The Obama campaign’s Julia site is an attempt to show the benefits of the different social programs created or protected by the Obama Administration by tracking a fictional woman, Julia, through different stages of her life. I’m too marinated in politics, not to mention too used to having a penis, to know how it will strike the target audience. But something must be right about it, since it’s got Morning Joe making asshole remarks:
MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough: “Who brushes her teeth?”
Interestingly enough, after micturating on the parts where Julia’s behavior strays outside the lines of the Catholic Bishops’ color-by-numbers plan for non-orgasmic women who preserve their precious sexuality for procreation, Douthat seems to like it:
The condescension inherent in this vision is apparent in every step of Julia’s pilgrimage toward a community-gardening retirement. But in an increasingly atomized society, where communities and families are weaker than ever before, such a vision may have more appeal — to both genders — than many of the conservatives mocking the slide show might like to believe.
Translation: proles like Pell Grants, low-interest Student Loans, insurance policies that cover birth control, Medicare and Social Security, and when you give them five minutes to think about how losing some or all of those things might affect their lives, they may just vote for Democrats.
Freddie deBoer
The Times should just fill Douthat’s column space with “I find you to be of insufficient personal virtue” printed over and over again.
Nicole
Fountains of Wayne reference! I love that song.
Spike
He’s got me running ’round the office like a gerbil on a wheel
He can tell me what to do but he can’t tell me what to feel
Loves me some Fountains Of Wayne.
General Stuck
I usually rate things like this according to the wingnuttia freakout nasty attacking it.
So far it gets a 9.4, with an outstanding dismount.
Joey Maloney
If that gets a 9.4, this one should blow out the meter: BREAKING: Joe Biden Endorses Same-Sex Marriage
(sorry for the o/t – I’m posting from under my desk to be safe from the coming wingnut ragegasm)
Amir Khalid
I like it. It presents a comprehensive picture of what the Obama administration has been doing, and plans to keep doing, for American women. By any chance, do the Mitt-for-Prez lot have some counterpart to this; or are they just going with the usual accusation of Sozialismus?
300baud
Better not give them 5 minutes then. Isn’t it about time for the summer “fake controversy” season to begin?
Hill Dweller
@General Stuck: Jim Messina(Obama campaign director) was reveling in the wingers’ butthurt on twitter Friday.
arguingwithsignposts
arguingwithsignposts
@Joey Maloney: I think the term is: This is a big fucking deal.
Villago Delenda Est
Douchehat is a one man argument for the resumption of throwing insufferable “Christian” asshats into arenas filled with hungry fire-breathing robo-lions.
c u n d gulag
Bay Buchanon is on my TV right now.
WTF does she ever bring to any “round table?
*hits “OFF” button*
Not anymore.
Well, at least it wasn’t Liz Cheney. *shudders*
Corner Stone
@arguingwithsignposts: It’s already being walked back by Biden spokesperson as well as Axelrod. Or maybe “clarified” may be what they’re doing.
Corner Stone
This fucking panel on Meet the Press makes me wanna choke a motherfucker. Back to Open de Espana para mi.
Corner Stone
Fuck you Tom Brokaw!!
Corner Stone
Kelly Ayotte is really kind of cute. For a lying, bile spewing demon from hell.
Susan of Texas
Does anyone remember a similar article from the 70s, written by conservatives, about the daily life of a hippie couple and all the benefits the government gave them? It was in response to hippie anti-government protesting.
Sally Rakowski
Julia needs a job, President Obama.
Joey Maloney
@arguingwithsignposts: Ah, le mot juste!
c u n d gulag
Words cannot express how much I feckin’ hate David Gregory.
He practically leaped out of his chair when he thought he had a “GOTCHA!” question for Joe Biden.
A black hole can’t suck as much as this asshole.
And now he’s asking Biden if he thinks there’s a “right wing conspiracy?”
What’s Biden supposed to say – the truth?
It’ll be the soundbite heard round the world!
I mean, for FSM’s sake, Hillary Clinton said that over 10 years ago, and it’s still their favorite line of hers to quote.
WereBear
This explains the explosion of tweets that simply say “Julia doesn’t want a ni–CLANG! President” that have appeared all over my Twitter account.
To explain further: I have picked up a number of conservative cat fans via Twitter. I know it makes no sense; but there they are; exchanging tips on perfusing the abdomen of an ailing cat with kidney trouble in between supporting cutting off all food stamps to starving children under the pretext of “I didn’t get any handouts.”
One, I suppose, is personal, while the other is abstract. But it makes for a weird stream of un-consciousness.
Linda Featheringill
I had resisted looking at Julia but anything that angers the Righties is worthy of some attention. So I watched the thing. War and Peace it isn’t. But it does seem honest and straightforward.
So what are the Righties upset about? The idea that one’s government should serve some purpose for its citizens, no matter what the age of the citizen/resident? The idea that it’s being pitched towards women?
How effective will Julia be? Dunno. If the target audience is young adult, it might be a good thing. Your average 19-year-old female might very well be interested in things like a career and caring for children and overseeing Grandma’s well being. The males of the same age? Probably not. Which may be why it was pitched towards the ladies.
c u n d gulag
OMG!
