Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Nancy smash is sick of your bullshit.

I like you, you’re my kind of trouble.

If you’re looking for someone who’s young and athletic, go watch a fucking movie.

fuckem (in honor of the late great efgoldman)

Second rate reporter says what?

Dear media: perhaps we ought to let Donald Trump speak for himself!

Shut up, hissy kitty!

Nothing says ‘pro-life’ like letting children go hungry.

We won’t go back.

Pelosi: “He either is stupid, or he thinks the rest of us are.” Why not both?

“Why isn’t this Snickers bar only a nickel?”

Speaking of republicans, is there a way for a political party to declare intellectual bankruptcy?

You cannot shame the shameless.

You can’t love your country only when you win.

Everyone is in a bubble, but some bubbles model reality far better than others!

Cole, when it comes to calico cats, restraint is overrated.

Black Jesus loves a paper trail.

It’s always darkest before the other shoe drops.

The cruelty is the point; the law be damned.

He wakes up lying, and he lies all day.

Jack be nimble, jack be quick, hurry up and indict this prick.

When we show up, we win.

Republican speaker of the house Mike Johnson is the bland and smiling face of evil.

I also would like a pony to improve my balloon juice experience.

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Reader Interactions

115Comments

  1. 1.

    Ian G.

    I heard Mike Lee is the latest “no”. I’m guessing Tailgunner Ted will be next.

  2. 2.

    Betty Cracker

    No vote until after Fourth of July recess, according to CNN; not sure how long a holiday break they get. Probably a whole goddamned month!

  3. 3.

    dmsilev

    So, they’re off all next week which I guess gives time for (a) hordes of outraged constituents to express their outrage and (b) Mitch McConnell to try to use the wiggle room that the CBO score gave him to buy off a few votes. And at stake, health care for tens of millions of regular people vs. tax cuts for rich people.

    Hell of a way to run a country.

  4. 4.

    dmsilev

    AP wire, via TPM:

    WASHINGTON (AP) — Sources tell the Associated Press that Senate Republican leaders have abruptly delayed the vote on their health care bill until after the July 4th recess. That’s the word Tuesday as the GOP faced five defections from its ranks just hours after the Congressional Budget Office said the bill would force 22 million off insurance rolls. It was a major blow for the seven-year-old effort to repeal and replace Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act.

    Separately, President Donald Trump has invited all GOP senators to the White House Tuesday afternoon.

    Somehow, I feel certain that Trump will find a way to blame this on Obama.

  6. 6.

    Turgidson

    @dmsilev:

    No doubt, any and all opposition the GOP Senators face will be the work of “outside activists” and other unsavory elements, free to be ignored and mocked and used in fundraising emails to their dipshit base.

    Hopefully time and the light of day are enough to kill this atrocity, but I certainly thought the House bill was dead when ZEGS had to pull it, and then all of a sudden it staggered back into existence and passed weeks later in what felt like a matter of hours. So who the fuck knows.

  7. 7.

    Ohio Mom

    That explains the letter I just got from my Rep, Wenstrup, bad-mouthing the ACA and promising better coverage at lower costs. There is a direct relationship between his junk mail and how worried he is.

  8. 8.

    Mom Says I'm Handsome

    Last week in an interview with a Colorado newspaper, Senator Cory Gardner (R-Asshole) said he couldn’t comment on the WealthCare bill because he didn’t know what was in it. Yesterday I saw his coprophagic grin as one of the Death Panel (aka “Thirteen White Dudes Have a Plan For You”) writing the fucking thing. It is now my life’s mission to make sure that worm is a one-term senator.

    OTOH, when I called my other senator (and his office picked up on the first ring), I was told by a staffer that Senator Bennet had just introduced a bill that would mandate open debate on bill such as the BCRAP. Because, you know, in the modern era of conservative governance, you need to explicitly say that being a sneaky fuck is against the rules.

    Gawd I hate these people.

  10. 10.

