Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Nothing worth doing is easy.

They think we are photo bombing their nice little lives.

Compromise? There is no middle ground between a firefighter and an arsonist.

Shut up, hissy kitty!

Stop using mental illness to avoid talking about armed white supremacy.

“woke” is the new caravan.

Wow, you are pre-disappointed. How surprising.

Tick tock motherfuckers!

Republicans are the party of chaos and catastrophe.

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

It’s easy to sit in safety and prescribe what other people should be doing.

We know you aren’t a Democrat but since you seem confused let me help you.

And now I have baud making fun of me. this day can’t get worse.

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

Republicans in disarray!

Whoever he was, that guy was nuts.

Lick the third rail, it tastes like chocolate!

Motown is Joe-Town!

Fuck these fucking interesting times.

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

If senate republicans had any shame, they’d die of it.

This chaos was totally avoidable.

When your entire life is steeped in white supremacy, equality feels like discrimination.

‘Museums aren’t America’s attic for its racist shit.’

You are here: Home / John Cole Presents "This Fucking Old House" / Mission Accomplished, No Casualties

Mission Accomplished, No Casualties

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So apparently we have a new chair of the DNC, Tom Perez, and he is a fine man and will make a good chair. He immediately appointed Ellison his co-chair or whatever. This will not stop the idiot left, because poutrage is so much fun and good for attention. Not to mention, while I personally have no problem with Ellison’s religion because as an obnoxious atheist it seems pointless to differentiate between different flavors of make believe, the fact is a large portion of our country would have a problem so this will make it easier in places where Democrats have had trouble as of late.

That won’t stop the manic progressives who decided to turn this DNC chair election into a proxy Clinton/Sanders primary, so just ignore them, mock them, or tell them to fuck off. If Trump isn’t enough to unite Democrats, these fucking people are worthless and we deserve him. I swear to god these Bernie bots read the Charge of the Light Brigade and learned all the fucking wrong lessons.

In other chair related news, the police in Washington, PA called before I left to pick up chairs and informed us they had ABC’s wallet (with everything in it!), so I went the long way to Pittsburgh, picked that up on the way, got the chairs, did a bunch of other chores, and made it home in one piece. Here are the new chairs, although we are re-doing the cushions (and again, that is a royal we which means I will stand and “help” until she just tells me to grab the dogs and to unass her area of operation).

Reader Interactions

200Comments

  4. 4.

    Kristine

    Nice chairs.

    Glad to hear the good news about the wallet.

    I didn’t care who won DNC Chair. Happy with Perez. Given that he and Ellison are good buds, I expect to see a pretty progressive tilt going forward.

    And we keep Ellison’s seat in the House, so good. I don’t know if it was in danger, but given the R’s tendency toward bs, there might have been some obstruction wrt seating the new rep.

  11. 11.

    hovercraft

    I like the chairs, I will like them better with new fabric, but they have great bones.
    It feels strange to congratulate someone for completing chores without incident, but you did it, so congrats ;-) for that and the chairs.

  15. 15.

    John Cole

    @pat: @schrodingers_cat: I don’t drink. It’s not an issue. I walk by a bar every day. I somehow manage to not drink. I see beer commercials and liquor commercials all day on tv. I somehow manage to not drink. I walk past beer and wine in the grocery every day. I manage to not drink. I had liquor in my house for the past three years because other people in the house drank, but I didn’t.

    Stop saying this over and over again. This says more about you than me.

  16. 16.

    sharl

    I looked at ABC’s blog after she posted here last night. She had a lot of recent experience with home remodeling (though for all I know she was already skilled in this area). Good deal for you JG; she appears to know her stuff in such matters.

  17. 17.

    Keith P.

    Tom Perez, and he is a fine man and will make a good chair

    But can you pick him and a coat rack up at the same time? Ba-dum-bump!

  18. 18.

    Mary G

    Please don’t try to help with the chair covering. A staple gun isn’t something I trust you with. And can ABC take some more pics, so we can see the chairs better?

    Nothing wrong with booze on the sideboard IMO. It’s been the same two bottles for a while.

  20. 20.

    Anne Laurie

    Good job, John. ABC has great taste, and I’m looking forward to seeing her further improvements… on the house, I mean.

  25. 25.

    schrodingers_cat

    @John Cole: What does it say about me? Alcohol has never been my weakness*. I can take it or leave it. Your defensiveness to a gentle suggestion says something about you. You are expecting great feats of self discipline from yourself every single day.

    *Potato chips on the other hand, I have to eat the whole bag no matter how big. So I never bring chips home. YMMV.

  26. 26.

    Suffragete City elftx

    So this was not a replay of The Twelve Chairs. They and your house look nice. Happy for you, the furbabies and ABC.

  27. 27.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    @John Cole: I was going to make pretty much the same comment. Just because you don’t drink doesn’t mean you have to be a shitty host to those that do. I had a bottle of champagne in the fridge for a year, no compulsion to touch it. I find the smell of booze to be really kind of repulsive at this point.

    ETA: Good to hear about ABC’s wallet.

  31. 31.

    Mnemosyne

    I like the chairs, and they should be very easy for a competent person to re-cover. This means NOT YOU, John Cole.

    @sharl:

    Any woman who says “bite me” to our gracious host is clearly the woman for him.

  33. 33.

