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You are here: Home / Open Threads / Mid-Afternoon Open Thread

Mid-Afternoon Open Thread

by Soonergrunt|  October 17, 20122:05 pm| 123 Comments

This post is in: Open Threads

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Just a few things cause I’m on lunch–

When you’re whining about the moderator, you know you’ve lost the debate.

Speaking of the moderator, she’s sticking to her guns, regardless of what song the mighty Wurlitzer tries to play.

This year marks the 40th anniversary of the Clean Water Act–you know, some of that job killing regulation that ensures that my children won’t be poisoned.

In light of yesterday’s ruling by the 6th D.C. circuit* vacating the Hamdan conviction at the Military Commissions, comes news that Australian David Hicks may appeal his conviction. (no link, sorry)

Fox “News” left out a four-minute gap in their transcript of last night’s debate–right in the area where Rmoney had to address the question of assault rifles.

Florida Judge sets June start date for George Zimmerman’s 2nd degree murder trial in the killing of Trayvon Martin.

 

*h/t Omnes Omnibus at comment #7 for the correction.

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Reader Interactions

123Comments

  1. 1.

    EconWatcher

    October 17, 2012 at 2:09 pm

    So it looks like Dems will keep the presidency and the Senate, and will maybe narrow the gap in the House. What will happen with the budget? The Senate will pass a sensible budget, and the House will pass tires and anthrax. How will that ever get reconciled?

  2. 2.

    dmsilev

    October 17, 2012 at 2:11 pm

    Via DKos, this is amazing. The regional breakdown of the Gallup national tracking poll:

    East 52 48 O+4
    Midwest 52 48 O+4
    South 39 61 R+22
    West 53 47 O+6

    “One of these is not like the others…”

    EDIT: FYWP doesn’t like tabs. Hopefully spaces will work better

  3. 3.

    Hungry Joe

    October 17, 2012 at 2:11 pm

    Wait a minute — how did Obama come up with all that smart stuff when there was no teleprompter?

  4. 4.

    Davis X. Machina

    October 17, 2012 at 2:11 pm

    @dmsilev: This will be a vastly improved country when the Civil War is finally over.

  5. 5.

    Violet

    October 17, 2012 at 2:13 pm

    Candy was great last night. Martha Raddatz was good too. The women have pwned the male moderator so far. Wonder how Scheiffer is going to approach the debate.

  6. 6.

    Hill Dweller

    October 17, 2012 at 2:13 pm

    So, Arizona’s largest county, Maricopa County, listed the wrong date for the election on voter ID cards, but only in Spanish.

  7. 7.

    Omnes Omnibus

    October 17, 2012 at 2:14 pm

    Slight nitpick: Hamdan was decided by the D.C. Circuit not the Sixth.

  8. 8.

    EconWatcher

    October 17, 2012 at 2:14 pm

    @Violet:

    Isn’t Scheiffer basically a wingnut who tries to tone it down for the sake of appearances?

  9. 9.

    Robin G.

    October 17, 2012 at 2:16 pm

    I’m still on a high from Obama’s “it’s offensive” Libya answer. I know The American President is political porn, but that’s the closest to “My name is Andrew Shepard and I am the president” we’re ever going to see.

  10. 10.

    Hill Dweller

    October 17, 2012 at 2:16 pm

    @Hungry Joe: Willard had the best debate of his career, but he still took a beating from a guy who can’t speak without a teleprompter.

  11. 11.

    shortstop

    October 17, 2012 at 2:16 pm

    @Davis X. Machina: I used to think it could be over someday. Now I scoff at my youthful naivete.

  12. 12.

    Haydnseek

    October 17, 2012 at 2:19 pm

    The U.S. constitution says nothing about clean water! The so called “Clean Water Act,” actually best described as the” Job Killing Attack on Hydration Liberty,” represents an outrageous intrusion into the god-given freedoms of all water drinking Americans to pick their poison, as it were. There was nothing wrong with the tap water, until Communist infiltrators and Democrats started putting flouride in it!

  13. 13.

    quannlace

    October 17, 2012 at 2:19 pm

    Wait a minute—how did Obama come up with all that smart stuff when there was no teleprompter?

    Damn they really all do get the memo, don’t they? Every RW outlet I can bear to listen/read have taken the same damn attack. Last week: Biden was rude and offensive. This debate: It’s that partisan Crowley’s fault! She’s in the bag for Obama.
    One poster even called her ‘Obama’s teleprompter.”

    Oy vey!

  14. 14.

    Violet

    October 17, 2012 at 2:19 pm

    @EconWatcher: I don’t know that much about him. But Schieffer probably has an ego. He knows that Lehrer got bad reviews for his moderator performance. The two women, who were more involved, asked better questions, followed up, asked for specifics (in some cases) got good reviews.

    He has a choice to make. He can carry water for the Republicans but risk his debate performance being compared negatively. Or he can be a bit more involved to get better reviews.

    Ordinarily I’d say it wouldn’t be an issue, but the recent debates where the younger women shone and the older man was almost not a factor may have some impact on his thinking about how to approach his role. He may not want to be deemed to be “worse than Lehrer” or “worse than the women.”

  15. 15.

    comrade scott's agenda of rage

    October 17, 2012 at 2:19 pm

    @Davis X. Machina:

    This will be a vastly improved country when the Civil War is finally over all of the Old Confederacy and Oklahoma are allowed to secede.