Biden got up, punched Gregory in the mouth, shattering his teeth, and smashed a chair over his head!!!
No, wait, I was typing while I was dreaming.
Never mind…
c u n d gulag
@Linda Featheringill:
Julia is a female who’s not their “little lady,” so, she’s fair game as far as the misogynist’s on the right are concerned.
GOP POV:
“Why, oh why, can’t every woman be like Phyllis Schlafly or Sarah Palin?”
Kay
I like it because it’s true. The truth is people depend on all sorts of government support, from tax breaks to infrastructure to federal and state programs, and they have for decades. It’s time to start saying that. I know it offends conservatives, but it’s the truth.
I remember when Kaiser polled on Medicaid, and there was mass shock and surprise among these out of touch elitists, because (unsurprisingly) people support Medicaid.
They support Medicaid for a very good reason: they’re on Medicaid. Whether it’s “dual eligibles” older people on Medicare and Medicaid or lower wage workers whose kids are on SCHIP, that’s reality.
We’d have a much better debate on the size of government if we’d get off this abstract, theoretical conservative bullshit and talk about government.
Villago Delenda Est
@c u n d gulag:
A very pleasant dream, to be sure.
Almost as good as awake sex.
Almost.
Corner Stone
Whomever’s grooming Axelrod for these shows needs to be fired. He looks like the bastard child of Hitler and Tommy Friedman.
Roger Moore
@Kay:
Which is exactly why our corporate media has been scrupulously avoiding such a discussion. People like the idea of a small government in principle, but they don’t want it to happen by eliminating any of the programs they depend on.
Sally Rakowski
@c u n d gulag:
A very pleasant dream, to be sure.
It’s eliminationist rhetoric, is what it is, and it’s not necessary.
Biden is a big boy, he should be able to handle himself without resorting to violence, or everyone wishing he would.
amk
@c u n d gulag: Can’t we not just shoot these hacks? So much easier and hey, fucking 2nd amendment rulez.
General Stuck
@Linda Featheringill:
I think all of the above. But the nail it squarely hammers home, is an accurate story in simple visual style, of the government roll liberals actually have, beyond the distortions the right wing makes of it.
That government can help with providing the opportunity for folks to get ahead, but the people have to do the real work to get ahead. This is an important distinction the wingers have demagogued, or lied about for decades. And along comes a little pol cartoon, that describes the process of government working for the people, not giving handouts, but a hand up.
And that drives the wingers crazy. It is reward for lying about what liberals are really for, that the right wing lives on, politically. So this hits home against the prevailing narratives they have done a pretty fair job of constructing over time.
It could be a profound pol statement, if Obama and crew can figure out a way to mainstream the theme Julia conveys. Sort of like wingnut kryptonite, if it catches on in the countryside.
Brachiator
@Linda Featheringill:
@Kay:
How are people supposed to know about the Julia site?
I would suggest that people, especially women, Twitter the info to their friends, and put a link on their Facebook page, if they have one, with a little write up describing or praising it. Isn’t this what social media is for?
niknik
@Sally Rakowski: Was she fired by some vulture at Bain? Twat.
gaz
@Corner Stone:
I haven’t watched it but I envision a very odd mustache.
c u n d gulag
@Villago Delenda Est:
Someone will need to remind me about that.
Any volunteers? ;-)
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@c u n d gulag: There was an article the other day about Dick Jr starting to set up a run in Wyoming. I’ve been eating for that for years. I’m only surprised Cheney hasn’t gotten rid of Barrasso or the other guy yet. The article had a funny line of “some expected Ms Cheney to run from her current home of Virginia”. If Darth Jr runs, they’re gonna want a sure thing.
gaz
@Sally Rakowski:
c u n d gulag
@Sally Rakowski:
Sally,
It’s called “hyperbole.”
It’s a way of blowing off some steam so that I don’t fling something at the TV and break it, which I can’t afford.
amk
@Corner Stone: Yeah, optics is what matters, fuck the substance. Fuck you.
Roger Moore
@gaz:
I’m sure she does, at least if you count concern trolling liberal blogs.
amk
So clime acts is now hiding behind the skirts of ‘sally’ ?
Kay
I honestly think this goes to the really dark view of conservatism in general. The NYTimes conservative believes that “community” will be harmed if people have some bed-rock, base, stingy protection of life and limb.
In other words, conservatives believe people have to be wholly dependent on the charitable impulses of their better-off neighbor for “community” to develop.
That’s a god dammned dark and horrible way to look at “community”.
I might go the other way. I think people can develop local “community” a little easier if they aren’t fighting over scraps for bare-bones survival, but I guess opinions differ, and the conservative view seems to be widely accepted as “truth”.
c u n d gulag
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Yes, I felt an evil disturbance in “The Force.”
And Liz can’t run in VA, she might lose. That state, and the district she lives in, is slowly getting bluer.
So, she’ll have to move to Montana, and run from there.
The Cheney name still means something there.
Something that’s not a four-letter word, that is.
Yutsano
@Sally Rakowski: Your concern is duly noted.
