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You are here: Home / Sometimes you’re better off dead

Sometimes you’re better off dead

by DougJ|  October 5, 20125:09 pm| 181 Comments

This post is in: We Are All Mayans Now, Wingnut Event Horizon

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I come from a family of softies, so I don’t think I can count on any of them for this…but can one of you agree to euthanize me if I ever start to sound like Jack Welch? I’m thinking mistermix and eemom might be good angel of mercy candidates, but they are both older than I am so they may be just as senile as I am when the crucial moment arrives.

Update. Feel free to use a drone if you have to.

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Reader Interactions

181Comments

  1. 1.

    raven

    October 5, 2012 at 5:11 pm

    O the sisters of mercy they are not
    Departed or gone,
    They were waiting for me when I thought
    That I just can’t go on,
    And they brought me their comfort
    And later they brought me this song.
    O I hope you run into them
    You who’ve been traveling so long.

  2. 2.

    JenJen

    October 5, 2012 at 5:12 pm

    The Twitter tells me Jack Welch went on Hardball just a few minutes ago and doubled-down? Like, for serious?

  3. 3.

    raven

    October 5, 2012 at 5:12 pm

    @JenJen: Yep

    eta and they replay the show at 7pm est

  4. 4.

    Metrosexual Manichean Monster DougJ

    October 5, 2012 at 5:12 pm

    @JenJen:

    Yes, that’s why I say this. And I’m completely serious.

  5. 5.

    JenJen

    October 5, 2012 at 5:14 pm

    @raven: @Metrosexual Manichean Monster DougJ: Holy crap. I gotta see the 7:00 repeat.

  6. 6.

    Mark S.

    October 5, 2012 at 5:15 pm

    I promise I will strangle you with my totebag if it ever comes to that.

  7. 7.

    kindness

    October 5, 2012 at 5:15 pm

    Speaking of parasites….how much is GE still paying Welch in his pension?

  8. 8.

    Cris (without an H)

    October 5, 2012 at 5:16 pm

    Why don’t we just fit you with an collar like the one they put on Snake Plissken, and set it to explode if a sufficient number of your readers downvote your posts.

  9. 9.

    beltane

    October 5, 2012 at 5:16 pm

    Freddie DeBoer will euthanize you with droooonnnz.

  10. 10.

    trollhattan

    October 5, 2012 at 5:17 pm

    Sarah will be happy to mix you a special cocktail. She’s going to outlive everyone, so is a reliable Kevorkian.

  11. 11.

    Todd

    October 5, 2012 at 5:17 pm

    Picking eemom as your angel of mercy may be a bad choice, if your vision of an angel of mercy doesn’t include you in great health and running down the street from her as she tries to cleave your skull in two with a giant axe.

  12. 12.

    AnonPhenom

    October 5, 2012 at 5:17 pm

    We’ve had birther, poll doubters and now these guys. And what is “the conspiracy of the day“?

    Yer liberal media, right there.

  13. 13.

    EdTheRed

    October 5, 2012 at 5:18 pm

    Too many shadows, whispering voices
    Faces on posters, too many choices
    If, when, why, what?
    How much have you got?
    Have you got it, do you get it, if so, how often?
    And which do you choose, a hard or soft option?
    (How much do you need?)

  14. 14.

    Metrosexual Manichean Monster DougJ

    October 5, 2012 at 5:18 pm

    @beltane:

    Ha ha ha.

  15. 15.

    catclub

    October 5, 2012 at 5:19 pm

    and I thought my joke about ‘I think we’ve got an eater’
    would be in bad taste (hah!).

  16. 16.

    dollared

    October 5, 2012 at 5:19 pm

    As somebody who has worked under a “Jack Welch” employee management system for 15 years (and who has worked with brilliant, productive people forced out of GE), I would like to offer to become a Christian and believe in the existence of Hell, if someone would just assure me that Jack will go there and burn for all time.

    Never has anyone ever been so overrated and so dishonest. Basically, this brilliant industrial manager’s main accomplishment was turning his industrial powerhouse into a bank, and then cooking his books to make his bank look good.

  17. 17.

    danimal

    October 5, 2012 at 5:22 pm

    Obama should pay Jack Welch to keep spouting this nonsense. Buy air time, whatever it takes. How long do you think Romney wants people to obsess over “Why are the nation’s jobs numbers improving so much?”

    I’m sure Alexandra Petri will volunteer for your personal Death Panel if you troll her one more time…

  18. 18.

    Taylormattd

    October 5, 2012 at 5:22 pm

    I’m a Manchurian Monster, I’ll do it.

  19. 19.

    YellowJournalism

    October 5, 2012 at 5:22 pm

    John could be your angel of mercy, but only if you agree to donate your body to feeding Tunch.

  20. 20.

    David in NY

    October 5, 2012 at 5:22 pm

    Welch was the “speaker” at my older kid’s high school granduation, and an emptier, yet more self-important, person I’ve never seen. First of all, he wouldn’t take the time to draft a proper speech. He just had some student-body luminaries ask him a few questions, which gave him the opportunity to drop a few vapid “pearls of wisdom.” It was appalling.

    Also, he’s a fraud — perhaps literally. http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2012/10/ges-jack-welch-on-bls-book-cooking/

  21. 21.

    raven

    October 5, 2012 at 5:25 pm

    Snowcone in right for Heyward!

  22. 22.

    martha

    October 5, 2012 at 5:25 pm

    @dollared: As the spouse of someone who was tortured by an ex-GE manager who brought every horrible management lesson he learned from that lying pustule of a creature who’s now schilling with the oligarchs, I second this remark.

  23. 23.

