Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Nothing worth doing is easy.

Historically it was a little unusual for the president to be an incoherent babbling moron.

The party of Reagan has become the party of Putin.

Something needs to be done about our bogus SCOTUS.

Second rate reporter says what?

… pundit janitors mopping up after the GOP

Infrastructure week. at last.

The republican caucus is already covering themselves with something, and it’s not glory.

I’d like to think you all would remain faithful to me if i ever tried to have some of you killed.

We are aware of all internet traditions.

Within six months Twitter will be fully self-driving.

When do the post office & the dmv weigh in on the wuhan virus?

This blog will pay for itself.

They’re not red states to be hated; they are voter suppression states to be fixed.

… riddled with inexplicable and elementary errors of law and fact

Let’s finish the job.

It’s always darkest before the other shoe drops.

Tick tock motherfuckers!

People are complicated. Love is not.

We’ve had enough carrots to last a lifetime. break out the sticks.

Their freedom requires your slavery.

It’s time for the GOP to dust off that post-2012 autopsy, completely ignore it, and light the party on fire again.

A snarling mass of vitriolic jackals

Some judge needs to shut this circus down soon.

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114Comments

  3. 3.

    Phyllis

    Have a few extra pennies, so I’m taking myself out to lunch and have a list of treats to pick up at the grocery store. Also learned this morning that a Fresh Market is coming to a town less than an hour’s drive from us. Yay! Civilization slowly approaches.

  4. 4.

    Villago Delenda Est

    It’s not like Newt was ever anything close to a front runner in the first place…he’s been playing this “send me money and I’ll run” crap for years now, and he’s been a political leper since he was unceremoniously tossed out on his ass in ’98.

    His biggest problem has been people on the right who loathe him, not anyone in the SCLM, who generally loved him because he was a bomb thrower, and it’s easy to cover bomb throwers.

  6. 6.

    ruemara

    This would be infinitely more fun if Newt really did implode. Like a Newtron star at the end of the cycle. Preferably at the fox news studio with many Villagers and fellow peeps running for president on the GOP side. That would be awesome and pretty too.

  9. 9.

    Mike in NC

    Mr. Gingrich’s senior strategists confronted him on Thursday after he returned from a two-week vacation with his wife, Callista, which included a cruise through the Greek isles.

    Perhaps they stopped at Lesbos and Mrs. G suddenly realized she could do a lot better than Newt.

  10. 10.

    Dennis SGMM

    Newt has made a career of unchallenged bloviating on any show that would book him. He’s become the organ grinder’s monkey of the right wing and, although he might be useful to maintain the background noise, no one (Other than the organ grinders) gave him more than five minutes’ consideration as a candidate.

  11. 11.

    Violet

    I kind of did a double take when the image just below this post was of a pistol. And then an AK-47. Turns out the ad is for some kind of militia and military supply auction, so I guess they’re showing rotating pictures of their auction items. But still…..Newt’s campaign implodes, go get a gun!

  12. 12.

    AAA Bonds

    I’m wondering about Newt’s penis, all doughy and flaccid and covered in greasy sweat

  13. 13.

    Mike in NC

    @Phyllis:

    Fresh Market is coming to a town less than an hour’s drive from us. Yay! Civilization slowly approaches.

    The nearest Fresh Market store is near my office but an hour from home. We fantasize that a Trader Joe’s or Wegmans will some day open at least that close. Beats the heck out of Piggly Wiggly.

  16. 16.

    Violet

    From the article:

    Several advisers pleaded with Mr. Gingrich not to go on the vacation trip, an aide said, but Mrs. Gingrich wanted to go. The aide, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the internal workings of the campaign, said, “We have a spouse who controls the schedule.”

    Ah yes, blame the wife. Good stuff. Wonder if he’ll be looking for Wife Number Four?

