Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

A last alliance of elves and men. also pet photos.

We are builders in a constant struggle with destroyers. let’s win this.

That’s my take and I am available for criticism at this time.

A snarling mass of vitriolic jackals

Impressively dumb. Congratulations.

Incompetence, fear, or corruption? why not all three?

Whoever he was, that guy was nuts.

Infrastructure week. at last.

Black Jesus loves a paper trail.

Do not shrug your shoulders and accept the normalization of untruths.

Teach a man to fish, and he’ll sit in a boat all day drinking beer.

Despite his magical powers, I don’t think Trump is thinking this through, to be honest.

Wow, I can’t imagine what it was like to comment in morse code.

Second rate reporter says what?

Presidents are not kings, and Plaintiff is not President.

Yeah, with this crowd one never knows.

The words do not have to be perfect.

This blog will pay for itself.

Usually wrong but never in doubt

If you are still in the GOP, you are an extremist.

Reality always lies in wait for … Democrats.

A Senator Walker would also be an insult to reason, rationality, and decency.

Just because you believe it, that doesn’t make it true.

It’s time for the GOP to dust off that post-2012 autopsy, completely ignore it, and light the party on fire again.

You are here: Home / Economics / C.R.E.A.M. / Long-for-Twitter Read: One Folk, One Faith…

Long-for-Twitter Read: One Folk, One Faith…

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Supplementary reading: Thomas Edsall, NYTimes, “Have Democrats Failed the White Working Class?“

Reader Interactions

49Comments

  1. 1.

    Mike J

    It’s a pity there’s no platform on the web where billmon could write a log of his thoughts in one coherent, linear article. It’s just too much of a pain in the ass to track down a hojillion lines of commentary, even if it’s brilliant.

  2. 2.

    Anne Laurie

    @Mike J: I miss Whiskey Bar, too. But Billmon has said, on Twitter, that he finds the medium a good fit because it discourages him from wordiness, over-repetition, and obsessive updating.

    (Also, I use him as a kind of RSS feed for left-of-center Twitter, but that’s just me.)

  7. 7.

    Mike J

    @JPL: A group blog where he could just write one post every six months or when ever the mood struck would be ideal.

    As for discouraging wordiness as AL alludes to, 29 twits on the same subject is proof it didn’t work. The best way to fix wordiness is to take an extra half hour before you hit post and cut your article in half. If you’re only posting once a month or two, an extra half hour wouldn’t be the end of the world.

  8. 8.

    Howard Beale IV

    The Democrats, especially those that morphed into Blue Dogs and Clinton clones, have become ‘NeoLiberals’. They are to never hold any reigns of power ever. They have lost their way, have been poisoned by promises and delivery of filthy lucre once they leave public service. Like excrement, they contain some substances of subsistence-but it is not at all tasty-for it comes with the stench of contempt for the people they represent.

    Bon Appretit!

  10. 10.

    dubo

    I’ve gone the opposite direction from Billmon, I used to think that conservatives considered everyone who wasn’t a right-wing male WASP as part of the “enemy tribe,” and over the years I’ve become convinced that it really is just all about the browns and blahs and the seething, intense hostility to liberals isn’t because of philosophy on government or cold war residue or tribalism, it’s just plain rooted in their perception that liberals want to help the blahs

  11. 11.

    Schlemazel

    @Howard Beale IV:
    yeah so we are well & truely screwed since it is unlikely anything left of a blew dog will sit in the oval office in my lifetime. Any of the Dems that have run in the last 40 years would be better than any of the goopers but the timid, half-measures, we have been able to sneak by under Clinton & Obama are only delaying the inevitable not preventing it. So I’ll fight for Hillary in 16 & pray for a miracle, even though I don’t believe in prayer & have never seen a miracle.

  13. 13.

    Mandalay

    29 twits on the same subject is proof it didn’t work

    This x1000 – it is fuckawful plowing through that jarring series of tweets.

    It’s a great example of how twitter should not be used.

  14. 14.

    Roger Moore

    @dubo:
    I think you’re still on about the same page. The main hate is about minorities, but whites who side with minorities are race traitors and wind up getting dumped into the same category.

  15. 15.

    Howard Beale IV

    @Schlemazel: IF it’s Hilary in 2016 I’ll vote for the Green candidate as a protest vote. At least I’ll have a clean conscience when the Sino-Russian forces seize control of what’s left.

  17. 17.

    Elizabelle

    @Howard Beale IV:

    Just vote for the Republican presidential candidate, Howard.

    It’s the same thing.

    Did you learn nothing from the midterms? You will just be giving some Tea Partier two votes.

  18. 18.

    I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet

    @Mandalay: I’m glad I’ve never felt the need to join Twitter. I find most of the tweets I’ve seen to be nearly unintelligible. It’s hard enough to convey nuance with complete sentences – lots of them, even.

    “Science” says that various social media have “ideal” lengths:

    The ideal length of a blog post is 7 minutes, 1,600 words

    Proust and Tolstoy would have had a little trouble…

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  20. 20.

    James E Powell

    @Anne Laurie:

    But Billmon has said, on Twitter, that he finds the medium a good fit because it discourages him from wordiness, over-repetition, and obsessive updating.

    In addition to his insight and understanding of history, Billmon is skilled with the pithy summations and the cutting to the chase. He has great pith.

    For the more recent residents of the blogosphere, whenever one of us oldsters starts downing drinks and complaining bitterly about how blogs were better in the old days, among a few others, we are talking about Billmon.

  23. 23.

    Howard Beale IV

    @divF: @Elizabelle:

    It’ll still be the same result: watching ex-President Cruz singing Articles of Surrender to the Joint Sino-Russian Commander.

