Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Too often we confuse noise with substance. too often we confuse setbacks with defeat.

Joe Lieberman disappointingly reemerged to remind us that he’s still alive.

Consistently wrong since 2002

A lot of Dems talk about what the media tells them to talk about. Not helpful.

Balloon Juice has never been a refuge for the linguistically delicate.

A thin legal pretext to veneer over their personal religious and political desires

A snarling mass of vitriolic jackals

Hi god, it’s us. Thanks a heap, you’re having a great week and it’s only Thursday!

How can republicans represent us when they don’t trust women?

They think we are photo bombing their nice little lives.

Tick tock motherfuckers!

Let’s delete this post and never speak of this again.

You don’t get rid of your umbrella while it’s still raining.

Putin must be throwing ketchup at the walls.

Come on, man.

Whoever he was, that guy was nuts.

Let us savor the impending downfall of lawless scoundrels who richly deserve the trouble barreling their way.

You cannot shame the shameless.

Since when do we limit our critiques to things we could do better ourselves?

Let me eat cake. The rest of you could stand to lose some weight, frankly.

Anyone who bans teaching American history has no right to shape America’s future.

Republicans are radicals, not conservatives.

“What are Republicans afraid of?” Everything.

Why is it so hard for them to condemn hate?

You are here: Home / Open Threads / The Whitest Name You Know

The Whitest Name You Know

by | 65 Comments

This post is in: 

I’m obviously terrible at predicting or understanding the behavior of wingnuts, as DougJ and a bunch of you in the comments pointed out about my War on Christmas ceasefire post yesterday, so I’ll just note that Saxby Chambliss used his God-given free will to put his head on Grover Nordquist’s chopping block and so far it’s still attached. Saxby has always struck me as a fairly undistinguished, non-confrontational back bencher, and he’s up for election in 2014 in a part of the country where a Tea Party challenge is a real possibility, so either he’s going to retire and hasn’t told anyone yet, or Grover’s mojo is weak.

Reader Interactions

65Comments

  1. 1.

    JasonF

    I can’t tell if the title of this post is a reference to Grover Norquist’s name or Sazby Chambliss’s.

  4. 4.

    MattF

    I have an unworthy and undoubtedly racist suspicion that Grover’s lost some of his mojo since it became common knowledge that he’s married to one of them.

  5. 5.

    spoonman

    Don’t forget your Palin2012 prediction and all your concern trolling predictions. You’ve got to know your limitations. Look at Cole. Seems he figured out his which is why he pretty much only talks about sports and what is pets are doing these days.

    Maybe you can talk about video games or something. How is the studying for high school exams going?

  6. 6.

    ploeg

    This is defense patronage vs. tax pledge, and with the sequester coming (and Democrats controlling the WH and Senate), the Republicans are forced to choose. And up to this point, the tax fundamentalists have been notably unsuccessful in primarying Republicans out of office and keeping the seat afterwards. And since Saxby in particular has campaigned on strong defense, he’s banking on keeping the defense patronage and daring the tax fundamentalists.

  8. 8.

    Suffern ACE

    @ploeg: the idea that they have to choose is bizarre to them.

    Personally, I wouldn’t mind Grover coming up with a frother to take saxby out. Preferably someone who’ll take him out as shamelessly as possible.

  9. 9.

    Another Halocene Human

    @ploeg: That makes sense. Plus he seems like the sort of person who knows how to take care of primary rivals, IYKWIM(AITYD).

    Based on nothing but his name. It is fearsome.

  10. 10.

    scav

    anything up withnthe internet around wa? backbone issues?
    i”m being asked questions by someone more hardware savvy in the apparently impacted area and I dont know thw sites to check or key details to paa along. something seems to up with the data end of amzn but is that normal?

  11. 11.

    Another Halocene Human

    Um, FYWP… W.T.F.?

    Can I do this with anything?

    Love(hate)
    Vulcans(Klingons)
    FYWP(Sugg Yuggoth)
    Coders(monkeys)
    terroire(maintenant mon oeil te voit)
    human(Go…to…hell.)

  15. 15.

    Raven

    Don’t forget what the draft dodging motherfucker Saxby did to triple amputee Max Cleland. . .ever.

  17. 17.

    SatanicPanic

    @MattF: hey if being rigidly opposed to tax raises becomes a terrorist plot in the mind of the wingnuts, I don’t really see a problem.

  19. 19.

    Raven

    During an interview with Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-GA) on MSNBC this afternoon, host Andrea Mitchell noted that John McCain is campaigning for him in Georgia today even though McCain had strongly condemned one of his 2002 attack ads. That ad linked his opponent, Max Cleland, to Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden.
    Earlier this week, Chambliss defended the ad, calling it “a lightweight ad” and “very fair.” Today, Mitchell gave him another opportunity to repent, but Chambliss wouldn’t bite:

  22. 22.

