I think today is an excellent day to continue ignoring Bart Stupak.
I can’t tell you how much that cracks me up that he was whining to NRO that he was being ignored. When you’ve become so accustomed to grandstanding and the Pavlovian reward given to you by the media, being ignored really is a fate worse than death.
And no one deserves that more than Bart.
JGabriel
Bart who?
.
racrecir
D’oh!
djork
Stupak is like the episode of the Simpsons, in which all of the advertisments came to life. (The Omnipotent Google, or OG, tells me it was Treehouse of Horror IV.) Anyway, the giant adverts begin to destroy Springfield and are only defeated when Lisa realizes that if they are ignored, they will go away.
That show was fan-farking-tastic for a five or so years.
beltane
Bart Stupak is not exactly being ignored. He’s made himself into such a pain in the ass that he has attracted a viable primary challenger who has managed to outraise him this week. But perhaps this is not the type of attention he seeks. Oh well…
Mark S.
I’m fine with ignoring Stupak. Those threads seem to attract Makewi and her “Liberals just want to kill babies!” style of rhetoric.
Maybe I forgot about this, but this took me by surprise:
. . .
. . .
The article speculates that Israel must not be as worried about Iran anymore, since they gave Biden a big fuck you when he came to coordinate strategy on Iran.
paradox
I get to eat, I get to eat breakfast!
Time to cook at last, it’s a pretty cold morning in San Jose, strawberry season is almost here.
RSR
Indeed. Before I read the ignoring bit, I had already written this over at OpenLeft:
Emma
Mark S: I did NOT wish to wake up this morning to realize there was something we should all be grateful to the Second Coming of Bush for… but I guess we do. Jeebus, Cheney is a flaming bastard.
Stanley Fish
@Emma:
Do you miss him yet?
Mark S.
Well, the joke I made was lame enough to merit getting stuck in moderation.
LuciaMia
Good day for a variety of indoor activities. Cold, raw and rainy and gusting like it’s gonna blow the trees down.
Menzies
The first time Stupak’s bullshit rolled around I actually thought for a second it might be based on principle. (After all, I used to be pro-life. It happens.) It wasn’t until I saw how perfectly he timed this power grab that I realized exactly what was up.
@ Mark S.
I’ve never been a devoted follower of Israeli politics, but the subject came up often in high school, so I was at least somewhat versed.
As a shot in the dark, could both issues – Iran and the settler units – be linked? Giving Biden the runaround seems like a weird populist move by the Netanyahu government to assert its independence from the United States, especially now that they know they’ll have to account for how they spend all the U.S. aid money coming their way. Maybe their apparent lack of worry about Iran is not entirely confidence but partly posturing?
SteveinSC
@Emma: We heard this story before, so it’s not new. I think it was the unraveling of Iraq, not any high-mindedness of shrub that prevented cheney’s wet dream coming true. Shrub felt that cheney had stiffed him and he (and his advisors) said “no, not this time.” It was pretty widely noted that shrub and the fat torture freak had become estranged in the last couple years. It was gallows humor to me to see that asshole riding in a wheelchair during the inauguration. Perfect reprise of Peter Sellers’ Dr. Strangelove except it was all too real. “Yesss, mein fuerhrer, I mean mein President.”
Emma
SteveinSC: I know, but whether from thinking about it or from just wanting to give Cheney some pay back, Bush did the right thing for the country as a whole, and credit where credit is due, even if it kills me to say it.
Cheney reminds me of a character in a short story I read a very very VERY long time ago. I don’t remember anything about it except that it centered around a very powerful arms dealer who bought a piece of property where there was a lake that housed black swans. Someone told him that as long as the lake existed and the swans lived (I think) there would never be total war. So he had the swans shot and the lake drained. The man scares me into next year.
Corner Stone
Just had a “hippie stomping” joke on Penguins of Madagascar.
SRW1
I’m fine with ignoring Stupak, as long as Maddow, or somebody of her stature, persists with the question of who subsidized Bart’s rent while being domiciled at the C street ‘church’ when Congress was in session.
Robertdsc-iphone
The stimulus package has made another appearance by my house. The road repair & upgrade is being financed in part by a grant from the ARRA. So says a sign stating the participants and term of service.
