Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

A sufficient plurality of insane, greedy people can tank any democratic system ever devised, apparently.

You don’t get rid of your umbrella while it’s still raining.

Optimism opens the door to great things.

This isn’t Democrats spending madly. This is government catching up.

Everybody saw this coming.

“Jesus paying for the sins of everyone is an insult to those who paid for their own sins.”

Technically true, but collectively nonsense

Roe is not about choice. It is about freedom.

fuckem (in honor of the late great efgoldman)

When they say they are pro-life, they do not mean yours.

The Supreme Court cannot be allowed to become the ultimate, unaccountable arbiter of everything.

If you can’t control your emotions, someone else will.

Too often we hand the biggest microphones to the cynics and the critics who delight in declaring failure.

Black Jesus loves a paper trail.

They love authoritarianism, but only when they get to be the authoritarians.

The low info voters probably won’t even notice or remember by their next lap around the goldfish bowl.

If you still can’t see these things even now, maybe politics isn’t your forte and you should stop writing about it.

If you are still in the gop, you are either an extremist yourself, or in bed with those who are.

You can’t attract Republican voters. You can only out organize them.

Trumpflation is an intolerable hardship for every American, and it’s Trump’s fault.

Stamping your little feets and demanding that they see how important you are? Not working anymore.

“Perhaps I should have considered other options.” (head-desk)

When we show up, we win.

Shut up, hissy kitty!

You are here: Home / Politics / Crazification Factor / There’s that number again…

There’s that number again…

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stupid-W-shirt

Perhaps the GOP just wanted to celebrate P.T Barnum’s birthday as the true father our Country.

How else to explain this appeal to the suckers who were born every minute over the last few decades who still might believe in the greatness of George W Bush.

The price is a dead give away that this is excellent snark.

$27 is the crazification factor at work and a direct appeal to the neo-Confederate hive animating the long dead corpse of what was once the Republican Party.

As the Party of Lincoln is now little more than an army of White Walkers (emphasis on the “white”), this kind of amusing sucker bait is not a surprise. 27% of their base will surely pay $27 to proudly wear a shirt that confirms their stupidity for all to see.

Such a bamboozle is a wonderful way to celebrate P.T. Barnum’s birthday.

I’ve been on a long walk-about which has taken me far from regular blogging, but that’s another story for later.

Good to be back.

How about an open thread.

Cheers

Reader Interactions

92Comments

  4. 4.

    dance around in your bones

    Hey, Dennis G. – was wondering where you went off to! A walkabout is a fine excuse.

    I’d buy that t-shirt only if it had the ‘Happy Birthday, P.T. Barnum’ inscribed across it. Then see how many people put 13.5% and 13.5% together. Ha!

  6. 6.

    ruemara

    @Southern Beale: I can say something nice. It’s good to breathe air that he is not capable of. Adieu and may he have found his reward.

    Welcome back, Dennis! It’s been too long.

  7. 7.

    Dennis G.

    @raven: Ah Frank, nobody can rock a cowboy hat like him.

    As Maryland will be just fine, I’m considering where to go this fall to GOTV.

    Georgia is on my list. I’m also considering Michigan and Iowa. Sort of depends on where I think I could make the most difference come the fall.

    They sell that Terrapin beer now in Baltimore and I must say that it is quite good. I wonder if Ort is out there as an official taster…

  9. 9.

    SiubhanDuinne

    So good to see you back! Many of us have missed you and asked about you.

    Hope you will be a regular blogger again — your posts were always readable and thought-provoking.

    Cheers.

  10. 10.

    skerry

    I just lost a old friend to ovarian cancer. She fought it for 10 years. Cancer sucks. Leaves behind a husband, an adult child, her mother and multiple siblings, nieces and nephews.

    Cancer sucks.

  11. 11.

    SamInMpls

    Thanks for the trip down memory lane. Like so many other blogs from that era, I really miss Kung Fu Monkey.

  12. 12.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Dennis G.:

    I’m considering where to go this fall to GOTV.
    Georgia is on my list.

    Between Michelle Nunn for Senate and Jason Carter for Governor, there will be a lot of GOTV activity here. Whatever can be done to turn Georgia blue is very welcome.

  14. 14.

    Cacti

    Which part of W’s eight years are supposed to look better in retrospect?

    The 9/11 attacks?

    Iraq WMD?

