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You are here: Home / I know you’re in there, you’re just out of sight

I know you’re in there, you’re just out of sight

by DougJ|  May 14, 20113:05 pm| 116 Comments

This post is in: Good News For Conservatives

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Huckabee is supposed to make some big announcement tonight, maybe that he’s running for president. I’m not going to link to Mark Halerpin’s breathless speculation about all of this, but I can tell you that it is, indeed, breathless.

If you want a look at the kind of high-tech wizardry the Huck campaign would have at its disposal, I suggest you check out this video the Huckabee education company put out about kids traveling back in time to learn the importance of the Reagan revolution.

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116Comments

  1. 1.

    Bob Loblaw

    May 14, 2011 at 3:12 pm

    Ah, the year 1980, when cracked out black people in disco shirts terrorized our streets and maybe even bought steaks with their welfare checks. Truly our nation’s darkest hour.

    For fuck’s sake, conservatives. At least when liberals want to make atrocious propaganda for our idiot children (CAPTAIN PLAAAAAAANET!), they spend more than a buck-ninety five on the production values. Show some pride.

  2. 2.

    Kitty

    May 14, 2011 at 3:13 pm

    gack.

  3. 3.

    Doug Harlan J

    May 14, 2011 at 3:16 pm

    @Bob Loblaw:

    Ah, the year 1980, when cracked out black people in disco shirts terrorized our streets and maybe even bought steaks with their welfare checks. Truly our nation’s darkest hour.

    Well put.

  4. 4.

    AAA Bonds

    May 14, 2011 at 3:18 pm

    Looking at Nate Silver’s polls, at least, Huckabee is neck-and-neck for top spot right now (with another guy who’s running-but-not-running). What’s more, he has massive name recognition and, to cap it off, he’s not Donald Trump.

    Mike Huckabee would be an absolute goddamn dipshit if he didn’t declare his candidacy for 2012 – a real dumbfuck.

    You can quote me on that, just attribute it properly.

  5. 5.

    JPL

    May 14, 2011 at 3:18 pm

    I just wandered over to the Page and noticed the Sunday line-up… It’s 8 repubs to 1 dem if you don’t count the roundtable segments. The only democrat is appearing on Fox, just wow.

  6. 6.

    Anya

    May 14, 2011 at 3:21 pm

    So Ragean saved America from black thugs, Islamic terrorists and communism. What did Obama do? He represents all three and is attacking America from within. Oh wingnuts, can you at least be little subtle with your propaganda. Also, too, I thougt Fuckabee was an affable jeebus freak. When did he turn into a nasty wingnut?

  7. 7.

    AAA Bonds

    May 14, 2011 at 3:22 pm

    @Bob Loblaw:

    Captain Planet was one of my first exercises in critical thinking as a child.

    “But wait,” my tiny dog-brain thought. “These bad guys aren’t polluting for any reason, really. They’re not building computers or making dishwasher soap, they’re just weird freak losers. That’s not how pollution works.”

    I mulled it over and figured that I still did not like pollution, but, Captain Planet could go fuck himself.

  8. 8.

    Trentrunner

    May 14, 2011 at 3:24 pm

    You people are so niggardly in your postings. What’s uppity with that?

  9. 9.

    AAA Bonds

    May 14, 2011 at 3:25 pm

    I know that still is supposed to be 1977 according to the caption, but:

    is there really any better representation of “The Reagan Revolution” than two women in the second row, one of them black, making faces like the dog is about to throw up on the rug?

  10. 10.

    eemom

    May 14, 2011 at 3:27 pm

    omg, Al Stewart! High school!

    Buy me a ticket on the last train home tonight…..

    Yer gonna kill me with all this rememberating, DougJ.

    But, at least it keeps my mind off the topic of this post and the rest of the suckish present.

  11. 11.

    Yutsano

    May 14, 2011 at 3:27 pm

    I don’t have the intestinal fortitude to watch that video.

  12. 12.

    geg6

    May 14, 2011 at 3:30 pm

    I watched a few clips of this shit yesterday. Unbelievably bad. Just one example of the fail? Reagan’s teeth. WTF is going on with Reagan’s teeth? He looks like a wrinkly Mr. Potatohead with multiple rows of teeth, like a shark. That alone would frighten away any kid willing to watch such lame animationand terrible story telling. As for the actual story telling, my 9-year-old niece would have a fact checking field day.

  13. 13.

    The Ancient Randonneur

    May 14, 2011 at 3:33 pm

    I wish the muthafucka would run! With Ron Paul in the mix we can only hope Alan Keyes makes another run.

  14. 14.

    Yutsano

    May 14, 2011 at 3:35 pm

    @The Ancient Randonneur: Let’s face it: the FSM doesn’t love us enough for that.

  15. 15.

    Ghanima Atreides

    May 14, 2011 at 3:35 pm

    This makes me wonder what kids get taught in school. For example, the islamic “fundamentalists” were not revolting– they took hostages so America wouldn’t try to bring to bring back the Shah after giving him asylum.

