Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

It’s easy to sit in safety and prescribe what other people should be doing.

Live so that if you miss a day of work people aren’t hoping you’re dead.

You don’t get rid of your umbrella while it’s still raining.

Too often we confuse noise with substance. too often we confuse setbacks with defeat.

One lie, alone, tears the fabric of reality.

In my day, never was longer.

Jesus, Mary, & Joseph how is that election even close?

Let there be snark.

You are so fucked. Still, I wish you the best of luck.

Do we throw up our hands or do we roll up our sleeves? (hint, door #2)

Disappointing to see gov. newsom with his finger to the wind.

The unpunished coup was a training exercise.

People are weird.

One of our two political parties is a cult whose leader admires Vladimir Putin.

When I was faster i was always behind.

Their shamelessness is their super power.

Oppose, oppose, oppose. do not congratulate. this is not business as usual.

“I was told there would be no fact checking.”

The only way through is to slog through the muck one step at at time.

I would try pessimism, but it probably wouldn’t work.

If senate republicans had any shame, they’d die of it.

Their boy Ron is an empty plastic cup that will never know pudding.

When you’re in more danger from the IDF than from Russian shelling, that’s really bad.

The party of Reagan has become the party of Putin.

You are here: Home / Politics / Politicans / David Brooks Giving A Seminar At The Aspen Institute / They are the eggmen, I am the walrus

They are the eggmen, I am the walrus

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I loves me some Sasha Issenberg anyway, but I find this shit fascinating and will probably pony up ninety-nine big ones to preorder it (via):

Despite his folksy personality and disdain for east coast “elitists,” Texas governor Rick Perry helped spark a revolution in campaign politics. For his 2006 re-election effort, his campaign manager convinced him to allow four social scientists from Yale to come in and gauge the effectiveness of various campaign tools–candidate appearances, yard signs, television ads, etc.–by running real-time experiments in the heat of a campaign. No candidate had done this before and no one has done it since.

Reader Interactions

117Comments

  1. 1.

    Marginalized for stating documented facts

    Reminiscent of the Drunk-Driving C Student’s innovation of getting PhD linguists to consult on better ways of talking about the Iraq quagmire circa 2006.

    At the end of the day, no matter what kind of gold paint you spray on a turd, it doesn’t turn into bullion. These kinds of hi-tech social science innovations only work in politics if you have a remotely sane set of policies to offer the electorate. Unless, of course, the economy has just collapsed completely and there was a fire in the Reichstag.

  2. 2.

    Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN)

    Woot! I just the got the confirmation on my successful registration of melancholydonkey.com. Now I just need to hear back from the MN Secretary of State on registering Melancholy Donkey Press as a business. I’m looking forward to actually publishing something.

    As soon as I become a small business owner, I’m ditching you clowns, getting a Rick Perry t-shirt, registering as a Republican and demanding my tax cuts. Otherwise, you fuckers will be taking all of the hundreds of thousands of dollars I’ll be making with your progressive tax rates and bullshit.

  3. 3.

    aisce

    i have never gotten the yard sign thing. is it just a show of enthusiasm and solidarity, or are they expected to somehow exert peer pressure on neighbors?

  13. 13.

    Ian

    @aisce:

    Thats because you actually follow politics. Imagine if you didn’t give a shit, but had a strong lemming problem.

  16. 16.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @Mark S.:

    I thought it was the Mersey Chuckleheads, or something like that. One of the prior incarnations of Spinal Tap?

  21. 21.

    Dee Loralei

    @Omnes Omnibus: oooohh, I’m drinking a Leinenkugel’s Summer Shandy in honor of you Wisconsinites! It’s pretty tasty and kinda sneaks up on ya….

    Dee+3&1/2

  22. 22.

    Martin

    Anyone cover this yet? h/t Gruber

    Instead of opposing redistribution because people expect to make it to the top of the economic ladder, the authors of the new paper argue that people don’t like to be at the bottom. One paradoxical consequence of this “last-place aversion” is that some poor people may be vociferously opposed to the kinds of policies that would actually raise their own income a bit but that might also push those who are poorer than them into comparable or higher positions.

  24. 24.

    Suffern ACE

    @Dee Loralei: If you really wanted to “go local”, you’d be drinking a Point. I believe the company offers something called “Nude Beach” as a summer beer. It does not appear to be the Point of my father or my own college years any longer, but it is the beer that made Stevens Point somewhat memorable if not a little hazy.

  25. 25.

    burnspbesq

    @Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN):

    When you need someone to protect you from de eebil Yutsano and his nefarious bag of tricks, including the double-uber-secret jeopardy assessment, you know who to call.