I took a picture of the sign. Dork. :)
Mark S.
@Menzies:
I’m no expert on Israel, so take all of this with a huge grain of salt, but this is my opinion:
1. I don’t think Israel has ever been nearly as worried about Iran as it lets on. Iran’s probably still several years from a nuclear weapon, and, besides, Israel has quite a few of those things in its arsenal.
2. I like to think Israel was just feeling the Bush administration out and weren’t serious about attacking Iran. It would have been a hell of a gamble and could have started a huge war.
3. My best guess is that about 20% of the Israeli electorate are hardcore expansionists who want to annex the West Bank and maybe parts of Jordan and Syria because, damn it, that was our territory 3,000 years ago under King David. These guys are, unfortunately, Bibi’s base.
4. That said, I don’t understand why Bibi would do this while Biden was in town. That strikes me as utterly reckless and stupid.
bemused
I think it’s safe to say that Stupak isn’t the brightest bulb in the room.
SiubhanDuinne
@SteveinSC: I have never believed for one nanosecond that Cheney had to be in a wheelchair at the Inauguration. He just didn’t want to have to stand respectfully in the presence of the Dusky One, and what better excuse than being wheelchair-bound? Also, wasn’t there some totally unlikely reason given at the time for his “injury” — that he was carrying heavy cartons while moving out of the VP residence and “hurt his back” or something? Right, like a guy with his coronary history is going to be hauling moving boxes around in the first place. I think *not*.
Gaaaah. I really detest that man. And his wife. And his daughter Liz (the other one AFAICT seems decent enough, for a Cheney.)
GReynoldsCT00
This was so good I was afraid it was a spoof of some kind…fucker deserves the be ignored, and challenged. Karma is especially good when you are there to enjoy it.
dmsilev
@SiubhanDuinne: Really? He “hurt his back moving cartons”? I had never heard that before, and can’t imagine that anyone would believe it. Doesn’t the government supply movers at this level? If not, wouldn’t multi-millionaire Cheney be able to hire movers? If not, wouldn’t roughly 90% of the country be willing to take up a collection to gather the few thousand bucks needed to get the guy out of town quickly?
-dms
NobodySpecial
@dmsilev:
Can’t let anyone at the files HE was carrying, if you get my drift.
SiubhanDuinne
@dmsilev: Yes, exactly. The very thought that he himself would be doing the packing-up and furniture-moving or whatever is laughable on the face of it. I’ll try to find a citation — I’m sure immremembering this correctly.
Rosali
Charlie Crist was interviewed on Foxand they made it clear that Fox prefers Rubio for the Senate race. The camera tricks, the interruptions, and the lopsided questions are hilarious.
soonergrunt
Yup, moving boxes was the claim. He was “helping to move into his new home outside Washington in McLean, Va., when he injured his back.”
gnomedad
@SiubhanDuinne:
If so, he was amazingly clueless about inspiring Dr. Strangelove references. Unless he takes it as a compliment.
dmsilev
@soonergrunt: That’s hilarious. I guess Dana Perino felt that she had to get out one last lie before stepping down as press secretary.
-dms
SiubhanDuinne
Here we go — AP story dated January 19, 2009:
WASHINGTON – Vice President Dick Cheney pulled a muscle in his back while moving boxes and will be in a wheelchair for Tuesday’s inauguration ceremony.White House press secretary Dana Perino said Monday that Cheney was helping to move into his new home outside Washington in McLean, Va., when he injured his back.His doctor recommended that he needed a wheelchair for the next couple of days.Perino said that Cheney is OK otherwise.”The vice president is looking forward to being there for tomorrow’s historic inaugural activities,” Perino said.
jurassicpork
An even better person to ignore today: David Brooks.
Can somebody still tell me why David fucking Brooks still has a job with the NY Times and why we’re still reading him? I mean, Obama’s been in office for close to 14 months, now. You’d think even David Brooks would have him pegged better than this.
gbear
@SteveinSC:
If he hadn’t shown up in a wheelchair, he would have been expected to stand in respect to the new president during the inauguration. He chose to play lame rather than stand.
edit: way too slow with my comments this morning. haven’t had any caffine yet…
jeffreyw
Give me an R!
