Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Well, whatever it is, it’s better than being a Republican.

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

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

“Perhaps I should have considered other options.” (head-desk)

Technically true, but collectively nonsense

Republicans don’t want a speaker to lead them; they want a hostage.

Come on, man.

Not loving this new fraud based economy.

We are learning that “working class” means “white” for way too many people.

“When somebody takes the time to draw up a playbook, they’re gonna use it.”

No one could have predicted…

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

Why is it so hard for them to condemn hate?

The Giant Orange Man Baby is having a bad day.

When you’re in more danger from the IDF than from Russian shelling, that’s really bad.

This fight is for everything.

Republicans choose power over democracy, every day.

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

If you can’t control your emotions, someone else will.

We will not go quietly into the night; we will not vanish without a fight.

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

“The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits.”

Most of you should go to bed and try to be better Jackals in the morning.

JFC, are there no editors left at that goddamn rag?

You are here: Home / Archives for 2009

Archives for 2009

The 2012 Republican Frontrunners

by | 149 Comments

This post is in: ,

“But ultimately what the bailout does is help those who are concerned about the healthcare reform that is needed to help shore up our economy.” – Sarah Palin

“One thing we can all do is stop assuming that the way to beat [the Democrats] is with better policy ideas.” – Rush Limbaugh

Palin/Limbaugh 2012, because ideas don’t matter (and thank goodness for that!).

(thanks to Jay in Oregon for the bumpersticker)

*** Update ***

Sorry for the wall to wall Rush stuff, but this is too funny. Steele is now walking back his remarks:

Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele says he has reached out to Rush Limbaugh to tell him he meant no offense when he referred to the popular conservative radio host as an “entertainer” whose show can be “incendiary.”

“My intent was not to go after Rush – I have enormous respect for Rush Limbaugh,” Steele said in a telephone interview. “I was maybe a little bit inarticulate. … There was no attempt on my part to diminish his voice or his leadership.”

***

“I went back at that tape and I realized words that I said weren’t what I was thinking,” Steele said. “It was one of those things where I thinking I was saying one thing, and it came out differently. What I was trying to say was a lot of people … want to make Rush the scapegoat, the bogeyman, and he’s not.”

“I’m not going to engage these guys and sit back and provide them the popcorn for a fight between me and Rush Limbaugh,” Steele added. “No such thing is going to happen. … I wasn’t trying to slam him or anything.”

Too late. We know where the real power in the GOP is these days. Rahm Emanuel, yesterday:

EMANUEL: You just named them. It was Rush Limbaugh. I mean, he has laid out his vision, in my view, and he said it clearly, and I compliment him for that. He’s been very upfront and I compliment him for that. He’s not hiding.

He’s asked for President Obama and called for President Obama to fail. That’s his view. And that’s what he has enunciated. And whenever a Republican criticize him, they have to run back and apologize to him, and say they were misunderstood.

I’m dying here. Explain again to me how it was a mistake to elevate Rush Limbaugh?

*** Update ***

Beat you to it Sullivan:

Steele Reports To The Politburo

Comrade Steele dutifully apologizes to the Great Leader and offer his regrets to his fellow comrades in the movement. Re-education camp will follow shortly.This climb-down marks the end of establishment Republican resistance to the Poujadist pontificator. It’s Rush’s party now. So why shouldn’t he run for president in 2012? Make Palin his veep – and be done with it.

This is just too funny.

The 2012 Republican FrontrunnersPost + Comments (149)

Open Thread

by | 76 Comments

This post is in: 

Sorry for the lack of posts, and there is a ton going on, including the updates on the wiretapping stuff, the reform of the Rockefeller laws in NY (I forget who I was reading that was talking about that), and a whole host more, but I woke up this morning with a sinus headache that has, through the course of the day, gotten progressively worse. I am now starting to feel serious flu related stuff as well.

Oh wells.

Open ThreadPost + Comments (76)

Imagine a Massive Highway Pileup. Now Imagine Clown Cars. Awesome, Isn’t It?

by | 197 Comments

This post is in: ,

This just keeps getting better and better:

In a little-noticed interview Saturday night, Steele dismissed Limbaugh as an “entertainer” whose show is “incendiary” and “ugly.”

Steele’s criticism makes him the highest-ranking Republican to pick a fight with the popular and polarizing conservative talk show host.

But the new RNC chairman’s extraordinary comments won’t sit well with the millions of conservative listeners Limbaugh draws each week, and Steele aides scrambled to limit the damage Monday morning by trying to change the subject.

And Rush fires back:

Yes, said Michael Steele, the chairman of the Republican National Committee, I’m incendiary, and yes, it’s ugly. Michael Steele, you are head of the RNC. You are not head of the Republican Party. Tens of millions of conservatives and Republicans have nothing to do with the RNC and right now they want nothing to do with it, and when you call them, asking them for money, they hang up on you. I hope that changes. I hope the RNC will get its act together…

It seems to me that it’s Michael Steele who is off to a shaky start….

Now, Mr. Steele, if it is your position as the chairman of the Republican National Committee that you want a left wing Democrat president and a left wing Democrat Congress to succeed in advancing their agenda, if it’s your position that you want President Obama and Speaker Pelosi and Senate leader Harry Reid to succeed with their massive spending and taxing and nationalization plans, I think you have some explaining to do.

Why are you running the Republican Party? Why do you claim you lead the Republican Party when you seem obsessed with seeing to it that President Obama succeeds? I frankly am stunned that the chairman of the Republican National Committee endorses such an agenda…

I am wondering how Mark Halperin will spin this as excellent news for John McCain.

*** Update ***

This is my mental image of the current inner workings of the Republican party:

Follow me! Follow me to Freedom!

*** Update #2 ***

More here.

