If you hang around Biden enough, you start thinking you can pull off comments like this one:
“You are so pretty. God love you, holy mackerel.”
This aside was to a brunette in a red dress, apparently there with bachelor Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.).
To Claire McCaskill, on her daughters: “You gonna build a fence around the house? A lotta machine guns?”
Those are from one event, Biden’s 86-minute logorrhoea fest at the Senate swearing-in this January. I watched every minute of it, and those quotes are just a taste of his jaw-dropping performance. He’s also a toucher, not in an inappropriate way, but he has his hands on everyone.
After five years of exposure to this one-man wrecking machine, you can see why even a master of control like Obama could slip and think it was OK to remark on Kamala Harris’ beauty. But only Biden can pull off those comments. No other male politician on the planet is capable of doing it, for reasons that are far beyond my feeble understanding.
Baud
BIDEN!
This is great. Let’s end the discussion of this issue with this thread, and go out on top.
merl
What makes his remark a gaffe? Maybe he was just complimenting her.
Ultraviolet Thunder
Yeah, there’s a double standard here. Can’t put my finger on what the difference is, though…
BruceFromOhio
To acknowledge, comment, glance, posture, indicate or even think about how attractive another person is that is not your spouse means you are a serial stalking perverted criminal with evil intent, and should be stoned by a mob of your peers immediately.
Perhaps you missed the memo.
Valdivia
I love me some Biden. And I like your theory. Though Obama says good looking to a lot of people even men. I wasn’t upset about what he said but can see why he had to apologize.
Rex Everything
Another simple explantation: He’s a dude. He fucked up. Big deal.
Keith G
Folks have a separate category for Joe Biden. it is a type of category that has kept him away from being seriously considered his party’s nominee on several occasions.
So there’s that.
Mark S.
So when do the impeachment hearings begin?
Cacti
I was thinking it was because he betrayed us over the chained CPI.
boss bitch
Stop saying it was a slip. He’s commented on other’s looks before – both male and female. It’s what he does. He’s known Kamala Harris for a very long time. He felt comfortable saying it so he said it. It was NOT a slip.
FFS!
Joe gets a pass because people think he’s a fool and doesn’t know any better. Obama on the other hand is held to a higher standard that God.
BGinCHI
At least he didn’t tell Ed Henry that he was beautiful.
Now that would have been offensive.
John Weiss
Oh, Joe!
One of my heroes!
I love the ladies as well. I never hold back a compliment. Guess what? They love that. ‘Cause I mean it.
Gods! The Prez has plenty on his plate, he doesn’t need more bullshit.
JW
MomSense
At my house my boys call him Joe Fucking Biden with absolute respect.
I have heard the president comment many times on how handsome men are. But you know the big issues of the day are clearly appropriate comments and percentage from the foul line.
We are so screwed-probably too stupid to exist much longer.
Randy P
@Ultraviolet Thunder: Believe it or not, I don’t think that’s it. For instance, when very whitebread Tweety (Chris Matthews) interrupted a stock market report to tell the reporter to come close to the camera because she was so pretty, he just came off as an asshole.
There’s something uniquely endearing about Biden that just makes us say “I love that guy” when he does one of his famous “gaffes”.
jshooper
WTF is going on…I haven’t been paying attention to politics in a while…But I’ve seen a lot of Obama bashing because he gave a woman he personally knows a compliment…I’m really scratching my head as to how or why this is interesting or seen as a horrible SEXIST gaffe on his part…It’s almost like people just discovered that he is a man who can see other female humans other than Michelle…I’ve also noticed people still displaying faux outrage over this despite the fact that Obama gives his male colleagues similar harmless compliments…WTF is this bullshit…Is this the coordinated effort to sexualize Obama and dirty him up as some sort of Bill Clinton like figure?
Cacti
Imagine if the POTUS had made these comments about a white woman.
