If you really like stuff like following stuff like Tuesday’s MA special election, I really recommend checking Ben Smith’s blog over the next couple days. I know it’s Politico and I know he consults Bill Cosby whenever race comes up, but for this stuff, his blog can’t be beat. I can’t take all the showy, overwrought stuff that Josh Marshall prints from readers before elections or Sully’s “who would Burke vote for in a special election” stuff, and I don’t even want to know what OBG Bob Somerby is writing about this race (I’d like it if someone would tell me briefly, though, provided it’s not too horrifying).
Any other recommendations for good places to read about Tuesday’s race? Boston being Boston, I’m sure there’s no shortage of bloviation. Anything that won’t make me want to punch myself in the neck?
Update: Speak of the devil, here’s footage of Brown smiling at the “shove a curling iron up her butt” comment:
valdivia
I love that all the reports that Sulli prints from his readers are about people voting for Brown, apparently he is getting NO reports about Coakley. Really?
I imagine Nate Silver is good to read this week. Greg Sargent also has been pretty good. There is that Mass blog Blue Mass? TPM linked to ir earlier today. I think local blogs would be best.
DougJ
I imagine Nate Silver is good to read this week.
I think specials are too hard to poll, so Nate is out of his element. I like more the nitty gritty, what crazy shit are people saying type stuff for these ones.
Brick Oven Bill
A good source to consult, if you seek accurate election predictions, developed in a rational manner that can be understood by everyone, even stupid policemen, is me.
Brown by two.
Scamp Dog
Somerby had a few choice words to say on Gail Collin’s vacuous column about the MA Senate race in his Thursday Howler. On Friday he just said he had no idea how the race would turn out.
It does kind of boggle the mind that someone on the internet doesn’t invent an instant opinion on the spot–most of us would be ready to go on a tear on the topic.
Royston Vasey
@Brick Oven Bill:
Number Two is Brown. Normally.
valdivia
@DougJ:
yep I think you are right on this. I also think this is why all pollsters are guessing right now because their screens cannot predict what will happen. PPP is generally good but they really got it wrong with the special elections in Upstate NY so better trust the locals.
Anyone know if the Obama is a bastard comment from Brown is getting play in Mass?
Here is the Blue Mass blog.
asiangrrlMN
@valdivia: Even if it is, it won’t matter to the people who are already predisposed to voting for Brown. The comment plays right into the prejudices that some people already have about Obama.
I am hoping that the disaffected Democrats of Mass get their shit together and pull this one out.
Yutsano
@DougJ: Actually Nate just put up a post not too long ago about how he thinks things are finally going to shake out. I think it’s about as close as he gets to saying, “I have no fucking clue what will happen Tuesday so stop asking me!” Actually the very latest from him is quite good, gets back to raw numbers which is really his forté.
valdivia
@asiangrrlMN:
well I think that there are a lot of people who voted for Obama who are sort of on the fence about how important it may be to vote on Tuesday for Coakley. That comment could make a difference with them.
Read the blog I linked to there are a few posts there about what is going on I think we can definitely pull this one out (I am keeping fingers crossed)
Joe Buck
In the end, this will come down to turnout, and that’s why the polls are all over the place: different pollsters have different ways of figuring out who is a “likely voter”.
I think that if turnout is high the Ds keep the seat; if not, the teabagger will win.
Hann1bal
@DougJ: He just came out with his predictions, actually, and he’s got it down as a tossup (barely turning Coakley’s way), albeit with a few caveats.
There’s even a chart, with all the polls, just like 2008. Oh, it takes me back. To a time before Tea Parties and death panels. Never thought I would feel nostalgia for that campaign.
SGEW
Wonkette, obvs.
. . . Other than that, I got nothin’.
Yutsano
Just out of curiosity, why do you consider that a negative?
handy
@asiangrrlMN:
You said it, sister.
@Royston Vasey:
Otherwise consult your physician.
mcc
Wait… what the heck is it he says immediately afterward?
“We can do this”?
It’s not entirely clear to me he heard the comment but just… wow *_*
DougJ
It’s not entirely clear to me he heard the comment but just… wow _
Yeah, I know.
DougJ
Just out of curiosity, why do you consider that a negative?
Couldn’t he at least throw Will Smith or Oprah in sometimes for a change of pace?
mcc
@DougJ:
At present, Nate has a post up basically consisting of a poll-based projection followed by many paragraphs of begging people not to take his result seriously because of various reasons he has that both the inputs and the model should be considered questionable, ending with “I’m not comfortable with any characterization of this race other than too close to call.”
The first five or six comments are people angrily accusing him of bias and stats-manipulation (some accusing him of throwing things for Brown, some for Coakley) with one person retorting, if he’s so sure, “Why don’t you bet on Intrade tonight on Coakley and make some easy money???”
BR
Has everyone called their friends to make sure they’re showing up for Coakley? And making sure their friends are too?
I hassled my friends to hassle theirs. I think we need to do it friend to friend. This is pretty critical.
Yutsano
@DougJ: I wasn’t aware Will Smith was that politically involved. And Oprah would be too Chicago for Villager Ben. Though I think him consulting Colin Powell on these matters wouldn’t be too beyond the pale.
asiangrrlMN
@valdivia: Thanks for gently nudging me to read the blog. I feel a bit better after scanning all the push for Coakley that is happening in Mass. I have one friend in Mass. I just emailed him and told him to vote for Coakley and to make all his friends vote for her, too.
@Joe Buck: I gotta be ‘that gal’ and say, “I hope to god you’re not THAT Joe Buck.”
