Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

How can republicans represent us when they don’t trust women?

If West Virginia and San Francisco had a love child.

Cole, when it comes to calico cats, restraint is overrated.

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

A consequence of cucumbers

It may be funny to you motherfucker, but it’s not funny to me.

… gradually, and then suddenly.

“In the future, this lab will be a museum. don’t touch it.”

Republicans firmly believe having an abortion is a very personal, very private decision between a woman and J.D. Vance.

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

New McCarthy, same old McCarthyism.

We’ll be taking my thoughts and prayers to the ballot box.

When do we start airlifting the women and children out of Texas?

Historically it was a little unusual for the president to be an incoherent babbling moron.

You don’t get to peddle hatred on saturday and offer condolences on sunday.

Joe Biden can go out like FDR, not by dying in office, but by crushing the fascists.

It’s all just conspiracy shit beamed down from the mothership.

The republican speaker is a slippery little devil.

The most dangerous place for a black man in America is in a white man’s imagination.

The Giant Orange Man Baby is having a bad day.

Fundamental belief of white supremacy: white people are presumed innocent, minorities are presumed guilty.

The lights are all blinking red.

with the Kraken taking a plea, the Cheese stands alone.

Quote tweet friends, screenshot enemies.

You are here: Home / Politics / Media / Ratfucking in the Bay State

Ratfucking in the Bay State

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Special elections, like next Tuesday’s to replace Teddy Kennedy, are all about voter turnout. And suppressing turnout, by discouraging Democratic supporters and potential swing votes, in order to give Scott “Cosmo Boy” Brown an edge is Rethug Ratfucking 101. Yeah, Martha Coakley lacks the fire and sparkle (vigah!) one might wish to inspire the progressive troops. But Coakley is the first woman within spitting distance of the seat because the Democratic powers-that-be here in the commonwealth are still very much Good Old Bhoyos, and they are terrified of any Vagina-American who doesn’t come across as a bloodless paper-shuffler. Coakley is the Massachusetts equivalent of Hilary Clinton.

And Scott Brown is Sarah Palin without the starbursts. He may even be dumber than Palin, although he doesn’t come across quite as vicious, possibly because he’s got more socially acceptable outlets for physical violence. Giving him a higher profile would make Boston comedians’ jobs a whole lot easier, which in combination with the traditional Irish/Italian ethnic gynophobia probably explains his endorsement by certain jovial professional alcoholics. As a lifelong drone in the state’s Permanent Minority Party, Brown’s never found a position he couldn’t be against before he was in favor, or vice versa — he’s a low-rent, downscale version of Willard Romney, doggedly pursuing the role of farce to Mitt’s tragedy.

Rethuglican tools like Byron York will be all over the airwaves this weekend, using the Wingnut Wurlitzer and their fellow Media Village Idiots to trumpet Brown’s “scrappy underdog” credentials. (They’ve also got an even-further-right stalking horse in the race, a glibertarian “Independent” whose entire campaign seems to be ‘My legal name is Joe Kennedy, and confusing elderly voters is what passes for an honorable tradition among us swamp yankees.’) It’s up to us DFHs to fight back against the Republican propaganda — and to remember that it’s always propaganda.

ETA: There were, of course, a metric shit-ton of both Brown and Coakley ads during the local evening news. NOT ONE of Brown’s ads use the word “Republican” — he calls himself an ‘independent’ who will ‘fight for all the people of Massachusetts, Democrats and independents and others’. The anti-Coakley ads are sponsored by some group whose name I caught as Citizens-Working-for-Better-American-Democracy (probably not the exact title), but again, scrupulously avoided the R-Word. Brown is very, very wounded that Coakley supporters would call him names, but the name used most often in those ads is Republican.

Reader Interactions

240Comments

  1. 1.

    Cat Lady

    Brown’s my senator, and I just posted this in another thread, but to get a taste of the kind of phony poseur he is, his office at the State House has several glamour shots of HIMSELF.

    I know this on authority.

    The Romney analogy is scarily apt.

  3. 3.

    SiubhanDuinne

    From Chris Cilizza at Kaplan (sorry, I didn’t seek this out, it came to me in an email alert, and I’m not linking):

    Despite his popularity, the Obama visit is not without risk for both he and Coakley.

    Given the uncertainty of the result on Tuesday, a Coakley loss could tarnish the Obama brand and raise questions about his ability to motivate and turn out Democratic base voters. (Remember that Obama made last minute stops in Virginia and New Jersey only to see each of the Democratic candidates come up short.)

    And just because I’m feeling pissy, shouldn’t that be “not without risk for both HIM and Coakley”?

  5. 5.

    Warren Terra

    How can a post about Ratfncking in the Bay State not mention “Joe Kennedy”? To repost a comment I made in the first Coakley fundraising post a couple days ago:

    The ratfnckers are running someone named “Joe Kennedy” as the Libertarian – as in, someone sharing the same name (even, I think, the same middle initial) as Joe Kennedy the son of Bobby Kennedy, former congressman from Massachusetts, and longtime anointed presumptive heir of Teddy Kennedy. (The real) Joe Kennedy has led “Citizens Energy” for more than a decade now, an organization that arranges low-cost heating oil in winter for those who need it (including many retirees on social security in big houses that made sense for their families fifty years ago), with many, many ads each fall and winter that are more about Joe Kennedy than about the subsidized oil (the adds are all Joe talking to camera, with the phone number 800-Joe-4-Oil), making sure that everyone remembers him and associates him with something positive. He decided not to run, so a stooge is running using his name – presumably hoping to get enough confused retirees filling the oval for “Joe Kennedy” to throw the race to Brown.

  6. 6.

    Blue Raven

    And FFS, the very idea of a Rethug in Kennedy’s seat should be sufficiently repellent that you’d think MA Dems would do everything they could to make sure it doesn’t happen.

    Oh, wait. I was raised a MA Dem. Anne’s got the breed down cold. I’ve been in CA too long. For us, female politicians are normal.

  7. 7.

    Rick Taylor

    Probably everyone has seen this by now, but it turns out Brown voted against help for 9/11 Red Cross recovery workers.
    __

    On October 17th, 2001, Brown voted against a bill that would authorize “leaves of absence for certain Red Cross employees participating in Red Cross emergencies.” The bill gave 15 days of paid leave each year to state workers called up by the Red Cross to respond to disasters. At the time, state workers called for such emergencies were required to use sick and vacation days.
    __
    The bill was initially filed before 9/11, and after the attacks, it was made retroactive to 9/11, covering the time spent by state workers who’d assisted with 9/11 recovery work for the Red Cross. Brown’s vote against the measure came a little more than a month after the attack.
    __
    You can read the bill and the roll call right here.
    __
    Brown spokesman Eric Fehrnstrom justified the vote by pointing to the state’s fiscal straits. “At the time, the state was in a fiscal crisis and facing a deficit, and there was no money to spend on additional pay and benefits for state employees,” Fehrnstrom emailed.

  9. 9.

    Bhall35

    After my comments in the last open thread, I appreciate the vigah with which you’ve pushed backed against the Examiner post and Byron York. There is a perennial anguish that engulfs Massachusetts Democrats during senatorial campaigns (usually unfounded), but this one is way closer than anyone expected. I hope it has the opposite effect and increases Dem turnout Tuesday. Maybe Brown has peaked a little too soon? (whistles past graveyard)

  10. 10.

    Jager

    I haven’t lived in Boston since 2001, but I would bet a steak dinner at the Capital Grill that this senate race is top of mind for about 10% of the citizens…the rest of the “bastids” are thinking about the Pats geting booted from the playoffs, Kevin Garnett’s knee, the merits of Rajon Rondo and the fact “pitchas and cat-cha’s” report in just a few weeks…and thats just the women! Oh, and when are we going to see a picture of Tom and Gisele’s new baby!

  11. 11.

    Flugelhorn

    Ahh the irony…

    Teddy OWNS that seat for decades. His pet legislation FINALLY sees the light of day and the poor guy does not even get a chance to vote in favor of it before he dies. Now his seat, a possible deciding factor in the passage of HCR, is about to go to a Republican.

    Is this justice? Karma? What is it exactly do you think? Is it on a Mayan calendar somewhere?

    Could it be that Teddy, now dead of course, can now see more clearly and is influencing the election from the ‘beyond’ to correct an egregious error?

    Fascinating. Just fascinating.

  12. 12.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Warren Terra:

    You mean like this from Anne Laurie’s post?

    (They’ve also got an even-further-right stalking horse in the race, a glibertarian “Independent” whose entire campaign seems to be ‘My legal name is Joe Kennedy, and confusing elderly voters is what passes for an honorable tradition among us swamp yankees.’)

  14. 14.

    nepat

    they are terrified of any Vagina-American who doesn’t come across as a bloodless paper-shuffler.

    Except that Coakley does come across as a bloodless paper-shuffler. That’s part of the problem.

    Coakley is the Massachusetts equivalent of Hilary Clinton.

    You say that like it’s a bad thing. Hillary won the primary here over Obama.

    But, whatever, this really isn’t that complicated for Democrats. It’s the independents who worry me. And the agitated Republican base.

  15. 15.

    General Winfield Stuck

    Ratfuckers and PUMA. What will this unholy alliance spawn. Baby’s with spear tongues. I’m skeert by the possibilities.

  17. 17.

    JenJen

    If there’s any ratfucking going on, it’s that Joe Kennedy thing. Other than that, the GOP just doesn’t seem to fuck rats the way it used to. They’re way off their game, in that sense.

  18. 18.

    RSR

    >>My legal name is Joe Kennedy

    Thanks for that info. I saw his name on some polling and assumed, well, you know…

  19. 19.

    RSR

    >>My legal name is Joe Kennedy

    Thanks for that info. I saw his name on some polling and assumed, well, you know…

  20. 20.

