Now that Lady Starburst’s approval ratings are in the crazification factor zone, a lot of our country’s most serious conservative thinkers have decided that she isn’t the Burkean wunderkind they once she thought she was. They now think she relies too heavily on “shallow talking points”. Larison asks:
It’s true that Palin relies on shallow talking points, but where do these come from? They come from the institutions and leaders of the movement that is supposedly so concerned with ideas. Palin is disinterested in ideas, and she has flourished in the conservative media for years. She does rely on shallow talking points, and legions of conservative pundits have repeatedly defended her against charges that she is ignorant and incurious. Everything about her public persona since she received the VP nomination has been built up around tapping into resentment, grievance, and identity politics, all of which are in one way or another antithetical to critical thinking and substantive discussion of policy, and for a while most of her new detractors said nothing or gushed about how wonderful she was.
As long as she was useful prior to the midterms, the institutions, magazines, and leaders of the movement not only tolerated her, but actively promoted her and gave her typically glowing coverage.
If Sarah Palin was still seen as a politically viable vessel for right-wing propaganda, conservatives would still portray her as a major intellect. Now that the public hates her, it’s time to focus on fluffing Tim Pawlenty and Haley Barbour.
Calouste
She was useful for the midterms, because midterms are base elections and she riled up the base. She’s a liability for presidential years though, specially if she would get anywhere near the nomination. Primaries are base elections as well, so Lady Blahblah has to be neutralized before that time. Well, good luck with that mofo’s.
The Political Nihilist Formerly Known As Kryptik
No, no, no, no, Pawlenty and Barbour are old hat.
The new wunderkind are Christie and Bachmann, don’t you keep up?
Redshift
And here I thought she was going to have to start and end a presidential campaign to claim she was sandbagged by GOP “elites” and get renewed victim status with the only people she cares about (the ones who give her money.)
Yutsano
So does this mean no more starbursts?
Beverley
These guys tread at their own peril. Didn’t they see how angry the woman folk got when Hillary was thrown over for Obama. Oh, wrong party. My bad!
Steeplejack
Justin H. Bieber on a pogo stick, “shallow talking points” is a step up from where she usually is.
Brachiator
Her core supporters still love her, and it ain’t over til the Fat Pundit (Limbaugh) squeals. But it was clear from the jump that Murdoch, Koch and company were going to use her only so long as she was useful to them. If they can dump her and not upset Fox News viewers, then that’s life.
Cat Lady
I just hope Palin’s smart enough to figure out that she’s the dumpee and considering her ability to milk the last drop of resentment from slights real or imagined, I’d love to see her boil the gooper establishment bunnies one by one before the end of the primaries so she’s the last one standing. She may be stupid but she can play the teatards like a Stradivarius. Also too.
Alex S.
George Will thinks that Michele Bachmann cannot be taken seriously. That is true, of course, however, from a tactical perspective they should be encouraging as many nuts as possible to run because it will split the crazy vote. There are probably 3 republicans who can win the primaries and, under the best circumstances, the general election: Romney, Daniels and Pawlenty (if Romney cannot be sold to the evangelicals and the tea-party). I don’t know how many of the republicans are teabaggers/crazies/racists but let’s say about 50% (the republicans who are sure that Obama is not a natural born citizen). So you’ve got to have at least 3 A-list crazies to keep them from uniting under one banner and give him/her a primary win. A Palin or Huckabee campaign is getting more and more unlikely. Republican insiders are discouraging Barbour from running. Without them and Bachmann, Gingrich is going to pick up a lot of these voters unless one of the “moderates” drops the pretense.
JPL
Haley gave an economic speech and touted his skills as governor without mentioning the unemployment rate in has state is over 10%. Facts are such pesky little things but the news will report him as the successful governor of Mississippi.
Bachmann flunked elementary school history this weekend so she’s finished, imo.