Moonbatting Average
Also interesting: the over/under on how many times DougJ can use the word “stuff” in a post
DougJ
Also interesting: the over/under on how many times DougJ can use the word “stuff” in a post
I like to follow the great Elmore Leonard’s rule that one shouldn’t strain too hard for synonyms.
valdivia
@asiangrrlMN:
it made me feel better so I wanted to share ;-)
I sent an email to all my friends a couple of days ago asking them to email and/or call their friends in Mass and to get everyone out to vote on Tuesday. If I have time tomorrow I will phone bank through OFA.
I would tell everyone who knows someone in the state to call them and get them to go vote and have them do the same for their friends.
Joshua Norton
If the Mass. Dems. blow this one it will be because they haven’t learned a very obvious lesson. People aren’t going to rally around any type of John Kerry wonky sobersides that can’t handle the campaign trail. Doesn’t matter if they’re in a suit or a dress.
It takes a lot of screwing up to lose Teddy Kennedy’s seat to the other side. It’s hard to believe this is the best they could do.
The Raven
Good words about Martha Coakley.
Yutsano
@asiangrrlMN: I’m only going to feel better after 9 PM Eastern time when the polls close and we get the results. Before that I exercise my right to be a nervous wreck.
Hi hon. I’m worried you might hate me for what I did today.
joe from Lowell
The problem for Coakley is a lack of motivation among Democratic voters.
I suspect that’s changing. The Democratic appearances are probably working to motivate voters, but even more, the Republicans’ carrying on is starting to really tick people off.
Brick Oven Bill
Here, Matt Stoller, reportedly a funder of Left-wing blogs, orders Kung Fu Quip. to ‘stay classy’. Where have we heard this phrase before? Matt also uses the word ‘teh’, which I have yet to figure out.
After getting punched, Matt seems to have gone to his dad:
“My family is freaked out and upset.”
Matt went to Harvard.
It is not cool to shove a curling iron up anyone’s butt. But the curling iron comment came about because Coakley let a guy out on with zero bail, who did actually shove a curling iron up someone’s butt, in this case a twenty-three month old girl.
So the curling iron comment may be more a matter of substance, than classiness.
John, you want no part of this guy Matt.
DougJ
I think I am banning BOB for a while. I can’t condone his making fun of someone for getting assaulted.
Yutsano
@DougJ: Heh. BoB got sin-binned. Awesome.
handy
This thread just got less entertaining.
flavortext
OBG? The lexicon is failing me.
DougJ
OBG?
Original Boston G. I made it up.
Dennis-SGMM
I’m still amazed that for whatever reason the Democrats find themselves struggling to retain Ted Kennedy’s Senate seat – especially at a time when they’re trying to pass major legislation. There have been numbers of comments about Coakley’s ability (or lack of ability) as a campaigner, Massachusetts Democratic politics, etc., but the question for me is why did the leadership of the party allow things to get this far? Maybe this special election is a unique case with unique circumstances, but if its outcome is crucial to the party’s agenda then why didn’t it receive more attention from the party from the outset? It’s difficult for me to believe that there was nothing that could be done in terms of money, advice, or plain old fashioned arm twisting, to avoid a potential debacle.
gwangung
It’s always struck me that, Obama’s organization withstanding, the politicians of both sides are much, much, much more incompetent than you would think major politicians to be. The modern politician has trouble getting his ducks lined up in a row, they have trouble covering all bases, and they’re all rather uninspiring, as a whole.
morzer
Bluntly, Coakley’s problem is and has been Coakley. Trust me, she did no campaigning in the primary, thought that the same model would serve for the real election, and has been repenting her folly ever since. That said, the (few) Massachusetts Republicans I know think that she will win. There is much talk of a couple of big Brown (accidental pun) rallies, but they may have been beefed up by teabaggers bussed in from elsewhere. NH would be one possibility. I don’t believe the Suffolk poll, because the cross-tabs show a strange electorate for MA, and PPP is not a pollster that I would normally put much stock in. It’s annoying not to have better polls by better pollsters at this point. My guess, from what I feel in the waters and smell in the air (sorry, LOTR reference) is that Coakley’s support is finally getting energized by Obama and the ground game, and I think she will win by a decent margin, my estimate being 9%.
The Republic of Stupidity
Painfully… this simply sounds like a ‘lesser of two evils’ situation…
Yutsano
@The Republic of Stupidity: The devil we know will work to nullify the progress we’ve been waiting on for 30 years. The other will be there for two years and most likely replaced with possibly a better progressive. Between those two evils the choice seems pretty clear, at least to me.
morzer
Gwangung, I suspect the lack of inspiration comes partly from incumbency, partly from playing it safe, and partly from polling everything before they dare to use the bathroom. If the electorate, guided by the media, rewards mediocrity, mediocrity will flourish. I’ve seen a remarkable number of people suggest, with straight faces, that effectively doing nothing is the centrist position. Truly the modern media has many crimes to answer for.
Darryl
Hmmm. Wonder what BOB said?
Ha! A Pulp Fiction reference! Cute. I’m not in favor of banning anyone for Pulp Fiction references.
Now if Cleek could only invent a filter which would remove from my sight anyone who said “concern troll” where a literate person would say “disingenuous”, or “optics” where a literate person would say “appearances”, I’d be in heaven.
Idly musing without knowing the technological underpinnings here, the optimal thing from the user’s perspective would be to have a button next to each person which said “Hide all comments from this user”. That way the users could decide for themselves which commenters they avoid. “Hide all comments which just say “This.” because the commenter is too lazy to write a clear statement like with verbs and shit” would be good too.
morzer
Yutsano, it’s a sad tribute to Coakley’s failure to define herself that I had to think about your latest post quite carefully to figure out whether you were considering voting for Brown!