    ? Martin

    October 5, 2012 at 5:25 pm

    @dollared:

    Basically, this brilliant industrial manager’s main accomplishment was turning his industrial powerhouse into a bank, and then cooking his books to make his bank look good.

    And yet he’s a Romney supporter…

  24. 24.

    Disco

    October 5, 2012 at 5:25 pm

    There’s a gun in your hand; it’s pointing at your head.

  25. 25.

    geg6

    October 5, 2012 at 5:29 pm

    Holy shit…if you weren’t watching Welch on Tweety, you ain’t seen nothing. A total meltdown. I don’t know how anyone can possibly take this guy seriously. He’s obviously too old and, possibly, demented that he’s lost it. Tweety, to his credit (and you could tell that he was sad to do it) held his feet to the fire and kept going at him. Finally, Welch basically admitted that he could point to no evidence of any conspiracy to cook the numbers but he just had a feeling. You know. A feeling.

    And then Tweety, after Welch was gone, said that Welch had himself predicted that the jobs numbers would show an unemployment rate of 7.9%, so the idea that this suspicious outcome from the BLS (??) must have included Jack Welch himself as one of the conspirators.

    Wow, it was pretty devastating. Welch looked and sounded like a senile old man.

  26. 26.

    Joel

    October 5, 2012 at 5:31 pm

    Sam Wang points out that three republican-leaning pollsters dumped polls today, all showing significant improvements for Mitt Romney in swing states. He’s wrong, of course, because the number is actually four.

  27. 27.

    raven

    October 5, 2012 at 5:31 pm

    @geg6: And I switched over to the Braves!

  28. 28.

    mdblanche

    October 5, 2012 at 5:31 pm

    @AnonPhenom: Coming soon from the makers of Unskewed Polls: Unskewed Jobs Reports.

  29. 29.

    Geoduck

    October 5, 2012 at 5:31 pm

    Gotta love the bug-eyed portrait of derangement that TPM added to their article about this.

  30. 30.

    David in NY

    October 5, 2012 at 5:31 pm

    @geg6: Thank you for that.

  31. 31.

    Mike G

    October 5, 2012 at 5:33 pm

    2008 had McCain, 2012 features Eastwood and now Welch in Old Man Yells At Cloud senile ranting discourse.

    I’ll bet that deep down Welch is enough of a sociopath to really believe he’s a management genius, and his book-cooking manipulation, gross mendacity and employee abuse never happened.

    From the looks of him he’ll be in the ground soon, and his sum contibution to the world was enriching himself and a handful of buddies through lying and cheating and bringing misery to thousands of hard-working employees who weren’t sociopathic enough to survive in his fetid swamp of backstabbing and numbers-manipulation.

    Funny how these people disbelieve evolution, anthropogenic climate change, Saddam’s nookyular weapons, labor statistics and many other facts and theories arrived at through rigorous verifiable processes; but believe in fantasy superstitions, magical thinking and pulled-from-their-ass feel-good self-justifying daydreams.

    I guess reality really does have a liberal bias.

  32. 32.

    Suffern ACE

    October 5, 2012 at 5:33 pm

    @geg6: For Tweety – considering that Jack started him on his route to pundit millions – that must have been a very difficult interview.

  33. 33.

    Brachiator

    October 5, 2012 at 5:34 pm

    @geg6:

    Holy shit…if you weren’t watching Welch on Tweety, you ain’t seen nothing. A total meltdown. I don’t know how anyone can possibly take this guy seriously.

    Trump. Welch.

    Amazing how Obama and the Democrats are giving oligarchs conniptions.

    You’d think there was a class war or something, and the 99 percent were finally getting the upper hand.

  34. 34.

    smith

    October 5, 2012 at 5:35 pm

    So it’s not his wife (as others have mentioned) writing his brain-dead tweets? He’s actually taking “credit” for them?

    He’s always been a conman and shyster. He and his equally idiotic wife are now involved in the diploma mill nonsense.

  35. 35.

    Enhanced Mooching Techniques

    October 5, 2012 at 5:36 pm

    Little Jackie’s wee wee waging should be example one of why the myth of an alpha male is just that, a myth.

  36. 36.

    Walker

    October 5, 2012 at 5:36 pm

    Jack Welch is just a believer in the confidence fairy

  37. 37.

    lamh35

    October 5, 2012 at 5:36 pm

    @JenJen: yep, someone should take grandpa Jack back to the nursing home.
    Jack Welch: ‘No Evidence’ Of BLS Conspiracy, But I Stand By BLS Conspiracy

  38. 38.

    Alex S.

    October 5, 2012 at 5:37 pm

    I wonder what Sully thinks.

  39. 39.

    raven

    October 5, 2012 at 5:37 pm

    @smith: Shit, he’s an Illini!

  40. 40.

    geg6

    October 5, 2012 at 5:38 pm

    @Suffern ACE:

    That’s what I was thinking. You could see that he didn’t want to do it, but Welch was sounding so crazy, he had to give him a chance to walk it back. But Welch wouldn’t take it. It was some real journamalism for our Tweety. He got the story despite his real feelings for Welch, which were evident but never got in the way of probing him for the truth. I thought he was great.

  41. 41.

    Punchy

    October 5, 2012 at 5:38 pm

    @Joel: Not just improvements in the polls, but leading in most of the swing states. Not sure how a state can go O+8 to R+1 in a week, so methinks this poll aint credible.

  42. 42.

    Enhanced Mooching Techniques

    October 5, 2012 at 5:39 pm

    @Brachiator:

    Amazing how Obama and the Democrats are giving oligarchs conniptions.

    Go read the article on Wash’s management of GE. The guys a conman like Trump. They are freaking out because Obama means an end to the permissive attitude that allowed them to run their cons.

