America’s Media elites just spent the day giggling about a Senator having a sip of water while talking to an audience.
Discuss why it would be a waste of a meteor to blow up this planet.
Open Thread
This post is in: Open Threads
Open Thread
Reader Interactions
115Comments
Comments are closed.
cathyx
When I’m nervous and speaking before an audience, I get cottonmouth.
Yutsano
What did the meteor do to deserve such an ignomious end?
Jim, Foolish Literalist
I saw Rubio’s line about “government can’t control the weather!” and thought it was childish and embarrassing. Then I saw a clip of him today repeating it for Gretchen Carlson’s Morning Zoo and Dooce Crew, with a Preibusish little grin. He’s proud of that line.
Comrade Mary
Because The Tunch abides?
Hill Dweller
The Village also twisted themselves in knots trying to avoid calling the wingnuts’ filibuster of Hagel anything but a filibuster.
Hawes
He’s ended his political career before it even began.
He speaks Spanish in English.
He once voted against the Violence Against Women Act just to see if he could be a bigger asshole than Ted Cruz.
He is The Least Interesting Man In the World.
“Stay Thirsty, my friends.”
Baud
I’ll take that over America’s media discussing how Rubio is the brown Reagan (or Breagan), which is what the story would have been if he hadn’t taken the sip.
raven
Mornin Joe didn’t want to talk about either. Good company there.
Maude
There’s an asteroid coming by Earth on Friday. Should be big enough to obliterate the Senate and the media. That’s a start.
Baud
@Maude:
That’s not an asteroid. It’s the BJ site redesign.
Much more destructive.
PsiFighter37
@Maude: We need to send Bruce Willis and Ben Affleck into space to SAVE US ALL
MikeJ
If we had a smarter electorate I would agree that we shouldn’t waste time on trivialities. Given what we’ve got, use anything.
Yutsano
@Maude: It’s unfortunately gonna miss. It’ll be a close shave however.
srv
You people have no idea how dehydrated you are. This is a crises of epic proportions in America.
We should send him some nalgenes.
22over7
Meteor is sounding good about now.
Baud
@srv:
Thank god Rubio was just dehydrated and not extremely horny.
Dan
That wasn’t a “sip” of water. That guy almost needed medical attention. He should have a lifeguard next time he takes a drink.
kathy
i didn’t see the thing until this morning, and i giggled uncontrollably for several minutes.
Anya
The weirdest Rubio thing was not the way he sips water awkwardly but fake smile at the end. It looked like he was on his way to his first day in school and was trying to be brave.
Watch this video
Maude
@Baud:
Ah, that’s what it is. A company said it was worth a gazillion in minerals.
I can’t wait for redesign. I’m ready to start whining.
@PsiFighter37:
Yeah, but do they have to come back?
LT
Meteor bait: This bit of wisdom, from Joe Rogan, “Fear Factor” guy, the smartest man in the world, is taking over Twitter (and FaceBook) today:
P.S. Guns don’t make noises, people do.
Hal
I just don’t see how this guy is ever going to make it to a candidacy for President. It wouldn’t surprise me if all of his financial issues and lies about his family history derailed Romney from choosing him for VP.
Disco
In theory it would be an asteroid, not a meteor.
srv
What would happen if he had to answer the 3 AM phone call? Would he have to take a drink of water first?
Maude
@Yutsano:
i read that it will be 15 minutes away. That must be space time which I don’t understand at all. Voyager2 tweets how far she is from earth in hours etc.
trollhattan
Want stupid? I’ll give you stupid, scented with
bvile. Herr Reichsmarshall LaPierre:http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2013/02/nra-exploits-made-up-version-of-hurricane-sandy.html
How I wish he’d go hunting with Cheney.
Tara the Antisocial Social Worker
Rubio got off easy. Howard Dean had the nerve to give a loud cheer at a political rally, and it was all we head about for eons.
Jay S
Why waste a perfectly good meteor to accomplish what we seem to be doing ourselves?
Baud
@Maude:
Not sure, but I’m guessing that 15 minutes means the time difference between when the Earth and the meteor are in the same spot in space.
