Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Republican also-rans: four mules fighting over a turnip.

When tyranny becomes law, rebellion becomes duty. ~Thomas Jefferson

So fucking stupid, and still doing a tremendous amount of damage.

Also, are you sure you want people to rate your comments?

Someone should tell Republicans that violence is the last refuge of the incompetent, or possibly the first.

Radicalized white males who support Trump are pitching a tent in the abyss.

My years-long effort to drive family and friends away has really paid off this year.

So it was an October Surprise A Day, like an Advent calendar but for crime.

“I was told there would be no fact checking.”

Impressively dumb. Congratulations.

Motto for the House: Flip 5 and lose none.

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

Everybody saw this coming.

It’s a good piece. click on over. but then come back!!

Too often we confuse noise with substance. too often we confuse setbacks with defeat.

Lick the third rail, it tastes like chocolate!

if you can’t see it, then you are useless in the fight to stop it.

Welcome to day five of every-bit-as-bad-as-you-thought-it-would-be.

Dear legacy media: you are not here to influence outcomes and policies you find desirable.

We’re watching the self-immolation of the leading world power on a level unprecedented in human history.

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

We can show the world that autocracy can be defeated.

You cannot shame the shameless.

He really is that stupid.

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Archives for 2009

Not surprised

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John writes:

I have to admit to being surprised that the right seems to not only have instinctively rushed to defend torture (when, of course, they are not busy insisting that it isn’t torture), but now they are attempting to shift the debate into one in which we discuss the relative merits of torture (look at all the good intel I got while drowning this guy!) while bringing in the lawyers (I guess Andy McCarthy has moved on from Obama’s birth certificate) to make sure that their legal behinds are covered.

I have to admit I’m surprised too — I expected the reaction to be worse, both from the Village and from the right. It’s a given that the right not only likes the idea of torture for “national security” reasons but is also, in all likelihood, sexually aroused by the idea of torture. I expected much more lurid stuff about how great torture is and how Bush saved us from 1000 9/11’s, 9/11’s that will now befall of us because of Obama.

And I’m not surprised that the Village has taken a strong stand against prosecution, but I am surprised that they support the release of the memos at all (Broder):

Obama, to his credit, has ended one of the darkest chapters of American history, when certain terrorist suspects were whisked off to secret prisons and subjected to waterboarding and other forms of painful coercion in hopes of extracting information about threats to the United States.

[….]

Suppose the investigators decide that the country does not want to see the former president and vice president in the dock. Then underlings pay the price while big shots go free. But at some point, if he is at all a man of honor, George W. Bush would feel bound to say: That was my policy. I was the president. If you want to indict anyone for it, indict me.

Is that where we want to go? I don’t think so. Obama can prevent it by sticking to his guns.

It’s a given that the Village sees an affair with an intern as far more serious than violations of human rights. We already knew that. I expected the Village outcry against the release of the memos to be much stronger.

I’m not depressed that our society is half-depraved. I’m pleasantly surprised that it may be half-sane.

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It Is Kind of Amazing

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Larison:

One of the things that has kept me from saying much over the last week or so is my sheer amazement that there are people who seriously pose such questions and expect to be answered with something other than expressions of bafflement and moral horror. Something else that has kept me from writing much on this recently is the profoundly dispiriting realization (really, it is just a reminder) that it is torture and aggressive war that today’s mainstream right will go to the wall to defend, while any and every other view can be negotiated, debated, compromised or abandoned. I have started doubting whether people who are openly pro-torture or engaged in the sophistry of Manzi’s post are part of the same moral universe as I am, and I have wondered whether there is even a point in contesting such torture apologia as if they were reasonable arguments deserving of real consideration. Such fundamental assumptions at the core of our civilization should not have to be re-stated or justified anew, and the fact that they have to be is evidence of how deeply corrupted our political life has become, but if such basic norms are not reinforced it seems clear that they will be leeched away over time.

I have to admit to being surprised that the right seems to not only have instinctively rushed to defend torture (when, of course, they are not busy insisting that it isn’t torture), but now they are attempting to shift the debate into one in which we discuss the relative merits of torture (look at all the good intel I got while drowning this guy!) while bringing in the lawyers (I guess Andy McCarthy has moved on from Obama’s birth certificate) to make sure that their legal behinds are covered.

Considering what they have done with virtually every other aspect of the Bush years, I honestly expected them to do what they did with the trillions of dollars of spending and debt that happened with a Republican congress and a Republican President Bush- first, pretend it didn’t happen, then after being forced to acknowledge it did happen, claim that everyone was doing it and blame the Democrats and scream about Murtha and Barney Frank, and when that didn’t work, just pretend that it was “other” Republicans who aren’t “real conservatives” (Move along, these aren’t the wasteful spenders you are looking for) while ranting about earmarks. That is what they did with spending, I figured they would do it again with torture.

But they didn’t and they aren’t. Instead, they are mobilizing and going balls to the wall in defense of sadism. It is really quite amazing, and a testament to just how sick and detestable and rotten to the core the Republican party has become.

