Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Is it negotiation when the other party actually wants to shoot the hostage?

American History and Black History Cannot Be Separated

Damn right I heard that as a threat.

Nothing worth doing is easy.

In my day, never was longer.

Come on, media. you have one job. start doing it.

… riddled with inexplicable and elementary errors of law and fact

You cannot shame the shameless.

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

They fucked up the fucking up of the fuckup!

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

He really is that stupid.

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

Spilling the end game before they can coat it in frankl luntz-approved dogwhistles.

Republicans do not pay their debts.

Their freedom requires your slavery.

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

The words do not have to be perfect.

I didn’t have alien invasion on my 2023 BINGO card.

Motto for the House: Flip 5 and lose none.

When someone says they “love freedom”, rest assured they don’t mean yours.

We are builders in a constant struggle with destroyers. let’s win this.

A democracy can’t function when people can’t distinguish facts from lies.

Republicans in disarray!

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Everything seems to be up in the air at this point

Reader Interactions

66Comments

  2. 2.

    dmsilev

    I confess to a certainty curiosity as to why Team MittBot solicited that particular endorsement. I mean, was chickens-for-checkups-lady unavailable or something?

  3. 3.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Tweety had a segment with Joan Walsh and Michael Steele. THey all are giving Mittster up for done, especially Steele. He referred to Gingrich as “zany”, which besides sounding as odd and mechanical as the word “hello” sounds in the oral communication transmission component of the MittBot 2011, he said “zany may work for talk radio…” I think that’s the line that’s gonna blow up in Mitt’s face like he’s Wyle E. Coyote holding a bomb intended for the Road Runner.

  4. 4.

    Ken

    @dmsilev: Are you sure it was solicited? For all we used to hear about the Republican messaging machine, it seems to have fallen apart. Now we’ve just got twenty newspaper columnists and Fox on-air people who regularly and suspiciously come up with the exact same phrases at the same time; and six hundred or so egos blurting out whatever comes to mind (for lack of a better word).

  6. 6.

    BGinCHI

    Jonathan Capehart said that Romney’s response to the O’Donnell endorsement read like the response to a kidnapper after you get a ransom note.

  7. 7.

    The Bearded Blogger

    That’s one of the things I like about my spouse—because he’s been faithful since he last came

  8. 8.

    Villago Delenda Est

    Please please please let me get what I want, a Gingrich victory in Iowa.

    I still don’t think FSM loves us that much.

  9. 9.

    dmsilev

    @Ken: Well, Team MittBot apparently spammed the inboxes of a bunch of reporters and so forth touting the endorsement, so at least at some level they approved of it.

  10. 10.

    pete

    Please let one of them win!

    They are all nuts in their own individual way but all this switching targets every other week is getting a bit dull. I think I’m rooting for Ron Paul just because so many heads would explode if he were to win in Iowa and stay reasonably close in New Hampshire. Besides, he’s actually got a position I agree with (on foreign wars), which I think is more than any of the others in the clown car.

  12. 12.

    lamh35

    I actually think that the Village is trying there damndest to get rid of Newt. I suspect they hate him as much as the Congresspeople who served under Newt does.

    Of all the not-Mitt candidates it’s seems to me that the village are really happy to put it to Newt, IMHO. Maybe it’s just a conspiracy theory, but I think they’s prefer a Romney Obama fight.

    It’s why even though Newt’s ahead, Romney will be the nominee, unless Ron Paul manages to upset, which would completely discombobulate the village.

  13. 13.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Ken: there was a piece at TPM, I think, a couple days ago about Ann Coulter supporting Romney. IIRC they didn’t say whether she’d been officially recruited by the campaign, but that was the impression I got

  16. 16.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @pete:

    The heads that would explode the most would be that of the MSM drones who have been studiously ignoring Paul all year long.

    Which would cause my schadenfreude meter to go absolutely berserk.

  17. 17.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @lamh35: They want a Romney presidency. People around Washington are saying that at night, in a small cemetery in Georgetown, you can hear David Broder clawing at the lid of his box, desperate to come back and fight the good fight for Mitt, the right sort of Republican.

  18. 18.

    lamh35

    So what do the Virginia peeps think of this new PPP poll?

    I know it’s way too early for polls such as this, but is there a chance that Obama can keep Virginia and lose another state and still win enough electoral votes?

    PPP: Obama Tops GOP In Virginia

  19. 19.

    BGinCHI

    @dmsilev:

    Terminator: Skynet MittBot has become self aware. In one hour it will initiate a massive nuclear attack on its enemy.
    Robert Brewster: What enemy?
    John Connor: Us! Humans People with brains but lower incomes than $1 million!

  20. 20.

