(Mike Luckovich via GoComics.com)
Being a devout Cynic, I have faith that even before Bachmann’s term ends next year, she’ll have found new media-profitable methods to catapult the Crazyganda even before her term ends next year. (And then she can prepare for the underticket on Sanctorum Jindal Rubio 2016!) Meanwhile, Gail Collins:
… We may not see her like again. Or, if one shows up, we may decide not to pay attention…
The most interesting question about Bachmann is how she and Sarah Palin came to be the two most high-profile women in the Tea Party. Neither one has ever had a real political organization. Palin didn’t like being governor enough to finish the term. Bachmann has been a terrible legislator. Women in Congress tend to be good at working with others. Michele Bachmann is good at talking on her cellphone during meetings.
They certainly have intense personalities. But you have to wonder if the secret is that, by political standards, they both look extremely hot. And if it’s their appearance that made them such stars, is that for the benefit of the Tea Party men or the Tea Party women? Ronnee Schreiber, a professor at San Diego State University, who studies gender and politics, says the women in the grass-roots Tea Party she’s interviewed kept focusing on how the pair “looked so feminine and dressed so ladylike.”
Whatever Bachmann’s secret, it isn’t really working anymore. Her career jumped the shark when she and a few colleagues demanded that one of Hillary Clinton’s top aides be investigated as a possible Muslim extremist trying to infiltrate the government. The aide, Huma Abedin, is married to former Congressman Anthony Weiner, and I think I speak for the entire country when I say the poor woman has enough problems to deal with in the real world.
Meanwhile, the Tea Party caucus Bachmann founded in the House has lost its traction. In the Senate, right-wing newcomers like Rand Paul and Ted Cruz have captured the limelight from the congresswoman from Minnesota who once won the Iowa straw poll.
And sponsored the Light Bulb Freedom of Choice Act. Can’t forget about that.
Apart from that, what’s on the agenda for the evening? Any guesses about the contents of this week’s Friday DocDump?
Violet
Bachmann maybe, but did these women even look at Sarah Palin? She dresses like a wannabe cougar reality show contestant. Crazy high heels, tight t-shirts, and wigs of various shapes. The only time she ever looked remotely “ladylike” was when the RNC bought her clothes.
Higgs Boson's Mate
She’s Come Undone
Guess Who
rikyrah
she’s going for that wingnut grift
jl
@Violet: The older white dude teabaggers I know (who slobbered over both) are masters of denial and idealization of their obscure objects of desire.
PsiFighter37
Recovering from food poisoning…ate a bad batch of curry on Monday night and had the absolute worst time trying to get any sleep on Tuesday, alternating between hot flashes, cold flashes, bouts of sweating and diarrhea, and some really weird dream where Seattle was destroyed and I was trying to clean everything up, except I was flying around while simultaneously hovering over the entire area like it was a SimCity construct. Jesus Christ, it was weird, and I hardly got any sleep. I feel a lot better, but going for a 5-mile run in the godawful 90-degree humidity in NYC this evening was probably not a smart move.
I plan on sleeping a lot this weekend, cleaning up the apartment (I just renewed the lease for another 2 years), and being a bum. I’ve traveled out of town every other weekend for 2 month straight, so this upcoming month will be a nice respite. July brings me to Palm Beach (FL), Seattle (again), Alaska (going to see what all the fuss is about), while I will be hitting the Big Island in mid-August and potentially San Francisco/Napa Valley for Labor Day weekend. I’ve come to like traveling a lot, but I feel so worn out that I just want to stay inside with the AC on and veg out.
Also, too, the new season of Arrested Development is great. Different for sure, but it’s piecing together very nicely.
And fuck the GOP, but that’s a default setting. I hope Obama gets all his nominees on the D.C. Circuit. I also like how those stupid nothingburger scandals have basically fizzled out. What a bunch of fucktards the media is for thinking any of those would have legs. It’s summertime, no one gives a shit about fake scandals.
