Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Lick the third rail, it tastes like chocolate!

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

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

“But what about the lurkers?”

Wow, I can’t imagine what it was like to comment in morse code.

There are times when telling just part of the truth is effectively a lie.

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

Russian mouthpiece, go fuck yourself.

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

Damn right I heard that as a threat.

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

When they say they are pro-life, they do not mean yours.

We are builders in a constant struggle with destroyers. keep building.

Shallow, uninformed, and lacking identity

Republicans got rid of McCarthy. Democrats chose not to save him.

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

rich, arrogant assholes who equate luck with genius

Their shamelessness is their super power.

Giving in to doom is how we fail to fight for ourselves & one another.

I see no possible difficulties whatsoever with this fool-proof plan.

If ‘weird’ was the finish line, they ran through the tape and kept running.

Be a wild strawberry.

Trump should be leading, not lying.

They think we are photo bombing their nice little lives.

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All In! All In! Fold on the flop! Fold on the flop!

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Keeping in mind Jane’s Poker With Harry Reid post and the slap in the face theme, the Illinois Supreme Court refuses to do Harry Reid’s dirty work (via) and just slapped the Senate Dems in the face:

The Senate Democrats appear to be readying themselves to back off their refusal to seat Roland Burris, but they’re going to have to find a new excuse: The Illinois Supreme Court just refused to force the Secretary of State to certify Burris’s appointment.

Unless I am gaming this wrong, Senate Democrats now have four options:

1.) Pressure White behind the scenes to take the hit and go back on his refusal to sign the certificate, so the Senate Dems have an excuse to seat Buriss.

2.) Engage in a protracted smear campaign of Buriss and hope upon hope some legitimate reason pops up to refuse to seat him (Protip: You will need better than the fact he told Blago he is interested in the seat).

3.) Cave completely and seat Buriss.

4.) Do nothing, and drag this story out for as long as possible, completely overshadowing the inauguration, the stimulus, and everything else the Democrats have waited eight years to do until the firm narrative in the minds of the entire American public is Democrats=Corrupt and giving the media the kind of story the love to run.

Personally, I am betting on option 3, but only after a few more weeks of option 4. If I have missed an option, fill me in.

*** Update ***

After some additional thought, it is possible they could try option one until White goes back onto Chicago talk radio and spills the beans that he is now being pressured to sign the certificate and then creates a messy and uncomfortable mini-scandal, all while trying a little bit of #2, ruining Burris’s rep a touch before moving on to the inevitable embrace of 3 and 4. After all, we are talking about Democrats here.

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About Ron Paul And His Supporters

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The other day I was laughing at this statement by Michael Steele:

Yet today, the six men vying to run the Republican National Committee praised the grassroots enthusiasm Paul tapped into during his campaign—and discussed how they would like to capture that enthusiasm to expand the party’s appeal.

“Ron Paul certainly brought a whole new generation of voters and I think it’s important going forward that we recognize the strengths and the attributes of these individuals who are out there actively building the party and building a movement, a consensus if you will, on certain issues. We can’t look that in the eye and say ‘No, we don’t want that,’” said former Maryland Lt. Gov. Michael Steele, adding that the RNC needs to find “creative ways” to work with candidates supported by Paul and his followers, and to work with Paul directly to that end.

Anyone who paid attention to anything the last year and a half would realize that the GOP base and Ron Paul and his supporters are fundamentally at odds with each other to the point that I simply don’t know how Paul has not been expelled from the GOP. Exhibit A:

Good luck swallowing up the Ron Paul supporters into that GOP big tent, Mr. Steele (and that isn’t even going into the stuff Orcinus dug up).

(via)

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Tenny thuggin’

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This is a slap in the face to Rudyard Kipling or maybe Rudyard’s just been thrown under the bus:

He (Blagojevich) ended the news conference by quoting a poem from “Ulysses” by Lord Alfred Tennyson, ending with: “To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.”Blagojevich was arrested Dec. 9 and accused of scheming to sell off Illinois’ vacant Senate seat.

