Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

We’ll be taking my thoughts and prayers to the ballot box.

White supremacy is terrorism.

Technically true, but collectively nonsense

I did not have this on my fuck 2022 bingo card.

Happy indictment week to all who celebrate!

American History and Black History Cannot Be Separated

Meanwhile over at truth Social, the former president is busy confessing to crimes.

Putting aside our relentless self-interest because the moral imperative is crystal clear.

Don’t expect peaches from an apple tree.

Wow, I can’t imagine what it was like to comment in morse code.

Not all heroes wear capes.

Tick tock motherfuckers!

Fuck these fucking interesting times.

A snarling mass of vitriolic jackals

Schmidt just says fuck it, opens a tea shop.

Their freedom requires your slavery.

Something needs to be done about our bogus SCOTUS.

And we’re all out of bubblegum.

Wow, you are pre-disappointed. How surprising.

Only Democrats have agency, apparently.

Let’s finish the job.

No offense, but this thread hasn’t been about you for quite a while.

Roe isn’t about choice, it’s about freedom.

Republicans seem to think life begins at the candlelight dinner the night before.

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Reader Interactions

118Comments

  3. 3.

    beltane

    @Southern Beale: What would it take for these wingnuts to be forcibly weaned from the media teat? It seems like any right-wing hack who has mastered potty training is eligible for a meal-ticket for life.

  8. 8.

    BGinCHI

    Class warfare.

    Anyone got any advice for how I could Robin Hood a rich motherfucker?

    I have a car and a cloak for to go invisible. But I need to be home before 9.

  9. 9.

    beltane

    As to Mark Penn, let us not forget that his idiocy is of such a level that he did not know how the Democratic party nomination process worked. They say cream rises to the top, but a more apt analogy in our time would be to say that floating turds never swirl down the bowl as they are supposed to. Both Penn and Fleischer fall into this category.

  10. 10.

    Spaghetti Lee

    @Southern Beale:

    “…Even the liberal Ari Fleischer thinks that Obama is too much of a soshulist.”

    He worked for the Bushies, y’see. And they’re liberal now. Teh Tea Party told me so.

  11. 11.

    BGinCHI

    @Monala: Let me be the first, but not the last, to say “Fuck Mark Penn.”

    Shorter Penn: don’t take my money, I need it to attack all the causes you believe in while pretending to be a Democrat.

    Fucking dick.

  12. 12.

    harlana

    @Southern Beale: Former press secretary for the now immensely popular Bush administration! Do they think this will get them numbers b/c the even the nutters (or rather, especially the nutters) don’t want to revisit that. It’s pretty darned funny, when you think about it. More and more starting to feel that CNN exists solely for the purpose of insulting the intelligence of any and all marginally intelligent human beings.

  13. 13.

    Violet

    People like Mark Penn are the pointy-haired bosses of the political world. Incompetent idiots who somehow have jobs and don’t understand the first thing about what it is they’re supposed to do.

  14. 14.

    Sly

    @Ash Can:

    Has Mark Penn ever said anything worth listening to?

    Let’s see. One of Penn’s examples about how discussing income inequality doesn’t work begins with this clause:

    But when Bill Clinton was facing the fight of his political life in his 1996 re-election…

    Signs point to “no.”

  17. 17.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    CNN is a clown car. i think it was after Obama’s debt-ceiling speech, the one that prompted Mark Halperin to call Obama a “dick”, I was clicking through the channels and CNN had Erik Erickson ‘balanced’ by David Gergen.

  21. 21.

    beltane

    a cornucopia of idiots

    That has a nice ring to it. Kind of like a gaggle of geese, a pack of dogs or a flock of sheep.

  24. 24.

    Jenny

    Lemme get this straight, the “liberal” Huffington Post that always whines that Obama isn’t “liberal enough” publishes Mark Penn’s plutocratic defense of greed.

    Way to keep it real, Huff Po!

  25. 25.

    The Snarxist Formerly Known As Kryptik

    Not sure how many care, but I know that John is probably one of them for much the same reason as me: Conference Realignment in college sports gone berserk.

    Rumors going around, but it seems like all of them involve leaving WVU out in the cold.

  30. 30.