    Two of my current clients have told me they are going to continue to use me after I separate from BigLaw on Friday. I will actually bill time on Day One. Woo-hoo!

  27. 27.

    Jc

    Someone else here reads John Gruber?

    That’s cool. Guy has a lot of Google hate, but other than that, insightful.

    Interesting article though – people more afraid of those behind them than those ahead.

  28. 28.

    MikeJ

    @kansi: Perry is no more fearful than the rest of the GOP. From a policy standpoint, there would be no difference between a Perry admin, a Romney admin, and a Bachman admin. As far as politics goes, Politico, the Note, ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox, and CNN will go to a full court press to help and Republican.

    It doesn’t matter which clown gets to drive the car.

  29. 29.

    Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN)

    Everything made by Leinie’s except the Original Lager is Miller crap. Miller controls those recipes, the distribution and the marketing. When they bought Leinenkugel’s, though, they specifically left the old owners in possession of the actual Leinie’s beer. All they wanted was an imprint so they could sell beer with fruit in it for higher prices than anyone would pay if they just called it Fruit Lite.

    The original Point is good, too. I never understood why, of all the Wisconsin beers my freshman roommate could have insisted on drinking, he went with Green Death.

  33. 33.

    Steeplejack

    @burnspbesq:

    I knew you were thinking about a change, but I didn’t know it was go time already. Bon voyage as you set sail on the unknown seas of independent lawyerin’.

    Are you going to be working from home, or do you have a cool Perry Mason office set up with zebrawood paneling and Della Street warming up a task chair in the outer office?

  34. 34.

    Dee Loralei

    @Suffern ACE: I’m in Memphis, so Summer Shandy is the closest I get to local Wisconsin beer at my corner grocery store. Irony, I only paid the 6 pack price for a 12 pack, because some stock boy put the 12 pack under the cost sign for the 6 pack. It was worth the 6.50 or so I paid for it, LOL.

    Same store is also carrying Gennessee beer from upstate New York, DougJ has said it’s pretty lame, so I think I’ll hold off on buying it til it goes on sale.

    Best beer I’ve had recently was a Belgian Kasteel Rouge, had a cherry flavor, but not that sweet. But a 4 pack of that is 20$. And shoot, I can buy a mostly decent red wine for that.

  35. 35.

    eemom

    Congrats to JMN and burnsy both upon their entry into the Brotherhood of They Who Shall Not Be Taxed.

    If I weren’t a social outcast, I’d buy a round of drinks….. : (

  36. 36.

    Martin

    Guy has a lot of Google hate, but other than that, insightful.

    Google bought themselves a lot of goodwill up until the ad business started going. Since then they keep trying to present that same image but that isn’t the company they’re running any more. They deserve to be called out for that duplicity.

  37. 37.

    nellcote

    A question for the beer afficianados, do CA micro/craft brews make it into distribution east of the Rockies?

  39. 39.

    lol

    Yard signs are useful for rewarding volunteers. That’s pretty much it.

    As for testing political messaging, there’s a Dem-leaning institute devoted to doing just that.

    If someone claims “no one has ever done this” or “no one has done this since”, it’s probably bullshit.

  41. 41.

    lol

    @nellcote:

    In stores (with a good selection), yes.

    On tap, only at select bars that go out of their way to feature lots of different beers.

  42. 42.

    burnspbesq

    @Steeplejack:

    Are you going to be working from home, or do you have a cool Perry Mason office set up with zebrawood paneling and Della Street warming up a task chair in the outer office?

    Working from home is not for me. Gotta get up and get out every morning. For the first year, I’ll be in a Regus facility near South Coast Plaza. After that, we’ll see.

  43. 43.

    The Republic of Stupidity

    Let me take a guess here…

    One of suggestions made by these 4 experts probably involved scattering real horse shit all around the room Perry gives his speech in… to give the place a genuine, down home ambiance…

    It appears Rick took that suggestion seriously… and it’s working…

  44. 44.

    lllphd

    um, hate to shift from the beers and bars chat, but back to perry’s consulting the elitist yale guys….

    am i mistaken, or didn’t perry do not so very well in that race? i mean, he didn’t even get a plurality, fer chrissake.

    which makes you wonder just how effective all that fancy consultin’ actually was, now don’t it?

  46. 46.

    eric

    i know that Firedog is detested in these quarters but this story is dynamite:

    “Rick Perry, Porn Monger for President?”

