Margaret Hartmann at NYMag, “Meet the Republicans on the Benghazi Select Committee“:
… A Republican aide told Politico that their goal was, “to select serious, sober-minded members who will make this about finding answers to some troubling questions and will not make this a partisan shouting match,” adding, “We’re not going to convene a kangaroo court.” The Republican half of the panel is packed with former lawyers and prosecutors, but they’ve seen their share of controversies, from offending Muslim-Americans to embarrassing themselves on The Colbert Report…
… that last would be Georgia’s Lynn Westmoreland, the guy who called the Obamas “uppity” (but only because he “wasn’t aware” of the racial connotations). Also Indiana’s Susan Brooks (the newbie), Ohio’s Jim Jordan (wants a special prosecutor appointed to investigate the IRS ‘scandal’), Kansas’ Mike Pompeo (Gitmo defender), Alabama’s Martha Roby (Tea Party listener), and Illinois’ Peter Roskam (“House GOP insiders say he is on the committee to act as a stable “monitor” and ensure that it doesn’t “go rogue” and turn into an embarrassing sideshow.”). Suspect that boat has already sailed, Rep. Roskam.
More details, and videos that would be embarrassing if the subjects were capable of that emotion, at the link.
***********
Apart from reading the sideshow hoardings, what’s on the agenda for the evening?
jl
Making a shrine to Trey Gowdy. I’m looking for bunting.
ulee
Anne, are you even alive at this point or is your estate sponsoring these posts?
PsiFighter37
Watching the Rangers-Penguins game and hoping that our blogging overlord doesn’t slit his wrists after the Penguins blow it.
Morzer
Serious, sober-minded.. what?… Republicans?!
Better start breaking open those coffins, lads, because you sure don’t have any living Congresscritters who possess those qualities.
Villago Delenda Est
@Morzer: Braaaains….Braiaaains…
KG
Somebody should send Mr. Roskam so very good hard alcohol, top shelf shit. Because, he’s going to need it if that really is his job.
aimai
@ulee: On behalf of our gracious host and hostess let me offer you a friendly “fuck off.”
ulee
How do we know when Anne is auto posting or actually pushing send? Perhaps an asterisk.
Howard Beale IV
And with this latest shining example of oversight, stick a fork in the United States. It’s done.
geg6
Another clown car. And for real, what is the deal with Trey Gowdy’s hair? Can anyone really take a guy with a haircut like that seriously? I can’t. I can only point and laugh.
Meanwhile, my sour mood is not being improved by how much the Pens are shitting the bed.
Wag
@ulee:
Karl, is that you? Nice job on the Hilary brain damage stuff. And now stepping up the vitriol to take down AL! Keep up the good work.
Or not.
SFAW
@PsiFighter37:
Rangers up, 1-0.
Best stat of the series (so far): Sid at -4. Much more of that, and people will think he plays for Man U in the off-season.
Roger Moore
@Villago Delenda Est:
Don’t look at the right side of the aisle. The zombies will starve if they go there*.
*If they did, could we start calling Paul Ryan the Granny-eyed Zombie Starver?
Roger Moore
@KG:
Sorry, but a large enough supply of anything but rotgut would be enough to bankrupt anyone outside the 0.001%.
SFAW
@geg6:
For some reason, when I see his face, all I can think of is Cletus Spuckler. Which is kinda unfair to Cletus.
ulee
@Wag: Anne can take care of herself. You, on the other hand, well..no, it’s too easy.
SFAW
@Roger Moore:
Grannies everywhere saw that and said “Comparing me to Paul Ryan? FUCK YOU!”
ETA: Followed by “And can I make you a nice cup of cocoa, dearie?” Because, after all, they’re still grannies.
MomSense
@ulee:
Why do you care? Why does this matter so much to you? I don’t get your fixation with this.
Cassidy
WTF is it with white people and “the story”? They’ve always got one. The more brazen bigots will tell the personal account of the black person with their ebt card buying steaks and crab legs/ lobster tail, but the post racial white person always has the “black person in position of power treated me badly so reverse racism”. At some point they have to realize they all say the same thing right?
Roger Moore
@MomSense:
Please remember, a fed troll is a dead troll. DNFTT.