The Villagers would be heading toward the White House with tar and feathers.
bemused
Most women can tell the difference between and innocuous compliment or remark and a sexist comment in a split second. You develop a second sense when very young. Obama’s comment didn’t set off my radar at all. Meh. Granted, a president is put to a ridiculous “standard” compared to the average person and media loves to make something out of nothing.
scarshapedstar
Might have a little to do with the tragic death of Joe’s wife and daughter, which most people in DC are aware of. I don’t really need to elaborate on this, I hope.
ricky
Hey, we know Joe’s lady friend here is missing some teeth. But what about her tats? And why no pix of Kamala if she’s so damned hot?
scav
Outrage could very well produce Adrenaline rushes for internet junkies, keyboard potatoes and others. Might explain their ever-presence and increasing frequency. Certainly seems to be a cross-spectrum addiction.
Cacti
@bemused:
Having the double whammy of being a person of color, and a Democrat, this President is held to standards typically reserved for Jesus Christ.
BGinCHI
If Biden and Hillary do run against each other in 16 it’s going to be epic. The outrage from the Hillarista camp will be off the charts.
mistermix
@Randy P: I agree with this, it’s not just race. Biden is teflon, probably in part because he thinks Jill is the most beautiful woman in the world and remarks on it every, single time he introduces her.
shortstop
@Keith G: Always the beloved uncle, never the candidate. It seems to work.
ruemara
This is bullshit.
mk3872
Obama has also called male politicians “good-looking” in public before.
I get the stigma associated with women working to achieve success compared with men.
But if Obama were gay, would that be just as inappropriate of a comment?
Rob Lowe is actually right here: The CW police (including many BJ bloggers) are in overdrive here.
Sly
Biden is a schmoozer. Obama is not.
During the swearing in of the 113th, Biden did this to every woman in the room, from 20 year old daughters and granddaughters to 90 year old mothers and grandmothers. That’s what schmoozers do; it’s not about individual responses, it’s about working a room full of people either to (a) socially ingratiate yourself by being amusing to others and/or (b) amusing yourself. This makes it more OK (perhaps not completely appropriate, YMMV) than selective sexual compliments because it makes the unseriousness of those compliments implicit.
To my knowledge, Kamala Harris is the first woman toward whom Obama has made these kinds of comments in public. Why not Sotomayor, or Clinton, or Kagan, or any other woman (aside from his wife) whose name has escape his lips? That he hasn’t makes the comments on Harris seem inauthentic and boorish, and its a bigger crime for a politician to be seen as inauthentic and boorish than to be seen as sexist.
Omnes Omnibus
@BGinCHI: FWIW I don’t think either Biden or Clinton will be in the race for ’16.
minutemaid
I blame Obama because…DRONEZZZZ.
shortstop
@BGinCHI: Biden won’t run. Clinton will. Bet you a double order of you-know-what.
boss bitch
@jshooper:
They have been trying to do this since the primaries.
bemused
I would add that I think that Obama and Biden truly like and admire women, the whole woman, not just their looks. I have guy friends that love to hug, pay compliments to the women in their lives. I’ve always felt totally comfortable with these guys vs other male huggers/schmoozers that set off an instant back-off reaction in me.
Cacti
@minutemaid:
Dronezzz are so last week.
Blame him because…CHAINED CPI.
Omnes Omnibus
Also, I’ll grant that this was a gaffe. But it was a small one and Obama has already apologized to Harris. Can we move on? This is the third post in 12 hours on the subject. Why?
shortstop
@boss bitch: Yes, and it has to do with the bastards demonizing Democrats in general and black men in particular, but since I’m just some randy chick on the internet, I’ll also add with a soupcon of shame that I’ve been sexualizing him since day one.
Ben Franklin
Fuck all this shit. When I screw up, gaffe the shark or just plain forget an important appointment, I default to my standard escape clause…..
Omnes Omnibus
@Ben Franklin: Ageist.
eemom
Thread no. 3 on this ridiculous shit.
As I foretold, so it came to pass; yea, even as I wept and besought thee O Lord for mercy, even so thou smote me.
raven
I was at an education conference this week and our keynote was a prominent teacher trainer. She was great and, at the social, I stood with her and three women. The conversation was mostly about education but, near the end, the women starting pouring it on about what an attractive and young looking 60 year old she was. Guess who never said a word?’
WTF-K?
GregB
Obama better keep his mitts off of Angela Merkle.
Redshirt
Angela Merkel texted me to say “WORSE THAN BUSH/OBAMA BACKRUB BUMMER”
Valdivia
@BGinCHI:
I was thinking exactly this.
