Actually forgot about the Presidential address, so I was accidentally spared the horrors of the post-speech chatter from the bobbleheads.
We have a fourth Fantasy football league:
http://football.fantasysports.yahoo.com/f1/register/tos?league_id=637772&password=alsotoo
Go register.
Yutsano
Didn’t watch it, did read it, got his main points across and smacked the Republicans around subtly. Most important thing he didn’t do is give the Reps much ammo for the elections.
Nick
Well the freakshow on GOS tells me it sucks because he didn’t take out a giant cardboard cut out of George W. Bush, take out his cock and fuck it up the ass live on national television while yelling “who’s your daddy, bitch?”…or something, I dunno, ask Rachel Maddow.
jwb
I forgot about it as well. I guess I should go look at a transcript.
Amanda in the South Bay
My school screwed up on my Gi Bill paperwork, so I’m going to get about a quarter of the amount I should get tomorrow.
Its a little annoying to have to subsist on PB and J sandwiches for the next week or so till its fixed, but moreover I’m fucking furious as holy fuck.
JC’s PayPal misery is nothing compared to this.
Amanda, +2
General Stuck
Damn, me three. Maybe I was secretly hoping to to be spared various iterations of disappointment from the left and right.
jwb
@Amanda in the South Bay: Sorry to hear that Amanda. That sucks. I hope everything works out sooner rather than later!
Yutsano
@Amanda in the South Bay: Go to the store and splurge on a rotisserie chicken. Trust me on this. Not only will you get several meals out of the meat but the bones can be simmered for stock for soup or whatever you want when you have a bit more money. Also ramen is a great cheap pasta substitute. Hopefully it will get you through the leaner times.
Bruce (formerly Steve S.)
Did anybody else notice the e pluribus unum eagle behind Obama? It was at an angle and I swear to god it formed a crescent, and of course there were stars above and to the right.
schrodinger's cat
We can has Tunch’s bebbeh pictures plz
Kthx
D-Chance.
Missed it… did the O’ster wear his bikey helmet during the speech? Or did he carry a golf club while cutting his one-liners about how great the Summer Recovery has been thanks to his HopeyChangeyness?
Mumphrey
Went for a walk in the woods with my 3 year old daughter instead. We saw 3 deer, and she “saved” me by yelling at them to scare them away. She was really proud of that. I was lucky to have somebody with me who really knows how to keep deer from killing me.
jwb
@General Stuck: I had a similar thought about myself, because on my drive home I did hear on the radio that he was going to be talking. But then I got home and it simply slipped my mind. I suppose the other thing is that this particular “end point” seems rather arbitrarily chosen, so it’s hard even for me to take it seriously as a particularly important moment in the whole debacle.
jeffreyw
@schrodinger’s cat:
How Tunch may have looked as a bebbeh.
lamh32
@Nick:
yeah Rachel did go a bit overboard on the “Obama didn’t bash Bush enough” rant.
It’s a Presidential address, Obama’s not gonna be playing the dozens with Bush’s head. It’s neither the place nor would it have been appropriate.
I swear the left really wants a “Liberal Bush” someone who does all the things that “bush” did to the left, just obviously vice versa, forget about the fact that “two wrongs don’t make a right”, if it’s wrong for one pol to do it, then it should be wrong period, shouldn’t matter if they are on our side.
This speech was not, nor should it have been about bashing Bush. I’m sure Rachel knows that, and hopefully she takes a moment to clear her head before her show.
jwb
@Bruce (formerly Steve S.): Shhhh! You’re revealing the secret.
Cat Lady
I know I’ve heard a million times how good The Wire is, and to watch it. Got season 1 and 2 for my b-day, and just, well, wow.
That is all.
lamh32
BTW, I’ve been waiting for an open thread to post this:
Here’s something for the liberal champions of Charlie Crist to think about, while they are trying to push Kendrick Meek the only true life long Democrat out of the race:
Crist’s tough math
I’m not from FL, but I am AA, and all my family are AA, so I can tell you that I just don’t see AA
Steve
What is the current trick for blockquoting multiple paragraphs and making them all stay inside the box? Replacing blank lines with a double dash no longer seems to work.
jeffreyw
Double your pleasure, double your fun.
schrodinger's cat
@jeffreyw: I did see Tunchette and was wondering whether he was Tunchesque even in kittenhood. Hence the request.
BTW Tunchette looks like a sweetie, I hope she finds a forever home soon.
stuckinred
@Amanda in the South Bay: Any short term loans available through some kind of student services? I used to get a $160 loan, buy and lb, break it into lids, sell 10 for $15 and skate. Gotta be creative on that GI Bill.
Yutsano
@jeffreyw: ME. WANT. SWEET. THING. ON. RIGHT!! You didn’t tell me Haven got around to making a brood. :)
lamh32
BTW, I’ve been waiting for an open thread to post this:
Here’s something for the liberal champions of Charlie Crist to think about, while they are trying to push Kendrick Meek the only true life long Democrat out of the race:
Crist’s tough math
stuckinred
@lamh32: She’s on the case.
Cat Lady
@Steve:
Try double underscore. If that doesn’t work, blame Al Gore.
