Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Republicans: “Abortion is murder but you can take a bus to get one.” Easy peasy.

It’s easy to sit in safety and prescribe what other people should be doing.

Teach a man to fish, and he’ll sit in a boat all day drinking beer.

Thanks to your bullshit, we are now under siege.

We can’t confuse what’s necessary to win elections with the policies that we want to implement when we do.

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

Every reporter and pundit should have to declare if they ever vacationed with a billionaire.

“I was told there would be no fact checking.”

You know it’s bad when the Project 2025 people have to create training videos on “How To Be Normal”.

Stop using mental illness to avoid talking about armed white supremacy.

Fucking consultants! (of the political variety)

“A king is only a king if we bow down.” – Rev. William Barber

Fight them, without becoming them!

I’m more christian than these people and i’m an atheist.

I did not have this on my fuck 2025 bingo card.

They spent the last eight months firing professionals and replacing them with ideologues.

Oppose, oppose, oppose. do not congratulate. this is not business as usual.

Giving in to doom is how we fail to fight for ourselves & one another.

The rest of the comments were smacking Boebert like she was a piñata.

If you don’t believe freedom is for everybody, then the thing you love isn’t freedom, it is privilege.

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

Consistently wrong since 2002

This blog will pay for itself.

… pundit janitors mopping up after the gop

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187Comments

  3. 3.

    Crow73

    The odd-ball fact checking.
    Because if Mitt says he promises not to raise taxes on the middle class it must be taken as fact.

  8. 8.

    Thomas F

    Observing the collective buyer’s remorse in response to the spectacular inadequacy that is Massachusetts Senatorial Candidate Elizabeth Warren. Through an unfortunate combination of mass delusion and wishful thinking, prevalent elements in the Massachusetts Democratic Party convinced themselves into thinking that a stilted Ivy League academic would be the working-class champion needed to return Ted Kennedy’s seat to them. Instead, she is losing to Scottyboy Brown by six points, and the gap is only looking to widen. Good grief, what an embarrassment.

  9. 9.

    MikeJ

    The roll call doesn’t tart until 8pm, that is, after everything is really over.

    I’m a sucker for the pageantry though. I like the roll call.

  10. 10.

    Svensker

    Politically it’s prolly good that Clinton’s speaking but, dang, I wish he were more liberal. Don’t like playing to the “cut the budget” folks right now.

    But looking forward to more butthurt from the Repubs. NRO was positively CRYING in their decaf this morning. And my wingnut fb rellies were all like “yawn, hope ‘n’ change derp yawn”. Tee hee.

  12. 12.

    JGabriel

    __
    __
    DougJ:

    … what are people looking forward to at tonight’s convention?

    __
    Bill Clinton.

    Besides Bill Clinton…

    __
    Oh.

    Uh.

    Bill Clinton.

    Bill kind of overshadows the rest, y’know?

    Edited to Add:

    ? Martin:

    Elizabeth Warren, of course.

    __
    Whoops! I forgot Warren was speaking tonight. I’d like to amend my answer to echo Martin’s: Elizabeth Warren.

    .

  16. 16.

    Kilgore Trout

    In addition to the big names I’m kind of looking forward to Jim Sinegal (co-founder and just-retired CEO of Costco). Costco is indeed a big business, but one that has consistently resisted Wall Street’s efforts to get them to be less generous to their employees.

    Jim had an idea for a business, while Mitt had an idea for a get-rich-quick scheme.

  17. 17.

    dr. bloor

    @Svensker:

    Politically it’s prolly good that Clinton’s speaking but, dang, I wish he were more liberal. Don’t like playing to the “cut the budget” folks right now.

    I spent the 90’s building a collection of transient ischemic events because he pissed me off so often. But I’m happy to have him speaking for us rather than against us at this point. He’s going to rip Rmoney and Ryan a whole bunch of new ones tonight–it’s going to look like Marshall McLuhan stepping into the scene from Annie Hall and shredding the poseur.

  18. 18.

    MikeJ

    OT, but I’ve got the text from all of yesterday’s speeches, and was hoping to do some comparisons with the RNC speeches using grep and wc and awk. Sadly, I’ve only got the text for 29 Republican speeches for the entire convention, and 24 from the DNC from yesterday alone. So I’ll probably be reduced to doing head to head matchups rather than corpus v corpus as I had intended.

    I was looking forward to counting the number of times speakers used the word “Iraq” or “unemployed”, but the incomplete data makes it less interesting.

  20. 20.

    Captain Haddock

    @Thomas F: I’ve got to agree with you there. There seems to be more excitement on blogs than on the ground. Pretty much all my Democratic voting relatives are leaning towards Brown. It is sad how much support you can get from throwing on a Patriots sweater and driving around in a pickup, but there you have it.

    The whole Indian heritage non-issue still garners some snickers too.

  21. 21.

    mai naem

    Gabby Douglas(more because it’s a diss to Mr. Mitt”Olympic Sport” Romney), Ms. Pelosi and John Hickenlooper and ofcourse Barney Frank who will have some intelligent zingers.

  22. 22.

    Violet

    Elizabeth Warren. I’ve only seen her in interviews. I haven’t seen her give a speech before. I have no idea how she’ll do.

    @mistermix: The sluts are speaking? Awesome!

  24. 24.

    Handy

    I can’t wait to hear the crazies trot out 10 year old memes against Bill.

    That and the heads exploding because the D convention makes the R convention look silly.

  26. 26.

    EconWatcher

    In the several years immediately after his heart surgery, the Big Dog really seemed off his game. Has anyone seen a recent speech? Does he have his mojo back? I guess we’ll find it tonight, anyway.

  30. 30.

    Culture of Truth

    I agree with Eric from a previous post. Clinton is going to bring it tonight, a simple, clear, conversational style – look you in the eye and explain why you would be damn fool to ever trust the Republicans again, and why we must elect Barack Obama back the Presidency. And you’ll believe it.