(YAY! JC went out and got us a new troll!)
gaz
@Roger Moore: That pays? Shit what I have I been doing all this time?
OBAMA sux0rs!11eleven111
I can haz munniez now?
Corner Stone
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
I’ve been trying to wrap my brain around this for the last few minutes.
Maude
@Corner Stone:
Maybe, but he writes good tweets once in a while.
Maude
@Kay:
Deprivation causes people to turn against each other. I’d slap a little old lady if she tried to get something I wanted.
rikyrah
I loved it.
when you have nothing to offer, you attack those who point out what you’re lacking.
As Rachel Maddow says…
people say that there is a GOP WAR ON WOMEN…
because the GOP is following POLICIES THAT HURT WOMEN.
They hurt women FINANCIALLY.
they hurt women’s HEALTH.
they hurt women’s FREEDOM AND CHOICES.
When you can’t man up and tell Rush Limbaugh to sit his fat ass down as he insults a student standing up for her rights…
When you can’t man up and say if you would have signed the Lily Ledbetter Act..
When you can’t man up and say if you support Scott Walker’s decision to remove the CHOICE for women to be able to sue if they find out they’ve been discriminated against..
When you won’t come out and say if you support the Equal Pay proposal coming up for a vote in the Senate..
When you come out and say that you support Personhood Amendments that would take away the right to choose and for personal birth control…
When you won’t comment on the transvaginal ultrasound bills coming up around the country…
When you make comments that only RICH WOMEN deserve the chance to stay at home with their children..
When you back a budget that would cut services to the poor, and would LITERALLY take the food out of the mouths of poor women and children…
YOU HAVE A WAR AGAINST WOMEN GOING ON.
So, f-em.
The hit dog is hollering, because they don’t have shyt to offer women, so they attack POTUS and his campaign for pointing out the obvious to women..
For telling women WHO is going to enact and who has enacted policies that SUPPORT WOMEN.
It sure in hell is NOT the Republicans.
Kane
The entire right-wing ideology is predicated on the notion that government can’t work. They don’t want government to succeed at any level, local or national. They don’t believe that government has a role in solving problems because they believe that government is the problem. They think we’re better off if we just dismantle government.
Julia is a reminder that government can indeed work for the American people and that it can be effective, just not in the hands of Republicans.
gbear
Most likely that the final slide isn’t Julia marrying a man that will take care of all her needs forever while she devotes her every breath to his desires and demands.
Sally Rakowski
I share a lot of the same sentiments as JC, I just don’t agree with how Obama is handling the ecomomy nor the excuses he’s giving for why we’re still mired in the rut we’re in. And I don’t care for c u n d gulag’s repeated eliminationist rhetoric that he disingenuously and repeatedly tries to pass off as hyperbole.
If there are boxes to check off before posting here, I wasn’t aware of it.
gaz
I would have FB liked “Julia” but she has the same name as my most recent ex… who pretty much every single one of my friends hated. If I liked Julia I would not live it down.
Corner Stone
I just don’t care for Austan Goolsbee.
Baud
@gbear: That’s silly. Julia is obviously a lesbian.
Jerzy Russian
What the hell does this even mean? Shouldn’t the editor of the person who wrote this kick the author in the junk? Isn’t there an ombudsman at the NYT to do the kicking when the editor has failed in his/her most basic duty?
Yutsano
@Sally Rakowski: Methinks the lady doth protest too much. You might try not spouting off right-wing platitudes all the time. It gives the wrong impression. Unless the impression is correct.
gaz
@Jerzy Russian: Brisbane is an ombudsman at the NYT. *That* Brisbane. The one that penned the “Truth Vigilante” travesty AND said “Who is Barack Obama” in 20-effin-12…
So, I think that should clear things up for you.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Corner Stone: Oy. Fucking autocorrect! Or don’t post while hungry. One or the other.
Davis X. Machina
@Kay:
If folks haven’t read John Holbo’s review-article of David Frum’s Dead Right you ought to. It’s the Grundrisse of any dissection of this Donner Party conservatism:
gbear
@Baud: The right doesn’t care. She should marry the man anyway. It’s what women are meant to do.
Brachiator
@gaz:
Aren’t there other ways to put it on Facebook, with some background and explanation?
OT: in less than 4 hours, we may have election results from France. And everyone should have some FIGS, with politically important elections in France, Italy, Greece and Serbia.
gogol's wife
@Jerzy Russian:
You’re kidding. They have a Public Editor, and he thinks they’re biased against Romney. He castigated them for not investigating “the real Obama.”
Hill Dweller
@Sally Rakowski: Why are we in the rut we’re in, Sally?
By far, the biggest drag on the economy is austerity, and the subsequent loss of public sector jobs, at the state/local level. We are at -620,000 public sector jobs since Obama took office. Nearly 75% of those jobs losses took place in Republican controlled states. If those 620,000 people were still employed, the UE rate would be near 7%, and growth numbers would be much better.
Conversely, there are more private sector jobs now than when Obama took office, despite losing 4.2 million in ’09.
