Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

I’d hate to be the candidate who lost to this guy.

Come on, man.

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

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

Accountability, motherfuckers.

Technically true, but collectively nonsense

Presidents are not kings, and Plaintiff is not President.

Republicans don’t want a speaker to lead them; they want a hostage.

All your base are belong to Tunch.

The GOP couldn’t organize an orgy in a whorehouse with a fist full of 50s.

Our job is not to persuade republicans but to defeat them.

Infrastructure week. at last.

If you tweet it in all caps, that makes it true!

Give the craziest people you know everything they want and hope they don’t ask for more? Great plan.

Authoritarian republicans are opposed to freedom for the rest of us.

Why did Dr. Oz lose? well, according to the exit polls, it’s because Fetterman won.

Conservatism: there are some people the law protects but does not bind and others who the law binds but does not protect.

The worst democrat is better than the best republican.

“Squeaker” McCarthy

Take hopelessness and turn it into resilience.

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

When do we start airlifting the women and children out of Texas?

Only Democrats have agency, apparently.

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

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Reader Interactions

131Comments

  1. 1.

    kdaug

    The little one has her own sofa. The big one his own bed. The cat has her own room.

    Not kidding.

  2. 2.

    HeartlandLiberal

    Hmm. This dog reminds me of one of my favorite childhood jokes.

    Q? Where does a 500 lb gorilla sleep?

    A! Anywhere he d*mned well pleases!

  3. 3.

    Punchy

    So this has been bothering me lately…..just how choreographed are pr0n movies? Is it specific, like “this hole for 4 minutes, then this hole for 2.5 minutes”? Or does the director just give a general wish list, like “gimmie a 3 finger charlie, a milkshake, drill for oil, and end with a glazed donut”? Or is all completely ad libbed?

  7. 7.

    RossInDetroit

    Our small dog has his own chair by the front window, complete with pillows and a step to help him make the jump. I trim the bushes outside the window so he can keep a sharp eye out for things that need barking at.
    This is as it should be.

  9. 9.

    Humanities Grad

    How do you keep a dog off a sofa?

    Well, my spouse solved the problem for us by buying the dog her own bed (why yes, she DOES have the word “sucker” tattooed in large letters across her forehead. Why do you ask?). Now the critter doesn’t need to hop up on the sofa, because she can just curl up in the doggie bed.

    Felt a bit like giving in to a terrorist’s demands, but it worked.

  10. 10.

    WhoopTDu

    Following the Hillary Rosen fallout on Twitter. Do you think that Mittens will gain any traction due to this?

  17. 17.

    chopper

    @Punchy:

    it would be really cool if the director called them out like a baseball coach, all using crazy hand signs.

  18. 18.

    Hawes

    Oh, I know the answer to this rhetorical question!

    Mouse traps. Place them on the couch that you wish to remain dog free. They should be there whenever you’re not. After a while, you don’t even have to arm them, their mere presence keeps la chien off the love seat.

  21. 21.

    cmorenc

    @Betty Cracker:

    How can anyone keep a dog off a sofa?

    Our Italian Greyhound sits anywhere she damn well pleases on sofas, chairs, beds, etc. Italian Greyhounds are deservedly known for neither shedding nor odor, and love to snuggle up with their people. They’re the closest thing to a cat-dog, with all the positive traits of dogs and few of the negative traits of cats, except perhaps a bit of a stubborn streak at times. Nearly everyone who has an IG eventually winds up letting the dog sleep with them at least sometimes; they’re like having a living teddy bear, and like to snuggle up next to your legs underneath the covers.

  23. 23.

    Marcellus Shale, Public Dick

    @Punchy:

    it depends on the type of scene and genre. if you are watching a high disttribution title from a major producer, you can almost call out the various fetishes, and whatever particular things certain segments of the market demand. ever notice how in the middle of a scene, the actors do something that doesn’t at all interest you, and they do it for approximately 2 minutes or so? that is the only part of the video they expect certain buys willl care about, but they will care enough to buy it, and the next ten.

    the producers know most people only care about a couple of minutes here and there, of their product. nature of the beast if you will. everything else is as boring as the dialog to most people.

  25. 25.

    curiousleo

    so sweet that pup. of course, like babies & small children, even the craziest dog looks so sweet and innocent when sleeping.

    My dearly departed dog wasn’t allowed on furniture. It worked best for him & me. I had to have some peace from the crazy collie mix ;)

    This place does “help this pet” posts, right? If anyone is looking for an English Pointer a coworker had one dumped on her recently. Dog was pulled from a kill shelter when a woman promised to adopt her and then the woman left the dog at coworker’s house for an unknown reason. The coworker already has 4 dogs and can’t keep her. She’s been given til May 1 to find a home for Daisy (yes, I see it’s the same name as yours).