  31. 31.

    aimai

    Its true that an actual working class hero, like Warren, has a really hard time going toe to toe with a fake working class hero since its easier to fake sincereity than anything. Warren is running up against the fact that there’s a huge amount of white working class resentment against women, in particular–against the new economy, against immigrants, against dems in general. Women are breaking for her massively but according to a person I know in her campaign who is microtargeting voters for her 300,000 OBAMA voters are voting for brown, in MA. I believe those are all male, but I’m not sure. That’s massively assholish behavior that just can’t be explained logically.

    aimai

  36. 36.

    Captain Haddock

    @Handy: Like all the murders committed by him and Hilary? The cocaine they flew into Little Rock? I kind of have nostalgic memories of that time – I had a crazy project manager back then that was hooked on this new site called “The Drudge Report”. He used to crack me up with all these stories. Ironically, that nonsense made swing further to the left. Those were simpler times…

  37. 37.

    MikeJ

    BTW, in my prelim counts, Dems used the word Iraq 8 times yesterday, Republicans five times all week. Dems used “bin Laden” five times yesterday and only Mitt Romney made any mention of him at all.

  39. 39.

    mai naem

    I forgot Cecile Richards. I hope she has something as memorable as her mom’s “poor George, he was born with a silver foot in his mouth.” Maybe she can make come up with something about Paul Ryan’s prevarication.

  40. 40.

    LanceThruster

    I’m just curious to see if they’ll be able to deliver as effectively across the line-up as last night.

    Truly a tough act to follow. But the Big Dog likes challenges as I recall.

  41. 41.

    YoohooCthulhu

    @dr. bloor:

    I think all the hand-wringing about Warren is stupid. The race is a toss-up, and it is because a) Brown is an incumbent, and b) Brown has studiously avoided bringing up any big national Republican issues. I think people overrate how liberal Massachusetts is in the same way they overrate how liberal California is–there’s a strong “sensible centrist Democrat” contingent in both states that likes to feel all magnanimous by voting for “good” Republicans. The big mistake was still the selection of Coakley, not Warren.

    I also think there’s probably some amount of masshole misogyny that’s playing a small role here.

  42. 42.

    geg6

    @Violet:

    Apparently, they think driving a truck and wearing a Pats sweater are the most important issues in the race. And a trumped-up “scandal” about Warren’s ancestry.

    Idiots, every one. They deserve Scott Brown.

  43. 43.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @dr. bloor: Ouch. I do hope that all the “If Obama would just make the case….” people are paying attention to MA. But I know they aren’t.

    In the mean time: These are the people we’re supposed to take seriously and be respectful of

    Sununu Thinks Obama Camp Lying About Cost Of Michelle Obama’s Dress
    Former New Hampshire Gov. John Sununu questioned reports that the Tracey Reese dress Michelle Obama wore for her convention address Tuesday night cost $350 on a conference call with reporters Wednesday. Sununu accused the Obama campaign of peddling several lies, including the cost of the dress: “somehow I don’t think that’s the truth either.”

    It remains one of smaller but most bizzare aspects of Willard’s campaign that they thought a bitter, nasty old fart whom only people with long memories remember as an arrogant, nasty, power-abusing hack would be a good surrogate.

  46. 46.

    SatanicPanic

    Saul Alinsky’s speech. Oh, and I heard George Soros is going to make it rain at the convention hall.

  47. 47.

    dr. bloor

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    t remains one of smaller but most bizzare aspects of Willard’s campaign that they thought a bitter, nasty old fart whom only people with long memories remember as an arrogant, nasty, power-abusing hack would be a good surrogate.

    I can’t get enough of Sununu at this point–every appearance promises to be one step further off the ranch. He’s like Larry “Bud” Melman with rage issues.

  48. 48.

    MikeJ

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: If you google Tracy Reese an ad pops up with dresses she’s designed and prices. $348, $217.99, $198, $218.

    You can prove that Republicans are liars, and they’re upset that people are doing so. They always accuse Dems of whatever it is they’re doing.

  49. 49.

    Culture of Truth

    Madison, Wis. (AP) – Republican U.S. Rep. Tom Petri did not pay any state income taxes from 2002 through 2005, records obtained Wednesday by The Associated Press show.

    Petri, who is regularly listed by the Center for Responsive Politics as one of the wealthiest members of Congress, was the only member of Wisconsin’s eight-person U.S. House delegation who didn’t pay state income taxes for any years over the past decade.

    taxes are for the little people

  50. 50.

    JGabriel

    __
    __
    Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    It remains one of smaller but most bizzare aspects of Willard’s campaign that they thought a bitter, nasty old fart [Sununu] whom only people with long memories remember as an arrogant, nasty, power-abusing hack would be a good surrogate.

    The one thing I remember about Sununu is his penchant, in the preceding 3-4 months before the Bush administration canned his ass, for blaming all his problems on “the Jews”. Gary Trudeau even made a joke of it in a Times op-ed at the time.

    It was very Nixonian.

    I’m surprised no one ever brings that up.

    .

  51. 51.

    Captain Haddock

    @geg6: Idiots, most likely. But until you can either (a) educate them all or (b) keep them from voting, you’ve got to get them on our side. It was easier when unions were stronger.

  53. 53.

    joes527

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: So let me get this straight:

    Questioning whether Michelle Obama spent a small fortune or a large fortune on her dress: OK

    Questioning Paul Ryan’s claims to be a world class marathon runner: Dirty partisan politics.

    Are we seeing so much Sununu lately because Willard picked him off the clearance rack?

  54. 54.

    catclub

    @MikeJ: Of course, either Michelle has exactly the shape that the dress is designed for, or the post-purchase fitting is large fraction of the retail price – but that is not considered in the ‘price of the dress’. I noticed in some report that the actual model is not yet for sale – so exclusive in time if not in price.

  55. 55.