The Republic of Stupidity
@Yutsano:
Oh… trust me… if I were voting in MA, which I’m not (CA res), I’d be gladly voting for Coakley OVER Brown. Having said that, I can only think of the comment above us…
(w/ a nod to gwangung’s succinctness)
At times it seems as though WANTING to be an elected official should actually PROHIBIT one from becoming one… perhaps we end up w/ the candidates we do simply because they’re the ones who want it bad enough to make it thru our Roller Derby of an electoral system at this point…
And the very same traits that allow them to successfully compete while campaigning are also the ones that make them such crappy officials once they’re elected.
As someone once said about Mao… he was the best possible choice to lead a guerilla insurgency and the worst possible choice to lead a peacetime administration.
L. Ron Obama
I don’t know DougJ. I hope you are right about the polls, but a lot of McCain supporters, when presented with polling data, were absolutely convinced the polls had to be wrong because of various anecdotal evidence. Now a primary may be a different beast than a general, but it’s a very thin ray of hope to bet on.
loverly jubberly
Really dumb FDL post on how Bob Kerrey calls Scott Brown a creationist, and even though there’s no proof for that at all, it’s OK to assume it’s true because 68% of Republicans don’t believe in evolution and so the odds are behind Kerrey.
http://firedoglake.com/2010/01/17/national-review-apparently-unaware-that-substantial-majority-of-republicans-reject-evolution/
(Yes, BT was making another point, but trips all over himself in getting there, and the stumble is far more memorable.)
morzer
L. Ron. Obama, it’s true that primaries and generals are different, but the difference here is pretty substantial, since special elections mean no incumbency and a shorter time to make up for it. I suspect that when this is all over some of the pollsters are going to be defending polls that they got wildly wrong – but had little chance of getting right. I don’t put much stock in Coakley’s internal polls – but it is interesting that Brown’s internal polls are being kept pretty secret. I can see two possible reasons:
.
a) they show him doing much worse than people believe, and so he doesn’t want to discourage voters
b) his polls are looking rosy, so they don’t want to give people a reason not to turn out in winter
.
I have no idea which is the real explanation.
Apparently, the latest Brown internal showed him up by 11 points, although this has not been officially confirmed, as far as I know. (That poll was dated Jan 15).
DougJ
I hope you are right about the polls, but a lot of McCain supporters, when presented with polling data, were absolutely convinced the polls had to be wrong because of various anecdotal evidence.
Yeah, I know. I tend to think that things swing in favor of candidates with big rej advantages. I realize that wasn’t the case with Christie in NJ, but I don’t that race was so similar.
This one reminds me a lot of NY-23. I don’t think the polls will be off by as much as they were there (I think the last two there had the teabagger by about 15 and he lost by about 3), but I won’t be surprised if Coakley does much better than the polls.
Darryl
Based on my own look at about a dozen polls, Obama’s campaigning, and what Nate Silver said etc., I’m going with Coakley 51, Brown 49, Other 2.
morzer
Darryl, you do realize you’ve now got 102% of voters?
asiangrrlMN
@Yutsano: Yeah, I hear you about the election, and WTF would I hate you? Never! Unless you vote for Palin/whomever in 2012, and then I will go after you with a rusty pitchfork? What’s up?
Yutsano
@asiangrrlMN: I mentioned it to Gwangung down below, but yeah I’m biting on another job opportunity. Let’s just say my current workplace is deciding on some things that don’t square well with me and it could end up a LOT worse in a month or so. The reason why you might end up stabbing me is the job is in FIRE. It won’t affect my cookie baking though trust me.
Mike Kay
Ben Smith is such a GOP troll
Video of Brown saying Obama was born out of wedlock (talk about gross stereotypes) surfaced Saturday and Smith got into a argument with two Daily Kos administrators, saying Brown’s insult was irrelevant. Of course if a Dem had said the same thing about Palin, for example, Smith would gone with hysterical 24-7 coverage.
I mean, David Letterman made some jokes about Palin’s make-up and her daughter getting once again getting knocked-up, and he freaked out. And hell, Letterman and Palin aren’t even in elected office.
asiangrrlMN
@Yutsano: What, pray tell, do you mean by FIRE? Do you mean them? Or do you mean fire as in the lovely flames that adorn all my tattoos? Because if you mean the former, I see no reason for me to stab you. If you mean the latter, same, unless you are going to be a firefighter, in which case, I will worry incessantly about you, but not stab you.
At any rate, as long as I get cookies, it’s all good. Like I said, I wouldn’t hate you unless you did Sarah Palin, converted to being a rabid fundie, and voted Palin/Ratface Pawlenty in 2012,
@Mike Kay: Well, that is our librul media for you, you know. Anything status quo is A-OK (read, corporate and/or Republican), whereas anything out of the norm (read, DFH or Democratic) is heresy.
Yutsano
@asiangrrlMN: FIRE as in Finance, Insurance, Real Estate, specifically the Insurance part. It’s not too horrific, mostly dealing with annuities as retirement vehicles. I just figured I should warn you cause it’s almost like this job was written for me.
The Republic of Stupidity
@morzer:
Must be getting his data from Fox…
Darryl
@morzer: Oh, yeah, mibad, I kept making slight changes between them, and didn’t recheck. I meant to conclude that she’d beat him by 2 points, and so Coakley 50, Brown 48, Other 2.
Brachiator
@morzer:
Let’s see. This is a special election to replace an extremely well-known politician who was noted to be solicitous of his constituents. And Coakley didn’t think campaigning was necessary? WTF?
And what the heck is wrong with the Democratic Party that they think that they didn’t have to select a better candidate or one that was smarter about sealing the deal with voters?