    Fixed. Hell I live in Misery and would move tomorrow if that meant this state would join the New Confederacy.

  16. 16.

    Soonergrunt

    October 17, 2012 at 2:21 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus: corrected. Thanks.

  17. 17.

    Jewish Steel

    October 17, 2012 at 2:22 pm

    Fox “News” left out a four-minute gap in their transcript of last night’s debate

    Nixon consultant Roger Ailes would be a good one to talk to about gaps in tapes and transcripts.

  18. 18.

    NR

    October 17, 2012 at 2:22 pm

    @EconWatcher: The Democrats will give the Republicans 98% of what they want and everyone here will claim it’s a great progressive victory.

  19. 19.

    Davis X. Machina

    October 17, 2012 at 2:22 pm

    @comrade scott’s agenda of rage: Speaking as a Conscience Whig, it can’t happen soon enough, I say.

  20. 20.

    comrade scott's agenda of rage

    October 17, 2012 at 2:22 pm

    @Violet:

    Wonder how Scheiffer is going to approach the debate.

    He’ll frame the questions with a right-leaning emphasis like he always does.

    Schieffer isn’t as wingnutty as Brokaw or Scott Pelly of CBS but he does typify the lazy Villager mindset. The only question about his approach will be “can I be bowled over as easily as the other old guy who moderated?”

  21. 21.

    Spaghetti Lee

    October 17, 2012 at 2:23 pm

    @dmsilev:

    Doesn’t surprise me at all. Memo to Romney: You’re not going to win by getting 95% of Mississippi’s white vote instead of 90%.

  22. 22.

    Soonergrunt

    October 17, 2012 at 2:23 pm

    @EconWatcher: I don’t know if he’s a winger, but he is a Republican.

  23. 23.

    ding dong

    October 17, 2012 at 2:23 pm

    @EconWatcher: I wish they had gone with norah odonnell. She would have been so much better.

  24. 24.

    Rosalita

    October 17, 2012 at 2:24 pm

    Listening to the office wingnuts this morning, I heard that Romney won and endless bitching about Candi, and they even went further to wonder where they got these “hags” meaning Candi and Martha…oh, and why discuss equal pay for women at all?

  25. 25.

    Ben Franklin

    October 17, 2012 at 2:24 pm

    @Hungry Joe:

    It’s the Ju-Ju. Where was Moroni?

  26. 26.

    ding dong

    October 17, 2012 at 2:24 pm

    @EconWatcher: I wish they had gone with norah odonnell. She would have been so much better.

  27. 27.

    joes527

    October 17, 2012 at 2:24 pm

    I wasn’t all that impressed with the whole “Please proceed..” dustup.

    Don’t get me wrong. It was a thing of beauty, but go back and watch the tape with your low information voter hat on.

    Yes, CC corrects Mit, but then she immediately goes on to say … something … I’m not quite sure what … that nets out to: “Both of you are right.”

    The obots are rejoicing, and the rombots are butt-hurt, but the great unwashed heard: “both sides do it.”

    meh.

  28. 28.

    Hal

    October 17, 2012 at 2:26 pm

    I can’t imagine Romney is looking forward to the foreign policy debate. I’m guessing last night was supposed to be an opening salvo on Libya to be carried over into the final debate, but since that’s shot to shit, I imagine the Romney folks are fine tuning their strategy. Best laid plans and all that.

  29. 29.

    Schlemizel

    October 17, 2012 at 2:26 pm

    @comrade scott’s agenda of rage:

    I long for MN to leave & join Canada I think we would be great together. Really wanted to break away in ’04 along the lines of The United States of Canada and Jesusland maps that were making the rounds at the time.

  30. 30.

    SatanicPanic

    October 17, 2012 at 2:27 pm

    @NR: “Progressives” get 98% of what they want and call it a loss.

  31. 31.

    Violet

    October 17, 2012 at 2:27 pm

    @joes527: No, they didn’t. The “great unwashed” as you call them saw body language and heard tone. And the body language and tone, helped along by the laughing and clapping audience, was that Romney got OWNED by the President. It was crystal clear. Romney was even slumping afterwards.

  32. 32.

    Spaghetti Lee

    October 17, 2012 at 2:28 pm

    @NR:

    Keep trying. One of these days you might actually be right.

  33. 33.

    Uncle Ebeneezer

    October 17, 2012 at 2:28 pm

    @Sooner- Clean Water Act? Why do you hate the job creators at Pepsico?!!

  34. 34.

    elmo

    October 17, 2012 at 2:29 pm

    @Davis X. Machina:

    Only if we win, my brother. Only if we win.

  35. 35.

    Robin G.

    October 17, 2012 at 2:29 pm

    @joes527: I disagree. While in substance it became “Both sides do it”, what people heard was Romney joyfully proclaiming something Was, and immediately — and explicitly — being told it Was Not. And the nail in the coffin was the laughing applause. Terrible, terrible optics for Romney.

  36. 36.

    Nylund

    October 17, 2012 at 2:29 pm

    One of the “problems” of regulation is that sometimes it works too well.

    Look at lead. It used to be in our paint. I used to be in our air (via the exhaust from leaded gasoline). That’s all gone. Now, a few toys from China show up with lead in them and everyone freaks out. But no one stepped up and said, “You know why we’re freaked out by lead? Because we’ve come to expect a lead-free environment, especially for our children, and we expect that because regulations work.”