    MikeJ

    @MikeJ: And to respond to myself, the most expensive dress in the Tracy Reese online shop is $488, with the majority being under $350.

    So Sununu says, “can’t believe she can look that good for that little money!” But in fact, smart Democratic shoppers can.

  56. 56.

    schrodinger's cat

    Well Warren has not lost the race yet. This meme that she has been a disappointment is being pushed by MSM, both Sullivan and Douthat seem to have got that memo among others. She is behind in the polls, yes. Lets see how she does today and in her debate, no need to start rending garments right now.

  58. 58.

    bemused

    @Handy:

    The D convention not only makes the R convention look silly but boring, predictable and incredibly boring. The only thing that shook up the yawn fest was Clint.

  59. 59.

    FlipYrWhig

    @geg6: I have a bad feeling Scott Brown is going to become a fixture, a kind of slow-witted Olympia Snowe who enables all the worst awfulness of the party he represents while basking in the title of Really Not So Wicked Bad As The Rest Of ‘Em.

  61. 61.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @JGabriel: Yowza! I never heard that. Though it hardly seems out of character. He all but oozes toxic hatred.

    In other surrogate news, The Lady Ann seems to be growing weary of playing the nice suburban mom:

    Ann Romney Tells Women, Young People To ‘Wake Up!’

    I saw the video on MSNBC. She’s starting to sound bitter and condescending.

  62. 62.

    Belafon (formerly anonevent)

    @dr. bloor: Because, having lived in New England, and from and living in Texas, it irks me to no end to see the “I don’t want to seem like I’m favoring one party over another” attitude that happens up there – and don’t deny it, look at the Senate race in Connecticut. I’m sure Mr. Brown will do the state right if he’s the 51st Republican vote in the Senate.

    Really, don’t give me shit about what is happening up there. Yes, Coakly (?sp) sucked as a candidate, and didn’t belong in the Senate, but allowing Brown a second term?

  63. 63.

    Tom Q

    @dr. bloor: I think a more nuanced version of what he wrote is, we know we’re going to get a GOP Senator out of Idaho or Mississippi — they’re massively red states and it’s a natural extension of the local world-view. But we count on states like Massachusetts and Connecticut (and, further down the scale, Pennsylvania or Illinois) to make offsetting Democratic choices, and when they fall for Brown/Lieberman (or Toomey/Kirk), they empower people (Mitch McConnell and crew) who will run the country in a direction utterly at odds with the state’s views. So we notice, and wonder why.

    I think the gravitational pull of the Obama campaign will, in the end, drag Warren over the finsh line, much like LBJ did for Bobby Kennedy in ’64 (Kennedy only squeaked by incumbent Kenneth Keating — who, topically enough, debated an empty chair during the campaign — while LBJ took the state by a country mile).

  65. 65.

    mamayaga

    Ugh — Dems playing from a crouch again. The convention just voted to add “god” and “Jerusalem is the capital of Israel” to the platform post hoc. LOTS of no votes, and some turmoil on the floor.

  67. 67.

    The Moar You Know

    The whole Indian heritage non-issue still garners some snickers too.

    @Captain Haddock: Coulda been me. Been told by my mother all my life I was part Cheyenne.

    I bought it:

    a. she’s my mom, why would she lie?
    b. got no body hair at all
    c. dark as your average Mexican but don’t look like one

    Total bullshit lie, as it turns out. Ran a DNA exam, looks like we’re mostly Russian with some English/Scots in the mix. Not one drop of Amerindian blood at all.

    Turns out my mother’s been a selective and functional pathological liar all her life. A bunch of stuff I’ve been told about my family is flat-out not true. She didn’t even apologize when confronted with the test results.

    So I could see how Warren might have gotten the idea that she was something that she absolutely is not.

  69. 69.

    Humanities Grad

    @ Culture of Truth (or other board experts)

    IANAL, nor am I a tax accountant, so I’d appreciate it if you could explain how that’s even possible.

    How can somebody who’s a U.S. Rep (and apparently a very wealthy one) manage to find a way to completely avoid paying state income tax?

  70. 70.

    MikeJ

    @catclub:
    RNC (all week): 3 hits, McCain, Eastwood, Artur Davis.
    DNC (yesterday): 5 hits, Michelle Obama, Tammy Duckworth(2), Deval Patrick, Tim Kaine.

  72. 72.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @SatanicPanic: Mine is poor old Bob, who I think would’ve been a happier man and better pol if that coin he flipped to decide which party to run with had come down on the other side, plaintively growling “Where’s the outrage?!”

  75. 75.

    Shawn in ShowMe

    I expect Chuck Todd will join Howard Fineman tonight on the Concern Troll Board. Surefire post-game observations:
    -Clinton’s speech went on a bit too long
    -Yes, it was red meat for the base but did it really connect with voters outside the hall?
    -The other speakers failed to continue the momentum generated by an exciting first night.

    No matter how strong tonight’s speeches are, the talking head consensus will be that Obama has to “knock it out of the park/give the speech of his life” for this to be a successful convention. You know how these clowns roll.

  76. 76.

    Captain Haddock

    @The Moar You Know: I’m not criticizing her at all. I am just saying the whole story hurt her a little with the whole Howie Carr listening Boston Herald reading crowd (many of which are blue collar union Democrats).

  78. 78.

    jwb

    @aimai: In the last poll I looked at a couple of weeks ago, women were indeed breaking massively for Warren, but men were breaking even more massively for Brown. In this case, I really don’t get it. Especially all those fucking male Dems. The main thing she has in her favor at this point is that those men really, really hate the GOP, so if Obama pivots to an all-out assault on the GOP, that may get some of those men back.

  80. 80.

    eclare

    The Big Dog, Clinton, and the always amusing smaller, but just as biting, Barney Frank. And as a Costco fan, will be cool to see the former CEO speak.