Anne Laurie
@Steve:
Dang. Double-underscore still works for me, but I can’t guarantee they will for you…
jeffreyw
Pretty boy has the dread “floppy ear syndrome”. And yet can smile through his tears.
Mike Kay (Team America)
@Nick:
Being an angry populist who grinds out red meat got Edwards no where at the ballot box, even though he was a god on the blogosphere (until his boob-cancer-slash-new-age-party-girl scandal emerged).
lamh32
Whoa, double post, my hand was faster than my brain. Pressed enter before I was done…lol!
stuckinred
@jeffreyw: sweet pup, dawg
jwb
@lamh32: I don’t really know much about the dynamics of this race, and the links weren’t much help sorting it out, but is there a realistic scenario where Meeks can win?
Anne Laurie
@jeffreyw: Wow, I’ll bet young Tunch really DID look like that! (From his pictures, he’s still a fine-boned “oriental” type, which is one reason he looks so HUGE — not to mention that oriental kitties are traditionally ‘easy keepers’ who put on weight just looking at food.)
maye
@Amanda in the South Bay: I remember eating PB&J sandwiches until my husband’s GI Bill check arrived in the mail. This would have been circa 1975. Funny how things don’t change as generations pass by. Good luck and God bless.
schrodinger's cat
@Mike Kay (Team America): He was? I was not reading many blogs then, Edwards always struck me as a little insincere.
Anya
@Nick: LOL. I just ran away from GOS. My God, those people are always in such a frenzied disappointment that you get emotionally exhausted just reading their comments.
I think the president did really a good job. My grandmother loved the speech. But she’s a godless liberal from Massachusetts so her opinion does not count.
lamh32
@lamh32:
Watching Rachel’s show now, I see she is still on the “Obama didn’t bash Bush enough” rant.
Oh well, no more Rachel for me tonight.
Mike Kay (Team America)
@lamh32:
It’s a broken record by now.
The President says “good morning” to the White House usher. Rachel screams, “DIGYA HERE HIM! HE SAID “good morning” WITHOUT ONCE MENTIONING HOW BUSH FUCKED THE COUNTRY!”
Mark S.
@Mumphrey:
You’re lucky. Deer will kill you if they get half a chance. Don’t let their innocent Bambi looks fool you.
General Stuck
Charlie the Wonder Dog.
Shameless, I know.
jwb
@lamh32: I have to imagine that her ratings go up whenever she bashes on Obama. They probably also go up whenever she bashes on Bush. Bashing on Obama for not bashing on Bush—ratings bonanza!
lamh32
@jwb:
I didn’t finish my thought, but here what I finished saying
Like I said above, I’m not from FL, and AA are not monolithic, but I can only go by what my own AA community is prone to be like, and they most tend to mirror other AA communities all over the US.
Nick
@Mike Kay (Team America):
It isn’t getting Michigan Democratic Gubernatorial nominee Virg Bennero anywhere either, except down in the polls. It isn’t getting Alan Grayson anymore than 40% in polls.
Angry populism only works for Republicans. No one respects angry populist Democrats except angry populist Democrats (aka 25% of the country). It sucks
Mike Kay (Team America)
@schrodinger’s cat: they got on their hands and knees and said “we’re not worthy o great one”.
arguingwithsignposts
You guys have got to start coordinating these open threads.
amorphous
HP is teaming up with Hynix to manufacture memristor-based memory. Welcome to the future, people.
Nick
@schrodinger’s cat:
Really? I thought it was a given that nobody understands the plight of working class America better than a millionaire trial lawyer from North Carolina.
Mike Kay (Team America)
@Nick: what’s alan grayson running for?
Parmenides
Well I guess I’m playing fantasy football this year. Should be fun, I guess I should comment more often rather than lurk. My team is ParminidesSphere .
Just Some Fuckhead
@Mumphrey: Deer god.
eemom
At this point, if I were Obama, I think my next speech would be a cover of Johnny Paycheck’s great old tune “Take This Job and Shove It.”
Nick
@Mike Kay (Team America): reelection.
jwb
@Nick: Do angry populist democrats (APD) really make up 25%? That’s almost equal to the crazifactor of 27-28%. I wouldn’t have pegged the APD above 15%.
Mike Kay (Team America)
@Nick:
I don’t think it works even for republicans. It never did anything for pat buchanan or goldwater or alan keyes etc.
Ben
Hot Massa Tickle is going to hold you all down and tickle you until you can’t breathe.
mr. whipple
@Nick:
Pretty much what I expected.
jwb
@Mike Kay (Team America): Angry populism only works if it’s faux?
maye
Like many who have gone before her, Rachel Maddow gets paid to broadcast outrage.
demo woman
I thought the speech was good but I do think he could have improved it
Mike Kay (Team America)
@Nick: well, if he loses, what are they gonna say, that he wasn’t liberal enough and didn’t cater to his base?
MikeJ
@Nick: Just today I was listening to the Yale civil war history class DennisG recommended. He told the story of a Yale student who joined up to free the slaves, and through the first two years of the war, threatened to desert in every letter home because Lincoln didn’t listen to the firebaggers as much as he should have.