    The Katrina response?

    Or the collapse of the national economy?

  15. 15.

    Mike G

    It should say, “I miss W. Then I throw other shoe, but that miss too.” with a picture of that Iraqi hero-journalist.

  16. 16.

    Gin & Tonic

    @skerry: Odd how different things can be. My mother was diagnosed with ovarian cancer, treated, and lived for another 35 years.

  18. 18.

    mdblanche

    $27 tee-shirt doubleplusungood refs unperson reweave fullwise upsub antefiling

    Seriously I thought the GOP line was to consign any reference to W down the memory hole.

  19. 19.

    Dennis G.

    @SiubhanDuinne: It seems to be an exciting race shaping up in Georgia. And Jack Kingston was one of the congress-critters doing the bidding of Jack Abramoff back in the day. When it came to protecting the Chinese owners of sweatshops, Team Kingston met with Team Abramoff more than any other member of Congress–and he sat on the committees writing legislation that could or could not benefit Jack’s pro-labor abuse and human-trafficking clients. Abramoff somehow got everything he wanted that year and Kingston helped. It would be fun to GOTV against that little weasel…

  21. 21.

    OldDave

    This is perhaps a stupid question, but that’s never stopped me before. I noticed a local movie house – a chain owned 20-plex – is showing D’Souza’s “2016: Obama’s America”. Didn’t this tripe come out just before the 2012 election? Is it in re-release for some unexplainable reason, or is this a local anomaly?

  22. 22.

    Mike G

    @OldDave:

    Convicted felon Dinesh D’Sousaphone’s smug mug is in my banner ads promoting his latest hatchet-job film, imaginatively called “America”, perhaps on the premise that his mouth-breather demographic will pay to see anything with the word “America” in the title to prove they are such better patriots than us evul libruls. Perhaps that is it.

  23. 23.

    dww44

    @Dennis G.: IMO, Nunn’s chances would be improved by a Kingston run-off victory against Perdue, altho Perdue is apparently ahead. Perdue will campaign as an outsider, a successful businessman and since he’s from the same part of the state as she will peel off possible cross-over votes from Republicans who remember her Father kindly.

    I am working GOTV efforts in her local campaign already. But what is really needed at this stage is real money to get lots of folks registered. That’s where success lies. But, we need more boots and money, preferably from the national Dem Party which hopefully sees an opportunity it shouldn’t pass up.

  24. 24.

    Dennis G.

    @dww44: Your lips to the ears of DNC. Now is the time when they should be spending freely for registration, We can’t GOTV without it…

  25. 25.

    OldDave

    @Mike G:

    Perhaps that is it.

    Bingo. The link Google first gave me for the theater in question listed “2016: Obama’s America” as currently showing, but just now I went to the theater’s website and it lists “America”.

    The question I was actually trying to answer was what local houses are showing “How to Train Your Dragon 2”. :-)

  27. 27.

    ⚽️ Martin

    @mdblanche: It’s damning with faint praise. The only meaning that could come from the shirt is that they didn’t like Bush, but Obama is so horrible that they would gladly have him back now.

  28. 28.

    WaterGirl

    Great to see you here again, dengre! Did we conjure you up when we were wondering last week where you’d gone to and wishing you’d come back?

  31. 31.

    Higgs Boson's Mate

    @dww44:

    But, we need more boots and money, preferably from the national Dem Party which hopefully sees an opportunity it shouldn’t pass up.

    What? The national Dem Party rarely sees an opportunity that it won’t pass up.

  33. 33.

    Hal

    @OldDave: D’Souza is a prolific and imaginative film maker. Now he has a new, America: Imagine the World Without Her, which I believe is about that white woman he cheated on his wife with.

  34. 34.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @Cacti: and @Hill Dweller:
    This, but even more. Obama isn’t just black. He’s persistently, aggravatedly black. He’s actually in charge, and he keeps doing things. Instead of failing badly, admitting he’s in over his head, and letting white people take over like a good negro that knows his place, he just won’t stop being in charge. Obamacare worked, even. A whole lot of people are mildly racist, where looking at Obama bothers them at a gut level, but they wouldn’t ever consciously think that blacks are inferior and one shouldn’t be in charge. To that mindset, every time Obama does something right, it feels like he did something wrong because he’s supposed to lose. The halcyon days of an utterly incompetent white president seem better than this constant parade of horror.