    HyperIon

    I saw Andrew Card on C-SPAN last night. He now has a gig at the Council on Foreign Relations as some economics muckety muck. Jesus. How much must one fail before one actually is failed?

  32. 32.

    Spaghetti Lee

    @The Snarxist Formerly Known As Kryptik:

    The whole conference realignment thing pisses me off. There was NOTHING WRONG with the old system. It made geographical sense, schools got to play all their rivals, and it made billions and billions of dollars. But that’s apparently not enough for some for some greedy bastards, so we’re getting these slapdash Frankenstein conferences that make no sense, on any level, based on short-term TV deals. What do the student athletes think? The fans? The coaches? Far as I can tell, no one gives a damn.

  33. 33.

    The Dangerman

    @The Snarxist Formerly Known As Kryptik:

    Conference Realignment in college sports gone berserk

    To me, it feels like they are killing the Golden Goose for Thanksgiving; college sports is all about tradition…

    …and nothing says tradition like Texas Tech (or is it TCU?) in the Big East and Texas in the Pac 10 12 16

  34. 34.

    Halteclere

    I’m sitting in my hotel room, and just saw Megamind for the 3rd or so time, which I enjoyed. But it reminds me of all those Randians who were loudly proclaiming that The Incredibles was some overarching commentary on our society where the greatest were being forced to submit to the their lessers, and the world is only a safe place when the greatest are allowed to be unfetterdly great.

    How come these same people aren’t talking about a Megamind overarching commentary on our society that, if you take away the greatest, someone else will take their place? Pretty much I see Megamind as refudiating the “Randian” dream in The Incredibles. Where are those people now who like to use movies and cartoons to validate their world view?

  35. 35.

    Southern Beale

    @Halteclere:

    How come these same people aren’t talking about a Megamind overarching commentary on our society that, if you take away the greatest, someone else will take their place?

    Because it doesn’t fit into their worldview, that’s why.

    Also, too.

  37. 37.

    The Snarxist Formerly Known As Kryptik

    @The Dangerman:

    I never thought I could hate Pitt more than I did back in Dec. ’07, but I’ve managed. And yet, what pisses me off most is the possible death of the Backyard Brawl. Now THAT’S tradition.

  38. 38.

    TenguPhule

    Ari Fleischer joining CNN as a political contributor. Because they don’t have enough wingnuts over there.

    Well if we follow the Rumsfield flypaper theory, eventually they’ll all be gathered in one neat designated target zone for the completely non-human controlled drones to sterilize from the air.

  41. 41.

    Jenny

    Where are all the dead-end PUMAs to tell us how much better it would be with Mark Penn and Hillary in the oval office?

  42. 42.

    khead

    What’s on the derailing platform for this evening?

    Old folks hoops league. Game is at 10 PM.

    You’d think the league would have more sense than to schedule the games in a slot past our bedtime.

  45. 45.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    The zombie of Mark Penn back from his well deserved grave? Amazing how with the wave the of network wand he goes from the village idiot of the left to wise elder statesman.

  47. 47.

    Jenny

    @Enhanced Voting Techniques:

    Amazing how with the wave the of network wand

    In this case, it was the wave of the “liberal” Huffington Post’s wand.

    Ya know, if David Axlerod or Robert Gibbs had said what Penn had said, Huffington Post would be screaming about it. But because it was a PUMA who said, Huff Po not only embraced it, they published it.

    Funny that.

  49. 49.

    PeakVT

    @Halteclere: and the world is only a safe place when the greatest are allowed to be unfetterdly great.

    There was a Randian in the movie, and his name was Gilbert Huph. How could anyone miss that? Oh, wait, we’re talking about libertarians having a clue.

  53. 53.

    JoyousMN

    @soonergrunt:

    Speaking of tbogg, anyone else checking out the fetid pool of commenters who have taken over his Nader past? Jesus, I’d heard FDL was bad, but I’d never seen the full-on crazy till tonight. bit.ly/qvdarj

  59. 59.

    JoyousMN

    @soonergrunt:

    I must have led a sheltered life because I didn’t even know those folks were still around. And still fucking self-righteous idiots.

    It’s like a gang of Paulites, but at least he’s still relevant. Well, semi-relevant.