    Daisy is crate trained, 3-5 yrs old, ~59lbs, and gets along w/ the other dogs at the foster’s house. She’s in NC.

  26. 26.

    HRA

    @WhoopTDu:

    No, no and no -at least I am hoping women see it as for what it really is and not ignore it.
    I had my rant over it early this am after I heard Morning Joe say Hilary Rosen should apologize. Really? Hilary told the truth.
    Are we to believe that Ann Romney in re: her twitter did everything herself to raise the boys? Both her and Willard are going overboard in patronizing those of us who really know the difficulties in a bad economic status, raising children on a shoestring, and waiting till the youngest goes to school full time before going to work to supplement the family’s needs.
    Back to work -yes, still at it chiefly to be able to help my grown children when they need a helping hand and to have health insurance for G and me.

  28. 28.

    Joey Maloney

    As suggested by another commenter, I’m reposting this from below, in a thread less likely to trigger peoples’ gag reflex:

    The National Police Misconduct Statistics and Reporting Project is an invaluable resource for monitoring bad behavior among law enforcement officers nationwide. The site owner is having to give up the project due to real life, so he’s allowing his readership to vote on who should take over the site from a list of people and orgs that have expressed interest.

    Unfortunately, one of those orgs is the CATO institute – you know, the one currently in the midst of a Koch brothers hostile takeover? And they’re currently leading the poll.

    If this is an area of interest for you, please go to http://www.injusticeeverywhere.com/?p=5316 and VOTE FOR SOMEONE ELSE. Personally, I favor Jesse Strauss, a journalist currently working for Al Jazeera English. His proposal seems the best thought out. So I’d suggest voting for him, but really, ABC (Anyone But Cato). Voting closes 8am Pacific time Friday.

  29. 29.

    curiousleo

    @Hawes: Mousetraps?! Dang, you’re hard core. Maybe I was lucky but I never had to use such methods to keep my dog off the couch or bed or counters.

  30. 30.

    kdaug

    @HRA:

    Are we to believe that Ann Romney in re: her twitter did everything herself to raise the boys?

    They didn’t know the nannies were illegal.

  33. 33.

    Ellie

    @HRA: Totally agree. If Mitt is claiming to be up to speed on the economic difficulties of women because of Ann’s wise counsel, I think it’s fair to question the basis of her expertise. Rosen’s comment may have been inartful but nothing to apologize for. Frankly I’m really sick of Dems making groveling apologies for trifling matters while right wingers make repugnant remarks constantly and with little or no consequences.

  34. 34.

    LGRooney

    If I may:

    The big one his own bed. The cat has her own room.
    Where does a 500 lb gorilla sleep?
    just how choreographed are pr0n movies?
    Death by Pecking
    Now the critter doesn’t need to hop up on the sofa
    Mouse traps. Place them on the couch
    Squirter bottle and an epithet or two
    snuggle up next to your legs
    I am hoping women see it as for what it really is and not ignore it

    …just sayin’.

  35. 35.

    lamh35

    @WhoopTDu: Tell me, has Ann Romney worked a day in her life????? Personally I don’t think miss Ann is as gr8 a spokesman as she thinks. She just as gaffe prone as her husband.

  37. 37.

    WhoopTDu

    @lamh35: Found the whole “Ann-is-the-secret-weapon” meme wanting.

    I dunno, numerous homes, 2 Cadillacs, six figure Austrian warmbloods (as a hobby).

    Many would love to be able to stay home and raise their children, but, don’t have that option.

    Dan Senor’s push back on Morning Joe.. was something like “and she has been ill too”

    Multiple Sclerosis and breast cancer.

    http://ms.about.com/b/2009/07/21/multiple-sclerosis-drug-prices-whoa.htm

    Try paying for that without adequate insurance.

  38. 38.

    patrick II

    So, does Allen West perceive his McCarthy moment as his bid for the vice-presidential spot?

  40. 40.

    martha

    @WhoopTDu: No, I don’t. I’m not a mother, but I’m a working woman. Please tell me how, once she is questioned by anyone other than someone from Fox News, she handles questions about paying bills on $30K a year? $50K? 90K? Hell, even $150K? Who does her grocery shopping? Why DOES she need a house with a car elevator? How much does her dressage hobby cost each year? Six cadillacs? Really? So, she’s been incredibly fortunate to never have to work outside the home and have all these great hobbies, cars, houses…so? In today’s world, where life is pretty hectic (understatement) for lots and lots of women, that’s just…nice, but not realistic. If Mitt were a better candidate, maybe.