    ET

    I was looking for DRAMA (pout) but glad the wallet turned up and the house is looking good so there’s that.

  34. 34.

    Omnes Omnibus

    If Cole doesn’t drink then, then booze in the house won’t be a problem. If he decides to start drinking again, not having booze in the house won’t stop him. He’ll go out and buy some.

  38. 38.

    Brachiator

    A happy post. All’s Well that Ends Well. Furniture bought. A wallet recovered. John Cole did not trip over anything.

    A happy marriage of true minds at the DNC. And now I read that Trump will not attend the White House Correspondents Dinner.

    Yes, Jesus loves me.

  46. 46.

    Calming Influence

    Beautiful looking room. Nicely done, John.

    Now about this new female: I’m becoming resigned to the idea that she’s going to continue to distract you from us, the most important people in your life, your faithful commenters. So I need to ask – have you had “the talk” with her yet? You know, explain to her why you need a first aid kit in every room in the house? Why you need to get a court-appointed guardian to help you clean your gutters? Why there’s a Heimlich maneuver poster in the dining room? Why the.motto on your family crest is “I’ve fallen and I can’t get up!” in Latin?

    You need to tell her soon, John. She deserves to know the truth.

  48. 48.

    Hal

    I peeked at the twitter butt hurt and it’s amazing. BTW, when is someone going to start a new political party? Several twitter posts was something along the lines of “time to start a new party!”

    Um, ok. So what’s stopping you? My other favorite is the life long dems who are leaving the part that after being screwed over one too many times.

    Sure sure. But doesn’t that mean Keith Ellison screwed you over by taking the position of co-chair? So why you mad?

  49. 49.

    Honus

    @John Cole: I agree with you Cole. My dad was stone alcoholic. DTs, blackouts, everything. He was a veteran of WWII North Africa, Sicily. and, Italy, and it told on him.
    He quit on his birthday in 1951; he was 37 years old. He drank a shot of bourbon and said “this is my last drink” Nobody believed him but it was. He died 32 years later, and never took another drink. He never went to a meeting, always kept alcohol in the house and served drinks to his friends when they visited. (and in fact collected commerative whiskey bottles as a hobby until his death). I was born in 1955, and never saw him take a drink. He never lectured me or any of my five siblings about drinking (in fact, he and mom seemed amused by us and our friends; our house was a safe haven for kids that got too high and couldn’t go home home. They would stay the night and mom would fix breakfast the next morning)
    Wha tthis taught me is that it’s about you, not anybody else. I appreciate the fact that some people need to avoid temptation, but I also understand your attitude.

  51. 51.

    Brachiator

    @Vhh:I’ll bite my thumb at them. That’s an insult, and if they let me get away with it they’ll be dishonored.

    — Sweet William Shakespeare, Romeo and his Smoking Hot Babe, Juliet

  53. 53.

    eemom

    Behind the times as usual, but it cracked me up to see ABC’s reference to shitcanning that “Grateful Dead art.” Ah, how many thousands of posts were hijacked by that freakazoid artiste, under his various kitchen implement nyms.

    btw, I told him once that — unless he’s gotten licenses from the subjects, which I doubt — his oevre will get his ass sued into oblivion if any of them (or their estates) ever finds out he’s exploiting their image for $$ gain without permission.

  54. 54.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @schrodingers_cat: You can tell me to fuck off or that it is none of my business and I will take no offense, but are you alright? You seem to be in a bad temper quite a bit recently and it isn’t like you.

  56. 56.

    skerry

    What an ass

    Donald J. Trump Verified account ‏@realDonaldTrump
    Congratulations to Thomas Perez, who has just been named Chairman of the DNC. I could not be happier for him, or for the Republican Party!

    ETA: I just threw a couple of coins to Perez. Cautiously optimistic that he can turn the next elections – starting with Jon Ossoff in GA-06 next month.

  57. 57.

    Nicholas

    What’s with the continued hippie punching? Your candidate, Clinton lost to a fucking fascist toad. Maybe the Neo-Liberal dream is just a god damn mirage, and maybe Democrats need a hard turn Left. Centrism is for cowards. Stop being a fucking coward Cole.

  61. 61.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Hal: I clicked on this tweet by Matt Yglesias’ to see if he or somebody else clarified the thing about Obama and Medicare.

    Matthew YglesiasVerified account
    mattyglesias 59m59 minutes ago
    More
    Overton Window news: Trump is to Obama’s left on Medicare, GOP is abandoning full ACA repeal, and Tom Perez is now as a centrist.

    The venom directed at Perez was amazing. I remember when Obama bumped him up to the cabinet people who know and care about labor issues were thrilled, and his work at Justice was apparently heroic. But Bernie! said it had to Ellison, so people who know nothing about Perez and I’m guessing not much about the DNC are calling him a piece of shit.

  67. 67.

    trollhattan

    @schrodingers_cat: @pat:
    Sillies, those are giant bottles of Brut and Hai Karate.

    Digging the house, have always admired Prarie style (whether this is, it’s conveying “home” to me in the same way). If nothing ever goes as fast in your life as this gut-and-remodel, you can take pride in it taking a third of the typical time for such. Breaking character can be fun!

  69. 69.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Nicholas: Two people, both on the left of the party, ran for a position as a party functionary. The vote was close. The guy who came in second became deputy chair. Anyone trying to turn this into something larger is an idiot. As is anyone who wants to call calling an idiot an idiot hippie punching.