Arclite
Sorry to hijack this thread. My Japanese wife is watching Japanese TV live on Ustream. She’s saying that the reporting is that secondary containment vessel (that surrounds the core) at Fukushima reactor 2 has been breached and water is leaking out. This is the reactor that they have struggled with all day to keep the fuel rods covered in water.
gbear
When I saw the title, I thought it was about the WI republican senator who just dumped his wife to move in with a 25yo lobbyist. His wife and maid are signing his recall petition. I love this story so much.
Martin
Remember, the crazification cohort is enough to win a primary. That’s a solid 2 years of campaign funded wardrobes and plane tickets, and it’ll add another 20% to whatever speaking fees you might have collected. It’s like going to wingnut grad school.
beltane
Does Haley Barbour have nice legs? Without Palin who will give all those old white Republicans a woody? Maybe it’s time to rehabilitate Giuliani.
negative 1
The problem isn’t her, it’s who she represents. The block of people who are only turned on by identity politics and resentments won’t cease to be or become enlightened because they’ve started to vilify her — they’ll just move on to the one who replaces her. You’re not going to have a party of ideas just because she went away.
By the way, anyone else creeped out by Larison calling it “the movement” in the link? I think that illustrates the huge difference between Republicans and the rest. Dems yell over policy differences, Republicans are “in the movement”. It’s like it’s not even the same game.
Suffern ACE
@JPL:
Bah. Texas hasn’t seen a dent in it’s unemployment numbers since the beginning of the recession and it’s the well known “miracle”. Those pesky facts will be buried. The southern states are economic “miracles” with job magnets everywhere.
gbear
Tim Pawlenty is already too fluffy.
Brachiator
@gbear:
His maid? Damn.
MikeBoyScout
Wait a second.
I don’t know which is more funny.
Is it the thought that Mooselini was ever something other than an ignorant and incurious boob.
Or is it that she was ever actually useful?
In any event someone should notify McGrumpy. Maybe we need to bomb-bomb-bomb bomb-bomb Palin!
cathyx
Maybe she could pose for Playboy as her next gig.
Yutsano
@Arclite: Tell your wife ki o tsukete kudasai for me please. I don’t think BJ can handle the characters, or my computer can’t, one of the two.
@Martin: That crazification factor might just push Bible Spice into the win column. She may not survey well, but her rabid supporters LURVE her. Witness the Bistol Palin DWTS vote bombs.
JGabriel
Politico via Larison:
Much space and offense could have been saved here, and the situation described more truthfully, had Politico written:
.
ThatLeftTurnInABQ
@Brachiator:
As our fellow commentor David Koch could tell you, when you’ve lost Maria…
Stillwater
No way. Those guys aren’t even sun-chapped.
jwb
@Calouste: Sarah will end up having to be bought off before this is over. Same might be true for Bachmann. The only question is how high the price is going to be.
Stillwater
@Arclite: Woopsy holy shit! That could be bad.
Edit: I’ve been watching this unfold with the BP disaster clearly in mind. The first reports of blah, blah. Then the next round of reports, but blah blah. I kept wondering if we weren’t getting rolled again by the PTB.
Uloborus
I think the GOP is having a heaping helping of buyer’s remorse, quite frankly. Or rather, the traditional leadership and the moneyed interests. They launched this Teabag Rebellion and it’s gotten them crap all. Candidate after candidate the establishment didn’t want got into the 2010 election. They didn’t take the Senate and the Republican House is badly fractured. Gigantic amounts of money were poured into this experiment, and all they got is badly alienating every other demographic and a possible government shutdown that the old-school GOP absolutely does not want. And the Tea Jerks are STILL SCREAMING and refuse to be controlled.
Palin proved to be a liability. She’s just a liability they’re trying to be delicate about sweeping out the door. Especially since as far as I can tell, Murdoch and the Kochs still think she’s the bee’s knees.
Judas Escargot (aka ninja fetus with a taste for bruschetta)
I wonder if she would have fared better had she acted more… tastefully… after the Giffords shooting. She was still going strong after the election and through the holiday season.