    I won’t care-I’ll be dead or so medicated either way. Or maybe I’ll have secured my Dutch citizenship and escaped this hellhole before it totally collapses. Then again, Europe isn’t looking so hot right now, either.

  27. 27.

    Yatsuno

    @Howard Beale IV: There’s a 2 day extension so the Senate can consider. That tells me Harry might not have the 60 to break a filibuster if someone decides to do so. This could be interesting.

  30. 30.

    divF

    @Yatsuno: It’s a spending bill. Can’t be filibustered indefinitely, all Harry needs is 51 votes (including Biden).

    ETA: Debate is limited to 20 hours, which explains the two days. I suspect that Sen. Warren is planning on using all of them she can.

  31. 31.

    Corner Stone

    @Yatsuno:

    There’s a 2 day extension so the Senate can consider. That tells me Harry might not have the 60 to break a filibuster if someone decides to do so. This could be interesting.

    I hope the senate buries this fucking godless bill.

  34. 34.

    dww44

    @Corner Stone: In case you might need more proof of how this is such a stinking insert into the spending bill (would love to know who actually inserted this into the bill), here’s Simon Johnson’s take on it:

    This is not a left vs. right issue. It is a fundamental systemic risk issue, on which people across the political spectrum who want to lower those risks can agree – Section 716 should not be repealed. In fact, some of the sharpest voices on this issue come from the right.

    http://baselinescenario.com/2014/12/10/dont-repeal-swa

    and, God Bless Elizabeth Warren. May she go forth and multiply!.

  35. 35.

    Mandalay

    @dww44:

    In case you might need more proof of how this is such a stinking insert into the spending bill (would love to know who actually inserted this into the bill),

    I have no idea how these things work – is there a way to make it impossible to know who actually made last minute changes to a bill?

  36. 36.

    Corner Stone

    @dww44: No fucking clue why a Democrat would vote for this bill. No fucking clue why the WH is whipping for this bill.
    Completely understand why burnspbesq is advocating for passing this bill.

  37. 37.

    dww44

    @Mandalay: Not I, but this is a case where I’d really love to know who did the dastardly deed and how much they were paid to do it.

    This is one of those times when I recall a younger Republican relative of mine saying to me that there’s nothing wrong with money in politics. That was several years ago. Must remember to ask him if he still feels the same way.

  41. 41.

    Corner Stone

    @LAC: Do you ever actually have anything interesting to say? I haven’t seen it so thought I’d ask.
    Don’t you get bored with just chewing on the ankles of others here? I mean, yes, you’re boring and really sad, but when you fire up the old intertrons at the assisted living center don’t you at least first peruse the yarn and quilting site sales?

  42. 42.

    mclaren

    @efgoldman:

    Why are you channeling Bob in Portland and mclaren?

    Hey! Watch it, bucko.

    I never said anything about Sino-Russian forces moving in after Shithole America collapses. Russia’s too busy managing its own collapse, and China has too much to worry about keeping its own population from rioting what with all the institutional corruption, the pollution, the triangle-shirtwaist-fire-type deaths of enslaved corporate workers, etc.

    Myself, I’m guessing Shithole America will implode into more of a Max Max Beyond Thunderdome situation. Warlords running what used to be states like Texas. Think Season 1 of the series Revolution, but with blackface minstrel shows and crucifixtions instead of state fairs…

    But of course I could be wrong.

    Cormac McCarthy’s The Road might be the way we wind up instead.

  44. 44.

    I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet

    Dead thread, but …

    @Corner Stone:

    No fucking clue why a Democrat would vote for this bill. No fucking clue why the WH is whipping for this bill.

    A couple of reasons, I think:

    1) Obama really wants “regular order” budgets to start happening again. Perpetual “continuing resolutions” are bad.

    2) There’s a fear that this is the best budget that we can get now. It’ll be worse if it drags out into the next Congress.

    Maybe they’re right, but it seems too defeatist to me. When Nancy was running the House, the problem was the 5-10 presidents in the Senate that had to be mollified. Now, the Senate is supposedly powerless to stop the super Teabaggers in the House. It makes no sense. The Democrats should be using Boehner’s and McConnell’s promise that there won’t be a shut-down to demand that they take out the worst elements of the bill.

    Regular order and compromise and accepting that sometimes one has to accept a bad provision or two in a budget is fine, but this isn’t regular order. This is rewarding brinksmanship and rewarding bypassing the regular committee process and rewarding backroom “bipartisan” deals that aren’t bipartisan. The Senate should kick it back and force the House to strip out the odious provisions.

    Nancy tried to make the case in a speech in the House yesterday that the increased contribution limits to the parties was a direct reward from the banks for the Dodd-Frank changes. If that’s true, there should be pitchforks and the vote should have been nearly unanimous against. The appearance of bribery couldn’t be much clearer… :-(

    Will Warren help kill it? Dunno – congressional vacations are more important than anything these days… :-( And even if she does succeed, one can imagine some quick “compromise” would be written to have nearly the same effect.

    Democracy is messy. Budgets are often bad. But divided government is like that. We gotta take our little victories when we can and move on.

    It’ll be interesting to see what happens over the next few days/weeks.

    FWIW.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  47. 47.

    LAC

    @Corner Stone: do you? Apparently what I said to Howard Beale was interesting enough for you to comment. Anyhoo, because it is the morning and you probably have a pounding headache, I will just gently note that the elevation of Hillary will make it interesting for you and your self righteous stands that you like to take against us obots,particularly on security matters.

  48. 48.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    Bah, what a load of horshit from Billmon. Anyone with an ounce of knowledge of modern politics would have known Libertarians and the Social Conservatives are part of the bizarre political alliance Regan set up back in the ’80s.

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