    Regulations are one of those things that nobody notices when they work well. In fact, they just take it for granted. They only notice them when they fail.

  37. 37.

    gogol's wife

    October 17, 2012 at 2:29 pm

    @joes527:

    Yes, I only got it through the live chat last night and it sounded as if Crowley had really supported Obama, but when I watched the clip today, I was disappointed. First she just mumbled the correction — he had to ask her to repeat it — and then she went much more fulsomely into how basically right Romney was, even though he had just been lying his head off and she knew it.

  38. 38.

    gogol's wife

    October 17, 2012 at 2:30 pm

    @Robin G.:

    But I also heard applause when she told Romney he was basically right.

  39. 39.

    comrade scott's agenda of rage

    October 17, 2012 at 2:30 pm

    @Violet:

    The “great unwashed” as you call them saw body language and heard tone. And the body language and tone, helped along by the laughing and clapping audience, was that Romney got OWNED by the President. It was crystal clear. Romney was even slumping afterwards.

    Both Markos over at Teh Orange and Charlie Pierce are hammering home the point that various aspects of Rmoney’s Inner Dick were on full display last night and that’s what moves “great unwashed” voters. They’ll simply not vote for a person they don’t like.

  40. 40.

    Schlemizel

    October 17, 2012 at 2:30 pm

    @Soonergrunt:

    I think much more of a beltway boy really. He may vote GOP but his TV personality is very much in the Brooksian-Bullshit-centerist vein that serves the GOP well and keeps him on the ‘A’ list for the cocktail parties

  41. 41.

    FlipYrWhig

    October 17, 2012 at 2:31 pm

    @Spaghetti Lee: Has he mentioned that the health care bill is totally corporate, man?

  42. 42.

    PeakVT

    October 17, 2012 at 2:31 pm

    @Violet: I’d like to see Maddow moderate a debate next cycle.

  43. 43.

    NR

    October 17, 2012 at 2:31 pm

    @Spaghetti Lee: I’ve been right for the last 12 years, thanks.

  44. 44.

    burnspbesq

    October 17, 2012 at 2:31 pm

    The state of Idaho wants to lock up a paranoid schizophrenic, who killed three people in what he believed was self-defense because they were “stealing his energy,” for life.

    How is this possible, you may ask.

    This is possible because the Idaho legislature outlawed the insanity defense, and the Idaho Supreme Court said that having no insanity defense does not result either in denial of due process or cruel and unusual punishment.

    The case is now at the U.S. Supreme Court on a petition for a writ of certiorari.

    http://www.scotusblog.com/2012/10/petition-of-the-day-354/

    Un-fucking-believable.

  45. 45.

    Cassidy

    October 17, 2012 at 2:32 pm

    @NR: RAWR! NEEDS MORE PURITY! ARGLE BARGLE!

  46. 46.

    rlrr

    October 17, 2012 at 2:32 pm

    @Nylund:

    As someone who used to live in Cleveland, I miss rivers that catch on fire…

  47. 47.

    The Red Pen

    October 17, 2012 at 2:33 pm

    One of the great moments in the film Shakes the Clown comes at the end when Binky the clown is being lead away by the police. He manically declares, “This is just the way I planned it!”

    That’s pretty much the far right response to Romney’s debate performance. It’s all good for Romney. Don’t even bother to vote because Romney’s winning all 50 states, Washington DC, and Canada. Main points:

    1. Candy Crowley is fat.

    2. Americans are deeply invested in the difference between saying “an act of terrorism” and “a terrorist attack.”

    3. A girl Candy Crowley tag-teamed to support some black guy’s Obama’s lies and Romney ended up looking victimized. Americans will swarm the polls to restore white male Romney’s honor.

  48. 48.

    fuckwit

    October 17, 2012 at 2:34 pm

    First of all, totebagger is not in the lexicon. WTF does it mean?

    Also, looking through the lexicon, I found “THAT ONE”. A 2008 retro nostalgia– McCain displayed the same kind of condescension in 2008 that RMoney just did. I hope it yeilds similar results.

    Finally, you can help the low information voters. They’ll never find out shit from the TV or our useless media. Your job is to talk to them. On the phone. In person. Volunteer now: http://barackobama.com

    People who are in the tank for RMoney are in the tank, don’t waste time with them. People who are “undecided” are basically Obama voters who are slightly better off but still struggling after 4 years, and have been bombarded with Rethug corporate talking points on TV instead of to reality. You’ve got to give them the reality. Go do it.

  49. 49.

    FlipYrWhig

    October 17, 2012 at 2:34 pm

    @joes527:

    Yes, CC corrects Mit, but then she immediately goes on to say … something … I’m not quite sure what … that nets out to: “Both of you are right.”

    But that’s also the reason why the Both Sides-ism failed this time. It’s just about impossible to hear, much less understand, her comment about how the two week delay was something something. It had no impact because of that “I’m not quite sure what” dynamic you just mentioned.

  50. 50.

    ? Martin

    October 17, 2012 at 2:34 pm

    @dmsilev:

    Via DKos, this is amazing. The regional breakdown of the Gallup national tracking poll:
    East 52 48 O+4
    Midwest 52 48 O+4
    South 39 61 R+22
    West 53 47 O+6

    And this is the problem with looking at national polls to determine the election outcome. Winning a state big is pointless if it means you lose other states by thin margins.