  70. 70.

    skerry

    I like this reply to 45* from Perez

    More
    Tom Perez Retweeted Donald J. Trump
    Call me Tom. And don’t get too happy. @keithellison and I, and Democrats united across the country, will be your worst nightmare.

    ETA: FYWP for f*cking up my formatting on my past several posts.

  74. 74.

    Applejinx

    @Hal: I kinda hope they don’t. I prefer people being stuck with the Dems and trying to wrest the course away from third way neoliberalism :D

    It IS a two party system and it really should be possible to manage a gradual change-over to an employment-less society served by automation, robots, and computers, while having the Republicans be the ones who flame out and collapse. To try and split what’s now the center-right by global standards seems like a fool’s errand.

    Perez immediately teaming up with Ellison was a good sign, I thought. Seems like they can make him run and hold the top position, but he’s not going to dump on his friend… and the fact that they’re friends is another good sign. Grown-ups can be friends even with some differences of opinion.

    Anyways, a smart person doesn’t look at a 235-200 victory and go ‘Thank fuck I can tell nearly half my people to piss off and die! I won, after all!’. There surely are smart decent people on our team and I hope we’re working with two of them going forward. Also: I love that Perez was aggressive with payday lenders, after the embarrassment of DWS supporting Republicans and payday lenders. We made a massive upgrade already, let’s put it to work.

  75. 75.

    Applejinx

    @skerry:

    Tom Perez Retweeted Donald J. Trump
    Call me Tom. And don’t get too happy. @keithellison and I, and Democrats united across the country, will be your worst nightmare.

    Hah! I like him more and more. Thanks, Tom ;)

  76. 76.

    gene108

    Lots of dark brown in the room. Would you try to add art pieces for contrast? To lighten it up a little?

  77. 77.

    Villago Delenda Est

    This is WONDERFUL news all around! I’m not even going to let myself be disappointed that a Subaru didn’t wind up in a field, or that Steve is AWOL, or anything.

    Best to ABC, of course. She’s a winner!

  83. 83.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @schrodingers_cat: Why should you not be angry? These fuckers are fucking with you and your relatives and friends and others who have a smidgen too much melanin. Fuck them. We’ve got your back.

  84. 84.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @Baud: ABC posted last night with that in her nym. She’s that lovely lady we’ve seen photos of in Cole’s new digs.

  89. 89.

    Ruviana

    @Baud: Here ya go!She sounds great for Cole! I enjoyed the story of the granite stick-on counter change. And remember how Cole was always talking about possibly having kids in his life someday? Well…..

  90. 90.

    debbie

    @schrodingers_cat:

    I’m sorry you feel threatened and I wish there was something someone could do today to stop it. This is one of many sad episodes in American history, but it won’t last.

  92. 92.

    Calming Influence

    @trollhattan:

    “…Brut and Hai Karate.”

    Good god. I blush with shame when I hear “Hai Karate”. In 9th grade I believed a $2 bottle (roughly a quart; hey, big spender!) was good for 3, maybe 4 applications at the most.

  95. 95.

    chris

    @Baud: I’m a 62 year old backwoods hermit. Never in a million years did I expect to be reading, and cheering on, the politics section of a beaty magazine for teenage girls. The shitgibbon has much to answer for.

    Yes, you must follow and cultivate them, lots of those young women will be of voting age in time for (drumroll) Baud 2020!

  97. 97.

    sharl

    @Ruviana: I did see your link; thanks! I read Martin’s comment and I’m still going through the responses there. It does confirm what I’ve seen – confirmation bias rawks! – and from a somewhat different demographic perspective than I usually see.

  103. 103.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @schrodingers_cat:

    Its one thing to have alcohol in the house and another thing to put it on display like a trophy.

    I don’t think it’s “like a trophy” at all. Presumably some/many/most/all of John’s visiting friends know that he is an alcoholic in recovery and doesn’t himself drink. Putting the bottles on display is a way for him to signal that his guests needn’t feel the least bit uncomfortable about asking for or pouring themselves a drink in his presence. If John can handle it so nonchalantly, I don’t know why the rest of us should be either concerned or censorious.

  104. 104.

    gene108

    @schrodingers_cat:

    Indian-Americans, NRI’s (non-resident Indians) or how else we label the Indian immigrant community has made inroads, I did not expect to see during my lifetime.

    From T.V. shows, with prominent Indian leads, to heads of companies, to politics (two governors, though I don’t agree with them, Congresspeople, etc), Indians are taking their seat at the table in America.

    Trump and his revanchists are a bump in the road.

  105. 105.

    Lyrebird

    Have been on Democracy For America’s mailing list for a while, probably after clicking on some petition on GOS.

    Just got this email which had some nice words about Perez being supportive of progressive causes yadda yadda but please give us money bc:

    For far too long, the Democratic Party establishment has focused too much of its energy on winning wealthy suburban voters back from the GOP, while neglecting the people who should be the heart of the party: Women, people of color and working families fighting for a level playing field. And they’ve promoted well-connected insiders and donors over grassroots champions time and time again.

    But the growing resistance to Donald Trump isn’t hung up on insider party politics, and they don’t take orders from corporate donors. They’re focused on halting Trump’s cruel agenda by building a multi-generational, multi-racial coalition for justice and an economy that works for working families, not just the rich and powerful — and so are we.