IMO, the “blood libel” speech seemed to turn off a lot of people who otherwise wouldn’t have cared much one way or the other.
jeffreyw
Lady Pizza
jwb
@Cat Lady: Oh, you can count on Sarah! to get every last bit she can. That’s why I’m now thinking that she’ll not only run, but she’ll even win a couple of the early contests. It will then cost Murdoch and the brothers Koch serious, serious money to buy her off.
jwb
@Alex S.: You are forgetting Walker, Kasich and Snyder. I’m betting whichever of those emerges in the best shape at the end of the summer is going to be pushed into race.
Roger Moore
@gbear:
How can his maid sign a recall petition? I thought illegal immigrants weren’t allowed to sign them.
Jeffro
@Martin:It’s like going to wingnut grad school.
Spot on!
MikeJ
@Judas Escargot (aka ninja fetus with a taste for bruschetta): Agreed. A sitting congressperson was the victim of an assassination attempt and Palin tried to make it all about her.
Most of what Palin says doesn’t actually mean anything. She generally doesn’t lie, her statements just have no value. Unassigned. When she tried to claim victimhood when somebody else got shot, it was a bridge too far for many people that would just nod along when she was spewing nothingness.
jibeaux
I love how the problem is that she’s “ignorant and incurious”, so we should move on to Haley Barbour. Which seems like only the solution if she’s “ignorant, incurious, and doesn’t look enough like Boss Hogg.”
JGabriel
@Uloborus:
I don’t about Murdoch, anymore. Ailes, at least, is reportedly displeased with Palin:
.
jwb
FYWP. Damn editing stopped working.
Alex S.
@jwb:
Wow, if that’s how it ends… I… you…have got to admire her.
jwb
@gbear: Yes, when I saw that story, I smiled.
losingtehplot
@Arclite: I’m so sorry – this news must be so stressful and sorrowful for her. It’s breathtakingly horrible to watch this as just a human being, but to be connected to that landscape and watch it so horribly transformed must be awful. FWIW, convey my good wishes/prayers/support to her.
Roger Moore
@jibeaux:
Nah. The problem is she’s ignorant and incurious and enough people have figured it out that her poll numbers have tanked. It’s time to pick a new ignorant, incurious candidate who hasn’t been on the national stage for long enough for everyone to notice.
Uloborus
@Judas Escargot (aka ninja fetus with a taste for bruschetta):
You might as well have speculated about how she’d be doing if she understood the issues and had thoughtful, articulated positions. She is what she is and she acted in a downright predictable way. Her handlers in the 2008 election hated her for this, too. It’s all about Sarah and she doesn’t listen to anyone.
Martin
@Judas Escargot (aka ninja fetus with a taste for bruschetta): Yeah, but I bet it helped guarantee that her base would continue to turn out. It’s an odd thing. Reminds me of this OKTrends analysis:
I think for the 27%ers, it’s important that your candidate is hated, as though that alone indicates that they’re speaking a unique truth.
Suck It Up!
I don’t think we’ve heard the last of Sarah Palin. She’s dumb and vindictive enough to come back and cause some trouble.
Alex S.
By the way, I am looking at the ‘latest’ column at TPM. The 4 first entries are like staring into the maw of madness.
“Kansas GOPer: Let’s Shoot Illegal Immigrants Like Pigs”
“NH GOPer To Resign After Saying Mentally Disabled Should Die In Siberia”
jibeaux
@Roger Moore:
Humor. Never mind.
Suffern ACE
@JGabriel: Yes. Could we please have examples of where Palin DIFFERS substantially from that intelligentsia? Or is she just another hick from hicksville who shouldn’t be allowed control? Not to defend her, but she is a mainstream social conservative and nothing more. Sure she isn’t as “measured” as the hoity-toits, but where do her IDEAS differ?
maus
@jwb:
I doubt it. She knows how little chance she has, they’d call her bluff.
jwb
@Alex S.: Well, there are two things Sarah! cares about: money and attention. And has proven very astute at maximizing both.
piratedan
@Alex S.: really? doesn’t George remember that old GOP saw, “money talks”, Bachmann is backed by the fundies and has wingnut cred, which means she has Koch money. She may be a poorly educated candidate, but these turd polishers can do wonders with the MSM, don’t take her seriously at your own peril, after all, GWB got elected, twice.
jibeaux
@Alex S.:
The story I read about the guy in New Hampshire — 92 and never held office, I’m sure he was a real keeper otherwise — quoted some other R douchebag as saying that representatives were held to a higher standard. What do you think their low-to-middling standards would look like?