He got killed in the Battle of five Forks, the last major engagement of the war.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@lamh32: Watching Rachel’s show now, I see she is still on the “Obama didn’t bash Bush enough” rant.
I’m surprised and disappointed. She’s usually more grounded than that, more skeptical of the electorate. In Sept of ’08 she was still saying McCain would win, for instance. Most people have made up their minds about Bush and won’t change;. the Iraq War, in the view of the Establishment, is something that just kind of happened. Serious People are debating whether or not the surge should get “credit”– for what? I can’t imagine.
There was a poll at TPM last week that Louisianans think Bush did a better job at disaster response than Obama. Granted, an LA poll is not representative of the country, but the point is “independents” don’t have strong feelings about politics and don’t pay close attention. They’re not gonna be swayed if Obama starts throwing rocks, and Vice Principal Broder and his minions would only piously scold him for injecting “politics” into a day that should be dedicated to the troops.
Nick
@jwb:
I think it could be as high as 1/4. That’s not to say all of them can be counted on to show up at the polls even for an angry populist Democrat.
Nick
@Mike Kay (Team America):
they’ll blame the bad economy which they’ll say is Obama’s fault. They’ll make him a victim of Blue Dogs.
Mike Kay (Team America)
@jwb: I don’t think it works. It fires up the hard base, but it turns off independents and moderates.
mr. whipple
My goodness, I had to click on that Snorg ad.
Martin
I’m troubled that Obama felt compelled to bring up his grandfather in the speech. Fuck the wingnuts.
demo woman
Since this is an open thread, I’m going to talk about dog and cat. The cat has been here for a few weeks and although friendship between the two seems an impossibility, their relationship is interesting. Miss Moxie still turns her eyes because if I don’t see the cat, it doesn’t exist but Alice, the cat, just has to do the butt touch. Presently, Alice is on the floor pleading for tummy rubs while Miss Moxie sleeps on the sofa. Fortunately, humans were equipped with two arms suitable for petting.
Punchy
1600 (1700?) Pennsylvania Avenue
Comrade Kevin
I was watching the A’s game, which, as it turned out, was a goddamn waste of time.
Martin
@Comrade Kevin: I could have told you that before you started watching.
Mike Kay (Team America)
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Even after Katrina, and after nominating a crummy candidate like McCain, the GOP STILL got 59% of the vote in LA in the 2008 election, which was higher than Bush’s 57% of the vote in 2004. That’s right, the gop popularity in LA went up even after Katrina.
Yutsano
@Comrade Kevin: Sounds like most sports seasons in the Northwest. Fortunately my university’s football team had enough flashes of brilliance to allow me to go on a few free trips also.
Crashman
Damn. 4th league full. I am way too slow.
Martin
So, finally someone on TV asks the question of our times:
Rachel asks how wrong does someone needs to be in order to be discredited as a foreign policy expert. Finally! Can we get a national discussion around this please?
jwb
@Nick: They’re probably too angry to show up. Not showing up shows just how angry they are. Or something.
demo woman
@Martin: I agree but the speech itself was good. He never said Iraq was the good war but he said the troops fought the good fight. I’m probably alone but at the end of the speech, I had tears in my eyes. Not for the soldiers returning from Iraq but for the soldiers who returned from war in VietNam years ago. They should have had a President that recognized their job. The VietNam War was a blunder but not because of the troops on the ground.
Leonard Karbo
The league is full.
Martin
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
That’s because most of the people most affected by Bush’s response either drowned or are still living in Houston, and therefore didn’t participate in the poll.
jwb
@Martin: Yes, but she buried it behind Obama bashing, so we’ll hear nothing about challenging the foreign policy expert and everything about how Obama is the big fail.
Steve
@Mike Kay (Team America): You know what else went up in LA after Katrina? Whites as a percentage of the total population.
Gin & Tonic
“Very poor judgment” is what they’re saying about a bunch of 17-18 year-olds arrested, according to the NYTimes in that case of shhoting and threatening at/near a Sufi mosque in upstate NY, reported on by mistermix the other day.
Props to the congregation, which found the kids, cornered them and held them until the cops arrived.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
The only surprise about Wolfowitz’s op-ed was that it was in the NYT and not the Hiatt Daily Kaplan. I’m sure John McCain will be toddling on to Larry King, after he finishes agreeing with Hannity that Obama betrayed the surge.
debit
Well, so much for my work with Chloe on how bigger dogs don’t really want to kill her. Tonight during our walk a German Shepard launched itself through a window to get her. She’s okay, physically. I don’t know how it didn’t draw blood. I kicked the shit out of it, but I didn’t even register, it was that focused on her. And honestly, it lasted for only maybe 30 seconds, despite feeling like it lasted forever. The owner came charging out and hauled it off, apologizing like mad while the dog let out a series of almost screaming howls. I checked Chloe for blood, then just got the hell out of there.
Maybe I’m more shaken up than she is; she did some anxious panting when we got home, but then settled in with a rawhide and has been busily chewing ever since. I think what bothers me is how ineffective I was. I just blanked and started kicking. Should I have picked her up? I don’t know. I do know if the owner hadn’t reacted so quickly my dog might be dead.
booferama
So, if I’m signed up for the FFL but will be at a wedding during the draft, what do I do?