Also–I am sure a lot of women here can say the same–I have been subjected to sexist comments in my work and I didn’t think what he said was out of line. Sigh, our politics can be exasperating.
boss bitch
@scarshapedstar:
So? He’s the only one to experience tragedy? Obama lost his mother, his father,and his grandfather. He also lost his grandmother right before he got elected.
Ultraviolet Thunder
@Omnes Omnibus:
But this is News. Why do you hate journalism? I’ll be hanging on to this story until something other important happens. Like Bieber’s monkey gets out of Monkey Jail in Germany.
shortstop
@scav: I thought this was well established. There have probably been numerous studies on it WASTING OUR TAXPAYER DOLLARS IVORY-TOWER ACADEMICS BLAH BLAH BLAH COMMON SENSE BLAH. I know from watching certain FOX-watching relatives and PUMAs that it’s an addiction requiring constant feeding.
BGinCHI
@shortstop: No soup for you.
Cacti
Could we get an open thread, since Betty Cracker’s “open thread” is also about this bullshit?
shortstop
@BGinCHI: You’ll eat those words, sport.
shortstop
Can we have a thread solely for people complaining about the existence of other threads?
boss bitch
@mistermix:
Obama does the same for Michelle.
Keith G
@shortstop: And I hope he’s fine with that because I imagine that if Hillary decides to, she and Bill are going to put together a campaign effort that will be monumental in its awesomeness. No ends will be loose and I certainly would not want to be in it’s way.
Smartypants
Honest answer about what’s different between Obama & Biden????
Obama is sexy and Biden is not.
karl
I blame Reagan.
BGinCHI
@shortstop: Even if I win the bet Mrs. BG will just take my soup away.
It’s a cruel world.
shortstop
@Keith G: Generally agree but will not rest easy until it’s confirmed that Penn, Wolfson, Ickes and Carville will not be on the team. I think the Clintons have finally learned, but I wanna be sure.
ETA: That was not to imply that Biden has a chance regardless of Clinton’s hires.
shortstop
@BGinCHI: Women know. Ha, I’m so sexist.
Svensker
@Valdivia:
This completely. I’ve experienced normal male appreciation (some of it very loud and baudy indeed) as well as sexist crap, not to mention straight up sexual harrassment, and I know the difference between the three. Neither Biden’s way nor Obama’s comment bothered me in the slightest and I was a taken aback at the reaction to the Prez’s comment.
Whatever. Folks are extra sensitive these days. Hopefully we’ll get to the point one day when people are easier in their skins but it’s going to take a few years.
boss bitch
@Sly:
Do Kagan, Clinton or Sotomayor look like Kamala Harris? They aren’t exactly trolls but they aren’t winning any beauty contests. Obama and Harris are friends. Very good friends for a very long time. That’s why he felt comfortable saying it.
Ultraviolet Thunder
I think the honest answer to this is that each and every human has a different set of unconscious reactions to gender, race, age, physical appearance and all of the combinations thereof. This leads to conflicting reactions to one another’s behavior from time to time. It’s all in our heads and there’s no getting around it. The only strategy is to try to behave and get along.
boss bitch
@shortstop:
Guilty here as well. So has the media who are now criticizing him. Remember that pic of him in his swimming trunks? It made the cover of some newspapers.
kwAwk
It seems like the resident O-bots would give Joe Biden a little more respect after he saved Obama’s ass with his debate against Paul Ryan after Obama fell on his face.
Ted & Hellen
Hmmm…so MM, is this post your way of asking the Obots here for forgiveness?
scav
@shortstop: I’m a little slow. Might need to wander off and listen to every bit of Henry VI, followed by, I don’t know, Anton Lesser reading the catalog of the ships to innoculate myself or something.
shortstop
@boss bitch: I emailed it to my mom, who has been collecting Social Security for…quite some time now. We are shameless.
shortstop
@scav: You know I love you. Never change.
Valdivia
@Svensker:
I hope so too. I was truly surprised by some of the ferocity of the commentary against him. Then again, he has always been subjected to a godly standard.
gogol's wife
@scav:
I’m so glad you spelled “Anton Lesser” correctly. This is kind of a pet peeve of mine.
