I know I retired and all that, but my inner blogger won’t stop bothering me until I type down a couple of things.
1. You’re skewing it wrong
The big victim in the new un-skewing business is not so much movement conservatives, who do get progressively dumber every time an opinion leader decides they need to believe something that isn’t so, but Rasmuessen Reports itself. Scott Rasmuessen had a nice business model going as the FOX News of polling outfits, but his gig depends on flying under the radar. Who digs into party ID demographics when a poll comes out? Before Nate Silver, nobody did that. Now the list includes Nate Silver and the still-smallish number of people who read and talk about his blog. When the GOP needed a bounce, Ras just tweaked his demographics and the Republican pulled ahead. When they want a tight race Scott tweaks them back down again. Maybe the party needs to make it look like a Democratic gaffe had big impact in a couple of swing states. No problem! Since 2000 Ras made a point of bringing their demos in line by the last weeks of October so they finish in the middle of the pack on election night, which is the only time that counts when pollsters get ranked. As an exploit it’s up there with the tax trick in SimCity 1 where you could keep tax rates at 5% all year (explosive growth!) and hike it to 95% in the last week of December.
Faking a tight race takes serious work right now, so Ras has needed to ‘assume’ a pretty out-there distribution in party ID. Supporters and donors need just one more excuse to make tracks for local races, at which point the growing Romney stink would become a self-confirming prophecy, so you have to think the party is leaning pretty hard on Ras right now. Problem is, all of a sudden everyone is talking about voter ID demos like it’s the most important thing in the world, and Scott just got a whole lot less room to maneuver. That could become a real problem when he needs to tack back to reality in a couple of weeks. If Ras can’t pull it off the wild variance between his final line and the election results will, a) sink his credibility with normal folks, and b) supercharge Obama’s legitimacy issues with the dittoheads and the tea partiers. That last bit is a problem for all of us.
2. Curse your sudden but inevitable betrayal
Please stop with the buzzing about Conor Friedsdorf. The guy is a Republican operative. He does not write in all caps about birth certificates and Eric Holder implanting brain control chips using Fast and Furious Agenda 21 invisible helicopters to double-reverse steal your guns because that is not his beat. He and Megan McArdle play good cop to Michelle Malkin’s bad cop and Jennifer Rubin’s Baghdad Bob. Conor sells Republicanism to people who speak a foreign language. Folks who read books without pictures need to hear that you weighed all of the evidence in a careful manner, including if necessary ‘evidence’ from McArdlebargle’s magic calculator, that you scratched your chin in the way that serious people do and decided that in spite of all of the things that you like about the Democratic candidate, you just-durn-it have to go with the Republican this year.
His usual crowd will have a hard time buying that schtick with a product like Mitt effing Romney, so young Conor needs a plan B. Thus Conor, his Very Serious libertarian friends and Glenn Reynolds (also known as ‘the tell’) have grown this sudden raging stiffy for the Green candidate. Maybe you can’t sell Mitt, and one wonders when even the hard working Ms. Rubin will throw in the towel or throw a gear or something, but you can help Greenwald and the PUMAs sell their symbolic quest. Gary Johnson, the actual Libertarian candidate, is a serious problem for young Conor and he would just as soon you did not use his name in public.
David Fud
There’s something about throwing in the towel at this blog that guarantees a post within 24 hours.
libarbarian
I think you’re being unfair to CF.
David Fud
When speaking of these Republican operatives, is it assumed that they benefit somehow from their disingenuousness? Specifically, is Conor a case of balance-required wingnut welfare, or is he getting favors from big shots, or is he angling for a job in gubmint one day or…? Sometimes its all about the drinks and weenies, I guess, but I fail to see how he should be such a loyal lapdog as he is.
Mark S.
Awesome post, Tim. Get your ass back here!