  60. 60.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Southern Beale:

    Hey, Southern Beale: question for you because you’re so knowledgeable about Tennessee politics. What if anything do you make of Lamar! Alexander’s announcement today that he’s going to give up his leadership position at the end of the year, but still plans to run for re-election? Is it just that straightforward, or is there more to the story?

    And yes, I know Lamar! is a mostly conservative Southern Republican (who happens to be not totally batshit crazy on the environment) but he’s always struck me as a decent and reasonable person. For a Southern Republican, that is. YMMV.

  61. 61.

    JoyousMN

    @cathyx:

    Sorry. The crazed Naderites/Obama bangers. I’ve stayed out of most of the FDL discussions because I only go over there to read tbogg.

  67. 67.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @jeffreyw:

    Happy for Peanut and his new forever people, but I’m sorry that little darling wasn’t adopted out to me. I’m not even a dog person but I fell hard for Peanut.

  70. 70.

    geg6

    Can we call this an x-rated thread? I only say this because I’d like to keep it clear of the juveniles polluting ABL’s thread. Naive AND stupid is just too much for me tonight.

    And with that, I’m gonna do what any person too old to listen to calls for a GRAND AGRARIAN REVOLUTION! and THIRD PARTY! and MOVE THE OVERTON WINDOW! would do and relax while watching the season premier of NCIS.

    Jeebus, but those nitwits make my freshmen on campus look and sound like mature and wise beyond their years.

  73. 73.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Jenny:

    Absobloominglutely. I admire Mrs. Clinton a lot, think she’s doing a good job as SoS, thought she was a good senator (to the extent I followed her, which admittedly wasn’t very much), mostly thought she was an asset to Bill and a dignified FLOTUS under trying circumstances — but wow, it’s hard to get past that awful campaign she ran, or the possibility that the odious Mark Penn might have had an influential post in a HRC administration.

  76. 76.

    harlana

    @jeffreyw: that is the most adorable thing i have ever seen in my life (and i’ve seen a lot of adorable in my years)! it can’t be real!

    lol i just saw gogol’s wife agrees with me

    must . . . have . . . puppeh . . . NAO

  78. 78.

    Raven (formerly stuckinred)

    @SiubhanDuinne: 3-0 top of 3. Chipper has fanned twice but the others are picking him up. I worked at 10th and Hemphill before they built that gigantic building on 10th and Peachtree.

  79. 79.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @lamh34:

    Awesome. I’m straight (I’m pretty sure) but I get happies every time there’s an LGBT win. And I love what FLOTUS and SLOTUS are doing for military families anyway, so it’s all good. Thanks for the link.

  81. 81.

    MikeJ

    Jesus the Sox are now losing to the Orioles. How does anyone lose to the Orioles? Seven more games, three against the FY, and only two games ahead of TB for the wild card.

    Argh.

  85. 85.

    MikeJ

    @SiubhanDuinne: If you’re a FLOTUS fan, I’d guess she’ll be on Nickelodeon this weekend. They’re having a big “get your ass out of my house and go make your noise somewhere else” day. That’s what my parents called it any way. I think Nick has decided on a different angle though. But all their teen stars are going to be in DC, so I expect to see reports of Mrs. O out there.

  87. 87.

    Raven (formerly stuckinred)

    @SiubhanDuinne: I was in that old church across from the Institute of Paper.

    Colony Square, just getting out of that damn parking lot is a nightmare on a good day. Do you go to Pasta Puchinella!

  88. 88.

    Yutsano

    I’m actually planning on pizza for dinner tonight jeffreyw. Of course it will not be your homemade lusciousness, but it’s still pretty decent. Seattle don’t have half-bad pies.

    On hold with a burnsy-type person. Should be fun, especially when I tell her the case will be on hold.

  91. 91.

    Uncle Clarence Thomas

    .
    .
    What’s all this I hear about “Cher sacrifice”? Hasn’t that poor woman suffered enough?
    .
    .

  92. 92.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @MikeJ: Thanks, MikeJ, I will try to catch don’t normally watch Nick any more, but for Michelle I am glad to make an exception

  95. 95.

    Kristine

    Apologies if it’s out there and I missed it, but will BJ be hosting an Elizabeth Warren fundraiser thingiedinger? I would rather give this place the notch than GOS.