So, Sally, how would you remedy our current problems? State aid would certainly help, but the wingnuts in congress have already blocked Obama’s attempt to do just that. What do you propose?
Corner Stone
@gbear:
I’m liking where you’re going with this.
gaz
@Brachiator: Maybe, but if I did, they’d probably suspect an imposter. I don’t use facebook. I do sometimes use the like button.
The account only exists so old friends can find me. Hell, my picture on there doesn’t even look like me anymore. I kept an old one up, for obvious reasons.
Jamey
I think the life Julia would lead in our imaginary soshulyst fairyland is FAR better than the life of the dead girl Scarborough STILL refuses to answer for.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/03/20/195471/-A-dead-woman-in-Joe-Scarborough-s-office-Am-I-the-last-to-know-
Brachiator
@gogol’s wife:
Really? When? A link or quote would be useful.
How is this the role of a Public Editor? Sounds more like a Grand Inquisitor.
niknik
@Hill Dweller: such a better response to her than mine. Sigh. :-)
gogol's wife
@Brachiator:
There were several discussions about it here when it happened, including a front page post by DougJ. I will try to give a link but do not really know how to do it here.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/22/opinion/sunday/a-hard-look-at-the-president.html
c u n d gulag
@Sally Rakowski:
Oh, well, if you don’t like it, then I’ll have to stop using hyperbole, then won’t I?
My excuse:
‘If there are “Sally Rakowski Approves” boxes to check off before posting here, I wasn’t aware of it.’
Btw – if that stick’s not too far up there, maybe you can still get it out by yourself.
Troll somewhere else…
Jamey
I’m sure most of Scarborough’s viewers are asking the same question: “Where’s Julia’s birth certificate?”
EriktheRed
Actually, I kinda wonder if all the “mocking” is because a lot of them DO believe in its appeal and it scares the shit out of them.
Jerzy Russian
@gogol’s wife:
I was being facetious, of course.
Brachiator
@gaz:
Understandable. I don’t use Facebook either, but I emailed a description and a link to the Julia site to some politically active women friends who do use Facebook.
WereBear
I offer a bit of criticism that might help you out here.
It’s not about you.
It’s about the stark contrast between a Democratic candidate who many of us feel is simply doing the best he can compared to a freakishly animatronic candidate who is the embodiment of Thurston Howell the III crossed with a rabid weasel who feasts on dollar bills instead of blood.
I blatantly adore the current President; not because every nuance of his policies stroke my guitar-strings of humanitarianism in perfect synch, but because he is a heckuva speech-maker and is our best hope of not letting the American Dream die.
If America becomes just another “who’s-yer-daddy” retread of European privilege, hang it up.
gaz
@Brachiator: My spousy person is an avid FB user. She’s in charge of the Julia MIRV, not me =)
Sally Rakowski
You’re saying “Fall in line”, WereBear. Essentially what Obama is saying with this Julia crap.
No thanks.
gaz
@WereBear:
If you have to say it, it’s already too late for them.
Good luck with that.
gocart mozart
@300baud:
Yes, isn’t it about time to reintroduce the freakout over the Burlington Coat Factory Al Quada trining camp near ground zero. Are there any updates? Have they declared war on the 92nd Street Y yet or issued a fatwa against the local Victoria Secrets outlet. I haven’t heard anything about them since the last election which I’m sure is just a coincidence.
karen marie
I lived within two blocks of the Fenway Victory Gardens for about 15 years. I had a double-plot for most of that time. Moving far away from it in 2001 counts as one of the single dumbest things I’ve done in a life riddled with dumb moves. I discovered that one of the things I enjoyed most about gardening was doing it with a community. People were great — they helped with larger projects, shared plants, tips, flowers and produce.
Someone ought to let Douthat in on the secret that “communities” exist outside his narrow world. Unfortunately, his inability to see the value in things like community gardens helps create a world where there are fewer of those things for the rest of us.
Aaron Baker
Ross Douthat is irked by condescension?
Irony isn’t just dead; its skeleton has crumbled into dust.
Hill Dweller
@Sally Rakowski: Again, Sally, what steps do you propose we take to fix the economy?
PurpleGirl
I like the story but I wonder if the name is a coincidence or not. When I heard the name “Julia”, I immediately thought of a TV show from way back (1968-71) named Julia and played by Diahann Carrol. (IMDB description: Julia Baker is a young African-American woman working as a nurse. She is also a widow (her husband died in Vietnam) trying to raise a young son alone.)
gaz
@Sally Rakowski: Christ on a stick.
Every single post you’ve trolled here is Obama sucks this, Obama sucks that, no good no good, I wanna pony!
Except when confronted with your concern trolling, you’re like “ummm, I just disagree with him on this and that”
If so, then why do you put such concerted effort in going full metal jacket negative whenever the subject of Obama comes up? This is rhetorical. I already know the answer:
It can be summed up, to wit: “Concern Troll is concerned”
You’re transparent. That troll tactic has been absolutely done to death. Get some new material. You’ve barely been here, and you’re already a troll retread.
It’s pathetic. Get a hobby, FFS
Signed,
Someone that’s not voting for Obama this year and STILL thinks you are a douchecanoe.