Benjamin Cisco
@negative 1:
Not so much, but then again, I’ve been gasatro-intestinally unwell today – right about now, I’m thinking “movement” fits them to a T.
El Cid
She was lauded for being a female version of the stupid snotty right wingers who hate anyone other than their fantasy versions of stupid anti-intellectual right wing fetishists of dumbism.
She sneered at Obama and did the whole ‘community organizer’ routine and played the mean sheltered bitty role in giving the good ol’ white people who hate rap music and these kids in Starbucks with their weird hair and elitist glasses have someone to cheer — nay, idolize — due not only to their authoritarian and leg-humping excitability, but due to their thinking that her being female would make any librul criticism turn back on them as sexism.
What the fuck else can you say about these nitwit rightists from whom idolizing women showed up at a Christian arena event in Georgia dressed up as Sarah Palin herself, while waiting paradisically to meet the demigoddess herself?
Marci Kiser
I don’t know if it’s the public’s disenchantment with her that’s brought the wrath of the conservasphere on Palin. There are any number of right-wing nutjobs with similar levels of popularity who are still lionized by the right.
Rather, I think it goes back to the reason conservatives do anything: to piss off liberals. Palin just doesn’t do that anymore. Oh sure, she disagrees with liberals, and slanders liberals, and so on. But there’s not a Democrat in the country that doesn’t want her to say as much as she can, as loudly as she can, while running for the highest office that she can.
That’s it really. The left are her biggest fans. That’s why the right doesn’t care for her anymore.
mr. whipple
IF SP doesn’t run, or does run and gets beaten, I still want her front and center at the GOP convention. Keynote speechify, Snookie!
Uloborus
@jwb:
I disagree. I think she’s no more responsible for her wealth than a lot of other very rich people. She won the political lottery. Other people were willing to dump tons of money on her purely because she was in the right place at the right time. She was, bluntly, lucky.
And the moment they dump her and it stops flowing, we’ll find out how fast she’s been spending it.
Jeffro
@Marci Kiser: <blockquoteRather, I think it goes back to the reason conservatives do anything: to piss off liberals. Palin just doesn’t do that anymore. Oh sure, she disagrees with liberals, and slanders liberals, and so on. But there’s not a Democrat in the country that doesn’t want her to say as much as she can, as loudly as she can, while running for the highest office that she can. That’s it really. The left are her biggest fans. That’s why the right doesn’t care for her anymore.
Yup. And all we have to do is point out how half the Rep party doesn’t want to associate with the other half…you know, Sarah and those people…and they’ll fall to some mighty entertaining pieces.
gbear
@Martin:
I wonder what the odds might be that Palin takes 3-5% of the republican vote as a write-in candidate in 2012? I might be willing to put some money on that.
Odie Hugh Manatee
OT:
Mitch McConnell sez that ‘it’s not a good idea to make policy after a major disaster’.
Irony is dead.
El Cid
Georgia’s Republican Senator Saxby Chambliss actually appears to place the needs of vast areas of Georgia receiving funding from NPR to keep broadcasting efforts in non-metropolitan areas over the continued right wing effort to ‘defund the left’ by attacking NPR — though really the CPB itself is the goal.
Remember, this is the state whose Republican Congressional delegation has the guy sending around fundraising letters bashing NPR as “snooty”, and by-god he doesn’t listen to them snooty elitist Communists no way.