Mustang Bobby
Hoping the Tigers will keep up their winning ways against the Orioles, watching “The Big Bang Theory” in re-runs, all while reading a really good book called “Wonder of Wonders,” the cultural history of Fiddler on the Roof by Alisa Solomon. Fascinating book (but then I’m a theatre geek so yeah).
Howard Beale IV
Rep. John Conyers won’t be on the August primary ballot.
ulee
@MomSense: All I want is the truth.
Mustang Bobby
@Howard Beale IV: Oops.
dmsilev
@ulee: You can’t handle the truth.
PsiFighter37
@Howard Beale IV: Pretty fucking amateur for him not to follow the rules and submit enough correct signatures.
That said, I could see him running and winning a write-in. Or, he could do what I would do if I was 80+ years old and accomplishing absolutely nothing in a dysfunctional hellhole like DC…retire and relax.
Howard Beale IV
@Mustang Bobby: That’s more than a oops-it’s more like a WTF?
Belafon
In case you need a cartoon to cause blunt force trauma: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/05/13/1298976/-Cartoon-Always-with-the-race-thing. I’m beginning to think that direct like this is the only way.
ulee
Geez, these second stringers aren’t up to the task. Where is the A-team? Let’s have some competition here.
dmsilev
Via TPM, Breaking news::
_Idaho_.
Howard Beale IV
@PsiFighter37: Yeah-especially since his spouse did commit a felony, albeit she spent it at Camp Cupcake.
Roger Moore
@Cassidy:
They feel the need to provide an excuse for their bigotry. In the good old days, they could be as bigoted as they wanted and justify it by claiming blacks were genetically and socially inferior. Today it’s socially unacceptable to make that claim, so they need some kind of story about how blacks are cheating the system or keeping them down to justify their bigotry.
Bob In Portland
Biden’s boy.
Cacti
Speaking of Benghazi hearings…
John Kerry flips Darrell Issa and his subpoena the bird, will go to Mexico on May 21 as previously planned.
SFAW
@Belafon:
That’s because you’re young. We old farts know that the only cure for wingnuttery is 9 mm behind the ear. (Their ear, of course.)
geg6
@Cacti:
HAHAHAHAHAHA! It would only be better if he actually did flip him the bird.
Mnemosyne
@Cassidy:
I have to think about it, but I’m pretty sure I don’t have a “story” in that sense (i.e. the black/brown/otherwise minority person who was a jerk to me and thus justified all of the stereotypes in my head). My big Food Stamp Welfare Queen story was watching a woman ahead of me have to run back to the dairy case to get a block of Monterey Jack cheese because Pepper Jack is not one of the permitted foods under WIC. And my WTF was more, “Seriously, federal government, you can’t let WIC customers have freakin’ Pepper Jack cheese?”
I mean, I’ve had black or Latino people be jerks to me, but I usually assume it’s because they’re jerks.
Brian R.
Trey Gowdy is Draco Malfoy, pure and simple.
ulee
Where is Cole? I want a piece of that bastard.
ulee
You all are so linear. Don’t you know how to flirt?
Morzer
@ulee:
Which piece of John has fired your desires so spectacularly?
muddy
@ulee: He’s busy answering emails from concerned commenters on a wide number of topics.
Belafon
Here’s a thought: All of the men that Jesus chose to be his disciples were the kind of men that would have read and loved Atlas Shrugged. And it took three years and his own death to knock some sense into them.
srv
@Howard Beale IV: Chicago Thugs! Republicans will run with that one.
Why can’t HH be when the fuck I want it? Why do I need to wait another 30 minutes?
Kay
If any Republican mentions this to me I’m saying “what is Benghazi about?” to see if they can explain the “controversy” to a normal person. I doubt it.
srv
Now that Teh Gays have taken Idaho, what does Huckabee have to say about Arkansas?
Morzer
@muddy:
In some cases, he’s even reading them.
ulee
@muddy: No, he’s not. That son of a bitch is eating a pastrami sandwich.
SFAW
@Kay:
Well, if they’ve read their RNC-approved talking points, they should have no problem:
“It’s about the CIA and State Department covering up the IRS scandal about Vince Foster being killed by Kenyan Fascist Mooslims so that illegal immigrant commie pinkos can be stopped from preventing the .01 percent from nuking gay whales for Jayzus.”