    Eljai

    In addition to calling my representatives, I also email NPR on a daily basis. I ask them to provide less game theory and more actual reporting on the many and varied ways this piece of crap harms people. This morning, the reporter let Ron Johnson just lie about Obamacare. She pushed back a little on some things, but not nearly enough. There’s like a hundred respected healthcare and medical organizations that hate this bill, why not interview an actual expert, instead of another lying republican? I plan to expand my one-woman complaint letter writing campaign to other news outlets as well.

  11. 11.

    dmsilev

    @Turgidson: There’s a deadline to keep in mind, which is September 30th. That’s when both sets of reconciliation instructions expire, which means that the GOP has to push through both TrumpCare and MoreTaxCutsForRichPeople before then or they become 60-vote thresholds. And Congress takes all of August off. And they have to deal with things like the debt ceiling before then as well. Bottom line, every week or two worth of delay is valuable.

  12. 12.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Katy Tur asks Kasie Hunt if Republican will now be forced to reach out to Dems: “Well, you know, that’s the mistake the Demorats made with Obamacare….”

  13. 13.

    The Thin Black Duke

    @Ohio Mom: No matter how hard they try, the GOP can’t make the optics of protesters in wheelchairs being dragged into police vans look good.

  16. 16.

    germy

    @Turgidson:

    I certainly thought the House bill was dead when ZEGS had to pull it, and then all of a sudden it staggered back into existence and passed weeks later in what felt like a matter of hours.

    It’s like a 1980s horror film.

  18. 18.

    TaMara (HFG)

    Colorado peeps – anyone have any luck with calling Gardner?

    Also, thank you to everyone who had left their house and protested this monstrosity and to those who have been calling every day. So very grateful.

  20. 20.

    Ohio Mom

    @The Thin Black Duke: People who use wheelchairs can be somewhat fragile. For one thing, they don’t get weight-bearing bone-strengthening exercise the rest of us get just in a day’s walking. What those ADAPT protesters did was extremely admirable.

    I heard some of them joked that the reason the police had vans with lifts to accommodate wheelchairs was the efforts of previous cohorts of ADAPT activists.

  21. 21.

    TaMara (HFG)

    @Mom Says I’m Handsome: I’m on board with your plan. Hickenlooper sure sounds like someone who is going to run for something when he’s done with his governor thing. I don’t agree with him on everything (fracking for one), but I think he’s been a fine governor and would make a terrific senator.

  22. 22.

    Villago Delenda Est

    No time to slack off. Keep up the pressure. Never surrender, never retreat.

  23. 23.

    SiubhanDuinne

    Health Bill Delayed Amid G.O.P. Disarray

    So nice to see this headline at the FTFNYT instead of their usual “Disorganized/Despondent Dems.”

  24. 24.

    Fleeting Expletive

    So Jared has hired Abbe Lowell as his personal attorney in re Mueller’s investigation. I bet the Obama administration was disappointing to the DC bar, in that there were no needy staff needing very expensive criminal defense. Good times now for the defense bar!

  25. 25.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @Eljai: NPR is utterly worthless. Has been effectively bought by the Koch Brothers.

    Fuck them. Fuck them all with unlubed rusty chainsaws.

  26. 26.

    Yutsano

    @Mom Says I’m Handsome: Apparently Tiger Beat on the Potomac said that Yertle threated Dolt45 that he might have to negotiate with Democrats to get anything passed. I’m awaiting the tweet storm that would arrive from that if it’s true.

  27. 27.

    hueyplong

    The Kochs will spank the entitled brats over the break, reminding them whose country it is, and then they’ll be back. A prone and seemingly dead McConnell will sit up as the audience screams for Jamie Leigh Curtis to get that treatment before the killer takes coverage away.

  28. 28.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @TaMara (HFG):

    Also, thank you to everyone who had left their house and protested this monstrosity and to those who have been calling every day. So very grateful.

    In a way, it feels like every time we march or call, we’re telling Obama “It’s okay, man. This time, we’ve got your back.”