Martin
@demo woman: Yeah, I thought it was rather telling that there was no real ‘this is what we achieved thanks to you’ punchline to the speech, no attempt to justify the action, just thanks for putting the effort in.
Yutsano
@booferama: Don’t get married.
@Martin: I think we could run with this gag for awhile.
Martin
@booferama: Ask if they have wifi and bring your iPad? Priorities.
Mike Kay (Team America)
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
The NYT is neo-conservative when it comes to the middle east, including Iraq. Geez, Friedman was the biggest fucking invasion cheerleader.
Nick
@Martin:
Rachel Maddow is not going to spark a national discussion on anything. Call me when the NYT stops running editorials from neocons.
booferama
@Yutsano: Not my wedding. I’m already taken.
Martin
@Yutsano: Well, it’s okay to get married, but do it in the more socially acceptable post-Superbowl, pre-Spring Training window. Basically, don’t be a dick to your guests.
Crashman
@booferama: There should be a preset draft order that the computer will try to follow for you. You should be able to adjust it based on your preferences. It’s not ideal, but it can do a decent job.
Martin
@Nick: Hey, a guy can dream, can’t he?
Mike Kay (Team America)
@Martin:
Rachel should ask that of her own network. They invite all the discredited bums on her channel – day, after, day.
Nick
@Mike Kay (Team America):
That’s the problem I’m having, but I’ve noticed even the hard base, having accepted that their ideas aren’t going to fly, is now resolved in saying “But we’ll only lose 40 seats if you excite us!”
another words “it turns out we were wrong about America, this is a fascist hell hole, everyone else is a fucking wingnut, so just please us and it won’t be AS bad”
Nick
@Martin:
by all means dream, but politics happens when you wake up.
jwb
@Nick: These days, even the NY Times can no longer reliably spark a national discussion.
booferama
@Crashman: Thanks.
Yutsano
@Martin: Had a good friend get married in Georgia in November. Had another get married in Arizona in April. I attended both weddings. And weather for both was PERFECT. That’s a hint for you folks from there who are planning nuptials for either yourselves or your children or parents. And didn’t miss a lick of sports.
@Cacti: Agreed. And Pujols needs to beat him senseless for dragging him to Beck’s vanity revival. Preferably with an aluminum bat.
Cacti
It’s probably too late to salvage the season, but enough’s enough.
Tony La Russa needs to resign.
demo woman
@debit: You did okay. The dog could have attacked you and then while you were in the hospital recuperating, who would take care of Chloe.
Nick
You know, I have to laugh. As the speech began, I tweeted this as a joke;
comment on GOS:
When a joke becomes reality, we’ve lost it.
Elizabelle
Caught the last 4 minutes or so on radio, and also caught Mara Liason punditting after that “Obama did not give any credit to Bush for the surge.”
Then a little more cordial NPR chat on what truths Obama stretched in his speech. Tsk tsk.
That’s enough NPR for the rest of today and tomorrow for me.
Wankers.
mr. whipple
@Nick:
Jeebus, what a nutter.
Nick
@Elizabelle: So, ok, NPR thinks he wasn’t nice enough to Bush while the professional left thinks he was too nice.
Fuck it, if I were Obama, I’d just say not I won’t run for reelection. Why endure another four years of this nonsense, he’s already got a legacy.
jwb
@Elizabelle: Total wankers, and Liason is continuously among the worst offenders. I often simply turn off the radio the moment I hear her voice.
Yutsano
@mr. whipple: I feel like repeating, over and over:
Repeat as necessary.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Elizabelle:
and the sad fact is, pace Rachel, that Liasson has more credibility inside the Beltway than anyone at MSNBC, with the possible exception of Andrea Mitchell.
jwb
@Nick: I really truly believe that people are just starting to tune all this shit out. My parents, now 70, for years had the TV on 24/7, watched the news channels constantly. But last time I was home, they had more or less stopped watching TV.
demo woman
@Nick: You are so right. During the next two months can you please keep repeating that comment.
Suffern ACE
@Nick: I kind of agree. I had high hopes that this President would lead us to a kind of adulthood where we would have some sort real discussion about important issues with some kind of seriousness. Concerns about family photos is not what I had in mind.
Nick
@jwb: Well, the truth of the matter is, right wing media aside, if people are just tuning everything out, Democrats can’t sell their message even if they had one.
I think this was the goal of the right wing all long, just make the people jaded. Make them feel like politics is just an endless barrage of nonsense. Muddy the water so that when Democrats try to fight, people respond with “oh, here we go again, the same back and forth”
That's Master of Accountancy to You, Pal (JMN)
@Cacti: Four games out of the wild card and you’re giving up?
jwb
@Nick: I’ve more than once wondered if he might not run for election.
Martin
@jwb: He will. He’s a true believer in public service.
jwb
@Nick: My folks aren’t jaded, and they don’t say a pox on both your houses. They are both actually recent converts to the Democrats and remain strong supporters of Obama. They do pay attention, they just don’t watch the damn news networks and the pundit talk shows. So, for instance, they probably watched Obama’s speech tonight, but turned off the TV before the talking heads got to it.
