Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

The GOP couldn’t organize an orgy in a whorehouse with a fist full of 50s.

Balloon Juice has never been a refuge for the linguistically delicate.

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

A last alliance of elves and men. also pet photos.

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

The willow is too close to the house.

They’re not red states to be hated; they are voter suppression states to be fixed.

Black Jesus loves a paper trail.

Just because you believe it, that doesn’t make it true.

I’m pretty sure there’s only one Jack Smith.

Today’s GOP: why go just far enough when too far is right there?

Too often we confuse noise with substance. too often we confuse setbacks with defeat.

You cannot shame the shameless.

The revolution will be supervised.

Nothing worth doing is easy.

This blog will pay for itself.

Something needs to be done about our bogus SCOTUS.

Seems like a complicated subject, have you tried yelling at it?

That’s my take and I am available for criticism at this time.

Let’s finish the job.

It’s always darkest before the other shoe drops.

Nancy smash is sick of your bullshit.

Usually wrong but never in doubt

fuckem (in honor of the late great efgoldman)

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51Comments

  2. 2.

    bkny

    Ford Decides Not to Run for New York Senate Seat
    By MICHAEL BARBARO 14 minutes ago

    Harold E. Ford Jr. told friends that he could beat Kirsten E. Gillibrand but feared the damage that his candidacy might inflict on the party, said the people he told of his plans.

    he’s so full of shit

  5. 5.

    Comrade Jake

    It’s a damn shame. I was sort of hoping he’d be so thoroughly embarrassed as to stop showing up on my GODDAMN FUCKING TELEVISION.

  10. 10.

    Corner Stone

    @gizmo:

    Harold Ford represents the worst element in -the Democratic Party- pretty much all of humanity.

  11. 11.

    ThatLeftTurnInABQ

    @bkny:
    When danger reared its ugly head
    He bravely turned his tail and fled
    Yes, brave Sir Harold turned about
    And gallantly he chickened out
    Bravely taking to his feet
    He beat a very brave retreat
    Bravest of the brave, Sir Harold!

  13. 13.

    demo woman

    Fords oped piece is up at the NYTimes. I refuse to link to it but here is one choice paragraph.

    Voting for health care legislation that imposes billions in new taxes on New Yorkers and restricts federal financing for abortions is not good for the people of this state. Voting against critical funds necessary to ensure the survival of the financial services industry — the economic backbone of this state — is not good for the people of New York.

  14. 14.

    Max

    What HuffPost columnist will tell us this has really been a tough week for black people?

    Raises hand! “I know, I know”

    Taylor Marsh. I noticed a post on her site earlier that Obama is to blame for Charlie Rangel, so it’s obvious that he’s going to take the hit for Ford too.

  15. 15.

    bemused

    Harold Ford is photogenic? The New York Post writers must have been stretching for something positive to say about the creep.

  17. 17.

    Max

    Question related to NY politics…

    Riddle me this…

    If Blago and that mess was, according to the media, a reflection on Obama, why isn’t Patterson a reflection on Clinton, by those same people?

  19. 19.

    gbear

    Fords oped piece is up at the NYTimes. I refuse to link to it….

    But it might be kind of fun to go take a peek at the comments.

  20. 20.

    SRW1

    No, No, No. What Harold really said was that he only way he could beat Gillibrand was to give her a slap in the face if he’d manage to get within a foot or two, but that it probably wouldn’t look manly on national TV and might get him bumped from future helicopter rides into New York. That was a grave risk he was not prepared to take.

  21. 21.

    Ash Can

    It sure took him a while to wise up. But I have to give him credit — some pols never do.

  22. 22.

    Brian J

    @demo woman:

    This is just my random thoughts on the matter, but one of the reasons why New York is having such a budget crisis is that it lost a lot of revenue when Wall Street started to tank. In the long run, for this and other reasons, it’s probably very good if the state depends on industries other than finance to provide jobs.

    As for the billions in new taxes imposed on New Yorkers, I’d bet a decent amount of money he has absolutely no idea how many billions in taxes will be levied. And that’s leaving aside the fact that people will be actually getting some concrete, like access to health care, and theoretically great, like the opportunity to work for themselves because they are not tied to their current jobs just because of insurance.

  24. 24.

    Ash Can

    @Max: Believe me, anyone who says that Blago reflects on Obama has no idea in hell what they’re talking about. Blago is a product of the old Chicago machine, and Obama fought against and defeated that machine to get elected to the state senate and begin his career in elected office.

  25. 25.

    demo woman

    @Napoleon: Ford said that in a oped he wrote for the Times.. He single handedly has helped the dems by voicing his concerns. Of course, the idiot has never heard of the Hyde Amendment. Excuse my language but what an egotistical fucking idiot.

  27. 27.

    Brian J

    @Max:

    I’m curious about how Obama is to blame for whatever Rangel did, but I’m too scared to read what she wrote. Brain cell death and all, you know?

  28. 28.

    JGabriel

    Glad that Ford is out, but I’m far more concerned about the damage from Bunning’s obstruction of extending unemployment benefits (h/t Atrios).

    The problem (outside the present tragic and utterly preventable damage) is that when the election rolls around, I don’t think most people are going to remember that a Republican blocked it, they’re just gonna remember that the Democrats were in charge and they lost benefits when they still needed them.

    We need to be playing much, much, harder ball on this one. The Dems need to deal with this quickly, forcefully, and with complete disregard for GOP whinging.