  16. 16.

    gogol's wife

    May 14, 2011 at 3:36 pm

    @geg6:

    Yes, I was wondering why they made Reagan look like the undead from a horror film. He did, of course, but I thought they’d touch it up a little.

    Are you absolutely sure this isn’t a parody? This makes Stalinist propaganda look subtle and sophisticated.

  17. 17.

    Ghanima Atreides

    May 14, 2011 at 3:38 pm

    @Anya: i take it you haven’t seen his Obamacare is the Gateway to Hell oldwhitepeople scare-commercials?
    They run sunday mornings on CNN.

  18. 18.

    Allan

    May 14, 2011 at 3:38 pm

    He’s running.

  19. 19.

    Fucen Pneumatic Fuck Wrench Tarmal

    May 14, 2011 at 3:39 pm

    @Bob Loblaw:

    to be fair, people were still freebasing before reagan came along. he provided the economic revolution that made concentrating cocaine into a purer form, while similtaneously dropping the price, possible. he also managed to do so, by opening new markets, and creating a new brand, thus maintaining stability in the then existing market for the powdered product.

    it was economic genius, even if it did require the sanctioning of arms to hostages in order to fund narco terror. you can’t bake a cake unless you break a few eggs.

  20. 20.

    TOP123

    May 14, 2011 at 3:41 pm

    @geg6: I was sure I couldn’t be the only one startled to see Reagan’s lines read by what appeared to be an animated vampire-toothed dinosaur.

    One would think St. R. Magnus would deserve a slightly better representation at the Time Travel Academy.

  21. 21.

    Fucen Pneumatic Fuck Wrench Tarmal

    May 14, 2011 at 3:42 pm

    @Allan:

    damn, i thought he was going to announce his intention like lebron james “i’m going to south beach”

  22. 22.

    Mark S.

    May 14, 2011 at 3:43 pm

    Dear god that was awful. That might actually be the worst thing I’ve ever seen.

  23. 23.

    Jamey

    May 14, 2011 at 3:44 pm

    Menacing black guy with a stiletto, “gimme yo’ money.”

    Seriously? Is this video the sort of stuff ‘wingers have in mind when they talk about educational choice?

    This is embarrassing, even for Huck.

  24. 24.

    Tom Q

    May 14, 2011 at 3:45 pm

    Two things:

    1) One of the sample videos gives the “real history” of World war II, and somehow manages to omit the name Franklin Roosevelt. It also has Hitler giving a speech, proclaiming that god wants Germany to rule the world — the creators of these toons apparently failed to notice it sounds eerily close to what they have Reagan saying about America in this video.

    2) Huckabee has an affability, but he can get almost Gingrich-level nasty at times. Most people have seen the nice side, and tolerate him as a result, but I suspect the second is closer to his real nature, and he has to be careful it doesn’t slip out at an inopportune moment.

  25. 25.

    Ghanima Atreides

    May 14, 2011 at 3:45 pm

    @Allan: lool
    can’t wait until Allahp and Jeff Goldstein cotton to that.

    Meanwhile, a picture of Mitch (5’3″) Daniels dancing a leprechaun jig for Obama’s pleasure.

  26. 26.

    Omnes Omnibus

    May 14, 2011 at 3:49 pm

    Why, in a Reagan hagiography, do they chose to make him hideous? Okay, let’s not nitpick, why did someone greenlight this? Drunk? High? Secretly a liberal Democrat? Why?

  27. 27.

    Cerberus

    May 14, 2011 at 3:52 pm

    They spend so much time on trying to rewrite history in order to make sure their icons and heroes survive what their icons and heroes did.

    But really, history has already given its pronouncements and they’re just going to get worse with more and more time. MLK is a hero. Civil Rights and Women’s Rights are essentially seen as good things that only crackpots and bigots were against. FDR pretty much saved this nation against idiotic opposition. Nixon was a crook. Reagan was at best an idiot. And McCarthy may very well have been Satan himself. And the best thing for conservatives is how the history books have spent very little time focusing on how wrong and vile historic conservatism has been.

    And this is part of what is already taught in our “don’t upset anybody”, “don’t rock the boat” high school curriculum less than 10 years ago.

    I imagine that history is only going to turn nastier about conservative “heroes” as the true pain, horror, and failure of their policies have been coming to light. I doubt Reagan’s mostly fictional “legacy” is doing very well against how deeply “trickle down economics” has been ruining this country. And Bush’s legacy is already pure poison and history usually waits a good 40-50 years before they start clearing their throat especially about contemporary figures.

    I see these efforts and they remind me of those creationism “science” books they also sell in-group to Fundies. Yeah, sure, you’ll get the Fundie kids to start just as divorced from reality as the average wingnut, but for the rest of us, time marches on and they can keep trying to poison the well and attack anyone who speaks out against the sustained propaganda, but the quiet men and women who connect the strands of history have a lot to work with and can’t be easily stopped.

