Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Whoever he was, that guy was nuts.

Peak wingnut was a lie.

Damn right I heard that as a threat.

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

Putin must be throwing ketchup at the walls.

JFC, are there no editors left at that goddamn rag?

It may be funny to you motherfucker, but it’s not funny to me.

The poor and middle-class pay taxes, the rich pay accountants, the wealthy pay politicians.

Do not shrug your shoulders and accept the normalization of untruths.

The next time the wall wtreet journal editorial board speaks the truth will be the first.

After roe, women are no longer free.

My years-long effort to drive family and friends away has really paid off this year.

Too often we hand the biggest microphones to the cynics and the critics who delight in declaring failure.

Is it irresponsible to speculate? It is irresponsible not to.

I did not have telepathic declassification on my 2022 bingo card.

Republican obstruction dressed up as bipartisanship. Again.

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

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

So it was an October Surprise A Day, like an Advent calendar but for crime.

Why is it so hard for them to condemn hate?

But frankly mr. cole, I’ll be happier when you get back to telling us to go fuck ourselves.

Schmidt just says fuck it, opens a tea shop.

Infrastructure week. at last.

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

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Late Night Open Thread

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No rambling tonight, I’m just too tired. I just had my own West Wing marathon, and I know I have mentioned it before, but it is just crazy how much watching the show has me fired up for this election. I’m still crushing on Donna, and it has nothing to do with her appearance, because I’m not a big fan of blondes. I just love the dialogue between Donna and Josh. Now Toby’s ex-wife, on the other hand- you want me to do anything, have a redhead with blue eyes ask me to do it. The other thing that amazes me about the show is how many great performances they got out of people- Ron Silver was particularly awesome.

On an unrelated note, I was never a big fan of Whitney Houston. Just not my kind of music. Having said that, this piece with just her vocal track is pretty amazing.

Night.

Reader Interactions

45Comments

  1. 1.

    arguingwithsignposts

    I had a west wing marathon a coupla months ago via amazon streaming. I think that show may have had more dialogue per minute than any in the history of television. Awesome show.

  4. 4.

    freelancer

    Ron Silver has one of the most quotable scenes of the entire series.

    “We all need some therapy because somebody came along and said liberal means soft on crime, soft on drugs, soft on Communism, soft on defense. And we’re going to tax you back to the stone age because people shouldn’t have to work if they don’t want to. And instead of saying ‘Well, excuse me, you right-wing reactionary, xenophobic, homophobic, anti-education, anti-choice, pro-gun Leave it to Beaver trip back to the ’50s’. We cowered in the corner and say, ‘Please don’t hurt me’

    Bring on the culture war you shriveling mass of morally emaciated Right Wing theocrats! You’ve already lost. At this point you’re the Japanese soldiers that anthropologists were fishing out of Pacific Islands deep into the 50’s, 60’s, and even the 70’s.

  6. 6.

    Hill Dweller

    Just watched Three Days of the Condor, which I’ve seen before. Solid movie. Dunaway was still beautiful, and Max von Sydow was great(as always).

  7. 7.

    Hill Dweller

    I happened to see the video of the speech FLOTUS gave for her Let’s Move campaign this morning in FL. She is an impressive lady.

  9. 9.

    ulee

    Just finished watching the first season of The Walking Dead on AMC. It was pretty entertaining, much better than the second season episodes I’ve seen. Too bad about Whitney Houston. We were just talking about her at work two days ago. I blamed Bobbie Brown then and I blame him now.

  10. 10.

    Froley

    I just finished reading “Unbroken” by Laura Hillenbrand. It put my puny daily complaints in perspective (to quote David St. Hubbins, “too much fucking perspective”).

  12. 12.

    JGabriel

    John Cole @ Top:

    I just had my own West Wing marathon …

    Well, Cole, I guess I’m a sucker for marketing, ’cause your constant “I’m watching The West Wing” refrain finally persuaded me to start watching it too. This isn’t a re-watch, I’d never seen it before.