ETA: I exaggerated when I said they didn’t watch TV at all any more. It’s just that the house is no longer dominated by the constant presence of the TV, so if felt like they weren’t watching.
jwb
@Martin: I’m sure you’re right. It’s just that lately he’s really been looking like he’d prefer to be back in the classroom at Chicago.
Cacti
@That’s Master of Accountancy to You, Pal (JMN):
17 straight scoreless innings against the Astros
Losers of 6 of their last 7.
11-14 for the month of August.
5-12 for the month against the Pirates, Astros, Cubs, Brewers, and Nats.
No, this doesn’t look like a team that’s going to the playoffs to me.
The Commish
Annddd….the 4th conference is full. 53 Balloonists knocking virtual heads this fall!
The first conference’s draft is already over. It went well….Yahoo’s draft app has come miles since I last used it.
If you signed up, watch your email for notices and updates. If you missed it……better luck next year!
Mike Kay (Team America)
@Elizabelle: you mean Fixxed News stooge Mara Liason doesn’t think Obama was nice enough to bush — I’M SHOCKED, I’M SHOCKED.
Mike Kay (Team America)
@Nick:
I would pay attention to GOS, their traffic is in the toilet.
http://www.sitemeter.com/?a=stats&s=sm8dailykos&r=36
They’ve lost 40% of their readers versus their August ’09 numbers. That’s quite a drop.
Church Lady
Murkowski just conceded to Miller.
FlipYrWhig
@Yutsano: I think it’s kinda cute when Markos decides that he’s a very important king-making person on whose orders the “enthusiasm gap” can be rectified like.that. LIKETHAT! He was doing that a lot today.
morzer
@Amanda in the South Bay:
What do you have in the way of cooking gear? If you can, buy a bag of potatoes, some broccoli, some onions and chicken thighs, cut up potatoes, put in a large pot with some water, some salt/soy sauce, cook for about 5 minutes, add in the chicken thighs (not deboned), cook for 5 more minutes, add in broccoli and onions, cook for 5 minutes more, throw in some garlic or ginger, simmer for about 2 minutes, and you can make a fairly decent and inexpensive soup/stew, which might last a few days. Keep the lid on the pot while cooking.
Yutsano
@FlipYrWhig: Here’s an imaginative thought: DO IT ASSHOLE!! I know you’re gonna get more site traffic from all the internecine fighting but if you seriously have that much juice prove it or STFU.
@morzer: Eating cheap without making it look like you’re eating cheap is a neat culinary trick. And I’m talking Melissa D’Arabian tricks here, some of her ideas are just pure genius.
FlipYrWhig
@Mike Kay (Team America): Would you say that they have an “enthusiasm gap”? Maybe Markos needs to stop being so wishy-washy and get back in touch with his base. Then, when people still aren’t enjoying it that much, do it again, like, harder. It never fails! All successful enterprises are built on a foundation of energizing smaller and smaller groups of people.
morzer
@Martin:
Lots of Louisianans moved out of state as well. That might affect polling just a tad.
Church Lady
@Nick: Change the state to Florida and you’re talking about Grayson.
NobodySpecial
So, has the Give Up crowd run out of emo for the night?
lamh32
@Nick:
wow, that’s ridiculous.
I frequent a lot of AA blogs and i can tell you that one of the first comments on the speech was about how much we loved the pics of his family behind him.
With that, I’m off the intertubes for the night, besides, I’m watching “Bridget Jones’ Diary” on BBC America, which just may be one of my fav movies evah, but I loved the books also. it’s def a close second to Dirty Dancing, but unlike DD since the death of Parick Swayze, I can watch BJD all day!
My Fave line:
Bridget Jones: “Wait a minute…nice boys don’t kiss like that”
Mark Darcy: “Oh yes, they fuckin’ do!”
PaulW
http://www.onenationworkingtogether.org/
March for Jobs October 2nd.
Bring your resumes!
Mike Kay (Team America)
@FlipYrWhig: the funny part, all of his candidates have lost. all of them.
Amanda in the South Bay
Thanks for the support everyone, I’m just too depressed to do anything now other than watch Stargate Atlantis reruns on You Tube.
morzer
@Yutsano:
The good thing about this recipe is that it uses no oil, gets a good flavor from the chicken thighs, and is fairly nutritious as well. You can add in other things like carrots, or use some cheap red wine instead of water if you want a richer soup. It’s quite encouraging how indestructible the formula is.
morzer
@Amanda in the South Bay:
Well, we are all wishing you the best, and offering any support we can.
General Stuck
Wooohoooo! Reds win again, Cards lose again. Up seven now, and the 22 yo Cuban left handed fireballer Chapman slinging strikes at 100+ mph. And the game ends with back to back unbelievable plays in the field. GO REDS!!!
General Stuck
@NobodySpecial: You the EMO boy round here dude. Obama doing what he said he would. No giving up with this crowd, except for the all or nothing concern trolls.