    Cat Lady

    @Bhall35:

    I had two messages on my phone when I got home from Coakley and Barack, and I just hung up with a live Coakley GOTVer. We’ll see, but if the PUMAs who went for Hillary over Barack during the primary realize that a pretty boy with no record of accomplishments who is against women’s rights may beat a hard working wicked smart woman with a career of public service spanning many years get over their grudge, it may end up ok.

  21. 21.

    Bhall35

    @nepat:

    Except that Coakley does come across as a bloodless paper-shuffler. That’s part of the problem.

    This.

    But, whatever, this really isn’t that complicated for Democrats. It’s the independents who worry me. And the agitated Republican base.

    And this. Also.

  22. 22.

    Flugelhorn

    We’ll see, but if the PUMAs who went for Hillary over Barack during the primary realize that a pretty boy with no record of accomplishments who is against women’s rights may beat a hard working wicked smart woman with a career of public service spanning many years get over their grudge, it may end up ok.

    @Cat Lady: Sounds like the same exact circumstances that were in the primaries. There may be hope for you and Coakley after all.

  23. 23.

    goblue72

    As a former Masshole (and now a DFH in Kaliforny – and in homo-lovin’ SF no less!), I couldn’t agree more. But its worse than that. The Good Ole Boys of the MA Democratic party don’t just have an aversion to anyone in a skirt who isn’t a soulless paper-pusher – they have an aversion to anyone that even smells like what we might call a “progressive”. Or a “winning candidate”.

    The fact that Deval Patrick won still never ceases to astound me. I don’t know how many party hacks I watched them put up to run for the governor’s office year after year just to watch said candidate lose to some Republican goofball. Bill Weld. Paul Cellucci. And then, the coup de grace, Mitt Frickin’ Romney after Jane Swift got lost on one of her helicopter trips to the Bershires.

    Of course, none of this is any reason to let Scott Brown win. Anyone who thinks he’s going to be his own man and willing to be “bi-partisan” if elected has a brain tumor larger than Danny DeVito. He’s going to fall in line with the rest of the knuckledraggers of the GOP and will do so for as long as it takes with the hope that he’ll be around someday when the GOP is in the majority again and the leadership rewards him with a committee chair.

  24. 24.

    JMG

    I am a Massachusetts resident. I will knock on my neighbor’s doors tomorrow for Coakley. But she ain’t winning. My guess is, she doesn’t come within 5 points. This is an angry, frightened country and people are lashing out. Coherent political thought has nothing to do with it. Obama is coming here for the same reason Belichick went for it on 4th and 2 — it wasn’t a good choice, just the only one.

  27. 27.

    Tax Analyst

    @ #17 Jenjen said:

    Other than that, the GOP just doesn’t seem to fuck rats the way it used to. They’re way off their game, in that sense

    Well, I think some them finally realized they’ve got a species relationship going on with those rats. Still, I’m not quite sure why that would stop them.

  28. 28.

    aimai

    The problem is that there is nothing else for expressive republican/puma voters to do but vote for Brown–right now the Dems are in power and bush’s last buddies are hurting and angry. The republicans in power have given them nothing to complain about–they’ve essentially lain low and acted like the only thing that matters are the dems. That means that for a moderately political person in the republican side there’s nothing to do but vote for brown. I guess I mean they’ve got pent up rage on their side. Meanwhile, on the democratic side, people *haven’t been asked for their vote*.

    I mean that in the most direct sense. Coakley got over in the primary because of name recognition but she then sat on her hands and its only now that the national dems and coakley are getting around to ringing doorbells and saying “please help us.” Teddy himself always said he lost a big election because he “didn’t ask supporters for their votes” personally. Its something I’ve been complaining about since the get go with Obama and the national dems. You see, when they shut down the outside groups they did it for whatever reason. But when you stop asking people for their support, everyday, and their input (however fake) you are telling them that you don’t need them. People disinvest–sometimes because they are satisfied that you “got this” and sometimes because they are busy but mostly because they think their actual support isn’t necessary. People like to be asked to do shit.

    I’m hoping the dems can turn this around. I am just foaming at the mouth in rage that maybe the republicans can take a democratic seat away from us–and this seat. Damn coakley for being such a weak candidate.

    aimai

  30. 30.

    kay

    @JMG:

    It is pretty irrational. It stops the agenda, but Massachusetts doesn’t stand to gain a lot. He’s still going to be in the minority, and Obama’s still going to be President.
    I guess if they’re just seeking a big, incoherent scream it’ll do that, but I’m not sure they gain anything. He’s committed to following the Party line on everything from taxes to torture.

  31. 31.

    Joe Beese

    With Democrat Martha Coakley in trouble in the Massachusetts special election to fill Ted Kennedy’s seat, Democrats could lose vote No. 60 for President Obama’s health-care bill. In response, an army of lobbyists for drug companies, health insurance companies, and hospitals has teamed up to throw a high-dollar Capitol Hill fundraiser for Coakley… All the leading drug companies have lobbyists on Coakley’s host committee: Pfizer, Merck, Amgen, Sanofi-Aventis, Eli Lilly, Novartis, Astra-Zeneca, and more. On the insurance side of things, Blue Cross/Blue Shield, Cigna, Humana, HealthSouth, and United Health all are represented on the host committee.

    http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/blogs/beltway-confidential/Coakley-in-trouble-Pharma-and-HMO-lobbyists-to-the-rescue-81067542.html

    Facts can be real ratfuckers.

  32. 32.

    Notorious P.A.T.

    You sound a little butt-hurt

    And you sound like a 12-year-old who learned to talk from video games.

  33. 33.

    Bad Horse's Filly

    Wow, so proud everyone has decided to not feed the troll. Having lived in Boston, I still have no idea how they think there. People I were sure were Democrats totally rocked me with how they voted.

  35. 35.

    Chad N Freude

    @SiubhanDuinne: Grammar point: Extremely well-educated elite pundits like Cilizza know that the use of “him” in any context is a sign of poor education, e.g., “Me and him are going to the movies.” It follows that one must use only “he” to show how well-educated one is.

  36. 36.

    Cat Lady

    Damn coakley for being such a weak candidate.

    I’m born and raised in MA, and no lie, everyone involved in any civic activity within the last 40 years has a picture taken of them with Ted Kennedy. Tens of thousands of people lined up to say goodbye, because to a person, they either met him personally, or a family member did, or they were helped by him in some way. Martha’s hard working, but she didn’t work hard enough on the retail level. We’ll see.

    Also, Scott Brown’s wife is a popular reporter on the most popular local news station (WCVB), and his daughter Ayla made it to the finals on American Idol. They’re a reality show ready made for TV.

  37. 37.

    Notorious P.A.T.

    @Flugelhorn:

    What person who isn’t 12 or has the mentality of a 12-year-old uses the phrase “butt-hurt”?

    And no one is a bigger douchebag than a person who hurls an insult accompanied with “:)”. What’s that even for? Are you schizophrenic or just an idiot?

  39. 39.

    blogbytom

    I’m phone-banking all weekend for Coakley, because Brown is a moron, and because the right is energized as all get out about this thing. But don’t tell any Party Purists, because otherwise I’ll start getting called an Obama-bot, or an O-ro-bot-for-O-bot-bama, or a Robama-Rahm-a-not, or a fucking Cosmonaut, or something.

  43. 43.

    JenJen

    Just out of curiosity, how does one sound “butt-hurt” before an actual election result is reached?

    Obvious troll is weird.

  44. 44.

    Flugelhorn

    @Notorious P.A.T.: Stop! My feelings!

    Starting my new list of approved insults:
    Butt-hurt
    Ratfucker
    Rethuglican
    12
    Mentality of a 12-year-old
    Douchebag
    Schizophrenic
    Idiot

    Now fuck off. :O

    Oh. Guess I need to add fuck to that list. I really must remember not to use an emoticon after “Fuck”.

  45. 45.

    Chad N Freude

    At TPM:

    [Brown’s] got his whole staff working as independent contractors — top to bottom — so they’re paying their own payroll taxes and presumably finding health care coverage on their own.

    At least his behavior is consistent with his principles. Gotta admire a guy like that. And apparently the staff is commited to their own impoverishment for those principles. Unless of course they’re all trust fundies who don’t care what it costs Daddy.

  49. 49.

    Notorious P.A.T.

    even if this were true, why would you leak it

    Maybe to try and get people to help with her campaign. [shrug]

  50. 50.

    16 shells from a thirty aught six

    He reminds me of that guy in Bulworth that Bulworth passes and says ‘hey what’s happening my man, I’m gonna have to get that tan.’

  51. 51.

    Kobie

    OT:

    The latest from Rushbo.

    “The U.S. military is now Meals on Wheels. It always is with Democrat presidents.”

    What the fuck is wrong with him? Moreover, what the fuck is wrong with the degenerate fucks who listen to him?

  58. 58.

    Notorious P.A.T.

    What the fuck is wrong with him?

    I always just assume he’s high on narcotics. Especially the kind that can lead to heart problems.

  62. 62.

    Dave C

    If Coakley loses and HCR fails as a result, I swear I’m done with politics for a long, long time.

  69. 69.

    Sanka

    And Scott Brown is Sarah Palin without the starbursts. He may even be dumber than Palin, although he doesn’t come across quite as vicious, possibly because he’s got more socially acceptable outlets for physical violence. Giving him a higher profile would make Boston comedians’ jobs a whole lot easier, which in combination with the traditional Irish/Italian ethnic gynophobia probably explains his endorsement by certain jovial professional alcoholics. As a lifelong drone in the state’s Permanent Minority Party, Brown’s never found a position he couldn’t be against before he was in favor, or vice versa—he’s a low-rent, downscale version of Willard Romney, doggedly pursuing the role of farce to Mitt’s tragedy.