    This is one of those 48 hour whirlwind things that will just backfire on the Mittster. They just will end up looking whiter and richer. IMHO.

  41. 41.

    LGRooney

    @lamh35: Looking at the examples of my mom and wife, raising kids and taking care of the home/family is real work. I will never denigrate a housewife if this is what she chooses for herself. If she is kept there by some spousal/cultural/religious dictate, that’s a different matter. If she chooses it, however… isn’t that the whole point of feminism, i.e., that a woman can choose the life she wants without some external condemnation raining down for her choice?

    In any event, I will question how much of a caretaker she actually was given the money, the lifestyle, the upbringing, etc., to which they are accustomed. By default, I will assume she had housekeepers, childcare, and yard workers to provide the actual labor so she could keep her social calendar. IOW, I will assume she is no voice for women outside of the 0.1%.

  42. 42.

    Michele C

    I’ve never understood why anyone would keep a dog off a sofa, but it seems some commenters do have good points.

    My question upon seeing that adorableness snoring on the sofa is, how do you resist going over and snuggling? Those ears look so soft and she looks so warm and I bet she just loves belly rubs.

    Of course, I was just thinking about my attitude towards pets. We have a new “foster” kitty (we say we’re fostering her but we can’t remember how long she’s lived here). We also have a new upholstered arm chair with ottoman. The chair has some obvious pulled fabric from cat nails. I was talking to my husband about what to do (e.g., we could try covering with X) and he says, “Or, we could just accept that we have cats and our furniture has scratches.” It’s one of the reason I married him.

  43. 43.

    a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)

    Daisy!!!

    How can anyone keep a dog off a sofa?

    You can’t. Unless you spread dog beds around it for when you are sitting on it, and stack books upon it for when you aren’t. That makes the nearby dog beds more attractive in the latter situation. Mainly I just let ours free range.

    @WhoopTDu: You can’t. I have MS. I manage my own with careful attention to diet (anti-inflammatory foods in quantity with the rare treat of grains or refined sugar), exercise (when I have the energy) and vitamins (D3 in large doses has been shown to reduce relapses in relapsing/remitting MS). I see a specialty neurologist once a year.

  44. 44.

    Ash Can

    Re Ann Romney, I saw that her first tweet was, and I quote, “I made a choice to stay home and raise five boys. Believe me, it was hard work” (h/t LGF).

    And for that, Ann Romney can go straight to hell and take her fucking toothbrush with her. Not for the staying-home bit, not for the hard-work bit, but for the “choice” bit. This clueless idiot and her elephant’s ass of a husband have all the empathy, and half the appeal, of a couple of clumps of rusted barbed wire. News flash, Ann: I made the choice to stay home with my son too. And you know what that makes me? Not good, not virtuous, not heroic, but flat-out straight-up 24-karat LUCKY, you airheaded dolt. All those women who aren’t staying home with their kids? They’re doing that because they CAN’T, because all those oh-so-wonderful and beneficial policies of ALL you Republicans have so bolluxed up this nation that ALMOST NOBODY is freaking ABLE to stay home with their kids, unless they’re collecting a fucking welfare check, you stupid broad. And the small minority of women who actually do have the choice of staying home and are still working, well, maybe you’d better actually talk to them, among all the women you supposedly talk to, and maybe you’d get a picture of women as being more complicated and multifaceted people than you, or your wind-up mechanical gizmo of a husband, are. Cretin.

  45. 45.

    martha

    @Ash Can: This. My sister would LOVE to have had the “choice” to stay home. She didn’t and doesn’t. End of story. She carries the medical insurance for the family…of course.

  46. 46.

    Steve in DC

    Dog bed by the sofa and strong disciplinary action should the dog ever get on the sofa. It’s an all or never thing. But the first time the dog gets on the sofa, drag their ass off and crate them in a room with no human contact for a while. Next time, same thing.

    Let them realize that the sofa lands their ass in a world they don’t want to be in.

  47. 47.

    geg6

    Goggies sleeping are cute goggies.

    That said, I just finished up a webinar meeting of the University’s entire student aid staff and was pleased with one of the updates at the end. Seems that the Pittsburgh Promise will be providing up to $10K per year to qualifying students who have graduated from city schools. This is the most generous award of its kind and a program that should be copied all over the nation.

    http://pittsburghpromise.org/

  48. 48.