  43. 43.

    catclub

    October 5, 2012 at 5:39 pm

    @Brachiator: “You’d think there was a class war or something, and the 99 percent were finally getting the upper hand.”

    well, the 99% might have gotten one hand untied from behind the back. Is that what you mean?

  44. 44.

    JPL

    October 5, 2012 at 5:40 pm

    @David in NY: Economix in the NYTimes has an article on Welch also.
    http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/10/05/good-news-for-the-worst-off/?hp

  45. 45.

    quannlace

    October 5, 2012 at 5:40 pm

    I promise I will strangle you with my totebag if it ever comes to that.

    And I’ll bring a date.

  46. 46.

    ? Martin

    October 5, 2012 at 5:41 pm

    @mdblanche:

    Coming soon from the makers of Unskewed Polls: Unskewed Jobs Reports.

    Already exists. Romney says the true unemployment rate is 11%, because he’s a job creator.

  47. 47.

    schrodinger's cat

    October 5, 2012 at 5:41 pm

    @Alex S.: I think he is still running in circles with his hair on fire. Now he has lost most of his hair.

  48. 48.

    raven

    October 5, 2012 at 5:41 pm

    2-0 Braves! Whoa-a-whoaaaaa!

  49. 49.

    jak

    October 5, 2012 at 5:41 pm

    Jack Welch auditioning for the William Shatner role in the revival of Shit My Dad Says.

  50. 50.

    Donut

    October 5, 2012 at 5:43 pm

    If you’re taking votes, DougJ, I say you go Samurai style. Seppuku followed by your Second severing your head from neck. You don’t suffer much, but still get high drama value. Big Bang for the buck.

  51. 51.

    Spatula

    October 5, 2012 at 5:43 pm

    DougJ, for the good of Balloon Juice, I would be happy to euthanize you NOW.

    Why wait?

  52. 52.

    slag

    October 5, 2012 at 5:45 pm

    Maybe we can get Welch and Trump a double billing somewhere in a prime time slot?

  53. 53.

    Enhanced Mooching Techniques

    October 5, 2012 at 5:47 pm

    @Donut: Don’t forget DougJ’s poem before he guts himself. He should also do it in front of a shrine to David Broder and the poem should read

    “Like blog posts, my life is fleeting
    With this act, deep the down both sides are the same”

  54. 54.

    David in NY

    October 5, 2012 at 5:47 pm

    @JPL: Like that last paragraph. Didn’t know a priest had ratter GE out.

  55. 55.

    schrodinger's cat

    October 5, 2012 at 5:52 pm

    @Joel: Well that seems GOP’s core demographic, senile old men, and they have an apt representative in Romney.

  56. 56.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    October 5, 2012 at 5:53 pm

    Any chance that this will blow back on Willard? It’s some crazy shit but I think it’s pretty inside blog-ball. I did see this am that Senator McPalin got conspiracy curious but then had to walk it back pretty quick.

  57. 57.

    Amir Khalid

    October 5, 2012 at 5:54 pm

    @Spatula:
    Having exhausted for now the subject of his portrait art, our friend the kitchen tool returns to the commenting style that has made him so popular among the Balloon Juice commentariat.

  58. 58.

    Spatula

    October 5, 2012 at 5:57 pm

    @Amir Khalid:

    Having exhausted for now the subject of his portrait art, our friend the kitchen tool returns to the commenting style that has made him so popular among the Balloon Juice commentariat.

    Here’s that weird thin skin BJ commenter/FP thing: They sling vile shit right and left at all with whom they disagree, but when the same style is used in retort, they shit their pants with what can only be faux outrage, such as that of Amir here, who is afraid for DougJ’s tender fee fees. I am pretty sure he can handle it, Mr. or Ms. Khalid.

  59. 59.

    Amir Khalid

    October 5, 2012 at 6:00 pm

    @Spatula:
    Sez the paragon of civility.

  60. 60.

    Spatula

    October 5, 2012 at 6:00 pm

    @Amir Khalid:

    TAKE THIS!

    The subject of my portrait art shall never be “exhausted,” my friend. There are more than 200 now and more coming out of my fingers every day. :)

  61. 61.

    Schlemizel

    October 5, 2012 at 6:01 pm

    @Brachiator:

    Upper hand hell! We have not even pushed back to 90’s levels of abuse of the 99%. If the day ever comes that the 99% actually started to get the upper hand this cycle will look like a cakewalk – a real one not a Cheney one

  62. 62.

    Tara the Antisocial Social Worker

    October 5, 2012 at 6:01 pm

    It’s perfectly simple. Everything’s a conspiracy.

    The BLS is in on it.
    The media is in on it.
    The pollsters are in on it.
    The Registrar of Voters is in on it.
    The Bureau of Vital Statistics in Honolulu is in on it.
    The Homosexual Agenda (TM) is in on it.
    Your mother is in on it.

    The only person not in on it is Jack Welch, and that’s only because he’s too oblivious.

  63. 63.

    Spatula

    October 5, 2012 at 6:02 pm

    @Amir Khalid:

    Please reference where I have ever held myself up as a paragon of civility. NO ONE at this blog is that. Most of all its lord and master Cole. But you knew that.

  64. 64.

    slag

    October 5, 2012 at 6:02 pm

    @dollared: Welch’s management style is little more than a redistribution of responsibility from higher-ranked employees to lower-ranked employees. That’s why MOTU types have loved it so much and why Welch is such a perfect emblem of the problems with the GOP. Shifting responsibility for their own failures to those less powerful is their one and only area of competence.

  65. 65.