L. Ron Obama
Maybe already mentioned here, but the NYT is going paywall. How many times does it have to fail before they get the message?
Darryl
I like posting predictions about stuff because we all think we’re better and smarter and more knowledgeable than we really are. If I make a prediction about something and it turns out to be way wrong, that forces me to deal with the fact that I don’t understand it very well. One trait I find very common among stupid people is, they don’t have much of an idea how little they know. I try to have some habits which will alert me to my gaps and deficiencies.
arguingwithsignposts
I is home, and smudge is happy to see me. I think she grew a lot while I was gone. She seems a lot bigger.
Yutsano
@Darryl: Isn’t that part of the definition of a DFH?
Darryl
They’re doing it differently than they did with TimesSelect. Last time, they made you pay to read Maureen Dowd and Bill Kristol. This time, they’re going to put valuable things behind the wall.
Yutsano
@arguingwithsignposts: AWWW!!! Did she miss Daddy? Did she swarm all over you or love you for five minutes and go about her feline business?
arguingwithsignposts
@Yutsano:
She’s been very talkative, and now she’s running around the apartment. Of course, some of that may have been the new catnip mouse.
Darryl
@Yutsano: Sometimes, unless the DFH is a Firebagger, or that guy I work with who tells me that “they’ve” done experiments which prove that if you yell at water that changes the chemical structure vs if you’re pleasant to it.
asiangrrlMN
@arguingwithsignposts: Oh my gosh! What a cutie. She’s gotten so big! Yeah, I second Yutsano’s question about how much attention she paid to you before she went on her way.
@arguingwithsignposts: Awwwww, she wuuuuuves you! So darling.
@Yutsano: That’s cool. I got no beef with you making your nut (as long as you then put said nut in mah cookies!).
Yutsano
@arguingwithsignposts: Yeah new catnip mouse makes everything all bettah. I’m guessing she did all right on her own then. Also: I saw the partying with Canucks statement, but did that lead to, uhh, intimate moments?
arguingwithsignposts
@Yutsano: Sadly, no. Although there are some hawties in the canadian provinces. And here’s another smudge.
She spent about 5 minutes purring and rubbing up against me before she went back to playing. I think she’s happy that I’m back, and the running around and messing with the mouse is her way of showing it. That’s the theory I’m going with, anyway.
Yutsano
@asiangrrlMN: Okay whew. I was a bit concerned, but since I’m not really dealing in exotic financial instruments per se (still checking out the company and their philosophies as far as taking on risk although annuities are traditionally conservative) but so far I’m liking it. They have operations in Canada I figure they can’t be all evil.
Darryl
It’s 3 am, and you’re tuned to Balloon Juice – After Dark…
asiangrrlMN
@Darryl: Yeah, well punching someone in the face will rearrange said face, but it doesn’t make it a good thing, now does it?
@arguingwithsignposts: Maybe next time up, you will meet a Canadian woman who has a softness for white kittehs.
@Yutsano: Oh, I know that you are not evil and souless, so it’s all good. And, yeah, Canada!
arguingwithsignposts
BTW, am I the only person who’s getting an unresponsive script that keeps the page loading? Something from media6degrees.com just keeps the page spinning in my browser (Flock on a Mac).
arguingwithsignposts
@Darryl:
Dear Balloon Juice,
I never really believed those comments that I read on your site, until one night …
Yutsano
@arguingwithsignposts: It’s most likely an ad error, as long as it doesn’t keep the page from loading you can pretty much ignore it. Or just stop the load if it really gets on your nerves.
asiangrrlMN
@Darryl: Holy shit. I didn’t even mean it that way (which is surprising, considering that I usually mean it that way), and now I’m cracking the fuck up!
@arguingwithsignposts: Hahahahahaha! “I was blogging from my basement with my shirt off ‘coz I was hot, when to my surprise, the doorbell rang….”
arguingwithsignposts
@asiangrrlMN:
Could be. I didn’t whip out the photos of smudge this time. But I was really impressed by the friendliness of the canadian people i was with. Makes me sad to know that we americans can be such assholes to each other and the rest of the world.
arguingwithsignposts
@asiangrrlMN: LOL. interested in your ideas. newsletter. subscribe please. :D
ETA: I am continually amazed at the kitteh dancing. I wonder if tunch ever dances, or would that knock the earth off its axis?
Yutsano
@asiangrrlMN: You know, I’d choose to believe you, but as you are without a doubt the queen of the double entendre, I am forced to admit I thought you were doing some classic lineage there. But sometimes happy accidents are the best ones.
asiangrrlMN
@Yutsano: Honest! I was just making an innocent comment that somehow got hijacked along the way.
@arguingwithsignposts:
“I somehow forgot that I was shirtless when I answered the door. It was the meter reader, and imagine the look of surprise on his face when he was confronted with a topless Asian chick–with four tattoos. I hastily arranged my waist-length hair to cover my tatas, but it was too late….”
Yutsano
@asiangrrlMN: And the thread slowly descends into a letter to Penthouse. Someone cover up innocent little Smudge’s eyes lest she become corrupted by this debauchery.
arguingwithsignposts
@asiangrrlMN:
Is it hot in here, or is it just me?
Out of curiosity, where are the tats? I have two, one on each shoulder. Thinking about getting another.
asiangrrlMN
@Yutsano: Slowly? I think we plunged right in there, thanks to Darryl.
@arguingwithsignposts: I have a ring of flames and thorns on my left forearm, a bracelet with waves and flames and a yin-yang pendant on my upper left arm, a representation of Kali in flames over my belly button, and a lotus blossom in flames on my left breast (covering up my first and truly heinous tattoo). Yes, I like fire, why do you ask?