SlyFox
Guess who conceded?
http://www.google.com/hostednews/canadianpress/article/ALeqM5iZ09cxYSKcuwQsp9kOEMIChha-wA
Suffern ACE
@Mike Kay (Team America): I’m wondering if all site traffic isn’t down. We’re just wearing out from the emotional drain. Also it would be nice if Kos would spend more time, say, covering the candidates he supports…it’s a lib weakness, I’m sure. But I know more about Rand Paul and Marco Rubio than I know about the Dems running against them and more about Rick Perry than whatshisname Democrat guy who is running rather close in Texas.
Someday Ned Lamont will win.
Lev
@Mike Kay (Team America): With that American Taliban book, Markos seems to be making a bid to be the left’s Jonah Goldberg. Markos could never be as fatuous as Goldberg, but he’s trying.
dnelson
Does anyone know anything about Chars. Krat. He had a scathing article in the Sac Bee re libs and dems. He was paralyzed in his late teens. Who funds this guy, what are his health care costs, he is old and still alive in a chair. This guy has a column and spews right wing garbage. Why does nobody talk about him. Anyone.
jwb
@Mike Kay (Team America): How do GOS’ numbers compare to other political sites?
Mike Kay (Team America)
@Suffern ACE:
Ballon Juice traffic is up. Much better than last August ’09.
GOS became a toxic place and alienated Democratic voters/readers.
I mean, I don’t watch Fixxed News because all they do is bash Democrats, so why would I want to read a blog that does the same thing, only from the other extreme.
Yutsano
@Mike Kay (Team America):
It’s the food pr0n. And Tunch.
mr. whipple
@FlipYrWhig:
Do you remember how just a couple months ago Kos was pushing the Democrats to take up immigration reform right before the midterms? His infallible logic was that Republicans couldn’t help but let their xenophobia show, the nation would be greatly repulsed by it, and the Democrats would benefit immensely. Good times, good times.
John Smallberries
Nuts – full.
Mike Kay (Team America)
@jwb:
Well, Ballon Juice has doubled over the last year.
http://www.sitemeter.com/?a=stats&s=s10balloon&r=36
edit: I think GOS was more vulnerable to decline because the readership was more diverse, therefore making it more likely for entire blocks to get up and leave. Whereas some other blogs have always been more of a homogeneous echo chamber.
Lev
@Mike Kay (Team America): As it turns out, relentless negativism is no match for believing in something. Unless you’re on the right.
Yutsano
@mr. whipple: I’m still wondering how the Beck wankfest is gonna shake out for the elections now. That and a good speech where Obama can tout a good popular goal might just start stemming the tide.
Scamp Dog
@schrodinger’s cat: Screw sincerity. I’ll take a personally no-good, insincere philanderer over the other guy if he’ll run the country decently.
I suspect that if he knows you, George W Bush is a reliable friend, that he never cheated on Laura, and he lives a life of great personal probity. That didn’t stop him from trashing our economy, botching two wars, and delay dealing with global warming by 8 years.
Throw in the fact that the people telling us about the character and sincerity (or lack thereof) of candidates and elected officials have a lousy track record of judging those qualities, I figure your best bet is to vote for the “insincere” guy every time.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@mr. whipple: I have to say I’m shocked that the hate campaign(s) haven’t backfired, not even a little.
I thought Markos was a pragmatist? I gave up on that site even when I agreed with most of the posters–the time of the Great Primary Schism. Before I left, I was having an enjoyable running spat with a Naderite from MN who assured me that Al Franken was both a sure loser and crypto-neocon.
Suffern ACE
@Mike Kay (Team America): That’s why I’m here! I got tired of the “Democrats extend unemployment benefits. You should hate them so much more because of it”. Some days, I want to actually try being happy about something.
FlipYrWhig
@Suffern ACE: Re: Democratic candidates, one thing that bugs me about the “netroots” stuff is that they haven’t tried all that hard to change the map. For example, health care irritant Chuck Grassley is up for reelection in a state Obama carried. Has anyone tried to shake him up by pushing for Roxanne Conlin? Not that I’ve seen. Has anyone tried to get people excited about Chris Coons in Delaware? Not really. This is totally in their wheelhouse: getting people excited about a dark-horse candidate. Sarah Freakin’ Palin specializes in that. If you think you’re somebody, if you think you’re at the vanguard of a movement, if you think you have all this spare enthusiasm that you just can’t bring yourself to use on that rotten corporatist Obama, wouldn’t it be worth a shot?
Anya
@Nick: Tell me how are they any different than the anti-Obama crowd from the right. Sometimes I think GOS is invaded by DougJ’s of the right.
Uloborus
@General Stuck:
It’s interesting, actually. They’ve taken to the ‘giving up’ appellation because we don’t throw in all the way for the ideal solution. And we think they’re the ones who give up because they won’t accept anything BUT the ideal solution. Curious way of disapproving of the same action depending on how it’s used, isn’t it?
jeffreyw
@Yutsano:
I guess I better get crackin then. That’s a hell of a load.
Comrade Kevin
@Nick: and one of the replies to that silly comment on GOS:
Martin
@Mike Kay (Team America): You mean that thousands of Democrats threatening to not vote in the midterms isn’t generating enthusiasm to elect more and better Democrats?