    Elizabelle

    @RossInDetroit:

    There are two little white dogs a few blocks over. They’ve got a dog mattress set up at their glass front door, and watch everything that passes by.

    Guess their humans use the garage door for entry/exit.

    Makes me smile to see even the dog bed, if the pups are elsewhere. Happy days, for those two.

  49. 49.

    Ash Can

    @martha: Really, this dumb broad and her ilk make me see red. In her position, with her husband virtually certain to be nominated to run against Barack Obama for POTUS, all she has to do is to just look at the big picture, swallow hard or take a deep breath or whatever, and say, “Yes, I’m privileged, I won’t deny it, and it’s about time I started to learn and understand how all of my fellow Americans, especially my fellow American women, live.” And then get busy and follow up on that. She’d be a hit. But she’s not smart or principled enough to do that, or to understand what women would be saying to her if she did it.

    As it is, I hope she does try to speak to some women’s group (other than a neighborhood gathering of society matrons like herself) at some point, and gets her clueless ass kicked all over the room, out the door, and down the street to the bus stop.

  50. 50.

    muddy

    I wanted to have 6 kids, and stay home with them. Sadly, I had no husband, and no money. I have 1 child and we were generally scrambling to keep up. Yeah, “choice”, fuck them.

  51. 51.

    Elizabelle

    @Ash Can:

    That is amazingly tone deaf (and from the “empathetic Romney”).

    It shall be seen for what it is. Choice, my a$$.

    (FWIW, I think a lot of moms/working parents would love to work maybe 20-25 hours a week, with health insurance. They don’t get that choice much, do they?)

  52. 52.

    geg6

    After reading all the other comments in this thread about doggies being impossible to keep off the furniture without drastic measures, I am forever thankful that our Otis has never once even made a move to get on the couch or bed. He loves to lay on the floor right next to us (usually me), often touching the piece of furniture in question. But he never shows any interest in getting up on it.

  53. 53.

    kindness

    I allow my critters to get on the furniture with a couple exceptions.

    If they are soaking wet and/or muddy.
    If there is a human than wants the seat.

  54. 54.

    RAVEN

    Here’s a tip. If you are doing a prsentation at a conference at a state park “lodge” do not count on an wireless internet connection!
    Reply

  60. 60.

    Elizabelle

    I’d missed the whole Hillary Rosen comment thing. (Reward for not watching cable all day.)

    Here’s NYTimes item on the Rosen/Ann Romney not working kerfuffle.

    President Obama’s top political advisers moved rapidly late Wednesday night to distance the president from a Democratic strategist and adviser to the Democratic National Committee who said Mitt Romney’s wife, Ann, had “never worked a day in her life.”

    http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/04/12/obama-campaign-on-defensive-over-strategists-comments-about-ann-romney/?hp

  61. 61.

    Ash Can

    @Elizabelle: Ann and Mitt are two peas in a pod — wealthy, privileged, and thoroughly ignorant of how people unlike themselves live. Makes for a dandy marriage, I’m sure, and more power to them, but that’s as far as it ought to go. If they were just minding their own business and being private citizens, who would care? Not me. But no, they have to go and inflict themselves on all of us as candidates for POTUS and FLOTUS. Gah!

    Sometimes when I think about it, it really does amaze me that throughout almost all of his political career, and certainly all of the parts of his career that have mattered the most, Barack Obama’s political opposition has been nothing but a non-stop shit-show fail parade. It makes me think that somehow, somewhere, the FSM really does want this nation to survive.

  62. 62.

    Yutsano

    @Shari: And remember: the delicate feelings of our Republican betters must be respected and coddled at all times. If you’re a liberal, suck it up champ. You’re just an unwashed dirty hippie anyway.

  63. 63.

    Judas Escargot, Your Postmodern Neighbor

    @Ash Can:

    all she has to do is to just look at the big picture, swallow hard or take a deep breath or whatever, and say, “Yes, I’m privileged, I won’t deny it, and it’s about time I started to learn and understand how all of my fellow Americans, especially my fellow American women, live.”

    She’s culturally incapable of even coming up with that idea in the first place. Even as a ruse.

    Part of our problems stem from the fact that our culture has been creating a shitty, useless grade of rich person for quite some time.

  65. 65.

    the Conster (f/k/a Cat Lady)

    @Ash Can:

    Seriously – the ability of Republicans to drag that word “choice” out to use without any irony at all just smacks my gob, when that’s the word that they should all be beaten to death with. Isn’t that what their War on Women actually is – to deny them as much choice to control their bodies and livelihoods? May Ann Romney DIAF.