    ALthough I’m sure there’s merit to some of their complaints, I hit unsubscribe. Gonna send more moolah to VoteVets, a couple refugee advocacy groups, ACLU, NAACP, & individual candidates. Heck, if McMullin (sp?) challenges Chaffetz for his seat, I’ll probably donate!

  106. 106.

    japa21

    I am really having some difficulty with this concept of a domesticated John Cole. I am sure I’ll get used to it. And John, I am truly very happy for you.

  107. 107.

    schrodingers_cat

    Thank you for your kind comments. I don’t feel personally threatened, just feel a sense of betrayal. On a personal level its my JS voting friend who now twists herself into a pretzel defending everything T does. I never gave much thought to the fact that I was different. Now I do. I don’t like it.

  114. 114.

    Edward Brennan

    I was for Ellison, and I have never been for Bernie. I don’t think the Democratic Party needs blood letting, but I do think it needs fresh ideas. I do think the future of the Party lies more with Elizabeth Warren and Keith Ellison.

    I have been a Democrat for my entire life. I have caucused, I have gone to county and state conventions. Could I do more, yeah. I know people who do. But I am perfectly happy with saying that I have alway been a Democrat.

    I live in Colorado. The state with a Democratic Governor who is more pro-business than anything else. The one who has stated how hard he wants to work with the Trump administration than fighting them- that there is civil compromise to be made.

    I live in Colorado. The State with the Democratic Senator who does not believe enough in women’s rights and the importance of Roe vs. Wade to come out against Gorsuch- because Gorsuch understands business.

    I live in Colorado. In a house district Hillary Clinton won, but that lost the seat to the incumbent Republican- Mike Coffman. This was a contest where I couldn’t find out how to meet the democratic Candidate without it being a pay for play fundraiser. (My mother go invited to events not after she gave some, but only after she gave a fair bit. And even then it was always with an ask for more.

    I live in Colorado. This is where the governor had sound canceling equipment put outside a tent where a Hillary Clinton fundraiser was going on so the Peons and the Press couldn’t hear. And yes, enough to make the local news.

    I voted for Hillary Clinton. I thought she was the best person running, better than Bernie, better than any third party candidate by a million miles.

    But I do see a party that dropped Dean’s 50 state plan. I see a party that loved Obama’s first term small donors, but dropped it in the second term for large donors and bundlers. I see a party out of touch, and down right condescending to the poorer people who may work at a 7-11 or as a window washer like myself. I see a party where Donald Trump asking what have they done for Black people in America to have a higher ring of truth than makes me at all comfortable. I see a Democratic Party that has compromised everything in the name of business, which is a dog whistle for their high money donors.

    Yeah, we no longer make deals with racists as Democrats, but as a party our morals have been seriously compromised. And I think our leaderships lack of integrity is part , though not all, of why Donald Trump won. Why the Republicans hold both Branches of congress. And why the cooler heads that wouldn’t fight tooth and nail for Garland will now leave us with Gorsuch. It is also the Democratic party that has lost more statehouses recently than gained.

    Yeah, some change from the status quo did not feel to me like Perez. That felt like Obama stating he was going to shut Guantanamo which didn’t happen no matter how much a democrat said it- in large part because the Party wouldn’t support it.

    I am happy that Perez first action was to pull the party together. If I, for supporting Ellison and finding an insider like Perez troubling based on history makes me a Democrat who should go find a new party- means I should be ignored and go fuck off….I would really reconsider if that sort of kumbaya is a winning strategy or is very magnanimous at all.

  123. 123.

    Edward Brennan

    I honestly feel being that closely connected to the leadership of the party that led to this current state of affairs is not a good thing. I would have preferred Ellison in a large part because I felt he stood more on his own. Less connected to either Sanders or Clinton wing of the party. It seemed to be that as a house rep, he had the credibility of actually being elected by common people, not a wheeler and dealer.

    Let it be said I don’t think that Perez is an awful human being- far from it. If Ellison had won, I hope Ellison’s hand would have been as equally outstretched as Perez’s has been.

    If it were a football team, Perez feels to me like the longtime assistant coach, to the coach who just lost everything. They could be a great head coach (I hope he will be), but I do think a cleaner break to the previous regime might have been better. But as it is, it calls to me as more of the same.

    I do think antagonizing one’s allies in the face of Trump is bad. I do think it might cause collateral damage into making me want to write this, instead of again contacting my Senator to please fight Gorsuch is self-defeating. I do think being magnanimous as Perez was, and that really did mean something to me, is a far better approach. Otherwise, there is not much difference between the dick who starts the fight, and the one who keeps it going by telling others to fuck off instead of letting it go.

  126. 126.

    Mnemosyne

    @Applejinx:

    Anyways, a smart person doesn’t look at a 235-200 victory and go ‘Thank fuck I can tell nearly half my people to piss off and die! I won, after all!’.

    A smart person also doesn’t look at Perez immediately asking Ellison to be his deputy chair and think, That’s the last straw, I’m never supporting Democrats again after the way they rejected progressives! and yet here we are, immersed in white male brogressive butthurt. Again.