    Rethuglican tools like Byron York will be all over the airwaves this weekend, using the Wingnut Wurlitzer and their fellow Media Village Idiots to trumpet Brown’s “scrappy underdog” credentials. (They’ve also got an even-further-right stalking horse in the race, a glibertarian “Independent” whose entire campaign seems to be ‘My legal name is Joe Kennedy, and confusing elderly voters is what passes for an honorable tradition among us swamp yankees.’) It’s up to us DFHs to fight back against the Republican propaganda—and to remember that it’s always propaganda.

    Shorter Anne Laurie: “We’re f–cked”

  72. 72.

    kay

    @Cat Lady:

    This is for you, then, I saw it on Kos:

    “I’d like to remind everyone that as we learned last Super Tuesday when Obama lost the Democratic primary, the Mass. Dem. Machine matters a lot with regard to GOTV and will probably (hopefully) save Coakley if she doesn’t fall further (which given her incompetence at campaigning, shouldn’t be taken for granted).

    Just before Super Tuesday, Suffolk (those wonderful people) put out a poll showing Obama up by 2 (46 – 44). The final result? 56-40 in favor of Hillary. What happened? All those local officials, who Hillary had locked down, brought out their vote in force.”

    The identical polling is interesting, eh?

  73. 73.

    Scott

    I’m starting to wonder if Limbaugh found out on his recent Hawaii doctor’s visit that his decades of drugs, sex tourism, and general debauchery are catching up to him. If he thinks he’s going to die, could he be attempting to ratchet up the hatemongering in hopes that an outraged citizen will make him a martyr?

  75. 75.

    Flugelhorn

    @freelancer: Love it!
    What am I looking at? Break it down for me. Type slowly and use small words please. Not too slow, or I may be distracted by something shiney and I will never get it. Damn shinies!

    …butterflies…

  78. 78.

    Anne Laurie

    @Warren Terra:

    How can a post about Ratfncking in the Bay State not mention “Joe Kennedy”?

    Joe Glibertarian is running on the “Independent” ticket here, because there are enough IGMFU loudmouths living in New Hampshire and parasitizing Masschusetts that the L-label has been tainted even among low-information voters. And, yes, I did mention him, towards the end of my original post.

  79. 79.

    Jenn

    @Zandar:

    Exactly. You beat me to it.

    http://washingtonindependent.com/74105/did-firedoglake-take-out-vic-snyder#more-74105

    Ratbastards. Ratbastards. Ratbastards. The extra irony is that Snyder evidently isn’t even a Blue Dog. So instead of *supporting* a progressive Dem, they’re helping take one out. Yep, that’s really going to help enact progressive legislation in our country. Ratbastards.

    This was my final straw — I’ve now officially completed the journey from crabby-land to utterly-pissed-off-and-I-ain’t-coming-back. Have they ENTIRELY forgotten the 8 years we had under Republican rule?!

    Ratbastards.

  80. 80.

    Flugelhorn

    @freelancer:

    I’m flipping you off
    .|..
    with both hands.
    .|.. ..|.
    ijidt.

    Wait. Where are the fingers? Can you explain that really long one 2nd from the left? And that other one? 2nd from the right? What is THAT supposed to be?

    ijidt! That word is FUNNY! YAY!

    …pasgetti… mmmm…

    Do you like pasgetti, freelancer?

  81. 81.

    HoneyBearKelly

    It ain’t the Ratfuckers on the other side of the aisle I’m worried about.

    A lot of people on “our” side are pissing me the fuck off.
    They’re falling right into the village heathers meme and repeating it all over.

  82. 82.

    Anne Laurie

    @SiubhanDuinne: Gotta love Chris “Grammar is for real reporters, not media whores like me” Cilizza’s excellent spinning. If Coakley wins, it proves Obama was “desperate” to promote her; if she loses, it’s because Obama is no Magical Unity Pony. And if Brown wins, and proceeds to FUBAR everything he touches (I predict he’ll announce a vote against ‘Obamacare’, followed within 48 hours by a press release stating he’s garnered vast concessions, followed with 12 hours by a statement that he was “misunderstood”), it will prove — to Chris Cilizza — that Obama should’ve campaigned for Brown in the first place.

  83. 83.

    Cat Lady

    @kay:

    The identical polling is interesting, eh?

    Yes it is. But we’re living in interesting times/

    DougJ should have the We Are All Mayans Now tag on speed dial.

  84. 84.

    Thoroughly Pizzled

    @Flugelhorn: You’re one of those smug trolls that plays dumb the whole time, tossing out random insults and stuff like “I seem to have struck a nerve. You wouldn’t be so angry unless I had a point.” Definitely one of the most infuriating kinds.

    I must admit you’re somewhat skilled, but you’re still a below-average troll.

  86. 86.

    Dennis-SGMM

    I can’t but wonder if Coakley might be having an easier time of it had the Democrats expended their time on banking reforms with some teeth in them, job creation (Even to the extent of recreating the CCC under another name) and mortgage relief, rather than the months that they spent dickering and dicking-around in producing – but not yet passing – a fairly lackluster healthcare reform bill. The long-term benefits of any healthcare reform are lost on people who have had their retirement wiped out, who may be losing their homes, or who were just informed by their bank that their last seventy bucks is gone because they had two overdrafts last week (For a total of four dollars and fifty cents.) and their bank charges thirty-five dollars a pop for overdrafts.
    There are fires that need to be put out now. The Republicans are already tapping in to the anger out there (It’s their mileu) the Democrats fail to address the anger at their peril in the 2010 elections.

  87. 87.

    Flugelhorn

    @Thoroughly Pizzled: Pure genious! It is almost as if you are inside my head! GET OUT OF MY HEAD!

    What will I say next? TELL ME!

    GET OUT OF MY HEAD!

    KAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHNN!!!

    …poopie.

  88. 88.

    Little Dreamer

    Anne, I have to say that while I’m female, I do not consider myself a “vagina-American” and I feel quite weird whenever I read these sexist stereotypes coming from you. I realize you get militant when you’re pissed, but, can we please not come off as an embarrassment to our gender, please?

    BJ is one of my favorite places on the interwebs, but, if I keep reading these types of screeds, I don’t think I’ll be visiting anywhere near as often.

    Sorry if this seems mean, I’m trying to give you some advice.

  89. 89.

    Kobie

    @Little Dreamer: I don’t think Anne considers herself a “Vagina-american” either. She was going for the fact that conservatives tend to see women as “Vagina-Americans.” Unclench. I’m relatively new here, but it’s plainly obvious that BJ is not a place to be uptight.

  90. 90.

    Anne Laurie

    @Kobie:

    The latest from Rushbo. “The U.S. military is now Meals on Wheels. It always is with Democrat presidents.”
    …
    What the fuck is wrong with him?

    If (my personal suspicion) those Hawaian doctors told Rush his chest pain was caused by a blocked bile duct, and will recurr every time he eats a nice fatty t-bone or a big bag of cheetos, Limbaugh is now even more fixated on food and angry at everybody whose diets are restricted only because they can’t afford to eat.

  93. 93.

    Chad N Freude

    What will I say next? TELL ME!

    Well, since you ask, while I don’t know what the exact words will be, I do know that they will make you sound like a real jerk.

  94. 94.

    Flugelhorn

    @Little Dreamer:

    Anne, I have to say that while I’m female, I do not consider myself a “vagina-American” and I feel quite weird whenever I read these sexist stereotypes coming from you. I realize you get militant when you’re pissed, but, can we please not come off as an embarrassment to our gender, please?
    BJ is one of my favorite places on the interwebs, but, if I keep reading these types of screeds, I don’t think I’ll be visiting anywhere near as often.
    Sorry if this seems mean, I’m trying to give you some advice.

    See! Butt-hurt! She just said it much more eloquently. KISSES!

    A little civility and respect for the english language can go a long way to not only reinforcing your points but bringing others to your cause.

    Try to do better next time, Anne.

    Love.

  95. 95.

    kay

    @Little Dreamer:

    I realize you get militant when you’re pissed, but, can we please not come off as an embarrassment to our gender, please?

    I don’t think she’s an embarrassment to “our” gender, so you’ll have to leave me out of “we”. I don’t even know what that means.

    Anyway, I like the post.

  100. 100.

    BombIranForChrist

    I want Coakley to win, but I am not going to be super sad if she loses. I will be somewhat sad, and annoyed, but not super sad. I would rather Coakley lose now so that Obama + Dems will realize now instead of in November that their current course of action is god awful. If Obama had taken the Wall Street guys out to the wood shed, this race wouldn’t be close at all. But he’s been pretty awful, leading people like me, and perhaps people in MA, wondering why we should give a shit about a Dem in power. They don’t actually do anything.

  101. 101.

    Flugelhorn

    @Thoroughly Pizzled: And to think that when I woke up this morning, I said to myself, “Self! Let me go make some random fuck on Balloon Juice happy by making him or her feel superior by psycho-analyzing me across the inter-tubes! But first, I must have love with myself.”

    After all I have done for you and then you THROW it back into my face! This is why people shit on each other! No good deed goes unpunished! Am I right?!

  103. 103.

    Flugelhorn

    @Chad N Freude: Oh shit. You mispelled schadenfreude. Or was that a typo? Crap! Couldn’t be that you meant to spell it that way? No possible way. Not buying it!

  104. 104.

    moe99

    I’m mostly a lurker here, but it seems to me like there’s been a bit more troll feeding than usual. Does not really help the dialogue.

  105. 105.

    Yutsano

    @Chad N Freude: Enjoy your toy at your pleasure my good sir. I’m just choosing to ignore it and stay on topic, which since it seems like the people of MA are intent on ratfucking us all because of who won the Dem primary sits just fine with me.

    EDIT: Not the ratfucking part, the staying on topic for me part is what I meant. I apologize for any cornfuzzlement.

  106. 106.

    Paul L.

    Just remember how Martha Coakley promotes fairness and Justice.
    Lobbied to keep a innocent man Gerald Amirault in prison after he was railroaded by Acorn white washer/Apologist Scott Harshbarger.