Comrade Mary
Rumours around Toronto that the Ford story may see some related police action tomorrow: maybe a presser, maybe an arrest. Not necessarily an arrest of Ford, but one can dream, can’t one?
HinTN
Obummer will reveal he truly IS a muslim usurper.
In other news, Digby is safe to read, people.
Violet
@jl: The men I understand. The women I don’t understand at all. How could any woman think Palin is attractive and appealing? She’s a classic mean girl. Ugly on the inside.
lamh35
Oh for fu….sakes. Interracial marriage and therefore interracial children are here to stay. It’s been legal for ya know decades. GET.THE.FUCK. over yourselves…racists! Ugh.
“Cheerios Ad Starring Interracial Family Predictably Summons Bigot Wave”
gawker.com/cheerios-ad-starring-interracial-family-predictably-sum-510591871
belieber
Jebus fucking christ. Can you people not do anything else besides obsess over what the wingnuts are doing, thinking. What they think of you. What they are wearing. What the polls are saying about what they are thinking. Reacting to their ridiculous bullshit.
For fucks sakes. You people are utterly incapable of understanding that it’s all just political theater. While they are nodding and winking at each other who are all in on the theatrical performance you fuckwits are all losing your fucking minds.
It’s so obvious and you people just seem completely blind to it all. The fact that the more strongly you react to it the more they do it also seems completely lost on you. Sigh….the stupid it burns.
David Koch
Too cleaver by half. I told you this would happen:
Redshift
No, she won’t disappear. However, we will be deprived of jokes like her being on the Intelligence Committee.
PsiFighter37
@belieber: At least I don’t call myself a fan of Justin Bieber’s music. Pretty sure your opinion is automatically downgraded on that basis alone, no matter what sounds are coming out of your mouth/keyboard.
PsiFighter37
@David Koch: Not terribly surprising. Schultz ain’t perfect, but the problem is that he definitely caters more to the working class, blue-collar types in the liberal spectrum…Hayes is just going to come off as a smarmy ivory tower type. Not that I can really say much, as I would affiliate more with him, but Schultz adds a diversity to the programming viewpoint, and it’s something that the modern Democratic Party really lacks too little of.
Mr Stagger Lee
If you haven’t seen Spiral the French crime drama on Netflix, you are missing an excellent series. Titanic, Blood and Steel is decent series. I want to catch The Black Donelleys next.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
I think Bachman’s resignation is a net positive for the GOP. There are plenty of equally nutty (Virginia Foxx, Paul Broun) and even nuttier (goehmert, King) Republicans in the House, I don’t know why they don’t draw as much attention. I don’t think Bachmann will have as insistent a media presence as Palin– her rather desperate tweeting and facebook comments– but probably a greater role in actual politics, with Xian voting groups and hime-schoolers and the like.
NonyNony
@lamh35:
From the article:
Shocking – a comment thread on YouTube inundated with virulent racism. I’m fairly certain that there are videos of puppies on YouTube that have comment threads inundated with virulent racism. The comment threads on YouTube are second only to local newspapers for the depths of ugly humanity that post on them.
I think I saw this ad on TV the other day. I say I think because I remember the joke but I didn’t notice that the couple was interracial when I saw the ad – I just remember thinking that the kid looked like mine when she smirked before walking off with the box of Cheerios.
Nemo_N
If austerity doesn’t work then just pretend that it does:
Via Atrios.
It’s both nuts and sad.
belieber
@PsiFighter37: lol…google sarcasm. Just wow.
PsiFighter37
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: So she’ll become a female version of Rick Santorum, then?