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First they came for Joe the Plumber

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Michelle Malkin speaks truth to power:

If a community organizer can be president and a Saturday Night Live comedian can be a U.S. senator, why can’t a plumber be a reporter?

[…]

As to the media hounds now braying at the idea of hiring celebrities for the sake of publicity, which network was it that hired foul-mouthed entertainer with no anchoring experience Kathy Griffin to co-anchor its New Year’s Eve coverage?

CNN had Kathy Griffin co-anchor its New Year’s Eve coverage, so who is CNN to mock a PJTV for sending a semi-literate,  unlicensed plumber to cover a war? Got that?

And this should be a slap in the face to those of you don’t believe that conservatives engage in real journalism:

LGF and Bob Owens broke the story of CNN’s broadcast of suspicious Gaza footage featured two pro-Hamas doctors engaging in medical theater of jihad — by faking a bizarre form of CPR on a Palestinian boy who “died.” CNN, which heaped derision on JTP for taking on the role of reporter, has yanked the video. More on one of the jihadi apologist zealots, Dr. Mads Gilbert, at FNC.

[….]

I repeat: “Who says conservatives don’t do reporting?”

So now we know:

Finding secret prisons in eastern Europe — NOT JOURNALISM.
Finding flaws in 30 second CNN clips — JOURNALISM.

Update: In fairness, we should all remember that Bob Owens did some of the best on-the-ground disaster coverage this side of Anderson Cooper (@blogenfreude).

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Rational Behavior

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It appears that Blagojevich was impeached and will face a trial of at least three weeks to determine whether or not he is removed from office. Steve Benen remarks:

As for Blagojevich, who was jogging during the House proceedings, he has vowed not to resign, but will hold a press conferences this afternoon at 3 p.m. eastern.

It seems almost odd that Blagojevich doesn’t just step down with at least a shred of dignity, and say he wants to devote all of his energies to his criminal defense, but given what we know of the governor, expecting rational behavior is asking too much.

I simply don’t understand why people keep insisting that resigning would be the “rational” behavior for Blagojevich, as from where I sit, it wouldn’t be rational at all. His stepping down would be “convenient” for those who wish to be rid of him and do not want to have to go on record with a vote to impeach (or not), and given that I suspect he probably is corrupt, his resignation would probably be for “the best.”

But rational? The rational thing for Blagojevich to do is to fight this until the end. As we have noted before, he has nothing else but the power he wields as Governor, and stepping down would leave him with nothing but Patrick Fitzgerald on his tail. Why step down when you never know if you might win the impeachment battle? Why make a tacit admission of guilt by resigning, when you have asserted all along you are innocent?

Not resigning and fighting this is, from Blagojevich’s standpoint, the only rational course of action. Hell- it is the only course of action he has left. I don’t understand why people don’t get that, and why so many folks were blindsided when he went ahead and made a Senate appointment anyway, despite having been sternly warned by Senate Dems. He may be a crook, but right now, he is acting rationally, given his circumstances.

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Deeper and deeper

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More cheery economic news today:

  • *” Not only has the unemployment rate risen sharply to 7.2%, but the number of workers only able to find part time jobs (or have had their hours cut for economic reasons) is now over 8 million.

    “Of course the U.S. population is significantly larger today (about 305 million) than in the early ’80s (about 228 million) when the number of part time workers almost reached 7 million, but the rapid increase in part time workers is pretty stunning.” (Calculated risk)

  • * Brad DeLong offers some further context for the jobs numbers, observing that “And U-6–unemployed plus discouraged workers plus unable to fond a full-time job–is now at 13.5% of the labor force–and BLS ‘discouraged workers’ are a big undercount of the concept.” With so many able-bodied, working age people not actually working, we’re producing many fewer goods and services than we have the capacity to produce. (MY)

But these words from a noted economist are what concern me the most:

“Bottom line: Obama’s prescription for economic pain will at most be useless in encouraging short-term growth, while ensuring anemic longer-term growth for the next decade (and beyond) at the expense of Obama’s kids and my kids and yours.”

Think about that, libtards: Obama’s not even in office yet and he’s already sold his own kids down the river. Clinton didn’t do that until the Socksgate scandal.

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