Imagine a Massive Highway Pileup. Now Imagine Clown Cars. Awesome, Isn’t It?Post + Comments (197)

Give A Hand If You Can

by | 149 Comments

This post is in: 

A couple of days ago, frequent commenter Svensker talked about a friend of hers who had some problems, and I asked her to elaborate a little and find out if there was anything we could do to help. We emailed back and forth for a few days, and here is the back story:

I have an amazing friend on the west coast. She’s smart, funny, quirky and a fantastic artist, who designs intricately detailed, one-of-a-kind art quilts made from found textiles. A number of her quilts have been acquired by the International Quilt Study Center & Museum at the University of Nebraska. She survived a bout with breast cancer a few years ago but was feeling good as she approached her 5 year remission anniversary, she had a decent job as an editor, and life seemed pretty good.

Then a few months ago she got laid off from her editing job. She managed to keep up her health insurance, which is good,thing, because she was just diagnosed with liver cancer—treatable, but expensive, even with insurance. She was struggling to bring in some income (e-bay, on-line selling, freelancing editing, etc.) and seeming to do OK…then I didn’t hear from her. Called, e-mailed, nothing. 2 weeks go by. She e-mailed yesterday to say that she’d just got out of the hospital, where she was admitted after collapsing at home. Reason she collapsed? Malnutrition. Isn’t it lovely not to have enough money to pay for food AND medical expenses?

The doctor’s trying to get her strength up before they begin chemo, which they hope to start next week. My friend’s trying not to think about the fact that she is piling up huge bills on her co-pay and, at the same time, doesn’t have much energy left over to work. As an older single woman without any family to fall back on, her options right now are pretty slim.

If you’d like to “meet” my friend and see some of her work here’s a link to a show that Oregon Public Broadcasting did about her in 2000.

At any rate, I was hoping she would have some quilts for sale and we would be able to advertise those, but she has been too sick to do any of that, so here instead is a paypal link. If you can toss in a couple bucks to help out a member of the extended Balloon Juice family, that would be great.

Give A Hand If You CanPost + Comments (149)

Slide

by | 165 Comments

This post is in: 

And on a serious note, AIG is still a sinkhole for money, the worldwide markets have crashed, and the DOW is below 7000.

This is not ending any time soon.

*** Update ***

Quote for the day:

In truth, class warfare is what the Reagan Era gave us: thirty years of tax breaks for the wealthy at the expense of the common weal, thirty years of lax regulations which enabled the bankers to strip-mine the savings of average Americans while reaping huge rewards in Ponzi schemes, like the micro-dividing of mortgage assets that were really debits. Once again, I’m not sure Obama’s proposals will work–some will surely be more successful than others, there’s a good chance that rather than being too bold, he isn’t being bold enough–but I am absolutely certain where the continuation, or augmentation, of Reagan-Bush policies would leave us: even worse off than we are now.

Joe Klein. You know, Klein gets a lot of grief for things he has said in the past, and I am not saying that grief is undeserved. He was as stupid and pernicious at some stages as I was when I was in full wingnut mode. But these days, at least since the campaign last year, Klein has consistently been one of the most interesting and reality-based pundits out there. I think for the time being, I am retiring the snotty moniker “Jokeline.”

SlidePost + Comments (165)

Get Outta My Dreams, and Into My Clown Car

by | 69 Comments

This post is in: ,

Hugh Hewitt on what he calls “The Speech”:

Rush gave a speech at CPAC today that will be talked about for years and even decades.

***

Rush eschews “leadership.” He doesn’t tell people who to vote for or where to show up and march.

But he does communicate with quite extraordinary clarity the deep, abiding attachment that conservatives have for liberty. He does so with great, good humor, and it is this quality that drives the left to distraction. Rush is funny; really, really funny. This is of course the reason he has succeeded far beyond every other radio talk show host. The “women’s summit” this week was just the latest in a long string of innovative –and profitable– firsts that amused even as it made key points.

And Rush is authentic. And deeply appreciated as a result. Long may he prosper.

Is this the tipping point? Will Hugh’s advocacy for Rush push him the way of Harriet Meiers, Sarah Palin, Mitt Romney, and the many others that have given Hugh starbursts? Time will tell.

*** Update ***

A comparison. By the way, I was thinking to myself that compared to the clowns currently angling for the top seat at the GOP table, Multiple Choice Mitt Romney looks downright dignified and Presidential.

Get Outta My Dreams, and Into My Clown CarPost + Comments (69)

Firsts! Seconds!

by | 57 Comments

This post is in: ,

First sighting of a Republican using “Wolverines!” as a serious battle cry and not as a joke: Robert Stacy McCain:

We are now a mere 18 months from Labor Day 2010, when that climactic political battle will be fully engaged. There a lot of important work to be done — and done now, over the next three to six months — if there is to be any hope of anything but the abomination of desolation. Our utter destruction is at hand unless good men rally to the colors, and we no longer have the luxury of indulging in these petty playground feuds and the children who enjoy them.

To the extent that conservatives need a philosopher now, I’d say we need to be studying Sun-Tzu.

If Rod Dreher wants to join Andrew Sullivan and David Brock (yes, I said “Brock,” not “Brooks”) in the ranks of the vaunting army outside the camp, let him go over and be gone. But don’t sit pouting inside the camp, giving aid and comfort to the adversary by your demoralizing pronouncements. If that stuff is going to be tolerated among conservatives, there won’t be enough left of a constitutional republic after Nov. 3 for anyone to bother trying to “conserve” it, and no hope at all that it might be restored.

WOLVERINES!

The all caps and the red just make it even better. What a way to start the week.

*** Update ***

Title amended to reflect reality.

<del datetime="2009-03-02T14:56:52+00:00">Firsts!</del> Seconds!Post + Comments (57)