Once we kill off healthcare reform and get rid of that right-winger Lynn Woolsey, we can really focus our efforts on the Rahm menace. Of course, we still need to find a primary opponent for Bernie Sanders.
And yes, I am trolling my own website. Again.
rachel
“Dance, my puppets, dance!”
chopper
you’re obviously ignoring the 60+ votes we have in the senate for the public option.
J.A.F. Rusty Shackleford
Happy Eric Massa Day everyone!
kay
@J.A.F. Rusty Shackleford:
I’m very unhappy with him. I can’t remember if I donated.
God, I hope not.
Is he going to be like that horrible former Clintonite who appears on FOX? Did I have anything to do with creating another one?
beltane
Speaking of progressives, it’s been fun following the recent events in Burlington, VT, a city run by an actual Progressive mayor and city council (the VT Progressive party is the only thing this state’s Republicans have going for them). To put it bluntly, the Prog mayor, Bob Kiss, has managed to run things even worse than than the Democrats and Republicans do. Secrecy, incompetence, allegations of corruption, etc.
Since I don’t live there, I just like to sit back and laugh.
ellaesther
Can I just register my shock and amazement over the fact that the state legislator from California, whatshisname, Ashburn? Came out and said, flat out: “I’m gay”?
I know, I know, I think that if I were gay I’d be like a) no shit, Sherlock, and b) thanks for all those homo-bashing laws, homey!
But still and all. I feel like it’s a sign of something meaningful that he could just be honest, after all the years of dishonesty.
Lolis
I thought Jane was someone who wanted to see more women in leadership roles in Congress, but now Lynn needs to go and Raul Grijalva needs to replace her. Didn’t the FDL people see Grijalva’s recent comments after meeting with Obama pretty much saying he will vote for the bill? I guess not.
Fencedude
ZOMG 15 minutes till I can go pick up Final Fantasy XIII!
…other things are happening today?
rachel
@ellaesther: And after he pretty much got caught red-handed.
beltane
@kay: I think Eric Massa will be more like Rod Blagojovich and Jim Trafficant than Lanny Davis (the horrible Clintonite on Fox). Look for him to appear on The Apprentice sometime in the near future.
Napoleon
As I said in the last thread, I hate Kucinich. What a f—ing prima donna. That GOS diary is pretty good at taking the wood to those asses who would blow up HCR at this point.
kay
@beltane:
The other horrible former Clintonite on FOX. Not Lanny Davis. Lanny Davis is a current Clintonite.
Dick Morris.
ellaesther
@rachel: Didn’t Larry Craig also get caught red-handed? Didn’t Ted Haggard?
The tendency — no, not tendency, the Only Thing Anyone Has Ever Done — has been to lie and obfuscate and try to spin reality so that it could mean something else.
I think it matters that he didn’t even bother with that stage.
Sullivan said something yesterday that really resonated for me: “The reason I can’t quite find it in me to attack gay hypocrites or closeted men or prostitution-seeking priests is because I can’t quite attack an already destroyed and devastated psyche and soul.”
If I were gay, I’m not sure how I would feel about that. But I do know that I have a lot of compassion for the “devastated psyche and soul” part of it.
Eric U.
@rachel: so did Larry Craig, and he will never admit it. Sad.
stevie314159
Don’t forget getting Kucinich and Bayh to primary Obama in 2012.
rob!
You see, John, after your shoulder thing and you received THE BEST HEALTHCARE IN THE WORLD, you see we don’t need reform!
Hamsher/Kucinich 2012! WE PROMISE NOTHING WILL GET DONE!
Edward G. Talbot
I assume we’re gonna primary Kucinich as well, right? Isn’t he wishy-washy on reproductive rights?
jeffreyw
Bah, morning again. Calls for desperate measures. That how I make my morning coffee-6 desperate measures per pot. And don’t forget the half&half next time you go to the store or I’m gonna be really pissed. Goddamn powder fake milk. Shit.
beltane
Here is a homework assignment for all of you: http://dailykos.com/story/2010/3/9/844344/-Sick-and-Tired-of-Bozos-on-Daily-Kos
I’ve been thinking of buying a pair of geese to alert me to intruders on my property (my dog goes for weeks at a time without barking). I think I’ll name them Jane and Dennis. Sound like a good idea?
tomvox1
Worst. Stanley Fish. Ever:
http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/03/08/do-you-miss-him-yet/?ref=opinion
Money quote:
How many more stories with this stupid meme will be forthcoming, I wonder? Kill me now…
Eric U.