    These were the same kinds of numbers we saw in 2008.

  51. 51.

    Spaghetti Lee

    October 17, 2012 at 2:34 pm

    @The Red Pen:

    How can they restore what he never had?

  52. 52.

    rlrr

    October 17, 2012 at 2:34 pm

    @The Red Pen:

    One of the great moments in the film Shakes the Clown

    Is the first time this phrase has ever been written? ;)

  53. 53.

    FlipYrWhig

    October 17, 2012 at 2:35 pm

    @NR:

    I’ve been right for the last 12 years, thanks.

    Maybe next year you can have a Green Party-themed bar mitzvah.

  54. 54.

    Scott S.

    October 17, 2012 at 2:35 pm

    @comrade scott’s agenda of rage: Why would you want to give the wingnuts exactly what they want?

    Force ’em to stay in the US, that’s what I say. Force them to stay in and live with nonwhites and women and gays and watch their party die forever. Don’t reward them with any states at all. Don’t punish non-wingnuts who live in the South by forcing them to live under wingnut rule.

  55. 55.

    Ben Franklin

    October 17, 2012 at 2:35 pm

    @Davis X. Machina:

    Civil War

    You think it’s been civil?

  56. 56.

    wenchacha

    October 17, 2012 at 2:35 pm

    @Davis X. Machina: How do we ever end it? Look at older countries, with their ancient grudges held tightly. I think we poisoned our nation at its birth, and as we claw our way to equal/civil rights for everyone, those who need to believe in white supremacy cling to it with both fists.

  57. 57.

    shortstop

    October 17, 2012 at 2:36 pm

    @? Martin: And 1860.

  58. 58.

    peach flavored shampoo

    October 17, 2012 at 2:37 pm

    So it looks like Dems will keep the presidency and the Senate, and will maybe narrow the gap in the House.

    I’m not nearly as confident of either. But that’s just how I roll.

  59. 59.

    catclub

    October 17, 2012 at 2:37 pm

    @Spaghetti Lee: You, my friend, have cruelly exaggerated. Obama got 11% of the _white_ vote in Mississippi in 2008. I suspect well north of 95% of the black vote.
    Not sure how big the Latino vote was in 2008.

    But anyway. If Obama wins about 16-17% of the white vote in Mississippi, he wins. Mississippi has the highest percentage black population of any state – about 35%.

    This same logic, though not as extreme, is why I am hoping to see Arizona go for Obama.

  60. 60.

    Anya

    October 17, 2012 at 2:38 pm

    @Violet: Full wingnut talking points cloaked in respectability. Expect a question about how both sides are compromising the dignity of the office.

  61. 61.

    FlipYrWhig

    October 17, 2012 at 2:38 pm

    @fuckwit: Totebagger = NPR/PBS fan. Liberal inclination but pats his own back about being reasonable about it, not an ideologue, and says he likes some conservatives, namely David Brooks.

  62. 62.

    shortstop

    October 17, 2012 at 2:39 pm

    @Scott S.: Because it’ll be too late by the time they figure out that their fat whiny unproductive asses won’t be taken care of when they’ve tea partied their way to almost no personal income taxes and all lucrative business and government enterprise has relocated north of the Mason Dixon.

  63. 63.

    joes527

    October 17, 2012 at 2:40 pm

    @comrade scott’s agenda of rage:

    Both Markos over at Teh Orange and Charlie Pierce are hammering home… and that’s what moves “great unwashed” voters.

    The echoes in the echo chamber are what move the nation? Seriously?

    I’m not saying that the echoes are wrong — just not pretending that they will have an impact.

  64. 64.

    comrade scott's agenda of rage

    October 17, 2012 at 2:40 pm

    @Scott S.:

    Don’t punish non-wingnuts who live in the South by forcing them to live under wingnut rule.

    In essence, those of us in wingnutty states already live under wingnut rule. Look at who dominates all branches of state gubmint in Jesusland/Neo-Confederacy. The only thing here in Misery standing between us and joining our Southern brethren is a lone, moderate Republican governor, ie Jay Nixon-D. Once he’s gone after his upcoming term, there’s no bench here for a replacement and the last 4 years of this decade will see us be completely under wingnut rule.

  65. 65.

    FlipYrWhig

    October 17, 2012 at 2:41 pm

    @wenchacha:

    How do we ever end it?

    Intermarriage does its part. I live in southeast Virginia. There’s an enormous number of working-class and poor interracial couples around here. And they have a lot of pretty babies.

  66. 66.

    burnspbesq

    October 17, 2012 at 2:41 pm

    @NR:

    The Democrats will give the Republicans 98% of what they want and everyone here will claim it’s a great progressive victory.

    No, what people here will say is “That’s the best we could have hoped for given the composition of the Congress. Let’s get our asses in gear and work to fix Congress.”

    And we will go do that, while you are sitting at home masturbating to photos of Jill Stein.

    Only one of those activities is socially useful. Care to guess which one it is?

  67. 67.