Funkula
@Maude: With Voyager it’s light-hours. I don’t know if that’s the same for the asteroid, but if so, it’s not all that close…the moon’s orbit is only around seven light-minutes if I recall correctly.
ETA:
@Baud:
That makes more sense.
Bnut
Here is my reason today for blowing this shit up. What in the actual fuck.
Maude
@trollhattan:
Or else the boogey man comes out and gets you.
He always says stuff like this after a tragic shooting. His timing is off.
Maude
@Funkula:
Oh, thank you. I have to study up on this. Then I can reply how many light seconds I am from my living room.
jl
But the shifty water lunge, thirsty stare, and ‘gwwrp-GLLLP’ were the best moments of the speech.
If this thing was pre-recorded, and they could, like plan it out and stuff, could they not redo it? They ran out of cash for the vid, or what?
I want weekly Rubio ‘gwwrp-GLLLP’ thread, it is that important.
Or a doofus reactionary GOPer of the week thread.
Hit me, I’m ready, meteor!
Maude
@Baud:
I’ll look this up tomorrow. It will involved, I am sure. I’m too tired tonight.
It was a tweet, so I didn’t get more info.
I think it’s kinda exciting.
trollhattan
Think Far Side, cat fud, and “Oh please, oh please…” while reading this. You’ll feel better, honest.
http://www.sacbee.com/2013/02/13/5188574/come-2016-sen-rand-paul-could.html#storylink=cpy
Can we possibly be this lucky?
Baud
I’ve been in a good mood lately. No meteor for me.
waynski
John collective punishment for our stupity is not the answer. Perhaps we can wish a cosmic event on the south.
raven
@Bnut: Medals are bullshit.
Baud
@Maude:
ranchandsyrup
@Bnut: Yeah that ain’t right. Wrong placement in the order.
Yutsano
@Bnut: BWHAAAAAAAA?? Who is smoking what and why the HELL ain’t they sharing??
dmsilev
@trollhattan: LaPierre thought he was watching the news, but he actually was playing Fallout 3 on his game console.
Easy mistake to make, really.
Belafon (formerly anonevent)
@Funkula: The moon is 1.282 light seconds from earth. Not sure where your light minute distance is coming from. The earth is about 8.3 light minutes from the sun.
gnomedad
The Onion has its work cut out:
Marco Rubio’s PAC Markets $25 Water Bottle to Wingnut Masses
dmsilev
@Maude: Roughly speaking, a light nanosecond is about a foot.
Maude
@Baud:
343
People still get nervous about comets.
Thanks for the info, I bookmarked the link.
I just look at a picture of the Grand Canyon and am glad an asteroid or meteor doesn’t get closer.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Funnier than the water bottle are John Boner’s real time reactions. You can almost feel how much he wants to be at home in his Lazy Boy with a Marlboro and a big glass of something yelling, “Ah, fercrissake!”
amk
I would rather the media hacks laugh and mock at him than give him a public tongue bath as the savior a la now dying time mag.
raven
@ranchandsyrup: Great discussion of bullshit medals from John Reed.
gnomedad
@efgoldman:
Take Two:
The Onion has its work cut out:
Marco Rubio’s PAC Markets $25 Water Bottle to Wingnut Masses
(Thank you.)
Maude
@dmsilev:
Thank you so much. I will reply with that. That’s about I move in 28 hours between Voyager2 reports.
raven
The Rolling Stones: 2000 Light Years From Home
raven
Have You Seen The Stars Tonite?
Have you seen the stars tonight?
Would you like to go up on A-deck and look at them with me? Have you seen the stars tonight?
Would you like to go up for a stroll and keep me company?
Did you know We could go We are free
Any place You can think of We can be
Have you seen the stars tonight?
Have you looked at all the family of stars?
Chris
New scandal!
After Iran-gate, Monica-gate, Pardon-gate, Weiner-gate and Benghazi-gate, can we call this one… Water-gate?
lamh35
didn’t watch the SOTU or the response live. I was instead watching Pride & Prejudice with Colin Firth. How much to I love this version, I watched it again today…lol.
I know I’ve said it before, but man I love Colin Firth’s Mr Darcy. I may be really biased, but IMHO he’s the best actor to ever pay the character…lol. I will NOT listen to any disagreements…lol.
raven
@lamh35: How was Mardi Gras?