But why is Gary Johnson a problem, because he takes votes away from Mitt? This is assuming Conor has a constituency of more than three people. And Johnson doesn’t have any racist newsletters in his past, like certain candidates ol’ GG sometimes pimps.
YellowJournalism
@David Fud: and at least three more after that. With puppy pics, please.
the Conster
It’s been so much fun to watch the Republican core melt down the last two weeks. 47% is the magic number, not 42. It’s like an incantation that exposes all of the frauds and their games. Fuck you Ras, Conor, JRub, and the rest of your fellow bullshit peddlers. I’m gonna need a bigger popcorn bowl.
22over7
Oh, thank god, another Conor post.
japa21
I think his credibility with normal folks is already shot. I am not sure Obama’s legitimacy issues with the dittoheads and tea partiers can be any more supercharged. I agree that it is a problem, but if Obama wins bigger than Rasmussen shows in his polls, that will be an excuse they use to justify but not the reason for the degree.
nitpicker
Quick question: Why do we care if wingnuts believe the polls or not?
Violet
Tim! Knew you couldn’t stay away Good to see you.
Yep. I can only hope Dems have learned a bit in the last four years, including words like “You’re lying, Republicans”.
gnomedad
For my money, Tim, keep “and another thing”-ing here as long as you want. :)
nitpicker
@22over7: With bonus McArdle sprinkles!
PeakVT
@nitpicker: 1) It’s funny to watch them be stupid, and 2) the right has a good track record of bullying the refs (the media). We don’t want the media portraying the rightmost polls as accurate.
Anya
I am glad you could’t quit us, Tim. Also, too, great post.
PurpleGirl
The only thing better than a Tim F. post about politics is a MAX picture.
Joey Maloney
@japa21:
Oh, my friend, my poor, poor, friend. If you have not learned from this blog that there is no Peak Wingnut, then you have learned nothing.
joes527
@japa21:
I think you could count the “normal folks” who are aware that there is a polling organization named Rasmuessen without taking off your shoes.
All “normal folks” hear is: “the latest poll found…”
Comrade Mary
/duct tapes Tim to FYWP
/adds a few bungee cords just in case
/now goes back to actually RTFP
eric
@nitpicker: ah, because they want to blame the polls and the liberal media for creating a self-fulfilling prophecy of Obama winning and Romney losing.
Odie Hugh Manatee
I didn’t get a chance to post in John’s thread about your leaving but I do want to say that I came here because of someone at Kos who pointed me to your outside-in status here at John’s House of Wingnut Pancakes. Are you leaving now that you have thoroughly corrupted John?
Mission accomplished? ;)
sylvanroad
WHERE’S MAX???!!
beltane
The new Romney webads that are appearing everywhere are horrible. Romney is promising “Recovery, not dependency”. If it weren’t for the fact that he ripped off the Obama 2008 color scheme, my first reaction would be to think these were advertisements for some sketchy substance abuse treatment center.
Birthmarker
love every word of this post!
Hal
Why are Republicans so damn anti-science? It’s like the party as a whole is trying to devolve back to living in caves and painting walls with berries.
It’s frightening to think of the number of voters and members of congress who basically think the world runs on fairy dust.
WaterGirl
@Odie Hugh Manatee: I am hoping these posts mean Tim is not leaving after all. :-)
I was just thinking about you yesterday, wondering how you are doing. I would appreciate an update, if you don’t mind.
the Conster
@beltane:
He keeps using that word dependency likes it’s a winner for him, when what it actually does is remind people of his contempt for half the country. Why can’t anyone on that team play this game?
