. Right now, independent voters are astonishingly volatile. Democrats did poorly in elections on Tuesday partly because of disappointed liberals who think that President Obama is moving too slowly, but mostly because of anxious suburban independents who think he is moving too fast. In Pennsylvania, there was an eight-point swing away from the Democrats among independents from a year ago. In New Jersey, there was a 12-point swing. In Virginia, there was a 13-point swing.

[….]

Independents support the party that seems most likely to establish a frame of stability and order, within which they can lead their lives. They can’t always articulate what they want, but they withdraw from any party that threatens turmoil and risk. As always, they’re looking for a safe pair of hands.


Nate Silver

Too often in “mainstream” political analysis, once it is pointed out that independents have swung in one or another direction, the analysis stops. The pundit inserts his own opinion about what caused the independent vote to shift (“Obama’s far-reaching proposals and mounting spending”, says the Washington Post), without citing any evidence. It’s a neat trick, and someone who isn’t paying attention is liable to conclude that the pundit has actually said something interesting.

But in New Jersey, there’s literally almost no evidence that the Democrats’ agenda had anything to do with Jon Corzine’s defeat. Voters who cited a national issue were more likely to vote for Corzine, and voters who cited a local one, the Republican Chris Christie.

The whole Bobo piece is a classic, from the jigsaw puzzle he played with as a kid to the “America moved to the right” meme. The Sulzbergers must be very proud of him.

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Morning Open Thread

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I got nothing, and the news coverage is dominated by the shootings in Ft. Hood, and I don’t have anything to add to the speculation there.

I will say this, though- the speed with which Lily picks up anything even remotely edible and begins to chomp on it while I am walking her is frightening, and would lead a casual observer to think she had never been fed once in her life. I’m beginning to understand the term “trashhound.”

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Open Thread: Thursday Night Menu Edition

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Your weekly soul- and tummy-warmer, thank you Bad Horse’s Filly:

it’s always good to have a soup recipe on hand for when the cold weather returns. And there’s nothing better on a cold night than Creamy Potato Cheese Soup.

On the board tonight:

(1) Cream of Potato Cheese Soup
(2) Orange-Walnut Spinach Salad
(3) Pear and Sour Cherry Crisp

Click the blue text for recipes and shopping list. Mmm, taties & cheez!

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They Got Nothing… Except the Media

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Why is this not a bigger story:

Late last night, the Congressional Budget Office released its initial analysis of the health-care reform plan that Republican Minority Leader John Boehner offered as a substitute to the Democratic legislation. CBO begins with the baseline estimate that 17 percent of legal, non-elderly residents won’t have health-care insurance in 2010. In 2019, after 10 years of the Republican plan, CBO estimates that …17 percent of legal, non-elderly residents won’t have health-care insurance. The Republican alternative will have helped 3 million people secure coverage, which is barely keeping up with population growth. Compare that to the Democratic bill, which covers 36 million more people and cuts the uninsured population to 4 percent.

But maybe, you say, the Republican bill does a really good job cutting costs. According to CBO, the GOP’s alternative will shave $68 billion off the deficit in the next 10 years. The Democrats, CBO says, will slice $104 billion off the deficit.

The Democratic bill, in other words, covers 12 times as many people and saves $36 billion more than the Republican plan. And amazingly, the Democratic bill has already been through three committees and a merger process. It’s already been shown to interest groups and advocacy organizations and industry stakeholders. It’s already made its compromises with reality. It’s already been through the legislative sausage grinder. And yet it saves more money and covers more people than the blank-slate alternative proposed by John Boehner and the House Republicans. The Democrats, constrained by reality, produced a far better plan than Boehner, who was constrained solely by his political imagination and legislative skill.

I seriously do not get this country. The subservience to the Republicans by the media at least made sense when they were in the majority and held the Presidency in 2001. But this is 2009, the Republicans have been routed electorally for the past few years, everything the Republican party believed in failed miserably the last eight years and they have been exposed as total frauds, they released a budget with no numbers on April Fools day, they have been whipping up teabaggers and gun nuts into a froth for months and screaming about death panels because they have no ideas or solutions, and when they finally do release their health care “plan,” it totally and completely sucks. It is nothing but fail, fail, fail, from the GOP, they just lost two more seats in the house, they are going through a horrible (yet delicious) civil war, yet according to the media, everything is bad news for Democrats.

You know what is bad news for Republicans? They used to be able to get elected and be incapable of governing, and as the House elections on Tuesday and the CBO score today show, now they are incapable of getting elected and governing.

And yet somewhere, Chuck Todd or one of the other Beltway drooling class is typing up their next thought piece explaining how all of this is bad news for Democrats, and David Gregory’s staff is probably getting touch with McCain and Boehner’s Chiefs of staff to see if they are available for Meet the Press on Sunday.

I can’t tell what is a bigger joke- the Republicans, or our failed media experiment. Three decades of screaming liberal media bias is about the only smart long-term thing republicans have done in my lifetime.

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