    History’s condemnations are sitting there still and no amount of poorly done cartoons is going to change that.

    Also, what is with their daddy complex homoeroticism? His teeth…anh…so manly…almost at climax.

    I know it’s about the style over substance and Reagan is the most successful at delaying progress and legitimizing the bigoted and the divorced from reality, but jebus christo, it doesn’t sound like they admire him as a historical figure so much as they want him to sexually service them in bed.

  28. 28.

    gnomedad

    May 14, 2011 at 3:52 pm

    Mandatory invocation of Poe’s Law.

  29. 29.

    Spaghetti Lee

    May 14, 2011 at 3:56 pm

    but I can tell you that it is, indeed, breathless.

    Starbursty, one might say.

    As for Huckahistory, I liked it better when Riefenstahl was behind the camera.

  30. 30.

    Asshole

    May 14, 2011 at 4:00 pm

    This video just proves my hypothesis that the Republicans are secretly courting the ironic-hipster vote. And they’ll get it, too.

  31. 31.

    edo

    May 14, 2011 at 4:02 pm

    WOW! Ronaldus Magnus will be proud!

  32. 32.

    Cermet

    May 14, 2011 at 4:04 pm

    Racist, mostly lies, and total propaganda only worthy of Goebbels … otherwise, terrible. Perfect for right wing hate machine.

  33. 33.

    JCT

    May 14, 2011 at 4:05 pm

    Words fail me. I saw this the other day and honestly thought it was a joke. Dog-whistle city. Gotta love the racist vibe here and why is that blackity-black guy so light-skinned? Odd.

    He had these “presentations” (I don’t really know what the fuck they are, really) made to SELL for MONEY with the expectation that parents would use them to “educate” their children.

    Gives new meaning to the term “race to the bottom”.

    Oh and he’s the classic 2-faced type of Southern guy that some of my friends from the South always complain about. Nice and “affable” outwardly, but will stab you in the back in 2 secs. He’s a thin-skinned asshole and, by the way, likely to be lying about how he lost all that weight that he loves to present as an example of his fine character.

  34. 34.

    pat

    May 14, 2011 at 4:16 pm

    Does anyone else wonder why the disco-shirt wearing scary black guy has to use a KNIFE rather than a GUN?? Something about not alienating the NRA, maybe?

    And yes, those teeth are disgusting.

    And when the wingnuts whine about public schools “indoctrinating” all those impressionable kids, you have to know that they are figuring out how to do it themselves.

  35. 35.

    Citizen_X

    May 14, 2011 at 4:17 pm

    Yes, I would draw Reagan with a rattlesnake mouth, but why did they do it? And why is he a nice Latino brown in one scene, and whiteboy pink in the next? Strange propaganda.

  36. 36.

    Omnes Omnibus

    May 14, 2011 at 4:20 pm

    @pat: I want to know why a “street thug” with knife would be wearing a tank top with “disco” written on it? I was 13 in 1977 and I lived in Connecticut, but we got into NYC often enough that I know no self respecting criminal would have worn that shirt.

  37. 37.

    Spaghetti Lee

    May 14, 2011 at 4:22 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    I assume it’s some wingnut calculation along the lines of disco = oversexualized = black people.

  38. 38.

    Svensker

    May 14, 2011 at 4:31 pm

    @geg6:

    As for the actual story telling, my 9-year-old niece would have a fact checking field day.

    If you watch the WWII one (over at TPM), the video explains that if you see other “facts” in books or TV, don’t worry, because “we know what’s true and that’s good enough for us!”.

    These people freak me out.

  39. 39.

    Mark S.

    May 14, 2011 at 4:32 pm

    What the fuck is happening at 37 seconds in? A reenactment of the John Hinckley assassination attempt?

  40. 40.

    pat

    May 14, 2011 at 4:33 pm

    Yes, I forgot to mention the significance of the “disco” shirt.

    Let’s just assume the 8-year-olds who put this together as a third-grade project have no idea what “disco” means.

  41. 41.

    cathyx

    May 14, 2011 at 4:34 pm

    Well, I wasn’t going to watch the video, but with all the comments about it, I went ahead and watched it. It was so incredible on so many fronts. The idea that Reagan had anything to do with tearing down the Berlin wall is insane and I couldn’t find a summer job to save my life in the early 1980’s because of the recession. Revisionist history in plain view on that video.

  42. 42.

    cathyx

    May 14, 2011 at 4:36 pm

    @Spaghetti Lee: They forgot the boombox on his shoulder.

  43. 43.

    Cheryl from Maryland

    May 14, 2011 at 4:39 pm

    This makes Clutch Cargo look like the Sistine Ceiling.

  44. 44.

    gnomedad

    May 14, 2011 at 4:40 pm

    @cathyx:

    They forgot the boombox on his shoulder.

    I thought something was missing. Needs a big, scary afro, too.