Yutsano
@arguingwithsignposts: Sigh. I am so far behind this whole tattoo thing. Hell even my boss has two. I really only want one:
http://aswsu.wsu.edu/myImages/cougar%20head.jpg
Left shoulder. I swear that’s all though.
arguingwithsignposts
I can haz mouse nao?
asiangrrlMN
@Yutsano: Fucking cool. What is it? And, once you get one, you won’t want to stop. Trust me.
@arguingwithsignposts: You can haz whatever you want, Smudgey. What are you thinking of for your third tat?
P.S. Since it’s only the three of us commenting with Darryl fomenting, Late Night BJ can get as raunchy as we want.
Yutsano
@arguingwithsignposts: You’re teasing that per thang. She really does the longing look well huh? (eh?)
arguingwithsignposts
@Yutsano: @asiangrrlMN:
This logo is on my right shoulder.
Yutsano
@asiangrrlMN: That is the symbol for my university, been in place with a few slight changes since 1935. It actually has all the letters inside, and is considered one of the more unique symbols in college athletics.
Well just for information’s sake, I am typing one-handed right now.
asiangrrlMN
@arguingwithsignposts: Cool! What’s the other one you have?
@Yutsano: I like it. And, aren’t you supposed to be teh ghey? Why you typing one-handed after MY letter to the Penthouse Forum? Or, did you smash a wing a la John Cole?
arguingwithsignposts
@Yutsano:
She gets the mouse in the end, always.
@asiangrrlMN – not sure yet, but just feeling like I’d like a new one. BTW, any of you read John Irving’s book about tattoo artists? “Until I Find You.” Neat book.
Yutsano
@asiangrrlMN: I never said you were responsible for my typing choice. Actually the way my desk and chair sit I can’t sit square to my desk so I’m leaning on my left arm and typing with my right. Broken my left arm before so I totally feel what John is going through, although not quite that severe.
asiangrrlMN
@arguingwithsignposts: But I thought you had two? I’ll check out that book. And, if you and Yutsano can hold on five minutes, I’m creating a blog post with pics of my tats.
arguingwithsignposts
@asiangrrlMN: the other one is a heart with a wolf’s head in it. I may have to change that one (sore subject).
Yutsano
@asiangrrlMN: I was just thinking this thread is sorely lacking something, namely FH # 1. I’m sure he has some input on this fascinating subject. And no I don’t mean the Penthouse thingie.
arguingwithsignposts
@asiangrrlMN: so what is taiji? sounds kinky. :)
Yutsano
@arguingwithsignposts: I may haz to do teh Google just to satisfy my curiosity. Especially since I’m sure she’s working on her special project just for us.
arguingwithsignposts
@Yutsano: yeah. I’m thinking about trying to get some audio of smudge purring and talking. she’s meowing quite a bit tonight.
asiangrrlMN
@arguingwithsignposts: Your ex-gf? Cover it up.
Taiji is tai chi. Get your mind out of the gutters, boys!
And, for your edification, My Tats.
Yutsano
@arguingwithsignposts: Cats are vocal, they use their voices and purrs to express various emotions. Biggest mistake humans make is thinking that a purr means a cat is happy. In fact purring occurs when a cat is feeling any emotion strongly. I still at one point in my life want to hear a tiger purr. That must just sound awesome.
Yutsano
@asiangrrlMN: I see what you mean by having large breasts as compared to most Taiwanese women. In another era you could have made quite a nice living as a concubine just from those alone.
Okay this really has been fun but my eyes are refusing to stay open. Try not to have too much fun you two.
asiangrrlMN
@Yutsano: Agreed. They can purr out of fear as well, unfortunately. I would love to hear a bobcat purr. I am thinking of tattooing “Property of Raven” on my right arm (where he’s snoozing right now) and “Property of Shadow” on my shins–where he’s snoozing right now. They are found there more often than not.
@Yutsano: Yup. Supposedly my great grandma had big ones, too. Night, hon.
Anne Laurie
@arguingwithsignposts: Yup, looks from here like Smudge is doing the adolescent-growth-spurt thing. She’s a pretty kitty now, but in two years she’ll be a Magnificent Feline Queen!
arguingwithsignposts
@asiangrrlMN: So from the sunlight, I’m assuming those photos were taken previously. very nice tats.
So what was the original left breast tattoo that was so bad, if you don’t mind me asking.
as for covering up the wolf’s head, I’m not sure that’s possible. I’ll try to take a photo and upload it to show you.
ETA: I am an admirer of the breast – large or small. It is one of mankind’s greatest achievements. :)
asiangrrlMN
@Anne Laurie: Hiya. How are you this fine eve?
asiangrrlMN
@arguingwithsignposts: Yeah, they were taken awhile ago. I fixed your user name in the post, by the way. My first tat was a yin-yang in a sun. After years of agonizing over whether to get one, I decided at midnight one night to get it done with my best friend. NEVER get a tat on the spur of the moment at midnight. Not a good idea.
Well, if you can’t cover the wolf’s head, then maybe you can imbue it with some other meaning. I have one more planned, but that’s for the future, way way way in the future.
arguingwithsignposts
Here’s the tat.
asiangrrlMN
@arguingwithsignposts: I really like it. Maybe you can get something done with the heart part and leave the wolf’s head intact.
asiangrrlMN
And now, I’m out. Last one to leave, turn out the lights.
arguingwithsignposts
Good night, asiangrrlMN. I’ll just leave this thread with four seconds of smudge purring. (video)
L. Ron Obama
I always wondered what happened here after I went to sleep.
Boney Baloney
If you’re a foul traitor who burns black candles every night in the hope that Republicans will rise from the sea and rule the world, you might want to check out “Sadly, No!” in regard to this contest. If you have no soul at all, you might even follow a link or two, and be expelled into the Land of Nod, and a good job, too.