    “Governor Rick Perry’s presidential campaign office did not respond to repeated requests regarding his ownership of stock in Movie Gallery, a video rental company that was boycotted by American Family Association for the pornographic and violent films it sold and rented. Some of the titles included Teens with Tits Vol. 1, Teen Power Vol. 4, Teens Never Say No, Big Tit Brotha Lovers 6, Bisexual Barebacking Vol. 1 which from its title and cover appears to advocate gay and straight naked fornication and sodomy. Big Tit Brotha Lovers 6 offers:”

    http://lafiga.firedoglake.com/2011/08/17/rick-perry-porn-monger-for-president/

  47. 47.

    Gordon, The Big Express Engine

    @nellcote: Depends where you are. Good grocery stores carry a lot of microbrew from the west. Bars that specialize in beer and know their stuff will get quality beer from the west. I just had some Deschutes on draft here in Houston. I got back from Portland a couple of weeks before and went to the brewpub there and was delighted I could get some here at home.

  48. 48.

    Steeplejack

    @burnspbesq:

    So what is going to be your focus? The same thing you were doing for Big Law (which was what, exactly?), but just on your own, or are you taking it in a different direction? And what prompted you to go out on your own (especially in this economy and with kids approaching college age)?

    Apologies if you already covered this. Inquiring minds want to know.

  49. 49.

    thebeez

    @MikeJ: That arguement has a point, but I still think that a Bachmann administration would be objectively worse than a Romney administration, and even somewhat worse than a Perry administration. For example, I think we at least have to consider the possibility that Bachmann could refuse to raise the debt ceiling under any circumstances. Could you see Romney, or even Perry, doing that?

  52. 52.

    burnspbesq

    @Steeplejack:

    Doing the same stuff: international tax planning, transfer pricing, and tax controversy services. An increasing number of small to mid-size companies are going global, and they either don’t have access to or aren’t willing to pay the exorbitant fees of the Big Four and the major law firms. Since I don’t have to contribute to the overhead of a billion-dollar enterprise, I can set my fees at a level that clients like that can deal with. I’ve gotten three such referrals in the last 60 days, and I know there are more of them out there.

    I just got tired of wholesaling my time. I want to try retailing it. Break-even vs. my BigLaw salary is around 800 billable hours a year, which will feel like being semi-retired.

    College is covered. We’ve been putting away a grand a month since the kid was five. I’ve got enough savings to carry us for at least a year while I get the practice ramped up.

    Now or never.

  54. 54.

    some guy

    Since I don’t have to contribute to the overhead of a billion-dollar enterprise, I can set my fees at a level that clients like that can deal with. I’ve gotten three such referrals in the last 60 days, and I know there are more of them out there.

    Golf Clap for the Geithner Fan

  55. 55.

    Steeplejack

    @burnspbesq:

    Sounds good. Best wishes in this new enterprise. When I hit the lottery I’ll be wanting your help to get me that double-secret Swiss bank account. (Ssh, don’t tell Yutsano.)

  59. 59.

    Thoughtcrime

    @Steeplejack:

    I got to see Ron Nasty and Stig O’Hara perform a few Rutles songs about 5 years ago in San Francisco.

    Neil Innes was performing his solo comedy/music show and Rikki Fataar joined him onstage from the audience to do an impromptu performance. Great end to a fun night.

  60. 60.

    Steeplejack

    @asiangrrlMN:

    Hey, girl.

    Are you deliberately trying to flame the fire between Yutsy and burnsy?

    Hell, no. All those tax weasels look alike to me.

    I’m trying to wind down from work gracefully and get to bed relatively soon, because I’ve got a long day tomorrow. Appointment in the morning to get a permanent crown on a back molar and get some reconstructive work done on my bite (which has been off since my jaw was broken four years ago). Tedious and time-consuming, but not too painful (I hope). Then supposed to go to work in the afternoon, but I may call to get the time pushed back to give me a little downtime after the dentist. And I need to call the dermatologist’s office to schedule the Mohs surgery for my two main skin cancer spots (benign! yay!).

    I feel like I’m renovating a fixer-upper house.

  61. 61.

    some guy

    Part of the problem has been that Evergreen’s advantage in polysilicon technology has diminished as the cost of this material has recently plummeted. But Evergreen and other U.S.-based manufacturers like Solyndra (that received a Federal government loan guarantee of $535 million in 2009), First Solar, and SunPower have also found it increasingly difficult to compete in the face of the large subsidies the Chinese government is providing both directly and indirectly to its manufacturers.