Rep. Tom Graves (same link):
I’m sure that while he’s listening to good old non-politically correct un-snooty Glenn Beck with good ole country music playing in the background, he’s floating in a bass boat on a lake whittling while he waits until it’s time to get back for his SCV meeting.
Cermet
Palin is so past history but another thread on this pin head? The third reactor in Japan has exploded (one is melting down) and pin head is the main thred/topic here – people, the reactors in Japan use the american design – the earthquake that hit the plants was in the seven range which is typical here (sorry but the 8.9 was out in the sea, and we are told over and over that plants can withstand the seven range)and some of ours are on the coast too. No one here cares? Is the media circus now what drives BJ, instead of real issues that we need to address and understand? Instead, pin head.
Dennis SGMM
Palin is just the most visible symptom of the disease that afflicts us. “Politician” has largely become a synonym for “grifter.” The revolving door between government service and lobbying has turned being elected into the next best thing to being able to print your own money. She will run, at least for a while, and reap the rewards therefrom.
stuckinred
@Cermet: as opposed to what other kind of history?
freelancer
@Cermet:
Speaking of meltdowns…
SmallAxe
@Judas Escargot (aka ninja fetus with a taste for bruschetta):
Blood Libel was the tipping point, coupled with the joint Kate Gosslein Sarah Palin’s Hellhole episode and the episode where it took the modern day Annie Oakley literally 6 shots with daddy running the bolt action to take down a caribou, both of which happened just prior to blood libel. Ruined her credibility with the hicks. It’s been building and Nicole Wallace’s prediction that “Sarah Palin will do Sarah Palin in” is coming true.
Alex S.
@Odie Hugh Manatee:
‘major disaster’ = 2010 elections?
@piratedan:
Actually, Bachmann is one of the few republicans I don’t want to see voted out, because of her comedic value. If she challenges the republican leadership over a committee chair, more power to her! If she tells her supporters to slit their wrists, why not?
Roger Moore
@Martin:
Of course. The Bible says it’s good to be persecuted for your beliefs. I think that’s why so many Evangelical Christians have persecution complexes; they want to be persecuted for their beliefs because it will prove what good Christians they are. If they aren’t actually being persecuted because they’re the ones in control and doing the persecuting, they’ll find imaginary persecution (“The War on Christmas!”) to fixate on.
Cerberus
@negative 1:
I’m struck by the “THE” of “the movement”. Are there movements on the left? Hell yeah. All sorts of them. Gay rights, feminism, civil rights, drug legalization, environmentalism, good governance, urban movement, and so on.
Even when movements get close to a lot of disagreement, they’ll often have their nastiest and most pointed fights simply about tactics and how long to wait and how hard to fight.
And yet for conservatives, there is “the” definite article movement. We all know the resentments, we all know the talking points, so let’s go and all that.
I think there’s no better illustration of the authoritarianism of the right and the anti-authoritarianism of the left than the simple usage of pronouns surrounding “the” conservative movement versus the various movements of the left.
Cermet
@stuckinred: My point is she has no real power any more and except for the 25 percenters is not even viable – that is past history but most americans live within a hundred miles of similar plants and soon, many more will start being built – you had better wake up to these facts and try learning about the dangers, advantages and issues. Otherwise, once again, this like TMI will be forgotten as the media paints a picture that makes all this seem like past history too – but then we relive it and maybe our turn to pay the price in lives.
Odie Hugh Manatee
He was responding to a question about nuclear power policy in our country and how that could be affected by the disasters in Japan.
I wonder how Mitch the Bitch felt about formulating major policy changes immediately after 9-11?
Oh, right. That was different.
Sly
Palin went full demagogue, man. Everyone knows you never go full demagogue.
New Yorker
Do you think there’s a point at which Andrew Sullivan will finally stop shitting his pants in fear that this country, which he seems to admire so much, would be willing to elect president a trailer trash former beauty queen with a ten cent head?
I can picture him 30 years from now, sitting in the retirement village, shaking his cane at the sky and yelling, “the nomination is hers to lose!”
Tim F.
The public always hated her. What changed now?
