Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Pessimism assures that nothing of any importance will change.

The words do not have to be perfect.

Republicans want to make it harder to vote and easier for them to cheat.

The party of Reagan has become the party of Putin.

“A king is only a king if we bow down.” – Rev. William Barber

Washington Post Catch and Kill, not noticeably better than the Enquirer’s.

They don’t have outfits that big. nor codpieces that small.

Is trump is trying to break black America over his knee? signs point to ‘yes’.

A tremendous foreign policy asset… to all of our adversaries.

Baby steps, because the Republican Party is full of angry babies.

The lights are all blinking red.

It’s the corruption, stupid.

Let’s bury these fuckers at the polls 2 years from now.

JFC, are there no editors left at that goddamn rag?

Prediction: the gop will rethink its strategy of boycotting future committees.

Trump should be leading, not lying.

The poor and middle-class pay taxes, the rich pay accountants, the wealthy pay politicians.

Republicans don’t lie to be believed, they lie to be repeated.

He wakes up lying, and he lies all day.

Text STOP to opt out of updates on war plans.

This year has been the longest three days of putin’s life.

Following reporting rules is only for the little people, apparently.

The media handbook says “controversial” is the most negative description that can be used for a Republican.

Fundamental belief of white supremacy: white people are presumed innocent, minorities are presumed guilty.

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Reader Interactions

112Comments

  2. 2.

    Spaghetti Lee

    so you probably won’t see much of me.

    Another ‘hiatus’, I take it?

  5. 5.

    Suffern ACE

    @piratedan: that reminds me about a question I was going to ask. If your ceremony is interrupted by a treacherous murder and massacre of the bride and groom, what happens to the gifts? I

  7. 7.

    Corner Stone

    Aren’t the Pens losing tonight or something? Oh wait, they’re scheduled to lose tomorrow night. My bad.
    Carry on with the hiatus.

  10. 10.

    tybee

    a walk along the appalachian trail?

    speaking of pepper grinders and the commentariat, does anyone know of a pepper grinder with a mechanical advantage (a long handle on the grinding shaft) so i can grind a lot of fresh pepper in a short period of time? a coffee grinder is overkill most of the time but i’d like to produce modest quantities of fresh pepper at short notice.

    also, the place of my childhood has created a whitewater course right through the middle of the city. i can’t wait to return to the homestead and get caught in the hole.

    youtube.com/watch?v=gkAc_ImLcbQ&sns=em

  13. 13.

    Elizabelle

    If the pepper grinder is that awesome, you can spell it properly.

    Peugeot.

    Elizabelle the p something.

  15. 15.

    Suffern ACE

    @Corner Stone: I’m assuming that if it happens after the ceremony is complete, the gifts are the common property of the couple and become part of the estate. But if the ceremony isn’t completed, the gifts would need to be returned and become part of the estate of the givers. Unless they are unclaimed property.

  17. 17.

    Rommie

    Holy crap, ESPN’s hinting at 100-game suspensions for A-Rod, Braun, and a longboat-full of other players. I can’t believe Selig will really swing the banhammer tho!

  18. 18.

    lamh35

    I don’t know if I love this video cause it’s just too heartwarming, or cause she’s wearing a SAINTS jersey!!!

    So NOLA Saints fans, which is better…lol

    Baby Surprise

  19. 19.

    Suffern ACE

    @lamh35: well, one guy isn’t really going to play much this year and the other plays for the team too awful for even Astros fans to watch, so I don’t think it matters.

  20. 20.

    Corner Stone

    @Suffern ACE: Ok, given the event was complete and the couple survived then the gifts would be theirs even though everyone else they ever loved is dead, right?
    Or, given they didn’t survive the event then not sure who would really want that specific China pattern any longer.
    Do you think the Lannisters kept the receipts? Or maybe the clerks wouldn’t exactly be sticklers on return policy of a blood spattered gravy boat.

  24. 24.