  45. 45.

    gnomedad

    May 14, 2011 at 4:41 pm

    @Cheryl from Maryland:

    This makes Clutch Cargo look like the Sistine Ceiling.

    Reagan does have a kinda Clutch Cargo head shape.

  46. 46.

    Asshole

    May 14, 2011 at 4:42 pm

    Why isn’t Reagan’s face on Mt. Rushmore yet? If it’s too impractical or expensive to carve it in there next to the other Presidents, maybe we can turn one of their faces into his. Or all four of them, really, since Reagan was way more important than any those mountain-top moonbats were.

  47. 47.

    hilts

    May 14, 2011 at 4:43 pm

    This video has epic fail written all over it.

    O’Reilly Challenges Huckabee On Gay Marriage: ‘Is It Of Any Importance?’
    http://www.mediaite.com/tv/oreilly-challenges-huckabee-on-gay-marriage-is-it-of-any-importance

  48. 48.

    cathyx

    May 14, 2011 at 4:44 pm

    I wonder what the video about the Clinton years looks like.

  49. 49.

    geg6

    May 14, 2011 at 4:45 pm

    @Svensker:

    I know, right? Don’t believe anything or anyone except Huckahistory! Actual historians know nothing!

    And I guarantee that some Talibangical home schooler is laying out the cashfor the entire set for her little angels’ history lessons.

  50. 50.

    RSA

    May 14, 2011 at 4:45 pm

    @TOP123:

    I was sure I couldn’t be the only one startled to see Reagan’s lines read by what appeared to be an animated vampire-toothed dinosaur.

    And a weird color, too, as others have mentioned. I used to think that a big purple dinosaur was the biggest threat to our nation’s children, but his successor is orange.

  51. 51.

    Fucen Pneumatic Fuck Wrench Tarmal

    May 14, 2011 at 4:48 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    the line from the narrator was about people losing their morals. ergo, the disco connection.

    plus all that dance music sounds alike.

  52. 52.

    pat

    May 14, 2011 at 4:49 pm

    On second thought, third graders could probably do a better job. It is just so horrible on so many levels. Awe-inspiringly horrible.

    I don’t know what turns my stomach more, the thought that someone could actually believe this crap, or that school kids would be exposed to it.

  53. 53.

    cathyx

    May 14, 2011 at 4:55 pm

    @Fucen Pneumatic Fuck Wrench Tarmal: Reminds me of the movie “Footloose”.

  54. 54.

    Trakker

    May 14, 2011 at 4:56 pm

    Remember, the target audience for this video is not educated, rational, open-minded voters. It’s aimed at Republicans, and no doubt most of them will love the cute little heroes and be impressed at having learned such a complicated history lesson in just a minute and a half.

  55. 55.

    PTirebiter

    May 14, 2011 at 4:59 pm

    So what happened to the hostages Reverend Huck? I bet St. Ronnie sent in SEAL TEAM six and that’s where Obama stole the idea, right?

  56. 56.

    S. cerevisiae

    May 14, 2011 at 5:01 pm

    Rappin Ron Reagan got CHEESE for you!

  57. 57.

    Suffern ACE

    May 14, 2011 at 5:01 pm

    @cathyx: The video of the Clinton years is two minutes long and pixelated so that young eyes won’t get any ideas. It’s basically a list of all the “bad ideas that Clinton did first so that Bush is innocent I tell you”, an a blow job from an 14 year old in a blue dress.

  58. 58.

    TOP123

    May 14, 2011 at 5:04 pm

    Since he functions as a symbol, perhaps the knife-wielding assailant’short hair and lighter skin tone lend him a greater resemblance to the current head of the executive branch than would dark skin and an Afro.

    Symbolism. Like how on CNN last night I was forced to hear of Newt F’ing Gingrich (who really should have retired or been incarcerated or imploded under the weight of his karma already, surely?) predicting “2012 win over ‘Chicago style campaign’ to ‘coerce’ money”. No mention of a knife in that version.

  59. 59.

    Suffern ACE

    May 14, 2011 at 5:04 pm

    @Suffern ACE: Oh, and everyone has a mullet.

  60. 60.

    maya

    May 14, 2011 at 5:07 pm

    @Asshole:

    Why isn’t Reagan’s face on Mt. Rushmore yet?

    It would require 5,000 long tons of face putty. Which is slightly more than was used by the original.

  61. 61.

    Boudica

    May 14, 2011 at 5:09 pm

    I liked the scenes in the WWII clip….the black kids and white kids walking down the street in 1940s WV together, hah! I’m sure there’s no mention of the segregated US military in the videos, either.

  62. 62.

    Gin & Tonic

    May 14, 2011 at 5:10 pm

    @TOP123: I don’t know about others, but when I hear “Chicago style” I actually never think blackity-black, I think Richard Daley the elder. So Newt may be using all sorts of racist whistles and horns, but “Chicago style” goes over my head, at least.

  63. 63.

    Lysana

    May 14, 2011 at 5:10 pm

    @S. cerevisiae:

    Rappin Ron Reagan got CHEESE for you!