  19. 19.

    cleek

    @Suffern ACE:
    Fresh Market is decent high-end grocery store. it’s not as green and crunchy and new-agey as Whole Foods, but it has similar products. they carry a lot of high-end stuff that you won’t find in regular supermarkets (really good chocolate and candies, tons of coffee, a nice butcher counter, imported stuff, lots of flowers).

    they always smell like fresh ground coffee.

  23. 23.

    burnspbesq

    Looks like we’re going to have a big-ass labor vs. management confrontation here in SoCal. The UFCW has been working without a contract since March at the three largest supermarket chains (Ralph’s, which is owned by Kroger, Von’s, which is owned by Safeway, and Albertson’s, which is owned by Super Valu). A strike has been authorized. Amazingly enough, the issue is employees’ contribution to the cost of health care.

    Other unions are lining up to provide support in the event of a strike.

    The dynamics are very interesting. The market has changed significantly since the 161-day strike in 2003. Stater Brothers, the locally owned chain, has a different contract with the UFCW, so they will stay open. Wal-Mart is now a significant player in the grocery space. And we now have Fresh & Easy. Hard to predict how this will play out.

    http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-grocery-labor-20110609,0,5561335.story

  24. 24.

    AAA Bonds

    Mitt Gingrich, mayor of Massachusetts, announced the mass resignation of the Iowa straw poll today

  25. 25.

    PurpleGirl

    Consider that Callista may not want her husband to be involved in a full-time campaign. After all he did claim that he got involved with other women and had his affairs when he was working so hard at politics. I think she’s being smart and protecting her turf.

  30. 30.

    quaint irene

    I know there are plenty of websites out there that give odds for the 2012 prez. election. But are there ones where you can bet on when you think the various contenders will call it quits? For Newt, I don’t think he’ll make it past this July.

  31. 31.

    AAA Bonds

    Sarah Palin to conduct YouTube gynoscopy in support of Bristol’s “water weight”

  34. 34.

    AAA Bonds

    Cain calls America “tasty-a pizza pie”, vows to crush a third-grader with his Escalade

  35. 35.

    Dennis SGMM

    @burnspbesq:
    My son is a member of the UFCW.
    The 2003 strike was about grocery company take backs, including the establishment of a two tier wage system (New employees made less money and had decreased benefits). What your linked article fails to mention is that the Stater Brothers chain settled with the union after four days of negotiation. Despite the competitors you mentioned, the big chains are still making plenty of money, they just want to make more.

  36. 36.

    AAA Bonds

    “CATCHER’S” MITT ROMNEY? An up-close look at his rectal diameter: does it measure up?

  37. 37.

    AAA Bonds

    Huckabee runs mile, gulps handful of pills, spins around with his arms out until he falls over

  38. 38.

    Amir_Khalid

    Benen’s story confirms the suspicion I voiced the other day: that Gingrich’s campaign staff, as a group, had had it with his inept candidacy and his failure to lead his campaign organization. But at this stage, the ignorant blowhard Herman Cain is still a viable candidate. So are the spineless Mitt Romney and the following pack of Tea Party panderers. There’s still fun to be had watching the Republican side of the 2012 Presidential race.

  41. 41.

    Violet

    @Amir_Khalid:
    Do not forget the Palin-Bachmann smackdown. There is no way Palin lets Bachmann have the Hot Girl Tea Party Candidate spot without a fight. No way at all. Hell hath no fury like a Palin scored.

  42. 42.

    eemom

    @cleek:

    We have a Whole Foods within spitting distance from the Fresh Market that is going up and it is Not Pleased.

    And the FM is rumored to be trying to drive out a family owned beer and wine store in the same strip mall.

    Drama in the ‘burbs.

  48. 48.

    Whiskey Screams from a Guy With No Short-Term Memory

    Ah yes, blame the wife. Good stuff. Wonder if he’ll be looking for Wife Number Four?

    @Violet: It’s gotta be the wife’s fault, and not that the guy that they were working for was intellectually, morally, and quite likely at this point actually bankrupt.

  49. 49.