    On the one hand, China is strongly encouraging solar power use by aggressive policies to have the electric companies buy solar power into their grid systems. On the other hand, as Jeffrey Pichel of Jeffries and Company told the Journal, the Chinese government is also providing low cost utilities, free land, and subsidized capital to its manufacturers. In addition, of course, it is also intervening daily in global currency markets to buy dollars and to thereby keep its yuan undervalued by 20-30 percent versus the U.S. dollar. All of this has led to cutbacks in U.S. based production and to its transfer to off-shore locations in China, Malaysia, the Philippines, and other locations where these subsidies are matched in one way or another.

  62. 62.

    Steeplejack

    @Thoughtcrime:

    That’s cool. I thought my post was going to sink like a stone.

    ETA: I love the name Stig O’Hara. Might need to keep it in mind for a screen name someday.

  63. 63.

    Brother Shotgun of Sweet Reason

    @Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN):

    Otherwise, you fuckers will be taking all of the hundreds of thousands of dollars I’ll be making with your progressive tax rates and bullshit.

    Well hell yes! I plan to redistribute YOUR wealth to MEEEEE!

  66. 66.

    Steeplejack

    @burnspbesq:

    Also wanted to thank you for replying and being so open about your plans. There is a difference between just dicking around on a blog and “keeping it real.” Kudos.

  67. 67.

    Yutsano

    @Steeplejack: The Swiss aren’t as much protection as they used to be. So don’t get yer hopes up there meester.

    @burnspbesq: I think you’ll do fine. Between the IRS and the Franchise Tax Board you should get more than enough clients to keep you fed and happy until you’re ready to throw in the towel. Plus I wonder if you’re in a good location to take advantage of American-Mexican taxation issues. Though the rumor is Mexican taxes are a nightmare.

  68. 68.

    Anne Laurie

    @Steeplejack:

    I feel like I’m renovating a fixer-upper house.

    Somewhere around here, I have a cross-stitch pattern:

    After 40, it’s PATCH, PATCH, PATCH

    Truer words…

  69. 69.

    Citizen_X

    @burnspbesq:

    tax controversy services

    Teach, er, tax the controversy!

    …I got nothin’.

    Good luck in your endeavors. Been thinking about the independent route myself.

  71. 71.

    Steeplejack

    @shortstop:

    No, I ran into a roving band of yoots on the way home from work one night. Jaw broken in two places, five days in the hospital, lingering pains and problems to this day, all for about $30 in cash and $100 in bogus debit-card charges. Good times.

    I have nothing against the tax weasels. Let them set one upon the other, as I believe the Bible says (or maybe it’s GAAP).

  72. 72.

    Yutsano

    @asiangrrlMN: What? I saw you. You were social butterflying on me. I’m working on a BHF project now (translation: I’m eating) so I was content to let you trollop.

    @Steeplejack:

    Let them set one upon the other, as I believe the Bible says

    It’s in the Qu’ran.

  76. 76.

    shortstop

    @Steeplejack: That’s a very, very bad story. Really sorry this happened and I didn’t mean to make light of it!

    Good luck with the Mohs. Have had it myself more than once.

  77. 77.

    shortstop

    @Yutsano: The Qu’ran specifically forbids tax lawyers proselytizing new clients. You just don’t understand the difference between Left Coast tax law culture and Right Coast tax law culture.

  78. 78.

    Yutsano

    @Steeplejack: At least you saw what I did. Her attention is diverted elsewhere fortunately.

    Also: did the dermatologist refer you to an oncologist? There are other things that should be tested even if your tumors are “benign”.

  80. 80.

    Steeplejack

    @shortstop:

    Really sorry this happened and I didn’t mean to make light of it!

    Heavens, no offense taken. It’s just part of the rich tapestry of life at this point. You deal with what is.

    I have had the Mohs surgery before, on my forehead, cheek and shoulder. This time it will be on my forearm, on a spot where a previous dermatologist apparently didn’t get “clean edges,” as they say in the trade.

  81. 81.

    Comrade Kevin

    For those of you who enjoyed my mission photos last night, I will have some more tomorrow night, this time of the one I’m most familiar with (Santa Clara), and another local one, San Jose (really in Fremont).

  82. 82.

    Steeplejack

    @shortstop:

    The Qu’ran specifically forbids tax lawyers proselytizing new clients.

    Are you sure about that? I think we need to get Amir Khalid, C.P.A., to weigh in on this. And perhaps you could link me to his reply, in case I happen to miss it. Kthnxbai.

  83. 83.