Chris
@amk:
Amen. Ridicule these people with everything you’ve got. Don’t worry, it’ll never reach the vileness of swift-boating, Birtherism or the rest of that shit.
raven
@Chris: Or Nugent any-fucking-where much less at the State of the Union.
Bnut
@raven: Totally agree. My rack has 10 (and I was only an E-4!) and the only one that means a damn is the Combat Action Ribbon and the NUC. Hell, I got 4 for just showing up for deployment. And another for not getting written up after my first 4 years. Compare pictures of multiple year combat WW2 vets with a PFC with a single tour these days. It’s night and day. And giving some zipper suit in a trailer in Nevada an award higher than a Bronze Star cheapens it even worse.
gogol's wife
@lamh35:
NO DISAGREEMENT HERE! Colin Firth IS Mr. Darcy!
Hypatia's Momma
Because baby otters are astoundingly cute. Also, if you can’t appreciate the wonder and glory that is the Dance of the D. discoideum, well. I just don’t know.
So no meteors. Maybe a plague that only takes out H. hooliganus but leave the rest of the planet alone.
lamh35
@raven: missed Mardi Gras this year. New job, unable to take time off until after 90 days. So unfortunately I was an hour away and still unable to go :(
raven
@Bnut: Yep, they even decided to give us a Korean Defense Medal 50 years late and then said the AFEM could get worn too. The funniest one I have is the Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry with PALM Frond!
eta I do have a “Certificate of Appreciation” singed by Westy!
raven
@lamh35: Nothin in Red Stick?
Yutsano
@Bnut:
Must…hold…back…snark…
But yeah, it’s male cow fecal matter.
raven
@Yutsano: Well I can tell you I didn’t get THAT one!
Baud
@Bnut:
@raven:
Is there a medal for perfect attendance?
Funkula
@Belafon (formerly anonevent): Thanks for the correction. I believe I must have been remembering the distance to the Sun. I really thought I remembered that the Apollo missions had multi-minute delays for transmissions, but I must be thinking about hypothetical or fictional missions at greater distances.
raven
@Baud: Every medal I have is for attendance but not a one is for perfect attendance!
lamh35
@raven: there was supposed to be something, but it was pretty rainy here and unlike in NOLA, the one “parade” was cancelled due to the weather.
Bnut
@Yutsano: I mean, seriously, what the hell. A Good Conduct Medal???
Xantar
@Hawes: Well done. My hat’s off to you.
lojasmo
Careful. Some shit-stirring fuckwit at work might accuse you of threatening them.
raven
@Bnut: They needed a way to distinguish ya’ll from us 1%r’s
Omnes Omnibus
@raven: My view is that the only person who knows the value of the medals on any person’s chest is the person wearing them. What medals I got are minor and were for doing a halfway decent job at what I was supposed to be doing. OTOH I was definitely pleased by getting my parachute badge.
ETA: My grandfather, a WWII vet, said that the GCM was the only he had to earn; the rest just came for showing up.
raven
@Omnes Omnibus: Hell yes, any idiot who jumped out of a perfectly good aircraft deserves a medal! Curaheee!
Yutsano
@Bnut: Truth be told it’s not even worth snarking over. Methinks Chesty would not approve of this crap.
raven
@Yutsano: You ever read his son’s book? Fuckin heartbreaker.
http://www.amazon.com/Fortunate-Son-Healing-Vietnam-Vet/dp/0802136907
eta His story has helped me never touch a drop in 20 years.
raven
@efgoldman: Read John Reeds piece on the Bronze Star above.
“During World War II, my dad was a battery clerk in an artillery battery of the 79th Infantry Division in Europe. Battery clerk, more often called company clerk, is the job made famous by Radar O’Reilly in the movie and TV series M*A*S*H. My dad was not like Radar O’Reilly, but he held the same central position in the battery so he was privy to all the paperwork coming through. He got the job because he was the only man in the battery who could type, a skill he learned in a high school course.
He said that one one day during World War II when he was in Europe, word came down from higher headquarters to award the Bronze Star medal to all the officers in the battery. Another WW II vet who read this and who was in the same part of France as my dad during the war said,
[The bronze Star without a V device for valour] was called the officer’s Good Conduct Medal.