  67. 67.

    Litlebritdifrnt

    In addition to her having the luxury of “choosing” to be a stay at home Mom she also had the luxury of “choosing” to have five kids, and not fifteen or more. She didn’t have to worry about where the birth control pills were coming from, which so many women will have to do once her fucking dick head of a husband “gets rid of planned parenthood”.

    She also had the luxury of knowing that she could send those five kids to college. How many parents in the US today can afford to send one child to college let alone five of them?

  68. 68.

    lamh35

    Major Leagues: Team Obama Outmaneuvers Romney On Women

    It took tens of millions of dollars, years of preparation and three months of primary contests, but Mitt Romney is finally the GOP’s presumptive nominee. Now comes the hard part. Romney’s first day of the general election turned into a stark reminder that Obama will be a far tougher opponent than the poorly funded, disorganized candidates he battled in the primary. Romney was outmaneuvered and forced off message throughout the day — beginning with a morning press call in which the campaign was caught flat-footed over a simple question about Romney’s position on the Lilly Ledbetter Act — overshadowing the economic message he was trying to push, with the gleeful help of an armada of professional Democratic operatives…

  70. 70.

    Valdivia

    I find it hilarious that the Romney people think this kerkuffle over Ann Romney is what will get them female votes. I have to say though I am glad that the Obama people quickly said hands off Mrs Romney. Otherwise this would go on for days and take attention away the real policy stuff that matters. But: this to do will be the tempest in a teapot for a day and then no one will remember.

    I also think it’s hilarious how thin skinned these people are: Michelle Obama has had to put up with a million worse comments and she handles it with class. This Romney woman goes on to get on a twitter fight about it? Just wow!

  71. 71.

    Betty Cracker

    @Michele C: He sounds like a keeper! I don’t mind the dogs on the sofa per se, but it does irritate me when they compete for space. They don’t recognize my inherent supremacy.

  74. 74.

    Mark S.

    I hate to be the concern troll, but Rosen screwed up with that comment. It’s too easily construed as stay-at-home moms don’t do any work (even though Ann Romney is hardly your typical stay-at-home mom). Best just apologize and move on.

  75. 75.

    Martin

    How can anyone keep a dog off a sofa?

    Corgi. Legs are too short to jump up there.

    Seriously.

  77. 77.

    JasperL

    @Joey Maloney:

    Thanks for the link. Can’t believe anyone here wants Koch hands on a site dedicated to police misconduct.

    After my vote,
    Koch – 114
    Jesse – 81.

    If this poll really determines who takes over, we need a few more to take the two minutes and go vote.

  79. 79.

    LGRooney

    @Valdivia: I think that may have been the whole point. Obama doesn’t want his wife dragged into any of this shit. Yes, her lovely face adorns some of the campaign ads but she’s not out trying to be the face of the campaign. I am damned certain Obama wants her to be protected from all the nasty shit our political process throws around. Therefore, he stated hands off because if he didn’t it would then be open season on Michelle.

    Now, whether it was a blatant attempt by HAL’s campaign to put Ann out there in order to pull Michelle out of the bubble, I don’t know. In any event, Obama closed that door rather quickly which shows he has class, is truly concerned about women, and is in control.

  80. 80.

    WhoopTDu

    Ann Romney cut to the heart of the flap over what Hilary Rosen said about the candidate’s wife never having worked “a day in her life” in a Fox News interview this morning, saying, “We need to respect choices that women make.”

    Including choices for reproductive health??

  81. 81.

    Amir Khalid

    @Mark S.:
    Is Ann Romney the sort of stay-at-home mother who does the major share of work with home and family? Or the sort who delegates it to the hired help? She hasn’t done much to correct the general impression that she’s the latter sort.

    On a related note: this is at most a minor Gaffe by Obama’s crew. And yet they have been prompt and civil in acknowledging it, to the extent that it is a gaffe, and in apologizing for it. I can’t imagine the Romney camp being quite this gracious if they were were to make a similar faux pas.

  82. 82.

    Elizabelle

    Were we discussing privileged yet clueless creatures?

    Enter the Catholic Bishops and their renewed “campaign for religious liberty.”

    These dudes are quoting Martin Luther King’s “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” and never met irony.

    “If we face today the prospect of unjust laws, then Catholics in America, in solidarity with our fellow citizens, must have the courage not to obey them.”

    Oh, you weren’t discussing American Catholics ignoring your edicts on contraception, right, left and center?