  37. 37.

    Higgs Boson's Mate

    Miss W? Hell yes! Without it we couldn’t spell wingnut, or whackjob.

  41. 41.

    BGinCHI

    Wow. It’s like the Second Coming, but with more Dennis and less Jesus.

    Great to see you.

  42. 42.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @Mike in NC:
    O’Reilly is an interesting example, because he’s an overt racist who’s convinced himself he isn’t one. He’s a master of ‘I’m not a racist, but…’ dialog. I’ve heard him do it about women, digging and digging for reasons that don’t look sexist he could use to claim that a woman should not be president. The key is to dig up some undeniable fact that sounds bad, and then pretend it proves everything else. I saw him doing this with two female FOX anchors, no less. Megyn Kelly looked horrified.

    Wait, or was that Hannity? Damn it, FOX, stop hiring so many friggin’ bigots! They all look alike to me!

  44. 44.

    Comrade Dread

    Well, most of them also believe in young Earth creationism, climate change denial, supply side economics, and neoconservatism, so sure, yeah, why not believe that W. is the greatest president America has known since St. Ronald went home to the big ranch in the sky?

  51. 51.

    Higgs Boson's Mate

    The tone of the times has afflicted me at last; I considered that the t shirts may be the beginning of a campaign to rehabilitate The Lesser so that JEB! can run in ’16.

  53. 53.

    Violet

    Dennis, good to see you! We were just talking about how we were missing you. You must have heard us!

  55. 55.

    Elizabelle

    Woo hoo! Dennis G sighting! Exciting. Now to catch up on thread comments.

    Welcome back, DG.

  56. 56.

    Higgs Boson's Mate

    @BillinGlendaleCA:

    I believe that a few pictures of JEB! with a rifle and a few speeches peppered with references to his strong Christian beliefs and the GOP base will be willing to turn out. They turned out for Mitt.

  59. 59.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    @Higgs Boson’s Mate: But JEB! said immigration is and “Act of Love”, I find it hard that the base will be able to get past that. Though the evangelicals got past Mitt’s religion. I’m sure there were some clothespins affixed to noses in the voting booth.

  64. 64.

    Villago Delenda Est

    I miss the deserting coward as much as I miss all those hanged for war crimes after WWII.

    Not at all.

  65. 65.

    GregB

    Mitt really must believe the whole Mormon prophecy shtick and think it applies to him because he seriously is considering a third bite at the apple.

    Chomp away fella.

    P.S. Tune in to your radios on Monday for the new and improved Opie and Klanthony.

  66. 66.

    Joel Hanes

    @Cacti:

    Which part of W’s eight years are supposed to look better in retrospect?

    For a movement conservative, W’s first term was like Disneyland.

    Hard-edged triumphalism, ruthless disregard for humanity and the environment, open disdain for rules, standards, and reality, hippies stomped, cowed media, billionaire cronies cleaning up on DoD services contracts, Congressional Democrats in a fetal crouch, terrists gettin’ tortured AS GOD INTENDED, continual WE’RE #1 BOO YAH SUCK IT LIBS. And Jeebus.

    Good times. Good times.

  68. 68.

    Hal

    I’m shocked Romney is really considering a third run. It’s like watching someone on American Idol singing horribly and feeling second hand embarrassment for them. Last time around the most people could say was at least he’s not Obama. This time around, what does he have to offer? How is he going to navigate Obamacare, a law that was inspired by the MA law he signed and supported? He won’t have Obama to run against again, and if it is indeed Hillary, what’s he going to focus on there? I have a feeling Romney will be terrible running against a woman.

  72. 72.

    Brandon

    I don’t want to raise alarm bells, but the top story right now on Google News U.S. is shark attacks. Does anyone remember the last summer of the shark and what happened next?

  75. 75.

    Elizabelle

    @Brandon:

    Oh yeah. Even the year “Close to Shore” came out. Great book.

    And then we learned there are scarier things than sharks.

    PS: I never realized that book’s subtitle was “A True Story of Terror in an Age of Innocence”.

  78. 78.

    Elizabelle

    RE sharks: NYTimes story: guy hooked a 7 foot juvenile Great White Shark off the Manhattan Beach pier in Los Angeles — it’s illegal to fish for Great Whites — and while shark was entangled and agitated, a swimmer happened through and was bitten. Fisherman cut the line, shark disappeared into the murk. Beach was closed temporarily for a mile stretch. Fishing suspended through Tuesday. (I wonder if that’s more to deter sharks from the bait automat or to make it clear to fishermen that messing with Great Whites will not be tolerated.)

