Lots of discussion of Sue Lowden’s bartering ideas. Add to that the facts that J.D. Hayworth has a shot at taking out McCain, Bob Bennett may lose to an even nuttier conservative, Rand Paul is in the mix in Kentucky, Marco Rubio is the front-runner in Florida…and you’re looking at a 2011-2012 Senate that will likely be much crazier than the one we already have.
I can’t think of an appropriately geeky way to describe this, but there’s no way we see peak wingnut much before 2014. If Senators aren’t beating each other with canes by then, I’ll be a little disappointed.
Jody
No such thing as peak wingnut. They will never get so bad that they’ll step back from the abyss. They’ll just dive right in, screaming that it’s the fault of the traitorous liberals, fags, and brown people who are the real racists anyway.
beltane
Peak wingnut will be accompanied by lots of people getting killed or hurt. That is the direction they’re heading in.
Jager
If they both get in, I’m hoping Rubio grows a pencil thin mustache and slicks back his hair and Paul shows up dressed like Howard Roark, feet apart, flowing shirt, wide tightly cinched belt with the wind blowing in his hair and a maiden wrapped around his legs!
Martin
Peak wingnut was a lie.
Alex
Who’s to say that they’ll all win? Americans don’t understand much, but I can’t imagine “trade you 5 chickens for a prescription” will resonate much. Who do the Dems have in these races?
beltane
There is a Politico story up now about possible indictments against the Florida GOP and Rubio’s cronies. It is, of course, good news for Republicans.
Mike Kay
remember how the beltway media had a case of the vapors when lamont beat loserman. how the base was killing the center and punishing bipartisanship.
Will the fainting spell come back if Maverick goes down?
lamh31
I posted this in that other thread, but this is obviously better.
Possible game changer?
U.S. attorney, IRS and FBI investigating Florida GOP credit card use
Church Lady
I wish there was still dueling in this country.
GambitRF
They said they wanted market based solutions. Bartering is a market, right?
Martin
Holy fuck. Watching NOVA on CAs energy plan, and who’s the first legislator they interview after Arnold – Chuck Fucking DeVore. He’s right up there with Rubio and Hayworth.
beltane
@Alex: Only 5 chickens for a prescription? I purchased my 10 chickens for $3 a piece, which would make a visit to my GP cost 50 chickens. Unless your doctor is Colonel Sanders, they will not have any use for so many chickens. Maybe there will be doctors out there who will accept beer cans and scrap metal.
Tom
Brings to mind Eugene Field’s famous poem, The Duel, concerning a certain Gingham Dog and a Calico Cat. By the time they were done, they completely ate each other up and not a scrap was left.
The Republican party is going the way of the Whigs.
David
You’re still supposed to pay taxes on profits from bartered goods aren’t you? I know there are laws in Texas to that effect.
bago
I love Seattle. I just stepped off of my bus (with wifi) into a rave at westlake park. Stuff like this would never happen in DC.
Joel
OTOH, Rubio is probably dead in the water once Crist decides to run as the republican Joe Lieberman.
mai naem
I just have a feeling something unforeseen major event is going to happen soon. Just a gut feeling. That is how the teabagger stuff is going to go away. Kind of like how they kept on going on and on about Gary Condit and Chandra Levy before 9/11.
General Egali Tarian Stuck
Peak Wingnut will ocurr the day Sarah Serendipity drives a dumptruck full of Three Stooges into down Pennsylvania Street.
Zuzu's Petals
OT, but Jon Stewart does the most AMAZING smackdown of Bernie Goldberg tonight. I mean I was wheezing and crying with laughter.
DO NOT MISS IT ! ! ! !
Montysano
I’ll look forward to John McCain’s faux-heartfelt speech about the comity of the Senate.
Joel
@bago: Glad I don’t live in Queen Anne anymore.
demimondian
@Mike Kay: It’s already started.
HowieFineman is already complaining about how the whackos on the extreme left are hurting the center of the Democratic Party.
FoxinSocks
I’m so sleepy, when I read that quote from Sue Lowden, my first thought was, “But I don’t have chickens.”