More or less.
srv
Stand With Rand(1)
(1)if you can figure out where that is
Schlemizel
I noticed something interesting about the troll with no name. Earlier in the day said troll actually was behaving as a normal person would. Then, in the last hour or so full asshole mode appeared.
In an earlier thread the troll with no name mentioned it was an alcoholic with no intent on stopping. Could it be that what we are experiencing is the troll’s decent into intoxication? That would certainly explain the behavior.
Either way please remember that trolls exist on handouts, if we don’t feed them they die. DNFTT
SFAW
@srv:
Voting on whether to allow some people to have civil rights, an idea whose time has come. Next up: a referendum in
Nuevo AztlanTexas to see if the nigras should be allowed to live within 10 miles of “real people.”Amir Khalid
@Bob In Portland:
I’m not sure what you think the problem is. Unless you’re suggesting that the Biden family is engaging in an evyil plot to thwart the Motherland’s rightful and glorious conquest of the Ukraine.
Hungry Joe
Agenda? Evacuation, if the winds get snarky and some sparks get adventurous. Actually, evacuation is unlikely — even the Cedar Fire only got to within a couple of miles of us — though we could well be hosting an evacuated family. Will be 100+ tomorrow inland. More of the same on Thursday.
September and October, sure, but in San Diego severe heat never hits in the spring. Never used to, that is. But Antarctica is sliding into the sea, so what the hell.
Morzer
@Amir Khalid:
Babble in Pooterland is several pieces short of a jigsaw, especially when it comes to the Ukraine and Russia.
Kay
@SFAW:
“Susan Rice said the attack was about something and then OBAMA said it was about…something else, several things, many factors”
It just doesn’t seem punchy enough for a marquee fake-scandal. We’ll see what they do with it.
Schlemizel
@Kay:
Thats an easy one!. Its about the wanton disregard for American safety by allowing the ambassador to go to Bengazi and then not ordering the military to fly from Italy to Libya to save them followed by their denial that it was a planned Al Quadea operation when they knew it was.
Now you may know that is bullshit & you may know why but the wingnut is not going to be interested in that conversation so, UGH, NO! I hope nobody mentions it around me.
mai naem
@Kay: Better yet, have them point to Benghazi on a blank world map. I am guessing they’ll point to Rio or Toronto.
ulee
@Schlemizel: That’s very perceptive. But I do have a name. It’s Ulee. As in Ulee’s Gold. As in Ulee the union general. As in Ulee doesn’t tolerate fools gladly.
Morzer
@ulee:
It has been argued, and, in my view cogently, that such a crime against humanity deserves immediate impeachment.
jibeaux
@SFAW: I maintain that there is no better rhyme in American music than “Some folk’ll never lose a toe, but then again, some folk’ll, like Cletus, the slack-jawed yokel.”
SFAW
@Kay:
It’s not, which is why my version has legs. I think there were a few wingtard hot-button issues I left out, but they can be added in when the Perpetual-Outrage-O-Meter starts dipping
muddy
@Kay: When someone says Benghazi to me I just say Beirut.
burnspbesq
@srv:
Right between Greenie and the Fonz of Freedom.
Anne Laurie
@Morzer:
Oh, c’mon. Only if he puts mayonnaise on that pastrami sandwich!
muddy
@Morzer: Is that what he told you? lol
ETA: that was unclear, I was trying to imply that he didn’t read any.
Hal
Benghazi is so pathetic. Jimmy Kimmel should do one of his lie witness news segments and Republican congress folks just what Benghazi is about. I wonder how many variations we would get?
Morzer
@muddy:
No. I get all my John Cole updates from friends in the NSA.
Roger Moore
@SFAW:
You forgot about Fast and Furious. Also, too, Michelle trying to shove home grown vegetables down our throats.
Morzer
@Anne Laurie:
You are one sick and twisted woman. Two great qualities combining to produce a nonpareil internet temptress.
Kay
@SFAW:
They love Hillary’s “what does it matter!” but is that phrase really emblematic of this outside Fox News? When I think of it I think “Jake Tapper and Susan Rice” and a hugely unsatisfying exchange that seemed to confuse and anger both of them.