  81. 81.

    mark

    @mamayaga: that was pretty funny! the floor CLEARLY voted NO, definitely NOT 2/3 voting in the affirmative. ol’ los angeles didn’t know what to do. He asked for the vote 4 times. i can’t believe they just forced it in there.

    after yesterday’s grand slam, why bother bending over for republican pundits like this? still too afraid of any little criticism

  82. 82.

    quannlace

    she is losing to Scottyboy Brown

    Oh, you mean the guy who talks to kings and queens all the time?

  83. 83.

    Culture of Truth

    @Humanities Grad: Petri was a partner in Lloyds of London and had assets in the company worth between $250,000 and $500,000 each year.

    Petri’s spokesman Niel Wright said that Petri paid no taxes for four years because of losses suffered by the Lloyds of London in the 9/11 attacks.

  87. 87.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Tweety is as hysterically happy about Bill Clinton now (“the big brother you want to deliver your eulogy”… okay) as he was hysterical about the desecration of the White House (“the people’s house!”) by the Clenis twenty years ago.

  88. 88.

    Culture of Truth

    “In 2011, Petri reported assets in the insurance company of between $1 million and $5 million and he still lists himself as a partner.”

    But he’s too poor to pay taxes!

  89. 89.

    joes527

    @MikeJ: It turns out that the $350 number isn’t even from the Obama camp, but from media sites.

    So, he wasn’t accusing Obama was lying, just saying that she couldn’t possibly look that good w/o spending more money.

    What a particularly catty thing for him to say.

  90. 90.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @mai naem:

    Talking of Cecile Richards makes me think of Planned Parenthood, which makes me think of Susan G. Komen, which makes me think of Karen Handel, which reminds me that Karen’s long-awaited tell-all book is due out next week. Don’t know whether any other media can even be arsed to mention it, but the Atlanta Journal-Constitution has been giving it front-page real estate today. Here’s a sample (caption to a photo of the authoress her own self):

    Karen Handel’s book “Planned Bullyhood,” due out Sept. 11, depicts Planned Parenthood as an aggressive, partisan organization and the Susan G. Komen charity as indecisive, timid and politically naive.

    Gosh, I can hardly wait to read it.

    (Okay, now, /snark off, there you go)

  91. 91.

    quannlace

    It’s hilarious how now Republicans are invoking this rosy, bi-partisan paradise that supposedly existed between them and Prez. Clinton. There seems to be no limit to the fantasies they can spin. J.K. Rowlings’ got nothing on them.

  92. 92.

    mamayaga

    @mark: Yeah — it pretty clearly sends a signal that they can bully Dems into anything with a little silly fauxtrage.

  93. 93.

    Patricia Kayden

    Looking forward to Sandra Fluke’s speech. Enjoying the hell out of this convention. Watching it now.

    Wonder if things will be so exciting in 2016 for Dems.

  94. 94.

    JPL

    @SiubhanDuinne: Cecile Richards according to Handel is political because she has a speaking slot at the convention. I have to wonder if Karen’s skin is starting to turn green.

  95. 95.

    Just Some Fuckhead

    Football.

    Won’t be watching the convention tonight. Frankly, it’s a little boring with the whole look-at-all-this-awesome-stuff-we-did-ain’t-we-the-greatest-things-ever-not-like-those-throwbacks-at-the-RNC schtick.

    Someone throw peanuts at John Cole or something.

  96. 96.

    Culture of Truth

    The American people don’t care about abortion – they care about the debt, deficit, and jobs, jobs, and jobwheretheamericanembassyinisraelis

  97. 97.

    fleeting expletive

    How disappointing that the convention amended their platform in order to fade the R’s and MSM criticism. It looks wimpy and insincere. What, you just forgot to mention a deity before but now it’s totally fixed.

    But, on the other hand I watched the whole shebang on C-SPAN yesterday and loved it, loved it, loved it.

  98. 98.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @dr. bloor:

    Did you happen to catch him ranting at Brooke Gladstone the other day on NPR’s “On the Media”? I have rarely heard anyone quite as gratuitously rude. And yes indeed, he does seem to be getting just a little bit more awful every time he gets close to a microphone.

  99. 99.

    pragmatism

    how sully manages to become outraged so that he can throw a bone to conservative pundits (pun intended).

  102. 102.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @JPL:

    I have to wonder if Karen’s skin is starting to turn green.

    Set her down next to Boehner and you’d have an Irish flag.

  104. 104.

    Judas Escargot, Acerbic Prophet of the Mighty Potato God

    @YoohooCthulhu:
    IMO this is what’s up with Warren/Brown.

    Also, one of the downsides of having the Dems dominate local politics is that the bench is wide, but not very deep. Dems cut their political teeth defeating other Dems, and aren’t used to heavy GOP opposition (notice how Coakley kind of assumed the job was hers once she won the primary). No way that Khazei was going to defeat Brown. And my initially preferred candidate, Mike Capuano of Somerville, is IMO a bit too ‘city’ to get the suburban WASP voters.

    IMO the only prominent Dem politician who could easily unseat Brown is a bit too busy being governor at the moment. Maybe in 2018, should there be yet another rematch.

  105. 105.

    Svensker

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    Former New Hampshire Gov. John Sununu questioned reports that the Tracey Reese dress Michelle Obama wore for her convention address Tuesday night cost $350 on a conference call with reporters Wednesday. Sununu accused the Obama campaign of peddling several lies, including the cost of the dress: “somehow I don’t think that’s the truth either.”

    Have they not heard of the Great Gazoogle? I found Tracy Reese’s website and the dresses range from $250-400. Took me about 4.8 seconds.

  106. 106.

    LanceThruster

    I’m getting ahead of myself a bit but I’m curious to see what VP Biden has in store for us.

  107. 107.