    LA sees young Great Whites this time of year. They’re learning to feed themselves, but generally avoid humans.

    Witnesses said the approximately 7-foot shark was thrashing around in the water for more than 30 minutes before biting the swimmer about 300 yards off the beach.

    Eric Martin told KABC-TV that the shark’s mouth opened and closed as if it was trying to shake the hook.

    “We think the swimmer just happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time,” Martin said.

    30+ minutes. That’s not cool.

  80. 80.

    Elizabelle

    @BillinGlendaleCA:

    Keep us posted. I suspect he will get in some trouble over this. It’s one thing to accidentally hook a shark; it’s another to let the shark thrash for 45 minutes.

    Interesting that sharks and swimmers are otherwise coexisting at Manhattan Beach.

    I don’t think you could fairly call this a shark attack, where a shark is trapped and a swimmer blunders into the shark. Not sure it’s a pure “accident” either, given the shark was on the line so long.

    I liked that this lifeguard was sticking up for the shark. LA Times:

    Witnesses told authorities that the shark bit the anchovies-and-sardines bait on the hook a fisherman had thrown into the water from the edge of the pier. They said the shark was hooked for about 45 minutes and was thrashing around in the water when he bit the swimmer about 9:30 a.m.

    “He was trying to get off the line,” said Capt. Tracy Lizotte, a Los Angeles County lifeguard at the beach. “He was agitated and was probably biting everything in his way and then the swimmer swam right into the shark’s line.”

    Lizotte said it’s not uncommon for sharks to swim in waters past the pier’s edge.

    “That’s where they live,” Lizotte said. “It’s their home.”

    He stressed that sharks usually avoid people and said this case was unique because the animal had become agitated.

    “This was an accident,” Lizotte said.

    PS: glad someone else is up! Have insomnia, but tiring, finally.

  81. 81.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    @Elizabelle: The jerk said he didn’t cut the line to keep the shark from attacking swimmers. There were alot of people at the beach today; 3 day weekend and it’s be warm here and unseasonably humid. He was obviously wrong and yes I’m guessing he’ll be cited. He’ll probably also be subject to a civil suit. The victim’s wife was none too amused.

  83. 83.

    gene108

    @Joel Hanes:

    I remember, in 2003 and maybe 2004, right-wingers declaring Bush, Jr the greatest President ever. The wingnuts were so hyped up about the Iraq War, they were going to deify him next to Reagan.

  84. 84.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Cacti: People on Facebook have actually fallen for the line about how gas prices have risen tremendously since Obama took office, which mostly indicates that they can’t remember back six or seven years in any detail (gas prices were unusually low the day Obama took office because the entire world economy had just collapsed; not long before, they’d been higher than they are now).

  85. 85.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Joel Hanes: 9/11 kicked the whole country back into an exaggerated cross between Reagan’s and George Bush’s glory years. The right was back in a way they hadn’t really been since 1994, and they had almost the whole country on their side. They screwed it all up, but for a little while it didn’t matter.

  86. 86.

    tybee

    @Dennis G.:

    Georgia is on my list

    come on down. this is as close a contest as i’ve ever seen here and we could use the help.

  87. 87.

    Dolly Llama

    Late to the thread, but damn if it isn’t good to see that “Cheers” at the end of a post that means Mr. G. is in the house. Hope this means you’re here to liven things up a bit. You’ve been missed, brother.

  88. 88.

    WaterGirl

    No offers to put dennis up while he comes down for GOTV? Come on, you guys, step up!

  89. 89.

    Jimmi the Grey

    Nope dont miss. Still have the ‘W’ that was taken from the keyboard in the oval office on Jan 19, 2001.

  92. 92.

    Mnemosyne

    @Elizabelle:
    @BillinGlendaleCA:

    I have to admit, my sympathies are totally with the shark and the accidental bite victim in this situation. Less of an “attack” and more of a “goddamnit, get this hook out of me!” reaction. If the fisherman had cut the line earlier, the shark probably would have just swam away.

    ETA: Great Whites are on California’s endangered species list, so that fisherman is probably going to get some hefty fines from the state.

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