    JPL

    October 5, 2012 at 6:04 pm

    Matthews/Welch is now up on Mediaite

  66. 66.

    Amir Khalid

    October 5, 2012 at 6:11 pm

    @Donut:
    I don’t think seppuku will work for what Metrosexual Manichean Monster DougJ has in mind. You need to be able to wield the sword to disembowel yourself. Remember, this is for when his mind is so far gone that he’s talking like Jack Welch. I’d keep it simple, avoid the theatrics (not to mention the cleanup costs), and go for a nice relaxing morphine overdose.

  67. 67.

    slag

    October 5, 2012 at 6:11 pm

    @Spatula: Well, you’re certainly a paragon of something. Sadly, civility demands that I not say what that is.

  68. 68.

    Matt McIrvin

    October 5, 2012 at 6:13 pm

    Have you ever been a fear-besotted, shrivel-hearted Fortune 500 CEO?

  69. 69.

    Spatula

    October 5, 2012 at 6:13 pm

    @slag:

    Sadly, civility demands that I not say what that is.

    But we’ve established civility at BJ is nonexistent, so please…go ahead. :D

  70. 70.

    ? Martin

    October 5, 2012 at 6:14 pm

    Oh, I have to ask – am I a bad person for telling my 11 year old daughter to ask the DARE instructor what butt chugging is?

  71. 71.

    SRW1

    October 5, 2012 at 6:14 pm

    @raven:

    Don’t turn on the lights,
    you can read their address by the moon.

  72. 72.

    Paul

    October 5, 2012 at 6:15 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    Any chance that this will blow back on Willard?

    Most people don’t know who this insignificant out of touch Welch guy is. The big picture is that the jobs report showed a lot of jobs being added (not just this month, but also the previous months). And as people are getting jobs, they feel better about Obama. People voting with their pocket books and all that…

    And Romney supporters such as the useless Welch can’t stand it as he showed by losing his temper this morning.

  73. 73.

    xian

    October 5, 2012 at 6:15 pm

    @Amir Khalid: dude things you are defending the can-handle-himself dougj and not simply commenting on his “off” tone and weird rabid attack mode

  74. 74.

    Jay C

    October 5, 2012 at 6:16 pm

    @Joel:
    @Punchy:

    No sh*t, those “Republican-leaning” polls aren’t credible – to people in the real world: but that’s probably not their target audience. It’s amazing how quickly the RWNM can get new and improved memes together to counteract the negative effects of that pesky reality. I’m guessing these “polls” are meant to get alternative figures Out There in the media, so that pundits can have more Republican-flavored BS to add to their “horserace” narrative; i.e. “Well, most some polls in Ohio/Florida/Pennsylvania have Obama up by 6-7 points, but ElephantAssOpinionCo has Romney up by nine, so it’s a tighter race than we thought!”
    And what’s the saddest part is that this crap tends to work…

  75. 75.

    Suffern ACE

    October 5, 2012 at 6:17 pm

    @? Martin: Well, one of many reasons. The list is growing longer.

  76. 76.

    TheronWare

    October 5, 2012 at 6:18 pm

    I’ll bet Welch starts raving about black helicopters in 3..2..1

  77. 77.

    arguingwithsignposts

    October 5, 2012 at 6:18 pm

    @Spatula:

    DougJ, for the good of Balloon Juice, I would be happy to euthanize you NOW.

    Hello, Mr. Pot! Have you met Mr. Kettle?

  78. 78.

    Suffern ACE

    October 5, 2012 at 6:20 pm

    @TheronWare: Bah. Those helicopters are most likely made by United Technologies. Now way. Black wind turbines.

  79. 79.

    Brachiator

    October 5, 2012 at 6:20 pm

    @catclub:
    RE: “You’d think there was a class war or something, and the 99 percent were finally getting the upper hand.”

    well, the 99% might have gotten one hand untied from behind the back. Is that what you mean?

    The oligarch’s are afraid of even a one handed bitchslap.

  80. 80.

    NotMax

    October 5, 2012 at 6:21 pm

    Haven’t made my usual rounds of news places yet. Movin’ kind of slow today.

    Has Chik-Fil-A already put in a bid on Big Bird’s carcass?

  81. 81.

    Spatula

    October 5, 2012 at 6:21 pm

    @arguingwithsignposts:

    Fair enough!

  82. 82.

    Amir Khalid

    October 5, 2012 at 6:23 pm

    @xian:
    That’s kitchen tool all over, on any subject but his art: sod reading comprehension, and go for the nearest ankle.

  83. 83.

    xian

    October 5, 2012 at 6:24 pm

    and by things I mean thinks

  84. 84.

    handy

    October 5, 2012 at 6:25 pm

    @arguingwithsignposts:

    Have you read the update? DougJ is willing to be drone-attacked. What happened to embracing that good ole liberal value called death-with-dignity?

  85. 85.

    Amir Khalid

    October 5, 2012 at 6:26 pm

    @? Martin:
    Yes you are, but it’s an admirable kind of bad.

  86. 86.

    maya

    October 5, 2012 at 6:27 pm

    MMMdougj.

    There was an episode on Magnum P.I. where a friend of TM was facing a life-ending illness, IIRC. He chose to take a long hang-glide trip from the Hawaiian coast and TM saw him off. Great way to go out. If you’re really too old, someone can still strap you in.

  87. 87.

    Howard Beale IV

    October 5, 2012 at 6:28 pm

    @dollared: +1-especially on the cooking the books.

  88. 88.

    LanceThruster

    October 5, 2012 at 6:28 pm

    Save the last priest’s entrails for strangling.

  89. 89.