That has to be one of the weirder instances of failure in the past 6 months…Rick Santorum whipping up enough of a frenzy amongst the homeschooling crowd to convince the GOP to give the finger to Bob Dole! and vote down the UN treaty regarding accessibility for disabled people.
the Conster
@David Koch:
The future of MSNBC is not with the emoprog intellectual left critique of Obama – it’s the working class/union/income inequality 98% who need an advocate in the media. There’s a huge untapped market that knows they’re being screwed by their politicians and their media, and only MSNBC can tap into it, but they’re too chickenshit to do it. Joy Reid gets it, Alex Wagner gets it, and MSNBC needs to get Tweety on board with his Catholic middle class guilt to tap into it. MSNBC really needs to be the anti-Fox.
Redshirt
+5 PsiFighter32
muddy
There was a Subaru commercial last year with a biracial family. Well, I guess it was implied, as we did not see the white mom. But you see the dad and the kids and it seems pretty plain. youtube.com/watch?v=5xCYYwDcdck
Those kids are cute as hell, maybe because we didn’t actually see the white woman then it’s not so bad?
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Tweety has been braying about Obama needing to get out front with a jobs agenda, then he says Hillary Clinton will be unstoppable if she gets “Eddie” Rendell to run her campaign and talk to working class Americans. I guess he doesn’t know “Eddie” has signed on with Pete Peterson. Today he gave a bit rant about the need for infrastructure and jobs, then he brought on that odious little Wall St Weasel Harold Ford.
The prophet Nostradumbass
So, my car was vandalized today.
PsiFighter37
@Redshirt: I haven’t had a drink since Monday. Probably some kind of record? Also figure that drinking right after getting food poisoning is not a smart move.
PsiFighter37
@lamh35: Clearly Obama’s fault, trying to remake America’s processed breakfast habit in his mold, literally.
Hill Dweller
@Mr Stagger Lee: Hulu has the first season of Spiral, for people who don’t have Netflix.
David Koch
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Hillary = White Harold Ford
monkeyfister
She might not make it to the Grift Circuit:
blogs.desmoinesregister.com/dmr/index.php/2013/05/29/trial-date-set-in-iowa-court-case-against-miche…
Copy of Lawsuit: scribd.com/doc/101600559/heki-v-bachmann
Timing is everything.
Lawsuit from One L’s Right- Priceless.
the Conster
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Oh fuck me. Really? That’s the problem with MSNBC and all of punditry in general – no imagination and no ability and no desire to see what’s outside of their bubble, yet we’re all waiting for them, and rooting for them to get a clue! Ed Rendell is the biggest DNC establishment FAIL whore there is, after Harold Ford Jr. Harold Ford Jr. has done fucking what for anybody anywhere? Why does he get a seat at the table, and Richard Trumka doesn’t? I know, I know. Fucking shoot me now.
Anya
Twitter machine tells Walnutz was hanging out with Syrian kidnappers. What gives? Doesn’t the State Department sanction these trips?
Also, what do people think about Obama’s potential nominee for FBI director?
jl
Since obsessing over what teabaggers are doing IS MY LIFE, what I am wondering is whether Bachmann’s departure will create a sex appeal gap and make an opening for Haley Barbour!
Haley Barbour Calls In, GOP Civil War (TJDS)
youtube.com/watch?v=CaChwPxB5y8
? Martin
@Anya:
President McCain has no need to check with the State Department.
Ballsy. He seems like a good guy from what I’ve read so far. But I guess we’re going to really test the Senate nuclear option.
YellowJournalism
@lamh35: Next box of cereal I buy will be Cheerios. Well, honey nut because regular ones are nasty.
NickT
@jl:
Haley Barbour and sex appeal don’t belong in the same galaxy, never mind the same sentence.
Anya
@? Martin: Just imagine the hysteria if a Democratic Senator was pictured with a bunch of kidnappers.
BillinGlendaleCA
@PsiFighter37: Now what might have worked, toss the Tweety repeat at 4(7ET) and put Chris there.
TS
@Violet:
Indeed – and while the media keep showing pictures of Palin c. 2008 she will forever look like a “lady” to those who pay her living expenses.
Corner Stone
Hey. You couple loser ass POS that use “Politicus USA” for their source on MSNBC ratings.