    Jesse

    October 17, 2012 at 2:42 pm

    I see FactCheck is on the case, making sure everyone knows that both sides continued their misrepresentations and lies. The headline screams “Both sides do it!!!!!!!!!!”. What were Obamma’s whoppers?, you might be wondering. This:

    “The president indeed referred to ‘acts of terror’ that day [the day after the attack], but refrained from using such terms for weeks.”

    I wanted to scream when I saw this. What inanity. There’s never enough BSDI with these jackals. And for giggles, we get some terror humping. Didn’t we learn anything from our enlightening Iraq War-era political discourse?

  68. 68.

    comrade scott's agenda of rage

    October 17, 2012 at 2:43 pm

    @burnspbesq:

    And we will go do that, while you are sitting at home masturbating to photos of Jill Stein Jane Hamsher.

    Fixed. Or I could have said “either”.

  69. 69.

    shortstop

    October 17, 2012 at 2:43 pm

    @comrade scott’s agenda of rage: Perhaps we can work out a little relocation scheme so the good folk don’t get screwed by secession. Every blue stater must lend a couch to a newly arrived refugee until he gets onto his feet. I’m in, but you have to help walk the dog, k?

  70. 70.

    fuckwit

    October 17, 2012 at 2:43 pm

    Also, reading transcripts of these things is PAINFUL.

    Doesn’t anyone speak in full sentences anymore? Doesn’t anyone let anyone finish sentences, even if they tried?

    If I see another (CROSSTALK) in a transcript, I’m going to go full-on Crispin Glover batshit.

  71. 71.

    Davis X. Machina

    October 17, 2012 at 2:44 pm

    @Ben Franklin: Except for the part where we invaded Mexico, mostly civil.
    @wenchacha: My old AP USH teacher used to say that we can’t close out the Civil War until someone gavels the 1787 Philadelphia Convention to a close, and that really hasn’t happened yet.

  72. 72.

    Emma

    October 17, 2012 at 2:45 pm

    @joes527: No, they didn’t. Really. I’m in contact with a number of them and they heard it clear.

  73. 73.

    FlipYrWhig

    October 17, 2012 at 2:45 pm

    @shortstop: What would the nickname be for Red State Kindertransport?

  74. 74.

    handy

    October 17, 2012 at 2:46 pm

    So how about those Yankees, eh?

    Oh…/sad trombone

  75. 75.

    Davis X. Machina

    October 17, 2012 at 2:47 pm

    @burnspbesq: Federalism for the win! 50 laboratories of democracy, babay!

  76. 76.

    comrade scott's agenda of rage

    October 17, 2012 at 2:47 pm

    A new book advocating Southern secession:

    http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/10/14/1142774/-Book-review-Chuck-Thompson-s-Better-Off-Without-Em-A-Northern-Manifesto-for-Southern-Secession

  77. 77.

    shortstop

    October 17, 2012 at 2:48 pm

    @handy: I really enjoyed both things I watched on TV last night. There were much-deserved thumpings going on on both places.

  78. 78.

    Cassidy

    October 17, 2012 at 2:48 pm

    So completely open thready….I’ve been trolling a Libertarian on FB today. He’s of the small gov’t/ anarchists branch and not so much the embarassed Republican type. So I brought up the “free market” idea that if glibertarian ideas were any good the masses would be all over it. Since they’re not, the free market has spoken and they were found wanting. It’s been fun watching this guy tie himself in knots about gov’t collusion and all kinds of other nonsense.

  79. 79.

    Geoduck

    October 17, 2012 at 2:49 pm

    @fuckwit:

    First of all, totebagger is not in the lexicon. WTF does it mean?

    It’s a derogatory reference to leftist types who use totebags they got from PBS pledges. See also “teabagger”.

  80. 80.

    shortstop

    October 17, 2012 at 2:49 pm

    @FlipYrWhig: Or Operation Pedro Pan. Wingers don’t like it when people speak Hispanish.

  81. 81.

    Omnes Omnibus

    October 17, 2012 at 2:50 pm

    @? Martin: This is also why we are likely to see a close popular vote and an electoral college blowout.

  82. 82.

    Arm The Homeless

    October 17, 2012 at 2:53 pm

    @Rosalita: I was pleasantly surprised at the lack of vocal whining from the GOPers in my office this morning. It was obvious they weren’t going to linger and talk about the debate, but not a single word about Candy or Mittens as they rushed to look busy. The ass-whoopin’ set in quick compared to the first debate.

  83. 83.

    Davis X. Machina

    October 17, 2012 at 2:53 pm

    @FlipYrWhig: Frying pan and fire. Mudsill democracy is just as bad as a Herrenvolk state.

  84. 84.

    shortstop

    October 17, 2012 at 2:54 pm

    @catclub: I would be interested in seeing what percentage of the 37 percent of Mississippians who are black actually vote, given that white Mississippi makes that as difficult as possible for them.

  85. 85.

    Punchy

    October 17, 2012 at 2:54 pm

    So, Arizona’s largest county, Maricopa County, listed the wrong date for the election on voter ID cards, but only in Spanish.

    Anyone want to wager that every single policeman in AZ has a quota north of 250+ for the number of Hispanics they need to pull over/harrass/detain on election day?

  86. 86.

    Bubblegum Tate

    October 17, 2012 at 2:55 pm

    Interesting that the wingnut talking points seem to be in disarray today. Several spins have been mentioned upthread, and the one I’m seeing is “Obama won, by just by a hair, and he didn’t get a 1st-round TKO, so really, that means Romney won, especially when he totally busted Obama for lying about Libya!”