I’m not trying to violate the Mann Act or something, but really, there’s an argument to be made that mammals might not want the Designated XX-Chromosome Person to win a coin toss, much less this particular election. W taking 15 minutes to sentence people to death is, actually, NOT the worst imaginable scenario. The letter D doesn’t scrub bloodstains from tough surfaces. Sometimes the elephant is the lesser of two evils. This is actually true.
Xenos
@Boney Baloney: Tad hyperbolic?
Prosecuters abuse their discretion for the purpose of enacting the public’s will on a regular and ongoing basis. It is one of the downsides of our form of democracy.
But to take some vigorous prosecutions, and strict approaches to parole, and to characterize them as-‘blood stains’? In the context where the Republican opponent cheerfully advocates torture and militarism? This is not an example of reasoned thinking or careful analysis.
Thus the problem with democracy – we often get what we deserve. In fact, the pattern is that a sick democracy eventually sets up its own excruciating suicide, bringing many innocents along with it. Athens in Milos leads to Athens in Syracuse.
What are we compensating for with our love of nihilistic politicians, and doomed invasions?
2th&nayle
@Xenos:
While I agree with you in spirit, Xenos. Could you please be little more discrete with the term “we”?
/s
Xenos
I am trying to get a sense of a national spirit, if there is one. There seems to be a country-wide streak of something… ennui? Self-disgust? that is running through politics all along the political spectrum.
Present company is always excepted, of course.
Boney Baloney
Is it the case that every imaginable Republican is a worse candidate than any imaginable Democratic candidate?
I used to have a series of identical bumper stickers that said “All extremists should be burned alive,” but some dickhead kept scraping them off. Too bad we never sat down and had a free and frank exchange of views. Or maybe not. These days, it’s not a big joke full of give and take anymore.
aimai
Can I use this space to say how disgusted I am with everyone and everything? Is that global enough? But I think that we have to understand that the national democrats–the DSCC and the DCCC are run by really stupid people–they are bean counters and time servers without an ounce of imagination or daring. They looked at this race as a shoe in for whoever was the democratic nominee–there was simply no strategizing for afterwards. And that’s because its cheaper to do things that way. Cheaper to run every Senate race as though its “every tub on its own bottom” as they said at Harvard when they refuse to spend medical school money on the arts and sciences. They didn’t nationalize this election early enough. They let coakely and her local team make horrendous decisions. And she is a very bad candidate. Most of the congressional dems came out in favor of Capuano, who at least knows how to campaign for something and was running as a populist (however bad his campaign was). Coakley comes across as a top tier hand me down. I don’t think she’ll be bad as a senator, but people want to feel they have a choice and right now right wingers (and most of the independent voters are republicans who won’t call themselves that.) Brown seems like he is, at least, the choice of angry voters.
The democrats could have reversed the polarities by taking brown and the republican party seriously as a threat–its something we’ve been talking about for a while. Obama wanted to bury the hatchet and act, more or less, like the republicans werent a threat to everything normal and good and human. Well, here in MA the voters didn’t hear enough about how dangerous the republicans are. Coakley and the national dems allowed Brown to run a stealth campaign appealing to people qua independent instead of tying him to the republicans. ITs hard to imagine how dated the flyer I finally got, and the phone call from Clinton, about how brown is bush and wants to take us back. People have absolutely forgotten bush, they don’t think the current republican party is so bad. That’s because the democrats arent out every minute, on every stump, tying the republicans to Rush “meals on wheels” limbaugh, and “pact with the devil Roberston. That stuff is intolerable in ma–I don’ t care what side of the aisle you are on we hate those people. And yet there was no attempt to tie the national republican party to them either.
If the democrats want to turn out their own base they are going to have to demonize someone–someone right now, not bush. And if they dont figure out this simple fact we are going to continue to lose to the republicans.
aimai
2th&nayle
@Xenos:
Well, that’s probably not the word I would have chosen, but it is quite apropos. My personal mental state of mind is more of a medley of disgust, exhaustion, demoralization, and frustration, but YMMV. haha!
Quiddity
How come nobody here is talking about that mailer that was paid for by the Massachusetts Democratic Party. The one that says Scott Brown wants hospitals to turn rape victims away. Absent important qualifying information, it’s a lie.
Deborah
@Quiddity: I think it’s backfired. If you’re following the election you know that he voted for the bill and is pro-choice. And it comes across as the Dems digging down for a favorite boogey man, claiming any and all Republicans will turn back Roe v Wade. The case they should be making with that factoid is that Brown refuses to take questions and explain his thinking on legislation he himself drafted; what kind of attitude is that for a legislator? You will damn well answer my questions, as posed by the independent Boston media outlets. But no, Coakley’s campaign is digging the same rut voters are sick of.
To be clear, I am voting for Coakley and I agree with her position on abortion. But I winced at that ad and I winced at her closer (Kennedy’s seat and legacy, plus Brown is Bush). Whatever happens–I now think Coakely in a squeaker–this race should become a model, with Creigh Deeds, of how not to run as a Democrat in 2010.