My feeling: Roger Ailes decided to cut her loose, and his muppets who run the national party made it so.
Tom Q
@Cerberus: To be fair, I knew people back in the 60s who referred to the anti-war counterculture as The Movement.
RareSanity
I know this is a little off topic, but it is relevant to one of the more spirited debates of yesterday.
It’s picture of a Facebook post, I saw on Reddit, and it makes a pretty valid point about the safety of nuclear power:
Link to pic here.
The quote is:
“A 41 year old nuclear reactor gets hit by a 9 magnitude earthquake, then slammed with a 20 ft. tall swell, followed by an explosion due to the buildup of hydrogen gas that blows off the roof of the building, and the core is intact and contained. And you are telling me nuclear power isn’t safe?”
Deep thought for the evening…
b-psycho
@Odie Hugh Manatee: I guess 9/11 wasn’t major for him.
scav
@Cermet: Facts like your super-secret ability to apparently know exactly which of the how many gazillion earthquakes they’ve had recently is the one that caused all the problems? Facts like your apparent belief that having the epicenter underwater somehow protects buildings housing nuclear plants from harm unlike quakes with epicenters under earth? You may have valid points but chee-rist that was a melt-down you had going there and the little men with bio-hazard suits will bring you a calming cup to tea soon. It has caffeine so you can’t continue alert but chill just a little.
Uloborus
@Tim F.:
The 2010 election happened. The Republicans only took over the House, failed in some Senate races that should have been sure things, and the crowd they DID elect in the House are so batshit insane that they won’t toe the party line. The latter is probably the worst crime of all.
The Tea Party experiment was a gigantic failure. It’s completely failed to create the Permanent Republican Majority. All it’s done is cause a fuckload of chaos and drive more and more people away from the GOP brand.
The Kochs are probably thrilled, but they’re lunatics.
Matt
DO NOT WANT RULE 34
Comrade Mary
@jeffreyw: Now there is a man who loves his wife!
patrick II
@Cerberus:
“The movement” reminded me Gov. Walker telling “David Koch” that Tim Cullen was “not one of us”. We are dealing with a secretive religious cult.
“David Kock” Now, what’s his name again?
Walker: His name is Tim Cullen.
“David Koch”: All right, I’ll have to give that man a call.
Walker: Well, actually, in his case I wouldn’t call him and I’ll tell you why: He’s pretty reasonable but he’s not one of us, um, so I would let him be.
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
@maus: I’m not sure she believes how little chance she has. But that’s some p0ker playing I’d pay to watch.
Yutsano
@Comrade Mary: That could cause either a spike in the divorce rate or another baby boomlet on BJ.
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
@stuckinred: Future history. Shall we write some?
Anne Laurie
@Uloborus:
“Lucky”, that Palin was. But, to be fair, she’s the opposite of George Bush — actual ‘trailer trash’, from a family who shot’n’fished for eating not recreation, going to a string of extremely-not-Ivy colleges on beauty-contest scholarship money, with multiple interruptions because she didn’t have the money-clas insulation to shelter her from poor classroom performance and/or negative social interactions. That’s one reason she was such a STAR with the bottom two-thirds of the Republican party caste, she actually was (is) one of them. Even when they were defending Bush, they understood how much of his Real Amurkin Cowboy Talk(tm) was marketing bullshite.
jwb
@Uloborus: Well, the Kochs probably think they are winning. The way things are scored these days, they may not be wrong.
Arclite
@Yutsano: We’re in Hawaii, but we’re being careful. We are taking extra vitamins to protect against absorbing any airborne radiation. Her family is in Tokyo though, and we’re concerned about them.
Bill Murray
@Sly: That’s what happened to Huey Long
Cerberus
@patrick II:
Like, I dunno, “The Family”?
Seriously, I wonder if what we are dealing with here is a handful of rich assholes who read Superman books as children and thought Lex Luthor was the hero.
El Cid
@Cerberus: 1984: Instruction Manual. Handmaid’s Tale: Instruction Manual. The Iron Heel: Instruction Manual. Apocalypse Now: Training Video. The Jungle: Food safety protocols.