    I’m kind of enjoying the freakout.

  87. 87.

    ThatLeftTurnInABQ

    October 17, 2012 at 2:55 pm

    @dmsilev:

    Via DKos, this is amazing. The regional breakdown of the Gallup national tracking poll:
    __
    East 52 48 O+4
    Midwest 52 48 O+4
    South 39 61 R+22
    West 53 47 O+6

    US politics is the continuation of civil war by other means.

  88. 88.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    October 17, 2012 at 2:56 pm

    I missed this moment. Anyone know if it was during or after the debate, and if CC was as glib and condescending and stupid as this makes her sound?

    Michael Grunwald ‏@MikeGrunwald
    ICYMI: Candy Crowley said she blew off question for “you climate change people.” Proper term for people affected by climate chg is “people.”

  89. 89.

    Brachiator

    October 17, 2012 at 2:57 pm

    @Davis X. Machina:

    This will be a vastly improved country when the Civil War is finally over.

    Unfortunately, for some people the Civil War will never be over.

  90. 90.

    WaterGirl

    October 17, 2012 at 2:57 pm

    @Violet: All I can say is that Obama better let Romney be the first one to break the debate rules, and more than once, before he breaks any. ‘Cause Bob S. will smack Obama down in a heartbeat.

    I recall wanting to throttle Bob S. when he moderated a presidential debate 4 years ago. As I recall, he didn’t even try for the appearance of fairness as a moderator.

  91. 91.

    burnspbesq

    October 17, 2012 at 2:58 pm

    Australian David Hicks may appeal his conviction.

    Umm, Hicks pled guilty, and he did it five years ago. No time to do research right now, but it’s hard to imagine that the appeal period didn’t run a long time ago.

    It’s possible that the statute of limitations might not have run out on some claim he could make for damages for wrongful imprisonment, but that would be a tough row to hoe given the current state of the law on qualified immunity as a defense.

  92. 92.

    Judas Escargot, Acerbic Prophet of the Mighty Potato God

    October 17, 2012 at 3:01 pm

    @Davis X. Machina:
    Read an article earlier. The author had used surnames and historical records (across different cultures) to track how different families tend to rise and fall throughout history.

    He had a lot of interesting findings, but one of them was that the economic damage done to the descendents of slaves (by virtue of having their ancestor’s wealth essentially stolen since the 1600s) will be with us until the 2300s or so (given current trends).

  93. 93.

    ThatLeftTurnInABQ

    October 17, 2012 at 3:01 pm

    @shortstop:

    I used to think it could be over someday. Now I scoff at my youthful naivete.

    __
    Go read Kevin Phillips’ book The Cousins War. Our current blue vs red conflict goes all the way back to Parliament vs. Charles I. The same fucking conflict, running for 400+ years now. We brought it across the pond with us from the old country and the same two cultural factions have been going at each other over here in America ever since. We are Yugoslavia with better production values. It will never end.

  94. 94.

    Brachiator

    October 17, 2012 at 3:01 pm

    @Bubblegum Tate:

    Interesting that the wingnut talking points seem to be in disarray today. Several spins have been mentioned upthread, and the one I’m seeing is “Obama won, by just by a hair, and he didn’t get a 1st-round TKO, so really, that means Romney won, especially when he totally busted Obama for lying about Libya!”

    There are also news story false-asking about Obama’s performance, “isn’t it really too little, too late”

    And stories emphasizing that neither Obama nor Romney has sealed the deal with “undecided voters.” Some of what these people are looking for is mystifying:

    Undecided “Walmart moms” in Milwaukee, Wis., gave the presidential debate win to President Obama by a narrow margin – but they’re not sold yet.
    __
    In a bipartisan focus group conducted by Public Opinion Strategies and Momentum Analysis and sponsored by Walmart, a group of undecided female voters were asked to vote for who they thought won the second presidential debate. Five women in the group said Obama, three said Mitt Romney, and two said they thought it was tie.
    __
    Overall, though, most of these women said they remain undecided. They said they feel as though it’s time to do some more research on the candidates, and ultimately, it’s time to make their decision.

  95. 95.

    KXB

    October 17, 2012 at 3:02 pm

    If the past is any guide, the foreign policy debate will largely focus on the Middle East and China, with a dash of euro crisis tossed in. I’m afraid it will largely be a discussion of American military power, because that is the only way the village understands international relations.

  96. 96.

    Ben Franklin

    October 17, 2012 at 3:04 pm

    I just thought of something. On the HBO series Big Love, the big shots used to keep albums of the available wives complete with mug shots and vital statistics. I think they even called them Binders.

    Could Romney possibly have gaffed that?

  97. 97.

    Higgs Boson's Mate

    October 17, 2012 at 3:04 pm

    @comrade scott’s agenda of rage:
    Southern secession should be strongly encouraged. A nice quote from your link:

    The South is bad for the American economy in the same way that China and Mexico are bad for the American economy. By keeping corporate taxes low, schools underfunded, and workers’ rights to organize negligible, it’s southern politicians who make it so. By separating itself from this suppurating cancer in our midst, the rest of the country would at least be able to deal with the South as it would any other Third World entity, rather than as the in-house parasite that bleeds the country far more than it contributes to its collective health.