    Oh, sainted gods, I had almost forgotten that song. I didn’t even need to click the link. That triggered me like a madeleine.

  64. 64.

    Suffern ACE

    May 14, 2011 at 5:11 pm

    @TOP123:

    “2012 win over ‘Chicago style campaign’ to ‘coerce’ money”.

    So basically Newt is running the 2008 campaign to voters who heard all that 4 years ago and didn’t care?

  65. 65.

    R-Jud

    May 14, 2011 at 5:12 pm

    I don’t know about others, but when I hear “Chicago style” I actually never think blackity-black, I think Richard Daley the elder.

    Funny, I think of a hot dog buried under celery salt and about 15 kinds of condiments (but no ketchup).

  66. 66.

    Linnaeus

    May 14, 2011 at 5:13 pm

    Folks might want to check out Huckabee’s “Council of Masters”, the group of historians that apparently vet the material that goes into these videos. One of them is Larry Schweikart, who is a co-author of A Patriot’s History of the United States. If you’ve read the book or even looked at it casually, then stuff like this cartoon should come as no surprise.

  67. 67.

    JPL

    May 14, 2011 at 5:13 pm

    When my son was in first grade, he idolized Ronny. Fortunately, he has changed his ways. I think Huck’s videos are meant for those who never matured beyond that level.

  68. 68.

    Davis X. Machina

    May 14, 2011 at 5:14 pm

    40% of the half of America that votes would vote for one of those orange traffic barrels from the interstate with the blinking light, provided it was a Republican traffic barrel.

    Of the remaining 10%, the ‘independent’ voters who have America’s balls in a vise, half of them are low-information voters who want to vote for either Kim Kardashian or That Guy on That Neat TED Conference Video, and don’t understand why they’re on the ballot, and the other half are high-mis information voters, who make the first kind look like an AP Government class and wonder where Paul Harvey’s radio show went. Or PUMAs.

    And you need 50% give or take (waves to Al Gore: “Hi, Al!”) to win.

    In other words, we’re boned.

  69. 69.

    dmsilev

    May 14, 2011 at 5:15 pm

    @Gin & Tonic:

    I don’t know about others, but when I hear “Chicago style” I actually never think blackity-black, I think Richard Daley the elder.

    Funny, I think artery-clogging pizza.

  70. 70.

    Linnaeus

    May 14, 2011 at 5:16 pm

    @R-Jud:

    Funny, I think of a hot dog buried under celery salt and about 15 kinds of condiments (but no ketchup).

    I think of deep-dish stuffed pizza. Mmm.

  71. 71.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    May 14, 2011 at 5:18 pm

    @TOP123:

    “2012 win over ‘Chicago style campaign’ to ‘coerce’ money”.

    I don’t know what show that was on, but I’m sure no one at Fox-Lite I mean CNN brought up the K-Street Project? That would have been most unseemly and liberal bias-y

    after the ’94 midterm elections, when Republicans won the majority in the House of Representatives, the new speaker, Newt Gingrich, began an effort to harness the influence and money of K Street lobbyists to benefit the GOP leadership. He deputized then-Majority Whip Tom DeLay to make sure Republicans in the House were getting the winners’ share of campaign dollars from K Street and being well-represented on the staffs of major lobbying firms and trade associations.

    and that’s Juan Williams talking

  72. 72.

    Southern Beale

    May 14, 2011 at 5:18 pm

    We’re going to Seattle at the end of August, anyone have any suggestions for us? Which part of town to stay in, etc? We’re going to do the typical touristy things.

  73. 73.

    Nutella

    May 14, 2011 at 5:19 pm

    @gogol’s wife:

    Garry Trudeau did it better in Doonesbury. He had a sort of cyber-Reagan called Ron Headrest that didn’t look as weird as this one.

  74. 74.

    James E. Powell

    May 14, 2011 at 5:25 pm

    @Gin & Tonic:

    I don’t know about others, but when I hear “Chicago style” I actually never think blackity-black, I think Richard Daley the elder.

    You may be overlooking how fast, and how completely, the right-wing adopts a code term. FOX, Rush, etc., repeat the ‘message of the moment’ often enough that their audience hears it a thousand times in one week.

    Thus, Massachusetts becomes San Francisco becomes Chicago.

  75. 75.

    hilts

    May 14, 2011 at 5:26 pm

    Newt Gingrich staying classy –

    President Obama is the most successful food stamp president in American history. […] I would like to be the most successful paycheck president in American history.

    h/t http://thinkprogress.org/2011/05/14/gingrich-was-big-spender

  76. 76.

    Davis X. Machina

    May 14, 2011 at 5:29 pm

    @James E. Powell: Thus, Massachusetts becomes San Francisco becomes Chicago.

    Nah. You’d have to keep moving the ocean. In Boston, it’s on the right, in SF it’s on the left, and in Chicago they call it ‘Lake Michigan’. Even Fox-watchers wouldn’t miss that.