    Steeplejack

    @Yutsano:

    No referral to an oncologist. Skin cancer is pretty cut and dried (haw! joke) as long as the m-word (melanoma) doesn’t come up. So far I have been safely in the boring “basal cell carcinoma” zone, Ceiling Cat be praised.

  85. 85.

    Yutsano

    @Steeplejack: I had a Canadian friend with the same diagnosis and they still did a colon polyp test on him. Maybe his doctor was just being super cautious or something. Or it could have been an age factor too (he was 24 when diagnosed).

  87. 87.

    Steeplejack

    @Yutsano:

    Or it could have been an age factor too . . .

    Well, I’m old and lily white (blue-eyed and blond–well, formerly blond, now a dashing silver fox), and the skin cancer advice always seems to come down to, “Jeez, you should have stayed out of the sun 30 years ago.” Thanks, really, point taken. Am I getting charged for this?

  88. 88.

    Steeplejack

    @asiangrrlMN:

    You know, I think that girl on the right–not my brunette–needs to get checked. I think I saw a suspicious mole in that one shot in the middle. Just sayin’.

  90. 90.

    Yutsano

    @asiangrrlMN: Well he’s a Mountie if you’re curious. I guess that could be the Canuckistani version. Of a sort. They do have the sexy uniform thing for sure.

    @Steeplejack: He’s darkish Welsh, but pure Welsh, so definitely of the fairer skin as yourself. And as much a sun worshipper as you. Holidays in Cuba tend to inspire that. And yeah he got the too much sun lecture too.

  91. 91.

    Steeplejack

    Well, I’m out, people. Getting to bed later than I wanted to but earlier than I thought I would. See you on the flip.

  92. 92.

    Brother Shotgun of Sweet Reason

    @Steeplejack: Yeah, my father-in-law got the same advice. But having been in the Navy in the Pacific, it wasn’t like he had the opportunity to stay out of the sun.

    OTOH, at least he wasn’t home before they started testing at Bikini Atoll.

  93. 93.

    Old Dan and Little Ann

    I only post here occasionally but I lurk all the time. My wife and and I had to put down our 10 year old yellow lab earlier today at the vet. It was the hardest thing I ever had to do. I looked into his eyes and held his chin in my hand as the needle went into his vein. He closed his eyes and dropped his head almost instantly. We are both crushed. : ( Also, too, Rick Perry can fuck himself.

  95. 95.

    some guy

    1.
    ( initial capital letter ) an unofficial title of respect, having no precise significance, sometimes placed, especially in its abbreviated form, after a man’s surname in formal written address: in the U.S., usually applied to lawyers, women as well as men; in Britain, applied to a commoner considered to have gained the social position of a gentleman. Abbreviation: Esq.

  100. 100.

    eemom

    @Old Dan and Little Ann:

    oh God. I am so sorry.

    I — and my family, excepting for the husband who grew up with doggies so has been through it before –are on our second generation of 2 doggies. Our beloved first two passed in 2002 and 2005, respectively, and to this day I can’t recall those events without terrible grief.

    Animals are no different from people — you love the ones who come after but they can’t take the place of the ones you have lost.

    Let me not get started on Rainbow Bridge at this hour of the night…..

  102. 102.

    Old Dan and Little Ann

    Thanks to all. My wife’s facebook aunt mentioned something about the Rainbow Bridge. I had never heard about it until then so i went and read the poem.

  103. 103.

    eemom

    I have read Rainbow Bridge a million times and never once without liquifying.

    Shit, I can’t even mention it in a blog comment without……

    Almost more than any other, a reason to wish there is an afterlife.

  104. 104.

    Yutsano

    @eemom: I think dogs get an afterlife. We keep ruining our chances at one because we can’t even manage to get this existence right. Which is why we get the wonderful pleasure of reincarnation.

  105. 105.

    MattR

    I am so screwed. Napping from 7 pm to midnight will do that to you.

    @Old Dan and Little Ann: I am so sorry. I hope that I have the courage to let Ellie go when the time comes instead of keeping her around and in pain for my own selfish needs.

  108. 108.

    John Puma

    Well, IF there is any value to the study, it is nice that the shrewd Mr Perry has deigned to make it public … thereby immediately erasing any advantage said knowledge may have otherwise given him.

    Another classic example of “reach for the profit, miss the prize.”

  117. 117.

    thebeez

    @asiangrrlMN: I’ll admit Perry could go either way, but Romney is way too much of the Wall Street wing of the party to consider default. Hell, I think its possible he might try to get a clean debt ceiling bill, although he would probably end up forced to accept cuts by the teabaggers.

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