Davis X. Machina
@Hill Dweller: Elect Hillary!
Brachiator
@gogol’s wife: Thank you very much. The link worked fine. I missed the earlier Balloon Juice discussion because of work commitments and some health issues.
@gaz:
In that case, I hope you can persuade her to post up some reference to the Julia site. It’s campaign time.
gene108
@Kay:
If all the people on Medicaid would vote at the same rate all the people in the top income tax bracket vote and/or get substantial income from capital gains, you’d see a different dynamic in government.
Getting the non-voters involved would shift this country so far towards promoting social safety nets the media, who say we’re a “center-right nation”, would get whiplash at how fast we’d move to the Left.
Mickey
I know it’s effective because you have professional Faux liars like Michelle Malkin trolling it and making asshole comments on her website site. I think there are several parody sites pro and con as well.
WereBear
@Sally Rakowski: NO.
What a bunch of crap.
I am not surprised you are yanking on the adolescent reflexive anti-authoritarian distortion. Such is the audience, no?
Your comments try to indicate that there are an infinite range of possible choices, and so we should reject the ones which do not match our own sensibilities, exactly.
When this is not true; in our own, reality-based, 2 party democracy, there are only TWO TRUE CHOICES.
The Democratic choice and the Republican choice.
Call it “lesser of two evils” or what not, we are still making our choice as to how the pendulum swings. Everything else is a false equivalency.
gaz
@WereBear: cosigned.
fucking hell. some people’s children
harlana
i like it
but then
ZOMFG! Julia decides to get pregnant but where is the husband in the picture?! No man in this narrative at all!
i think we all know where this is headed
gaz
@Brachiator: done and done =)
karen marie
@Roger Moore: The problem is the fixation on “small government” as an end in itself. The better goal would be efficient, effective government.
Yesterday I was in my car stopped at a traffic light next to one of the Central Arizona Project aqueducts. There was a very old sign identifying it. The information it failed to provide but should is that it was built with federal tax dollars.
I’d like to see signage for every bit of federally-funded infrastructure required to carry that information so people could understand how much worse off they’d be without the people in all the states pooling their money together (taxes) to help each other out with necessities like roads, bridges, aqueducts, and standards of all sorts.
gaz
@Hill Dweller:
It’s like this:
1) Bitch about Obama
2) ?????
3) PROFIT!
arguingwithsignposts
I am still trying to figure out if Sally Rakowski is a firebagger or a teabagger. She certainly speaks in longer sentences than veritroll, and isn’t quite as ad hominem as MickKolantimmeh.
gaz
@arguingwithsignposts: firebagger. I can tell because she occasionally employs polysyllabic phrases.
WereBear
@PurpleGirl: I remember that.
For those “in the know” it is a shorthand for “those people of color need to be perfect or they won’t get any credit” time period.
Yutsano
@arguingwithsignposts: Right-wing framing leads me to a conclusion here. I’ve been wrong on this before, but her claims on being on par with JC aren’t passing the smell test.
the fugitive uterus
what’s with the whole mustache-hate? i have always thought they were sexy but then i growed up in the 70’s so there’s that. i didn’t watch porn and such either. my ex had an awesome mustache it he wasn’t nearly as cute without it.
i’m sick and tired of bald bodies, faces and heads, all day everyday.
if you got it, embrace the hair (unless it’s on your back, of course)
signed,
The Original Dirty Fucking Hippie (a/k/a Mountain Girl) :)
arguingwithsignposts
@Yutsano: Yeah, her performance in the early morning Betty Cracker thread yesterday vs. today’s performance is what has me questioning.
arguingwithsignposts
@the fugitive uterus:
the problem with part of that philosophy is when you don’t got it, or it makes a ring around your noggin.
Ruckus
@Sally Rakowski:
You might not be a right wing troll.
But…
Every post you’ve done shouts right wing troll.
Every. One.
So here’s the clue you need.
If everything you say sounds like a right wing troll, you might be a right wing troll.
If everything you say disagrees with the prevailing attitude around here, you might be a right wing troll.
BTW, I’m going with… right wing troll.
Davis X. Machina
@gene108: There’s actually some data to suggest that non-voters are only slightly more liberal than voters….on the order of 3 points on a zero-100 scale.
gaz
@the fugitive uterus:
MOAR for the rest of us. (Not that I care, you people are all weirdly fascinated by teh sexytimes. By you people I mean 99.999% of people – weirdos! shooting DNA at each other =). )
I don’t like body hair. It’s about as useless as an appendix, and it looks funny. You can keep it =)
ETA: head hair is another ball of wax.
harlana
@gaz: not sure why you would assume i am obsessed with sex but hey, whatever turns you on. nvm i guess you were just kidding. i like staches, i’m just tired of being embarrassed about it like i’m some sort of perv or something ;p
karen marie
@Corner Stone: I’m looking at the updates on ThinkProgress about the “walk back,” and I have to say I’m not seeing it. Looks more like an affirmation, to me.
jeffreyw
@gaz:
Now that’s a full Brazillian!
gaz
@harlana: It’s generally a safe assumption. Asexual people are very much in the minority.
gaz
@jeffreyw: lol
gaz
@harlana: staches are pervy? who knew?