  77. 77.

    TOP123

    May 14, 2011 at 5:30 pm

    @Gin & Tonic: I hear you, and I certainly think it targets an ‘urban political machine’ association, as well; but I guess to me, it’s a really pernicious line as it (in my mind, intentionally) uses “Chicago” as “big Northern city” to evoke and conflate two senses of ‘gangster’ in our cultural usage; the black drug dealer/pimp stereotype of more recent (Reagan!) years and the Prohibition Mafioso stereotype which gets associated with the urban ‘white ethnic’ threat of yesteryear. Does that make sense?

  78. 78.

    Cacti

    May 14, 2011 at 5:31 pm

    Of the ship of fools that are the 2012 GOP contenders, Huckabee at least has the affability factor going for him. And he’s religiously insane, so that will play well with the base.

    Romney’s every utterance sounds like it came from Eddie Haskell school of sincerity, and he’s a Mormon…two strikes out of the gate.

    Newt has a tendency to come across as a raging asshole and is covered in all the sleaze that was 1990s politics.

  79. 79.

    MonkeyBoy

    May 14, 2011 at 5:33 pm

    The first thing I learned from that video:

    in 1977 armed Black street muggers were into Disco

    I know Disco as dance music has some Black roots but I guess this is meant to show that the Disco overthrow of Rock was one of the signs of the narrowly avoided apocalypse.

  80. 80.

    MikeJ

    May 14, 2011 at 5:38 pm

    @Southern Beale: It’s a hell hole. Really a pit. Worst city in America. (We really just like keeping it to ourselves.)

    You could stay at the hotel where the incident described in “Mud Shark” took place.

    I assume the touristy things are the Space Needle, Pike Place Market and uhm, something. If it were me visiting, I’d take in a Mariners game. Of course everyone that lives in Seattle is required to hike as their primary form of entertainment, and I can point you to various scenic trails of differing difficulty.

    The Experience Music Project is supposed to be good, but I’ve never been past the bar. There’s also a Science Fiction Museum, and if you head north out of town, you can watch 747s being made.

    Happy to help with other ideas. It seems like half of the people who post here are Seattlites, so somebody ought to be able to answer most questions.

    But the Space Needle points to the sky
    The Space Needle’s such a nice guy
    But you never know…
    Viva Seattle Tacoma, viva viva Sea-Tac
    Viva Seattle Tacoma, viva viva Sea-Tac
    Viva viva viva viva viva Sea-Tac
    They’ve got the best computers and coffee and smack

  81. 81.

    jaywillie

    May 14, 2011 at 5:41 pm

    If I was a kid and my parents bought me this, I’d hate them. Forever.

  82. 82.

    Cat Lady

    May 14, 2011 at 5:46 pm

    @Cacti: So the next debate will be Huckabee, Gingrich, Romney, Paul, Pawlenty and a player to be named later. They can’t all just only attack Obama 24/7, so if Huck and Mittens are the frontrunners they’ll have to go after each other, and Gingrich will need to draw fire to get the teatards riled up too. Mitt’s going to have to promise to triple Gitmo, Huck will have to promise to usher in the Rapture, and Gingrich will have to promise to torture every Muslim, gay and immigrant in the country. This is going to be epic.

  83. 83.

    Svensker

    May 14, 2011 at 5:46 pm

    @Lysana:

    That triggered me like a madeleine.

    Stunned you like jellyroll?

  84. 84.

    pat

    May 14, 2011 at 5:55 pm

    Maybe when the wingnuts are told to think “Chicago” it is code for voter fraud. A friend from there (many years ago) said he wanted to be buried in Chicago so he could vote for Mayor Daley.

    Given the plethora of Voter ID laws being passed in many states, and the redistricting that will be done by the Republicans before the next election, I would not categorically say that none of these loons can not become our next president.

  85. 85.

    Svensker

    May 14, 2011 at 6:02 pm

    @Southern Beale:

    Do you want a city experience? Prefer to stay out of town a bit where access to highways is easier? Near water? Are you more interested in hip city and don’t mind a few homeless? Upscale luxury sans homeless? Budget?

    A place we used to stay which is downtown but just slightly off the beaten path, is the 6th Avenue Inn. Budgety but decent and clean. Old fashioned non-homeless luxury is the Fairmont Olympic in downtown. Pioneer Square and closer to the water in downtown tend to have more street people (i.e. homeless) and hipsters and some very nice (some very expensive) hotels.

    Plan to go on ferries. My favorite thing in the whole world. You can take a ferry from downtown to Bainbridge Island, with or without a car. Gorgeous.

  86. 86.

    Jewish Steel

    May 14, 2011 at 6:02 pm

    Whose got some smooth, hustlin’ moves and is now looking for a shirt that says ‘Disco?’

    This player right here.

  87. 87.

    jeffreyw

    May 14, 2011 at 6:07 pm

    Schiaparelli discovered cannoli on Mars-true fact.