    Anyhoo, the bishops got problems with (naturally) the healthcare law, getting smacked down on government contracts because they want to discriminate, a real beef about being in jeopardy if they minister to illegal immigrants.

    http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/13/us/catholic-bishops-urge-campaign-for-religious-freedom.html?hp

  84. 84.

    Punchy

    @Just Some Fuckhead: our 2 greyhounds sit wherever they want…bed, couch (who says “sofa”?), floor, etc. Most importantly, one of the greys sits in the classic semi-circle formation and lets us place the infant in her “lap”. Tolerates the kicking, cooing, pinching…..its teh awsum.

  85. 85.

    Amir Khalid

    Fuck you WordPress, for refusing me permission to edit my own comment #81. All I wanted to do was remove an extraneous initial cap from the word “gaffe”.

  87. 87.

    Elizabelle

    @nellcote:

    I agree about the politically stupid re Rosen’s comment.

    This isn’t going to cost Obama any votes, though, and was gracefully handled.

    Plenty more opportunities to point out how out of touch Romney and Republicans.

    No one’s going to forget Ann and her “choice”, though.

  88. 88.

    No One of Consequence

    Two options have worked invariably for me with over 4 dogs now:

    Either put down newspaper on top of the cushions of the sofa or put wire hangars on the cushions. No covering them in hangars, just enough to make paw placement tricky to do without making all the hangars move and perhaps make noise or nasty vibrations…

    I have not had a dog yet that will jump up on the sofa with either of those things there. But then again, I do not paper-train my dogs, so YMMV.

    – NOoC

  89. 89.

    Suffern ACE

    I think I am going to draw the line at hot dog-stuffed pizza crust. We need to quarantine the British until they come to their senses.

  91. 91.

    Ash Can

    @Elizabelle: These guys live in an even more tightly sealed bubble than the Romneys do. I hope they never realize that the longer they harp on the contraception issue, the greater the likelihood that some enterprising journalist(s) will discover and publicize the fact that the entire prohibition on contraception was a political decision by the Vatican, rather than a theological one. The Vatican has long deserved to get called out on this issue.

  93. 93.

    Forum Transmitted Disease

    Really, this dumb broad and her ilk make me see red. In her position, with her husband virtually certain to be nominated to run against Barack Obama for POTUS, all she has to do is to just look at the big picture, swallow hard or take a deep breath or whatever, and say, “Yes, I’m privileged, I won’t deny it, and it’s about time I started to learn and understand how all of my fellow Americans, especially my fellow American women, live.” And then get busy and follow up on that. She’d be a hit. But she’s not smart or principled enough to do that, or to understand what women would be saying to her if she did it.

    @Ash Can: Eleanor Roosevelt pulled this off masterfully. Maybe Ann Romney ought to read a book that’s not nineteenth century religious fiction.

  95. 95.

    lamh35

    @WhoopTDu: So the million so women who have NO CHOICE but to work away from home are what somehow “lesser than” Ann who married a multi-millionaire and her choice was one of less financial than the average stay at home mom.

    And it’s easy to “choose” to stay home and raise your kids when your husband is a multi-millionaire…it’s another to have not “choice” but to work away from home as millions of women do!!!!

    Messina and Axelrod “condemned” remarks.

    The Romney camp are latching on because they have been on the defensive on women’s issues since day 1. The issue is NOT stay at home moms…their meme is that jobs for women have been less under OBAMA.

    Well who are the ones affeced by job availabities… Women who choose to work from home or woman who have to. Not women like Miss Ann who can “choose” to stay on and not work.

    This is a non story and there is not enough oxygen with the Trayvon Martin case for the “mini-fire” to florish.

  97. 97.

    gene108

    @RAVEN:

    Here’s a tip. If you are doing a prsentation at a conference at a state park “lodge” do not count on an wireless internet connection!

    For shame! Are there no homeless upon which to affix wireless routers on?

  98. 98.

    cahuenga

    A pattern is quickly emerging around the tubes.

    Luntz has obviously launched new, pro women talking points this morning.

  99. 99.

    Brachiator

    Hell may not be freezing over, but there has been a noticeable temperature drop.

    Newt accuses Fox News of bias.