I mean, I have an ill-tempered epileptic beagle, but I don’t know what that would get me. Maybe it’d get me some aspirin or something. But really, I’d love for someone to shake some sense into this woman and ask her when was the last time she went to her doctor, and when she did, how many chickens did her doctor visit cost.
GambitRF
@Zuzu’s Petals:
The gospel singing bit was excellent.
Lovely Rita
@lamh31
Partisan attacks by CommieFacistObama’s evil government stooges to silence good Christian men! All part of the persecutions that we have been predicting! There are probably some self hating Jews involved in this, too. And ACORN. And photoshop. Also.
MikeBoyScout
For the diligent researcher of WINGNUT, today has given us Sue Lowden’s Henny Penny Health Care Act, but leaves us pondering whether Peak Wingnut is an actuality.
Just when we thought we had seen unsurpassable prototypes of the Peak Wingnut leader (“Moosilini”, “Bachman-Crazy-Overdrive” “Grandpa MTP Walnuts”…), out of no where comes Sue ‘cluck-cluck’ Lowden.
I’m not much of a scholar, so I don”t fully understand big words like epistemic closure, but is it possible the disenfranchised Republicans are just using epistemic closure as a synonym for Peak WINGNUT?
In any event, don’t count your Peak WINGNUT chickens before you’ve been to the doctor.
lamh31
BTW, don’t know if there are any “GLEEks” on BJ, but tonight’s Madonna inspired episode of “GLEE” was fan-tab-u-lous!!
Just had to share that with somebody up this late…LOL!
moe99
Bet ol’ Sen Lindsey Graham is hitting the sauce tonight:
http://tinyurl.com/y6a8ke4
with friends like that, who needs enemies?
beltane
@demimondian: Does David Sirota really have that much power?
Brian J
@Alex:
That’s the way that I feel. With the exception of Utah, there’s no reason why we shouldn’t be able to field a decent candidate and put everything possible into winning these races.
It is certainly pathetic, even if it’s understandable, that Harry Reid is fighting for his life in Nevada, but he’s not behind by 30 points. The people of his state have voted for him before, so perhaps they can be convinced to do it again. And even if a high profile candidate isn’t available, as is the case in Arizona, there’s a pretty easy way to raise the eventual candidate’s profile: schedule a visit with the big wigs of the party, like Biden, Pelosi, Bill Clinton, and of course Obama himself.
SIA
OT but Jon Stewart was fucking brilliant tonight.
demimondian
@beltane: Sirota certainly has enough power to drive Fineman into full-frontal Broderism.
But, then again, so does a slug. So that may not be saying much.
Mike Kay
@demimondian: she was joking. tagging shitrota with the whacko tag that he richly earned.
trollhattan
@Zuzu’s Petals:
Lordy, lordy, I was choking from laughing so hard. Bernie’s minions (assuming he’s been assigned some) have their work cut out for them, plumping his ego back into shape.
(Wasted far too much time on the teabag skippy interview, but JS needed the rest.)
demimondian
@Mike Kay: Oh, of course. How stupid of me — that possibility never even crossed my mind!
Of course, I’ve never actually seen anyone go into full-frontal Broderism, either.
KG
I thought that we decided that Peak Wingnut was a disproven theory and that the Wingularity was the next viable hypothesis? Hell, I even had a blog about it for a little while.
demimondian
@KG: Nah, we’ve moved on to Wing Theory — it’s a sort of non-deterministic model of string-pulling and brains in 11-dimensional chess.
Or something like that.
KG
@demimondian: Wingnut fizziks moves fast.
buggy ding dong
Rule changes coming next session if we don’t get 60 or 61 Ds in the Senate.
Awktalk
This is fresh:
(blockquotes not working, but click on the link above)
This is where one goat and four chickens came into play.
Phoebe Sweet, communications director for the Nevada State Democratic Party, and a few of her barnyard friends who shall remain nameless stopped by Lowden’s campaign headquarters.
“I tried to trade this goat for some health care, and my doctor looked at me like I’m crazy,” Sweet told a receptionist as she carried the 25-pound goat into the headquarters with a local TV crew tracking her. “So I was just curious if you had any information on her barter plan.”
“No, thank you,” the unidentified receptionist said politely.