Hill Dweller
@kwAwk:
I love Joe, but VP debates are largely irrelevant, and his performance against Ryan would have been even more meaningless without Obama kicking the shit out of Willard in their last two debates.
Hawes
I think Biden should sign up to be Hillary’s running mate in 2016. The first female president with the last “Mad Men” vice president.
Plus it would almost certainly make him the longest serving Veep.
John S.
@Ted & Hellen:
Your ability to take a random collection of items, throw them into a bowl and toss a fine troll salad never ceases to amaze.
SiubhanDuinne
@Ultraviolet Thunder:
I hope to FSM this is a euphemism for something.
Oh wait, maybe I don’t.
Ultraviolet Thunder
@SiubhanDuinne:
You asked for it.
rda909
So you actually sat back and thought, “Gee, I think this topic needs more discussion, so I’ll spend my time looking for some links and constructing yet another silly theory.” Just wow.
Strange I don’t remember a single peep anywhere about this though:
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/hillary-clinton-maddening-good-looking-treasury-secretary-timothy-geithner-article-1.446571
Shinobi
I think it is cute that all of the guys on this site, and in general seem to think that their opinion on this subject matters, at all. So let me state some things that are true, no matter how much it makes your dick shrivel.
1. All of the examples above are of Biden complimenting a woman, or her kids. The distinction is that he’s telling that woman she is pretty. That is not the same as announcing to an entire room of people that a professional individual who you are working with is a real looker. One is flattering, the other is awkward. Again, I’m not really MAD at Obama, but this shit was uncool, we can forgive him for that, but I dont’ think I’ll forgive him for Chained CPI.
2. I’m sorry guys, and I get that this sucks for you, but the ladies are the ones who get to decide what is sexist. No really, That’s how this whole “we’ve been getting screwed for centuries because we have vaginas and I don’t mean in the fun way” thing works. That means we get to decide when something is uncool, because we are the ones constantly dealing with this shit, and you don’t fucking know. No, you don’t fucking know. (See also White people and Racism, Straight people and homophobia… etc.)
(Additionally women are all actual individuals with different brains, so we also get to disagree. But know that though we may disagree with each other, we don’t care what you think. See Above.)
3. Seriously, just read this Gawker explanation. A guy wrote it, so that means it is actually valid and you can stop dismissing it.
Here’s the really good bit:
Chyron HR
@Shinobi:
Thanks for womansplaining that to everyone. You know those guys, they can’t form thoughts right. All that guy juice shutting that whole thing down.
nellcote
So the media should all apologize for calling Scott Brown/Paul Ryan hotties?
rda909
@kwAwk: Actually President Obama won that debate. The 20 people I watched it with all left saying our President did great and really seemed like the adult, as opposed to the childish fortunate son draft dodger. I was shocked the next day to see how the media was covering it.
That whole theme was a media creation, and as usual, so many supposed liberals fall right into the trap and play along.
kwAwk
@Hill Dweller:
That’s funny. It was the Biden/Ryan debate that staunched the bleeding after the first Obama/Romney debate.
Had Biden not come out and manhandled Ryan as he did, the media would have been stuck reporting the same tripe about how listless and helpless Obama looked in the first debate.
That VP debate was anything but meaningless.
Ultraviolet Thunder
@Shinobi:
Nice try, but you can’t homestead this discussion and fence it off on the basis of gender.
Hill Dweller
@kwAwk: But if Obama had stunk it up in the last two debates, would the VP debate have mattered?
Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism
@rda909:
I suspect it was more “Hey, an excuse to use that wonderful photo!”
dance around in your bones
I’ll just repeat the comment I made on the last thread about this:
None of the people involved in this Big Nuthin’ were upset – not the AG friend or Obama or Michelle (I have a feeling she’s pretty secure in her marriage).
Obama apologized, most likely because the media/GOPS/Fox/others tried to make it into a Big Somethin’.
Ted & Hellen
I love these Obot Holocaust threads.
You turds would excuse anything from The One, turning yourselves into pretzels to explain why it’s no big deal.
When we all know that had the Simple Bush Boy said the same thing your reactions would be 180 degrees from this.