Birthmarker
@beltane: The whole Romney campaign is starting to feel like some weird type of performance art. Like the entire goal is to inject ideas into the zeitgeist, not to win the election.
beltane
Our FP’ers here tend to post more when they’re taking a break from posting. Funny how that works.
wrb
I love everything about this post
jibeaux
Quickie voter stats I found at USA today as of 2011
Registered D: 42 million (43.75%)
Registered R: 30 million (31.25%)
Registered I: 24 million (25%)
So the number of registered R is much closer to the number of independents than D. The biggest growth industry in party registration lately has been in I. Obviously there is state by state variation. But the skewsters seem to think anything other than about 45D/45R/10I doesn’t match reality. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve read some comment like “but their sample is only 35% Republican!!” It’s like a variation on the climate change denial — the evidence is all around them, the facts are easily accessible, but the bubble is made out of the same stuff they use for the giant shark tanks at the aquarium.
comrade scott's agenda of rage
Several of my glibertarian/Embarassed Republican friends are publicly stating that they’re voting for Johnson. I heartily applaud their “principled” stance since that means one less vote for Rmoney.
Except that I don’t believe them. They’ll walk into the ballot box and pull that lever for the Repups they way they always have.
They’re not the kind to sit out elections more’s the pity. But if they do follow thru on the Johnson vote, I’ve become a big Johnson fan.
quannlace
That’s what I’ve been wondering. If they want to wrap the belief that the polls are wrong around them like a security blanket, let ’em! Election day will still dawn.
nitpicker
@eric: Yeah, but were I one of the big thinkers on the left, I’d be doing the opposite. The right’s embrace of this meme provides the perfect opportunity to finally demonstrate conclusively that the “liberal media” myth has always been bullshit. I actually said something like this before, so I’m not naive enough to believe it would kill the idea, but it gives the left a truly solid foundation from which to start working the refs from the other sideline.
Mark S.
@Odie Hugh Manatee:
He came in here and he trashed the place, and it’s not his place.
Forum Transmitted Disease
And I wouldn’t have a problem with this save that the Greens have been letting themselves be used as spoilers against Democrats with full knowledge that doing so helps insure Republican victories since at least 2006. And Conor and the rest of his gang of civilized thugs know this, hence the “raging stiffy”.
The Greens could have had a great legacy and been in a great position when the GOP finally comes unglued. Instead they’re going to go down in history as “useful idiots”.
Sad.
Kristine
Good post.
Also, too. HOW”S MAX??!!
Violet
@comrade scott’s agenda of rage:
If the polls show Obama pulling away, more “conservatives” may vote for Johnson because “Romney was going to lose anyway and I want my vote to stand for something.” It could have a snowball effect.
eemom
dayum, dude — when you rise from the grave you really rise from the grave. Rawkin zombie-post.
@22over7:
That would be the caveat.
ding dong
Forget the politics where are the awesome puppeh pics?
eemom
@quannlace:
And they will haz all that much bigger of a sad when the next day does, bwaaaahaaaahaaaaahaaaaaahaaaaa.
Bruce S
“He and Megan McArdle play good cop to Michelle Malkin’s bad cop”
Calling Michelle Malkin a “bad cop” is an egregious insult to bad cops across America. Unless, perhaps, you’re referring to Harvey Keitel’s character in “Bad Lieutenant.”
beltane
The Romney ads are paid for by an entity calling itself “Romney Victory, Inc.”. Is the Romney campaign itself a for-profit corporation? Maybe the money-grubbing weasel is running for POTUS as a way to improve his personal cash-flow and for no other reason.
Ash Can
@Mark S.: I think it’s a safe assumption that Gary Johnson is a problem for these guys because he’s the one taking votes away from Mitt, whereas they’re pushing the Green candidate in hopes that whoever-it-is will take votes away from Obama. (This is besides the fact that the existence of an actual Libertarian candidate, whom they’re obviously not supporting, gives lie to their oh-so-earnest claims that they’re Libertarians and embarrasses them.)
Elizabelle
But how can we take you seriously without a Max picture for authentification?
Plz don’t stay gone, Tim F.
Last: did you see this Jim Fallows blogpost?
Unsettling news for Sam Adams drinkers.
Jude
Thanks for referring to the outfit as “Ras.” Am I the only person who sees Liam Neeson playing Ras Al-Mussen as a movie villain now?