Smiling Mortician
I don’t think Sally Rakowski exists. But if she does, I’m pretty sure she looks sort of like this.
Corner Stone
@karen marie: The very first one quoted by Axelrod uses the words “walk back” as a characterization. Then there’s one by Politico of a Biden spokesperson. Then some not related to the admin.
I’m not going to argue about it, I don’t really care if it’s a walk back or clarification or however you want to characterize it. The admin definitely jumped right away on what Biden said on MtP so, wevs.
Ruckus
@Smiling Mortician:
That’s great.
Needs a little more something though. Not sure what it is.
OK, I found it.
harlana
and yes, i’ve been there – i tried waxing a couple of times because i was dating a guy 13 years younger than me. after enduring two excrutiating, tortuous wax sessions which reduced me to a tearful, shaking lump of a human being, he says to me “i don’t give a fuck about that! i like natural!”
gbear
Ross Douthat has to hire people to work in his community garden.
gaz
@Ruckus: win. lol
Corner Stone
@harlana: Now we have a much better fix on your Uterine Positioning Satellite location! Please prepare your ladyparts for assimilation and reclamation.
/GOP
gaz
@harlana: after the first few times, it gets tolerable. =)
harlana
and NO i do not want to suck on Axelrod’s mustache, let’s just get that out of the way right now!
harlana
@gaz: i can handle all kinds of pain, had my boob cut open and such, but never again, and Nair really works fine as long as you keep it away from the old KNOBS AND BOLLOCKS!
Ruckus
@gaz:
That sound you hear is me taking a deep bow.
gaz
@harlana: ROFL. I loved that review.
My skin is too sensitive for Nair. Wax is okay, Nair leaves me with nasty chem burns
harlana a/k/a the fugitive uterus who likes 'staches
@Corner Stone: ACTIVATE CLOAKING DEVICE!
harlana
fuck, this is what happens when i forget to use Firefox
Brachiator
OT: Greek election results from the BBC:
Exit polls in the Greek parliamentary election suggest the two main parties have suffered big losses.
The polls, televised across Greece, put the centre-right New Democracy party in the lead with 17-20% of the vote.
Syriza, a coalition of left-wing parties, is put just in second place with centre-left Pasok third.
Pasok and New Democracy have been in coalition since last November and were expected to lose support to anti-austerity candidates.
There is widespread anger across Greece to harsh measures imposed by the government in return for international bailouts.
Syriza opposes the government’s austerity measures.
The exit polls, televised nationally, showed New Democracy with 17-20%; Syriza on 15.5-18.5% and Pasok in third place with 14-17%.
ETA: anger and discontent are funny things, and can lead to all kinds of unexpected results. We should keep this in mind during the election season here. The Democrats need to make a strong case for themselves and take nothing for granted.
EriktheRed
@Sally Rakowski:
Ah, there’s another gem: the Prez is giving “excuses” for why he hasn’t performed a miracle.
Please piss off.
the fugitive uterus
ok, i really AM starting to sound like a perv, sorry – TMI!
Commenting at Ballon Juice since 1937
I interpret this as Douthat admitting that Republican/conservative policies are anti-community and anti-family, kind of the opposite of what everyday people define as conservative.
harlana a/k/a the fugitive uterus who likes 'staches
Axelrod always reminds of Dabney Coleman
Cacti
@EriktheRed:
Is Sally our new “female” concern troll?
I guess BJ was overdue for one of those. All of our other concern trolls have been a total sausage fest.
gaz
@the fugitive uterus: I wouldn’t worry too much about offending the delicate sensibilities of the BJ community. heh.
ericblair
@Sally Rakowski:
Dennis the Constitutional Peasant: “Oh! Come and see the violence inherent in the system! Help, help! I’m being repressed!”
Smiling Mortician
@harlana a/k/a the fugitive uterus who likes ‘staches: Funny. He reminds me of Lieutenant Buntz (from Hill Street Blues, for you youngsters).
gaz
@ericblair: Please indicate on the doll where obama touched you. heh. =)
the fugitive uterus
@gaz: tru dat =D
and somebody on the left needs to talk about ladyparts, just to keep up with the right’s latest obsession
gaz
@Smiling Mortician: 403 verboten
gaz
@the fugitive uterus: I’m a walking GOP nightmare. Hyper andro trans freak. confused, queer, and loving every minute of it =)
beltane
@Brachiator: It looks like the neo-Nazi Golden Dawn party has won 7-8% of the vote (!@#*) meaning they will have seats in parliament. Regional results from Italy indicate that lefty blogger Beppe Grillo’s 5 Star movement is making a very strong showing as well. Grillo is an outspoken advocate of Italy leaving the Euro altogether.
Can someone please put up a Yerp thread? For better and in some cases for worse (eg. the rise of Golden Dawn) it looks like we’re seeing an historical rejection of the center-right consensus we have been operating under for the past couple of decades.