    In what some might consider an act of GOP political suicide, Newt Gingrich slammed Fox News earlier this week, saying that the cable news channel has favored Mitt Romney throughout the 2012 Republican race–and that CNN has been the more “fair-and-balanced” network this cycle.
    __
    “I think Fox has been for Romney all the way through,” Gingrich said during a meeting with Tea Party leaders in Delaware on Wednesday, according RealClearPolitics.com, which said it was granted access to the private event. “In our experience, Callista and I both believe CNN is less biased than Fox this year. We are more likely to get neutral coverage out of CNN than we are of Fox, and we’re more likely to get distortion out of Fox. That’s just a fact.”
    __
    The former House Speaker blasted the Roger Ailes-led network, blaming Rupert Murdoch, chairman and CEO of Fox News owner News Corp., for the bias.
    __
    “I assume it’s because Murdoch at some point [who] said, ‘I want Romney,’ and so ‘fair and balanced’ became ‘Romney,’ ” Gingrich said. “And there’s no question that Fox had a lot to do with stopping my campaign because such a high percentage of our base watches Fox.”

    I’m just going to sit back and enjoy watching the conservative commentariat deal with this one.

  100. 100.

    Elizabelle

    @Ash Can:

    Yeah, I bookmarked their letter (all 11 pages of it) to cruise through later. Likely lots of unintentional “truths” in there.

  102. 102.

    Brachiator

    @lamh35:

    So the million so women who have NO CHOICE but to work away from home are what somehow “lesser than” Ann who married a multi-millionaire and her choice was one of less financial than the average stay at home mom.

    Ann Romney is a stay at homes mom. Stay at mansion one, stay at mansion, two, stay at mansion three….

  103. 103.

    Yutsano

    @lamh35: IIRC Ann came from a wealthy background to begin with. So that just makes the pleas of everyman status ring more hollow.

  105. 105.

    Cacti

    @Valdivia:

    I find it hilarious that the Romney people think this kerkuffle over Ann Romney is what will get them female votes

    Yep.

    Team Rmoney (sic) thinks they’ve found their silver bullet. Women will rally round his banner because his brave wifey and her team of domestic servants stayed home to raise the little Mittlets.

    I hear she also once asked the undocumented yard workers “Quieres agua?”

    At some point, Mitt is going to have to stop hiding behind his wife’s skirt.

  106. 106.

    JWL

    On the old Groucho Marx TV show, he once interviewed a guy who made his living as the voice of then-popular cartoon characters. Marx asked him to name a few, and he began naming names- Huckleberry Hound, Top Cat, Magilla Gorilla, etc. When he finished, Groucho then asked, “Does your wife let you up on the furniture”?

  107. 107.

    Michele C

    @Litlebritdifrnt: This whole thing is so ridiculous. I have no problem with people who have the ability to make the choice to stay home with kids. If you have the option and want to, it’s probably great for everyone.

    Still, it’s (1) hard to not have a problem with people who act like it’s such an easy choice when they make enough money in one year to make it possible for 520 families of four to live at the poverty line (as calculated by housing costs–around $41,500/year) and (2) they clearly believe in some sort of made-up 1950s ideal family where the woman is subservient to the man rather than actually viewing it as a choice that a couple might make together.

    While we’re at it, the whole lot of them make me unable to sleep at night while I fume with anger over the fact that none of them seem to accept that things happen that make life harder, but make it all about “you wouldn’t be poor if you didn’t make morally reprehensible choices, like have sex.”

    Okay, I’m fuming and starting to come up with all the things that make me angry. I’d better calm down and play with the kitties.

  108. 108.

    Litlebritdifrnt

    According to Weigel, who is on a Ronmey conference call, they are calling Rosen a “paid Obama spokesperson” you know basically lying. Why won’t the journos report it as that.

    Oh and while I am at it, why are the Republicans not coming out and condemning Limbaugh every time (every day) that he calls FLOTUS “Moochelle”

  110. 110.

    Steeplejack

    @Dave:

    I don’t know if you have seen my replies to your question about getting the mobile version of the blog on your phone, so I’ll repeat myself: if you clear your phone browser’s cache (or “history”), the mobile version of Balloon Juice should come up by default next time.

  111. 111.

    Cacti

    @Litlebritdifrnt:

    According to Weigel, who is on a Ronmey conference call, they are calling Rosen a “paid Obama spokesperson” you know basically lying. Why won’t the journos report it as that.

    Rmoney wants to have it both ways. He wants to hide behind wifey’s skirt, and have her be immune to criticism.

  112. 112.

    catclub

    @rlrr: “If Exxon Mobil truly care about science education…”

    They would pay their damn taxes that support public education.

    I yelled at their ads for ‘let’s do this’ or some such campaign.

  114. 114.