    Hill Dweller

    @dmsilev: It was a panicked attempt to counter the video leaked yesterday showing Romney say he wasn’t a partisan Republican and his policies were progressive. They spent all day going through the Rolodex looking for a ‘conservative’ endorsement, but could only find O’Donnell. And they sent out the statement at 11:30pm.

    Romney has a glass jaw. Consequently, he will continue to shit the bed when under pressure.

  21. 21.

    lamh35

    Did anyone see POTUS’ speech at Fort Bragg? I missed it, but Halperin is actually commending it and actual calling out the “partisanship” of GOP on twitter who are tweeting negative comment about the speech.

    So I figured it musta been a good one since GOP just had to piss on it.

  22. 22.

    Anoniminous

    WaPo has a round-up of the current national polling and State of Play.

    Bottom Line: It’s almost certain, now, it’s either Romney or Gingrich; Gingrich hasn’t quite “sold the deal” with the voters; Romney is flailing.

    According to Politico (no link):

    The editors of the National Review are making an open plea for its readers not to consider Newt Gingrich as a presidential nominee, without actually picking a specific candidate they’d like to see be the GOP standard-bearer.

    The GOP and Conservative Insiders are going not so quietly hysterical as they contemplate Gingrich as their nominee.

    Fun times.

    ETA: link to Gallup Poll

  23. 23.

    Lolis

    A Gingrich victory in New Hampshire would be even sweeter. Mitt wouldn’t be able to hold back the tears.

  26. 26.

    James Gary

    Assuming the post title is a Camper Van Beethoven reference (and given the history of indie-rock song titles by DougJ in this capacity, I feel fairly certain that it is), I’m pretty sure the actual line is “…up in the air at this time.”

    Just pointing that out.

  28. 28.

    BGinCHI

    @pete: I hope Ron names Rand as his running mate. They’re from different states, so no problem with the pesky constitution.

    Paul/Paul 2012!

  30. 30.

    The Bearded Blogger

    @pete: Paulite true believer support only gets him so far. But if Paul were to win in Iowa (not that likely), he’d get a lot of wind behind his back as a surprise winner, which would help him attract non-paulites. He’d necessarily get airtime, allowing him to explain his views which are, superficially, very attractive, especially to the NH conservative mindset (small government but socially liberal)

  31. 31.

    Anoniminous

    @lamh35:

    November 2012 is too far away for polling to mean anything. Example, A recent poll had Obama winning South Carolina. Which is good for a laugh & not much else.

    If you want you can go here and make-up scenarios to your heart’s content.

    One thing I’ll say, if Obama wins Virginia it means there was a 2008 style voter turnout and the odds are he’s also taken Florida, North Carolina, and Ohio.

  33. 33.

    Violet

    Can Dems and Independents vote in the early primary states? Remember how Rush Limbaugh convinced Republicans to vote for Hillary in Texas in the 2008 Dem primary? He called it Operation Chaos Is there anything like that in the works now? We could call it Operation Countertopping or something.

  35. 35.

    Roger Moore

    @Anoniminous:

    One thing I’ll say, if Obama wins Virginia it means there was a 2008 style voter turnout and the odds are he’s also taken Florida, North Carolina, and Ohio.

    Or that his opponent imploded badly enough to be polling at 27% nationwide. With this Republican field, that possibility isn’t completely out there.

  37. 37.

    burnspbesq

    @James Gary:

    Assuming the post title is a Camper Van Beethoven reference

    Bad assumption. It’s a Talking Heads song. “Mind,” from Fear of Music.

  38. 38.

    Calouste

    @The Bearded Blogger:

    McCain went from around 20% to around 30% after he won New Hampshire in 2008, although he was the frontrunner in some polls leading up to the first primaries, and Paul of course isn’t. Interesting is also that Rudy 911 was polling at about 15% before he dropped out, and that 15% went pretty much all to McCain. I think Paul will pick up some of the non-Romney vote when people like Santorum and Bachmann drop out, but the majority of it will go to Gingrich. Paul isn’t as much an interchangeable non-Romney as the other non-Romneys.

  40. 40.

    JPL

    @Violet: We have open primaries. I’m not planning on voting in the repub primary because that’s the list used to identify so called supporters. The phone calls aren’t worth it. Newt should carry the state of GA easily though because a bunch of a.s.s.h.o.l.e.s….live here.

  43. 43.

    Raven

    If McCain had his way I’d still be in Dong Tam. Fucking scumbag.

    “Over 4,000 brave young Americans gave their lives in this conflict. I pray that their sacrifice is not in vain. I hope that their families will not mourn the day that their sons and daughters went out to fight for freedom for the Iraqi people. Unfortunately, it is clear that this decision of a complete pullout of United States troops from Iraq was dictated by politics, and not our national security interests. I believe that history will judge this President’s leadership with the scorn and disdain it deserves.”