But as a BJ matter, my favorite part of these threads has been watching Bots such as Assidy, Omnus Ominous, and Baud demand that the subject be changed and that no one must post another thread about this now forbidden topic.
No echo chamber topic control going on here, no siree bob.
Shinobi
@Chyron HR: It’s not that you can’t form thoughts. Of course you can. I’m just saying that they don’t matter.
Does that feel shitty?
Welcome to my life.
@Ultraviolet Thunder:
Uh, yeah. I can. Because it’s about gender, and at least one of the two genders is not regularly discriminated against for being that gender.
Ted & Hellen
@Cacti:
Perhpas you could experiment with interacting with humans IRL.
dance around in your bones
P.S. I hope this is the last thread on this Big Nuthin’burger.
eemom
@Shinobi:
Oh knock off that whiny ass condescension shit.
I got yer “who gets to say what’s sexist” cred, and I say this is BULLSHIT.
White Trash Liberal
Green Balloons
Ted & Hellen
@Shinobi:
This is kind of stupid though.
Many women will disagree on whether one incident or another is sexist. So who are we dick-bearers supposed to believe?
Women actually have their own individual opinions. They do not actually all think exactly alike.
ruemara
@Shinobi: Shut up.
@kwAwk: And, no. There was no bleeding. Except in your brainpan.
JPL
Every American female who wouldn’t mind entertaining the President in their bedroom or dining room table should call the White House now and apologize. It’s just sexist…
WereBear
Biden get away with it because commenter above is right, he’s a schmoozer and he loves doing it. The key is:
you do it to EVERYONE
or
you do it to NO ONE
and that’s the hangup. Even though the President was in what I’d consider a somewhat privater, personal, setting.
But hey, call it a teachable moment.
nellcote
Some Feminists need to examine their selective outrage. Chris Hayes calls his all female discussion group the Vagina Panel and radio silence? WTF?
The Moar You Know
How does Biden get away with it? Simple. He’s honest about it, all the time. Has been all his life, far as I can tell.
You enter “creep” territory when you’re not honest about it.
@WereBear: Better said than me. This is Biden’s “secret”, right here.
Cacti
@Ted & Hellen:
Shouldn’t you be fapping over chained CPI, betrayals, etc?
Mike in NC
What will Gregory and Schieffer be talking about tomorrow with their panels of Republicans, Obama’s sexist gaffe or the odds that he’s going to apologize to North Korea?
White Trash Liberal
@Ted & Hellen:
No.
This is bullshit.
Bush’s litany of crimes and abuses are legion. Bush was a gaffe factory and routinely did stupid frat boy bullshit. However, he was also a stone cold rotten human being. Finally, he was also perceived as an idiot. His spontaneous back rub of German Chancellor Merkel was treated largely as a gross offensive joke, but there was little outrage.
Because most of us who were politically engaged liberals were exhausted from outrage at real crimes and abuses.
So no, we are not being hypocrites. Get off your fucking pedestal, troll. I know how badly you desire linking Obots to Bush supporters as equally craven cultists, but for fuck’s sake your schtick is tired and rancid. I know you live to set yourself as singularly aware in a gallery of zombies, and I get that you write to make yourself feel vital. But your vanity is not our problem.
Randy P
@Shinobi: But now you’re dissing my wife, who’s been training me for 33 years. OK, we don’t get the final ruling, but are you really claiming we aren’t trainable at all? Not even a little bit? I object. I believe I can look at the Ms. Magazine No Comment feature and get why their examples need no comment.
Cacti
Has anyone asked what the one true progressive, Rand Paul, thinks about this?
Ted & Hellen
OK people, let’s get real.
Who can look at this picture of Harris and Obama and say with a straight face that they are not fucking?
Ted & Hellen
@White Trash Liberal:
Dear Heavens. Take your Midol.
Amir Khalid
@dance around in your bones:
I’m with you on this. President Obama didn’t say anything actually offensive to Kamala Harris. The worst to be said about it is, it got heard outside the milieu where it would have been heard as the passing compliment that it was, and not given any more thought. It has been blown up so big only because a lot of third parties have worked so hard to inflate it beyond its actual (in)significance.
None of this is to discount the reality of sexism and condescension that too many women of ability face, in America or anywhere else. That is another matter, and it’s not what Obama is guilty of here.