    Corner Stone

    And God help me but I despise Ryan Braun with the heat of a thousand lava lamps.
    Fucking punk.

  25. 25.

    Comrade Jake

    Whoa. The rumor mill over at SOSH is saying Cano might be suspended as well. Giddyup on that!

  26. 26.

    MikeJ

    @Comrade Jake: How many yankees that we know of are on this list:

    The players who might ultimately face discipline from MLB include: Rodriguez, Braun, Cabrera, Colon, Grandal, Nelson Cruz, Francisco Cervelli, Jesus Montero, Jhonny Peralta, Cesar Puello, Fernando Martinez, Everth Cabrera, Fautino de los Santos, Jordan Norberto and a number of players who are either identified by code names or whose names appear in other documents not obtained by “Outside the Line

    Cervelli, Montero, …

  27. 27.

    JWL

    @lamh35: Well, you can bet the farm that the Yankees have put champagne on ice. It is, at the very least, the first big step in their being able to void A-Fraud’s contract.

    I’ve deeply resented the Yankees since 1962 (“love to see them play, love to watch them lose”).

    But I hope they win this one.

  28. 28.

    Roger Moore

    @Suffern ACE:

    If your ceremony is interrupted by a treacherous murder and massacre of the bride and groom, what happens to the gifts?

    The perpetrators of the massacre return them for store credit.

  29. 29.

    lamh35

    I hear alot about legalizing weed and sentencing disparaty and prison reform an such, it seems to be a go-to solution for some liberal activist and sure those are good things too, but none seems to realize or just completely dont’ care that though those things would be good to just cause they may happen won’t change the “fear of a Black planet” culture that permeates so much of law enforcement in America. Elon James was talking about “Fear of a Black Planet” in the last thread and I thought of this video.

    Video captures Jasper, Texas, police officers beating woman

    From what I understand this young lady was brought to jail for an unpaid fine of $100!

    I don’t know, legalizing pot is fine, but I’d prefer not being choked out by police or having your head slammed into a counter and dragged by your ankles

  30. 30.

    Rommie

    Peralta would leave a huge hole in the Tigers lineup, given that the alternatives are Ramon “Washed Up” Santiago and Danny “Quad A” Worth.

  32. 32.

    different-church-lady

    @Corner Stone: They were cleaning up the Console Center this morning and found two more Bruins goals in the corner of the net.

  33. 33.

    Roger Moore

    @Rommie:

    Holy crap, ESPN’s hinting at 100-game suspensions for A-Rod, Braun, and a longboat-full of other players.

    I don’t think 100 games will get past arbitration. They want to claim that denying use to MLB is one offense and actually taking is a separate one, which I don’t think the arbitrator will buy. Even 50 game suspensions for that many players will be a big deal, though.

  34. 34.

    YellowJournalism

    @lamh35: It boggles the mind to think of how sure of their status and privilege these guys had to be to pull this crap in front of the cameras that they knew were on them.

  36. 36.

    MikeJ

    @Roger Moore:

    They want to claim that denying use to MLB is one offense and actually taking is a separate one, which I don’t think the arbitrator will buy.

    And the is a moronic argument, but Martha Stewart didn’t actually go to prison for any specific crime, but rather telling investigators she hadn’t committed any crime. I may be the only person on earth who thinks she got a raw deal.

  37. 37.

    trollhattan

    Just learned about this–The Ghost Brothers of Darkland County–which sounds like seventeen kinds of awesome.

    Dave Alvin is featured in an all-star recording of the southern gothic supernatural musical from co-conspirators Stephen King (libretto), John Mellencamp (music & lyrics) and T Bone Burnett (musical direction). This extraordinary collaboration features original music and key dialog excerpts performed by a stellar cast of guest artists including Dave Alvin and his brother Phil as the Ghost Brothers, Elvis Costello, Roseanne Cash, Sheryl Crow, Neko Case and Kris Kristofferson, along with actors Matthew McConaughey, Samantha Mathis and Meg Ryan.

    youtube.com/watch?v=KtI5F3odgDo&feature=youtu.be&mc_cid=402cf82b9a&mc_eid=ec6c5c3025

    ETA Blurb neglects Taj Mahal; must have been one of his final recordings.