  31. 31.

    MisterForkbeard

    @Yutsano: What are they going to offer? “We’ll dismantle the decent health care law you made but we promise not to defund Planned Parenthood immediately”?

    I’m having a very hard time envisioning any scenario that “repeals” Obamacare that any Democrat might actually agree to, regardless of the incentive. Though I might take the deal of “Trump resigns and Democrats agree to give them a couple votes on an actual Repair Bill that they “name ‘Obamacare Repeal’. Trump could justify leaving office like he wants to, and we get something good out of it.

    Not going to happen, obviously.

  33. 33.

    Ohio Mom

    @Mom Says I’m Handsome: The interns in Portman’s office keep telling me something similar, he’s studying the bill to see how Ohioans will fare.

    When I point out to them that he was on the committee, that he is one of a mere 13 people in our nation of 325 million individuals who had a head start on seeing the bill’s content since they were creating it themselves, I can sometimes hear their jaws drop in surprise.

    Are they shocked that their boss has been busted because they expected him to get away with his ruse, or are they shocked because it didn’t occur to them that their boss is a slime ball?

  34. 34.

    Citizen_X

    @Turgidson: The House has an advantage, in that they can pass some stinky poop and then say, “Welp, it’s the Senate’s problem now!”

  36. 36.

    Turgidson

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    God.f’ing.dammit.

    I have a hunch that Tur and Hunt both see themselves as heir apparents to Andrea “EMAILS!!!!” Mitchell. Tough-as-nails reputations, but ultimately accepting GOP bullshit and calling it ice cream.

  40. 40.

    tobie

    @Eljai: You’ve inspired me. I’ll join your letter writing campaign asking NPR to please interview some genuine experts on healthcare and not politicians or known partisan hacks. They’re failing on their charter to inform the public.

  42. 42.

    japa21

    @dmsilev: Dem are obstructionists. They won’t do anything. They are all crooked. BTW, I am only inviting GOP Senators over.

  43. 43.

    Ben from Virginia

    @Yutsano:

    I voted for Hillary in the primary. The Bernie-cult is just as creepy as the Obama and Hillary cults were.

    We need to make this about voters, not personalities. Obama would be just fine, personally, if the bill passed–he’s a rich man who has no stake in this whatsoever. He’ll be fine and his children will be fine. It’s not about “having his back”–the system works great for people like him no matter what.

    It’s about the every day people who will suffer under this bill if it is passed, and the failures of the Democratic Party to prevent Republican sweeps at just about every level of government from schoolboard to the Presidency (entirely under Obama-Hillary, btw).

  45. 45.

    frosty

    Left message with Casey thanking him for opposition. Told Toomey (spit) staffer I was opposed and to vote no. Told Gov Wolf staffer he should get on the phone and explain to Toomey what his yes vote will do to PA.

  47. 47.

    rikyrah

    Tax cuts in the Republican health care plan are the ‘central’ issue
    06/27/17 12:58 PM—UPDATED 06/27/17 01:09 PM
    By Steve Benen

    ………………………

    But it wouldn’t satisfy any of the Republicans’ ideological goals, starting with the GOP’s raison d’etre. The Washington Post’s Matt O’Brien had a good piece yesterday on the central pillar of the party’s health care plan.

    The Senate health-care plan isn’t a health-care plan. It’s a tax cut.

    That’s clear enough from how little thought it puts into actually stabilizing insurance markets versus how much it does into showering the rich with as much money as possible. Indeed, it would go so far as to retroactively cut the capital gains tax – something, remember, that’s supposed to be about incentivizing future investment – in an apparent bid to get people to create jobs six months ago.

    That may sound like a joke, but it’s quite real. The Senate health plan actually includes a provision that cuts taxes with an effective date of Dec. 31, 2016.

    It’s part of the broader plan to cut taxes, primarily on the wealthy, by hundreds of billions of dollars according to yesterday’s report from the Congressional Budget Office.