Jonathan
Well said. Charlie Pierce-esque.
David Hunt
@japa21:
You made that comment at 9:27 am, Friday September 28, 2012. You should remember that comment as you fondly look back at the relative sanity of these times in Mid-November of this year and Late-January of next year…
rlrr
Why are Republicans so damn anti-science? It’s like the party as a whole is trying to devolve back to living in caves and painting walls with berries.
Because science leads one to the conclusion that Adam and Eve most likely did not ride dinosaurs to church.
22over7
@beltane:
Seriously. I checked out Redstate this morning, and the commenters sounded like they were still drunk from last night (not that that’s a bad thing). Some had come to the conclusion that, not only should Romney listen more to Erick son of Erick, but also that Erick etc. had the power to make sure that his posts were read by Romney, and thus be acted upon immediately.
Also, moar puppeh pls.
Ruviana
@Hal: Nope, further back than that. Living in caves and painting on the walls can only lead to scientific thinking and discovery.
Also too, yay Tim F. Keep coming back.
hep kitty
That has to be the shortest retirement in history
hep kitty
@22over7:
Boy, I almost feel sorry for them. Hate to break it to those guys but, even if that were true, it’s a little late, doncha think fellas?
Monkey Business
I’ll be honest: I don’t know why everyone is bagging on Conor Friedersdorf.
Yes, he wrote a stupid post about not voting for President Obama over concerns about his foreign policy. I have concerns about Obama’s foreign policy too. I’m just not dense enough to think that withholding my vote for the Best Candidate Available is going to do anything other than make it more likely that Mitt Romney has access to nuclear weapons.
That being said, a lot of his articles are pretty good, or at least as good as anything else at The Atlantic. Can’t we save our scorn for David Brooks, who’s been churning out one big pile of slop after another for weeks now? I mean, there are actual honest-to-God morons out there that deserve, nay, NEED to be ridiculed and shamed into retirement.
rlrr
@rlrr:
But seriously, one characteristic of science is that established authority needs to be challenged – something conservatives can’t handle.
Comrade Mary
@Elizabelle: If I’m reading that chart correctly, the Democrats with the highest turnout rates are Canadian.
hep kitty
@Elizabelle:
All things considered, it’s the least he can do. Harrumph!
catclub
At TPM they are pointing out that Fox News is attacking the bias in the polls, but the FOX NEWS POLL also shows Obama ahead.
I am not sure what it is, but ‘You’re soaking in it.’ is clearly apt.
beltane
@22over7: Erick son of Erick has yet to realize that from the standpoint of his lordship Mitt Romney, he too is just another inconsequential peasant trapped in a cycle of dependency. Mitt Romney will never deign to listen to the advice of his servants, not even his most loyal ones.
This bit in The Guardian gave me my schadenfreude fix of the day http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/sep/27/romney-polls-enthusiasm-virginia-rally Only 200 people showed up at a Romney rally in Virginia? That, my friends, is what despair looks like.
Chris
@Hal:
Because science is about objectivity, and objectivity fucks them completely.
Odie Hugh Manatee
@WaterGirl:
Maintaining altitude, thanks for asking! I saw the specialist on Monday and he upped my MTX to six tabs (15 mg.) starting this weekend. The only thing I have noticed is that ‘time lag’ feeling the day afterward but that’s it (so far). I’m hoping to see some positive effects but only time will tell. I’ve been busier than a one-legged man in an ass-kicking contest lately so I haven’t been posting on here much.
How has life been treating you are your end? I hope you are doing well too!
Maude
It is hard to leave us behind Isn’t it?
Miss you.
Joey Giraud
@rlrr:
Why are Republicans so damn anti-science?
Oh, they love science just fine when it gives them atom bombs and iPhones. It’s the honesty of science that’s a PITA.