  98. 98.

    Davis X. Machina

    October 17, 2012 at 3:04 pm

    @ThatLeftTurnInABQ:

    It will never end

    @Brachiator: I dunno, things have pretty much wound down here at least.

    I haven’t been jumped in an alley by a pack of roving Caesarians in months, and I’m widely known to be a Pompeian.

  99. 99.

    Soonergrunt

    October 17, 2012 at 3:04 pm

    @burnspbesq: Thanks. What I know of the law — well, it ain’t a whole hell of a lot. It’s more than one gets from watching Law and Order, but that’s still a damn sight less than I’d like to know.
    I don’t want to go to Law School, but I’d like to have a working knowledge of the law at a deeper level than I have now.

  100. 100.

    Yutsano

    October 17, 2012 at 3:05 pm

    @burnspbesq: Waitaminute…isn’t a guilty plea essentially an admission to the charges and not able to be appealed? The only argument I could see working is coercion, and even that would be flimsy.

  101. 101.

    mamayaga

    October 17, 2012 at 3:10 pm

    @Geoduck:

    It’s a derogatory reference to the “far-left” types who populate blogs like FireDogLake and use totebags.

    Have you perhaps mixed up “totebaggers” and “firebaggers”? The former listen religiously to NPR, and follow NPR’s lead in adopting both-sides-ism when it suits their purposes,and then congratulate themselves on being so progressive. The latter are farther left and have been so traumatized by Obama’s tragic betrayal of all things right and good that they will vote for Jill Stein if they vote at all. Of course, I may confused. Guess we need do some additions to the lexicon.

  102. 102.

    PreservedKillick

    October 17, 2012 at 3:12 pm

    @Violet:

    The “great unwashed” as you call them saw body language and heard tone. And the body language and tone, helped along by the laughing and clapping audience, was that Romney got OWNED by the President.

    Under-reported, but they also saw a guy get caught – totally red-handed – trying to use the deaths of four Americans to make political hay, and doing so in a really obvious and blatant way. Almost salivating at the thought that he was about to do so.

    Doubt that will play really well.

  103. 103.

    Omnes Omnibus

    October 17, 2012 at 3:14 pm

    @burnspbesq: Direct appeal may be impossible, but a Section 2255 post-conviction action may be doable. Also, I believe Hicks entered an Alford plea, so the fact that he pled guilty is not going to be the same bar as it would for a regular plea.

  104. 104.

    Geoduck

    October 17, 2012 at 3:21 pm

    @mamayaga:

    Have you perhaps mixed up “totebaggers” and “firebaggers”?

    Yeah, I edited that after posting, but not quickly enough.

  105. 105.

    Villago Delenda Est

    October 17, 2012 at 3:24 pm

    @The Red Pen:

    The honorless cur Rmoney has no honor to restore, no integrity to impunge, no intelligence to insult, and no character to assassinate.

  106. 106.

    catclub

    October 17, 2012 at 3:29 pm

    @Villago Delenda Est: Sounds a little like the Tao.

    Having no honor is actually a good thing. Without it, we don’t get a civil war.

  107. 107.

    AHH onna Droid

    October 17, 2012 at 3:31 pm

    @ThatLeftTurnInABQ: As a non-English person, I always have trouble crediting these ‘ this aspect of American culture is crypto-English politics by other means’.

    The claim is a familiar one wrt language despite being debunked repeatedly. Besides which these post 19th century claims about ancestry are almost always revealed to be self-serving lies. Okay, so the stakes were unfair. But thousands threw their own brothers under the wagon wheel by assuming a white identity as soon as they could pass. Who was left to speak out against the injustice in the system? A few New England Quakers?

  108. 108.

    Forum Transmitted Disease

    October 17, 2012 at 3:34 pm

    Wonder how Scheiffer is going to approach the debate.

    @Violet: Scheiffer considers himself a Tea Partier. He’s made that quite clear in the past. It will be Mitt and Bob vs. Foreign Obama Guy.

    This will be a vastly improved country when the Civil War is finally over.

    @Davis X. Machina: All I ask is for the military bases in the area to be cleared of nukes and submarines, their nuclear power plants decommissioned, and so far as I care they can secede tomorrow.

  109. 109.

    Mike Lamb

    October 17, 2012 at 3:38 pm

    @joes527: Totally disagree. Whether or not Crowley hedged, the only thing that came out clearly was Obama stating “read the transcript” and Crowley confirming that Obama had immediately called it an act of terrorism…

  110. 110.

    Omnes Omnibus

    October 17, 2012 at 3:41 pm

    @AHH onna Droid: In Albion’s Seed, David Hackett Fischer suggests that there is a regional cultural legacy that goes beyond ethnicity. I think the idea is that like flocks to like. People comfortable in a New Englandy milieu go there or to places like the Upper Midwest and the Pacific Northwest that were settled primarily by New Englanders. And do on.

  111. 111.

    Seanly

    October 17, 2012 at 3:43 pm

    @Haydnseek:
    Purity of Essence!

    Candy acquitted herself very well last night. I’m not holding out much hope for 2465-yr old Bob Schieffer to do much except keep letting Mitt run all over him.

  112. 112.