    Randy P

    October 5, 2012 at 6:28 pm

    My hatred of Jack Welch is personal. He was the guy who screwed and lied to my dad and everyone else who was involved in manufacturing with GE, all the while being praised as the model of the ideal CEO in the business world.

  90. 90.

    danimal

    October 5, 2012 at 6:31 pm

    @? Martin: Yes. But that’s pretty damn funny child-trolling.

  91. 91.

    arguingwithsignposts

    October 5, 2012 at 6:32 pm

    I would be happy if someone took a drone to this goddamn spit and bailing wire contraption of a comment system. FYWP.

  92. 92.

    Thoughtcrime

    October 5, 2012 at 6:32 pm

    Romney/Ryan: A Bitter America

    Romney Online Rapid Response Director Leonardo Alcivar tweeted a bitter reaction to an Obama Truth Team tweet on today’s lowered unemployment rate:

    “YAY!” Said nobody. RT @truthteam2012: The unemployment rate dropped below 8% for the first time since January 2009: pic.twitter.com/X5jrqES7

    https://twitter.com/alcivar/status/254271502248210432

  93. 93.

    geg6

    October 5, 2012 at 6:33 pm

    @Randy P:

    Well, then take a lot of satisfaction in the fact that he is now exposed as a wild-eyed crazy person who is no better than the Donald at this point. I’m telling you, that interview was a trainwreck for him. Catch Tweety’s 7pm showing, if you haven’t already. He’s practically drooling on camera.

  94. 94.

    ? Martin

    October 5, 2012 at 6:34 pm

    @danimal: If anyone has any other good questions for the DARE officer…

    See, she proudly proclaimed that she was a Yankees fan, so I must punish her.

  95. 95.

    SatanicPanic

    October 5, 2012 at 6:36 pm

    @? Martin: That’s pretty good. Do you plan on having the same fun with her sex-ed teachers?

  96. 96.

    J.

    October 5, 2012 at 6:36 pm

    So when it was brought to light that GE had done many bad things (under Jack Welch) and then changed it’s slogan to “imagination at work,” I wonder if they knew just what an imagination Welch had.

  97. 97.

    trollhattan

    October 5, 2012 at 6:37 pm

    @TheronWare:
    Not Welch, but the always reliable Wayne LaPierre stumped for Willard yesterday and the clip I heard had him saying, “When the glass breaks at two in the morning, are you going to wait for blue-helmeted UN soldiers to come help you?”

    Fuckin’-A dude, that’s a big slab o’ red wingnut paranoiaroast right there.

    Willard definitely tacking to the center.

  98. 98.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    October 5, 2012 at 6:38 pm

    @geg6: There was a Tweety show back in ’06 or so, Welch was whimpering about how he couldn’t figure out how things have gone so badly, when President Bush had made all the right decisions. I’ve tried to find it, but I lack the googling skills to sort through the myriad matthews-welch hits. He looked so old and confused five plus years ago, it seems like it would be a kindness to ignore him. I’m sure Tweety fawned all over him.

  99. 99.

    blingee

    October 5, 2012 at 6:40 pm

    Cue Greenwald booger eater Cole saying we should all just throw our hands in the air, give up and let the Republicans take the country over the cliff….then he will mumble something about the dronezzzz that are watching him…..and then he will talk about something stupid his dog did.

  100. 100.

    Lojasmo

    October 5, 2012 at 6:40 pm

    OPEN THREAD, I guess?

    Going to be in seattle with the wife (no kid) at the end of November/Early December. Any chance of a post-election meetup?

    Jason

  101. 101.

    geg6

    October 5, 2012 at 6:40 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    No, he didn’t. He pounded him pretty hard, IMHO. Tweety actually does have a real personal relationship with Welch. This was hard for him, you could see it, but he kept going after him. I felt bad for ol’ Tweety.

  102. 102.

    trollhattan

    October 5, 2012 at 6:41 pm

    @blingee:
    Again: HAVE YOU TAKEN YOUR MEDS?

  103. 103.

    Randy P

    October 5, 2012 at 6:42 pm

    @blingee: You have an invisible Cole in an empty chair in your kitchen?

    Maybe you need a better class of invisible friend.

  104. 104.

    handy

    October 5, 2012 at 6:43 pm

    @blingee:

    and then he will talk about something stupid his dog did.

    wait isn’t this the real reason everybody else come here anyway? it can’t just be me.

  105. 105.

    Hill Dweller

    October 5, 2012 at 6:43 pm

    Apparently, Steve Forbes has jumped on the BLS Truther bandwagon.

  106. 106.

    MikeJ

    October 5, 2012 at 6:44 pm

    @Lojasmo:

    Going to be in seattle with the wife (no kid) at the end of November/Early December. Any chance of a post-election meetup?

    Sounds good to me. We’ve got time to mull it over.

    I hear Vessel is open again…

  107. 107.

    Beauzeaux

    October 5, 2012 at 6:45 pm

    Jack met his current wife while still married to wife #1. Future wife #2 interviewed him for the Harvard Business Review — an interview that continued over a period of several days and nights.(After a while they let wife #1 in on the secret and she, happily, took JW for many millions of dollars.)

    In our household, being interviewed for the Harvard Business Review is interchangeable with hiking the Appalachian trail.

  108. 108.

    ? Martin

    October 5, 2012 at 6:45 pm

    @SatanicPanic: If they’re Yankees fan, you bet. Well, maybe even if they aren’t…

  109. 109.

    trollhattan

    October 5, 2012 at 6:46 pm

    @Hill Dweller:
    Rich, feckless drone says, “Huh?” Steve Forbes is the best living[sic] example of why we must retain the inheritance tax.