  40. 40.

    Redshirt

    @efgoldman:

    If you post another Bruins/Pens thread tomorrow night, will you stay around and take your medicine if the Pens are living down to their fundamentals, or will your front-running ass run and hide again?

    A+ trash talking man. You just brought it. Cole obviously has no retort.

  42. 42.

    SiubhanDuinne

    Given some of the Sunday night threads over here, I had to laugh at this, just seen on Facebook:

    Why doesn’t George RR Martin use Twitter?

    Because he killed off all one hundred forty characters.

  46. 46.

    Roger Moore

    @Suffern ACE:

    I think 100 is to make 50 look reasonable to an arbitrator.

    IIRC, the penalties are agreed to under the CBA, so there’s no way of disputing them in arbitration. The point is that MLB is trying to argue that the players should be counted as having offended twice for the same underlying offense, once for doing it and once for denying it under questioning. I have a hard time believing that the arbitrator will buy that argument unless it’s spelled out in the same agreement that specifies the penalties that a player can be punished that way.

  47. 47.

    rikyrah

    FLOTUS to heckler: ‘You can take the mic, but I’m leaving’

    By DONOVAN SLACK |
    6/4/13 7:11 PM EDT

    First lady Michelle Obama was interrupted by a heckler about 10 minutes into a speech at a campaign fundraiser in D.C. on Tuesday.

    A woman started shouting and calling for the president to sign an executive order on gay rights, according to a pool report.

    “One of the things I don’t do well is this,” the first lady said, before leaving the lectern and moving over toward the woman.

    Obama said you can “listen to me or you can take the mic, but I’m leaving. You all decide. You have one choice.”

    The crowd started shouting that they wanted Obama to stay and one woman near the heckler said “You need to go!”

    As she was escorted out, the heckler shouted: “…lesbian looking for federal equality before I die.”

    “So, let me make the point that I was making before,” the first lady continued. “We are here for our kids. So we must recapture that passion. That same urgency and energy that we felt back in 2008, 2012. Understand this — this is what I want you all to understand. This is not about us. No one back here. It’s not about you or you or your issue or your thing. This is about our children.”

    politico.com/politico44/2013/06/flotus-to-heckler-you-can-take-the-mic-but-im-leaving-165410.html

  48. 48.

    rikyrah

    this was in the comments at another blog about the FLOTUS heckler story:

    June 4, 2013

    Dear Mrs. Obama:

    Please allow me to introduce myself by way of this letter. My name is A. Counting and I am the auditor of the Fucks Savings and Loan. Mrs. Obama, I regret to inform you that your account is overdrawn. You are without fucks to give.

    Sincerely,
    A. Counting

  49. 49.

    Irony Abounds

    I just have to laugh at anyone, let alone a big manly man like JC, getting so excited over salt and pepper shakers. Does Cole go the Williams-Sonoma website when in need of sexual relief? Btw, Cole, do you know that the hand-held medical instruments used by Dr. McCoy in the original Star Trek were, for the most part, various types of salt and pepper shakers?

  51. 51.

    Death Panel Truck

    The Peugeot salt and pepper shakers arrived

    I thought they made cars, like that piece of shit Columbo drove.

  52. 52.

    ChrisNYC

    @MikeJ: No she wasn’t. They charged her with defrauding investors by making statements to the market that she didn’t commit any crime. The judge threw that out. She was convicted for lying during her interview as to the specifics around the sale of stock, where she was repped by counsel.

  53. 53.

    a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)

    Glad you liked the Peugeot mills. See you in an hour or two.

  54. 54.