    Chris

    @fleeting expletive:

    I agree that it’s despicable, but I’ve completely given up hope of ever seeing the United States government not being an Israeli stooge. A liberal president may delay or halt the rightward drift for as long as he’s in office, but whenever the next Gooper rolls around, it’ll resume. If that ever changes, I don’t think it’ll be in my lifetime, and I’m not even 25.

  109. 109.

    MikeJ

    @catclub: Another count:
    Detroit
    RNC: 1. Mitt Romney mention he had lived there.
    DNC: 6. Rahm, Reid, Strickland, Castro, Penn, Schultz all talked about the auto industry.

  110. 110.

    Mnemosyne

    @Captain Haddock:

    I am just saying the whole story hurt her a little with the whole Howie Carr listening Boston Herald reading crowd (many of which are blue collar union Democrats).

    Because it hits two sore points: wimmins taking their jobs and minorities taking their jobs through affirmative action. Warren has a two-fer since it looks like Harvard tried to pump themselves up by claiming she was totally Cherokee even though she never seems to have used the claim for anything other than bragging rights, so it’s an easy thing for Republicans to exploit.

  111. 111.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @MikeJ:

    So Sununu says, “can’t believe she can look that good for that little money!”

    Michelle Obama would look spectacular in a burlap sack.

    John Sununu would still look like a slab of enraged lard in a $9,500 bespoke suit.

  112. 112.

    Culture of Truth

    Carly Fiorina nearly burst into tears on MTP at the thought of not being invited to speak at the RNC, and on Reach Out to Women Night, no less.

  113. 113.

    ? Martin

    @Svensker: Sununu sent a telegraph to Google and is anxiously awaiting their response. Conservatives don’t leap on every shiny button, you know!

  116. 116.

    aimai

    @jwb:

    I think its ressentiment of the downward mobility of blue collar and, to some extent, white collar males in the current economy. My friend who is doing door to door training for the Warren campaign told me that if a man answers the door at a DEMOCRATIC household they can’t even bring Warren up, if a woman answers and the guy is inside she will step out of the house to talk about how she is going to vote for Warren despite what her husband/boyfriend thinks. This is really a war between the sexes situation and one reason why it is happening is that Scott Brown has played the “nice guy (TM)” card so cleverly.

    When women realize its a national issue, a question of taking back a divided Senate to combat a crazed right wing agenda in the House they will crawl over broken glass to vote for her. But the men in MA see Brown as “not that bad” and they don’t pay enough attention to the political sphere or the demonization of women or the attacks on birth control to grasp that what is happening at the national level is really, really, going to affect them and their wives and daughters and sons. Brown is a trimmer and the voting guys are, well, I won’t say stupid but politics doesn’t mean to them what it means to a politically aware person. When they vote for Brown they feel good about themselves because they identify with him. And if they were to vote for Warren they would feel excluded (again) by a ticket headed by a black guy that is pushing another domineering woman on them.

    aimai

  118. 118.

    ? Martin

    @Culture of Truth: Carly Fiorina who won no elected office in the 2010 GOP surge and drove HP into a ditch? Yeah, quite the iconic figure for the GOP. How could they have possibly overlooked her?

  120. 120.

    jl

    @LanceThruster: Obama and Biden must have almost a dozen stump speeches on youtube. I think those will give you a good idea of what to expect. I expect they will pick the parts that worked the best, and massage in some special convention themes and snark for the GOP mess last week.I wonder if the vetting squad used their stumps for reference.

  121. 121.

    JGabriel

    __
    __
    SiubhanDuinne:

    John Sununu would still look like a slab of enraged lard in a $9,500 bespoke suit.

    Oh, come on. Is that really a fair way to treat a useful cooking byproduct, by comparing it to John Sununu?

    It’s just mean. What did lard ever do to you to deserve that kind of treatment, except provide tasty animal fat for your stews and fried foods? I call that kind of rhetoric damn ungrateful.

    .

  124. 124.

    gogol's wife

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    It’s kind of a tribute to Michelle Obama’s dress that it looked much better than Ann Romney’s, so one might believe it cost more. I didn’t see Ann Romney give her speech (couldn’t take it), but in the still pictures the dress looks kind of schlubby. Certainly compared to MO’s. I’m being petty and don’t usually pay attention to these things, but yeah, Obama’s dress looks better designed.

  125. 125.

    Soonergrunt

    @The Moar You Know: If I had a nickle for every American that honestly and falsely believes they have native blood, I’d be a fucking millionaire.
    It’s not as bad as her dickhead opponent, Scott Brown falsely claiming to be a regular guy. That’s just blindingly obvious bullshit right there.

  127. 127.

    Hill Dweller

    In a new Pew poll asking viewers for their highlight of the Republican convention, Eastwood’s debacle scored higher than Willard’s speech(20% to 17%). Lyin’ Ryan’s speech only scored 9%.

  130. 130.

    Soonergrunt

    On the live feed, one the founders of e-Bay is going after the republicans right now. I wonder if he’s going to say anything about Meg Whitman?

  131. 131.

    tom Levenson

    @aimai: Far from over yet. She gets the benefit of looking senatorial next to Brown in the debates. His biggest advantage right now is that he is the senator; the electorate is used to it after a couple of years when the heavens didn’t fall. When Warren stands next to him — particularly if he does something dickish, then she gets to be seen as a plausible holder of that job.

    Plus, the exposure tonight should help. Really. We in MA do like stars — and Scotty, for all his amiability, is not even a planet. Just a rather cute moon.

    He could still win, of course; he’s the favorite right now as well as the incumbent. But it is far from over.

  132. 132.

    Triassic Sands

    Clinton won’t get me to alter my zero minutes watching conventions this year.

    But Elizabeth Warren might. She is what the Democratic Party needs — not Clinton. Now, if 50% + 1 vote in Massachusetts can understand that, we’ll have the best new senator in many, many years.

  133. 133.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @JGabriel:

    Oh, come on. Is that really a fair way to treat a useful cooking byproduct, by comparing it to John Sununu?
    It’s just mean. What did lard ever do to you to deserve that kind of treatment, except provide tasty animal fat for your stews and fried foods? I call that kind of rhetoric damn ungrateful.