Roger Moore
@Anne Laurie:
No, that calls for summary execution. Besides, there’s no way Cole is going to have a pastrami sandwich until he finds the missing mustard.
SFAW
@Morzer:
Nah, it’s pastrami.
Now, having a “pastromi” sandwich, on the other hand …
Especially with mayo. On Wonder Bread.
ETA: Dammit, AL! Type slower next time.
bago
Wow, this seems oddly appropriate:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QDmWYVdN8ug
Morzer
@Roger Moore:
Does Cole have that many years left?
Hungry Joe
@jibeaux: How about Martin Mull’s lines in “Living above My Station”?
“I got friends back in Wyomin’
Where I spent my younger days
Living lives like Willy Loman … “
burnspbesq
@Amir Khalid:
If you’re looking for logic, a BiP comment is the wrong place to look. Try a Jose Mourinho press conference instead.
srv
If someone mentions Benghazi, just say:
“I guess y’all have surrendered on the birth certificates and Obamacare”
better yet,
“Y’all gave up quicker on Obamacare than Palin did on Alaska”
gnomedad
@dmsilev:
(Spit-take)
Morzer
@burnspbesq:
Jose Mourinho has invaded the Ukraine with Nazi zombie CIA stormtroopers?
Mind you, I wouldn’t put anything past Chelsea.
Amir Khalid
@ulee:
… it’s a sad man, my friend, who’s living in his own skin
And can’t stand the company
— Bruce Springsteen, Better Days
SFAW
@Roger Moore:
Was that before or after Michelle made the Whitey tape?
muddy
@Morzer: Sweet!
I know this libertarian guy who thought it was fine for the govt to listen to your phone calls when it was Bush. If you’re not a terrorist, who cares? He knows I grew up in the Middle East, so I would randomly call him, and then tell him I just got done an overseas call, and wanted to make sure he was on my phone tree. Sometimes I would just say, “Your orders were given, watch the mail” or some shit and then hang up. He got very upset about the Constitution (of blessed memory) all of a sudden.
Amir Khalid
@Morzer:
It’s actually plausible. Jose does have a Russian boss, you know …
RobertDSC-PowerMac G4 Dual 1.25
@srv:
LOL.
jibeaux
@Hungry Joe: Not bad.
Morzer
@Amir Khalid:
He’s the Edward Snowden of soccer management.
Schlemizel
@burnspbesq:
The thing to remember about ‘ol brickhead is that he does not want a discussion, only to prove his moral superiority by his unflagging support of a ruthless dictator. He comes on here screaming how awful we all are because we . . . well, he never really has been able to explain what it is we do that make him morally superior to us . . . and he wants us to . . . well, he never really has explained what it is we are supposed to do about the putrid situation in Ukraine. I know, I made the mistake of asking him one time a few days ago, my bad. All he could do was rant about some garbage he read on Pravda and how we were all scum for not agreeing.
So what if both side are ugly and have their problem? We are inferior to ‘ol brickhead because he loves him some Putin.
burnspbesq
Mets 7, Yankees 3. BWAHAHAHAHA.
Morzer
@Schlemizel:
It’s amazing what pictures of an older man with a bare chest galloping on a hot young stallion will do to some people.
TS
@aimai:
@ulee: On behalf of our gracious host and hostess let me offer you a friendly “fuck off.”
Just thought I would repeat that – as it was exactly what I wanted to say
ulee
@Amir Khalid: I like the company just fine.
Suffern ACE
Walked in on CNN this afternoon discussing the brain clot. This, of course, is why we were better off discussing missing planes. Because democrats take the summer months off, I expect us to be talking about Hillary’s body all summer long.
ulee
@TS: [email protected]TS: @ulee: It’s good that you can repeat. You should be very proud of yourself.
MomSense
@dmsilev:
perfect!
scav
@ulee: That lie can be viewed from space. You and your skin aren’t on speaking terms. Your desperate need to fill all space around you with noise is a big tell.
Roger Moore
@dmsilev:
Shouldn’t that be “ulee can’t handle the truth!”?
ulee
@scav: If only you knew what you were talking about. Yea, I hear noise, big band music in the washer, talk shows in the wind, rap in the air conditioner. And I know bullshit when I hear it.