Deliciously cynical article, BTW. Just beautiful. The world needs more of this kind of wisdom.
22over7
@beltane:
Actually Erick etc. told his posters exactly that, although in somewhat kinder terms. I’m not going back to get the quote. I might get some on me.
danimal
My first comment on a Young Conor post, since they seem to be ubiquitous around here…
Young Conor is supporting the Green candidate? Really? Wow, that’s some impressive cynicism from a supposed libertarian ideologue. Gary Johnson is a perfectly respectable candidate for president, even if I won’t vote for him. There is no good reason why a purist like Young Conor shouldn’t support him. If Conor wants people to believe his sincerity in reluctantly criticizing Obama, maybe he should take a second look.
Judas Escargot, Acerbic Prophet of the Mighty Potato God
@Chris:
It’s hard to be a Reality-Creator/Authoritarian when pesky science and empirical observation by third parties keep getting in your way.
If your core mindset boils down to ‘becuz I sez so’, then science will be your enemy.
feebog
Tim F, we do not accept your resignation. You may cut down your posts to a couple a week, but thats it. A Max pic with each post is mandatory, a video even better. You are one of the main reasons I read this blog each day, please check in once in a while.
japa21
Okay, to those pointing out that we are probably not even close to peak wingnut, I submit. However, the real point of my statement above (though admittedly crudely stated) is that any differential between the Ras poll and the final result will not be a cause of any additional supercharging, although it will be used as an explanation for it.
Neldob
Could it be the GOParasites is setting up stealing the election (again)? If it’s really close then when R wins in any particular state it’s ‘see it was really close! hee heee’.
Biff Longbotham
Tim,
You ‘retired’ from this blog in much the same way that Jordan retired from basketball. Let’s hope not with the same results.
c u n d gulag
Please come back!
This was great analysis. THANKS!
eemom
@Monkey Business:
Speaking strictly for myself, bewilderment over all the attention lavished on an obscure little twerp who’s probably been old enough to vote in what, two presidential elections now? — is a factor.
Forum Transmitted Disease
@catclub: Over at RedState they’re lumping in Fox with all the rest of the “biased” pollsters.
The GOP is in for a circular firing squad the likes of which we’ve never seen the day after the election. My one hope is that it doesn’t become a literal firing squad.
That being said, in all honesty I do expect violence on and post-election day. I do not think it will be widespread.
Or something like that.Suffern Ace
@danimal: He’s supporting Johnson, although you would hardly notice. I though these postings were more interesting. Taking down Erik son of Erik’s notion that Romney was the elite candidate foisted on the party of true believers.
http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2012/09/dont-forget-hardcore-conservatives-sold-the-gop-on-mitt-romney/262806/
http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2012/09/erick-ericksons-elitist-conservative-idea-makes-no-sense/262865/
I actually agree. The odd thing about Romney is that the guy who gave Massachusetts romneycare got passed off as a conservative to republican voters. I think young Connor is correct – movement firebrands had a lot to do with the rebranding of Romney 1.0 as not just an “electable” candidate, but a true conservative. This happened in 2008, not 2012.
Bruce S
@Forum Transmitted Disease:
“The GOP is in for a circular firing squad the likes of which we’ve never seen the day after the election. My one hope is that it doesn’t become a literal firing squad.”
I don’t see why it will be any worse than after 2008, which gave rise to the Tea Party. I think you may be giving some phantom “GOP establishment” way too much credit. The core, institutional GOP has totally devolved into exactly what we see driving this election. They are who they are. Is William Kristol somehow going to “take back” the GOP, when in fact he’s helped push them in the direction of crazy. David Brooks and Peggy Noonan are fictional characters, in terms of the real-world politics of today’s Republican Party. I just don’t see how anything is going change much. I, for one, would have no particular objection to a literal firing squad if it thins their ranks, but I think any alleged sane GOPers have pretty much already been excluded from power. The only recourse would be for the GOP to quit holding primaries.