Quiddity
@Deborah Thanks for your on-the-ground report. I agree that Brown is vulnerable on a number of issues and I was surprised at the hospital/rape mailer. As some have pointed out, the Brown amendment (that was defeated) is similar to provisions in the current HCR bill in Congress. My main concern was that the mailer legitimizes future bad behavior by all political parties, and that’s one way to wreck democracy. If everybody lies, then it’s mostly a matter of who can shout the loudest, and not the policies advocated.
morzer
Quiddity. I think you’ll find that bad behavior by all political parties is a national tradition, and, for that matter, a global tradition also. There are two factors that restrain such behavior: fear of being prosecuted for illegal conduct (not immensely effective, since you can always hand off the task to some shadowy group), and fear of the electorate reacting negatively to said bad behavior (perhaps slightly more effective). As for politicians lying, I fear that, like the poor, snake-tongued politicos will always be with us, unless and until a real media develops that holds them immediately accountable. In the short-term, I could not advise holding one’s breath for any extended period of time.
gogol's wife
@arguingwithsignposts:
Definitely, you’re reading her correctly. And they grow so fast at that age. She’s beautiful.
tim
I live in the Jamaica Plain neighborhood of Boston. Former voting Dem here. Worked for the Kerry campaign when I lived in Fort Lauderdale in 2004.
I will not vote for Coakley tomorrow, just as I did not vote for Obama in 2008. It is likely that the 2004 prez election is the last one I will EVER vote in.
Over the last ten years, beginning with the 2000 election debacle and on thru the bogus response to 9/11 and the bogus Iraq War and the increasingly bogus Afghanistan War, and the VERY bogus health care “debate,” and on and on and on, it became clear to me that the Dems are at best pathetic enablers of the Repubs and overall losers who do not deserve my vote. If they can’t summon the balls to earn my vote and fight for some principles in power, then fuck them. As I will never vote for a Republican, I am officially OUT of the Great American Democracy Deception.
I hope for a coming soft revolution of some sort to put this country back together as something I can begin to respect. Since that’s not likely to happen in my lifetime, I’ll hope for that in my kids’ lifetimes.
But meanwhile, my energies are much better spent in the improvement of myself, my circumstances career and money-wise, and my overall personal universe. American politics is the great sound and fury of distraction, signifying nothing of substance.
And that’s why Coakley and the Dems can suck on it.
tc
I’m right there with you, Aimai Deborah and Quiddity. I’ve been doing calls for Coakley all weekend, and the message she’s been wanting us to repeat to everyone is just deplorable. The ads they run make you cringe, and there is hardly anything out there about what is really at stake in this election.
On the other hand, if you were Coakley back in December, you’d probably have done just like her – ignore Brown so as not to give him credibility. It was only when he started gaining credibility that Coakley’s strategy started to look like arrogance. She had done no real research on Brown heading into the debates, so she allowed the lawyer, five-home owner to get away with stuff like “I drive a pickup with 200,000 miles on it.” And then her own stupid words started a snowball effect.
I still think that she’ll pull it out, simply because he’s such a rightwinger and voters will know what it means to send someone like that to D.C. But the utter stupidity of this election makes me want to sit it out, even though I know we’ve got to make the effort.
2th&nayle
@tim: Ah, come on Tim, tell us how you really feel! heh heh! From a very cursory glance, it sounds as though you’d make a pretty damn good Independent candidate.
Chinn Romney
Uncle Willard asked me to give a shout-out to the good people of Massachusettes. He wishes he were here but the skiing in Deer Valley is incredible right now, and the Salmon Mousse at Troll Hallen is to die for. Rest assured, he will return sometime in 2011 to check in on the help at the Winnipesauke Cottage.
morzer
Chinn, is there any truth in the rumor of two more Romney sons? I hear that Mitt admires Sarah Palin’s naming style so much that he’s decided to call them Flip and Flop. Can you confirm this?
The Raven
Maybe that explains her problems: the gods are angry with her.
Croak!
Michael
Do us the favor of shutting the fuck up. Also, quit procreating. You’re obviously too stupid to add anything useful to the gene pool.
Fucking dumb ass.
jcricket
What frustrates me the most about all the coverage is this idea that “voter anger” is all directed at Democrats from the right.
There’s no chance, you know, that there are a large number of angry Democrats/liberals who think that Democrats are doing a crappy job of implementing a progressive agenda, right?
I’m not suggesting Democrats all pivot to the left and become left-wing heroes. Just that being “wishy-washy” and constantly trying to find some mythical center is a losing game.
That said, and I commented on this in the other thread. The public is f*ing stupid. “Throw out whomever is in office to give someone else a try” is some kind of intelligent strategy is just hooey.
If you’re on the right, elect Republicans and push them to the right. If you’re on the left, elect Democrats and push them to the left. If you claim to be in the middle, try actually thinking about something for a change and not just believing what the politicians say. No Republican is a moderate anymore. And very Democrats are truly liberal. So moderates and liberals should quite clearly be voting Democrat (and then pushing those Democrats the direction they want them to go).
tim
Michael, thanks for further illuminating the self centered arrogance and tool-ishness of the average Dem-leaning political addict…such as yourself.
Apparently you think the way to bring the millions of former Dem voters like me back into the fold is to insult us and shit your pants and pout because we won’t play your stupid game anymore.
That will work very well, I’m sure.
Bender
My favorite thing about this election is that the Ball Juicers are finally openly embracing a political philosophy I’ve endorsed here many times.
You all know that the Dems have an unqualified moron running for Mass Senator. You know that “Marcia Coakley” isn’t even respected enough in her own party to get her first name right. You know that, as conservative rag The Boston Globe put it
Even Ball Juicers must have have figured out that she’s an arrogant, empty pantsuit, so amazingly tone-deaf and out-of-touch that she doesn’t know that local hero Curt Schilling was a Red Sox, not a Yankee fan.
Her campaign — a gaffe-a-minute comedy show of misspelled “Massachusetts,” the World Trade Center symbolizing “greed and corruption” in her ads, refusing to lower herself to shaking hands at Fenway “in the cold,” roughing up local press, jetting off to Washington for a big-dollar lobbyist fundraiser while Brown traveled across Mass, Coakley spending millions on last-minute, distasteful negative attack ads that drove her numbers down, and finally, the Dems pulling Bill Clinton off of the Haiti relief effort to stump for her, while Haitian families were still looking for their loved ones in the rubble.