    Tried to sweep under the rug the case against policeman Keith Winfield, who was convicted of raping a twenty-three month old baby with a hot curling iron.

    Argued in front of the United States Supreme Court “that bothering prosecutors to produce hostile witnesses (in this case forensic examiners) in compliance with the Sixth Amendment, is just too burdensome.”

    I await the typical progressive defense of swiftboating/smears to refute these inconvenient parts of her career.

  108. 108.

    Kobie

    @Flugelhorn: A

    nd to think that when I woke up this morning, I said to myself, “Self! Let me go make some random fuck on Balloon Juice happy by making him or her feel superior by psycho-analyzing me across the inter-tubes! But first, I must have love with myself.”

    After all I have done for you and then you THROW it back into my face! This is why people shit on each other! No good deed goes unpunished! Am I right?!

    A little civility and respect for the english language can go a long way to not only reinforcing your points but bringing others to your cause.

    OK, that’s the last I’ll feed it, I swear.

  110. 110.

    Midnight Marauder

    @moe99:

    I’m mostly a lurker here, but it seems to me like there’s been a bit more troll feeding than usual. Does not really help the dialogue.

    If everyone closes their eyes, I think it might make Paul L. disappear. Just like in Jurassic Park.

  111. 111.

    Flugelhorn

    @Kobie: Oh! Ya got me! I had no idea but you pointed the bitter irony right out. You really get me, don’t you?

    Tell me… Live anywhere near the Chicago area? If so, what are you doing next Friday?

  114. 114.

    Jenn

    @BombIranForChrist:

    Arghh. I take your point that getting a scare now might be better than November, but I really want HCR to pass. I have several friends in the “pre-existing conditions” category, who are just plain screwed under the current system, and who, quite frankly, are really worried.

    But to follow it up with this?

    been pretty awful, leading people like me, and perhaps people in MA, wondering why we should give a shit about a Dem in power. They don’t actually do anything.

    Yeah, right, Obama and Congressional Dems don’t do anything….

    http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/promises/rulings/promise-kept/

    Look, I understand that we haven’t fixed everything in the year that Obama’s been in power (and that some of the things yet to work on are items I care pretty damn deeply about), but is that really the administration and Congress “not doing anything,” or some highly unrealistic expectations of just how much can get done in a year (particularly when the opposing party’s strategy is to obstruct EVERYTHING, regardless of the national interest)?

  115. 115.

    Anne Laurie

    @Little Dreamer:

    Anne, I have to say that while I’m female, I do not consider myself a “vagina-American” and I feel quite weird whenever I read these sexist stereotypes coming from you. I realize you get militant when you’re pissed, but, can we please not come off as an embarrassment to our gender, please?

    First, it’s ‘Anne Laurie’, which has been my real actual first name for 54 years and counting. Tiny small irritant, but there you are.

    Second, I try not to overuse the nasty language, but since “feminist” has collected a lot of weird baggage in many peoples’ minds, I will occasionally use the word Vagina-American as an act of reclamation. The world is full of people who see me, and you, as nothing but a giant Not-Penis walking… when they see us at all. This includes the very male-biased Massachusetts politicians who have done so much to keep assertive women as far from the levers of power as any Talibangical could pray.

    I am a feminist, and an out, proud Vagina-American.

  118. 118.

    John S.

    @Jenn:

    When the Republicans were in a similar position as the Democrats are now, they did whatever the fuck they wanted and their base was behind them every step of the way, until the bitter end. But Democrats are not Republicans.

    As they say, these rats ain’t gonna fuck themselves!

  120. 120.

    Flugelhorn

    @Anne Laurie:

    First, it’s ‘Anne Laurie’, which has been my real actual first name for 54 years and counting. Tiny small irritant, but there you are.

    What a classic and colossal mistake you just made, Not-Penis.

    I mean, I am sitting right here, Anne. HELLO!

    Love,

    Penis

    Really though. I am only joking.

    @Chad N Freude: Call me?

    Signed,

    Penis Walking

  122. 122.

    Anne Laurie

    Incidentally, I know it feels good shitting on trolls, but given their place in the Great Wheel of Being, that constitutes feeding them. Also, too.

  126. 126.

    celticdragonchick

    @Chad N Freude:

    @celticdragonchick: Disgusting??? Not funny perhaps, but why disgusting? Are you confusing “pedantry” with “pederasty”? Seriously, why is it disgusting?

    Yes, that is what happened. My bad. Apologies. :(

  127. 127.

    DonBelacquaDelPurgatorio

    The world is full of people who see me, and you, as nothing but a giant Not-Penis walking

    Really? I mean, full of people who see things that way?

    I have no dog in the fight, since I am a penis-American myself, but I think your pressured speech on this is a little odd.

    I think people attract the responses from others that they expect. I think people teach other people how to treat them. I think I am mostly right about this, since, you know, all generalities are false including this one.

    But anyway, I think you see yourself that way, and that is why you think the world is full of people who see you that way. And I think that the projection/reflection thing is pretty much true of all of us. We all project what we want from others, in ways that are not visible to the naked eye or ear either to the projector or to the projectee.

    Just my opinion.

  128. 128.

    kay

    @Emma Anne:

    Anne Laurie

    As an Emma Anne I would think you would be sensitive to the double name issue :)

    Anyway, I agree. I like “rat fucking” in a title.

  129. 129.

    DonBelacquaDelPurgatorio

    Aw fuck, moderation? In a thread containing self references to vagina americans? Seriously people, are you really intending to run a website here, or is this some kind of beta software test thing designed to be a cruel joke?

    Okay fine, I will repost this mother until the moderation goes away. I am not spending my precious fucking time writing the same language you guys use only to see the posts disappear into a fog.

    Repost:

    The world is full of people who see me, and you, as nothing but a giant Not-P_nis walking

    Really? I mean, full of people who see things that way?

    I have no dog in the fight, since I am a p_nis-American myself, but I think your pressured speech on this is a little odd.

    I think people attract the responses from others that they expect. I think people teach other people how to treat them. I think I am mostly right about this, since, you know, all generalities are false including this one.

    But anyway, I think you see yourself that way, and that is why you think the world is full of people who see you that way. And I think that the projection/reflection thing is pretty much true of all of us. We all project what we want from others, in ways that are not visible to the naked eye or ear either to the projector or to the projectee.

    Just my opinion.

  130. 130.

    Mattsky

    Has anybody else watched the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee ad? They superimposing Scott Brown’s face over the World Trade Center and calling him greedy. What a bunch of slime balls.

  131. 131.

    parksideq

    I’m not superstitious, but Ted Kennedy will spin circles if that teabagging prick wins on Tuesday. It would be armegeddon, both policy-wise and politically. Especially since Brown seems to take marching orders from Beck and Rush.

    Speaking of Rush, even his own twisted logic is flawed. One day he says Obama’s using the earthquake to curry political favor with black people, and the next he claims that Obama is going about that task by diverting relief donations away from Haiti, which would likely piss off many voting Haitian-Americans (not to mention other ethnic black groups and AA’s themselves)?

    Seriously, Rush is to drug addled to web keep his warped reality in alignment. Why do people pay him any mind again? This black guy is through talking about him.

  132. 132.

    Little Dreamer

    @Kobie:

    Unclench. I’m relatively new here, but it’s plainly obvious that BJ is not a place to be uptight.

    I’m not new here, and I would appreciate it if you would understand that perhaps more has happened here than you may be aware of.

    I’m not uptight, I’m pointing out something that was an issue previously and is an issue again.

  133. 133.

    celticdragonchick

    @freelancer:

    the line from Jurassic is “You think maybe velociraptor’s visual acuity is based on movement like T-Rex, but it’s not” and “Don’t Move! He can’t see us if we don’t move!”

    I just started my paleontology class this week. :)

    Of course, we are just dealing with the looooooooong stretch of time where the only living stuff on Earth looked (and probably smelled) like yogurt gone bad. (Then the Cambrian explosion and the Burgess Shale Fauna )

    We won’t get to velociraptors for awhile yet :(

  134. 134.

    DonBelacquaDelPurgatorio

    I don’t think she’s an embarrassment to “our” gender

    Well, that’s a subjective thing. My take on it would be that the v-american construct is a little too cutesy by half.

    As I said above, we teach others how to treat us, in many subtle and some not so subtle ways. We do it with our body language, our tone of voice, our vocabulary, our ideas, our whole presentation. We do it whether we are conscious of it or not.

    When I hear a woman call herself a v-american, or a guy like the liar Cassidy posting, tongue in cheek, that all real men will f_ck anything without a noodly appendage, I immediately think, okay fine, cut the crap. I’m not a subscriber to this kind of gender game playing, I don’t make gender the most important thing about anyone, myself, you, or anyone else. Because, it’s just not.

  135. 135.

    Little Dreamer

    @Anne Laurie:

    Well, excuse me for trying to be respectable and not just saying “hey bitch!” – I am not a feminist, I am a woman, that doesn’t automatically put me in the column of feminist. I am uncomfortable with most brands of feminism (they reek of anger and resentment, I don’t see that as a way of getting along better with people, I like the catch flies with honey approach personally).

    You have put out more than one post where I have been uncomfortable with your gender stereotypes. I can just go away if you wish, really it won’t change my life all that much. I would rather spend my day reading useful info than reading stereotyped anger. I’m sorry you feel like a victim, I don’t.

  137. 137.

    Kobie

    @parksideq: People pay him mind because there are literally millions who listen to his radio program and take everything that he pukes out of that oversized vicodin depository he calls a trap as pure gospel. And they vote.