  127. 127.

    raven

    I hit 24 years without a bump, a toke or a drink a week back. I ran hard as a motherfucker while I ran and then I quit. I’m not a recovering anything. There’s beer in the fridge, wine in the cupboard and liquor in the nice old wood ice box. I don’t fuck with it and I don’t need anyone telling me shit.

  129. 129.

    Mnemosyne

    @Edward Brennan:

    I am happy that Perez first action was to pull the party together. If I, for supporting Ellison and finding an insider like Perez troubling based on history makes me a Democrat who should go find a new party- means I should be ignored and go fuck off….I would really reconsider if that sort of kumbaya is a winning strategy or is very magnanimous at all.

    So, just to be clear, because your preferred candidate didn’t win the job of head of the Democratic National Committee, you’re never supporting Democrats again, even though your preferred candidate was immediately made the deputy chair.

    If you’re wondering why people aren’t sympathetic towards you, this is why. Nobody likes a sore winner.

  130. 130.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Mnemosyne: They are also bitching about someone who is a fierce fighter for voting and labor rights and someone who has shown he can turn around moribund agencies. Can you imagine what it was like in the Civil Rights division of the DoJ and the waning days of the Bush era?

  131. 131.

    HinTN

    @debbie: @schrodingers_cat: I have a professional friend who is Muslim. A gentle peaceful man who is a very good engineer. After 9-11 I asked him to give the invocation at our professional banquet. At first he was reticent but after thinking about it he agreed. As this disaster of the last couple of years has unfolded he has become more public in explaining his faith to our dead red neighbors. He even ran for office. This has taken extraordinary inner strength. You have this, I am sure. We all do, if we but look into ourselves to find it. Hang in there and please do know that we do have your back.

  133. 133.

    Mnemosyne

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    Yep. Someone intimately familiar with voting rights after an election where we lost several “firewall” states thanks to voter suppression tactics is too establishment, so therefore they must be shunned.

    JFC.

  134. 134.

    HinTN

    @raven: Yes! And I never expected the laughs I got from The Satanic Verses. The conservative scolds in the Islamic faith are just as off the mark as those if the Christian persuasion. No sense of humor or humanity.

  137. 137.

    Edward Brennan

    @Mnemosyne.
    .

    If I wasn’t clear enough in my “being happy that Perez’s first action was pulling the party together” was a come together sort of thing. Rep Ellison, who I do support, supported that. It seemed obvious by my statement that I support that too.

    John Cole was the one wanting to tell people to Fuck off and go ahead and create their own party. A good riddance which you seem a-o-k with but I am not.

    I will say that if the Democratic party thinks it can win based on the Status Quo. They already lost. Yes, we do need to reform the party because I am sick of having to contact my democratic representatives begging them to fight Trump. Because, yes where I live in Colorado ;), that is the Status Quo.

    The Democratic Party is not a party of Roses. It has shit that does stink. It does need reform. To want that does not make one the enemy. It is not a call for anyone to fuck off.

    Sympathy? No. Basic understanding that doesn’t lump me in with a Bernie bros stereotype which only helps Trump. That is what I want. Because if your so stuck on Bernie Bros and their Butthurt. You have become your own enemy.

  140. 140.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Edward Brennan: People who think that the election of one well-qualified person over another one for a position as a party functionary is a sign of the apocalypse are not helpful allies. Perez is great choice. Ellison would also have been a great choice. If one can’t see that, one is too blinded by ideology or cult of personality to function in politics.

  145. 145.

    PIGL

    Mr John Cole: that room is gorgeous, tasteful, elegant….I know I’m supposed to add some disrespectful snark, but I can’t even. Enjoy your lovely home. You built it, and she came!

  147. 147.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @PIGL: One rather suspects that the relationship predates the house. One even suspects that the relationship inspired the desire for the house.

  148. 148.

    Mnemosyne

    @Edward Brennan:

    John Cole was the one wanting to tell people to Fuck off and go ahead and create their own party. A good riddance which you seem a-o-k with but I am not.

    No, John Cole was telling people who were whining that Perez won to fuck off. If it’s not about you, it’s not about you. If you’re happy that Perez and Ellison will be working together, what are you feeling so butthurt about?

  149. 149.

    Mnemosyne

    @PIGL:

    SC is having a really crappy week because of the murder of an Indian immigrant in North Dakota. Let’s not give her too hard a time today.

  150. 150.

    Edward Brennan

    @Omnes Omnibus

    Neither were great on paper. Neither of them are particularly promising. Neither are truly inspiring. But they were the best tools potentially available. Much of the time, the General deemed best at the start of a war isn’t the hero leader at the end.

    Democrats need to fight for their principles. Integrity is all they potentially have since soft power is the only type they have. This doesn’t work if you have no principles, no spine. If it is all about business as usual (see my Colorado ;) dems). In this sense, we shouldn’t be blinded by ideology but ideas are our only power.

    The Cult of Personality problem is actually Trump. If it is all him, not the Republican policies of a Republican administration, supported by a Republican congress and Republican leaning courts. Then Republicans just wash their hands like they did with Nixon, Reagan and Iran-Contra, and all of GW Bush. Losing Trump can’t be a get out of jail free card.

    If Sanders is our cult of personality problem for the democrats, then our eye is off the ball. If Clinton, who isn’t in any party leadership position or Elected position is our issue, our eye is off the ball.

    I don’t know if Perez understands the principle part, or even the Trump. I am sure that he understands Democrats telling each other to go fuck off is a non-winning proposition. I can support that, and work with him towards the others.