“No information?” Sweet asked just as politely.
“No information, thank you,” the receptionist said again.
Sweet gave up. “OK,” she said with a shrug to the TV camera. “I guess they won’t take our goat.”
Corner Stone
@bago: You live some kind of life. Ever thought about blogging it? These little teasers leave me, for one, wanting to know a little more context.
PeakVT
it’s a sort of non-deterministic model of string-pulling and brains in 11-dimensional chess.
Huh. I thought it had to do with moving string cheese in 11 dimensions, and whether or not it can be observed. But that sciency stuff always confuses me.
Speaking of science, I couldn’t find any good volcano pics or vids today. But I did find something kinda similar: a catnip party explosion.
Corner Stone
@KG:
Listen. This is easy. Just like I teach my 5 yr old about counting numbers. It’s a pattern, and once you learn the pattern you can go forever.
Wingnuts will always be +1.
KRK
@bago:
Does the SLUT have wifi?
Mike Kay
@moe99: why do people say lindsey is gay? Maybe he just hasn’t found the right girl.
Mark S.
@Alex:
Against the chicken lady, that would be our fearless leader Harry Reid (and somehow he’s fucking losing).
I’m surprised this is the first I’ve ever heard of Sue Lowden. She’s better looking than either Palin or Bachmann, and she might even be crazier. If I worked at National Review, I’d be damn sure I knocked before going into Rich Lowry’s office.
bago
@Corner Stone: Here’s some video, just for you!
http://www.twitvid.com/ON6QZ
Yutsano
@Mark S.: They had their primary already? Also, keep in mind Harry’s back in Washington doing this little thing called HIS JOB and hasn’t done much in the way of campaigning. I’m not quite ready to call Reid dead just yet.
danimal
I still believe in Peak Wingnut and at every full moon I walk up to the hilltop and wait in expectation.
demimondian
@Yutsano: Reed’s in deep, deep trouble — the polls have him a relatively distant second in a field of three, the craziest of whom is the teabagger, not the chicken lady.
bago
@Corner Stone: As for context, today is 4/20, and Seattle stoners are ambitious. Dominic Holden used to put together a 30k person event called hempfest, which was useful in making mj posession the lowest priority crime in the city. He is now an editor at The Stranger, who publishes Dan Savage.
Michael Manahan owns the soundsystem, and is a local DJ. He got a permit for the park, and put on this event. I work at Microsoft and switch buses at the park where this event is happening. So I literally stepped off of the bus into a rave my friends were throwing.
Aaaand they just killed the soundsystem.
Yutsano
@bago: And boom goes the dynamite?
Mark S.
@Yutsano:
I agree it’s early. I see the chicken lady has a primary against the son of Jerry Tarkanian.
General Egali Tarian Stuck
Now all the wingnuts need is an expert on the Constitution.
You go Sarah.
asiangrrlMN
Oh lordy lordy lordy. Swapping chickens for healthcare? Gah.
@General Egali Tarian Stuck: I hate her with the intensity of a thousand burning flames of Satan’s hellfire.
@Yutsano: Hi, honey! Sh sh sh, don’t talk. Just smile and look pretty.
TrishB
@Mark S.: Sorry, Mark. The Chicken Lady lives in a town called Lebanon, OH. She goes grocery shopping with a bunch of new chicks stuck in the front of her overalls, and she talks to the them frequently while she shops. That’s a true Chicken Lady.
MikeB
Long time Vegas resident here. Sue Lowden is a very nice lady,
although I could never vote for her.
I’ve known her husband for 30 years and worked in one of
their hotels for a while. Fact is, the teabaggers hate her as she
is too moderate for them. While her HC statements are nutty by
any measure, she is obviously concerned about competition
from the far right.
Also, the Las Vegas Review Journal is a right wing rag
constantly “commissioning” polls that show Harry Reid behind
by unbelievable margins. Think Fox News polling Fox viewers.
I think Harry has an admittedly uphill battle, but the teabaggers
may be his ticket to another term in the end.