SiubhanDuinne
@ulee:
Ulee, you were amusing at first (several days ago), but this is just getting tiresome. Please give it a rest.
Higgs Boson's Mate
There’s a couple of things about this blog that I don’t appreciate. Unfortunately both of them are commenting on this thread.
SiubhanDuinne
@dmsilev:
I KNOW!! I just went all crazy over IDAHO!! on FB. Arkansas a couple of days ago, now Idaho — seriously, this is all over.
gbear
@Higgs Boson’s Mate: Can I make it three? ;)
I haven’t been paying enough attention to this committee to know if the Democrats have decided to boycott it, or if they’re going to try (unsuccessfully) to embarrass the republican grandstanders. I hope they’re boycotting.
Schlemizel
@SiubhanDuinne:
Asking nicely is only going to cause a trollgasm. Its Ok to talk about them but don’t talk to them.
ulee
@SiubhanDuinne: ok. You are right. A manic person is not fun to be around. I’ll take a couple of benedryl and try to get some sleep.
Belafon
@muddy: LOL
jl
IMHO, the new exoplanet telescope is awesome.
I wonder, if astronomers can image planets around other stars, can they image the disks of other stars too? Can they start observing exoplanet climates and atmospheric composition?
Alien Planet Camera Is Most Sensitive Exoplanet Imager Yet
http://news.yahoo.com/alien-planet-camera-most-sensitive-exoplanet-imager-yet-185628276.html
? Martin
@SiubhanDuinne: It was over with USSC. Once CA won that battle and took 1 out of 6 of the nations marriages with it, it was over. Whether that ruling applied to other states or not didn’t matter, judges weren’t going to thread whatever legal needle was left.
SiubhanDuinne
@muddy:
“of blessed memory” is purely inspired.
muddy
@SiubhanDuinne: Hey, when are you traveling, have you made plans yet?
SiubhanDuinne
@? Martin:
I believe you, but it am still going to go nuckin’ futz whenever an unanticipated state does the right thing. I hardly care about their motives or precedents, I’m just thrilled to see it happening.
And now I am in a thing with geg6 as to whether her state of PA or my state of GA will be first to
bucklebow to the inevitable.different-church-lady
Someone give Cole a safety call — Pens are playing golf early.
? Martin
@SiubhanDuinne: Oh, I’m with you on that. Every win brings a champaign flute of wingnut tears to imbibe. Why deny ourselves?
shalimar
@SiubhanDuinne: Ulee has been on the overnight threads for a long time, and he has always been this annoying. Post after post after post of increasing stress, none of them ever more than 10 words. He’s like a 5 year old who can’t sleep because of the monsters under the bed. An increasingly abusive 5 year old if no one responds to the nonsense.
SiubhanDuinne
@muddy:
Well, the plans keep being knocked back a bit. I still hope to be in New England this summer but beyond that I don’t have dates. And it looks as though I may need to put off the Maritimes/Atlantic Provinces until next year. I will let you know as soon as I have anything worth knowing. But please don’t hold off on your own plans on account of me– I can work around other people’s schedules.
Belafon
@shalimar: So, Darrell Issa has a night job now?
SiubhanDuinne
@shalimar:
I read the overnight threads, although I almost never comment (I usually see them hours and hours after they’ve been active) — but yeah, I’ve seen the stressed-out comments, especially about whether AL is using robot posts.
I must say, between Ulee and Little Boots, I’m not sorry that I am no longer an active member of the Night Crew.
Schlemizel
@shalimar:
As I said upthread, he was on earlier in the day an was actually a decent person. He mentioned he has a drinking issue & I wonder (seriously) if he is just a mean drunk.
He was playing nicely for the afternoon and then along about 7 EST the crazy came out.
ulee
@shalimar: I’m tired and getting ready to sleep. I don’t have the energy to deal with dipshits like you.
muddy
Oh I don’t go away in the summer. Who would leave summer in Vermont? Can’t leave the garden, the joy is so brief.
ETA: reply fail, sorry
ulee
@SiubhanDuinne: Little Boots is more clever than any of you wannabes could ever help to be.
scav
@Schlemizel: Mean drunk, sundowner, lots of options.
ulee
You all are easy prey. Little Boots eats your livers at recess.