    ThatLeftTurnInABQ

    October 17, 2012 at 3:46 pm

    @AHH onna Droid:

    The red/blue tribalism is something that people are assimilated into via cultural markers. It has little to do with biological ancestry, and less to do with ideology than we on political blogs tend to assume. How else do you explain the way the Democratic and Republican parties have swapped places with each other both ideologically and in terms of their regional bases and cultural identity, from the 1890s to the present day, without referencing an underlying cultural dynamic that is older and more stable than the partisan political parties.

    In any case, borrow a copy of Phillips’ book and decide for yourself.

  113. 113.

    burnspbesq

    October 17, 2012 at 3:53 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    I dunno about that. Is a subsequent appellate decision a “fact” for purposes of 2255(f)(4)? If not, he would be SOL because of the one-year statute.

    Also too, Hicks is no longer “in custody,” which seems to be a threshold condition for a 2255 action unless there’s case law out there that holds that Congress didn’t really mean what it said when it wrote 2255(a) the way it did.

  114. 114.

    Seanly

    October 17, 2012 at 3:54 pm

    @FlipYrWhig:

    I have the same friends from my previous membership at the Harrisburg PA Unitarian Church. They had confused posts about how NPR called the debate a tie.

  115. 115.

    Omnes Omnibus

    October 17, 2012 at 4:03 pm

    @burnspbesq: Case law states that it is a remedial statute and should be liberally construed. Like I said, he might have a case. Habeas and 2255 cases get pretty damn arcane. I spent 2 1/2 years working on them as a federal clerk, but it was many years ago so I don’t feel confident making a prediction.

  116. 116.

    NR

    October 17, 2012 at 4:04 pm

    @burnspbesq:

    No, what people here will say is “That’s the best we could have hoped for given the composition of the Congress.

    Yep. You guys will say that, even when it’s not true.

  117. 117.

    Brother Shotgun of Sweet Reason

    October 17, 2012 at 4:09 pm

    Speaking of job killing regulations, my whole line of work would not exist without the Clean Water Act. At my company alone, I can look around and see at least 20 people who wouldn’t be here.

  118. 118.

    Brother Shotgun of Sweet Reason

    October 17, 2012 at 4:18 pm

    @ThatLeftTurnInABQ:

    Our current blue vs red conflict goes all the way back to Parliament vs. Charles I.

    Albion’s Seed brought me to the same conclusion.

  119. 119.

    LanceThruster

    October 17, 2012 at 4:22 pm

    As the BJ community overflows with love for our pet companions, I’d like to pay tribute to the adorable 23 year old grey female tabby Lizzie my friend had to leave with me when he moved his family to New Zealand because he knew she would not make it through the quarantine.

    Your previous well-wishes were most moving when I had to let go of a somewhat elderly Tuxedo cat (Silly) and no further gestures are needed save my announcement as you have all shown wonderful compassion to me and anyone dealing with difficulties and sorrows in their lives.

    Here is my notice to my NZ friend who I have yet to hear back from:

    Thanks to all.

    —–

    Dear Mike and family,

    I just moved my friend Lennie in over the weekend. Lizzie and I have been spending some really good quality time lately sitting on the porch or down in the garden. She’d either hang tight with me or go exploring on her own to the south side of the house. She seemed off her food the other day and didn’t come out this morning before I left for work. I had Lennie look for her and he found her curled up on her box-bed. I loved our little girl so very much and it helps a bit that the past couple of weeks especially we’d been enjoying the place together…but as you know, it still hurts. Her eye was looking progressively nasty, but she did not change her loving demeanor one bit. The last time I saw her the other day, she was bowed forward like the horse on the Beach Boys “Surf’s Up” album cover, and I gave her a loving scritch and a pat as I headed off to work. She extended her neck approvingly as she always does.

    When I get home tonight, I’ll figure out an appropriate spot for Lizzie’s final resting place. I think I’ll do it someplace in view of the back of the house as I want to always remember my very first and much beloved roommate in my new home. Thank you so very much for sharing her with me. I only wish I could have had her longer. She was much loved and loved all she met in return without reservation.

    In sorrow and sadness,

    LT

  120. 120.

    Omnes Omnibus

    October 17, 2012 at 4:29 pm

    @burnspbesq: “In custody” gets an extremely broad interpretation in the Habeas world. Again, I do not know the facts of the or the current status of the case law well enough to predict the success of such a motion, but I would not rule out the possibility of it being filed and heard.

  121. 121.

    ruemara

    October 17, 2012 at 4:32 pm

    @LanceThruster: Condolences, Lance. 23 years is a long time to be a cat, but it sounds like she was loved and loved well even when her family changed. Big hugs, man.

  122. 122.

    Ms. D. Ranged in AZ

    October 17, 2012 at 5:35 pm

    Speaking of the moderator, she’s sticking to her guns, regardless of what song the mighty Wurlitzer tries to play

    On the Political Junky, NPR this afternoon, they said Crowley did repudiate what she said during the debate. WTF? NPR is going to side with Breitbart?

  123. 123.

    DPirate

    October 17, 2012 at 9:02 pm

    Obama did more whining about the moderation. He was consistently ahead on time yet kept trying to butt in and interrupt, even making “come on” gestures to the moderator. UI half expected him to stand up and say “I’m the damn president and I’ll talk all I want!” He struck m as seriously frustrated and he was absolutely wrong in his assessment of the time.

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