Yutsano
@asiangrrlMN: I can still type dammit. In fact I’m seriously considering going out and buying a laptop tomorrow just so I won’t be completely bored while I’m on the 48 hour sleep vigil. I also need to get me some quick prep stuff so I can just make quick jaunts to the kitchen to eat then right back to bed. I’ve never been in a stupor for 48 hours before, this could be very entertaining. I’m suddenly glad I have two phone chargers now.
EDIT: I just took a Vicodin. WHEE!!
robertdsc
Lowden should be laughed out of the state for this. It’s unconscionable how stupid she is
Mark S.
@TrishB:
This is a real Chicken Lady.
asiangrrlMN
@Mark S.: A friend of mine sent me the Chicken Lady in a strip club bit. I almost died laughing.
@Yutsano: Shhhh shhhh, don’t you worry your pretty little head about anything! Heh. Can’t wait to read your typing as you get progressively loopier.
Yutsano
@asiangrrlMN: Apparently I’m very funny when I’m high as a kite on this stuff. I made the mistake of taking it while at work. Probably should have gone home but my co-workers were laughing their asses off the cracks were coming out of me so fast. Unfortunately I can’t go to bed until laundry is done so y’all are gonna have to put up with me. WOOOOT!
mclaren
By 2014, senators should be beating each other with rubber chickens and speaking in tongues. CSPAN will edge out LOST in the ratings.
C Nelson Reilly
Keep fucking that chicken
Wile E. Quixote
@Mark S.:
I love Kids in the Hall, what’s amazing to me is that at the same time he was producing KITH Lorne Michaels was also producing the incredibly unfunny Saturday Night Live of the early 1990s. I remember watching the two shows back to back one night and wondering if Lorne had to surrender all of his funny when he crossed the border from Canada into the US.
And Dave Foley, Dave Foley, one of the finest straight men ever. I love Dave Foley, but as much as I loved him on KITH my favorite Dave Foley role was his performance as Alan Bean in From the Earth to the Moon.
asiangrrlMN
@Yutsano: Excellent. I need to be entertained.
Zuzu's Petals
@trollhattan:
He was far to nice to the teabag whack job, IMO.
Yutsano
@asiangrrlMN: I am also now suddenly and inexplicably thirsty. Of course the loopiness is starting to sink in so Lord only knows what that has to do with the situation.
Mark S.
@General Egali Tarian Stuck:
Wow, that’s the first I’ve ever heard of these nutbars.
I thought maybe Sarah was just shaking these rubes out for money like she’s prone to do, but she’s been a member since she was 24. Jesus, this makes Todd’s separatist movement ties seem quaint.
asiangrrlMN
@Yutsano: Hee hee. Go drink something.
@Mark S.: Yup. I used to read the ‘flats, and her church is absofuckinglutely batshitcrazy.
Yutsano
@asiangrrlMN: Dammit I still don’t care, I think her traitorous Eskimo husband is doable. That’s my story and I’m stickin’ to it.
asiangrrlMN
@Yutsano: Whoa. Seriously? I hope that’s just the Vicodin talking!
Mark S.
@asiangrrlMN:
Eh, I’d do Sarah, but this Lowden gal is better.
I draw the line at Bachmann, however. She got the crazy eyes.
robertdsc
@Mark S.:
I’ll stick with Sarah, thanks. Lowden does nothing for me. :(
Yutsano
@robertdsc: One MILF limit huh?
asiangrrlMN
@robertdsc: I wouldn’t do any of them. I don’t fuck crazy, stupid, or venal.
P.S. That includes the himbo, Scott Brown. He’s just icky.
General Egali Tarian Stuck
@Mark S.:
Well, yea, that’s pretty nutbar alright. And no stranger to anti-witching is the Wasilla Wingnut, per her Kenyan witch hunter pastor. And as we all know any good “prayer warrior” worth her salt has a personal “prayer cave”, sorta like Batman. I reckon.
The stuff of odd dreams beamed from Planet Wingnut.
You ain’t seen nothin’ yet.
nite all :-)
Mark S.
@Yutsano:
My girlfriend has a friend who works for a cable company and gets to listen to complaints from idiots who forget they ordered a bunch of porn movies while they were drunk. She said one of the titles was “MILF: It Does A Body Good.”
robertdsc
@Yutsano:
There is teh Gillibrand, but I like her more for her political positions than her looks. She’s not bad looking, by the way. /swoons
Mark S.