    Steeplejack

    @Mike in NC:

    Given a choice, I would take Wegmans over Trader Joe’s. The latter is very close to me, but I go only about once a month or so to pick up a few things. (I am not a big coffee drinker, and their instant coffee is surprisingly good–definitely good enough for my five-cups-a-week habit.) There is a Wegmans that is reachable but not convenient at all, so I get there only about once every three months. But I come home laden down with goodies and weeping tears of gratitude to be living even sort of close to it.

  50. 50.

    AAA Bonds

    Notables gather in N.H. for Republican debate, wife-beating competition

    Todd Palin to “cower meekly”

  55. 55.

    Litlebritdifrnt

    @cleek:

    It also stocks a lot of imported hard to find foods that I can only get online normally. Heinz baked beans, heinz soups, PG Tips tea. I love their cheese department too. I have one in Wilmington about 45 minutes away but I would dearly love it if they built one here.

  56. 56.

    Stefan

    Actually, a Christopher Guest style mockumentary about a doomed political campaign seems like a natural…

  58. 58.

    burnspbesq

    Krugman reminds us that among the beneficiaries of the stock market recovery are … public employee pension funds.

    http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/06/10/pensionscare/

    And can I just vent for a second about the deeply dishonest way Republicans talk about the unfunded liabilities of public employee pension funds? When you hear a number in the billions, remember that that’s the present value of a stream of obligations that mature over a very, very long period.

  60. 60.

    Amir_Khalid

    @Violet:
    Palin doesn’t even have a serious campaign organization, unlike Bachmann, and as far as anyone can tell she has no idea how to put one together. Palin might just be running her usual con; or she may be gearing up for her very own special kind of Presidential run. Until she puts a campaign org together, and she’s running out of time to do that, I don’t know if she deserves to be seriously considered a candidate.

    But like you, I do hope to see Palin run. It would be sweet to see her wind up in a spectacular and hilarious pratfall.

  61. 61.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @Dennis SGMM:

    Despite the competitors you mentioned, the big chains are still making plenty of money, they just want to make more.

    It’s always about more money, and any way that’s possible to do so.

    If these guys thought they could get away with selling uncut heroin at a profit in the candy aisle, they’d do in a heartbeat.

  62. 62.

    Chris

    @Amir_Khalid:

    Palin doesn’t even have a serious campaign organization, unlike Bachmann, and as far as anyone can tell she has no idea how to put one together. Palin might just be running her usual con; or she may be gearing up for her very own special kind of Presidential run. Until she puts a campaign org together, and she’s running out of time to do that, I don’t know if she deserves to be seriously considered a candidate.

    That, and she’s worn out her welcome for a while. Bachmann’s been well known for some time as well, but not nearly as prominent or nationally covered as Palin, so she hasn’t had as much opportunity to stick her foot in her mouth (at least, not as many people have heard of it) or make pathetic choices like resigning from the governorship.

    It’s dumb vs. dumber for sure, but Bachmann’s got the edge, IMO. Whatever that means these days.

  63. 63.

    AAA Bonds

    Palin makes surprise appearance in Wawa restroom, calls Paul Revere “a real blow job”

  64. 64.

    shortstop

    @jeffreyw: I was going to say: also, too, food pron, but you’re always thinking of the Juicer community needs, and we are grateful.

    @Mike in NC: That made me laugh. Possibly she also met an unbathed, stubble-cheeked, chain-smoking Athens cab driver and thought again that she could do better than Newt.

  72. 72.

    AAA Bonds

    President mistakes assassination order for whistleblower-harassment order; “too much s*** on my desk”

  74. 74.

    WaterGirl

    @jeffreyw: Good thing that pup isn’t at our pound, because Cass would have been coming home with me, and I’m not sure a terrier is the right fit. So cute.

  77. 77.

    Beeb

    @Suffern ACE: Fresh Market also has a wonderful deli and a pretty darn good bakery. Check out their refrigerated soups. I particularly like the chicken and corn chowder, but they are all excellent. So yes, you should be excited. It won’t replace the supermarket for staples, but I think you will like it a lot.