Hoocoodanode!
mr. whipple
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Not me. Unemployment is so high. People are grouchy as hell and wanna take it out on some ‘other’.
Add to it that the media is totally incapable of calling insanity by it’s real name.
Comrade Kevin
@Anya: There are so many people who post on Daily Kos that you are bound to get a bunch of silly people and nutters.
A place that, amazingly, has an even bigger percentage of poutrage fetishists, isn’t a political site at all, but the official World Of Warcraft fora.
The more posters, the more stupidity.
Yutsano
@jeffreyw: I’d just as soon you pack up a care package for Amanda there to get her through the rough patch. I’d be willing to donate some supplies for that cause.
Eric U.
@Suffern ACE: When I finally figured out that Obama had a good chance of being the Dem nominee, I figured that there would be a racist freakout movement just like the teabaggers have turned out to be. The idea that his initial followers tried to push, that he was going to bring everyone together made me laugh bitterly. I lived through Clinton, the most Republican Democrat ever elected to the Presidency. The response to him simply defied reality. We are going to get this sort of behavior out of the Republicans until it stops working.
jeffreyw
@Yutsano:
Hmm…What would you suggest?
Mike Kay (Team America)
@mr. whipple: yup, scapegoating is always high during economic strife. Inflation and economic depression played a significant role in Hitler’s rise at the ballot box.
General Stuck
@Uloborus: Yea, I was thinking the same thing, but in this instance we have a marker, and that is what Obama promised, which was not to bring all the troops home at once, but ending the primary combat role and reducing the number to where he did, It is basically what was already signed onto by Bush and the Iraqi’s in there status of forces agreement. Obama is just following through with it/ And it was basically what the Iraqi’s wanted to happen, and I see no reason to fuck them over again from the misery we have wrought on that country. I just hope it all holds together once we completely pull out. I am skeptical however.
FlipYrWhig
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
No, that’s the thing, he completely changed on that key point. His whole thing was that it was a Democratic blog, not a liberal one, and that we needed “more and better Democrats.” He pushed Stephanie Herseth (SD), Ben Chandler (KY), and Brad Carson (OK), because they were better than the alternatives in their states. All of that to me is sound logic.
But at some point this idea of being an activist pressure group standing up for the left took over. I don’t have a problem with that vision, and it’s frankly something the country needs more of, but it’s completely disjointed from the original purpose for the site.
Now the theory seems to be that people who post to the blog are the base, and they’re the left, and if they’re satisfied, they deliver Democratic victory–thus the only explanation for Democrats’ not satisfying them has to be corruption, cowardice, or idiocy. That doesn’t strike me as true on just about any level.
If you want to be a purist and self-selected ideological pressure group, what’s going to come with the territory on that is a lot of losing; but you won’t feel demoralized because it’s for a higher purpose. I don’t think you get to have both crusader zeal and a “woe is me” attitude at the same time. If that’s who you want to be, I think you have to say, “There are things I want because they are right, and when I don’t get them, I only fight harder.” I don’t think you can say, “I’m an important activist, and I don’t feel much like fighting because you hurt my feelings.”
Yutsano
@jeffreyw: Pasta, olive oil, a few cans of beans, tuna, ramen, canned tomatoes, olives, and salt and pepper. I could put that together for around $20. And the possibilities are quite expansive.
Oh and rice.
RinaX
I can do nothing but shake my head in agreement wrt the GOS. There are a handful of diarists there, like Femlaw today, that I do try and support by recc’ing and such, but right now I just don’t even have the energy to deal with that place. The latest FP post from kos was a prime example of just how much that place has gone to seed.
Lev
@FlipYrWhig: Spot on.
morzer
@Yutsano:
Just a suggestion – check for allergies and dietary restrictions first.
mr. whipple
There were quite a few blogs that used that slogan, and raised money for candidates like Herseth. Since the easy ‘liberal’ seats were already in Dem hands, they were helping to elect the blue dogs they now hate.
The funny thing is that wtf did they expect? You aren’t going to make Kuciniches out of Herseths, no way no how, no matter how much money gets donated by the progressive blogosphere. To act all disappointed now? It makes me wonder how realistic they were/are.
jeffreyw
@Yutsano: Dunno, I think the 20 bucks would be more use to Amanda than a box of groceries.
Suffern ACE
@FlipYrWhig: Nope. But that fighting on thing seems to be lacking. It’s like they noticed that things had gotten really bad over the past decades but figured that two good election cycles would be enough to coast through until that supposed “Great Permanent (and possibly liberal) Majority” took hold in another decade or so. It is going to take a lot more time and effort than that. I think there are a lot of secular evangelicals were caught waiting for the end times and expected the right wing to go down peacefully.
Yutsano
@jeffreyw: Personally I split the difference and send both. There are a few other items (fresh herbs, dairy etc) that can’t be shipped but would supplement the diet just nicely. But I’m just a weird/generous person like that. That and tuna with onions and olives in a light cream sauce is totally delish.
@morzer: The nice thing there is if she wasn’t just being rhetorical about the PB & J that covers three of the major food allergy concerns right there.
Nick
@mr. whipple:
what’s interesting is the demographics most likely to show the hate are the ones with the lowest unemployment rates.