Sally Rakowski
Dennis the Constitutional Peasant: “Oh! Come and see the violence inherent in the system! Help, help! I’m being repressed!”
“I thought we were living in an autonomous collective.”
That must’ve been Julia.
gaz
@Sally Rakowski: Clearly, you must have read “How to win friends and influence people”
It shows.
the fugitive uterus
@gaz: there’s always something so satisfying about making winger heads asplode
gaz
@the fugitive uterus: My favorite bit is when an insecure straight guy hits on me, and then it dawns on him that I’m trans. Is also why I carry mace.
Tyro
@Brachiator: Honestly, I’m relieved that the far right didn’t make an impressive surprise showing. Greece dodged a bullet.
Ben Cisco
@rikyrah:
Heh. Heard my dad speaking there for a minute.
Jewish Steel
@harlana:
To the altar?
the fugitive uterus
eh god, time to start vacuuming and feeling guilty as hell about terrorizing the cat
you’d think i beat this cat, as opposed to compulsively dousing her noggin with kisses, several times a day
Heliopause
There is one “right” thing about it; Obama’s social policies would be superior, or perhaps less odious, than Romney’s. Otherwise, this “Julia” site is of a piece with the fucking assholes who don uniforms and inform me that they are fighting “bad guys.”
Jesus Fucking Christ.
“Bad guys”? See this bald head, motherfucker? The gray hairs? The bottles of Maalox next to the bed? I was treated with more respect when I was eight than I am now. “Julia” is just a liberal version of the same horseshit.
Here is my wish, and I mean it with all sincerity, that everybody who consistently refers to “bad guys” or writes Thomas the Tank Engine interactive websites for grownups, please do whatever it takes to get your fucking asses out of the gene pool. Take a rusty razor to your balls, join a cult and move to the desert, overdose on saltpeter, whatever it takes. Just go. I’m an insane optimist, but if our political discourse has finally passed the point of no return and we’ll never again be spoken to as if we graduated third grade Sunday School then maybe it’s time for me to move to a country which has more hope for the future, like Greece.
gaz
@the fugitive uterus: really? I vacuum my cats. j/k
beltane
@Tyro: Umm, Greece will now have a bloc of openly declared neo-Nazis in parliament. It also looks like none of the larger parties will have an easy time forming a government given the way the vote broke down. In no sense does this look like a dodging of the bullet.
Tyro
@amk: Look, the rule is that if you want to go on TV and advocate for the president, you dress and groom like a freaking grownup professional, not an underemployed eccentric who reminds you of Milton from Office Space.
Even when I was a long haired graduate student, I’d use conditioner and put on a suit when presenting to research sponsors.
Axelrod’s “I’m so successful and important that I don’t have to groom” shtick might work fine when consulting for campaigns but is totally inappropriate for media appearances.
Corner Stone
@the fugitive uterus: There’s a mistreatment of kitty joke in here. But it’s almost too easy.
arguingwithsignposts
@Tyro:
How long has Axelrod been going on TV advocating for the President? Clearly, the president doesn’t seem to have a problem with him, so maybe we should just note your concern and you can move on to bitch about something else. Jeez.
karen marie
@Corner Stone: Yes, I see the characterization was made but I’m not seeing the subsequent statements to be expressing any disagreement with what Biden said. It would have been helpful if Igor Volsky, the author, had provided some, you know, actual indication to back up his characterization.
Nellcote
@Davis X. Machina:
Awesome!
karen marie
@Ruckus:
Aren’t the interwebs great?
Ruckus
@Tyro:
Why?
Does this make him a better person? No.
Does this change what he has to say? No.
We have been listening to pretty talking heads on TV for how long and they still talk like vapid assholes.
I’ve never gotten the idea that spending a lot of money, getting your hair done and dressing better makes one a better person. That being a movie star/recording artist makes one’s opinion worth more. Used to go to a club that would not allow Levi jeans. They could be brand new but they were not acceptable. Other denim, even with tears and holes, that’s OK, just not Levis. It’s idiotic.
Presentation, perception is not everything regardless of how well it’s been sold to the public that it is. Mittens is the perfect embodiment of this idea. His looks, his 65 yr old black hair, his $5K suits, and he still is an asshole. Actually he may be an even bigger asshole because the perception that he is not is all he has.
Ruckus
@karen marie:
They really are.
WaterGirl
@Corner Stone: I’m going with autocorrect turning some misspelling of “waiting for” into “eating for”.
WaterGirl
@Sally Rakowski: I can’t speak for anyone else, but I have never seen your name here before, so from my perspective you are a new person here and you are picking at someone who is well liked and has been here for a long time, so it’s not surprising that the first thing someone would notice is that you seem to be concerned about something that doesn’t seem to bother anyone else.
I will also add that c u n d gulag’s father passed away recently, after a long illness, so even if he seemed unreasonably angry, which he doesn’t to me, I would be inclined to cut him some slack.
I always like to lurk for awhile to get the lay of the land before I post on a new blog.
gaz
@WaterGirl:
Ummm, fuck tribalism. I have practically nothing day to day in common with most of you, and would probably hate most of you were we to meet in person. So the fuck what?