    Anoniminous

    Chambliss is a shit and I hope he is tossed out of the Senate by some TeaBagger using the same gutterslime tactics.

  24. 24.

    burnspbesq

    Chambliss assumes he’s going to be primaried from the right no matter what, so taking on Norquist is the equivalent of throwing deep when the defense was offside. No downside.

  25. 25.

    scav

    Reince Priebus white? That’s either alien (non-terrestial) or a car, in which case it could very well be a tastful metallic white.

  26. 26.

    Baud

    Anyone else notice that all the people who argue that our top priority must be the deficit are the ones who seem most afraid about the deficit-control measure that the so-called fiscal cliff presents?

    It’s very weird. Like Twilight Zone weird.

  27. 27.

    Smedley the Uncertain

    Chambliss ran one of the vilest campaign against the much decorated war veteran Max Clelend. Out right slander that set a new high for Republican nastiness. Cleland lost three limbs in VN and yet was labeled and un- American terrorist by the Republicans; running ads picturing him with Osama Bin laden. Chambliss is as rotten as they come!

  31. 31.

    JWL

    @Raven: And never forget the chickenshit democratic senate colleagues of Cleland, all of whom sat on their thumbs and kept their mouths shut while he was being so viciously attacked.

  36. 36.

    bin Lurkin'

    @Smedley the Uncertain:

    Chambliss ran one of the vilest campaign against the much decorated war veteran Max Clelend. Out right slander that set a new high for Republican nastiness. Cleland lost three limbs in VN and yet was labeled and un- American terrorist by the Republicans; running ads picturing him with Osama Bin laden. Chambliss is as rotten as they come!

    Thank you for saving me the effort, this cannot be said often enough so QFT.

  38. 38.

    max

    Saxby has always struck me as a fairly undistinguished, non-confrontational back bencher, and he’s up for election in 2014 in a part of the country where a Tea Party challenge is a real possibility, so either he’s going to retire and hasn’t told anyone yet, or Grover’s mojo is weak.

    This is the lame duck. Anything you hear about compromise and stuff is bullshit. They did the same shit back in 2008 when entertaining the possibility that the overwhelmingly elected new President might be able to cut some deals, but curiously enough that vanished in a haze of filibusters.

    Talking shit about Norquist earns Chambliss some Beltway Insider points, some deficit reduction cred and whatnot, but will be entirely meaningless if he toes the no tax increases line (which he will, bet on it). (He’ll blame his inability to vote for tax increases on Obama’s inability to compromise and the usual Beltway shitheads will swallow it, hook, line and sinker.)

    Grover will ignore it all if no taxes are actually increased.

    All this bullshit you are hearing is pure snow – a delaying action, nothing else.They don’t want to be attacked where they are actually vulnerable – which is in the region of taxes. They will do anything to keep top rates low, and knowing that, there are quite a few things they’d have to swallow (and would) to keep that top rate low. So they can be beat black and blue over the issue.

    I’m obviously terrible at predicting or understanding the behavior of wingnuts

    You know those guys who play three card Monte in the streets that rip people off all the time? Same motivations, same essential behavior. If you keep in mind that will do anything for money and power, and that lying, cheating and stealing are considered fair against the ‘bad people’ than it’s easy to figure out what they’ll do.

    max
    [‘It isn’t complicated – just assume they’re doing their best to screw you 24-7.’]

  42. 42.

    SatanicPanic

    The whitest names ever belong to the Palin kids. Sarah and Todd used the Stormfront Baby Name Generator to come up with those.

  43. 43.

    Kip the Wonder Rat

    As many have pointed out, Saxby got several deferments for knee injuries caused by playing football. These days he has one of the best golf handicaps on the Hill. Thus, he is the ONLY oldster* I know whose knees got BETTER with age.

    Wonder how that works?

    BTW, it was later determined that the grenade that Cleland fell on to save the soldiers around him fell off the strap of a newbie, not Cleland, as has often been claimed. So the Democrat is a man who VOLUNTEERED to serve IN COMBAT and who literally jumped on a live grenade to save his men. The Republican hid behind 4 deferments obtained via magical knees and then ran a campaign comparing the true war hero to OBL. The cherry on top is that Saxby is a true asshole, an out-and-out shit stain of a human being whereas Max it one of the nicest guys you’ll ever meet. Sadly I’ve only met him once, and even more sadly, I’ve had to deal with Saxby’s asshole office workers many times.

    And you know what? Assholes will be assholes. I can live with that. But the pig-fucking voters of Georgia who voted for this absolute SCUM, and continue to do so, should have their noses rubbed in his shit every fucking day. THEY are the true problem.

    *I am an oldster, too, so blah off if you don’t like my ageism.

  45. 45.

    Citizen_X

    Saxby Chambliss deserves everything the Teabaggers are going to throw at him. Karma’s a bitch, ain’t it?