Comrade Kevin
On another subject entirely, this is an example of someone who is just about the ultimate example of a self-important jackass on Twitter.
Suffern ACE
@Eric U.: Yep. There was a racist freak out movement over Bill and Hillary. When Obama gave his acceptance speech and said that he wanted to be the President for those people who didn’t vote for him, too. Well, that just had me crying, as it really was a beautiful speech. However, I do remember writing on one of those blogs that “FAT CHANCE” that that sentiment would last past November 10.
General Stuck
Get off my flower!!
Nick
@Eric U.:
what’s ironic is the same people who said this are the same people not bitching at him for trying.
I wasn’t overly enthusiastic in 2008, I’m probably more enthusiastic this year than I was then, because all I saw in Obama was a tragic figure walking into the fire. I though the initial luster in his presidency would fade when it becomes clear he couldn’t solve the nation’s problems in one term and the country, that IMO has a short memory and never really deviated from it’s right wing history. I liked the idea of a Democratic President, but I knew it would end in tears once the right wing revs up, the left wing picks its reasons to be disappointed and the economy didn’t become 1998 again overnight.
Let’s face it, in the Fall of 2007, there were two polls i saw that had Obama ahead of McCain by 5 and 8 points…a year later he won by 7. The needle never moved at all. If anything, it went to the right and then came back after Lehman. Did any Democrat ever lead McCain by more than 10 in polls all year? I’m sure Obama didn’t, if he did, maybe in one or two outliers. The 2008 election defaulted to the national mean at the time- when 46% of the country still votes for the Republican candidate when the economy is collapsing, we’re not playing with rational people here.
Obama beat McCain by just under 10 million votes…that means 5 million votes going the other way, it would have been a tie…at least 9% of Obama’s votes came from Republicans. You lose 3/4 of that 9% and you’re damn near 5 million votes gone and back to a tie.
Obama needed Reagan/Nixon/FDR-level numbers to really make a dent, he didn’t get them. Congress, which is allocated 59%-41% Democratic instead voted like 53%-45% (which I believe was the popular vote). When you had so many Democrats in McCain districts and Republicans in Obama districts who just didn’t feel the pressure, we were doomed from the start.
Uloborus
@General Stuck:
I agree. Really, the pullout has nothing to do with our different views of ‘giving up’. And yet it’s the same people who think we give up who refuse to accept that, lo and behold, the Iraq withdrawal is on schedule. I want to try and draw a line there where they want the ideal solution, but really they bend over backwards to find ways to discount anything but the ideal, even to the point of ignoring reality. That’s what ends up bugging me. If it was just ‘I’m tellin’ you, we should have pushed for single-payer!’ I’d be okay with it. It’s ‘HCR without the public option is just a giveaway to the insurance companies!’ that makes me scratch my head and grit my teeth. And it’s not just that one example, it’s across the board.
roshan
Obama Outsmarts Both Sarah Palin and the GOP With Iraq Speech
Steeplejack
@Steve:
It’s not a double dash, it’s a double underscore. This method still works for me:
(h/t Monkeyboy © 2009)
Sloegin
Well, I was PO’ed into yelling back at my radio by the line near the end in Obama’s speech; “Americans… blah blah… served in iraq… blah blah… and helped the Iraqi people seek the light of peace.”
Last I remember, they were at peace before we invaded them.
I mean, Jeebus H Christ on a saltine cracker.
Anne Laurie
@debit:
Oh goddess, that’s terrifying! But you did the right thing — if you’d picked Chloe up, not only would the other dog probably have bitten you, but Chloe would have felt it necessary to “defend” you by returning the attack. When a little dog gets “higher”, it’s a very direct challenge to the other dog, even though that’s the last thing the human intends. Instinctive as it is, that’s when everybody in the area gets chewed up.
When you “attacked” (kicked) the other dog, you let the GS know that Chloe had a defender… and even dogs with a glitch in their programming about other dogs usually hesitate before doing the same thing to a human. What’s more, you also let Chloe know that you’d go to the wall for her — which may be why she took the incident better than you expected! All those times at the dog park, when she tried to warn you that Big Dogs Are Bad News, you just did.not.get.it… but when the worst happened, you stepped up and Took Charge like a good alpha, yay!
(Of course, next time there’s a big dog at the dog park, Chloe will no doubt do her damndest to get you to step it up again, unfortunately.)
bob in sj
perhaps, maybe, we might witness peak wingnut now, at the height of their power, as they squabble over the absentee returns from Alaska. Perchance to dream, of Delaware and New Hampshire, and the complications of local congressional races. Have they, in fact, overreached?
Carol
@General Stuck: The Reds are actually winning! I stopped following just about everything sports related in this town after Marge Schott and the riots. I just felt so unattached to my city that it didn’t seem to register that things were really changing in a good way.
I finally started following the Bengals last year, and now this! Maybe it’s time to look at the sports pages again.
4jkb4ia
It’s OK, John. We watched it for 5 minutes and my husband pronounced that “he has not said anything new”. Also my husband was very hungry.
4jkb4ia
@General Stuck:
Grumble.
(All of this is because I did not do any teshuva.)