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The Bullshitters

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This portion of the Politico story about the encounter between President Obama and Rep. Cantor made me laugh:

Obama ultimately reiterated his commitment to reach across the aisle, a participant in the meeting said. At that, Cantor brought up Obama’s request that his Cabinet secretaries find $100 million in cost savings. That was a “good start,” Cantor told the president, but he added, “We could do more.”

Obama asked Cantor to present him with a list of places where the federal government could save more money. The self-described conservative eagerly agreed.

“You can expect us to have something very soon,” Cantor said, explaining that he’s “looking for wherever there is waste or duplicative spending.”

When asked for a budget with numbers, the Republicans said “We’ll get back to you.”

When asked for their plans for health care, the Republicans said “We’ll get back to you.”

When asked for their plans on energy independence, the Republicans said “Drill, baby drill and we’ll get back to you.”

When asked for their plans to revive the economy, the Republicans said “Tax cuts and we’ll get back to you.”

And now, after bitching about the most bloatedest budget proposal evah, after months of masturbatory tea parties and chants of porkulus, when asked what cuts the Republicans would like to make, the answer, as always, is “We’ll get back to you.”

This is government by frat boy smooth talk- there is no situation you can’t just bullshit your way through. Wreck dad’s BMW after doing 17 shots of Patron at the strip club? No problem, just call dad and the lawyers will get back to you.

Such a joke.

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Releasing Memos

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Joe Wilson is feeling ornery:

Cheney’s request for the declassification of material is a welcome development, but it should not be limited to his narrow request. Our country’s understanding of what was done in our name by the Bush administration depends on the release, not just of the documents Cheney has designated, but of all documents related to the efforts of the Bush administration and Cheney himself to defend the indefensible—the decision to invade Iraq despite the knowledge at the time that Iraq did not have a nuclear program, had no ties to al Qaeda, and posed no existential threat to the United States or to its friends and allies in the region.

The disinformation campaign to manipulate public opinion in favor of the invasion, the torture program, and the illegal exposure of a clandestine CIA agent—my wife, Valerie Plame Wilson—were linked events. In their desperate effort to gather material to whip up public support, Cheney and others resorted to torture, well known in the intelligence craft to elicit inherently unreliable information. Cheney & Co. then pressured the CIA to put its stamp of approval on a series of falsehoods—26 of which were inserted into Secretary of State Colin Powell’s speech before the United Nations Security Council. At the same time, Cheney was furiously attempting to suppress the true information that Saddam Hussein was not seeking yellowcake uranium in Niger. After I published the facts in an article in The New York Times in July 2002, Cheney tried to punish me and discredit the truth by directing the outing of a CIA operative who happened to be my wife.

Among other documents Cheney should release is his testimony to Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald about the role he played in the treasonous leak of the identity of a covert CIA officer. His chief of staff, I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby, was convicted of obstruction of justice and perjury for his efforts to ensure that the “cloud over the vice president,” as Fitzgerald noted, was not penetrated.

As a witness in the Libby case, Cheney has the legal grounds to release his own testimony. If he feels more comfortable, he can ask permission, though he does not need it, from former President George W. Bush—and ask that Bush release his testimony as well. Because Cheney has called for transparency, why should he or Bush object? Then Pat Fitzgerald can make public the transcripts. It’s time for this coverup to end.

Your move, Dick.

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RIP, Bea Arthur

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Almost missed this:

Bea Arthur, the actress best known for her roles as television’s “Maude” and the sardonic Dorothy on “The Golden Girls,” has died of cancer, a family spokesman said Saturday.

No funeral services are currently planned, Watt said, adding that the family asked that donations be made to either the Art Attack Foundation or PETA in lieu of flowers.

Golden Girls was a favorite for my parents.

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Au Revoir, Pontiac

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Another brand down:

The storied Pontiac brand is dead and more car factories and jobs are about to disappear — the latest casualties of a massive restructuring plan that GM is counting on to help it stave off bankruptcy protection.

The struggling automaker will announce details of its plan at 9 a.m. ET Monday as it makes an offer to its bondholders to swap debt for company stock. GM (GM) owes $28 billion to large and small bondholders, and under Securities and Exchange Commission rules, it must disclose its operational plans when it makes an exchange offer.

The last time we talked about cars, someone mentioned that there hadn’t been a “fun” Pontiac in years. I’m not really much into cars- again, I was content driving an 83 Chevy Celebrity forever and would still be driving it had it not died. For me, cars get you from point A to point B, so I never really think of them as “fun.” However, I did think about it, and if I had to say any particular car was “fun,” it would be the Jeep. My roommate Nate and one of my best friends on the lacrosse team, Drew, both had Jeeps, and when I look back, some of my fondest memories were riding in those Jeeps with my friends and our girlfriends, heading to the lake, heading to a game, coming home from practice, going caving, going hiking, etc.

I hope they find a way to save Jeep.

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