Cerberus
@RareSanity:
And radiation bleeding all over the place, so on and so forth. List of those already dead by exposure, a likely underselling of any more that show radiation-related illnesses, as occurs with every goddamn ecological disaster (hey NY aid workers, how was that post 9/11 air).
And all for a goddamn power system that requires an immense amount of energy to get going, isn’t really highly efficient, requires well-sealed, well-upkept, dumping grounds for waste production (said waste production from earlier sites already being breached by wildlife and spread through near-by ecosystems).
And oh yeah, WHICH USES A SOURCE RARER THAN OIL.
Yeah, uranium and its byproducts is totally going to last us more than a handful of years as a main energy source and will require huge amounts of carbon-byproducts and engineering infrastructure that would be far better spent on renewable energy sources that don’t run into the supply problem. Especially considering that uranium mining is even worse for the environment than coal mining*.
Fuck. I get that nukees (nuclear engineers) want to stand up for themselves and the very hard job it is making a process as dangerous as this as safe as it is, but come the fuck on people. People are dying, right now, and we’re supposed to white-wash this bullshit because you want to continue the “not my fault” whining you’ve been doing since Hiroshima? Fuck you.
Ugh, sorry everyone, but it pisses me off a little. Even if nuclear energy was candy canes and blowjobs, it would still not be a good investment, because it’s simply too fucking finite before you add the myriad of other problems. Congratulations, it’s a feat of engineering. Be proud. But it’s just a bad solution in general.
*And oh yes, I caught the endless harping about a very specific comparison. Sure, yes, if you compare nuclear energy to the least fucking environmentally conscious means of producing energy we have, an industry that has been dominated at least in the States by some of the most corrupt murdering sociopathic bastards around, then yes, you would look pretty good in comparison. That is in the same way that a child molester looks good compared to fucking John Wayne Gacy. Jebus Christe, do you have to sound like skeezy weasels when defending your trade or what? I mean, yeah, down with the strawman that the nuclear energy community ties little babies to train tracks instead of being a group of proud engineers working against the most dangerous means of gaining energy we have (and all power to you). But come on people!
Sorry everyone, but the “debate” has been hard to stomach. Especially considering Japan’s history with nuclear fallout. No wonder they obsess about Godzilla.
Cerberus
@El Cid:
Fountainhead: Inspiring work with important moral lessons. Bible: Weapon
…
Yeah. I’d very much like these people to have less power than they do now. Thank you kindly.
Nellcote
@b-psycho:
Remember when cops and firefighters were American Heroes that we just couldn’t do enough for?
Nellcote
LaPalin’s running for the senate from Arizona. She’s putting the pieces into place now.
Pat
No amount of fluffing in the world can “fluff up” the likes of Haley Barbour. Get real! A redneck is a redneck is a racist.
BruceK
Here’s the low-down, as far as I can see it:
The GOP, desperate to reclaim power – because it seems to be all about the wielding of power, not the responsibilities that go with the power – basically did the electoral equivalent of summoning a malevolent demon, secure in the belief that this demon would do their bidding and be under their control.
Big surprise, the demon’s slipping its leash, and expressing its displeasure with being in a subservient position.
Heck, the near-perfect parallel is the dragon-summoning in Pratchett’s Guards! Guards! The GOP’s caught in basically the same crack as Ankh-Morpork, except they don’t have a Lord Vetinari working the angles. (They’ve got Lord Rust in spades, Lord Venturi, Lord Selacci, and plenty of those to spare.)
Berial
Just want to say, as a Mississippian, I don’t see Barbour as having a chance at the Presidential nomination. There is just too much baggage there. He may use the attention to grab some behind the scene power, but I really don’t think that he’ll try to get the nomination.
Paul in KY
@cathyx: She better hit that fast.
Paul in KY
@El Cid: Mein Kampf – Historical Reference Material
Pavlov's Dog
Will you take my comment? Yeah!