    Read more: http://thepage.time.com/2011/12/14/remarks-by-senator-john-mccain-on-iraq/#ixzz1gYeCZaM5

  44. 44.

    Anoniminous

    @Roger Moore:

    39% is about the minimum a GOP nominee can get. That’s what Goldwater got in ’64. To get lower the candidate would have to kill baby kittens or rape a goat live on national TV.

  46. 46.

    Bill Arnold

    @Sasha:

    Or Ron Paul.

    Did anyone else hear the NPR segment yesterday about Ron Paul, with Max Boot and Nick Gillespie trading insults to each other, and with plenty of call-ins from Paulites? It was surreal.

  48. 48.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @Raven:

    John McCain: “I believe that history will judge this President’s leadership with the scorn and disdain it deserves.”

    If you applied this sentence to the deserting coward, you’d be on target.

    But McCain sold his fucking soul for a shot at the White House; he has no hope of redemption for that act.

    He is dogshit as a result, a disgrace to the uniform he once wore.

  51. 51.

    feebog

    I don’t think it is out of the realm of possibility that the Newt, Romneybot2011 and the old man yelling at clouds all finish with around 25%, give or take a point or two. Them remaining 25% going to Crazy Eyes, the Guvhunk and the frothy mixture that shall remain unamed.

    But I look for Romney to make a comeback of sorts in NH. I predict he gets at least 40% and beats the Newt by about 10 points. Then the long knives come out and there will be blood on the floor.

  52. 52.

    dmsilev

    @Raven: Is there a petition we could sign to have McCain’s photo be put in the dictionary under the entry for “Bitter Old Man”?

    He really does think that he deserved the Presidency, and that Obama somehow cheated him out of it. And it’s eating him up inside. Given that he inflicted Sarah Palin on the world, I say that’s proof of karma.

  53. 53.

    Ken

    @dmsilev, @Jim, Foolish Literalist: That’s what I meant by egos. There used to be fewer loose cannon, but candidates still had to respond somehow to (for example) a David Duke endorsement. Now the discipline seems to have broken down, it’s every loudmouth for him/herself, and heaven help the candidate who doesn’t say “thank you” to Duke and alienates that 3% of the 27%.

    I just thought of an even better illustration – the audiences at the first few debates. Someone in the crowd would shout some idiocy, the audience would applaud, and all the candidates would sit with glassy smiles for a second as they tried to work out whether they really had to say that people without insurance should die (why yes, yes you do).

    Has anyone heard anything about better crowd control at the debates? The number of those incidents seems to have dropped off.

  55. 55.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @lamh35:

    I haven’t seen the speech yet but I saw a couple of wonderful photos, our happy smiling POTUS and FLOTUS surrounded by ecstatic photo-snapping soldiers at Bragg.

  56. 56.

    SiubhanDuinne

    Just watching the last couple of minutes of Re-Tweety on MSNBC, which reminded me of something I’ve noticed the last few times I’ve heard him: he always pronounces Newt’s last name GIN rich (hard G; he doesn’t say JIN rich, he just drops the second G. Every time.)

  58. 58.

    Mike in NC

    @dmsilev:

    Is there a petition we could sign to have McCain’s photo be put in the dictionary under the entry for “Bitter Old Man”?

    Cross-referenced to “Sore Loser”.

  59. 59.

    SiubhanDuinne

    Nancy SMASH! is going to be special guest on The Ed Show tomorrow. Too bad I have to go to the office Christmas holiday party.

  60. 60.

    zzyzx

    Are you quoting Camper Van Beethoven in the title? If so, it’s “Everything seems to be up in the air at this time,” not at this point.

  61. 61.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Villago Delenda Est:

    Here is a small excerpt from McCain’s concession speech in 2008:

    These are difficult times for our country. And I pledge to him tonight to do all in my power to help him lead us through the many challenges we face.
    I urge all Americans who supported me to join me in not just congratulating him, but offering our next president our good will and earnest effort to find ways to come together to find the necessary compromises to bridge our differences and help restore our prosperity, defend our security in a dangerous world, and leave our children and grandchildren a stronger, better country than we inherited.
    Whatever our differences, we are fellow Americans. And please believe
    me when I say no association has ever meant more to me than that.

  65. 65.

    Anoniminous

    @Violet:

    Split the difference at 33% and I’ll throw in a $1,500 “…perfect hollandaise and flawless béchamel can be produced in minutes with virtually no effort,” Thermomix.

    :-)

  66. 66.

    MarkJ

    I thought Camper Van Beethoven at first, but in that case the quote would have been “Everything seems to be up in the air at this time. The closing line is an obvious reference to a Smiths song.

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