    I voted for Michael Bennet over a crazy Republican. I am practiced at this.

  153. 153.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Edward Brennan:

    Neither were great on paper. Neither of them are particularly promising. Neither are truly inspiring.

    Basically wrong and/or irrelevant. Why does the DNC chair need to be inspiring? I have been using the word functionary for a reason.

    As for the rest, what do you know about Perez’s career? Because what you are typing indicates that you see him as some kind of establishment centrist. After the work he did in the Civil Rights division, he was a no go as an appointee to be AG because he was seen as leftist firebrand.

  154. 154.

    seaboogie

    @? Martin:

    I think we’re all just a bit disappointed that the dildos didn’t make the side table display like the booze did, is all.

    Maybe ABC will make a mobile out of the dildos* for one of the guest bedrooms. Maybe program a digital alarm clock with “Dueling Banjos*” too, to make it extry welcoming and homey.

    *For the pedants here, I have now done my research and learned that *banjo*, like *dildo*, does not have an additional “e” in the plural. Appalachia, here I come!

  158. 158.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @schrodingers_cat: You need to take care of yourself. Reach out if you need to – friends, family, professions, jackals. If being here isn’t helping, take a break. If it is, stay.

  159. 159.

    Edward Brennan

    @Mnemosyne:
    No I am not happy about it. I will accept it. I will work with it. I don’t have to be happy about it. I don’t have to love any of them Perez or Ellison or Sanders or Clinton. Frankly, I don’t know any of them. I have never met them. I will hold their feet, every single one of them, to the fire like my local democrats. (republicans too for whatever good it’ll do.)

    Trump won. The Democrats are a steaming pile who are still telling each other to go fuck off. The only power the Democrats have is integrity to a cause, which many don’t support. No- not happy.

    It is not magnanimous to tell people to fuck off. It does not build, it tears apart. No matter who is doing it. One can be frustrated. Shrug one’s shoulders. Say “that’s too bad”. But you tell people to fuck off, and they don’t generally come back.

    Not because you had great ideas, not because you were right. They don’t come back because they are left thinking you were a dick. (and yes, like two road ragers on the side of a street, you both are, no matter who “started it”)

    Further, I do not want them leaving. I actually think they have something to contribute too. Just like you. Not that I agree with everything they believe, but mostly. The same might be said of you, I don’t know. But I believe their participation is valuable. If we can deal with those so close in perspective to ours, it makes our side stronger. They certainly should be easier than those still shouting “lock her up”. I certainly agree with them enough compared to say Paul Ryan.

    If they storm off of their own choice, I think that’s a bad move. But you know what when they calm down, I will be the first to invite them back. Not because I pushed them out but because sometimes after someone has behaved like an ass, they need a welcome to join back in.

    It also begs, of people on the line just waiting for the fuck-off people to perform their own purity checks because that is exactly what it is. And then that is me. I don’t want the Democratic party to be the fuck off club. no matter who is doing it.

    If you tell me not to worry if John’s a dick. He’s not being a dick to you. Oh, You might fall somewhere close to the line, but don’t worry your not over it- yet. What sort of community building, what sort of acceptance, what sort of diversity is that. What sort of democrats do that??? We are all fallible. We all need help.

    I think John was steaming and possibly needed a reminder to be his better self. That there were reasons, not just emotions that one might go Ellison over Perez. Insight, was what I was trying to give. A gradience that it wasn’t all Trump vs. Bernie Bros vs Clinton supporters which is archaic at this point.

  161. 161.

    Steve in the ATL

    @seaboogie:

    I have now done my research and learned that *banjo*, like *dildo*, does not have an additional “e” in the plural

    Balloon juice: fun AND educational!

  166. 166.

    Edward Brennan

    @Omnes Omnibus: Howard Dean. was quirky but inspiring for his time. A rallying point person. (though to removed now to do the same.) Someone who really could speak for the party I believe is something the Democrats need at this time. It troubles me that most of the marches against Trump refuse to consider themselves at all related to the Democratic Party. Planned Parenthood, the ACLU, NOW, even Scientists, but the Democratic Party not so much. Further they refuse to be defined by Trump but by what would generally be considered Democratic principles. Pro-women, Pro-science, Pro-free Speech, Pro Equality.

    Somehow, there is a desire not to identify with the party. If we tell people to fuck-off that only intensifies, but we need the party for elections. There is no way around that point which makes sense.

    The head of party could fill that vacuum. Tie the resistance to party. And it is even better if they can be demonized by republicans if they never are being set to run for President or anything else.

    Is it the traditional fund raiser head of party? No. but I think we could go for more. I think it could have shown more connection. (still could, if Perez tries to work it that way.) Not a cult of personality (which was probably to strong with Obama to help Clinton enough), but leadership to pull people to party.

    The party is not just a fundraising machine to get people elected. It should be more than it is. That takes a leader out-front to explain and condense. To pull together not just money but people.

  168. 168.

    Edward Brennan

    @Omnes Omnibus:
    Long time reader. First time commenter, today. Honestly, mostly have kept to myself before Trump presidency. I guess I relate to the sign “Trump is so bad even the introverts are out.” Normally when you tell people that you just wash windows for a living you can just watch them tune out. Republicans oddly less than Democrats,but the conversation there is just too disheartening.