    I mention this in large part because it appears to be one of the parts of the legislation that the bill’s architects prefer not to talk about. White House Budget Director Mick Mulvaney has insisted the tax cuts in the GOP plan are “not central” to the policy debate. Why not? Because he says so.

    In early March, House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) was asked about the tax breaks in the Republican legislation, and the Republican leader replied, “I’m not that concerned about it.” Of course, whether or not the House Speaker is “concerned” is of no real consequence.

    To be sure, none of this is surprising, but it makes an indefensible piece of legislation almost comically malevolent. The Republican blueprint would impose tangible harm on millions of families, and it would do so while handing massive tax breaks to the wealthy and the health care industry.

  48. 48.

    Yutsano

    @MisterForkbeard: You have to admit that amendment process would be hilarious. Of course none of them will get past the Republican wall because it doesn’t kill enough poors or offer enough wealthy tax cuts but it would still be fun. My only worry is it hardens the Repukes.

    @Ben from Virginia: So you really don’t have a point. Good to know.

  50. 50.

    Ben from Virginia

    @The Thin Black Duke:

    I’m sorry you react so emotionally to somebody not uncritically worshiping your idol rather than respond with facts, logic, and objective argumentation. Perhaps I can have a more mature, adult conversation with someone less emotionally invested in personality worship.

  51. 51.

    Citizen_X

    @Ben from Virginia:

    It’s about the every day people who will suffer under this bill if it is passed

    NO WAY!

    and the failures of the Democratic Party to prevent Republican sweeps at just about every level of government from schoolboard to the Presidency

    No, it’s not.

    That loss was largely BECAUSE they managed to pass the ACA, anyway.

  53. 53.

    jacy

    @rikyrah:

    Director Mick Mulvaney has insisted the tax cuts in the GOP plan are “not central” to the policy debate

    Argument used by the same folks who say slavery wasn’t central to the Civil War.

  56. 56.

    Ben from Virginia

    @Citizen_X:

    No, it wasn’t about healthcare–it was about the embracing of social liberalism + identity politics (cue hysterical screeching that I dare mentioned this phrase) as the wave of the future in the Democratic Party–turns out there are a whole lot of people out there, especially in the rustbelt and suburbs, who don’t find that very appealing.

    “Fearless Girl” is the perfect example of this–a PR campaign from a hedge fund is held up as a symbol of women’s equality and progressive thinking because it sends the right cultural signals.

  57. 57.

    The Thin Black Duke

    @jacy: Yep. Over sixty million suicide bombers voted for that asshole Trump, but somehow it’s Obama’s fault. Jesus.

  59. 59.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Citizen_X: this one’s a pure troll, but there is a not-insignificant portion of the Left who think that voters, and Congress, and the Constitution, are just an abstraction and a cop-out Democrats, especially Obama, use for not really waaaaah-nting [insert shiny emo-prog obsession du thread]

  60. 60.

    Ben from Virginia

    @The Thin Black Duke:

    Failing to present a compelling alternative, in a two-party system, leads to the other party winning every time.

    Though Hillary is more at fault than Obama–Obama was at least good at getting Obama elected, even if he sucked at getting anyone else elected. But they were both in it for themselves, they didn’t give a rip about building the party.

  61. 61.

    gvg

    I do think the actual number of trolls has decreased since the built in pie filter. i never installed Cleek’s filter because I am not that good with tech and i could not install on a work computer anyway. this built in one is great! I highly recommend it. can’t wait till it’s on the mobile site too. yesterday i switched my ipad to desktop because of a troll.

  66. 66.

    Eljai

    @tobie: That’s great! I know it seems like a small thing, but I think we all have to be the message bearers now and the more of us, the better!

  67. 67.

    Percysowner

    Well, apparently, I need to grit my teeth and say something nice about my Governor, John Kasich.

    From the Columbus Dispatch.