But, you BJers (and almost all the Leftosphere) would all vote for the incompetent, arrogant, ignorant “Marcia” ten times, as Ed Schultz implored Mass Democrats to do. Why? Because she would rubber-stamp an agenda that you want. It’s agenda over competence, agenda over intelligence, agenda over personal qualities.
This site rides mostly on high horse of “the other side are Teh Suxx and stupid and crazy! Anyone who votes for them must also be stupid and crazy!” (Of course, the rightosphere largely says the exact same about you lot.)
I hope that maybe now you get why people — even “your people,” who regularly tell everyone how smart they think they are! — would vote for someone who repeatedly spews stupidity, or who seems to you to be a sub-moron, or who displays all the competence of a crack-addicted chimp.
The Raven
BTW, some of the best coverage is from Laura Clawson over at Kos. Brown looks worse and worse, the more comes out–if the campaign went on for another week, he’d probably lose. As it is, it doesn’t look good.
I don’t know who blew this one on the Dem side, but, wow, did they blow it.
aimai
Why, yes, I”d vote for “marcia” coakley over Brown in a heartbeat if I thought she’d rubber stamp a democratic agenda at the national level. Who the fuck wouldn’t? I don’t vote for the senate candidate who most looks like me, or who I’d like to have a beer with. I’m sure coakley’s a total loser, socially speaking. And mr “playmate of the western world” brown must be terribly nice, and all that but he’s planning on representing a political philosophy which is somewhere north of fucking *cannibalism* at this point. I mean jesus christ on toast points coakley simply can’t be worse than that faceful of shining white teeth in a brooks brother’s suit who is a right wing corporatist apologist who believes in denying rape victims their right to full medical treatment because–why again? why again? why again? and who voted against a break for 9/11 workers and who can’t be bothered to take care of the health care needs of his campaign workers and who went to his own daughter’s highschool and read out angry, obscene, face book postings in order to what again what again what again? This aint no rockefeller republican this is an absolute crashing asshole of a man who wants to drag us cutting taxes and being the pariah of the world just because. Just because that’s his party. When you vote for Brown you are voting for the entire package: Bush, Rove, Torture, Death, insolvency. And, conversely, when you vote for Coakley you are voting for a limp, cold fish, politician who will do what she’s told by a national democratic party that is highly disorganized but at least is still trying to occasionally do some good while in power. That’s the choice.
aimai
Michael
“Millions”? Hardly. you overestimate your own importance to the process. And besides, it isn’t as if you’ve been engaged.
I’m guessing that you’re one of those folks that is eternally tethered to the nutsack of John Edwards, Ralph Nader, Jane Hamsher or any other idiot who proclaims the existence of the Magical Purity Pony, and don’t believe that 30 years of conservatrolling has really warped the mindset of the electorate outside fashionable precincts in Cambridge, San Francisco, Manhattan or DC.
What I find particularly galling is that you’d be OK with allowing Sarah Palin the position that she sought.
To me, you’re dangerous in your excusemaking. You can’t make a victory, but you can sure in hell aid in a defeat.
FlipYrWhig
@Bender:
I never heard the original remark, but I assumed it was intended to be a putdown: what better way to tell a Red Sox player he’s being a dipshit than to associate him with the Yankees? I was a Schilling fan when he was with the Phillies, and I know he took extra zeal in beating the Yankees in interleague games, which is why I thought Coakley was sticking it to him rather than just not knowing who he was.
FlipYrWhig
@tim:
Yeah, um, there’s no “coming soft revolution,” and you really shouldn’t do those nasty things with a Che T-shirt.
asiangrrlMN
@arguingwithsignposts: Very sweet. I wish this had been the last comment on the thread.
Mnemosyne
@tim:
Your Mumia sweatshirt will not get you into Heaven anymore.
Bender
@FlipYrWhig:
No, as soon as the incredulous radio guy tries to correct her, she stammers that “oh, I’m wrong on that” or something. It’s clear she was just clueless.
Bender
@aimai:
You’re kinder to Coakley than most, but that’s my point. When Cole runs his millionth “Can you believe that Random GOPper said that Random Obama Policies are causing Random Negative Impact? What a moron! Republicans must be stupid to support them!” you’ll remember that you supported a moron because the alternative was to sacrifice your agenda. Republicans do the same thing.
aimai
Bender,
that is precisely not the case for people who are voting for Brown. The MA voters who are voting for brown have been snookered, to a large extent, by a very careful stealth campaign. Brown isn’t running on his record, which is bizarre, or on Bush/Cheney’s, which is downright disasterous. He is running as a faux “independent” and people are buying it, for now. If he puts this one over on the voters of MA they are going to wake up with the biggest case of buyers remorse of all time. I have nothing against republican voters voting for republican causes and principles. But the fact of the matter is that no republican in the north east in my adult lifetime has done anything but argue that they can be the sane voice in a field of creepy crawling lunatics. And they never manage to do anything to pull their party in the direction the voters prefer. That’s why the republican party is largely dead, in MA, and what you have are a disorganized bunch of independents who vote reflexively anti democrat precisely because they know they won’t get their choice most of the time, and thus will never be held accountable.
aimai
aimai
And jeezus, who cares about fucking curt bloody sock shilling? If I’d been coakley I’d have said that straight out “I care nothing about sports. Nothing. I could’nt even tell you what the major sports are. so what? It has zero to do with working hard as a senator.”
aimai