  110. 110.

    blingee

    October 5, 2012 at 6:48 pm

    @handy: Personally I’m here for the recipes.

  111. 111.

    trollhattan

    October 5, 2012 at 6:49 pm

    @Beauzeaux:
    Welch reminds me of the sort of tycoon whose idea of wooing a woman is chasing her around a conference table yelling, “C’mere you little filly!”

  112. 112.

    ding dong

    October 5, 2012 at 6:50 pm

    Just wondering which other crazy old mens’ reputations I would like to be viewed asused toilet paper? Dick cheney fer sure. Rummy. Krauthahmah. Rupert murdoch. David koch.

  113. 113.

    trollhattan

    October 5, 2012 at 6:50 pm

    @MikeJ:
    If y’all have kittehs, enter this so you can collect your prize up there at election time.

    http://blogs.seattletimes.com/politicsnorthwest/2012/09/27/political-video-contest-make-and-share-your-own/

  114. 114.

    geg6

    October 5, 2012 at 6:50 pm

    @trollhattan:

    Heh. Seriously.

  115. 115.

    bemused

    October 5, 2012 at 6:54 pm

    Maybe it’s been mentioned already but Welch said he’d like factories on ships in the ocean to avoid all countries taxes.

    When all these rich assholes socialize together, it must be a riot. Everyone competing with each other with stories of who is the bigger asshole and has the most possessions.

  116. 116.

    Paul

    October 5, 2012 at 6:55 pm

    @Thoughtcrime:

    “YAY!” Said nobody. RT @truthteam2012: The unemployment rate dropped below 8% for the first time since January 2009: pic.twitter.com/X5jrqES7

    Romney/Ryan 2012 – Rooting against America

  117. 117.

    sharl

    October 5, 2012 at 6:59 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: I remember that – Somerby’s invisible analysts emitted low mordant chuckles when David Gergen didn’t “follow the script” on the economic situation, so Tweety brought on the more reliable Mr. Welch the following night.

    Link covering the Welch interview is here; you’ll find discussion (and a link) to the previous night’s interview with Gergen there as well.

    I wonder why Tweety seems to have gotten decent these past few years…
    Decent or not, I still think he’s kinda nuts.

  118. 118.

    Yutsano

    October 5, 2012 at 7:00 pm

    @MikeJ: Sounds like a plan, we’ll keep things loose.

  119. 119.

    rlrr

    October 5, 2012 at 7:01 pm

    Sometimes I think I’d be better off dead. No, wait. Not me, you.
    — Jack Handey

  120. 120.

    RaflW

    October 5, 2012 at 7:03 pm

    We’ll be better off dead soon. Because Mark -Halperin- Helperin has a new novel coming out.

    ETA: Never mind.

  121. 121.

    MikeJ

    October 5, 2012 at 7:09 pm

    @Yutsano: A bit tighter than last time though, when we were so loose we never got a meetup.

  122. 122.

    LD50

    October 5, 2012 at 7:14 pm

    @geg6:

    Welch looked and sounded like a senile old man.

    Except much younger Republicans say the same thing. They just don’t have some kind of biological excuse. Probably.

  123. 123.

    Violet

    October 5, 2012 at 7:17 pm

    Watching the repeat of Hardball. WTF is up with Jack Welch’s voice? He sounds like the Wicked Witch in the Wizard of Oz.

  124. 124.

    LD50

    October 5, 2012 at 7:17 pm

    @Spatula: Jesus, that’s an eyesore.

  125. 125.

    Tara the Antisocial Social Worker

    October 5, 2012 at 7:18 pm

    @TheronWare:

    I’ll bet Welch starts raving about black helicopters in 3..2..1

    I never did understand that one. If you’re in charge of a massive international conspiracy, you can’t spring for some paint to disguise the helicopters?

  126. 126.

    YellowJournalism

    October 5, 2012 at 7:18 pm

    @? Martin: you are a horrible person for having her ask, but you’re a goddamn saint for making me laugh after a day that’s been nothin but worry and tears due to some personal issues.

  127. 127.

    jeffreyw

    October 5, 2012 at 7:18 pm

    I like pie.

  128. 128.

    Lojasmo

    October 5, 2012 at 7:19 pm

    @Yutsano:
    Woot!

  129. 129.

    LD50

    October 5, 2012 at 7:21 pm

    @blingee: And yet, here you are anyway.

  130. 130.

    Yutsano

    October 5, 2012 at 7:22 pm

    @MikeJ: In our defence, though, that had more to do with BG’s in-laws than anything else. And I looked up the Montlake Alehouse online, totally forgot that Drinking Liberally meets there. Should be a raucuous election night plus good odds CaseyL will be there too.

  131. 131.

    RaflW

    October 5, 2012 at 7:24 pm

    @Hill Dweller:

    Steve Forbes has to know that the GOP doesn’t like gays, right?

  132. 132.

    Suffern ACE

    October 5, 2012 at 7:24 pm

    @Tara the Antisocial Social Worker: They are part of some fly by night organization.

  133. 133.

    Suffern ACE

    October 5, 2012 at 7:25 pm

    @RaflW: I thought that was Malcolm.

  134. 134.

    Higgs Boson's Mate

    October 5, 2012 at 7:26 pm

    @Suffern ACE:

    That hurt my brane.

  135. 135.

    Yutsano

    October 5, 2012 at 7:27 pm

    @YellowJournalism: Hugz. Just hugz.

    And cute Wazzu story: you know how Cougs go everywhere after life in Pullman? A good friend is moving to Brisbane, Australia for her work. We are legion indeed!