    My quadruple bypass and I apologize if we have offended any lards. That was not our intention. Mistakes were made in our inartful choice of words, which in any case were totally taken out of context.

  134. 134.

    aimai

    @? Martin:

    Well, what is your explanation for the voting patterns under discussion here? If a traditional “yellow dog dem” is going to vote both for Obama (because they hate Romney and never vote Republican at the national level) and going to vote for Scott Brown–a guy who has done literally nothing notable in office, who has voted a party line Republican ticket on all important national issues–what is your explanation? Upper class white male voters who are democrats are going to vote for Warren–and non white working class voters may swing for her as well–its Reagan Dem style white working class and white middle class males who are specifically going to split their ticket.

    aimai

  135. 135.

    MikeJ

    @schrodinger’s cat: I thought Romney looked fine. What’s amazing is that her simple dress that looks as if a suburban mom might wear it to a PTA meeting cost $1900.

    If a Republican wears an expensive dress, no matter how workaday it looks, she’s bringing glamour back. If a Democrat wears an inexpensive dress, she’s uppity.

  136. 136.

    Chris

    @Soonergrunt:

    If I had a nickle for every American that honestly and falsely believes they have native blood, I’d be a fucking millionaire.

    Tangentially related: if I had a nickel for every American that honestly and falsely believes that their European ancestors were royalty or aristocracy back in Ye Olde Country, I think I’d be even richer than you with the native thing. (My own family supposedly goes back to French nobility of some sort, going be the “De” in the old family name).

  137. 137.

    Beauzeaux

    @JPL: Who the fuck really cares what her dress cost? Or Mz Ann’s either?

    The Obamas have a substantial revenue stream from their various books. Mrs. Obama doesn’t have a paid job but her hubby has a good salary. She is actually pretty frugal and rarely wears really expensive clothes.

    It’s not taxpayer money she’s spending so what’s the point?

  138. 138.

    Violet

    @aimai: Thanks for that. Really insightful. Are there any white guy Dems in MA who can play to those men? Can they go out as surrogates?

  139. 139.

    schrodinger's cat

    @MikeJ: @MikeJ: Do suburban moms wear dresses like that? May be in the Mad Men era, which I guess is what Ann Romney was going for, since they want to take the country back to the 50s.

  140. 140.

    aimai

    @tom Levenson:

    Tom, I only hope he does do something dickish. And I think he will because he is all about the glamorous women (his wife and daughters) and he despises older, successful, democratic women like Warren. But I’ve got to tell you I’m worried. What women and liberals love in her–her feisty style, her intellectual history of fighting for the middle class– a certain kind of male really hates. They tell the pollsters they feel “lectured to.” I’m not so sure she won’t end up alienating people like that in the debates. As I said to Warren’s people at a house party: “Massachusetts will love her as their Senator if they ever elect her. She’ll never lose another election and can serve 40 years if she wants. But they may not elect her. They will love a Harvard Egghead in office but they might not vote for one.”

    If Brown tries to overbear her he’ll blow it. But he isn’t really that dumb. He was a JAG for christ’s sake. He’s as much a lawyer as she is. And his mediagenic wife and girls will be all over weeping and wailing about how daddy is such a gentleman and that mean, dyky, old lady was frowning at him.

    aimai

  142. 142.

    LanceThruster

    @MikeJ:

    What’s amazing is that her simple dress that looks as if a suburban mom might wear it to a PTA meeting cost $1900.

    All I can think of regarding that statement is that it might look like a $1900 dress on someone else, but on her it really kinda looked like she got it from the bargain bin.

    I hate being catty about style but there’s very few of her outfits I thought were fashionable (or telegenic) in the least.

    It’s as if it’s supposed to represent a button-down, chaste, LDS regular mom sensibility, with a little “we got bucks” snobbery thrown in. Didn’t seem to work on any level.

  143. 143.

    Chris

    @aimai:

    They tell the pollsters they feel “lectured to.”

    Translation: she’s saying something perfectly true but which makes you feel uncomfortable so you’re going to whine about the messenger. (What liberal-bashers actually mean when they complain about liberals being “condescending,” “smug,” “lecturing” or whatever).

  144. 144.

    Anne Laurie

    @YoohooCthulhu:

    The race is a toss-up, and it is because a) Brown is an incumbent, and b) Brown has studiously avoided bringing up any big national Republican issues.

    This doesn’t seem to be mentioned in the national media, but Scott Brown’s tv ads never use the word “Republican”. He calls himself an independent (which is a real voting bloc here in New England), he has a handful of elderly DINOs endorsing him, he says Warren has the same policies as That Black Man in “Our” White House, but he won’t sack up and admit that he’s a fecking Republican!

  145. 145.

    Mary G

    The Republicans can’t believe Michelle’s dress costs so little, because after all, they spent $100,000 on Sarah Palin’s outfits.

  146. 146.

    aimai

    @Violet:

    I don’t really know anything about suburban and exurban politics here except that its dominated by unhappy and pouty republicans and independents who feel ignored by, and insulted by, Democratic “city” politics and politicians. That’s why those people moved out to the burbs and exurbs. There won’t be much conversion of those people and I can’t think of any people with name recognition that will have much luck.

    Which is why Warren’s people need a steady stream of small, local, endorsements and kitchen table conversations about why voting for the Senate isn’t really your last chance to stick your finger in the eye of your local democratic state rep or congressman, or your fantasy of the democratic legislators in Boston. Its really your chance to make a difference on the national stage.