  80. 80.

    Amanda in the South Bay

    @burnspbesq:
    TBH I’ve never been really big into the whole anti-circumcision thing. It just seems like a way for progressive, sex positive men to claim yet another sense of victimhood. Or, for people to lament how uncivilised Anglo-Americans are in the face of continental European enlightenment.

    And yeah, serious constitutional problems with religious freedom.

  81. 81.

    gocart mozart

    @john walters:
    Trump and Gingrich were two of the drummers; Bachmann goes to 11; the rest will end up opening for a puppet show. Good observation sir.

  83. 83.

    jeffreyw

    @WaterGirl: Mrs J sez he has those pleading eyes, eyes that say I’m a poor poor doggie won’t you take me home? Terrier x basset would be an interesting combination. Bassets are kinda laid back.

  85. 85.

    lacp

    My TX relatives just e-mailed me to advise that Gov. Goodhair is getting ready to jump into the clown car.

  86. 86.

    Mike G

    Given the Gingrinch’s dirty personal history, it was only fitting that when Newt’s campaign was on life support his staff presented him with divorce papers.

  87. 87.

    gocart mozart

    @Bruuuuce:
    Dumbasses passed a law that was already declared unconstitutional by the SCOTUS 13 F’N years ago 9 to ZERO! See ACLU v. Reno.

  91. 91.

    Violet

    @lacp:
    The GOP money people have to be desperate if they’ve gone to the trouble of convincing Perry to jump in. They must figure he’s their only hope. None of the other crazies must stand a chance, at least in the opinion of the powerbrokers in the GOP.

  92. 92.

    jwb

    @Violet: I suspect the Texas political money is also hoping this is a way of getting Perry out of Texas politics. I’m very much looking forward to hearing Perry defend his secession comments. Should be fun. Yeehaw!

  93. 93.

    Violet

    @jwb:
    I really don’t think the secession stuff will be a big deal. In the primaries it’ll probably get him good attention. All the teabagger types will understand the motivation (getting away from those evil libruls and soshulists and that Kenyan blackity black black president), and won’t care what it would really mean. By the time the general rolls around, it’ll be old news.

  94. 94.

    Comrade Colette Collaboratrice

    @burnspbesq: Yeah, it’s hilarious, particularly for us SF residents who have to use our tax dollars to pay for this election because local requirements for getting a proposition on the ballot are absurdly low. (I’m not even getting into what a bad idea legislation-by-proposition has turned out to be for California overall.)

    I’m especially enjoying both the blatantly anti-Semitic propaganda campaign and the questions from my coworkers, friends, and 8-year-old son.

  95. 95.

    jonas

    If a Perry campaign turns out to be a serious bid, then things could get interesting. On the other hand, does he really think the nation is ready for *another* Texas governor to come and royally screw things up? The last one, if we recall, didn’t exactly leave office on a high note. Not only that, as opposed to George W. “Compassionate Conservatism” Bush in 2000, his track record in Texas has been one of 100% red-meat, take-no-prisoners wingnuttery. And Texas is not far behind California in financial tailspin territory these days. He’s a slick campaigner, he’ll raise gobs of corporate dough, he has all the right positions for the GOP base, but I’m just not seeing what record he has to run on that can even remotely appeal to independents, or even not-batshit-insane conservatives. So in that way, he’s just another wacky GOP primary candidate. Excelsior!

  96. 96.

    MikeJ

    @jwb: 14th Amendment:

    No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may, by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability.

    I think that the day Goodhair announces a friendly dem should be magnanimous and introduce a bill in congress to allow the seditious Gov. to run. Of course it will need to be debated endlessly, and one person in the senate can put a secret hold on it to ensure it never passed.

    It would make lovely political theatre. Too bad there aren’t any dems with the stones for it.