  138. 138.

    morzer

    Coakley just isn’t comparable to Hilary Clinton. She has made no serious effort to canvass, to GOTV or to present a real position on the issues. She’s run a campaign that can only be called atrociously complacent, and now she’s paying the price. As a resident of Massachusetts (Somerville to be precise), I am sorry to say it, but the first part of Anne Laurie’s article is egregious horsepucky of the first order. During the primary, Coakley never canvassed here, she had no-one going door-to-door, she didn’t even have signs in people’s gardens. Capuano, by contrast did. Coakley is no-one’s idea of a threat, and the “old boys” of the Bay State would fall off their chairs laughing at the idea. Coakley’s problem is that she is too cautious, lacks fire, and seems to think that playing it safe plus negative ads late in the day is a winning formula. Briefly put, she’s made a royal hash of the race so far, and if she wins it will be because of residual Democratic party loyalty, outside organizers and callers, and the big names who came in to save her.

  140. 140.

    DonBelacquaDelPurgatorio

    @Little Dreamer:

    Anne’s problem is that she sees herself as a vag_na American. That’s what this is about. And that’s fine, she is free to see herself as she wishes. But then she wants to be dishonest about it and make it about everyone else — “The world is full of people ….”

    Jesus. Even Darrell wrote better material than that.

  143. 143.

    kay

    @DonBelacquaDelPurgatorio:

    All good points, it just seems silly to object to a gender reference and then talk about something one person wrote as an a referendum on “our gender”. Anne Laurie was writing it, not “women”. It’s her opinion.
    I’m “in the gender” and I wasn’t offended by it, so there’s one. I’m probably the exception that proves the rule, right?
    Of course I am. Always :)
    In addition. Furthermore. I am of the opinion that women in fact have a harder time of it running for federal office. I think it’s a fact. I’m willing to deal with it, I don’t spend a lot of time crying about it, but I do believe it. I deal with some discrimination in my profession. Again, I don’t spend a lot of time worrying about it, but I’d be lying if I told you it didn’t exist. It does.
    Interestingly, women have a slight advantage (in my state, anyway) when they run as judges. I don’t know why that is, but I volunteered on a state appeals court campaign, and it’s a fact.

  144. 144.

    Jenn

    @John S.:

    But Democrats are not Republicans.

    And thank freaking goodness for that. It is not infrequently frustrating as hell, however. The congressional Dems may be the proverbial herd of cats, but at least they (mostly) strive towards good governance and playing by the rules. It’d be rather satisfying emotionally if they played by the same (lack of) rules as the Republicans, and in the short-term, might even pay some dividends. Long-term? I have my doubts.

  146. 146.

    celticdragonchick

    @Anne Laurie:

    I am a feminist, and an out, proud Vagina-American.

    Whatever my other disagreements with you are, I am on your side on this issue! Good for you!

  147. 147.

    Annie

    @DonBelacquaDelPurgatorio:

    WTF. What are you trying to say? First, we all have been in “moderation purgatory,” so get over it.

    Second, how we see ourselves is not correlated to how others see us. Sarah Palin would be nothing if she wasn’t attractive, no matter how she tries to remake her image. Hilary Clinton is considered “unattractive,” and that is how many see her, no matter that she is intelligent and has nothing to prove in that department. Women still struggle to prove ourselves because first and foremost we are judged by how we look. Being both attractive (in my younger days) and intelligent, I know from experience that my physical attributes attracted attention way before my brain. I know how I saw and see myself, and it is not correlated to a world full of people who saw me first for my beauty and second for my intelligence.

  148. 148.

    burnspbesq

    @Joe Beese:

    Let me ask you this, smartypants: do you want Brown in the Senate?

    The inability of progressives to stay focused on what matters Drives. Me. Nuts.

  149. 149.

    nepat

    @Zandar –

    re Firebaggers: looks like Cass Sunstein is the next one in their sights. Along with Scott Brown, everything just comes up roses for the Teabaggers! In fact, they don’t even have to show up anymore when they’ve got Jane Hamsher, Glenn Greenwald, David Sirota, and FDL in general doing all their heavy lifting. It’s the political equivalent of a credit default swap. Take a left-wing meme, repurpose it as a right-wing meme, and Earn. Big. Money!

  150. 150.

    Kobie

    @burnspbesq: This. Also.

    The people on our “side” that are helping to shitcan the Democratic nominee are failing to realize that this is the fucking Senate we’re talking about here. This is risking a minimum of six years of having a wingnut in a prominent seat in the halls of power, of killing a filibuster-proof majority once and for all, and for what?

  151. 151.

    burnspbesq

    @celticdragonchick:

    Uh…that is officially disgusting… And not funny.

    I’m guessing you don’t know the difference between pedantry and pederasty. It is subtle but significant. There are plenty of good dictionaries online.

  152. 152.

    burnspbesq

    @Davis X. Machina:

    Who is Flugelhorn, and why does he love pie so much?

    A trumpet wannabe.

    He likes pie because in addition to being a trumpet wannabe, he’s a troll manqué.

  153. 153.

    celticdragonchick

    I’m guessing you don’t know the difference between pedantry and pederasty. It is subtle but significant. There are plenty of good dictionaries online.

    I had already apologized for the mistake. I did think that it was pederasty, and that was carelessness on my part.

    Being pedantic is actually something that I am frequently guilty of, in truth, and I have mocked myself for it on occasion. Why I so completely flubbed that word tonight is both amusing and embarrassing.

  154. 154.

    b-psycho

    Um…why are people uninformed enough to automatically assume the Joe Kennedy running is the one related to Ted — and as a result vote for him — even considering voting at all?

    I really don’t care about that race, for reasons anyone who has seen me in comments before knows already. But c’mon, if you can’t be bothered to even do THAT tiny bit of research you should be fucking slapped for approaching the booth.

  155. 155.

    Jenn

    I have to admit to a double-take on the “Vagina-American” label as well; it’s not a phrase I’ve run into before, and I have to admit, I’d be pretty pissed off if someone referred that way to me. But within the larger context of the post, I didn’t find it offensive.

    What does rather grate, though, is the tendency I see so much of (particularly, though not exclusively, with younger women) is the !horror! at being thought of as a feminist. This isn’t finger-pointing, it’s a tendency I fight in myself, as well, because I have the luxury of taking for granted all the battles my mom and grandmothers fought. Sadly, there are obviously battles yet to fight, which I tend to lose sight of, since my career path isn’t aimed towards the glass ceiling.

  156. 156.

    DonBelacquaDelPurgatorio

    How we see ourselves is not correlated to how others see us? That is so collossaly dumb and wrong, I cannot process it. I can only conclude that you misspoke or I misread.

    There is nothing more key to how others see you than the idea of yourself that you project. Life is a mirror, it reflecs back to you what you present.

  157. 157.

    celticdragonchick

    @Kobie:

    This is risking a minimum of six years of having a wingnut in a prominent seat in the halls of power, of killing a filibuster-proof majority once and for all, and for what?

    And that’s the rub, isn’t it? Especially if you feel that both are grotesquely unqualified to have the office? I am in NC, so I have no say in the matter, but Coakley can still do things to directly and negatively impact me if she goes back into witch hunt the pain management doctors mode.

    NO, I am not happy about it.

  158. 158.

    Bhall35

    @Kobie: Correct me if I’m wrong, but this election is to serve out Kennedy’s term, which means Brown would have to be re-elected in 3 years. A small point to be sure, but there’s no guarantee he would be re-elected for another term (especially if the electorate figures out what an empty suit he is).

    Silver linings, etc…

  159. 159.

    Flugelhorn

    @burnspbesq: I am curious. As all of you folks are so much smarter than me, what is a successful troll? Since I am so clearly a failed troll (in reality BJ denizens label anyone who does not agree with the progressive manifesto a troll) what can I do to be more successful?

    Can you recommend some apprenticeships for me? Perhaps a “Trolling for Dummies” book? Is it more akin to athleticism where one is born with high trollity or not?

    Please. Illuminate me.

  160. 160.

    morzer

    Flugelhorn, when you ask to be illuminated, do you have a lighter handy, or do you expect me to use matches? Also too, as Comrade Palin says, can I put the ashes in a Folgers jar?

  162. 162.

    Annie

    @Little Dreamer:

    If not for feminism, we would not be posting here. Nothing wrong with anger and resentment. Without both, your approach of “catching flies with honey” would involve a nice pat on the head and looks that told you to stay in the corner and be quiet while those with meaningful opinions — the guys — would continue deciding our fates.

  163. 163.

    Kobie

    @Flugelhorn: You’re not a “troll” because you don’t agree with the “progressive manifesto,” you fucking twerp. You’re a troll because you’ve posted absolutely nothing of substance. You’re doing the internet equivalent of sticking your thumbs in your ears, waving your fingers, sticking your tongue out and making fart noises.

  164. 164.

    Midnight Marauder

    @freelancer:

    lol, caught that from your set that you posted the other night, but the close your eyes, disappear thing is from Memento, and the line from Jurassic is “You think maybe velociraptor’s visual acuity is based on movement like T-Rex, but it’s not” and “Don’t Move! He can’t see us if we don’t move!”
    __
    /pedant.
    __
    loved, loved loved your bit on CBS.

    First off, thanks for downloading the album. And nice to hear you enjoyed it. I guess whenever I use that line, I’m referencing the second Jurassic Park quote you listed there, but I’m a big fan of Memento, so I can easily see how that would slip in there.

    And on the subject of CBS (and the link you posted), I trust that you have seen Jim Carey’s tour de force Caruso impression on Letterman from a while back. If not, I present to you…

    CSI: Jim Carrey.

    +2

  166. 166.

    celticdragonchick

    @Flugelhorn:

    Any good troll needs a weapon or two. Rocks are fine, but a large club or iron hammer is better. Trolls should cause fear and disgust. Work on being truly repellent. Don’t ever bathe, and smear yourself liberally with the offal of several of your last meals.

    Location is everything as they say, and bridges are a great place for hostage taking, extorting bribes and food or terrorizing billy goats. Caves are also desirable real estate, and serve as a handy larder and place to stash screaming damsels whom you plucked from your bridge.