  88. 88.

    NobodySpecial

    May 14, 2011 at 6:07 pm

    @Davis X. Machina: In other words, 2008 never happened? Ok.

  89. 89.

    The Dangerman

    May 14, 2011 at 6:08 pm

    @Southern Beale:

    We’re going to Seattle at the end of August, anyone have any suggestions for us?

    Really depends on what you are into; personally, I liked some of the funky places away from the downtown area (and, when I visit, typically stay outside the downtown area, which feels a lot like any downtown in America, and ferry in when I want to go there). For example of funky places, think the San Juans or Poulsbo; if outdoors is your thing, Rainier is a must. If golf is your thing, Newcastle is a must. Lots and lots of choices; word of caution, my Brother stayed in a high rise in Seattle in the summer without A/C, normally just fine in Seattle, but it can get hot there… well, hot enough, that without A/C, you can be hating life.

  90. 90.

    MikeJ

    May 14, 2011 at 6:09 pm

    @Svensker: Bainbridge Island has shoppes and restaurants only a mile or so from the ferry terminal too. Cafe Nola is the one to hit.

    I think you can even rent a bike right by the ferry.

  91. 91.

    Davis X. Machina

    May 14, 2011 at 6:09 pm

    @NobodySpecial: It was a massive anomaly. A once-in-a-lifetime event. And waiting for its repetition is a mug’s game.

  92. 92.

    TOP123

    May 14, 2011 at 6:09 pm

    @Southern Beale: If you like beer, there are a ton of local PacNW beers worth checking out. If it’s your thing, catch a Mariners game; depending on when you’re in town there are some pretty good teams visiting then. And everyone should see Ichiro. The statue of Lenin in Fremont makes a great backdrop for your next holiday card, especially if you’ve got Republican relatives. Visting relatives loved the Experience Music Project. If you’ve got suitcases, there are a ton of good used bookstores in the city. And, of course, it’s in one of the most naturally beautiful parts of the country…

  93. 93.

    RinaX

    May 14, 2011 at 6:12 pm

    Oh. My. God. And this was made in all seriousness. Even after reading all the comments, I was still not ready for the sheer insanity contained in that video.

  94. 94.

    Yutsano

    May 14, 2011 at 6:14 pm

    @Southern Beale: This sounds like a decent excuse for a Seattle BJ gathering, as there’s at least 10 semi-regular posters I can think of off the top of my head. The Needle of course got mentioned, and you can also Ride a Duck, but honestly there’s the obvious stuff and then there’s a shit ton of interesting things that are off the beaten path here. If you’re staying long enough and have passports, go two hours north to Vancouver. It’s the real sister city of Seattle Canuckistani style.

  95. 95.

    gnomedad

    May 14, 2011 at 6:20 pm

    @cathyx:

    They forgot the boombox playing the BeeGees on his shoulder.

    Also, too.

  96. 96.

    The Dangerman

    May 14, 2011 at 6:22 pm

    @Yutsano:

    If you’re staying long enough and have passports, go two hours north to Vancouver.

    If you’re staying long enough, go to Vancouver…

    …and keep going up the Sunshine Coast. One of the most fun trips I took when I lived in Seattle was going to Powell River (multiple ferries involved; there are some funky places straight out of the 60’s on those islands, don’t forget your Love Beads), crossing to Vancouver Island, and coming back by way of the San Juans. Lots of drives that are lovely, too; Chuckanut drive to Bellingham comes to mind. Whidbey Island. Seriously, LOTS of choices to enjoy, but don’t fall in love with the place, because you will move there thinking the winters can’t be that bad, but … 4 long winters and thinking of hypothermia my last Summer there on the 2nd of July for a waterfront concert and I was packing my bags.

    Edit: 3rd Generation SoCal boy here (read: weather WUSS)

  97. 97.

    gwangung

    May 14, 2011 at 6:25 pm

    End of August???? You may not want to get caught around Seattle Center and Bumbershoot…..

    Am producing yet another show during August, but not sure you should go to Seattle for that.

    Oh, shit.mim producing a show NOW, and I haven’t mentioned a doggone thing.

  98. 98.

    Lojasmo

    May 14, 2011 at 6:31 pm

    @Southern Beale:

    Don’t rent a car, take the train.

    Last time we stayed, we Were at the best western executive inn. It is over by the space needle. About eight blocks from the whole foods. A mile fro me pike.

    When we go this august, we are staying at the Hilton, closer to the market.

    Wherever you stay, I would encourage you to support union hotels.

    http://www.unitehere8.org/?p=134

  99. 99.

    Lojasmo

    May 14, 2011 at 6:34 pm

    I second Vancouver. In fact, I would suggest a drive along both chuckanut crave, south of Bellingham, and the sea to sky highway between Vancouver and whistler. Absolutely stunning.

    Huckster is a fat, ignorant, racist tool.

  100. 100.

    Lojasmo

    May 14, 2011 at 6:35 pm

    Fucking iPad.