YellowJournalism
@Hawes: That’s funny you mention that, because as I was watching the final episode of season 5, I thought of Joe Biden as Roger Sterling was high on LSD and standing naked in front of his hotel room window. Biden is non-bigot, much less sexist version of Roger.
YellowJournalism
@JPL: You got their number? Wonder if my long distance covers it. Also, do we ask for Barack or Michelle?
dance around in your bones
@Amir Khalid: Yes. It’s a tempest in a teapot.
Also, I wish people would quit replying to Tizzy and Hiss.
gocart mozart
I love that first photo. The guy on the left is thinking “Dude, I don’t care if you are the V.P., keep your hands off my girl.” and the other guy is thinking “Holy shit, I have an ounce of weed and some coke in my pocket and this place is crazy with federal agents.”
? Martin
@mistermix:
I think Biden has earned the ‘harmless’ moniker, which is exceptionally rare among politicians. Part of politics is to tear that moniker down so that everything the candidate says can be attacked as being malicious. Biden largely avoided that fate, and I think it’s due in part to his story – lost his wife and daughter, commuted home regularly to be with his kids. He wears his faith on his sleeve, but has always made it clear that his politics run orthogonal to his faith. I think it’s a particular set of circumstances that allows it. Some white male Catholic privilege, some deference to his history, some convenience of campaigning in a polite state like Delaware, some just being a really damn good person and politician and being able to speak from the heart in a way I’ve never seen another politician do. Some also the benefit of having Obama leading the ticket taking so much abuse from the right that there was no energy left to put on Biden. Palin/Ryan didn’t get such protection from the top of their ticket.
His behavior is routinely excused as ‘innocence’ – he says and does things that should get him in trouble as a politician, but never does, because it’s not unusual behavior for non-politicians – all of those ‘gaffes’. Yet you’d be hard pressed to find a less skilled politician.
Alias Undercover
@bemused:
And people are citing just that ridiculous standard as the very reason he should apologize. It’s nutty.
My take is, if Ms. Harris was not offended, it’s a non-issue. She doesn’t need the likes of us to defend her.
boss bitch
The idea that Biden gets away with this because “he does it all the time” is pure bullshit. Obama was talking about a close friend, not schmoozing with a potential donor he never met before.
White Trash Liberal
@Ted & Hellen:
This is me on Midol.
dance around in your bones
@gocart mozart: I was wondering about those expressions, too.
Your interpretation makes perfect sense.
minutemaid
@Cacti: Chained CPI is the new single payer healtcare strawman. Yea, he like so sold us out man! And to think all the volunteer work I did for him that one day last year for an hour when they offered free Pizza. Never again. I’m staying home in 2014…That will show him!
? Martin
@boss bitch:
Put Obama in that photo of Joe with the biker in his lap and tell me he wouldn’t have been fucking eviscerated for that. Now put Ryan in that photo. Same result. Romney. Same result. Someone like John Tester might be able to get away with it, but I don’t think many could.
Elie
Europeans must listen to this and laugh. Could the prez hav been smoother? Maybe but this is no big deal. If I am Kamala I am smiling from ear to ear. He is after all a sexy man and every now and then that has to bust out of the enforced asexual reality that most elected men particularly black men must live. Honestly. This is past stupid
AxelFoley
The damn misogynist Obama:
http://theobamadiary.com/2013/04/06/misogynist/#comments
ruemara
@nellcote: He does? Yuck. Selective fucking outrage again.
Dr. Mantis Toboggan
Wow, four posts on the front page on Obama complimenting a woman’s appearance to one post on his crusade to cut Social Security. Now that’s good priorities!
different-church-lady
He gets away with it because Honey Badger don’t give a shit.
different-church-lady
@Ted & Hellen: Obvious Troll is obvious.
trollhattan
Thank fsm the president didn’t have an appearance at the CA Supreme Court.
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_R5uhlefVFmQ/THolgLV3ZuI/AAAAAAAAE2E/mZAGD1VqwTI/s800/TaniGorreCantil-Sakauye.jpg
All he’d needed to do after his remark was to add, “Mind you, AG Jerry set a high mark, but I have to say AG Harris has been up to the challenge.”