  136. 136.

    kay

    October 5, 2012 at 7:32 pm

    “I have no evidence of corruption”

    What an absolute sleaze he is. They will do or say anything, and for what? To retain the Bush tax rate? Is this absolute panic and complete loss of any credibility or attachment to truth worth it?

  137. 137.

    eemom

    October 5, 2012 at 7:33 pm

    @Todd:

    I beg your pardon, who the fuck are you?

  138. 138.

    geg6

    October 5, 2012 at 7:37 pm

    @kay:

    Well, Jack Welch sure seems to think so.

    Amazing, isn’t it, how they are letting their freak flags fly so high in public these days.

  139. 139.

    JPL

    October 5, 2012 at 7:37 pm

    @eemom: Sounds like Todd was reincarnated and in his former life was Lizzie Borden’s prosecutor.

  140. 140.

    eemom

    October 5, 2012 at 7:38 pm

    Angel of mercy. I like it.

    Give me some of what you’re smoking and it’s a deal.

  141. 141.

    Gravenstone

    October 5, 2012 at 7:39 pm

    @Spatula: @Spatula: Hey fuckwit, you know that wee little bit of good karma you were building here after John’s art commission? Yeah, you done fucked it all away, and then some. And all in the matter of a couple days. Kindly DIAF.

    And just so you’re aware, this “shit slinging” is in direct response to the crap you were throwing at Raven earlier in the day. Now, go away you multi-genrationally inbred syphilitic chancre.

  142. 142.

    eemom

    October 5, 2012 at 7:41 pm

    @JPL:

    Yeah. Not the kind of image that commonly pops into one’s head, I must say — even when people ARE talking about me.

  143. 143.

    Or something like that.Suffern Ace

    October 5, 2012 at 7:41 pm

    @geg6: In the 1990s I only remember Mellon Scaife bring this nuts with Clinton Derangement Syndrome. Between Adelson, Fleiss, Trump and Welch…I’m losing count.

    ETA: Although welch founded either msnbc or cnbc just so he could have a platform to hound the Clintons. So he’s always been a bit off.

  144. 144.

    quannlace

    October 5, 2012 at 7:44 pm

    and then he will talk about something his dog did.

    I’m still stressing over the time (last week?) that Cole accidently shut Lily out in the backyard for half the night.

  145. 145.

    Yutsano

    October 5, 2012 at 7:44 pm

    @Or something like that.Suffern Ace: What could the difference possibly be I wonder…

  146. 146.

    kay

    October 5, 2012 at 7:46 pm

    @geg6:

    The recklessness kills me. Say ANYTHING. It doesn’t matter.

    “Post -truth” doesn’t really capture how crazed they are. I picture them just seething with rage, flailing around, throwing shit at the wall.

  147. 147.

    Cheap Jim

    October 5, 2012 at 7:47 pm

    @eemom: I imagine he’s one of many people who have never seen you be anything but a complete asshole. I know I share that distinction. You are one of the few commenters here I always recognize, and it’s because you are always spiting acid at everything.

  148. 148.

    Todd

    October 5, 2012 at 7:48 pm

    @eemom:

    I beg your pardon, who the fuck are you?

    *swoon*

    T’were this sort of commentary from you that makes me adore your posts.

    No shit. I really do enjoy your whole mien. Keep it going – you make this place fun.

  149. 149.

    Higgs Boson's Mate

    October 5, 2012 at 7:52 pm

    @kay:

    “Post -truth” doesn’t really capture how crazed they are. I picture them just seething with rage, flailing around, throwing shit at the wall.

    I picture them demanding recounts, challenging election results in various courts, and then loudly asserting that Obama isn’t really the president of all of us because he failed to carry the all-important sheep-fucker and people-who-own-more-than-ten-guns demographics.

  150. 150.

    BillinGlendaleCa

    October 5, 2012 at 7:54 pm

    @Yutsano: There’s life in Pullman, who knew?

    /UW grad

  151. 151.

    WereBear

    October 5, 2012 at 7:54 pm

    It’s melting. All their beautiful wickedness.

  152. 152.

    Gravenstone

    October 5, 2012 at 7:55 pm

    Seems like shitty officiating wasn’t limited to the NFL scabs. The Braves just got absolutely hosed on a bullshit infield fly call, with the shortstop a full 20 steps into the outfield when he missed the ball.

  153. 153.

    hoppipolla

    October 5, 2012 at 7:57 pm

    @Beauzeaux: um, i’m going to slightly drop my veil of anonymity and inform you that i and a colleague reinterviewed Welch after his wife called Suzy on Xmas day, having discovered steamy emails between Jack and Suzy the night before. she sweetly asked Suzy if it were really ethical for her to run an interview with Jack after accepting a diamond bracelet from him. two days later my colleague and i were on a plane to west palm to reinterview the great man. it’s our piece that ran a couple months later in HBR. i was already out the the door by then, having resigned rather noisily. one of the weirder episodes of my weird life.

    Jack is on record as saying he hates me. it’s like being on Nixon’s enemies list!

  154. 154.

    eemom

    October 5, 2012 at 7:58 pm

    @Cheap Jim:

    You are one of the few commenters here I always recognize

    Sorry about that. Maybe it would help if you asked your mommy to tell you the names when she reads the comments to you at storytime.

  155. 155.

    dollared

    October 5, 2012 at 8:02 pm

    @MikeJ: I’m game – Von’s has drinky specials these days…

  156. 156.

    Yutsano

    October 5, 2012 at 8:05 pm

    @BillinGlendaleCa: It could be worse. You could be a graduate of the University of Spoiled Children.

    /hides from Mnem

  157. 157.

    Cliff in NH

    October 5, 2012 at 8:06 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    There was a Tweety show back in ‘06 or so, Welch was whimpering about how he couldn’t figure out how things have gone so badly, when President Bush had made all the right decisions.