    Roger Moore

    @Irony Abounds:
    Why do you care whether other people get excited about salt and pepper shakers? And why do you think it’s especially ridiculous for a “big manly man” to be that way? Good tools- and salt and pepper shakers are tools- are a pleasure to use compared to bad ones. Anyone who doesn’t enjoy the use of a good tool over a bad one needs to turn in their human card, because tool use is a big part of what makes us human.

  55. 55.

    JWL

    @Comrade Jake: That’s right.

    I’m a lifelong fan of the San Francisco Giants. And I will always celebrate 2012’s World Series win.

    Yet there will always be an asterisk by that championship (in my mind, anyway) because Melky Fucking Cabrera was a cheat.

    And I won’t be alone acknowledging that type asterisk, either, if fans of other World Series winners during the drug era* are honest.

    For example, the ’89 A’s. The earthquake Series champs. They indisputably won. They swept the Giants that year. And I will admit the A’s were an all ’round better team.

    Unless I’m feeling mean. Then my response is always: “The A’s didn’t beat the Giants in ’89. Steroids did”.

    You’d be surprised how touchy some A’s fans are at having that truthful allegation hurled in their face.

    Then again, probably not.

    *(And don’t give me any jazz about pre-steroid era ‘greenies’. Amphetamines are/were a whole different kettle of fish).

  56. 56.

    Southern Beale

    I have some Peugeot salt and pepper shakers. Actually mine are grinders. Salt grinder has gotten corroded tho (they all do that …) The pepper grinder fell on the floor and broke.

    Sigh.

  57. 57.

    IowaOldLady

    I’ve been assuming these salt and pepper shakers were shaped like crappy French cars, but apparently that isn’t right. To the google!

  58. 58.

    ruemara

    @rikyrah: What the hell does that heckler think she’s doing? WTF does screaming at the FLOTUS do about marriage equality? I swear to god, we’re not that far ahead from the stupid of the Tea Baggers.

  59. 59.

    Roger Moore

    @Southern Beale:

    Salt grinder has gotten corroded tho (they all do that …)

    If you’re foolish enough to make the working parts out of metal, at least. They should have ones with ceramic burrs that don’t get damaged by the salt.

  61. 61.

    lamh35

    @rikyrah: @ruemara:

    Fully expect for the MSM to start FLOTUS angry Black lady meme again, or stories on the “strain of scandals” on FLOTUS…bullshit.

    And the Meme begins… RT @jamiedupree: FIrst Lady Michelle Obama gets in the face of a protester at DC fund raising event

    Also will be interesting to see how activist handle this. The heckler said she was “taken aback” by the “direct confrontation”, but I figured FLOTUS was basically just like “don’t let the designer threads fool ya”, cause she ain’t having it. POTUS may be zen like Hawaii, but FLOTUS is straight up South Side Chi-town.

    If Christie can confront heckler and be lauded, why not FLOTUS…oh yeah…”angry black lady meme”

  63. 63.

    Felonius Monk

    The Peugeot salt and pepper shakers arrived

    Mr. Cole, let us hope that they don’t end up keeping the “mustard” company.

  64. 64.

    rda909

    @ruemara: “we’re”?!? That person is on no team of mine. Complete buffoon who hurts the cause she supposedly cares so much about, however, her actual “cause” is her own adrenaline rush from doing things like this and being an attention junkie…just like Medea Benjamin.

  67. 67.

    Mnemosyne

    @rda909:

    I sometimes wonder about that. Do the people who heckle expect that they’re going to be able to win the crowd over to their side, or are they enjoying the hostility from the rest of the crowd?

  68. 68.

    PurpleGirl

    @tybee: It’s a great idea. Do they plans for re-using the old industrial buildings, i.e., luxury condo apartments, museums, galleries, whatever?

  70. 70.

    Baud

    @Mnemosyne:

    I wonder the same thing about Internet trolls. I mean, I don’t like Republicans, but I don’t go to their web sites and annoy them.

  71. 71.