The Bronze Star is supposed to be awarded for courage under fire or meritorious achievement, that is, doing your job well.
That’s a big “or.” It’s like awarding the Congressional Medal of Honor for intrepidity above and beyond the call of duty or getting no cavities at your annual dental check-up.”
srv
RUBIO BLAMES GOD
CULTURE OF RESPONSIBILITY!
Omnes Omnibus
@efgoldman: IIRC everyone above an E-6 in the 1st Armored Division got a Bronze Star during the Gulf War. 2d ACR led the fighting during the bold flanking maneuver and only a handful of soldiers got a Bronze Star. The shit does not get handed out fairly. Again, I am not personally bitching; I got the minor medals that matched the degree to which my service stood out.
raven
I cannot tell you how great it is to see the Illini kick the fucking dog shit out of Purdue. Painter just got thrown out!!!!
raven
@Omnes Omnibus: Hence the shopworn “It’s all bullshit, don’t mean nuthin”.
Ash Can
Don’t be sIlly. The media elites weren’t giggling about a senator taking a sip of water during a speech. They were giggling about yet another GOP rising star outing himself as nothIng more than an overgrown high school student council wannabe. If the guy had simply excused himself and taken a drink fully on camera, with maybe a little wisecrack to go along, nobody would have batted an eye. But he didn’t. If he can’t handle an attack of dry mouth while speaking, how can he handle the far more serious issues a president has to face?
Bnut
@Omnes Omnibus: If you are a staff level NCO or officer and come back from deployment without a Bronze Star, it just means you didn’t schmooze well enough.
raven
@Bnut: you mean without?
clayton
Hopey talked for over an hour and didn’t have to take one drop of water.
PsiFighter37
Paradise…
Robin G.
@lamh35: I wasn’t aware it was even a contest. Have you been watching the Lizzie Bennet Diaries?
Villago Delenda Est
@raven:
As one of my superiors once said at an awards ceremony, we can’t increase your pay, so these ribbons will have to do instead.
Decorations have been something of a joke in the military for a very long time. There is, and I am not joking about this, a ribbon (The Army Service Ribbon) to wear that signifies you graduated from basic training and advanced individual training (or officer basic course, for the commissioned folk). I call it the “redundant with the uniform” ribbon.
different-church-lady
It’s not often I get to fix things for Cole, but there it is.
TG Chicago
@Disco:
The meteorite is a source of the light
And the meteor’s just what we see
And the meteoroid is a stone that’s devoid
of the fire that propelled it to thee
And the meteorite’s just what causes the light
And the meteor’s how it’s perceived
And the meteoroid’s a bone thrown from the void
that lies quiet in offering to thee
Bill Arnold
@Maude:
Space geeks might like the “Recent & Upcoming Earth-asteroid encounters:” table at spaceweather.com. I’ve been eyeballing the 0.1(0.09 now) LD (Lunar Distance) Feb 15 encounter in that table for a few months. (The distances in that table might be between the centers of mass.)
Roughly, they can’t hit any slower than Earth’s escape velocity, 11 kilometers per second, and usually hit faster. At 2.3 kilometers (2300 meters) per second an object has kinetic energy equivalent to its mass in TNT. Square the ratio, e.g. (11/2.3) squared == 23. So a 1 ton rock moving at 11 kps has kinetic energy equivalent to approximately 23 tons of TNT.
ranchandsyrup
@raven: Thx for the linky. Interesting.
TG Chicago
@Ash Can: Agreed. I mean, this is pretty much a nothingburger, but it’s not that he took a drink of water. It’s that he did it in the most awkward way possible, short of spilling it on himself.
And let’s not forget the multiple times he was wiping sweat from his brow…
Quaker in a Basement
THANK you! Even the gang over at Josh Marshall’s place have gone all snickery about this. I was starting to think I was the only one who was thinking, “Yeah! He drank some water! So?”
gnomedad
@Ash Can:
This. It was as if he was hoping nobody would notice.
Um, that’s a bit unfair. The big thing for me was how amateurish the production looked, as if they decided in the last minute to do something a little more formal than Rubio recording himself on his phone.