@tomvox1: the only good thing about life right now is that I don’t have to think about Bush. If I had to pass one of the “miss me yet?” billboards, I might be driven to “modify” it. That is the worst kind of revisionism, and furthermore, how can I miss him if he won’t go away?
Napoleon
@Edward G. Talbot:
He flip flopped on abortion and now is pro-choice.
Dennis actually drew real primary opponents last time (in fact to many, I think it hurt the effort to unseat him) one of who had some real backing behind him.
Max
@tomvox1: Here you go, the PUMA Queen has started us off.
http://www.taylormarsh.com/
Do I win a prize?
sparky the self-puncher
your excellency:
whatever it is you were taking for your shoulder–must be distributed to all of us. promptly.
please?
Steeplejack
__
Good times. It doesn’t get any better than that. Or more meta.
tomvox1
@Eric U.:
It is reason enough to prosecute these vile MFers for war crimes and war profiteering if only to strangle the inevitable “W Bush wasn’t so bad” revisionist movement in its crib.
Leelee for Obama
Has DougJ put up any info about Massa? I have not been keeping up. I can’t. It’s too painful. But if there’s any skinny from the district, I’d read that.
Thanks, I think.
Steeplejack
@jeffreyw:
Screw the half-and-half. Heavy cream, baby.
mr. whipple
The idiot voted against the House bill, which did have a PO, and is now saying he won’t vote for the Senate bill because it doesn’t have a PO.
He’s a jerkoff.
Brian J
@Napoleon:
Yeah, really.
I’ve likened this before to denying starving people fast food. It’s not the best choice out there, but it will keep them going until something better comes along. It certainly beats starving people to prove a point, which is exactly what Kucinich wants to do.
Rhoda
@Lolis: Lynn Woolsey and Raul Grijalva have been at the same place in this debate from jump. She’s ignoring his comments IMO and it’s simple to see why. If she shoots all the progressives in the foot she won’t have a leg to stand on in the end. Plus, she’s pissed off a lot of the black blogosphere and it’s hard to do that AND piss of Latinos IMO.
sparky the self-puncher
ps: can’t you just have Glenn come back? i mean, nothing beats those threads for highest trolling content.
you two could set up something like Sunday Troll-A-Rama. flash ads as far as the eye could see…
Remember November
So is saying “Yes Massa, no Massa” “we’ll be good, Massa” racist?
bob h
Our celebrity-obsessed, all-about-me society has bred a class of celebrity-obsessed, all-about-me, asshole politicians for whom the common good is entirely secondary to having their way. And all these assholes seem to be Democrats.
Trinity
@Leelee for Obama: I’m with you. I can’t take the Massa-mess either but I would read DougJ’s take on the matter.
Bill H
@jeffreyw:
I was building respect for you at the “6 measures per pot” part, but then you got to the “don’t forget the half&half” and you lost me. How can you taste coffee with that dairy product shit in it?
burnspbesq
@beltane:
“I’ve been thinking of buying a pair of geese to alert me to intruders on my property (my dog goes for weeks at a time without barking). I think I’ll name them Jane and Dennis. Sound like a good idea?”
A pair of rabid weasels might be more appropriate.
Darkmoth
@beltane:
Maybe it’s a PA thing, maybe it’s a local thing, but our city Dems have always been deeply corrupt mofos. I’ve voted against Democratic mayoral candidates (Frank Rizzo, omfg).
I think it’s at the national level that the respective parties cleave to their ideologies more closely.
arguingwithsignposts
Another 400+ comment thread. Go!
Keith G
@ellaesther: I’m gay and I say attack him.
No need to act that way. It’s not a gay thing it’s a dysfunctional person who happens to be gay thing. I do not give a pass to the fuck up Ben Roethlisberger (or Tiger) because they are confused straight men.
No excuses. Ashburn is a putz. Get me one of asiangrrl’s rusty pitchforks.
Napoleon
@Brian J:
It is this kind of asshattery from Kucinich that lead the banks to pull the City of Cleveland’s line of financing which lead to a default while he was mayor of Cleveland. We are talking about someone who actually fired his police chief, who was standing right next to him, on live TV. Dennis is all about Dennis.
Rick Taylor
@Bill H
You want to taste the coffee?
dmsilev
@bob h:
All of them? Good Lord, no. John McCain. Sarah Palin. Rudy! I’m sure if I thought about it for a few seconds, I could generate a much much longer list of egocentric assholic Republican politicians.
-dms
Comrade javafascist
@beltane: Mayor of Burlington was Bernie’s launching off point as well. Like any entrenched power group, in Burlington’s case the progressives, each subsequent iteration is worse.