    A troll’s line of work is usually banditry toll enforcement, but other occupations are open to enterprising young scaly grey/green hulks like yourself. The armies of Mordor need energetic talent, although the food is said to be pretty bad. (usually the remains of unfortunate orcs…) Hogwart’s can often use a stand-in for Defense Against The Dark Arts practice, so if you can stand the tedium(!) and discomfort of rudimentary anti troll hexes, you will find the pay is excellent and the food much better than what you would get from Sauron.

    Of course, Blackwater will take just about anybody… ;)

  168. 168.

    morzer

    Flugelhorn, are you really expecting me to waste a good coffee jar on you? Please, get realistic.

  169. 169.

    Mattsky

    Flugelhorn you can only be successful here if you drink the MUP koolaid and vote for the Democrats 100% of the time.

  171. 171.

    Tax Analyst

    Sure is a lot of discord in this thread. WhereTF is Rodney King when you need him?

    Well, I guess we can’t all just get along, can we? At least not tonight. Just a bunch of Non-Kumbayonic people. Normally, I might find it entertaining, but so much of it seems to be falling into the “Nyah, nyah, nyah so’s your mama, bite me” category.

    Not that there’s anything wrong with that.

    Now bracing for forthcoming attack messages.

    Geezus, I STILL ask too many fucking questions.

  172. 172.

    Flugelhorn

    @Kobie:

    You’re not a “troll” because you don’t agree with the “progressive manifesto,” you fucking twerp.

    Double negative there. Translation “You’re a ‘troll’ because you do agree with the ‘progressive manifesto’, you fucking twerp”.

    In any event… I will respond to your intended meaning. Clearly you are relatively new to these boards. I have been commenting on BJ since before John lost his brain. He has since sold out his critical thinking and his values and the progressive scum that have taken root have constantly referred to me as a troll each and every time I try to debate on the issues. I gave up on trying to use reasoned debate and have simply granted the people their wish. I have become a troll.

    Besides, I was bored.

    So… Back to my initial question. How do I become a better troll?

  173. 173.

    celticdragonchick

    From the previous thread on this topic, some folks have been complaining about Sullivan and saying that he is backing Brown because Coakley is an “icky female”. I usually wouldn’t bother, but it has been brought up so I will post it here and you can make of it what you will.

    *************************************************************

    It is until you realize the Democratic party organized this Congressional mess and the Coakley candidacy. And then, of course, there is the total, rigid opposition to any reform and any cooperation at all from the nihilist Republicans. Obama is president for three more years. He will survive. He may even prosper. But this really would be a massive blow. To get this close and lose health insurance would embolden every enemy Obama has, from Netanyahu to Ailes.

    That’s the only reason to vote for Coakley on Tuesday.

    She’s a dreadful candidate, but this race is now a critical battle in the war to rescue the possibility of effective governance. If health reform dies, it will show just how broken the system is, just how impossible it is to effect even centrist reform in a Senate this paralyzed, how polarization has made compromise impossible, how the country’s profound problems are simply beyond the system’s reach. If this fails, what chance for any action on climate change? Or the debt? Or some movement toward a settlement in the Middle East?

    And if Obama fails, there are no Democrats able to match him. The nihilist Republicans would be resurgent, pledging more tax cuts, more debt, and no entitlement cuts, entrenching torture as the American way, and pouring even more resources into the indefinite occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan. The lesson will be: permanent political war is the only way. The only way to govern the country is to divide and weaken it.

    Just like Rove did. You want that back? Vote Brown. You don’t? Hold your nose and vote for Coakley.

    http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2010/01/obamas-tora-bora.html#more

  174. 174.

    Kobie

    @Flugelhorn: Not a double negative, moron. The fact that you don’t agree with the “progressive manifesto” is not what makes you a troll. Keep digging.

  176. 176.

    celticdragonchick

    @Flugelhorn:

    Does this mean you won’t date me?

    It means we will tie you down and use you for a bondage/spanking porn flick that we can upload to the RNC site.

  179. 179.

    goblue72

    @morzer: THANK YOU. I would LOVE to see Mass Dems nominate a honest to good non-paper pushing, souless, hack candidate, but all they manage to cough up is Shannon O’Briens and Martha Coakleys. Problem is, the party in Mass specializes in shutting out non-hack, non-machine candidates, so women – who already start off with the whole gender obstacle thing – are double screwed.

    The result is a lack of really noteworthy candidates to come out of the party machine – man or woman – and an even smaller pool who are women. The last semi-ish interesting, semi-ish progressive female pol in Mass that I can recall was Cheryl Jacques but she was a lesbian, which at the time pretty much killed any chance of her climbing up the ladder beyond her state senate seat.

    The primary system in Mass is really screwed up for these kinds of state-wide seats. You wind up having a slew of candidates, none of whom takes a majority, so whoever gets the plurality wins. So a machine-like candidate like Coakley can squeak by. In a state like Mass, so controlled by a single party, I think you really need a reform like Instaff Runoff Voting to shake things up.

  180. 180.

    Annie

    @DonBelacquaDelPurgatorio:

    Nope. I neither misspoke nor did you misread. Process this….You clearly see yourself as smart and well informed– I clearly see you as incredibly ignorant and stupid. Or was that dumb and wrong…Doesn’t matter. What matters is how you see yourself is clearly not how I see you.

  181. 181.

    PΠnisAmerican

    stay in the corner and be quiet while those with meaningful opinions—the guys—would continue deciding our fates.

    Oh for Dog’s sake. You’re an anachronism. You sound like my mother from 1969. And just so you know, I am at least 9 years older than you, I think.

    So, are we all up for the big Suffrage rally this weekend? I hear Susan B. Anthony is going to be in town.

    ( rolls eyes, backward, forward, sideways )

    Really sorry, but that pseudo-feminazi routine just doesn’t ring true to me any more. Yeah, there are gender issues, and probably always will be. But the Poor Downtrodden Wimmen thing is just a little stale nowadays, don’t you think?

    For the record, I live with another commenter here, and I think she will verify that my most common comment to her is that I think she is smarter than I am. I always respect her view, even when she is dead wrong. Er, I mean, when we disagree.

  182. 182.

    Little Dreamer

    @Anne Laurie (sorry Annie, I initially referenced you, figured out my mistake, apologies):

    I had not realized we didn’t get the vote yet.

    I’ll go back to my corner now (the one you apparently want to imagine me in).

    P.S. – loud militant feminist making loud noises about how things are so unfair and stereotyping gender issues doesn’t make you appear strong at all, it makes you appear weak and victimized. I’m not going to be a victim, I guess you can have my share, it sounds like you need it.

  183. 183.

    morzer

    celticdragonchick

    It means we will tie you down and use you for a bondage/spanking porn flick that we can upload to the RNC site.

    CDC, when spanking trolls, please remember to wear rubber gloves and to bathe in disinfectant afterwards. They often carry a small, anal parasite Limbaughensis Rushia which affects the nervous cortex and the logic function in human beings. Unpleasant little critters, and they leave their victim gibbering and easily enraged. If the tertiary effects kick in, the victim develops Palin syndrome, begins talking to a largely imaginary audience and starts nursing grandiose plans to run for the presidency.

  184. 184.

    PΠnisAmerican

    I clearly see you as incredibly ignorant and stupid.

    What the fuck is the matter with you? Incredibly ignorant and stupid because I disagree you on a profoundly arguable point?

    Fuck you, you big mouthed fauxfeminist bitch. Really, who the fuck do you think you are talking to?

  185. 185.

    DonBelacquaDelPurgatorio

    And yes, I will repost EVERY moderated post, until it clears, and if you don’t like it, you can kiss my ass or ban me. Fuck your stupid mod filter.

    stay in the corner and be quiet while those with meaningful opinions—the guys—would continue deciding our fates.

    Oh for Dog’s sake. You’re an anachronism. You sound like my mother from 1969. And just so you know, I am at least 9 years older than you, I think.

    So, are we all up for the big Suffrage rally this weekend? I hear Susan B. Anthony is going to be in town.

    ( rolls eyes, backward, forward, sideways )

    Really sorry, but that pseudo-feminazi routine just doesn’t ring true to me any more. Yeah, there are gender issues, and probably always will be. But the Poor Downtrodden Wimmen thing is just a little stale nowadays, don’t you think?

    For the record, I live with another commenter here, and I think she will verify that my most common comment to her is that I think she is smarter than I am. I always respect her view, even when she is dead wrong. Er, I mean, when we disagree.

  186. 186.

    Chad N Freude

    @Flugelhorn: OK, I said I wasn’t gonna ack you anymore, but your failings in the language whose misuse you decry demand a response.

    You’re not a “troll” because you don’t agree with the “progressive manifesto,”

    means

    Your disagreement with the “progressive manifesto” is not the reason that you are a troll . . .

    You would have understood this had your reading skills extended to the next sentence

    You’re a troll because you’ve posted absolutely nothing of substance.

    I think you’re a troll because you write things that are so stupid that they demand a response pointing out how stupid they are.

    Now I will ignore any trollery you put up in the future. You are dead Tumi. (For those who choose not to check out the link, know that it contains the words “vapor” and “lightweight”.)

  191. 191.

    morzer

    Goblue72, I was talking to a friend about this problem, and it occurred to me that having Teddy K around for so long let the local Democrats get by too easily. They never needed to find or develop more dynamic candidates for a higher level race under increased scrutiny. In a sense, Teddy was their excuse for too long, and now the bill has come due. I wish Coakley had a fraction of Hilary Clinton’s dedication, passion, tenacity and sheer grit, but the sad truth is, she doesn’t. This isn’t a story about bad old men victimizing Saint Martha; it’s the story of a state party spoiled by years of easy victories and a third-rate hack who found herself in the big time and wasn’t remotely ready.

  194. 194.