    People in MA have tolerated Kerry in office for a gazillion years. His office does good local outreach and constituent services but you hardly ever see or hear about Kerry and MA politics from one end of the year to the next. He does foreign policy, for god’s sakes. Showing people how Warren fits into Obama’s larger strategy for moving the country forward is the only way I can see to make MA voters realize they need to nationalize the election, that Senator isn’t just another local office.

    aimai

  147. 147.

    schrodinger's cat

    @LanceThruster: I for one think that Ann for all her expensive wardrobe can look quite dowdy, Michelle has the height and the body to carry off fashions that would not look good on the average women. Plus the arms! I has a jealous.

  148. 148.

    Anne Laurie

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    It remains one of smaller but most bizzare aspects of Willard’s campaign that they thought a bitter, nasty old fart whom only people with long memories remember as an arrogant, nasty, power-abusing hack would be a good surrogate.

    John “Prolapsed Pig Rectum” Sununu can take his precious stamp collection and shove it where Republicans get their facts. Fortunately for the country, he won’t be able to commandeer a government plane on the trip to do so. (I’m Irish and a Democrat, we never forget & rarely forgive.)

  152. 152.

    brettvk

    @gogol’s wife: One can feel a little sympathy for Ann’s fashion dilemma — she has to choose outfits that cover the temple garments. Even if they aren’t as dweeby and uncomfortable as they look, I bet they spoil the hang of a lot of non-Mormon designed clothes.

  153. 153.

    schrodinger's cat

    @MikeJ: She did look far better when McCain’s team was dressing her. This is just sad. The shoes look so ugly and uncomfortable.

  154. 154.

    schrodinger's cat

    @brettvk: There are a lot of Mormon fashion bloggers out there wearing skimpy and figure hugging outfits, may be they make the temple garments in spanx, these days.

  157. 157.

    brettvk

    @schrodinger’s cat: Wouldn’t it be fun to generate a schism in the LDS by introducing radically redesigned underoos? You’d have to already be a tribe member, of course, but you could claim that Moroni came to you and proclaimed the moral superiority of thongs, jocks and pasties made from sustainably grown natural fibers.

  160. 160.

    Lizzy L

    @YoohooCthulhu: You know, I’ve heard this before — that there’s a contingent of “centrist” Democrats in CA that like to vote for Republicans to show how unbiased and whatever they are.

    I’ve voted in CA for over 40 years, and I’ve never met any of these people. They’re mythical.

  161. 161.

    Lizzy L

    @YoohooCthulhu: You know, I’ve heard this before — that there’s a contingent of “centrist” Democrats in CA that like to vote for Republicans to show how unbiased and whatever they are.

    I’ve voted in CA for over 40 years, and I’ve never met any of these people. They’re mythical.

  165. 165.

    hep kitty

    I’m thinking plugging in to the big nostalgia for the Clinton years to hope, yes hope, that we can return to those times again, at least financially and in terms of fair taxation and greater economic equality, by re-electing the President. I know things started to go downhill in the 80’s but most of us hadn’t personally experienced the consequences yet.

    As much as I tried to fuck it up during those years, they were good times and I saw lots of economic growth and lots of jobs and opportunity for advancement. My fellow alums were getting good jobs and then leaving them for better money. I imagine the kids who grew up during that time should have some pretty fond memories as well before the bottom dropped out, during the Bush presidency. I know my niece had every material thing she could have wanted. Now, as a young college-educated woman, she is struggling to hold down a job and go back to school with consistent car problems.

  170. 170.

    hep kitty

    Almost all the RNC speakers benefited from government help, loans and contracts. But you wouldn’t know it to hear them talk, they just somehow scraped all that money together to start the small business, from scratch! Like magic money. Or at one time or another they worked at a pizza place or something so, unlike Obama, they know the value of work.

    But the Dems get to embrace and celebrate how the gov’t helped them, at one time or another, to get to where they are today. Even domestic abuse victims, now Congresswomen. If that doesn’t exemplify the good that gov’t can do, I don’t know what does. If that’s not liberty, I don’t know what is.

    Funny, it’s okay to carp on and on about liberty but we’re not supposed to talk about equality, as if the two aren’t closely related.

  172. 172.

    ? Martin

    @aimai:

    Well, what is your explanation for the voting patterns under discussion here?

    No, I was being serious. We really can be big entitled babies. Women and minorities get an equal shot at our jobs and we can’t help but whine and complain and run to the GOP to protect us.

    Pisses me off to see. Just lazy.

  174. 174.

    Mnemosyne

    @Chris:

    if I had a nickel for every American that honestly and falsely believes that their European ancestors were royalty or aristocracy back in Ye Olde Country, I think I’d be even richer than you with the native thing.

    Heh. I’m pretty sure there’s no royalty on either side of my family (we seem to come from a long line of rural sheepherders) but I am apparently descended from William Bradford, first governor of Virginia, on my mother’s side. One of my relatives did the genealogy (and she did it the hard way, in the pre-Ancestry.com days).

    But it was all downhill from there.

  175. 175.

    Patricia Kayden

    @jgaugust: Me too. Hope the Judge makes it clear that his orders are to be obeyed — even by Republicans who want to steal elections.

  176. 176.

    Mnemosyne

    @Mnemosyne:

    Wait a sec — for some reason, I’ve always been convinced that William Bradford was the governor of Virginia, but the magic Google tells me that he was the governor of the Plymouth Colony ie in Massachusetts.

    I feel dumb now. But I guess it makes more sense now that another ancestor on that same side fought in the American Revolution from Massachusetts.

  177. 177.

    Turgidson

    @pragmatism:

    Sullivan reflexively hates anyone who is too proudly liberal and/or populist, especially so if they’re a woman. Even when he more or less agrees with them. I mean, he pontificates on and on about how sensible Obama’s plans are, by and large, for the times we’re in. Obama and Warren hardly disagree on a damn thing, yet to the innumerate Tory douche, Warren is a cancer on the party who should be kept in a locked attic so as not to drive wavering independents away, while Obama is the bees knees. None of the innumerate clown’s criticisms of Warren are the least bit substantive.