I’m talking to stupid humps like rikyrah and david koch.
That site isn’t actually anything more than an idiot jackass like yourself who likes to use the word “emoprog” to describe anyone who critiques President Obama.
Anyone else who fell for the bait rikyrah and David Koch put out there, like sweet stickly bait, hope you get past it.
BillinGlendaleCA
@PsiFighter37: Alaska? Back in my days working for Satan, I used to travel to Anchorage a lot. If you have a free day, and it takes a whole day, take the tour of Prince William Sound(ANC-Valdez(by plane), Valdez-Whittier(by boat), Whittier-Portage(by train) and Portage-ANC(by bus).
Gian
@Anya:
some might say that st john of Hanoi was palling around with terrorists.
muddy
Chris Hayes was saying tonight that McCain said no one introduced themselves with a terrorist name. Hayes says this is the problem: McCain doesn’t know who those people are one way or another.
Steeplejack
@monkeyfister:
WTF? The trial is set a year from now?!
Comrade Dread
It doesn’t matter how much of a manly man you think you are, when your baby girl comes up, takes your hand, and asks you to dance like a ballerina with her, you put your arms over your head and twirl, damn it.
joes527
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Srsly? I keep hearing folks with the “Hillary is inevitable” meme. What’s with that? Were these folks not alive in 2008 for “Hillary is inevitable, Part I?”
joes527
@muddy:
Of course not. They all used their porn names, so Walnuts didn’t notice anything odd.
Mike E
@Comrade Dread: I grok that.
Yatsuno
@PsiFighter37: Durf is Canadian, much to the chagrin of the other Canuckistanis who make up our little horde.
Meg
@the Conster: I watch Chris every day. I really don’t think his criticism of Obama is any harsher than that of Rachel’s. If anything, most of time he sounds a lot more reasonable and less knee-jerked.
Also I thought he covered the foreclosure of the houses, public school closing, and work place safety, you know, things that normal people should care about. Overall, I found it quite balanced. And I really don’t understand why people think he is pointed head pundit. He comes across very sincere and earnest to me.
Meg
@Anya: 1). The State Department provided protection for McCain, but did not necessarily approve what he was doing.
2). From what I heard this FBI nominee is the play-by-the-book kind of guy, who puts rules of law before partisanship. And he stood up against Bush’s wire-taping scheme. And he is 8′ 6″ tall.
the Conster
@Meg:
I watched UP every time it was on, and have not transitioned to his evening show – baseball and hockey occupy my attention at that time. I think what I mean is that Chris’s policy discussions are interesting and insightful and he does have the most coherent criticisms of Obama’s policies, but he’s too wonky and he’s too “cool” – as opposed to “hot” – to tap into the real outrage that’s out there. He can earnestly and sincerely describe the problems and can describe the policies that can be changed to address them, but what MSNBC really needs is someone like Chris Matthews – the Villager’s Villager – hammering on the jobs/demand/income inequality problem every day, done with the working class heart of an Ed Schultz, with pie charts and anecdotes and regular folk so regular folk GET IT. Lawrence O’Donnell is as close as they come to that person, but he’s still not “hot” enough IMHO.
WereBear
@the Conster: Mr WereBear agrees; he likes Ed Schultz for working up the population.
Some of us will be appealed to intellectually and we’ll watch Chris Hayes. But most of us are used to being appealed to on an emotional basis. If you are not used to catching fire intellectually (this typically happens in college, but certainly not behind the counter at WalMart) you aren’t used to it, and so it doesn’t happen.
Interrobang
@Mr Stagger Lee: Damn, dude, they made a tv series out of the Black Donnellys? That blows my mind, as I used to go to high school with a guy who lived on what used to be their farm, on the Roman Line… And now I’m reading this on an American political blog. Small world.
Knight of Nothing
Bachmann’s career jumped the shark when she threw herself at Bush during his state of the union address like a star-struck groupie.