Luckily, we have Benghazi! to sweep this kerfuffle off the blog front pages. In the meantime: Onion Joe!
trollhattan
@? Martin:
I think you have to stipulate that Ryan would be in Obama’s lap. That’s the only way the scenario works.
gogol's wife
I hate to interrupt this vital conversation with an OT, but Kirsten Gillibrand just sent me an e-mail that said this:
“It is outrageous that Senate Republicans Rand Paul, Marco Rubio, James Inhofe, Ted Cruz and Mike Lee have formed a filibuster caucus to block a vote on gun safety.”
We can’t even get a vote, let alone any regulation.
Mandalay
@nellcote:
I don’t care for Chris Hayes at all, but I was very surprised to read that. This is what google has to say about your claim:
So how many times have you actually heard Chris Hayes use that term? I find it hard to believe that if he really said “Vagina Panel” there is not a single reference to it on teh internet tubes. People monitor every word uttered by the media, and if he really had said “Vagina Panel” I am pretty sure it would have been jumped on.
Not saying it didn’t happen, but…
Ted & Hellen
@Elie:
Well of course you are, you are a blind Bot. Jeez.
eemom
Can I get a living will for being stoopided to death?
different-church-lady
@Mandalay:
There is now.
different-church-lady
@eemom: You can, but then we’d have to kill you.
Omnes Omnibus
@eemom: Is it because things like Reid threatening to go nuke in the Senate aren’t worthy of discussion?
Comrade Jake
@gogol’s wife:
Caucus blocked!
Tripod
Is Diamond Joe back in the states? If anybody sees him, could you remind him to pick up his “package”? The fucking thing is waaaaay hotter than he let on, and I need to make it go away. Plus he owes me a sixer of Natty Bo for loaning him my keg tap, and my tap back…. sigh….. THIS fucking guy……
Mandalay
@different-church-lady:
Hah! We are all Vagina Panelists now.
BillinGlendaleCA
@eemom: You should consult an attorney about that. Oh, wait…
Dee Loralei
I think Joey the B should be Veep for life! He is the most joyous politician I’ve ever seen. And he loves his job.
dance around in your bones
It’s been 3 and a half hours since we’ve had a new thread!
I demand a new thread on a different topic!
Because the customer is always right and I pay good mon…..oh. Never mind.
(I’ve been obsessively reading notalwaysright since it was linked here the other day and I’m trying to strike the right note).
Chyron HR
@Mandalay:
“I’m not saying it
was aliensdidn’t happen, but itwas aliensdidn’t happen.”patrick II
Wrong venue. I have complimented ladies from work on their lovely appearance while at social occasions — parties, dinners, whatever. I would never talk about their appearance the next day while at a work meeting.
raven
So maybe we can get some jr high girls hockey game thread running during the final four tonight?
Omnes Omnibus
@raven: This will probably still be the top thread.
Yutsano
Moar. Tunch. Now. Plz. Kthzbai!
raven
@Omnes Omnibus: Well, after a day in the garden I’m gonna hit the laps and see what gives in an hour.
Yutsano
Did the blog just die?
? Martin
Christ, you’d think we’d get better service from the blog corporation now that we’ve paid a $19.95 subscription.
fuckwit
Regarding Biden, the elephant in the room is Saint Reagan. Re-read Ballard’s great essay “Why I Want to Fuck Ronald Reagan”. Or any news stories or analysis from the 1980s about “teflon”.
Reagan got away with it for the same reason Biden does, and no, it’s not because he’s Irish, though that has something to do with it. It’s because he SMILES A LOT.
This is pure, primate signalling. I’ve had friends who can do this. They can say the most offensive shit, but because they are SMILING (a lot), everyone just laughs along and gives them a pass.
Reagan smiled and everyone went in their lizard brain “oh, what a nice kindly man!” meanwhile he was fucking us balls-deep all day. Biden’s intents are not nearly as sinister– other than shilling for MBNA when he was a Senator, he’s been a pretty good VP– but he uses the same technique. He LOOKS harmless, grinning that winning grin, and so he gets away with whatever he wants to.
fuckwit
Regarding Biden, the elephant in the room is Saint Reagan. Re-read Ballard’s great essay “Why I Want to Fuck Ronald Reagan”. Or any news stories or analysis from the 1980s about “teflon”.