  169. 169.

    Steve in the ATL

    @Edward Brennan: we don’t judge people here for their occupations, except that we hate lawyers. We just want rational discussions, which means no relitigating the democratic primary, and substantive posts, which means no ad hominem attacks (all attacks should be justified), and occasionally humor if there aren’t too many coders around.

  172. 172.

    Edward Brennan

    @Omnes Omnibus: Looking it up!-
    The DNC is responsible for articulating and promoting the Democratic platform and coordinating party organizational activity. It is primarily the main coordinating body for the state parties. Sets national party standards for caucuses and primaries, the convention. Etc.

    Now although the head of DNC is not technically head of the party. The Chair is the closest thing the Democratic party (or the RNC chair to the Republican Party for that matter.) Since 1848, the head of the DNC has been known in common parlance as the head of the Party.

    The DNC is made up of the chairs and vice chairs of the state parties, along with other elected Democrats.

    Look, I know that the head of the party really can’t order a whole lot of people to do much of anything. But that doesn’t make it unimportant and they have messed up in the past. (including recent, though we don’t know about the RNC).

    What they can do though does have a lot to do with setting agenda which is very real power. There ability through the soft power of the position to direct DNC spending is more so. Also the ability to influence things like the draft of the platform is considerable even if they aren’t responsible for adopting it. (yeah I’ve seen that at state level and watch the machinery blow at county when the county level delegates don’t like what is proposed. Still it helps set the conversation.)

    Am I missing something important? If I am I’d like to know. No sarcasm at all.

  173. 173.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Edward Brennan: Practically speaking, the people who are responsible for the D response to everything are Schumer and Pelosi. The DNC is admin work. It is important. But the chair is never the “head” of the party.

  174. 174.

    Edward Brennan

    @Steve in the ATL:

    But my brother and sister-in-law are both in law…

    I don’t dangle.I do residential. Shorter ladders, but actually more injuries if one isn’t safe. People’s houses are not designed for window washers where larger buildings are. Thanks OSHA, cause I work in people’s homes less requirements.

    Everybody judges on occupations. Even I do it. It is better to acknowledge those biases and work through them than deny they exist. We all decide who looks the part who, who doesn’t. Most high end residential window washers are white (like me) that I’ve met. (a fair number). Most commercial ones are not. Guess who gets to go in a rich person’s closet looking for windows… I also generally get treated better than the hispanic housecleaner, me more like a professional, better tools, and I speak standard American English. But we are both just cleaners. Yeah, privilege no matter what the job for a white guy like me.

    I will say our Lawyer customers are generally nicer on average than others. (Not sucking up, this is really true.)

  175. 175.

    FlipYrWhig

    @Edward Brennan: Dean was a good-for-business governor with an A rating from the NRA. A whole lotta hype. And I say this as someone who made him the first candidate I ever sent money, and who carefully saved the Rolling Stone cover with his mug on it in 2004.

  176. 176.

    Edward Brennan

    @Omnes Omnibus: Schumer and Pelosi I would agree, but that I also matters more when they have more power in their respective institutions. It isn’t that I believe the DNC head is all powerful. But it also was the first place the Democrats could show a change in direction. I don’t think they did that. Also DNC head is a lot about what the person holding the position makes of it. Dean or even Preibus was it for the Republicans. Nobody really knew Wasserman-Shultz until the Bernie stuff which even Bernie says wasn’t decisive. Again what you make it. Sadly, I think that a lot of the vote for Perez was trying not to upset the established course. To limit that possibility. I don’t think we are at a stay the course make small adjustments stage in the Party. But I do think the DNC felt this way overall. Don’t upset the donors, give a little to the left (Ellison), Just be the party of No (50% of the time.)

  178. 178.

    Edward Brennan

    @FlipYrWhig: Not saying he was perfect. I was for Kerry for President. The 50 state thing (which was also overstated tbh) at least made a verbal claim to the country that matched well with Obama’s purple states. Again head cheerleader.

  181. 181.

    Achrachno

    @Edward Brennan: I think the biggest change of direction needed is simply more emphasis on voter registration and getting our people to the polls. In droves. Sounds like Perez might be good at those things, so I think he was probably a good choice and not a ‘stand pat’ candidate. Ellison would have been fine too I’m sure. Main thing is we all need to work together. Squabbling needs to end. Let’s run candidates as many places as possible and beat as many Rs as possible — for the benefit of all the people.

  183. 183.

    Ruckus

    @John Cole:
    Good for you. You can’t avoid alcohol, it’s all around us. So is heroin, crack, meth, etc, etc…… There are a significant number of us on here that have stopped drinking, and some other things. Yet those things are all still around us, all available to us. Doesn’t mean we have to be stupid. Doesn’t mean we have to use them.

  184. 184.

    Ruckus

    @schrodingers_cat:
    I may have mentioned on here once or twice that I’ve suffered from migraines for decades. I have found on more than one occasion that a certain flavor of chips will about 3/4 of the time, knock down a pretty nasty migraine. So at least I had an excuse about my bad habit. A new doc at the VA prescribed 400mg of B2 per day, which does a far better job because in concert with one of my other meds, it prevents them. Been on the B2 for about a month, not even a hint. Anyone else a migraine sufferer, talk to your doc.

  186. 186.