    PΠnisAmerican

    Okay, you guys want moderation games. In that case, I, DonBelacqua, will post under LD’s handle, with her permission. And repost as necessary. Your stupid mod filter is not going to be used as a tacit ban just because you are in a pissy mood.

    repost:

    I clearly see you as incredibly ignorant and stupid.

    What the fuck is the matter with you? Incredibly ignorant and stupid because I disagree you on a profoundly arguable point?

    Or are you going to claim that somehow I don’t know just how terrible it must feel to be a woman under these intolerable conditions?

    DBDP

  195. 195.

    Little Dreamer

    And again …. (wouldn’t it be easier to just fix the moderation problem?) …

    Okay, you guys want moderation games. In that case, I, DonBelacqua, will post under LD’s handle, with her permission. And repost as necessary. Your stupid mod filter is not going to be used as a tacit ban just because you are in a pissy mood.

    repost:

    I clearly see you as incredibly ignorant and stupid.

    What the fuck is the matter with you? Incredibly ignorant and stupid because I disagree you on a profoundly arguable point?

    Or are you going to claim that somehow I don’t know just how terrible it must feel to be a woman under these intolerable conditions?

    DBDP

  197. 197.

    morzer

    DonBelacqua, your case can only become more forceful if you argue it without excessive verbiage and without using cuss words. Logic, not hot-headedness, please.

  198. 198.

    Little Dreamer

    Another repost. Same explanation as before.

    stay in the corner and be quiet while those with meaningful opinions—the guys—would continue deciding our fates.

    Oh for Dog’s sake. You’re an anachronism. You sound like my mother from 1969. And just so you know, I am at least 9 years older than you, I think.

    So, are we all up for the big Suffrage rally this weekend? I hear Susan B. Anthony is going to be in town.

    ( rolls eyes, backward, forward, sideways )

    Really sorry, but that pseudo-feminazi routine just doesn’t ring true to me any more. Yeah, there are gender issues, and probably always will be. But the Poor Downtrodden Wimmen thing is just a little stale nowadays, don’t you think?

    For the record, I live with another commenter here, and I think she will verify that my most common comment to her is that I think she is smarter than I am. I always respect her view, even when she is dead wrong. Er, I mean, when we disagree.

  199. 199.

    Dave

    So Martha Coakley:

    Lobbied to keep a innocent man Gerald Amirault in prison after he was railroaded by … Scott Harshbarger. [The Fells Acres day care hysteria. Coach those children how to lie in court, victimize whoever you want. Defend the results.]

    Tried to sweep under the rug the case against policeman Keith Winfield, who was convicted of raping a twenty-three month old baby with a hot curling iron. [Evidently because Winfield’s father was helping her campaign.]

    Ex-MA person here … those two travesties of justice make me wonder why there’s not a decent Democratic candidate in this race.

    This is the same kind of crap as in the NJ governor’s race. Put a lousy person in as the “D” candidate, and then start worrying when voters start to believe maybe they deserve a better class of human beings in their government.

    Stuff like that makes me wish we had a “none of the above” option to vote for…

  200. 200.

    Little Dreamer

    your case can only become more forceful if you argue it without

    Sorry, five years here, and I don’t take style lessons from anyone.

    But thanks anyway. And … logic? Are you serious? We are arguing with women who apparently think it is either 1969 or 1919. The logic ship sailed a long time ago.

    (DBDP posting as LD with her permission).

  201. 201.

    PΠnisAmerican

    Is the PΠnis free, free at last?

    Before you decide, mod filter barbarians, remember that the PŒ nis has the last word on whether anything a woman says is worth a tinker’s damn.

    I mean, I hope we can at least agree on that one simple and bluntly shaped point.

  202. 202.

    morzer

    BelAcqua, perhaps your problems stem from lack of willingness to take lessons from others. In general, it is a bad idea to whack your head against a closed door when someone else might have the key. Clearly, if in five years of posting here you’ve reached this level of frustration and futility, a change could only be beneficial. Finally, please don’t confuse verbosity and aggression with style and argument.

  203. 203.

    PΠnisAmerican

    @morzer:

    Heh. You’re funny.

    If I were you, I’d make sure I knew what style was before you start lecturing others on the subject.

    This isn’t about argument, kid. If you want an argument, get a wife.

  204. 204.

    PΠnisAmerican

    Again with the WP games, or is it something more sinister?

    @morzer:

    Heh. You’re funny.

    If I were you, I’d make sure I knew what a style was before you start lecturing others on the subject.

    This isn’t about argument, kid. If you want argument, you should get a wife.

  205. 205.

    morzer

    Dave, the Amirault case remains unclear today. None of those who made the accusations have ever recanted them, and it’s not fair to blame Coakley for a trial that someone else ran and over which someone else presided. Given the lack of new evidence or recantation, Coakley did what any other lawyer would have done, and left the matter where it was. She has serious flaws as a candidate, but this is not Coakley’s fault.

  206. 206.

    Darryl

    So if brown wins, which Nate Silver says is a toss up, this entire 6 month Health Care Reform process goes completely down the tubes?

  208. 208.

    celticdragonchick

    @morzer:

    CDC, when spanking trolls, please remember to wear rubber gloves and to bathe in disinfectant afterwards. They often carry a small, anal parasite Limbaughensis Rushia which affects the nervous cortex and the logic function in human beings. Unpleasant little critters, and they leave their victim gibbering and easily enraged. If the tertiary effects kick in, the victim develops Palin syndrome, begins talking to a largely imaginary audience and starts nursing grandiose plans to run for the presidency.

    Important safety tip, everybody!

    Thanks, morzer. :)

  209. 209.

    morzer

    PŒ nis, since you don’t seem to understand rational debate or civilized discussion, I shall politely ignore you from now on. My sympathies to your wife. She must be a very patient woman.

  210. 210.

    Bender

    More genius from the Retard Party Candidate (Part 36):

    On another talk radio show, “Nightside With Dan Rea,” Coakley jabs Rudy Giuliani as a Yankee fan, then goes on to describe Brown supporter Curt Schilling, the great former Red Sox pitcher, as a Yankee fan as well. The host sounds incredulous — “Curt Schilling? The Red Sox great pitcher of the bloody sock?”

    Stupidity and incompetence so thick and rich that…

    I Wanna Dip My BAAAAAAALLS In It!

    Keep raising money for this clown, Ball Juicers. And Ann Laurie’s whiny tears SUSTAIN me. So delicious…

  211. 211.

    matoko_chan

    Brown is a simple example of the new republican genre of Grifter Politics.
    Sarah’s famous wink is a prime example…the wink says….”I will say whatever i need to so that I can elected. But us REAL americans know the truth.”
    That is why Scott Brown never uses the r-word….he is an “independent”.
    That is why Brown’s newly minted pro-choice sentiments don’t matter to the WEC base and the LIFE-warriors.
    That is why no amount of fact-checking Sarah’s blatant lies will budge her fanatics.
    In their view, any amount of lying and cheating becomes a noble patriotic attempt to “take the country back” from the elites and highIQ meritocrats…and the scientists, professors, college students, filmmakers, homosexuals, etc, who have the patently UNFAIR advantage of being on the upper right side of the bellcurve of IQ in a meritocracy.
    And soon the brown and the black americans are going to have the patently UNFAIR advantage of being a grouped majority in a democratic meritocracy.
    Modern conservatism is white christian conservatism, and the base is wholly left side of the bellcurve.
    So any tactics are “fair and patriotic”, because the deck is stacked against them…..both demographically and on merit.

  213. 213.

    matoko_chan

    @Bender: Bender, you understand the IQ gap in party affiliation, don’t you?
    Please explain how Palin is going to become president when she can’t hold a press conference or even give a public speech?
    There will not be a presidential debate where Palin gets a no-follow-on questions rule invoked.
    Are you teabaggers planning a putsch?

  214. 214.

    liberal

    @BombIranForChrist:

    If Obama had taken the Wall Street guys out to the wood shed, this race wouldn’t be close at all. But he’s been pretty awful, leading people like me, and perhaps people in MA, wondering why we should give a shit about a Dem in power.

    Agreed. I’m not all that thrilled about HCR as it stands, but it’s not entirely unreasonable. But this bullshit regarding the banksters, who should all be hanging from lampposts, is unforgiveable. As is Obama’s choosing Geithner and Summers.

  215. 215.

    DonBelacquaDelPurgatorio

    @morzer:

    Right, a front pager here suggests that unless she uses language like ‘vagina American’ then she is not accurately protraying the downtrodden lot of the modern American woman …. as if it were still 1969 and the forty intervening years had never happened. And presents herself as a front pager here with that absurd attitude and will brook no dissent or criticism of the attitude. Declares anyone who disagrees with her to be ignorant, as if this profoundly unsettled notion offers no room for disagreement.

    And I’m being unreasonable.

    Got it. And, take your concern troll obsession with decorum and shove it up your phony spooftroll ass. If Anne Laurie is going to turn me into PoenisAmerican, then I have no duty to speak politely to any lowly vagina bearer, right?

    Two questions are raised. One is, what version of what being a woman in America in 2010 are we accepting as the standard here, and the other is, who makes the goddam style rules for commentary around here? I hold that the answers are, respectively, “Not Anne Laurie’s anachronistic 1969 phony feminist view”, and, “The commenters. In other words, me. I make my own rules, just like everyone else here does, or should do. I never use any language that John Cole doesn’t use. If you have a problem with it, take it up with him.”

  216. 216.

    Bender

    Bender, do you teabag every night, or is it just a weekend warrior kind of deal for you?

    Wow. That witty rejoinder was just so classic. You guys really ARE geniuses! I get it — I must be a dirty faggot! And we know how you guys hate dirty faggots!

    Hilarious!

  217. 217.

    Bender

    @matoko_chan:

    Bender, you understand the IQ gap in party affiliation, don’t you?
    Please explain how Palin is going to become president when she can’t hold a press conference or even give a public speech?