Give me an O!
Give me a B-I-N!
What does that spell?!!
Spring!
Redshirt
I hate Bart Stupak’s stupid hair. But then, being bald myself, I wonder if I am actually jealous, so I rarely speak of this hatred of mine. Please be kind, I am torn.
AhabTRuler
@jurassicpork: You seem to have confused Bobo and the Mustache of Freedom. Although both are Bethesda dwelling middle-class apologistas, it is Friedman’s wife who has the worthless Malls.
@Redshirt: The only thing that matters is that you be proud of yourself as the FSM made you. Although I have a full head of flowing locks, I would rather be bald and right than haired and moronic.
bago
@Robertdsc-iphone: You know, what cheesed me was that while I was in DC, some republican was out on the east side of the Capitol claiming that the stimulus hadn’t created one job, yet a block away on the north side of the Capitol there was a construction project going on with one of those signs. Right there! Nobody called him on it.
Ana Gama
@SRW1: YES! And that investigation could further complicate life for John Ensign since he’s another C Street resident.
MikeJ
@AhabTRuler: I thought the MoF lived in Potomac.
AhabTRuler
@MikeJ: Nope, MoF’s manse is located firmly in the CDP (Census Designated Place) that is Bethesda.
The quick and dirty split is:
Inside 495/Beltway = Bethesda,
Outside 495/Beltway = Potomac,
although, this still doesn’t capture the somewhat ephemeral designations. However, what is absolutely clear is that the Friedman Complex is a Bethesda address.
Ana Gama
Oh, this is fun:
ncronline.org/print/17396
Poor Bart.
bago
@bago: I darkly think that such myopia might be a selection vector in the corporate media. I say this as someone glad to be back at a Fortune 100 company.
MikeJ
@AhabTRuler: You’re right. I forgot that the Potomac/Bethesda border is the beltway.
I still say that his house, while quite large, isn’t really much larger than many people that make much less. It’s the 6.5 acres inside the beltway that are really impressive.
bago
@AhabTRuler: DC is nuts with their naming. Friendship Heights is like 8 blocks away from Chevy Chase, which is 10 blocks from Tenleytown and Bethesda. Dupont Circle Is a few blocks from Farragut square and Foggy Bottom. If you walk for more than 10 blocks in DC, you enter a new neighborhood with its own cutsey name that the locals will mock you for not knowing.
Toni
@Mark S.: I’m not sure why he made that move but he overplayed his hand and in so doing lost to Obama. Obama has a more natural inclination to have a more even-hand towards Israel while people like Biden and Clinton are more pro-Israel and they had the upper-hand given their long ties to Israel and Obama’s lower favorability in Israel. Thus the strategy of playing nice to Bibi for the past year.
On Clinton’s last visit to Israel last year she was so effusive in her praise for Bibi, it caused consternation amongst the Palestinians and she had to walk back some of it. Before the settlement announcement, Biden was only slightly less effusive than Clinton had been last year. Then came the slap heard around the world. The US would be expected to show some aggressive pushback to Israel so as not to be seen as weak which makes it easier for Obama to take a more even-handed approach.
Redshirt
I lived in DC for 4 hellish months and was constantly shocked by the city, specifically the luxury and destruction so close together. You’d be walking down some beautiful street with gorgeous homes, take a few rights, and be smack dab in a burned out war zone. The city is a dark Oz.
AhabTRuler
@MikeJ:
Agree.
AhabTRuler
@bago:
Heh. I feel the same way about London.
@Redshirt:
Eh. I don’t think the juxtaposition is any greater than any other urban area. Philly and NYC come to mind, but I could describe similar experiences in Paris or Amsterdam (leaving aside the more robust European safety net and the lower incidence of gun-crime).
WaterGirl
@SiubhanDuinne: Maybe Cheney hurt himself carrying the man-sized safe Jon Stewart used to tell us about?
ThatLeftTurnInABQ
@SiubhanDuinne:
You know the old saying: “Friends will help you move, but real friends will help you move bodies“.
Apparently Cheney doesn’t have any real friends.
kay
@Ana Gama:
Thanks so much. I’m going to fax the letter to Marcy Kaptur, just in case she missed it.