    .

  30. 30.

    Max

    @Ash Can: Lynn Sweet, insert obligatory MSNBC host, and that balding Jim dude who always wears a turtleneck and blazer combo from Chicago have been saying how this is “bad for Obama” from jump.

    To say nothing of the “Obama is part of the Chicago machine” or “Chicago-style politics” that we hear ad nauseum.

    @Brian J: Honestly, I couldn’t read the whole post. I only visit that site to see what the Obama-haters meme is for the day. Her site usually lines up in the PUMAsphere with Aravosis, BTD, etc. I believe it has something to do with Obama’s “ineptness” and that Hillary should be president.

  31. 31.

    demo woman

    @JGabriel: You’re right, if I were the President, I would be on TV and voice my concerns. As much as I disliked little Bush, he did use the TV to his advantage.

  32. 32.

    PurpleGirl

    @Brian J: New York City and New York State depend on taxes on trades and to a lesser extent income taxes on the high roller bankers. Mayor Bloomberg has been especially against raising income taxes on the super wealthy (no surprise there). Although the financial sector does employ a lot of people, for the last two decades those number have decreased as banks sent back-office jobs to other states and banks and brokerages merged and companies vanished. (Ant this trend was in the works way before September 11, 2001.)

  33. 33.

    PurpleGirl

    Oh, I’m glad that Ford has decided not to run… and Maureen White and her husband Steven Rattner were/are some of the big money donors who were behind Ford. Their names were mentioned prominently in the early articles about Ford wanting to run for the Senate. And they are becoming important players in Manhattan charity circles.

    If he wants to take some time and get to know the state that’s okay. But I’ll bet that there are skeletons he wants to hide or keep suppressed… like about taxes and if and when he became a resident.

  34. 34.

    cat48

    This is good news for Mort Zuckerman and Dan Senor

    Excellent, just what the Senate needs either an old rich white man or another white middle-aged neoconservative. Fine fellows, as Biden said about Cheney.

  35. 35.

    Brian J

    @PurpleGirl:

    Hmm. I just remember reading something about how New York was specifically feeling the effects of the recession in its state income revenue because of how badly financial companies took a dive. I don’t remember the specific numbers, however.

  38. 38.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @JGabriel: Laurence O’Donnell (filling in for Keith on Countdown) had some footage on a short time ago showing Bunning in a confrontation with a couple of reporters (“This is a private elevator!”). According to L O’D, right before the camera started rolling Bunning shot them the bird. Stay classy, Senator.

  39. 39.

    nepat

    What HuffPost columnist will tell us this has really been a tough week for black people?

    HuffPost bashing is always welcome. More like this, please.

  43. 43.

    mai naem

    Please please let the gods allow Mort Zuckerman to be the repub nominee. The guys has the delusion of thinking he’s Mike Bloomberg. I’d like to see him after NY’rs give him the spanking he deserves.

  44. 44.

    PurpleGirl

    @Brian J: I don’t know the numbers but this is my impression: the state depends on income tax revenue and the city depends more taxes on trade activity. With various economic losses, those revenues have been reduced. Bloomberg is against raising city income taxes on millionaires. And with a high unemployment rate income tax receipts in general are down.

  45. 45.

    PurpleGirl

    An example of the consolidation in banking :

    Manufacturers Hanover Trust and Chemical Bank merged and kept the name Chemical Bank.

    Chase Manhattan Bank then merged with Chemical Bank and became Chase Bank.

    Chase Bank then combined with J.P. Morgan Guaranty Trust and kept the name Chase Bank.

    Chase Bank, with no banks in NYC they could take over combined with Bank One from Chicago and kept the name Chase Bank.

    BTW, Jamie Dimon became the chief of Bank One when he lost the competition to head Citigroup as Sanford Weill’s successor. Dimon returned to NYC when Bank One merged with Chase.

    With each merger, there were jobs lost, jobs sent to other states, etc. I followed it when I worked in fund raising because as each merger occurred, corporate contributions decreased. In fact, the ability to reduce those contributions was as a reason for the shareholders to approve a merger.

  47. 47.

    parksideq

    Slightly OT, can anyone explain to me why Gillibrand needed to be primaried in the first place? I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: I feel like she’s represented my interests well in her short tenure as my senator, so I never understood (or rather, no one really made a compelling argument) why, outside general anti-incumbency sentiments, she needed to be challenged.

    Any insight into this would be greatly appreciated.

  48. 48.

    PurpleGirl

    @parksideq: Probably best explained as internal state Democratic party intrigue. Apparently a number of people, i.e., big donors in Manhattan decided that she was not truly [“something”] (I’m not sure this was ever explained) because she was appointed by Paterson, or they decided she voted against the TARP funds and was therefore unfriendly to banks, she was no longer a Wall Streeter herself so that was bad…. no real reason that could be or was publicly explained. And Ford was there at Bank of America… or maybe they decided a few years ago that he could be transplanted to NYC and run for something.

    I agree with you that Gillibrand has been doing a decent job for the state as a whole. I don’t think it was really anti-incumbency. By those standards they should be going after Schumer and lots of others.

  49. 49.

    Lisa

    Does anyone notice that the piece is co-written by someone named Frederic U. Dicker?

    Isn’t that a name that people use for prank calls? Like Heywood Jablowme?

    WTF.

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