    Anyway, I was a little underwhelmed at first, but it finally picked up around the ninth episode. Is it just me, or did something happen — a new director, consultant, producer — around then? It seems like there’s a marked improvement, like something changed and started “clicking”, in a way it didn’t for the first few episodes.

    .

  16. 16.

    arguingwithsignposts

    @Cliff in NH: Yeah, I should have mentioned that I paid for it, because it’s one of those shows I knew i’d watch several times (after I got several seasons from the library).

    I don’t know anywhere you can stream free (cough). but i’m sure you’re a resourceful gentleman of means who could solve that problem.

  18. 18.

    wobblybits

    sad, exhausted, can’t sleep, not able to write anything of worth. i’m hoping after a good night’s sleep (thank you meditation and allergy meds –they make me ever so drowsy), i will be a writing machine tomorrow. until the meds kick in, i’m going to watch something silly on netflix.

  19. 19.

    Samara Morgan

    In a CPAC keynote speech filled with applause lines and momentarily interrupted by hecklers, Sarah Palin refrained from endorsing any of the current GOP presidential candidates and instead repeated her calls for a long primary.
    __
    “We’ve all heard we have to wrap it up, but in America, we believe competition leads to victory,” she said.
    At the same time, she urged conservatives to stick together no matter what.
    __
    “We’re not red and blue Americans; we’re red, white and blue — and, President Obama, we are through with you,” she said.

    lulz, a wannabe poetess.

    sadly, im blocked from tweeting Sarah.
    but this is what i would have said.

    well, you got the white part right.

  20. 20.

    Samara Morgan

    @freelancer: they are not morally emaciated. i think…you wanted this…

    the Right is morally impoverished.

    btw, the Right is also intellectually impoverished.
    Since Culture 11 and TAS are now defunct, where will new conservative intellectuals come from?
    Redstate?

  23. 23.

    Johannes

    All good points, piratedan. Really, if you add in koalas (they’re cute and bear like! They’re drunk on eucalyptus!) forgiving Oz is almost an imperative.

  26. 26.

    Cliff in NH

    On the subject of trying to change stuff, has anyone tried juice fasts or juice supplements as a change in their diet?

    Any comments on results?
    Latest:
    2 cups Kale
    2 cups Spinach
    1/2 Cucumber
    4 stalks Celery
    2 Green Apples
    1” Ginger root

    Yummy, really!

  28. 28.

    Bruuuuce

    I just finished my first run through of The West Wing this week, and wow wow wow.

    Donna’s wonderful, and so are most of the women in the series, but for me, I crushed on C.J. Cregg from the first episode to the last. I think it was just that she almost always stood on the right side of issues, and that she stood up for them. But hey, most of the women in that series would have a place in my life (including the sadly underused Elsie Snuffin (Will’s stepsister, played by Danica McKellar) — women with a sense of humor are awesome).

    @freelancer: Yep. That quote is matched only for its awesomeness by the great quote about liberals from the debate:

    What did liberals do that was so offensive to the Republican party? I’ll tell you what they did. Liberals got women the right to vote. Liberals got African-Americans the right to vote. Liberals created Social Security and lifted millions of elderly people out of poverty. Liberals ended segregation. Liberals passed the Civil Rights Act, the Voting Rights Act, Liberals created Medicare. Liberals passed the Clean Air Act, and the Clean Water Act. What did Conservatives do? They opposed every one of those programs. Every one. So when you try to hurl the word ‘liberal’ at my feet, as if it were dirty, something to run away from, something that I should be ashamed of, it won’t work, Senator, because I will pick up that label and wear it as a badge of honor.

  29. 29.

    Betty Cracker

    I’ve been hearing how awesome West Wing is for years, and I finally broke down and started watching it too. It is pretty damn good. I’m more than half way through the first season, and I’m trying to pace myself so I don’t blow through the whole thing in a month. This is the way to watch TV series: no waiting around till they deign to produce new episodes.