One of the signers:
Richard Gaillardetz
Murray/Bacik Professor of Catholic Studies
University of Toledo
She’s from Toledo, and it’s in her district.
Nellcote
Hillary is keynoting AIPAC this year, could be interesting.
Rick Taylor
Whooh! I love this letter from Reid to McConnell, via mcjoan at dailykos.
__
SiubhanDuinne
@Water Girl #47: The *safe*! I had forgotten about the safe!
Aimai
I remembered it as a man sized microwave. And I agree with everyone else thatbit was just a penultimate f you from Cheney to Obama. Penultimate only because Cheney has not died yet and we can be sure he’s got a few more insults in him.
Phyllis
In the spirit of ignoring, our local school district is three days away from the vote on a 29 million dollar referendum to build a new K-6 school that will replace two 60+ year old buildings. The bonds are almost zero interest and low interest available due to the stimulus. We have cheerfully been ignoring the Vote No contingent, which has the benefit of not stressing out district employees and the Vote Yes group. With the added benefit of watching the No group stomp their feet & have a pouty fit because we’re not catering to them.
Mnemosyne
@Mark S.:
I think they’ve bought into the Republican propaganda that Obama is weak and won’t retaliate. Hopefully they’re wrong. The fact that they insulted Biden, one of their strongest supporters, to his face and pissed off Hillary, another of their strongest supporters, is definitely a factor against the US letting this slide.
licensed to kill time
@SiubhanDuinne:
Don’t forget the black hat and The Look – {{{brrrr}}}
Dr. Eeeeeeeeevillllll…
Nellcote
@Mark S.:
I don’t think it’s a coincidence when gooper congresscritters have gone over to Israel and insulted Prez Obama’s policies.
asiangrrlMN
@Emma: I agree. No matter why W. did it, he did. I don’t particularly care why he stood up to Cheney, which is a sad state of affairs in its own, I guess. I can’t imagine the bigger hell Obama would have had to dealt with if W. had bombed Iran during his waning days in office.
I had no idea that so many people thought Cheney was lying about his back. I was just hoping he was on death’s door. Alas, I appear to be wrong.
@licensed to kill time: I like the hat. I would wear it myself. The look? Eh, not so much.
licensed to kill time
@asiangrrlMN: And you’d probably look great in that hat, too. I was going for the symbolism of Black Hat vs. White Hat, but you know that. Cheney’s Look in that pic was pure skepticism and scorn, IMHO, mingled with a wee bit of apprehension. A kind of “What has this world come to? With a ni…! in the White House!”
SGEW
re: Cheney’s wheelchair, etc.
For several years now, I have believed that many members of the Bush administration more or less “ironically” thought of themselves as supervillains, and got off on the idea.
See, e.g., V.P. Cheney’s public embrace of “the dark side”[1], Pres. Bush’s habitual impression of “Dr. Evil” [2], Lynne Cheney’s “Darth Vader” gift to Jon Stewart [3], Sec. Rice’s fashion choices [4], and probably a few other things I’m forgetting [5].
People may think that these people were unaware of the incredibly damning connotations, but I disagree. They know what they’re doing, and, perhaps, justify it as self-conscious fun; “ironic.” But it’s not. It’s post-ironic. [6]
[1] “We also have to work, though, sort of the dark side, if you will.” (cf.)
[2] Originally reported by Robert Draper in “Dead Certain,” and confirmed here.
[3] “As a nice reminder.”
[4] Tho’, in her defense, it was in Germany.
[5] Maybe Dick Cheney’s possibly knowing Montgomery Burns impressions? Or Alberto “Fredo” Gonzales? Does the “reality based community” fit in here, somehow?
[6] “Post irony” is best illustrated by George W. Bush’s statement about the automatic pistol that Saddam Hussein had in his possession when he was captured (a pistol that Bush prominently displayed in the Oval Office) had no ammunition.
SGEW
[citations continue to avoid filter]
[3] (cf.)
[4] (cf.)
SGEW
[more]
[5] “Excellent”
[6] “The fact that Mr. Hussein’s gun was unloaded was an amazing ‘irony,’ [Pres. Bush] added.”(cf.)
Alex S.