    Edward Brennan

    @Omnes Omnibus:Those are both good points. I will say that Perez fight for home care workers was cool. So often, Pro-labor is just pro-union labor. Perez, to his credit has never just been about that.
    His onsite trips are good in theory, though in any job I’ve worked I am not sure how honestly I would have talked to him. A worker doesn’t own their workplace, and often isn’t even really empowered in it. The lack of control can really lead to a heads down environment where a secretary of labor is the last thing you want to see. It would be better to go into their communities, spend time in their restaurants and bars. Outside the stores that they shop. A safe space for the worker. Hard to pull of with a busy schedule.
    Honestly his ethnicity matters less to me. It’s good. But he an Ivy league lawyer. If you have spent your entire life at that level. It doesn’t make you less hispanic. But it does distance you in life experience from those working labor jobs. I love lawyers, even ones who go to great schools. But it is over represented in our government. That is one thing I liked about Ellison. A lawyer, yes, but not that route.

  187. 187.

    Ruckus

    @schrodingers_cat:
    Even the helpers need help once in a while. Please don’t be afraid to ask for it. Most of us would do whatever we can for each other, all we need is to know.

  188. 188.

    J R in WV

    @schrodingers_cat:

    No one here wants you to suffer in any way. We here are glad to have people from south asia coming to north america to better themselves, our selves, and this place.

    We are all appalled at the death and injuries in Kansas. I am glad to see that a local fellow tried to stop the shooter – and the bar tender down the road where the shooter ran immediately called the police to come and get the shooter. So the other locals didn’t share in any way the hate and anger this crazy idiot (looks like a 70 y o meth head!) expressed in his shooting.

    We are all saddened by the death of a young and brilliant Indian engineer who came to America to take a good job and move to a country where upward mobility seems to still be easier than other places, even in the era of Trump.

    If you need to or want to talk about being (south asian) Indian here I would be happy to email or converse in a thread here at B-J. Adam or Betty could connect us, they both have my email… all the front pagers can probably see it. I’m sorry you aren’t feeling well, the weird weather makes my old joints ache, which makes me grouchy. I have been known to tell others here to Fk right off, you have probably seen that at least a few times. But that isn’t me at my core, just me being grouchy – when to be grouchy if not now?

    Best wishes to Shrodingers_Cat!

  189. 189.

    J R in WV

    @Steve in the ATL:

    …except that we hate lawyers.

    Wait just a tiny minute here, Steve, aren’t you a lawyer? We don’t hate lawyers, we hate lawyers who work for the dark side, not the same thing at all. The one time I went to court, I had to use a slightly scummy southern Mississippi lawyer, who asked for a fee $1.37 less than the amount we had in our bank account. [How did he know that amount would be doable???? Did a banker share that info with him? Surely not, what about Southern Honor????]

    Then the brief he filed was ungrammatical and misspelled, ignorant of good English standards, and unacceptable to me in every way – but it did cite the appropriate previously decided cases in a reasonably proper way, and somehow led the Southern District of Mississippi judge to find in my favor, impossibly but truly.

    So, no, we don’t hate lawyers here. We do hate SOME lawyers, who are hateful in who they are and the law they practice.

  191. 191.

    No One You Know

    @John Cole: This blog is an education. I need to get out more…

    @Vhh: And from dildos, no less.

    @? Martin: I think certain objets d’ art lose their punch, en masse. IANAID, though.

    Happy about the wallet, love the room!

  192. 192.

    Couldn't Stand the Weather

    John:

    Steve is around, I figure. Hopefully, he is free of fecal matter.

    Seriously, though…Big ups to you and ABC. And I concur with (almost) everyone else, the house looks great.

  194. 194.

    Alexander

    (and again, that is a royal we which means I will stand and “help” until she just tells me to grab the dogs and to unass her area of operation).

    Pedantry time: the royal ‘we’ just means ‘I’!

  195. 195.

    Johannes

    @Edward Brennan: Well, the jackass is our party symbol…Kidding aside, I like the rhetorical trope you used, but it struck me as over the top for the context–like using a howitzer to shoot a fly. Also, I had just had a raging battle with a Bernie-or-buster who had given me the “attention must be paid” routine. First time commenter? Hadn’t realized. Welcome.

  196. 196.

    EJ

    Hmm, yet more whining about Bernie supporters, seasoned with a little “I didn’t want a black Muslim (not racist).”

    And yet WE’RE the ones who supposedly are preventing party unity.

  197. 197.

    J R in WV

    John,

    So glad you (and the police) found Ann Burr’s wallet intact. There are so many good people in the world !!

    Obviously almost as soon as it fell off AB’s car, near where she bought fuel, someone picked it up, saw what it was, and gave it to the police as soon as was convenient for them.

    Many years ago, during the hottest part of a hot summer afternoon, on my way home from a hard day’s work, I stopped at Krogers for dinner supplies, as I did most evenings. It was so hot I decided to leave the windows down, as I was in a shady spot and could reasonably expect the car to be cooler when I came out than it was when I went in.

    When I got to the cashier and reached for my wallet… I didn’t have it. So I ran out to the VW while she finished running the rest of the grub through, only to find my wallet lying there on the passenger seat, intact and whole. No one had touched it, although it was out in public, where passersby passed it by all the while I was picking out a menu’s worth of food. There are many very good things about living here in WV…

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