Who cares who likes whom?
On substance Sally fails. On substance, Sally is concern trolling.
That is the beginning and end of the bullshit.
I’ll not sign up to anyone’s fanclub. In fact, Fuck you. I mean that in the nicest way possible. cheers.
Brachiator
@Tyro:
As beltane notes, it’s always a problem when the extremists win enough votes to be included in the government.
Brachiator
This just in. Sarkozy is done, according to the BBC
Socialist Francois Hollande has been elected as France’s new president.
He got about 52% of votes in Sunday’s run-off, according to early projections, against 48% for centre-right incumbent Nicolas Sarkozy.
Mr Sarkozy has admitted defeat, saying: “Francois Hollande is the president of France and he must be respected.”
Analysts say the vote has wide implications for the whole eurozone. Mr Hollande has vowed to rework a deal on government debt in member countries.
Exuberant Hollande supporters have already converged on Place de la Bastille in Paris – a traditional rallying point of the Left – to celebrate.
Mr Hollande capitalised on France’s economic woes and President Sarkozy’s unpopularity.
The socialist candidate has promised to raise taxes on big corporations and people earning more than 1m euros a year.
He also wants to raise the minimum wage, hire 60,000 more teachers and lower the retirement age from 62 to 60 for some workers.
In his concession speech, Mr Sarkozy told stunned supporters that he was “taking responsibility for defeat.
Hinting about his possible political future, he said: “My place will no longer be the same. My involvement in the life of my country will now be different.”
During the campaign, he said he would leave politics if he lost the election.
It is only the second time an incumbent president has failed to win re-election since the start of France’s Fifth Republic in 1958.
The last was Valery Giscard d’Estaing, who lost to socialist Francois Mitterrand in 1981. Mr Mitterrand had two terms in office until 1995.
middlewest
It’s amazing that some of you can’t see the resident trolls hiding behind alt personas a mile away. They’re not even that good at it.
sharl
@middlewest: So which of the regular trolls do you think it is? I don’t recall having seen many concern trolls in these parts of late, just the straightforward righties (e.g., that VICTORY! troll) and the classic disruptive types (e.g., Fred-Derf-etc.).
And to Smiling Motician @112 and Ruckus @114, I hope either one is closer to the truth than what my sick imagination came up with for what “Sally” looks like.
‘Tis general election campaign season – time for the professional trolls to come out. I would not be surprised in the least if “Sally” is in this camp. Her shtick is somewhat well polished, but classic, transparent concern trolling – a combination totally in line with how Rmoney’s campaign is being run. Look for Sally v2.0 in the future, if anyone with social media savvy assumes command in the Mittbot’s media relations management team.
mtraven
I wish Julia had been a teacher, doctor, plumber, engineer, nurse, reporter, or hell, even an accountant.
All respect to good web designers, but is producing more of them really our nation’s most pressing need at the moment?
rikyrah
Congratulations Francois.
a French President named Francois…so fitting…lol
Tyro
@Ruckus: Presentation, perception is not everything
It is part and parcel of your job when you’re on TV, going to an interview, or working with a customer, and it’s disrespectful to the audience.
I work with and was/am a super casual person, but once I am in a situation where presentation counts– I present. This isn’t that difficult: it’s part of being a professional. If you’re not willing to do, you’re going to get steamrolled by empty headed preppies who are tall and have nice hair, simply because you were too stupid/stubborn to work on your presentation skills.
Look, Axelrod’s shtick is totally fine when dealing with politicians, as if to say, “You need me so much and I’m so fucking brilliant that I can look however I want,” (I might even let it slide for the same reason when doing a personal interview with the press that doesn’t have to do with the president’s campaign) but spokespeople should be presentable spokespeople when they are out representing the brand. We mock the Fonzie of Freedom for a reason, and it’s because his entire advocacy of libertarianism is about “look how much of a douche I am.” I expect better out of the campaign’s public staff.
Joseph Nobles
@Sally Rakowski: Julia has a job, one she created herself. Perhaps you should actually read the things you condemn before trolling them so poorly here at BJ.
The Sailor
Where is this ‘walk back’ of which you speak?
The Sailor
@The Sailor: Bah, sorry for the borkquote failure.
Ruckus
@Tyro:
That point sailed right on by. At almost the speed of light.
One shouldn’t have to pretend to be someone else to get their point across. Tart up their clothes, hair, implants, teeth whitened, etc. We are not all beautiful people, that doesn’t diminish who we are or our value as humans or how well we think. Superficial dress up to impress is a form of bigotry. It implies that normal people have no value.
You are right that it is a part of what is considered professional, it is bullshit. And I’m not saying you can’t do all that, I’m saying you have no right to expect that of others, just because you feel the need.
And as someone up thread pointed out Obama seems to think this is not a problem, so why do you? I understand Bush demanded that ties had to worn in the oval, that sure made every thing much better. Oh shit, what if you are right, think how bad Bush would have been without the ties. That made all the difference.
BTW I’m done here, I’ve learned to cut my losses on lost causes.
russell
WTF is wrong with a community-gardening retirement?
We should all so freaking lucky.