I don’t know anyone by the name of Bart. But I know a lot of people by the name of Bort.
WereBear
@SiubhanDuinne: I agree. The whole thing had this “I’m not even putting myself out to be plausible” ring about it.
licensed to kill time
@SGEW: Excellent analysis. I guess Bush thought not finding WMD was “an amazing irony” as well, the pusillanimous pustule.
Bubba Dave
@bago: See, that’s why you should play Fallout 3 more. I not only recognize those places, I know which abandoned metro tunnels you will have to crawl through to reach them after the nuclear apocalypse of 2077.
AhabTRuler
Fortunately, the locations he mentioned are all on the Red line, on a stetch that is a single pair of tunnels with no diversions, so it will be a bit of a challenge to get lost. OTOH, without electricity, that particular section of the Metro will flood, so there’s that challenge too.
vheidi
@jeffreyw: that is a wonderful pic- thanks for sharing on a soaking soaking wet day in Brooklyn
AlanDean
Lieberman, after he had stuck his finger in the eye of HCR, said that all the media attention made him feel relevant.
Which makes him irrelevant in my book. Stupid egos.
Same with the Bartster. Maybe Rachel Maddow can find out who has been subsidizing his rent at C Street.
mcc
Maybe you’re ignoring Stupak, but I am refreshing the Connie Saltenstall ActBlue summary page every hour or so and getting a little shot of serotonin every time the numbers jump
Petty? Probably :D
vheidi
Harry Reid’s wife and daughter in car accident
Bad luck. Daughter was released from hospital.
eemom
Wow. Some actual, honest “pro-lifers”, for once:
ncronline.org/print/17396
Suck on THAT, Bort Stupidpak. And fuck YOU, Eric Cantor. And the Bishops you rode in on.
Mary
@Mnemosyne: I’m confident that it’s not going to slide this time. One of the things that really upped the ante was Biden’s statement that Israel’s behavior is threatening America’s security and the safety of our troops, which is demonstrably true. Hillary’s multiple statements that Israel’s behavior brings into question Israel’s commitment to the bilateral relationship is a marked change from the usual language referring to the “special relationship” (with its one-way implications).
The settlement issue had been a disappointment in the foreign policy of the Administration and so this turn of events has almost restored my faith. I am impressed with the Administration’s handling of this.
Interestingly, although the world is not united on the issue of sanctions on Iran, they are united on the issue of these Israeli settlements. Even Canada(!) issued a statement chastising Israel.
Punchy
KU will beat KSU. After all, ya cant spell “suck” without KSU. Put that in your crack vial and smoke it.
Tonal Crow
@SiubhanDuinne:
Here’s my inauguration-day take on Cheney’s back problems.
Mark S.
I checked in at the Corner to see if they had anything to say about the Israel-Biden thing. They didn’t, but the loathsome Andy McCarthy calls all lawyers who represent detainees traitors (even Jonah Goldberg disagreed with that) and proceeds to slander Islam in a way that even Marty Peretz would shy away from:
It’s baffling to me why every Catholic in this country doesn’t want to ban all forms of birth control except the rhythm method because, as I understand it, that’s the Church’s teaching and no Catholic disagrees at all with Church teaching.
Nethead Jay
Wow. I’m watching the podcast of Countdown from last night. Lawrence Wilkerson, the former chief of staff to Colin Powell, is on to discuss Karl Rove’s book and comments yesterday, and man, is he pissed off. I’ve never seen him so angry, and he’s been very strong some of the other times he’s been on there, and on Maddow too. It’s quite exhilarating. If I was Rove I’d give Wilkerson a wide berth, he seems totally ready to take him apart.
eemom
AND, an extra special great big fat FUCK YOU to Dennis Kucinich. Also too.
washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2010_03/022846.php#more
rikyrah
count me among those that wishes, just cause she ‘ can’, Rachel Maddow continues to probe to find out who subsidized Stupak’s rent for a half-dozen YEARS.
600 bucks for a place WITH MAID SERVICE merely blocks from the Capitol?
oh yeah Bart, let’s DO ask.
Graeme
I’m not ignoring Bart. I just gave $100 to support Connie’s challenge, and I emailed the link to everyone I know who might possibly be supportive of her campaign.