Going to be fun watching people primary Bernie though since he’s an independent. I’m sure Peter Diamondstone would be up for it if you asked him.
PeakVT
And yes, I am trolling my own website.
Why do that when you could post a ridiculous pet video instead?
nancydarling
@beltane—guinea fowl are cheaper than geese plus they eat ticks and don’t need a pond
Bill E Pilgrim
@tomvox1: That column was hilariously stupid.
One billboard asking “Do you miss me yet?” means, in his estimation, that most people do.
It was the myopic academic version of “Marge, he’s evil! Just listen to that music!”
I think I’ll go out and nail up one billboard that reads “Is Stanley Fish a complete moron?”
Hey, a majority clearly thinks so– a billboard asked the question!
Jules
Hot Damn!
Limbaugh is gonna leave the country if health care passes:
http://thinkprogress.org/2010/03/09/limbaugh-exile-health-care/
Pass the Damn Bill
Bob In Pacifica
Gee, I thought if you were ripping Hamsher you’d actually link to her article, not an article attacking her.
geg6
@Trinity:
And I’ll third you and Leelee on this. Where the hell has DougJ been to fill us in on what the hell is going on with Massa? Though perhaps he’s in mourning or embarrassed or something and is reluctant to discuss it. Poor DougJ. He sounded like he kinda liked Massa up to this point.
Darkmoth
@bob h:
I think a reasonable definition of megalomanic is “anyone who runs for President”. Ditto for Senator (to a lesser degree).
no completely rational person thinks they can run the world.
jeffreyw
@Steeplejack:
You got your heavy cream priorities all out of whack, my good friend. This is what heavy cream is for.
WereBear
@jeffreyw: Gosh, do I ever loathe the powder. Rather drink it black.
Does blow up real good, though.
chowkster
You just watch. Kucinich will primary Obama in 2012.
geg6
@Napoleon:
Man, I remember when Kucinich did that. Here in Pittsburgh, we all pointed and laughed. Between the river catching fire a decade before and the bankrupting boy mayor, we were hysterical over the misfortunes of our (at the time) most hated rival city. We still laugh at Cleveland, but not as hard as we used to. We have our own idiot boy mayor now, after all.
Ash Can
@mr. whipple: I’m all for the firebaggers, purity trolls, SDS holdouts, generic American Commies et al. trying to get as much of what they want into, and out of, bills as possible. But this is just plain grandstanding. What’s the deal? Kucinich is pissed because Obama managed to get himself elected president and he couldn’t, so now he’s going to fuck shit up?
This is turning out to be a real eye-opener for me. Never again will I take it as a given that Dennis Kucinich has the wellbeing of his constituents at heart.
SenyorDave
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/08/AR2010030801742.html
The latest Thiessen column from the Post. A shame that the same paper that employs Eugene Robinson has this degenerate.
I would sooner subscribe to the Washington Times than the WaPo at this point. At least with the Times I know what I am getting.
Its scary that Thiessen was part of a presidential administartion. I know he was Jesse Helms’ flack for a while, but that makes sense. He would fit in perfectly with a reactionary racist piece of shit.
Thiessen is truly an amoral piece of grabage. His whole column is a lie, he makes leaps that are incredible. He actually uses the term “Al Quaeda” lawyers as if the lawyers were on Al Queda’s payrolls.
Thiessen’s children should be removed by DYFS. growing up in a household with that man could warp anyone’s morals.
jibeaux
kay, you cannot blame yourself for Massa. It sounds like that man needs a little time to struggle with his own private demons for a bit.
Citizen_X
@tomvox1: Years of attacking science leaves one unable to process reality effectively. So yes, one billboard makes for Teh Bush Revival!
I’ll make Stanley a little bet: I bet I can make him renounce that position in a few minutes. It’ll just take a little waterboarding. Nothing serious–it’s not really torture–because that method comes from Bush, “the figure of fun and derision,” right?
Brian J
@Napoleon:
His determined nature wouldn’t be a bad thing if it was going to yield better results very soon, but I don’t think that’s going to happen. If health care form dies in the next year, I don’t think we’ll see any action for a long time. We have, oh, only the last couple of decades as examples of how a lack of progress doomed reform for years on end. And if Kucinich is one of the people helping to kill reform now, however imperfect it may be, he’ll have a lot of people to answer to.
ellaesther
@Keith G: I guess I think that there’s got to be some space between the options of “attack him” and “embrace him.” I wrote something about this for the Chicago Tribune back when Larry Craig was caught red-footed, and my bottom line was:
“Every time we learn of the “lewd conduct” of yet another conservative leader better known for years of anti-gay fury, we must recognize the protests they have led and laws they have sponsored for what they really are: Elaborate closets, built of self-loathing….But if we really want to stop dignified older gentlemen from approaching potential sex partners in hidden places, we need to start teaching impressionable young kids that they are OK no matter who they love.”