    As for the War on Christmas, our comrades over at Wonkette are claiming total victory aftehaving launched a preemptive strike (you know, when they stood a good chance of catching ’em with their pants down). Our newfound freedom did not come free:

    Hermie, the gay elf who only wanted to be a dentist, hated by the Clausites simply because he was “different,” broke from the Clausite ranks and was tragically cut down as he tried to reach secularist lines, becoming the first confirmed martyr among the anti-Christmas forces.

    You are not forgotten, Hermie!

  46. 46.

    bin Lurkin'

    @JWL:

    And never forget the chickenshit democratic senate colleagues of Cleland, all of whom sat on their thumbs and kept their mouths shut while he was being so viciously attacked.

    Ramen to that, the entire episode showed the essence of both major parties. The Democrats don’t deserve people like Cleland and the Republicans would have to evolve for geological ages to reach the level of slime mold.

  47. 47.

    Citizen Alan

    @Anton Sirius:

    Neither one is as white as Reince Priebus. THAT is the whitest name on the planet.

    While Prince Rebis is very, very white, I don’t think his name is. If I had no idea who he was except that he was somewhat politically important, I would probably hazard a guess that he was the strongman in some Eastern European nation-state. Probably Turkmenistan. (He is, in fact, of German-Greek descent, and his first name is the even more hilarious Reinhold!)

  48. 48.

    RSA

    I always thought that name was so white it glowed.

    Me, too. Here’s a tiny bit of data analysis: among the top ten “whitest” boys’ names in the U.S. are Jack and Scott; the congressmen with the whitest names are Scott Tipton, Jack Kingston, Scott Garrett, Scott DesJarlais, and Scott Rigell. (No congresswomen have names in the top ten “whitest” girls’ names.)

  50. 50.

    PsiFighter37

    Fuck Saxby Chambliss with a rusty, half-broken street sign. What he did in 2002 to Max Cleland is/was unacceptable. If there’s one fuckhead who deserves to lose, it’s him.

    The fact that he’s going to lose in a primary because he is not nutty enough is crazy. I do hope Democrats line up someone just in case…Georgia went to Romney by less than 8%, and look what happened in Indiana (which Romney won by 10% this year) when some idiot Republican opened his mouth and let stupidity flow freely…

  51. 51.

    Raven

    @Kip the Wonder Rat: Well, he actually bent over to pick it up but that’s ok.

    “When the helicopter landed, Cleland jumped out, followed by the two soldiers. They ducked beneath the rotors and turned to watch the liftoff. Cleland reached down to pick up a grenade he believed had popped off his flak jacket. It exploded, and the blast slammed him backward, shredding both his legs and one arm.”

    I went with a group of Nam vets to see him in the Georgia Capitol building years ago and he spent a good two hours signing his book for everyone in line, for free I might add. Also, I broke my leg in 18 fragments in 8th grade and four years later it didn’t keep my young ass out of the big green machine.

  53. 53.

    susan

    It is Kabuki.

    Saxby and Grover see an opportunity to gut the safty net, so they are pretending to be at odds until ss, medicare and medicaid are badly weakened.

    Destroying these programs has been a Republican goal since they were enacted.

    And, Obama is going to help them do it.

    Once this is accomplished, the No New Tax pledge will, once again, be strictly enforced.

  55. 55.

    Yutsano

    @susan:

    And, Obama is going to help them do it.

    You know, it’s no longer cute when you keep crying wolf and the wolf never shows…

  56. 56.

    Felonius Monk

    @Citizen Alan:

    While Prince Rebis is very, very white, I don’t think his name is.

    Rence Prebis sounds like the name of a foreign made automobile. You know the kind: really small, very ugly, runs on bullshit and always pulls to the right.

  57. 57.

    Ben Franklin

    @Yutsano:

    You know, it’s no longer cute when you keep crying wolf and the wolf never shows………..because the wolf is wearing sheep’s clothing, and shearing is healthy.

  59. 59.

    thalarctos

    @scav: My friends on Beacon Hill, just south of Amazon, whose house we went to for Thanksgiving, had experienced 2 days of outage at that point. I don’t know how long the outage ultimately lasted, or whether it’s over yet.

  64. 64.

    Marie Burns

    Oh, Mister Mix, you’ve got it wrong again. Digby explains how government works. Here’s the money quote:

    “… Chambliss said nothing he hasn’t said before. They set all this up so that we would have a number of arbitrary deadlines coming to a head at the same time. It’s how we govern these days — a bipartisan plutocratic centrist and conservative coalition comes together to do the bidding of the moneyed interests and betray their own constituents under a phony sense of crisis in a lame duck session. The details vary only slightly depending on who allegedly ‘won’ the recent election, but basically, this stuff is all baked in the cake long before any of us have a chance to vote.”

    There’s a reason you can find the word “scam” in Saxby ChAMbliss.”

    Marie

Comments are closed.