Anyone else watching this bizarre closing ceremony?
And apparently, Canada is the home of giant beavers. There are jokes a plenty to be made with that one.
Archives for February 2010
Pink and Brown
I guess this is what passes for Republican he-manism in Massachusetts:
“We’re in the famous truck,” he pointed out, needlessly. “It’s a regular truck.” Yes and no. As Arianna, the younger of his two daughters, told me, he originally purchased it not so he could haul lumber but so he could attach it to a trailer bearing her horse. He soon abandoned that plan. “It’s scary pulling a trailer,” he said…
[….]Arianna told me that he showed up for his first real date with her mother, Gail Huff, a TV newscaster to whom he has been married for more than 23 years, in pink leather shorts. It’s family lore.
The pinkish color drained from his face when I asked him about it during a conversation in his campaign office just before we took off in the truck. He clarified that the shorts weren’t something that he went out and purchased — it wasn’t like that at all. “I did the couture shows, and instead of paying in cash, they paid in clothes,” he said. “And one of the things I had to wear were leather shorts. And these happened to be pink.”
As he told the story, he seemed, almost in spite of himself, to get into it. “If I wore these now,” he said, “I’d get shot. But it was the ’80s. Pastels were in. It was all pastel-y.”
As you might have guessed from reading my posts, I am also an extremely neurotic person who doesn’t like the idea of driving with a trailer attached to my car. So I sympathize with Scott Brown.
But I also have to wonder: is there anything that disqualifies a Republican from being a straight-arrow regular-guy macho daddy you’d like to have a beer with? Here’s a partial list of things that aren’t disqualifications: owning more houses than you can count, being a tee-totaler, publicly proclaiming your problems with erectile dysfunction, dressing in drag, talking about varmint guns…and now, wearing pink leather shorts, using the word “pastel-y”, and appearing in couture shows.
Not that there’s anything wrong with doing any of those things.
I know the answer, but…
I still have to wonder how the Sunday shows could not find a moment to mention that Senator Jim Bunning is obstructing 1.2 million Americans from getting unemployment benefits just to be a dick. One would have thought that this might merit a comment somewhere. On ABC there was ample time to discuss the departure of the White House Party Planner, but not the real world impact of obstructionism on so many people’s lives. I guess important ‘journalists’ can’t be bothered with things like news when catty Georgetown gossip is at hand.
It might have been a good question to ask Gramps McCain as he guest hosted another one of these shows, but it didn’t happen. (I think it was on the Network that has a funny show on Thursday night, but he is on so many of these Sunday shows it is hard to tell which network will toss the old fella softballs on any given weekend).
Yes, I already know why. And yet, I thought I would ask the question regardless of that.
I recently watched “The Most Dangerous Man in America“, a documentary film in theatres these days. It is the story of Daniel Ellsberg and the release of the Pentagon Papers. It is pretty amazing film and reminds one that there was a time–not so long ago–when people actually practiced journalism in America.
Now we just get MC Rove’s back-up dancers.
***sigh***
Feel free to treat this as an open thread.
Cheers
dengre
USA v. Canada Overtime Thread
Wow.
And for those of you who do not care about hockey, let me bitch about something else trivial while people all over the world suffer from hurricanes and earthquakes and I lose all perspective about how good my life is, but I just broke another DAMNED CAN OPENER. Link me to the mother of all hand held can openers. I’ve tried ’em all. Impress me. Thank god I have a bunch of P-38’s still, or Lily would be eating only kibble tonight.
Guns Don’t Kill People
I will never, ever, ever understand the American gun fetish, and I spent a number of years in the military:
A gun instructor accidently shot a student in the foot Saturday during an NRA class to receive certification to carry a concealed weapon, Orlando police said.
Robert Frauman Jr., 50, was taken to Florida Hospital after instructor Michael Phillips’ firearm discharged about 11:45 a.m., police said.
Phillips, 32, could not be reached for comment. The accident happened at Summit Church, located in a former movie theater near the Fashion Square mall.
Probably a bunch of people getting guns because Obama is going to take ’em all away.
(via)
Welcome to Washington
Steve Benen flags what he calls a “a surprisingly long chat about Desiree Rogers” on whatever Stuffy’s old Sunday morning is called now. Here’s a brief summary (I’m leaving out the parts where Cokie Roberts sounds reasonable because I don’t believe they’re real):
DONALDSON: People who work for the president understand or should understand their place, which is to be spear-carriers. There are two stars in anyone’s White House, the president and the president’s spouse. After that, this passion for anonymity that once was a hallmark of people who worked for a president, has been lost. She wanted to be a star herself…
[….]KRUGMAN: Can I say that 20 million Americans unemployed, the fact that we’re worrying about the status of the White House social secretary…
VARGAS: It’s our light way to end, Paul.
DONALDSON: Paul, welcome to Washington.
It’s good to see Krugman call them on their bullshit. Along those lines, Michael Scherer deserves credit for this:
But change, as the Obamas have learned, does not become of Washington–whether one is talking about influence brokering or party planning. Rogers had come to make waves, she made waves, and then she got wiped out. If there is any consolation to this whole sorry tale, it is that the crooked viciousness of the social set does not spare anyone. Earlier this week, Sally Quinn lost her column in the Washington Post, after using it to write a particularly petty and catty piece about an internal squabble in her own family regarding wedding dates. The tall poppy tyranny plays no favorites, you see. Our nation’s capital is imbued with the same social silliness as a middle school. You can’t just walk in and sit at any lunch table you choose. If you do, they will find a way to get you.
USA v. Canada Hockey Open Thread
My God. If Barry Melrose and Liberace were to mate, the spawn would look like Don Cherry just did a moment ago.