I’m all for outing people who legislate or advocate against the very thing that they do (so this includes Spitzer and Vitter), and I wouldn’t hesitate to block Ashburn professionally at every turn. But I guess I have compassion. That’s not giving him a pass, but neither is it attacking him.
(And not for nothing, but the cases of those three men are so wildly different that they really aren’t a useful comparison. Neither Ben Roethlisberger or Tiger Woods had any public responsibility, but Roethlisberger may be a rapist and Tiger is apparently a sex addict — and those two situations are also incomparable).
Napoleon
@Brian J:
Bingo. Determined is good but it has to be blended with being pragmatic, something Dennis and the loonies still screaming to kill the bill are not.
@geg6:
Well I grew up in Youngstown and so can claim to be neutral in the Pittsburgh/Cleveland hatefest even though I now live in Cleveland.
Shalimar
@bob h: Nah. Dems have a depressing number but most of them are still Republicans. It’s just hard to distinguish the narcissist Republicans from all the rest of their lick-spittle, wealth-worshiping pack.
beltane
@Comrade javafascist: I once saw Pete Diamondstone debate Bernie Sanders on TV and it was one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen, especially since the debate featured a transwoman running on the Republican ticket and some other Christian lady running as “Party of Mom”.
The type of progressive purist acceptable to Hamsher et al would likely result in our next senator being Jim Douglas (R-VT).
Paul L.
Saw John’s tweet.
Limbaugh vows to flee the country if health care passes.
Looks like Thinkprogress is lying. The headline should be:
Limbaugh vows to flee the country if private health care is outlawed in US.
BTW, when is Tim F. going to retract his statement that scientists who pushed the “Population Bomb” have been discredited?
Remember November
@bob h:
Nailed it and stuck the landing. 9.9!
Steeplejack
@jeffreyw:
Dude, heavy cream can multitask!
taylormattd
No, no. To properly troll your own site, you need to mention Armando and link to Talk Left.
plasticgoat
Centrists superiority complex much? Thanks for all the centrists and what they do for our party!!! We love moving backwards not forwards, but it does seem to fly in the face of the current administrations need to look forward and forget the past…I am not a happy liberal today. I spent my formative years marching and and working for a woman’s right to choose and now I have the Democratic party, who supports a woman’s right to choose in their platform, handing me the Stupack and Nelson language on a platter, and telling me it’s cake. Majorities with their own agendas, but the centrist’s line in the sand is a-okay, let the progressive bashing continue.
The Grand Panjandrum
@Jules:
He also once said that drug addicts should move to Europe where they are wan’t. Sigh. I’m still waiting, Rush.
Looks like Artur Davis (D-Ala) has promised to break from the campaign trail to vote AGAINST HCR. He was one of the ratfuckers to vote for the original Stupak amendment then vote against the bill as a whole. He really wants to be Alabama’s governor. Well, the brother has about as much chance of getting elected governor of Alabama as I do of becoming Miss America.
BTW Bernie Sanders is one hell of a guy. I live next door in NH and he did yeoman’s work to get billions of dollars put into the Senate legislation to get rural health clinics funded. THAT is a major win for people who live in remote areas. Not only can’t they get coverage, they have to drive many miles just to get primary health care.
But let’s just kill the bill. Fuck it, who gives a shit about people who have to drive 50 miles just to get a physical exam. Fuck it, who gives a shit about kids who can’t get covered at ANY price because of pre-exisisting conditions.
HRA
I am at work. I will be checking back in an hour to see if someone can give me some advice for my puppy, Tiki (almost 2 yrs. old).
Tiki is not drinking his water. We tried the filtered water and then the tap water. He loves ice cubes. How many can we give him in a day when we are both at work. He won’t take the ice cubes out of his water dish if we add them to it.
I sort of remember someone quite a while ago mentioning adding something to his/her pet’s water. Alas I cannot remember what was added.
Comrade javafascist
@beltane: Sen Douglas? I just dry heaved over that one. Isn’t there always somebody at those debates (Thanks VPT!) whose answer to every question is legalize pot?
mr. whipple
Yup. I’m done with him. In a sense, he’s just as bad as Lieberman insofar as we’re at a point where individual votes are so valuable, and he knows it, and keeps running to the TV to get his purity pout on, and even worse to spew RW talking points.
kay
@Brian J:
It’s been helpful, though, watching this play out.