Schlemizel
@scav:
And you can see the desperation setting in now. First the “poor me, I guess I’ll drug up & go to bed” but then the increased snarkrant. It was actually pretty funny last night watching as he tried to goad me into response. It really is a cry for help. I am sure mental health care is covered under ACA.
ulee
Yeah, I’m still up. Now you don’t talk so loud. Now you don’t seem so proud.
ulee
Now you don’t seem so proud. Now you don’t talk so loud. Run for jungle, fuckers.
scav
@Schlemizel: Well, he’s been known to bottom lurk threads so as to get the last word in. It’s a garden variety tactic for apparently “winning” by getting the last word in. No one really believe the flounce and the dramatic door slam.
S. cerevisiae
@jl: I don’t think they are quite sensitive enough to do spectroscopy on the planets yet.
ulee
@scav: I’ll top lurk your ass and bury you.
Schlemizel
@scav:
That is hilarious . . . and sad at the same time. I have to admit I don’t get the psychosis. I understand BiP, he has a cause to support and a great need to feel morally superior. I don’t get this one though, its like a monkey throwing shit for no reason.
sparrow
@ulee: Is this thing a reincarnation of Ted&Hellen? Or are trolls suffering from a congenital defect that makes them all sound the same? Either way, I need to get that pie filter.
ulee
@Schlemizel: Just make sure those woman get licenses before they give birth. People like you always betray themselves.
ulee
Now I’ve got a collection of stupids. I’m drugged, but this shouldn’t be too hard.
Schlemizel
@sparrow: I thought it was little boots, there is a pathetic nature to the unoriginal and desperate nature of the posts that seems very similar.
gbear
this clown has been working on his collection of stupids for a long time.
Gin & Tonic
@Amir Khalid: Bob’s in kind of a quandary now, with his previous storyline crumpled down around his ankles. You’ll recall that he’s been very heavily invested in the official Kremlin position that the Donbass separatists aren’t really separatists, they’re “federalists.” He’s gone on at length here about how they just want a greater degree of self-determination, they don’t want to be part of Russia. Everybody in Ukraine with more than three functioning brain cells knew the truth, of course, and this morning, mere hours after the conclusion of the laughable “referendum,” the self-proclaimed leader of the Donetsk People’s Republic issued a statement asking to become part of the Russian Federation. So much for federalism. Now Bob has to find a way to change the subject.
ulee
@Schlemizel: You use words but they don’t represent anything but your failed mind. It must be painful not be able to figure it out.
Higgs Boson's Mate
Drink, Drank, Drunk
ulee
A pack of hyenas would be embarrased at this effort. I like hyenas. At least they’re competant.
Schlemizel
@Gin & Tonic:
It takes a pretty high level of stupidity to not know what was happening in Ukraine immediately after the events in Crimea where a so-called independence movement supported by the Russian army decided it really just wanted to be part of Russia. I guess it is tough to be that sanctimonious and that blind to the world and that wrong all at the same time.
Omnes Omnibus
@Schlemizel: They have very disparate tastes in music.
ETA: One claims WI as a home state and the other Maine.
Gin & Tonic
@ulee: They can probably spell “competent,” too.
Gin & Tonic
@Schlemizel: I am confident our Bob is capable of rising to that level.
ulee
@Gin & Tonic: not likely.
Schlemizel
@Omnes Omnibus:
I guess I never pay close enough attention to them, I was going by the lack of imagination and childishness of their posts. Its sad to think there is one person in the world like that, two is doubly sad.
Schlemizel
@Gin & Tonic:
And has. In spades!
JoyfulA
@SiubhanDuinne: The PA Attorney General refused to defend state marriage laws in view of SCOTUS decisions and left it up to the apparent lame duck governor. I haven’t heard anything about the lawsuit for a couple of months, but it’s looking good per opinion polls.
ulee
@Schlemizel: You’re a troll, looking for gladhanded appreications
Gin & Tonic
@ulee: Your spelling is going downhill.
ulee
@Gin & Tonic: It’s the booze. Time to take the kids around the block.
A Farmer
If you look up useless, otherwise unemployable (except as a wrestling coach) government employee, you will see a picture of Jim Jordan beside the definition. I do not believe he has ever voted for a budget that actually went into effect.