    Jay C

    @pokeyblow:

    A heartwarming story, for sure: and an object lesson to charitable organizations shortsighted enough to try to inject overt politics into their orgs’ missions: Don’t damage your brand in a field where there are other [apolitical, more moderate, more popular] organizations ready and willing to take up the slack.

  72. 72.

    Corner Stone

    People have a right to petition. I don’t know when some of the commenters here decided to actively forget that.
    Oh wait. I kind of do remember when they forgot that.

  73. 73.

    JR in WV

    Years ago my Mom gave me a Peugeot pepper grinder for either Xmas or my birthday, it’s almost 3 feet tall, and works great. You can grind big chunks or little fine powder.

    Enjoy, whether grinding pepper or subduing sneak thieves!

  75. 75.

    Hal

    I am thoroughly perplexed by all the reach arounds being given to Chris Christie regarding his political prowess from some folks on the left. Apparently if you are a loudmouth bully who employs smoke and mirrors instead of actual decent policy, you can get away with anything. Someone on DKOS actually said he’s someone they would like to have a beer with. ugh.

  78. 78.

    Corner Stone

    @Hal:

    I am thoroughly perplexed by all the reach arounds being given to Chris Christie regarding his political prowess from some folks on the left.

    Hey, that’s not very fair to be ragging so hard on Cole after he said he would be oiled up and offline tonight.

  80. 80.

    ChrisNYC

    @Corner Stone: Petition for redress of grievances. In the case of M Benjamin, her grievances were actually being redressed when she heckled. She couldn’t hear the part about Gitmo because she was too busy heckling about … Gitmo. That was the funny part. “I want the cake.” “Here have the cake.” “lalalalala I can’t hear you and I repeat I WANT the cake.” Would have been totally wild had she had the conversation with Obama but neither that, nor redress, was what she was there for.

  81. 81.

    trollhattan

    @pokeyblow:

    Yeah, about that….

    founder Brinker remains in place. Her $684,717 salary in fiscal 2012 continues to draw criticism.

    You don’t say. At what point does disease-awareness raising cross over to cancer-pimping?

  82. 82.

    Corner Stone

    @ChrisNYC: Well, no. As amusing as you find yourself, her grievance was not addressed.
    And lots of people amused themselves one handedly by beating off to M Benjamin but there is nothing wrong with what she did. Just as there is nothing wrong with what the individual who interrupted FLOTUS did.
    I know lots of people here like to get their rocks off by bagging on those things but the fact remains that citizens get to do those kinds of things in the USA.
    Last I checked anyway. Maybe we should remove them to Freedom Zones if that’ll make you happier.

  83. 83.

    trollhattan

    If I lived in Oklahoma, at this point I’d run out of excuses for not getting the hell out.

    The tornado that struck El Reno, Okla., on Friday night is believed to be the widest on record in the United States at 2.6 miles across, the National Weather Service reported on Tuesday. The May 31 twister beat the previous record, a 2.5-mile wide storm that struck Hallam, Neb., on May 22, 2004.

    usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/06/04/18751584-el-reno-tornado-at-26-miles-across-was-widest-on-record…

    It would take most folks half an hour to walk the tornado’s width.

  85. 85.

    rda909

    @Mnemosyne: I’ve known several people who do things like this, and the older I got and was around them more after they’d have one of these outbursts, I started to realize it was all about them and that “rush” one gets when doing this. Bonus cred in their circles if you actually get handcuffed, and mega-star status if you get picked up and carried out by the unionized police.

    I remember feeling kind of disillusioned when I first starting realizing it was all about their egos and not any particular “cause,” since I respected these people in many other ways and genuinely wanted to change things for the better. So now I have no patience for these childish antics, since I’m more concerned about actually getting things accomplished.