    Kasich, in Washington for a board meeting with Siemans, told reporters at the National Press Club that he does not support the Senate bill as written. He said he had urged Portman not to accept “a few billion” to fight the nation’s opioid epidemic in exchange for drastic cuts to Medicaid, saying that the former would be “like spitting in the ocean.”

    Kasich said he last spoke to Portman, who may be a key swing vote on the Senate health-care vote that could be taken on as early as this week, few weeks back.

    “He knows what my concerns are,” he said, but cautioned “I don’t cast his vote.”

    I should call him tomorrow and thank him for doing the right thing, this time. Then I’ll call Portman and press him to vote no and then I’ll call Sherrod Brown and thank him for his stand.

  70. 70.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Dave Weigel‏Verified account @ daveweigel 12m12 minutes ago
    Sen. Blumenthal w the most hearty praise for activists: “You are the wind under our wings. You are the reason we’ve come this far.”

    Someone should tell Blumenthal that Franken is the only one with the chops and the timing to use the “wind beneath our wings” line. But I appreciate the sentiment.

  71. 71.

    Mnemosyne

    @Ben from Virginia:

    Yes, the problem was the “cult of personality,” not unrestricted dark money from billionaires, massive voter suppression, and Russian meddling.

    Nope — the real problem was that there was a “cult of personality” around Hillary Clinton. Or so say the people still wailing about the perfection of St. Sanders the Incorruptible.

  74. 74.

    Mnemosyne

    @Ben from Virginia:

    She got almost 3 million votes than the other guy. You’d think that would give you whiny assholes at least a moment of pause, possibly a second to think, Hmm, maybe not everyone hates Hillary as deeply and personally as I do but, nope, it never does.

  75. 75.

    jacy

    @schrodingers_cat:

    There are days when I have a really low threshold for assholes, and today is one of them, so into the filter he goes! Better for my attitude. :) But now I want a slice of key lime.

  76. 76.

    MCA1

    @Ohio Mom: That’s exactly why the more time and daylight these abominations of legislation out of the GOP get, the more unpopular they become. Because they can’t find a road that gets them from “Obamacare sucks and is out to kill you” to “better coverage at lower costs.” They can’t actually show the former in the first place, of course, although it’s an article of faith for much of their base. But more importantly, there’s no way to deliver the latter while repealing the taxes that pay for the ACA. I think this is actually, finally, starting to dawn on people. As a result, the Repubs are actually managing to better educate the public on the basics of how the ACA works, and what the point of it all was than Democrats have been able to do. The current CBO scoring is kind of laying bare that those taxes the GOP is laser focused on have made insurance policies more affordable (Affordable is in the name, after all) for millions of people, as a matter of both premiums and deductibles; it’s made the policies most of us have covering us better; and it’s reduced the cost growth curve of services.

  77. 77.

    Ben from Virginia

    @Mnemosyne:

    You do realize this is because her campaign shifted GOTV resources to Chicago, New Orleans, and San Francisco in the final days of the campaign to purposely ramp up the popular vote because they assumed they had the EC sewn up, right?

    Great strategy!

  78. 78.

    Technocrat

    @Ben from Virginia:

    the failures of the Deocramtic Party to prevent Republican sweeps at just about every level of government from schoolboard to the Presidency (entirely under Obama-Hillary, btw).

    Right. Because some mythical “economic message” will overcome electoral college asymmetry, right wing media conglomerates, right-wing media billionaires, institutionalized white nationalism, extreme GOP tribalism, etc. If Dems just tell the proper lies about coal jobs, they would win.

    If you saw a Rottweiler eating a Chihuahua, you’d probably call the Chihuahua a sellout.

  79. 79.

    Mnemosyne

    @Ben from Virginia:

    The failures of the Democratic Party to prevent Republican sweeps at just about every level of government from schoolboard to the Presidency (entirely under Obama-Hillary, btw).

    So you are going to pretend that Citizens United and the gutting of the Voting Rights Act never happened. Good to know.

    Let me guess — white dude who doesn’t know a single person without a driver’s license and bank account, right?

  81. 81.