SatanicPanic
In their defense I did too.
muddy
I thought the most comical part was that he felt the need to retain eye contact with the camera throughout the water maneuver, made it much more odd looking.
Suffern ACE
You know, if we want to actually be good at this kind of thing, it’s important to link the inconsequential act back to the character flaw. If he were a Democrat, Dowd would note that it was very par for the course for such an emasculated man to behave that way. Kraut hammer would note that he had mental cases who drank water. I don’t think we’ve reached that level yet. Just Sally Quinn cattiness.
Mandalay
@srv:
Actually Marco, that is your body’s “funny way of reminding you” that you were in a fight or flight situation, and so your saliva glands shut down. In non-medical terms Marco, you were a terrified little bunny wabbit in front of the cameras, shitting your pants.
And STFU with that God stuff if you really want to be president. There aren’t nearly as many votes in your pathetic pandering as you think, you disgusting fraud.
Ruckus
@Omnes Omnibus:
I have no idea what medals I got. I think I wore them once for some inspection or something. I didn’t save them(or any of my uniforms). I was just glad to get out with my skin intact.
Mike E
@raven:
I once visited a couple who received a wedding gift of crystal glassware from Gen Westmoreland (ret). They proudly displayed the set and would tell guests, “His accompanying note said, ‘Enjoy these dozen fine crystal glasses’ and we were thrilled to receive his thoughtful gift!”
There were only nine in the set. (-;
Citizen_X
Say what you like, but I still think the name Agua Rubio is pretty funny.
So was Colbert crawling across the studio to get a drink of water, saying, “It’s all right as long as you keep eye contact!”
FlipYrWhig
@trollhattan: you know what would make a world full of irritated, tense people with limited supplies much safer? Guns! Guns for everyone! One for me to protect myself, one for me to threaten the other guy who acts all like he’s protecting himself, but I got my eye on him, one false move and “blam!” Instant safety.
Bob In Portland
@Hal: Watch who buys it for above market value. That’s one of the ways to pay off public figures. Another way is to give him a huge book contract for some crappy tome.
Atticus Dogsbody
From ABC’s translation of Rubio’s Spanish speech:
Olympic athlete dormant podium I think that our top bottom Scioscia system — on the — my — this year but some aren’t getting enough — You don’t know Hamas known couple that went — — — but it was a thousand isn’t exception on board — today — — pick us and Oman and god alone us about us — this Llosa. He get dole said Romano didn’t that it shall dollop of deals are you out of town labels on so stunning to speak how — the — — On the bottom of my adios to felony insists. The outer space.
I think that just about sums things up. I don’t know why it didn’t make it into his English speech.
FlipYrWhig
@Atticus Dogsbody: that bit on Colbert was fantastic. It brought back memories of the foreign-language music videos captioned by “buffalax,” like “minor bun engine made Benny Lava” and “Mr. Disco summoned it.”
My Truth Hurts
@Funkula The transmission delay between the earth and the moon was about 26 seconds. So it was a 1 minute round trip. That is because radio waves travels slower than light waves. So the light reflected off the moon that we see here on earth can be only 1.2 seconds old while radio transmissions from the moon to the earth can be 26 seconds old at the same time.
It’s the same with sound being slower than light and the same reason you see a flash of lightning from a distance before you hear the thunder. It gets worse as you get further out. Transmissions from mars takes up to 30 minutes depending on it’s position relative to earth, while the light reflected from mars isn’t nearly that old. It’s really quite mindblowing.
Baud
@My Truth Hurts:
Are you trolling? Given your nym, I’ll assume you are.
mikej(droid)
@Jay S: @Mike E: But there were blood trails indicating that three more had been dragged away.
Ohsuzanna
Albert Brooks, Broadcast News
JoyfulA
@raven: My father explained his WWII medals I discovered in an old box as “This one’s for being in the same ocean as the Japanese, this one’s for being in the same ocean as the Nazis, . . .”
Maude
@Bill Arnold:
Late back to the thread. I follow them on Twitter and will look at the site.
NASA is doing a live stream of the asteroid on Friday. That should be fun.
I get all discombobulated about the speed of light.
I am suspicious of the statements that it is a stable speed.