    I really just don’t get the general hostility to Warren among MA Dems and Dem-leaners, regardless of gender. What in the hell is offensive about her? What policy idea has she mentioned that they don’t agree with? Even though I thought it was trite and ridiculous, I understood how Kerry’s style probably turned some people off, and Gore too. Warren seems down to earth and warm to me. And when she speaks, it’s with a quiet confidence, but doesn’t seem stilted or lecturing to me. Is it simply that she’s not playing “I’m one of you” game as well as Brown?

  178. 178.

    weaselone

    I am a male Massachusetts voter who will be enthusiastically casting his vote for Warren and Obama. That so many other members of my sex in MA will be filling in the oval for Brown this election irritates me to no end. If this were an election in which the Democrats were either guaranteed to hold or lose the Senate, I could almost understand it. When it comes to obtaining benefits from the Federal government, having all your legislatures come from a single party is a detriment to the state, especially when that party is out of power.

    1. Warren is extremely close to me politically on multiple issues, too close for me to vote for Brown just to decrease the imbalance between what MA pays in taxes to the Federal Government and what it gets back in benefits.

    2. Many of his positions stick in my craw even though he’s a moderate. A key example is his pandering for the vote of fishermen. He claims fishing regulations are to strict and catch limits, crippling the MA fishing industry. If he is wrong and gets his way in a couple of years the fishing industry would be destroyed when the fisheries collapse. Pandering to people by offering “solutions” that could ultimately destroy their way of life is a deal breaker for me.

    3. The Senate is in play. It’s one thing if Brown just ends up as a moderate Republican in a Senate dominated by either Republicans or Democrats. It’s another thing altogether if he ends up as the 51st Republican Senator. Then it doesn’t matter how moderate he is, he is just another vote to push along the agenda of the rest of the loons that make up his party.

  179. 179.

    WereBear

    @hep kitty: It might have been a simpler time, or at least the stories were: I grew up with all these tales about saving one’s pennies, getting discovered because of talent, building a business on a shoestring, etc.

    But it’s all lies.

    When you dig down, William Styron married an heiress and James Joyce and Charles Bukowski had sponsors who gave them money to live on while they wrote. Maybe Bill Gates is a genius but he also had rich parents who bankrolled his early efforts; they even sent him to a school where he saw the first computers.

    Everyone else needs access to capital too.

  180. 180.

    Turgidson

    @weaselone:

    Yes. It seems obvious. Wouldn’t some ads be effective highlighting the inescapable possibility that the MA senate seat may also determine whether we have Majority Leader Harry “cram it up your ass, Romney. I’m with Barack” Reid or Majority Leader Mitch “my only goal is for Obama to lose” McConnell?

    Is the MA Democratic brass doing all they can to help Warren? Patrick, the Kennedy clan, etc.?

    I still have hope that there will be a big push for Warren down the home stretch and that Obama being at the top of the ticket will have coattails. But fuck, why is it even close? Sure, Brown’s not a mouthbreathing psycho like Jim DeMint, but he is clearly kind of a moron and will be a rubber stamp for the GOP when they need him to be.

  181. 181.

    aimai

    @Turgidson:

    I’m pretty stunned, myself. The antipathy towards Warren extends even to some people who plan to vote for her. I like her a lot, personally, and I’m drawn to her but I had an amazing conversation with a guy I know (he actually is the video store guy at the alternative hipply video store on Mass ave for locals). He and his wife are very left and are planning to vote for her but he can’t stand her mannerism of holding her thumb up–he feels she’s pointing it at him in a hectoring manner. I pointed out to him that its a gesture that represents, to her, a forceful willingness to stand by the points she’s making. Its actually a “thumb pointed up in a closed fist” not a shaking finger. We ended up agreeing that a great slogan for her would capitalize on this quality–every knock’s a boost if you market it right. We came up with this slogan:

    “Send the scary teacher to Washington” and we thought her symbol should be a ruler.

    The think is that her weakness–that a lot of MA guys are afraid of ballbusters–is also a strength if you can flip it so that her strength and agression is used for you and your family.

    aimai

  182. 182.

    weaselone

    It’s difficult to say exactly why it’s so close, although I suspect that all the cash flowing into Brown’s campaign from Wall Street and Boston’s Financial District plays a role, as does sexism, Brown branding himself as an independent and the fact that Brown’s wife is a player in the local media establishment probably plays a role.

  183. 183.

    cckids

    @MikeJ:

    So Sununu says, “can’t believe she can look that good for that little money!” But in fact, smart Democratic shoppers can.

    People as fit & comfortable in their skin as Michelle Obama is can look GREAT for “that little money”. Its just a matter of knowing what suits you & sticking with it. (ARMS!!) And, while the dress was gorgeous, you noticed Michelle first, then what she was wearing. Which should be the goal, yes?

    PS. I cannot believe an actual campaign surrogate, a male one at that, is bringing this up. What a tool.

  184. 184.

    WereBear

    @cckids: I cannot believe an actual campaign surrogate, a male one at that, is bringing this up. What a tool.

    It’s step up, actually: they are admitting she looks good, instead of screaming she’s somehow inappropriate with her casual shorts and great guns.

  186. 186.

    Matt McIrvin

    There hasn’t been a lot of polling of the Warren/Brown race, not like the presidential race. I’ve been reading a lot of articles about how Warren is flopping miserably, but it’s really on the basis of one PPP poll that shows her five points down, after polls in the summer that had her up a couple. Is that a real trend? It might be, but nobody can say.

    I think there’s also a sense among people who blame Martha Coakley for losing to Brown that Warren ought to be running away with it, if she were any good. I think part of it is that Brown is just really good at campaigning to comfortable suburbanites of the self-identified “socially liberal/fiscally conservative” persuasion, which is a lot of what we get around here. There are also more wingnuts in Massachusetts than you might think, especially working at some of the tech firms around 128 and environs, and they’ve got money.

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