Reagan got away with it for the same reason Biden does, and no, it’s not because he’s Irish, though that has something to do with it. It’s because he SMILES A LOT.
This is pure, primate signalling. I’ve had friends who can do this. They can say the most offensive shit, but because they are SMILING (a lot), everyone just laughs along and gives them a pass.
Reagan smiled and everyone went in their lizard brain “oh, what a nice kindly man!” meanwhile he was fucking us balls-deep all day. Biden’s intents are not nearly as sinister– other than shilling for MBNA when he was a Senator, he’s been a pretty good VP– but he uses the same technique. He LOOKS harmless, grinning that winning grin, and so he gets away with whatever he wants to.
dance around in your bones
@Yutsano: It always dies a little bit on weekends.
La petite mort!
Higgs Boson's Mate
@gogol’s wife:
The last time that gun regulation gained any traction was when Reagan was shot. Maybe someone could machine gun his corpse. Otherwise, Congress (A branch of the NRA) isn’t going to pass any substantial firearms regulation.
YellowJournalism
@Yutsano: Nah, it’s just that we’re all out partying with Biden.
Omnes Omnibus
@YellowJournalism: Best thing is that since he doesn’t drink he gets to be the DD.
phil
Obama speaks like a techocrat (which he is), and that makes comments like these sound more jarring and inappropriate.
Biden comes across as more caring.
Kc dmv
@dance around in your bones:Yes when you work in retail it’s distressing how petty, evil, and stupid people are. Especially when they feel like you’re a lesser-then. Love that site, although I would say the reality is even worst.
dance around in your bones
@Kc dmv: I have shared a couple stories here from my days in food service/pfarmacy tech days.
One of the things I love about that site are the stories of human kindness and thankfulness. I remember one guy who was getting meds for HIV/AIDS and for some reason I was always the person who helped him. He looked worse every time I saw him (this was in the 80’s). One day he came in and asked to speak to me, and he gave me a gift basket from a trendy store, and he said “You have always treated me so kindly and like a human being, I just wanted to give this to you in thanks”.
I was reduced to a puddle of tears in the back room.
But yeah, the shitty customers far outweigh the good ones.
TCG
@Shinobi: That’s the biggest load of over privileged white feminist white bullshit I have read in quite some time. Your little essay just reminded me why women of color have never felt comfortable with the feminist movement. If you think black men have ever been privileged at any point in American history, you are insane.
I haven’t seen anybody mad about this, but former Hillary supporters and white women who don’t look as good as Kamala Harris. You bent over backwards to make excuses for Biden doing the same thing all of the time. Fear of black sexuality much?
And if you aren’t black you don’t get to comment on what a black man says to a black woman. Sorry, you just don’t. Let black people decide what is offensive among ourselves, your opinion doesn’t matter.
David Koch
It was actually Menendez’ daughter!
who is smokin hawt wth big juggs
http://generationobamadc.files.wordpress.com/2010/07/aliciam.jpg
Sammy
@Valdivia: What am I missing about this comment? Whining about this is what we have come to?
Ruckus
@Shinobi:
So you are saying that none of us outties can ever learn or understand being used, belittled, pissed on or just plain put down? That owning a vagina gives you emotions and understanding that having a dick removes from us?
Just because so many of us males are assholes doesn’t mean we all are. I don’t understand what it is like to be black, or have a vagina but I can still understand what causes you or them to be pissed when treated like less than human, to get no respect for just existing. To think that all men can not understand makes you no better than the people you dislike.
Ruckus
@dance around in your bones:
I like that site, having owned a retail establishment for a few years as well as working in customer service for the eleven before that. I never had most of the kind of interactions with customers that the posts talk about but as a consumer I have had a few interactions with customer service. Netflix is almost the worst, because every time but once when I have called for bad or no service at all, all I get is smart ass, long before I have any chance to earn it. The part I’d like is if a company would understand that the reason their customer service department is so hated is that so many people have to call because the product/service they sell is so shitty and we really have no way to know that until we don’t get what we feel we paid for. One starts to think they might not actually give a damn about their product/service, only about getting our money. Weird isn’t it?