    This?:

    http://www.dailyhowler.com/dh071306.shtml

  158. 158.

    dollared

    October 5, 2012 at 8:06 pm

    @YellowJournalism:
    @danimal: @? Martin:

    Child trolling. I now have a mission in life. Two little vessels with superb phrase repetition skills…and 13 more years before the youngest one heads off to college. Or not.

  159. 159.

    Cheap Jim

    October 5, 2012 at 8:09 pm

    @eemom: Yeah, that would sting if I gave a shit what you think.

    No, wait, it still wouldn’t.

  160. 160.

    Morbo

    October 5, 2012 at 8:14 pm

    Drones are good, reliable overstable midranges, but I think you want a full on driver with a sharper edge if you want to deliver a fatal blow. Try the Nuke OS.

  161. 161.

    BillinGlendaleCa

    October 5, 2012 at 8:14 pm

    @Yutsano: True, so true.

    hides from Mnem

    No worries, I’ll drive through her part of town in a month and a half playing the UCLA fight song full blast on my car radio.

  162. 162.

    Spatula

    October 5, 2012 at 8:16 pm

    @Gravenstone:

    Now, go away you multi-genrationally inbred syphilitic chancre.

    Are you talking to one of the many chancres on my ass? Or the humongous single one hanging out of my nose? Please be specific.

    ETA: Regarding your pathetic effort to leap to the defense of the timid, shy, soft spoken Raven, who never has a coarse word for anyone and has never written anything here deserving of payback…piss off.

  163. 163.

    eemom

    October 5, 2012 at 8:17 pm

    @Cheap Jim:

    Aw…..and here I was giving a shit what YOU think.

  164. 164.

    Todd

    October 5, 2012 at 8:27 pm

    @eemom:

    Aw…..and here I was giving a shit what YOU think.

    I know now exactly why I’m totally crushing here – you sound EXACTLY like my wife.

  165. 165.

    Sloegin

    October 5, 2012 at 8:30 pm

    Tweak job reports? Tinfoil hat time.

    Screws with the CPI? Loads more folks would believe that one.

  166. 166.

    scott

    October 5, 2012 at 8:31 pm

    Is it really so much to ask not to joke about the drones like it’s SO goddamn funny? Just asking.

  167. 167.

    Todd

    October 5, 2012 at 8:34 pm

    @scott:

    Is it really so much to ask not to joke about the drones like it’s SO goddamn funny? Just asking.

    Cry, hippie, cry.

  168. 168.

    scott

    October 5, 2012 at 8:40 pm

    @Todd: Really? On a “progressive” web site? “Hippie?” What is this, 1962? Get a grip!

  169. 169.

    redshirt

    October 5, 2012 at 8:41 pm

    @eemom: LOL. Predictably bitter. It’s “your” thing girl!

  170. 170.

    Todd

    October 5, 2012 at 8:44 pm

    @scott:

    Get a grip!

    Only on the handle of the billy club which I swing at the head of a flower bedecked progressive protester.

    The only thing I find more fun is fire hosing pepper spray at pro-peace demonstrators….

  171. 171.

    LD50

    October 5, 2012 at 8:44 pm

    @Todd: And this from a divorce lawyer!

  172. 172.

    eemom

    October 5, 2012 at 8:48 pm

    @redshirt:

    What now?

    WTF is up with this place tonight?

  173. 173.

    Todd

    October 5, 2012 at 8:50 pm

    @eemom:

    WTF is up with this place tonight?

    Friday. We’re all too old for happy hour and get hammered at home.

  174. 174.

    PurpleGirl

    October 5, 2012 at 8:51 pm

    @J.: And GE has continued doing such things under Jeffrey Immelt. They are still transferring manufacturing to China and laying off people here.

    Someone up-thread asked a question about Welch’s pension. I found an article from 2002, published by the World Socialist Web Site that has a very run down of the monetary and perks he negogiated from GE. Oh, and his base pension is close to $10 million a year.

  175. 175.

    Redleg

    October 5, 2012 at 8:59 pm

    Welch is just another example to illustrate the point that “successful businessmen” don’t necessarily know jack shit about economics- or anything else for that matter. Let’s stop putting these assholes up on pedestals until they’ve actually earned the right by running successful companies that are also responsible corporate citizens.

    Guys like Welsh and Sununu are acting like rabid dogs. Back in the day people used to shoot rabid dogs.

  176. 176.

    redshirt

    October 5, 2012 at 8:59 pm

    @eemom: Nothing specific. Just a general observation – the same observation many have made here. As said before, it’s predictable, and in a way, re-assuring.

  177. 177.

    eemom

    October 5, 2012 at 8:59 pm

    @Todd:

    You should take your lovely wife out to dinner.

  178. 178.

    eemom

    October 5, 2012 at 9:06 pm

    @redshirt:

    You might want to work on that coherence thing. However, since I suspect you’re being an asshole and just too gutless to do it overtly, I shall predictably and bitterly tell you to GFY.

    Have a nice evening.

  179. 179.

    redshirt

    October 5, 2012 at 9:21 pm

    @eemom: LOL. A good evening to you too. :)

  180. 180.

    Todd

    October 5, 2012 at 9:35 pm

    @eemom:

    You should take your lovely wife out to dinner

    Got it covered. Despite me being accused of being cheap and selfish, I’ve a theater evening planned for Sunday, complete with dinner. She’s invited to come with me. ;D

  181. 181.

    Rex Everything

    October 5, 2012 at 11:15 pm

    Oh, eemom! You’re such a puckered-raw-with-vinegar asshole!

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