  30. 30.

    geg6

    While I have no trouble understanding why Cole, former GOPer that he is, never saw West Wing until now, I am shocked by the number of liberal commenters here who have never seen it. While I agree that the women are attractive, I am not about to crush on them since I am avidly hetero. But they are terrific portraits of smart, strong women. The type I have always aspired to be. Aaron Sorkin is without peer in writing dialogue. And Josh, however ambitious and damaged he seems, is, to me, the heart and soul of the show and I find him wildly attractive.

  31. 31.

    Bruuuuce

    @geg6: I never saw it partly because I have worked nights for sixteen years, and partly because I watch little TV (I tend to get mine on DVD and/or via BitTorrent for shows I need to time-shift).

    One excellent thing I can say about the series is that it passes the Bechdel Test from the word “go”. That alone makes it worth watching, given the state of US TV these days (much less movies).

  32. 32.

    wormtown

    I went to see Whitney Houston, probably 20 years ago. I wasn’t a real fan, but went anyway. I was blown away by Whitney. Her voice was incredible. I didn’t really care for her choice of music, and the way it was packaged, but her voice was unbelievable.

  33. 33.

    Montysano

    @Hill Dweller:

    Just watched Three Days of the Condor

    Excellent movie. It’s making its way up my queue for a re-watch.

    On a tip from our son, we watched “I Love You Phillip Morris”. Jim Carrey and Ewan MacGregor were amazing, I love Leslie Mann also too, and the plot constantly takes twists and turns that you don’t see coming. Recommended.

  35. 35.

    Tara the Antisocial Social Worker

    Hey Cole – saw your post below about the anxiety attacks, and just wanted to say good for you, both for dealing with the problem and for being able to talk about it.

    A lot of my family members have had to deal with depression, and there’s so much shaming and secrecy about it. It gets treated like moral failing instead of a health problem. As with a lot of things, the more people are open about it, the easier it gets.

  36. 36.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Jennifer: Mainly because he didn’t do it. Also too, I pretty much agree with his opinion of her work – and, for that matter, yours as well.

  37. 37.

    Rawk Chawk

    Good god.

    Thanks for sharing the link to that vocal track, John.

    I was not a huge Whitney fan after the first couple of albums. The vocal gymnastics and theatrical, melodramatic runs became kind of obnoxious to me. Plus, she got attitude and the joy so prevalent in this track seemed to dissipate.

    Plus, she dissed Madonna once and that pissed me off. :D

    But Lord Almighty, this vocals only track breaks my heart. I am sitting here with tears in my eyes listening…I’m sad we’ve lost such a talent, sad that she suffered so much, but glad that she’s been released from whatever torments drove her to self medicate so heavily.

    Seriously, bless her heart. She was one in a gazillion.

  38. 38.

    Rawk Chawk

    @Jennifer:

    Gee, I wonder why no one weighed in to accuse our host of “corpse-pissing.” Odd, that.

    There are a few, select commenters who will viciously shit on other commenters for the same observations they will completely ignore when offered by Cole.

    Sycophants.

  42. 42.

    Betty Cracker

    @geg6: My schedule is too erratic to allow me to commit to a series. I watch the yapping heads on MSNBC pretty regularly, plus sports and cooking shows. That’s about it.

    Now that I can buy entire series and watch them at my leisure, I’ll probably get sucked into a few more good ones. I watched all the episodes of Breaking Bad that way a few months ago, and now West Wing. I’ve still never seen an episode of the Sopranos, so I’ll have to get around to that eventually.

  43. 43.

    RedKitten

    you want me to do anything, have a redhead with blue eyes ask me to do it.

    Damn…and to think I haven’t taken advantage of this weakness of yours yet!

    Okay, Cole. I’ll be sending you wire transfer information very shortly. Mama needs some shopping money…

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