    That’s not to say there never is a time and place for that kind of protest when used strategically, but incessant hounding of the most liberal President in our lifetimes, and now his wife (?!?!?), is incomprehensibly stupid. But of course we know these protestors don’t care about making tangible change and are doing this for their own selfish reasons, so knowing that, I guess it’s “mission accomplished” for them. Medea Benjamin seemed quite pleased with herself when she was doing interviews all over TV after her last outburst at President Obama, which was her main goal all along…getting herself on TV.

  87. 87.

    ChrisNYC

    @Corner Stone: Oh, sorry, never mind that question. You’re just making vast generalizations, of course. I was specifically talking about M Benjamin. And yeah, there was something wrong about what she did because she was there presumably as an advocate for the detainees because she “cares” so much about them and she had the POTUS engaged and addressing the issue and she just kept yelling, rather than, you know, advocating for the Gitmo detainees in any meaningful or effective way. But hey, she got interviewed for HuffPo, right?

  88. 88.

    ChrisNYC

    @Corner Stone: You didn’t even see the heckle, right? Quick — how many Yemenis are at Gitmo. I know. Obama knows. You and Medea, no clue.

  90. 90.

    ChrisNYC

    @Corner Stone: So Medea is opposed to releasing the cleared Yemenis to Yemen. Because that’s what Obama was, in the exact moment, saying. Is she a winger?

  91. 91.

    Roger Moore

    @trollhattan:

    It would take most folks half an hour to walk the tornado’s width.

    More. Most people walk at somewhere between 3 and 4 mph. You’d need to walk 5.2 mph to cross the tornado path in half an hour, which is closer to a slow jog than most people’s walking speed. I walk faster than anyone I know, and 5.2 mph is a fast exercise pace for me.

  93. 93.

    rda909

    @Corner Stone: Wait. Is someone above suggesting we should set up “freedom zones” and prevent protesting? I don’t see that suggestion anywhere.

    Thought most people here were discussing how incredibly stupid Medea Benjamin and friends are being utilizing that tactic, and actually hurting the causes they claim to care about. Not sure why you keep arguing with a point that no one here is making.

  94. 94.

    Corner Stone

    @ChrisNYC: Why do you think Obama was giving that speech?
    Don’t confuse us with M B. Tell us why Obama was giving the speech he was giving.

  95. 95.

    Jeremy

    I’m sorry but it’s rude when a person interrupts a person’s speech and people are there to hear them speak. What that lady did was rude to the first lady because she came into her space and interrupted her when she could have waited until she was done and then made her point. Medea was rude because she didn’t even allow the President to respond and when he was finally able to make the point that he agrees with her about GITMO she goes ahead and blames him and proceeds to shout some more.

    This is not about freedom of speech this is about respect.

  96. 96.

    Corner Stone

    @Roger Moore: I dispute that. Facing the most powerful man on the planet seems, to me, like an appropriate place to make a case of petition.
    I’m sure there’s a formal article somewhere that needs to be filled out.

  98. 98.

    Jeremy

    @Corner Stone: Okay so how would you like it if you were giving a speech and someone heckled you and didn’t allow you to get a word in ?

    Then when you are finally able to respond that person yells at you some more and doesn’t allow you to finish the speech.

    It was blatant disrespect.

  101. 101.

    Jeremy

    @Corner Stone: WOW What ?

    Nothing I said was untrue. That is exactly what happened. I saw that woman continue to shout and didn’t even allow Obama to get a word in. No one removed her until it became obvious that she was only there to be on t.v. because if that wasn’t the case then she would have made her statements and then allowed him to continue his remarks.

  104. 104.

    ChrisNYC

    @Corner Stone: Yeah, I know. That comment is, like, straight from the ACLU website.

    Can I heckle other speakers?

    Yes, unless you attempt to physically disrupt an event or drown out other speakers. If speakers have a permit to use a public space, hecklers may be required to stand outside that area. Police may keep two opposing groups separated but should allow them to be within the same general area.

    This commenter on BJ knows what he’s talking about. Shocking.