  97. 97.

    ruemara

    Listening to Thom Hartmann and Bernie Sanders today. A caller complained the Democrats aren’t being visible enough standing up to Republicans and telling the American public that they’re trying to destroy the economy, plus since President Obama controls the media, why isn’t he out there doing a better job of messaging? Then Sanders agrees with him that the President is certainly not being strong enough on this and not saying things in no uncertain terms. There are times when I just want to slap them both for not living up to the smart label. Don’t know why I expect better of Sanders, I just know he is capable of explaining what is right and wrong about the man’s statement but, you know, sensible stuff doesn’t get you a whole hour of airtime.

  98. 98.

    gocart mozart

    At my law school, all students were required to write a 30+ page research paper on a particular issue. I did mine on the “Communications Decency Act” of ’96. I knew early on that the law was not even close to being constitutional: Pure politics. My main case law was the Carlin 7 dirty words case, FCC v Pacifica but also the “Deep Throat” case (not about Nixon) and the “Dial a Porn” case. I know this issue backwards and forwards. I guess you can say I am an expert on internet porn;)

  99. 99.

    TooManyJens

    So, did Obama actually say something about Elizabeth Warren, or are people freaking out over some gossip from an unnamed “source” again? Because all of a sudden there’s this little Twitter frenzy about him slapping her in the face with all the hands under the bus or whatever, but I can’t find where it started.

  101. 101.

    ruemara

    @TooManyJens:
    back away from the twitters. it’s like a hydra, too many heads to determine which one actually started the statement. I’m sure someone will be along to explain why Obama slapped EW with a bus. Just like yestreday when Hilary left the administration to rob banks.

  103. 103.

    gocart mozart

    @tulip:
    Two thoughts: We have gone insane as a country; and how much you wanna bet the child is black? I’ll give you 10 to 1 odds.

  105. 105.

    TooManyJens

    @Poopyman: Gossip, then. Thanks.

    But the Senate must confirm any nominee, and Republicans have vowed to block any pick unless the agency’s structure is changed. Nominating Date could test that resolve.His financial credentials could fend off questions of whether someone such as Warren who has never worked in the industry could fairly regulate it.

    Oh, WaPo writers, you are adorable. As if qualifications have anything to do with whether Republicans will block a nominee. ::pinches their widdle cheeks::

  106. 106.

    Amir_Khalid

    @tulip:
    I know this is a gruesome question, but is Missouri a capital-punishment state? Anyway, a five-year-old is surely well under the minimum age to be charged with a felony.

  107. 107.

    Poopyman

    Another happy thought: The Dow dropped under 12000 this morning, and now it’s bouncing along right around the magic mark.

  108. 108.

    Yutsano

    @Poopyman: Warren herself said that there were people quite capable of running the CFPB besides her. I wonder if that was a hint that she was grooming someone for the position while she managed other tasks.

  109. 109.

    thatguy

    Over at the Corner, they want anyone who criticizes the Snowgrifter’s emails to be willing to reveal all of their own emails. What a reasonable standard! I look forward to reading all their text messages when they talk about The Weiner.

  110. 110.

    burnspbesq

    @WereBear:

    Which brings up a great point; doesn’t Wall Street WANT all that lovely money?

    A dollar of management fee income is just as green as a dollar of any other kind of income, and has exactly the same purchasing power. So, yeah. And management fees are typically charged as a percentage of assets under management, so a rising stock market is good for both sides of this transaction.

  112. 112.

    Gozer

    @Amir_Khalid: Both Missouri and Kansas have the death penalty (though formally on the books, the last execution in Kansas took place in 1965), but it’s nearly impossible that a 5 yr old would be sentenced to death, even in a state as retrograde as Missouri.

  113. 113.

    Yutsano

    @burnspbesq: I dunno, maybe it’s facts like that that have me less worried about a debt ceiling raise than most. If the US economy goes to shit, there will be literally nowhere in the world safe from the effects of that. And then no second yacht for Buffy. So the money boys will be raising an unholy stink if it looks like it won’t happen.

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