I’ve been really impressed with certain progressives, Sherrod Brown, Bernie Sanders, who have been both really effective public advocates, selling progressive ideas on health care and actually working.
I have developed something close to a crush on Bernie Sanders.
“What we would do with $14 billion is expand access from the current 20 million people served by community health centers to 45 million people. It will mean establishing CHCs and their satellites in 10,000 new communities. What it also means is that we will dramatically increase funding for the National Health Service Corps so we have an additional 20,000 doctors, dentists and nurses. It’s a revolution in primary health care if we get what I hope we get.”
I love how he has to talk really fast before the jerk-off bobblehead cuts him off. He’s not breathing when he’s talking. He can’t be. I want you-all to know that.
He’s probably all light-headed when he walks off :)
Max
@HRA: Go to the vet. In the meantime, I believe you can give something like Pedialyte to dogs.
Keith G
@ellaesther: The cases are different both in conduct and evolution of the storyline. Yet, they are all men who are not handling the intersection of power, sex,and (in at least two instances) substance abuse very well.
I know I am overstating my ill regard of Asburn’s humanity, but I have seen this fucking miserable story play out way too many times. I object to his use of the “I’m gay card” as way to misdirect attention from his problems. Implicit in that is the notion that being gay is a problematic condition that acts as mitigation for one’s misdeed.
If he wanted my support, he needed to come out before the traffic stop. What was preventing hm from doing that? His ego? His quest for power? This isn’t the 1950’s. There is no longer any excuse for this type of behavior.
PTirebiter
@SenyorDave:
I’m not sure what grabage is French for, but that says it all for the puke.
Other than being a live virus for a new vaccine, the universe cannot justify Thiessen’s continued existence. IMHO
taylormattd
@kay: yes kay. Agree 100% with this:
HRA
@Max:
Thanks, Max.
ellaesther
@Keith G: I think he likely carries the 1950s deep within him, so to speak, but this is where we get into territory where I feel like, honestly, it’s not my community, so I can’t go any further on it. My life is not potentially damaged by his duplicity.
Corner Stone
@plasticgoat:
The cake is a lie!
Brian J
@The Grand Panjandrum:
I don’t know how close this is to extortion, if at all, but presumably Mr. Davis would like some party support if he runs for governor. If he plans to vote against it, why can’t the White House political office make it clear he won’t receive one penny, let alone a visit from the president or anybody else big enough to make a difference, when he runs?
Keith G
@ellaesther:
I think there is something to that. And I have seen all manner of men and women combat those inner conflicts and thrive He is just fours years older than me.
Well, Spring is a time for rebirth and passages.
Brian J
@kay:
Some people have a really unique way of talking. I know I do, but it’s not really effective like Sanders’ way might be.
kay
@Brian J:
Oh, I like how he talks. I wasn’t making fun of him. It’s really hard to cram everything into a paragraph.
One big breathe. That’s all you get. He’s going to pass out.
Brian J
@kay:
I didn’t think you were making fun of him.
kay
@Brian J:
Okay. Good. I admire him because he kept getting whupped and he went back in there and got ten billion dollars.
He did this in 24 hours, with a minimum of grand-standing.
He was laying in wait. He seems so affable…and then he struck :)
You have to watch those smiley people. They walk out with ten billion.
Tim I
@kay:
You are probably in the clear. I donated to both his campaigns and not a month goes by where I don’t get a nice letter or card asking for more money. He was a relentless fundraiser, he would not let you forget. I wish I could.
burnspbesq
Interesting that the suicide bomber in last night’s episode of “24” was named Markos. Surely that’s just a coincidence …
kay
@Tim I:
There was that period where I was panicking, and donating small amounts to nearly anyone who wasn’t a lunatic. I was following special House elections in obscure states, things like that.
The 2006 Panic. Massa was in there somewhere.
Thankfully, it looks like I skipped him.
Comrade Mary
This is not turning out to be a good week for Massa. As Steve Benen points out, Republicans are backing away from him and his allegedly wandering hands.
Persia
@beltane: Karen Keiren (cannot for the life of me remember the spelling) cracks me up, because she can’t quite figure out why the Republican Party doesn’t embrace her with open, loving arms.
brantl
Give it a rest, John.
No Joy in Mudville
You need a vacation. A long, long, long vacation. No computer. No intertubes. Say about six months.