  106. 106.

    rikyrah

    Michelle Obama Let a Protester Have It and I Approve!
    [ 17 ] June 4, 2013 | Luvvie
    inShare
    4

    People gon learn that folks got limits. According to the Washington Post, Michelle Obama was speaking at a private fundraiser when a lesbian activist named Ellen Hurtz kept interrupting her. She wanted POTUS Obama to sign an anti-discrimination executive order.

    Wells, that wasn’t the time for her to be showing out and clearly, FLOTUS wasn’t here (nor there nor anywhere) for that. So she left where she was standing and stood in front of the woman and said:

    “One of the things that I don’t do well is this. Do you understand? Listen to me or you can take the mic, but I’m leaving. You all decide. You have one choice.”

    OOP!!! Like a REAL G! Apparently, people asked Michelle to stay and Ellen was showed the door, and I hope given the suggestion that it better not hit her where the good Lord split her. Cuz… WELP. And afterwards, the lady talmbout she was “taken aback” by Michelle stepping to her because she paid $500 to be there.

    ………………………………………………………..

    See? The thing is that people forget she’s from Chicago. Michelle LaVaughn Robinson ain’t here to take your shit. You act a fool and she might embarrass you. Plus, she ain’t never scurred. Ellen tried it and got what she deserved.

    FLOTUS doesn’t have to keep taking the crap people hurl her way. Barack might need to be nice because he’s all leader of the free world game proper but Michelle ain’t the one in office. She has a limit and folks test it. Remember this epic side-eye she gave John Boehner on inauguration day?

    awesomelyluvvie.com/2013/06/michelle-obama-protester.html

  107. 107.

    Bruce S

    @Corner Stone:

    You don’t actually have a “right” to interrupt public speeches with heckling. There’s some slack for something like a boo or a shouted question, but for extended heckling, you’re creating a public nuisance, stepping on the speaker’s and audiences’ rights and you are subject to being ejected as a disruptive nuisance. It’s really that simple.

    There are times when it might well be the right thing to do to call attention to a cause. But in those confrontations, one is taking a risk – and you are subject to a full range of criticism, from those who simply disagree with you to those who agree but think you blew it tactically. I doubt that the heckler at FLOTUS speech is going to get much sympathy even from folks who agree with the general cause. In both her case and Medea Benjamin, in different ways the tables were turned on them and the President and Michelle both came out using the interruptions to strengthen their moral and rhetorical authority in the moment, rather than looking like they were rattled or let themselves be embarrassed. The President was particularly effective, because his extending generosity to the heckler, whether deserved or not, played into the point he was trying to get across from his perspective. When that happens, a protestor should pretty much just know that they fucked up.

  108. 108.

    Bruce S

    @Hal:

    Christie is getting pretty roundly hammered for this latest bit of self-serving election rigging bullshit. I think the general attitude toward Christie is that he played his own post-Sandy hand in a way that hurt the GOPers and helped Obama last year, but beyond that he’s still an arrogant, egomaniacal prick who happens to need a margin of “centrist” Democratic votes to get elected and re-elected. Also, GOP governors who aren’t totally insane have interests that are different from the typically crazy GOP congresscritters. (See that rightwing asshole Kasich or Jan Brewer and Obamacare/Medicaid.) There’s something about actually having to govern that induces periodic bouts of pragmatism, even from some of the worst assholes.

  109. 109.

    mapaghimagsik

    I’m not condoning any of the strategy, or lack thereof here, but I can get married, if I choose. I have quite a few rights that some people don’t that I’m uncomfortable with the idea that “they” should just be respectful. But don’t be surprised when you get thrown out.

    I think there are lots better tactics. I can understand the frustration though, which rarely makes anyone more coherent.

  110. 110.

    Calouste

    @Bruce S: The Dems should hammer Christie at every opportunity during both the Senate and the Governor’s race that he wasted $25 million of taxpayers’ money by holding elections two weeks apart.

Comments are closed.