    Uncle Ebeneezer

    My sister has an adorable hound named Ringo. Every night they have to put the child-gate, and a couple of jigsaw puzzle boxes on every square inch of the couches/chairs to keep him off. It’s roughly 30% effective. Usually he somehow climbs behind the back pillows so that when you “catch” him, all you see is his nose, eyes and floppy ears sticking out, at which point I never have the heart to ask him to move.

    That said, our dog (a black-coat/goldie mix) never gets on our couch. My girlfriend trained her very well, but she is also a much more easy-going dog. So I think that it partly depends on how stubborn a breed of dog you have.

  116. 116.

    nellcote

    @WhoopTDu:

    I read it to mean that raising children without financial pressure is easier than having financial pressure.

    Too bad Rosen didn’t say that instead. Or that Ms. Rmoney was fortunate that she had a choice unlike most other women in the country.

  117. 117.

    Chyron HR

    @nellcote:

    It’s also too bad that Rosen isn’t a “Paid Obama spokesperson” or “Obama’s second wife” or “Obama in very convincing drag” or whatever line the GOP is peddling today.

  118. 118.

    Brachiator

    @Cacti: I think that people are being too hard on Mrs Romney over the child raising issue. After all, she, like virtually all American mothers, relaxes from the stress of raising kids by riding her Austrian Warmblood. If that’s not an example of the common touch, I don’t know what is.

  119. 119.

    lamh35

    @nellcote: Too bad supporters are focusing on the words and not the overall point that majority of women who have no choice but to work away from home will agree with

  120. 120.

    Mnemosyne

    Since most Americans don’t reflexively hate rich people, the Romneys could probably pull off a campaign if they just went ahead and admitted that, yes, they’ve been rich their whole lives, they were both lucky enough to be born into rich families, but they understand that not everyone in America was as lucky as they are and they will work to make life better for all Americans.

    Unfortunately for them, they both seem incapable of understanding that they’re rich because they’re lucky and won the genetic lottery by being born to rich parents, not because they themselves did anything special to earn or deserve their wealth. So they end up flailing around trying to present themselves as “just folks” who worked really, really hard to inherit those millions from their respective parents.

  123. 123.

    Suffern ACE

    @Cacti: It’s a class thing. They always want to have it both ways. Think of Ann as a Bermuda Shell Company and Pass Through Entity for tax purposes. We want to declare our muscular profits for potential investors, but pretend that there aren’t any for regulators who might want to end our tax credit program.

  125. 125.

    ruemara

    Just listening to Mike Papantonio filling in for Ed Schulz and beyond the upset that Obama is totally under the control of Goldman Sachs individuals and will be completely shown to be a disappointment (possibly even as bad as Bush), and is a moderate corporatist Republican who does not deserve the progressive vote and we should totally vote 3rd party, except we’re worried about the Supreme Court… -wth is so awful about the JOBS act and why is Matt Taibi the only true voice preaching what a fool the president is and how it will destroy us all in the end because of how evil and stupid Obama is and how we should not vote for him but we should so we should just be honest amongst ourselves about how evil and stupid and manipulated Obama is? I’m completely confused about what the disappointment is this time.

    Edited to also reflect that the show screeners have …very selective criteria for who gets to talk about how incredibly incompetent they find the President. Very careful that the must denigrating comments come from black people. And now Papantonio is lying about lack of prosecution efforts on Wall Street malfeasance.

  127. 127.

    Brachiator

    @ruemara:

    Just listening to Mike Papantonio filling in for Ed Schulz and beyond the upset that Obama is totally under the control of Goldman Sachs individuals and will be completely shown to be a disappointment (possibly even as bad as Bush), and is a moderate corporatist Republican who does not deserve the progressive vote and we should totally vote 3rd party, except we’re worried about the Supreme Court…

    Uh, what 3rd party?

  129. 129.

    Suffern ACE

    @Brachiator: Any third party. Its not like they could elect anyone, so they might was well vote for the Natural Law Maharishi fusion candidate. They don’t vote and they won’t vote, so who cares about them. Criminies, they can’t even get progressives nominated in the primary process.

  130. 130.

    Brachiator

    @Suffern ACE:

    Any third party. Its not like they could elect anyone, so they might was well vote for the Natural Law Maharishi fusion candidate. They don’t vote and they won’t vote, so who cares about them. Criminies, they can’t even get progressives nominated in the primary process.

    It’s 2012. Obama never ran as a progressive. He never promised to be excessively considerate of whatever it is that progressives want. And as you note, progressives can’t get nominated, and can barely get elected at the state or national level, and yet they want to insist that they are the base, and must be listened to. Or they will be perpetually butthurt. And in their universe, Obama and Romney are exactly the same.

    It’s insane.

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