    Yes, I am aware that some Democrats are so stupid they can’t tell the difference between a Palin thread and a Coakley thread.

    But in light of the string of sub-moronic statements gushing out of Coakley’s droolhole (latest: Curt Schilling, Red Sox world series hero, is a damn Yankee fan!), I would LOVE for you to tell me again how smart you guys think you are!

    She is your clown. According to recent Ball Juice rules, she=you. Enjoy!

  218. 218.

    morzer

    BelAcqua, you do realize that waving around your mini-me as some sort of proof of your independence and maturity is pathetically self-refuting? I can see that you’ve got some insecurities about these issues, but take it from me, you aren’t going to impress anyone by howling and yelling troll at people who want you to raise your game to something like adult level.

  219. 219.

    matoko_chan

    @Bender: Nope, this is a Brown thread. And my point is Brown is just another conservative grifter, exactly like Palin.
    The thing the teabaggers learned from Hoffman, was don’t bring Palin in to stump for your candidate.
    I would just like one of you teabaggers to explain how Palin can become president when she can’t have a public speech or hold an open press conference.
    That would seem to exclude her from consideration for anyone with an IQ over room temperature.

  221. 221.

    DonBelacquaDelPurgatorio

    @Mnemosyne:

    No. She made what should have been a joke and then built a defense of it as if anyone who doesn’t think that women are about a notch above field slaves in our society is some kind of willfully ignorant butthead.

    PoenisAmerican is a joke. In fact I think it is a better joke than VagynaAmerican. And the visual is much better too. I mean, come on.

    And then, you have the fact that you can call me a dick and not get banned, but if I call you a c_nt, I’m about an inch short of a cross between Hitler and Charles Manson.

    Men are described as misogynistic lunkheads who treat women as if they have no value, and we’re the victims? Where’s the justice?

    Where?

  223. 223.

    morzer

    Belacqua, couldn’t you just start some sort of group for oppressed males? The Penile Freedom Front perhaps? You could go into the woods, bang drums, sit around camp fires naked and tell each other warrior stories. Surely that would beat marching up and down this blog without your shorts.

  224. 224.

    DonBelacquaDelPurgatorio

    @morzer:

    Heh. Talk about missing the point, my spoofy friend!

    I don’t think men are oppressed. I think we run the world, and for good reason. Can you imagine a world run by people who get up every day thinking that at least half the human population hates them and treats them like shit? That would be a world run by VaginaAmericans.

    I get up in the morning and thank my lucky stars that I can have sex and never, ever have to have a baby. Life is good. Stay thirsty, amigo.

  225. 225.

    Bender

    I would just like one of you teabaggers to explain how Palin can become president when she can’t have a public speech or hold an open press conference.

    Do you teabaggees really think that Palin’s never given a public speech or held a press conference? And you don’t think she’d do it again in 2 years, after having the experience of the 2008 campaign?

    I think you’re a bit of a thickie, even for this cesspool of dimbulbs. Plus, your off-topic Palin fascination is a bit creepy…

    In their view, any amount of lying and cheating becomes a noble patriotic attempt to “take the country back” from the elites and highIQ meritocrats

    Hate to knock you off your high unicorn, but you ARE aware that Ed Schultz just said on MSNBC regarding Brown that he would try to vote ten times for Coakley if he was from Mass. “I’d cheat to keep these bastards out! That’s right, I would!”

    No, of course you’re not, or you wouldn’t make such a fool of yourself.

    So tell me again how the right thinks lying and cheating are noble. ACORN!

  226. 226.

    matoko_chan

    @Bender:

    Do you teabaggees really think that Palin’s never given a public speech or held a press conference?

    Not since the epic post-election debacle of the turkey holocaust.
    Every speech she has given has been closed to the public and screened for open media reporters, and every appearance she plans has turned away the media except for FOXmedia clones.
    And there won’t be a no-follow-on-questions option in any she debate she has in the future.
    I don’t think she has the substrate.
    I think she turned down CPAC because she cant screen the media.
    So, Bender, one more time.
    Can someone run for president when they can’t give open press conferences or public speeches?
    Inquiring minds want to know.
    lawl

  227. 227.

    matoko_chan

    So tell me again how the right thinks lying and cheating are noble. ACORN!

    I dont have to.
    See ressentiment.

    Conservatism is a political philosophy; the farce currently performing under that marquee is an inferiority complex in political philosophy drag.

    Palin is just a two-digit. She lacks intellectual substrate.
    She simply isn’t bright enough to be president…and on some level, she knows it.
    :)

  228. 228.

    morzer

    My dear Belacqua, hearing you describe your carefree state almost makes me nostalgic for my own teenage years. You and your strong right hand clearly have achieved a state of blissful co-existence. What a joy it must to be free of the monstrous regiment of women. Alas, that in the not-so-distant future you will discover girls, and start your slide into erotic oppression by the predatory female. Until then, I can only counsel you to follow Nietszche’s invaluable.. ahem.. dictum “Always be hard”.

  229. 229.

    The Sheriff's A Ni-

    @BombIranForChrist:

    If Obama had taken the Wall Street guys out to the wood shed, this race wouldn’t be close at all. But he’s been pretty awful, leading people like me, and perhaps people in MA, wondering why we should give a shit about a Dem in power.

    If you wonder why you should give a shit about a Dem in power, maybe you should just look at your own name.

  230. 230.

    matoko_chan

    @Bender: and n/e ways, if you are going to cheat, why shouldn’t we cheat too?
    Obama is a gamer, you know.
    Iterated prisoners dilemma–> SEIU rolls into town.
    hehe.
    The thing the teabaggers like you, Bender cher, don’t get….is that America is WAI, Working As Intended.
    The founders and framers designed America as a democratic meritocracy….that means every citizen gets a vote, even the black and the brown and teh uppity uteruses, and we elect leaders based on merit, not on starbursts and charisma.
    lawl.

  233. 233.

    DonBelacquaDelPurgatorio

    @matoko_chan:

    The founders and framers designed America as a democratic meritocracy….that means every citizen gets a vote, even the black and the brown and teh uppity uteruses

    Say what now? Not only did you get the Framers’ intent wrong ….. egads.

    The president was not elected by popular vote, per the Framers. Nor the Senate. And people with uteri did not vote either.

    The Framers built a Republic, not a democracy. A Republic run by men.

    ( closes eyes and takes deep breath, with faint smile )

    Ahh, the good old days.

  234. 234.

    matoko_chan

    A Republic run by white men citizens.

    A Republic that is a democratic meritocracy.
    365 to 173

    And the demographic timer goes tick……tick…..tick.

  235. 235.

    morzer

    Belacqua, I am amused by your exaggerated, tough-talking pose. It’s probably the only noteworthy thing about you, but you’ve made me laugh out loud at least twice today, which I appreciate.

  236. 236.

    DonBelacquaDelPurgatorio

    @matoko_chan:

    No, a republic in thrall of moneyed interests and lobbyists, now being eyed by populists who detest the corporate and elitist oligarchy.

    meritocracy …based upon demonstrated talent and ability

    Ah yes, what do we immediately think of when we say the names Reagan, McCain, Rumsfeld and Bush? Talent and ability? Mwhuhh? Brownie, anyone?

    It would be pretty hard to ascribe the fuckedness produced by the years preceeding the current government to something like a “meritocracy.” Unless you consider venal self service as the basis for a judgment of merit. That government was all about self service and the promotion of an elite.

  237. 237.

    DonBelacquaDelPurgatorio

    @morzer:

    “Tough talking?” You mean, the opposite of your phony polite pose? Or do you mean making a coherent argument and advancing it enthusiastically? We’ll never know, I think.

    What a hoser. Where did learn internet spoofing, at the feet of Cassidy?

  238. 238.

    morzer

    Belacqua, I see you have made no progress in the area of advanced vocabulary. Still, if you do learn what coherent means, I am sure you’ll be able to work on developing an argument.

  239. 239.

    matoko_chan

    Dude, try not to be so clueless.
    America was founded by white protestants, who were until recently the majority of the electorate.
    Traditionally the conservative side of the bellcurve (the left side) are people who fear change and who are religious, low information, low to mid SES and highly permeable to demagoguery.
    Sadly the current instantiation of the GOP has permanently alienated the black and brown conservative-leaning citizens. That is partly why the US polls as 40% conservative but only 20% republican.
    Republican has become isomorphic with white christian conservatism.
    Mark that word, citizen. The founders believed STRONGLY that all citizens should have representation. So when blacks and women became vote-holding citizens, they became part of the electorate of the democratic Republic.
    The slaveholder south birthed the welfare state and killed the white patriarchy social cohesion paradigm when the local governments and churches refused civil rights and civil welfare to black citizens.
    Then the feds had to step in to deliver citizen rights and citizen welfare to minority citizens.
    The Founders believed in representation for all, even the incorrigibly stupid.

  240. 240.

    matoko_chan

    the promotion of an elite.

    And yes, we elect the BEST populist approximation of a philosopher king for that TIMESLICE of history.
    It was Jefferson’s plan.

    May we not even say that that form of government is the best which provides the most effectually for a pure selection of these natural aristoi into the offices of government?

    So far its worked pretty well….I mean, Andy Jackson was a sumbitch but he kept the Union alive. The Founders relied on the wisdom of crowds for their grand experiment.
    Now, GW was elected by 5 ec votes….perfectly adequate to shepherd the shrinking demographic of non-hispanic caucs into the electoral twilight……but sadly, 911 intervened.
    GW wasn’t elected to deal with something like that….like Palin, he doesn’t have the substrate.
    In 2020, the percent of non-hispanic caucs in the electorate dips below 50%. Some of us white “race-traitors” always vote liberal….about a third, Carter to Obama.
    So while white christian conservatives (that is all there demographically) may gain a tactical victory in 2010, strategically they are doomed by the demographic timer.

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