Lee
CTRL+F ‘MAX’
Apparently I’m not the only one outraged :)
Todd Dugdale
“Scott just got a whole lot less room to maneuver. That could become a real problem when he needs to tack back to reality in a couple of weeks.”
Rasmussen got lucky last time with the Lehman Leap. In 2010, he failed to adjust back to normal and he took a big hit. He will probably go down with the meme this time, rather than adjust.
There are enough gullible wingnuts out there who will say “most accurate” when Rasmussen’s name is mentioned, that it really doesn’t matter any more if he’s actually accurate. The rest of the people don’t count in Scotty’s business model. He has a gig with FNC, and he has a lucrative speaking sideline pushing Tea Party narratives. As long as he can point back to one single poll a decade ago that was close, he can keep that going.
Remember, Rasmussen single-handedly invented the PUMA myth out of whole cloth with his polling. No one else really ever duplicated his results with reasonably-sized samples. And he quietly dropped the whole thing before it could be hung around his neck. He’s a skilled liar.
Lee
@Forum Transmitted Disease:
I’m glad I’m not the only one expecting this.
Although to be fair, my wingnut friends have almost stopped posting on Facebook. I think they are starting to realize the situation they are in.
Larkspur
And again I wonder what in the sphincter of Hell has become of the Republican Party. Young Conor? Whatevs. He reeks of flopsweat, but I don’t want him to die or nothin, just take a shower and a long time out, and maybe donate the portion of his salary attributable to this column to one of the far better unpaid bloggers out here. Yi qi shen hu xi and carry on.
(“Yi qi shen hu xi”: ‘Verse-speak for “let’s take a deep breath”, but ‘verse-speak is notoriously unreliable. I like that.)
punkdavid
Sorry to see you step away, TIM. This was the best post on this site in weeks.
slag
I love this line! Glad to see I’m not the only one who uses it in situations like these. It quickly gets at the heart of the matter.
The Tragically Flip
The second part is embarassingly bad. CF is supporting Johnson. Equating him to McArdle is grossly unfair, McArdle is outrageously mendacious even by glibertarian standards. CF’s post attracted the attention of many liberal sites because he has some credibility as someone sincere about the drones and war stuff.
This post doesn’t just insult CF, but everyone who paid his post any attention. We fucking know about Movement Conservatives and the Kochtopus, but we also can (unlike Tim) discern between disingenous hacks like Glenn Reynolds and people who are consistent and likely sincere in their convictions like CF. I say that as someone who despises libertarianism.
Honestly this reads like every right wing blog post on Richard Clarke. You only missed “he’s got a book to sell” to get wingnut bingo. I happen to think CF is on the whole wrong, and voting for Obama is the more moral choice for swing state voters. But just that, he’s wrong. I’d need a lot more evidence of duplicity and disingenuity to agree he’s a Movement Conservative agent.
Hal
@Lee:
I just noticed this too a couple of weeks ago. I realized one friend of mine who was all anyone but Obama has not said a word in several weeks now.
Also, I jumped for joy yesterday because I saw my second Romney for President bumper sticker! I live in upstate NY and in Buffalo I see Obama stickers all the time. I wanted to ask the person in the car if I could have it as a collectors item.
Violet
@Bruce S:
Exactly right. The GOP in its current incarnation is not going to stop nominating ever more whacked out wingnuts. Either the GOP has to be destroyed and rebuilt or they’ll have to cut out the voters and just put up candidates decided upon in smoke filled rooms. I think both those options will amount to about the same thing in the end–GOP destruction.
Bruce S
I’m a long-time Atlantic reader/subscriber and Conor Freidsdorf isn’t even on my radar. Pay zero attention to him. I think that’s his lot in life as a writer/pundit – aside from all of the ink he gets here. Pretty much a nonentity.
Gloryb
@hep kitty: I know, rite?