    Chuckanut drive.

  101. 101.

    TOP123

    May 14, 2011 at 6:37 pm

    @The Dangerman:

    Lots of drives that are lovely, too; Chuckanut drive to Bellingham comes to mind.

    This is a nice suggestion.

    Southern Beale, heed this warning about the winter. I call shenanigans on the claims of cold (though if one is from SoCal, I get it!), but if you have the remotest hint of SADD, make the Pacific Northwest your summer home. Though they sell nice indoor solar lamp setups at the garden supply in Fremont. (Legal uses only, natch.)

  102. 102.

    Janus Daniels

    May 14, 2011 at 6:44 pm

    @Fucen Pneumatic Fuck Wrench Tarmal: Please expand your analysis, or cite sources, because this seems to make alarmingly good sense.

  103. 103.

    The Dangerman

    May 14, 2011 at 6:48 pm

    I call shenanigans on the claims of cold…

    True, Seattle isn’t that cold, except for the rare storm, but the event that I went to on the waterfront in early Summer was to see one of my favorite artists (Nanci Griffith) backed up by the Seattle Symphony; well, it was wet and windy to start and, about an hour or so into the show, it was too cold for the valuable instruments of said symphony. On 2/July! But the summers are glorious, no doubt…

    …but if you have the remotest hint of SADD, make the Pacific Northwest your summer home.

    If I hit the lottery tonight (unlikely; I don’t play), I’m buying land on Anderson Island with a view of Rainier (Anderson, because of it’s location and it’s limited ferry service means it doesn’t work for the M-F commuter crowd).

  104. 104.

    Emma

    May 14, 2011 at 6:58 pm

    What I don’t understand is how they’re going to explain themselves to their home-schooled kid after said kid comes home from college in hysterics. “I got an F on that history test and they said I was crazy!”

    (edit) of course I do. “It’s those liberals in academia, let’s get you to Hail Mary University where they’ll teach you Truth!”

  105. 105.

    Svensker

    May 14, 2011 at 7:21 pm

    @The Dangerman:

    it was too cold for the valuable instruments of said symphony. On 2/July! But the summers are glorious, no doubt…

    When we visited my parents one summer we had to borrow down jackets to watch the fireworks on the 4th. It was frigging freezing.

  106. 106.

    TOP123

    May 14, 2011 at 7:27 pm

    @The Dangerman: Once that ticket hits, BJ meetup at your place!

  107. 107.

    Yutsano

    May 14, 2011 at 7:33 pm

    @Svensker: Summer last here about six weeks starting in August. But oh man what a six weeks.

    And if anyone is curious, it’s 57 degrees and cloudy right now.

  108. 108.

    SiubhanDuinne

    May 14, 2011 at 7:49 pm

    I loved the Seattle aquarium when I was there. If you like otters, check it out.

  109. 109.

    ChrisNYC

    May 14, 2011 at 7:49 pm

    Have to say that I loved these cartoons. I watched all of them on TPM. Not love for content — just loved for historical value I guess. Communicates much more than GOP platforms, policy speeches, MTP appearances etc. I sort of think it’s great that this stuff (and, e.g. the Left Behind movies) will be around for people in whatever, 50 years, 100 years, so that they can get a sense. If you were to look at the bland bland major media (“hmmm they liked Three and a Half Men back in 2010”), you just wouldn’t get it.

  110. 110.

    TOP123

    May 14, 2011 at 7:53 pm

    @Yutsano: In fairness, it’s essentially the same (high fifties, cloudy) in the NYC area right now.

    One big point in the area’s favor is that, in the summer, humidity and flying insects are essentially absent, which is very much not the case elsewhere.

  111. 111.

    gwangung

    May 14, 2011 at 7:54 pm

    @Yutsano: Oh. You’re in a warm part ofmtown.

  112. 112.

    mclaren

    May 14, 2011 at 8:17 pm

    We could always hope that the announcement involves an underage boy, pending charges, three pounds of animal stimulant and a goat…perhaps in another four months.

  113. 113.

    SiubhanDuinne

    May 14, 2011 at 8:27 pm

    This is *really* OT, but did anyone else watch Die Walkure this afternoon? Cause I’m just a puddle of emo and would be glad to discuss.

  114. 114.

    pat

    May 14, 2011 at 8:36 pm

    I was driving around town listening off and on to the opera. First there was a 30-40 minute delay. What was that all about?

    Then when I got back in my car after some shopping for flowers (when it rains, the gardeners go shopping) my local radio station was totally off the air. No idea what was going on there either.

    I do love a lot of Wagner, but in a kind of “five hours? Really??” way. Way too many orgasms… errr.. climaxes…

    Bach. Lowers the blood pressure.

  115. 115.

    Doug Harlan J

    May 15, 2011 at 12:59 am

    @ChrisNYC:

    Well said.

  116. 116.

    dgc

    May 15, 2011 at 6:51 am

    Huckabee’s Improbable History

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