@asiangrrlMN:
Man, I got really sick of seeing Brown’s Playgirl spread during that election.
asiangrrlMN
@Mark S.: Cosmo. I don’t think he did a Playgirl one.
And, just to remind you. You’re welcome.
Yutsano
@asiangrrlMN: Mmm…I love the smell of deep knife twisting in the evening. Where’s FH #1? He should be witnessing this delicious carnage.
asiangrrlMN
@Yutsano: What? I was afraid the memory of Senator Brown’s glistening, taut, gleaming body might have faded for Mark S. That would be tragic!
Where IS FH#1?
Yutsano
@asiangrrlMN: I think he either got lost in another mind numbing legal brief (in other words he’s read the same sentence three times now and his eyes are glazing over) or he’s in a soul sucking meeting that he’ll need a long shower and kisses from the puppeh to recover from. He was on earlier though.
Oh BTW I pretty much can’t feel a damn thing right now. :)
Mark S.
@asiangrrlMN:
Huh, I don’t know why I thought it was Playgirl, maybe I was thinking of Burt Reynolds.
And thanks, it never gets old.
asiangrrlMN
@Yutsano: That’s good, though, isn’t it?
@Mark S.: Heh. I knew you were hankering to see it one more time.
Wile E. Quixote
@General Egali Tarian Stuck:
You know, I keep hearing these morons talk about the end times and like an impatient little kid on a long car trip I keep asking “are we there yet” because I’d I be one seriously happy camper if the Lord God Almighty finally got off His Ass, fired up His trusty RaptureVac™ and got these morons out of here.
Mark S.
@asiangrrlMN:
A little music in the background makes it extra special.
Yutsano
@Wile E. Quixote: Yeah, but what if he Raptures all the DFHs? I would consider that a delicious irony.
@Mark S.: Okay, that makes me call out GREEN BALLOONS right there. Not enough drugs on the planet for that.
Tattoosydney
@asiangrrlMN:
@Yutsano:
This. So this.
Hello. I need a caipirinha.
Steeplejack
@Zuzu’s Petals:
That was epic. I liked how backup singer guy morphed into gospel quintet.
mslarry
@lamh31:
i know right? the sue slyvester “vogue” video was priceless and how much am i loving that kurt and mercedes are now a part of the cheerios? Plus, i was really digging the all male version of “for a girl.” Inspired choice and as much as i love rachel and finn, personally i’m thrilled about the chance to hear solos from other kids in the cast.
Oh… and a sista’ can’t wait for the Neil Patrick Harris episode. The whole damn show is “fiya.”
Svensker
@MikeBoyScout:
Very much win.
Randy P
@mclaren: I like this image a LOT. I want to see this ritual as part of cloture rules. Or filibuster rules. Or something.
brantl
@Montysano: I look forward to McCain being beaten with a cane……………
David in NY
Y’know, beating people with canes in the Senate is so 1856 …
Or maybe not.
After Preston Brooks beat Charles Sumner unmercifully at his desk on the Senate floor for a “libel on South Carolina,” citizens of South Carolina sent Brooks dozens of canes (and teabags, no doubt) with notes saying, “Hit him again.”
Joel
The early 90’s SNL – the one that generated all the stars and still employed Phil Hartman – was as funny as SNL had ever been, which is to say inconsistently. It was hilarious in bits, however.
I felt that Kids in the Hall and The State were roughly as funny for different reasons.
asiangrrlMN
@Tattoosydney: Hi! I hope you got your caipirinha!
@Mark S.: I hate you. Fortunately, I caught what it was before it started, so I didn’t have to listen to it again.
momus
My grandfather was the town pharmacist during the depression. My father ate a lot of chicken and pork when he was growing up, we ate neither for some reason.
Since not everyone will have the where-with-all or persistence to raise the 10,000 or so chickens it would take for an MRI, may I suggest a simple alternative, chicken futures. You buy chicken futures but cash them in without taking delivery. That way LaSalle St could get its cut, too, and your medical expenses would only rise by about 50%.