General Stuck
@Forum Transmitted Disease:
When you peel all the profit promoting for big business, and all the other creature comforts that sustain today’s GOP like the culture issues, at the core they are about one thing that will trump all the rest when it is seen as becoming unattainable. That is political power.
It is going to be the mother of all circular firing squads rhetorically, if they lose big in Nov. Or an internal civil war for factions to exert dominance toward making itself electorally viable again. It could be that is impossible and the southern contingent running things now, and the remainder of the party suffer a split.
It should be a looking glass to this internal instability that can be viewed from the fact of who they nominated to be president in the current cycle. A chameleon without a core of belief, ultra panderer to soothe this or that faction with pretty and hollow words, fully fungible as related to what the candidate believes, or has believed in the past. Or said they believed in the past.
kindness
Conner and Megan are playing THE GOOD COP????
I picked a terrible time to stop huffing paint.
Quicksand
@hep kitty:
Like Brett Favre but hopefully without the cameraphone.
bcinaz
Hey! Tim F. if you’re making cameos now, please do not come in the door without Max
Thank you
That is all.
Mnemosyne
@The Tragically Flip:
CF is as consistent and sincere in his convictions as any glibertarian — he thinks that conservative and libertarian ideas are always right and their ideas are always better than anything liberals come up with. He may be reluctant to support Romney, but that doesn’t mean he’s a liberal in any way, shape, or form, or ever has been.
I don’t really get why we’re wasting so much time on a guy who has never supported Democrats or Democratic ideas and spends a lot of time undermining them so he can continue to get tax cuts out of proportion to what he actually contributes to society.
Arclite
WTF, this is the best Tim F post I’ve ever read, being here for about 5 years or so. And it comes after you retire!
smintheus
Actually, everybody who was serious about polling did this, going back to long before Silver was born.
nitpicker
@The Tragically Flip: No. I’m sorry, but Young Conor is kind of an anti-Rasmussen. He plays it all “both sides are bad” until it’s time to vote and then he finds some reason to decide voting for Democrats would be unconscionable. More in sorrow than in anger, of course. Just today he’s trying to explain away the fact Romney would be worse on a lot of these issues (and, by extension, that getting people to vote for Johnson or the Greens or whoever is akin to helping Romney) by suggesting Romney’s never really said he’d support waterboarding, but only dodges the question. But Romney, on audio, in the very article Conor mentions in the first paragraph says he doesn’t even believe waterboarding’s torture. Friedersdorf is a f**king joke.
nitpicker
@smintheus: But, before the internet, a lot of that stuff was less publicly available.
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
Great post. Thanks for coming back; please do so often. Now where the fuck is a Max pic?
scott
@The Tragically Flip: Yup. The stuff on CF is embarassingly tribal. CF and Greenwald have been very even-handed about criticizing the same things whether Bush or Obama have done them, and it’s refreshing to see people whose adherence to their principles is more important than their “brand.” Putting him on the same level as Reynolds and others whose principles are as negotiable as the whims of the GOP is over-the-top demonization and just bad reasoning. It’s weird that in an electoral environment where the Dems have less and less to worry about in the last few weeks the rhetorical attacks of their partisan supporters have gotten more unhinged and over the top.
Dan
Tim:
Conor Friedersdorf, in the very blog post in question:
http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2012/09/why-i-refuse-to-vote-for-barack-obama/262861/
Not mentioned once in said post: Green candidate Jill Stein.
WaterGirl
@Odie Hugh Manatee: I left just after 10 this morning and returned a few minutes ago. So glad to see an update from you. Yay on no new symptoms! So very glad that you are doing well.
Not sure how this works… Do they keep increasing the dose until you have side effects that are a big drag, and then scale back a bit? Or is there some specific dose they want to get you to?
All is well here!
KRK
“Curse your sudden but inevitable betrayal”
My favorite line in that show, perhaps in all shows ever. Nice post, Tim.