  96. 96.

    Southern Beale

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    What if anything do you make of Lamar! Alexander’s announcement today that he’s going to give up his leadership position at the end of the year, but still plans to run for re-election? Is it just that straightforward, or is there more to the story?

    Sorry, we went out to dinner. If you’re still around, here are my thoughts.

    It’s a safe Republican seat given the state of the Tennessee Democratic Party. The question is if a Teanut like Marsha Blackburn would primary him.

  98. 98.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Southern Beale:

    I would a thousand times rather see Lamar! returned than a nut like Blackburn getting close to his seat. And honestly, sorry, but right now I can’t think of a TN Dem who could be competitive.

  99. 99.

    Yutsano

    I wish MikeJ, but Serious Pie don’t deliver. At least as far as I know. And even then I’m way up north.

  100. 100.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @daveNYC:

    I have HoC on DVD, watch it at least once a year except when I’ve loaned it out to friends. I have one colleague who built a year’s worth of video club discussions around Farquhar.

    / You may very well think that. I couldn’t possibly comment.

  102. 102.

    MikeJ

    @Yutsano: Last time I went was when it was 80° and the place was packed and they had a fucking pizza oven blasting away at 800°.

    Still awesome pizza but I’ll never get used to commercial establishments not having AC.

  103. 103.

    burnspbesq

    @Yutsano: you can go home as soon as you meet your quota of small businesses stripped of their ability to create jobs.

  104. 104.

    Southern Beale

    I have no words. I can’t even wrap my head around this:

    Massachusetts has discovered a new place to try to hunt down its wanted criminals: the Rhode Island state legislature! It seems kind of obvious in retrospect, only because the Ocean State is kind of a sad, drug-addled dump from what we hear. Rep. Daniel Gordon Jr. was arrested in Rhode Island for failing to appear in Massachusetts court on charges of evading a police officer, although technically the fun part of this story is that the Rhode Island State Police also discovered in the process that the freshman Republican lawmaker has been in jail on and off in Massachusetts for the last two decades on a dizzying array of assault, attempted murder and drug charges. Normally this might not be a necessarily bad thing for a lawmaker, because being a violent asshole is a kind of fast-track qualification for political success. But instead, this is all super bad for Gordon, because he is coincidentally also the kind of asshole who is constantly harassing everyone on the Internet, which is unforgivable.

    I mean I know, another crazy Republican, just yawn already right? But this … seriously, how does someone get elected to the state legislature with this kind of history? Is there not a newspaper in Rhode Island where anyone is interested in who’s running for office?

  105. 105.

    JPL

    @efgoldman: It’s just the sox being the sox. It is September after all. This past decade tried to correct the wrongs of the decades before but …
    I’ll still take that Schilling and the series. That was awesome.

  106. 106.

    MikeJ

    @JPL:

    It’s just the sox being the sox.

    This is what I try to explain to people who think that the natural order of things is victory for the Sox.

    And “We won’t rest until order is restored”? Have they never heard the word hubris? The Sox of old would never make that mistake.

  109. 109.

    Amir Khalid

    @Southern Beale:
    What I’m wondering is, how come the Rhode Island Republican party didn’t know about this. Don’t political parties over there do any background vetting on their candidates?

  111. 111.

    Jebediah

    @Southern Beale:

    Is there not a newspaper in Rhode Island where anyone is interested in who’s running for office?

    Just remember that “Family Guy” is actually a documentary and you will understand Rhode Island. God damn place isn’t even a real island!

  113. 113.

    MikeJ

    @efgoldman: I lived there when it was, “pitch Roger and pray for rain.”

    My now local team is tied 4-4 with the Twins and 23.5 games out of the wild card card chase with 7 games left.

  116. 116.

    Amir Khalid

    @efgoldman:
    So if the next Daniel Gordon Jr, or Alvin Greene, shows up in Rhode Island and volunteers himself as a Republican candidate will still be welcomed by the party? That’s just amazing.

  117. 117.

    Jebediah

    @jeffreyw:
    I have now spent way too much time flipping through your photos. You’re pretty good with that camera! And so many cute puppehs and kittehs… Lovely pictures!

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