    Ben from Virginia

    @Mnemosyne:

    No voter ID laws in MN, PA, or MI were any different from 2012, and yet….lost 2/3, and the worst performance in MN since 1984.

    People unwilling to shell out $10 for a state-issued ID (doesn’t even have to be a driver’s license) is not why the Dems lost. It was because Obama disbanded his campaign infrastructure after 2008 rather than reinventing it to win at the state/local level and lobbying Congress. Look it up.

  82. 82.

    Mnemosyne

    @Ben from Virginia:

    I love when white guys lecture women and people of color about how they need to recognize that white guys always have to be in charge of everything or else they’ll vote Republican.

    Newsflash: over 60 percent of white men voted for Trump. YOUR demographic caused this. So why aren’t you proselytizing to your fellow white men instead of bullying women and people of color?

  83. 83.

    MCA1

    @Ben from Virginia: Yes, not declaring oneself to be a Democrat until one’s decided to run for President is a crystal clear signal you’re more concerned with “building the party” than those other people.

  84. 84.

    Formerly disgruntled in Oregon

    Using Obama as a rallying symbol is not the same as saying his presidency was perfect. He’s a popular symbol of good government – we should use that!

  85. 85.

    Mnemosyne

    @Ben from Virginia:

    Yes, everyone assumed that Hillary had the Electoral College wrapped up, including Trump, who didn’t even have a transition team in place.

    Everyone in the world made that assumption, and then something flipped in very specific states that just happened to give Trump a very narrow victory.

    But, hey, I’m sure it was all just a coincidence that we have evidence of massive Russian meddling and then the election just happens to tilt to the Russians’ favored candidate.

    Just keep walking, Comrade. No need to poke your nose into questions that don’t concern you, da?

  86. 86.

    Technocrat

    @Mnemosyne:

    No no no. You have to ignore the Russians, and Comey, and all the proto-racist voters in PA. It was all about *campaign infrastructure*.

    Remember, only Democrats have agency.

  88. 88.

    MJS

    @Ben from Virginia: I don’t think you understand that a “cult of personality” was in fact very successful in getting someone elected. Or do you believe it was Trump’s incomprehensible and inconsistent policy positions that did the trick?

  89. 89.

    glaukopis

    There seems to be a lot of discussion of pie today. I like youngberry, personally.

  90. 90.

    Formerly disgruntled in Oregon

    Concern troll time: IMHO, knee-jerk accusations of Russian-funded trollery against anyone who disagrees with us is a little self-defeating. For something as real and serious, seems better to save the accusations for legit Russian trolls, like BinP probably was.

  91. 91.

    Mnemosyne

    @Ben from Virginia:

    No voter ID laws in MN, PA, or MI were any different from 2012, and yet….lost 2/3, and the worst performance in MN since 1984.

    You realize that Hillary WON Minnesota, right?

    HILLARY. WON. MINNESOTA.

    You look increasingly stupid and desperate every time you insist that she didn’t, or that her win doesn’t really count because argle bargle low margin.

    HILLARY. WON. MINNESOTA.

    Pennsylvania was turning voters away who didn’t have ID that conformed with the law that was not supposed to be enforced.

    Michigan did their voter suppression the old-fashioned way, with broken voting machines in specific districts.

    Republicans cheated to get this win, and all you care about is whether or not white men will be on top again. Go fuck yourself.

  93. 93.

    Mnemosyne

    @MJS:

    I don’t think you understand that a “cult of personality” was in fact very successful in getting someone elected. Or do you believe it was Trump’s incomprehensible and inconsistent policy positions that did the trick?

    QFT.

  96. 96.

    Eljai

    @jacy: Exactly. These assholes are always want attention for their nonsense, but bring nothing to the table. And when we need people to make phone calls, register voters, canvass, relay a positive message to potential voters or do any of the heavy lifting that organizing requires, they’re nowhere to be found. Time for some strawberry pie.

  99. 99.

    amygdala

    Not sure if this was posted elsewhere, but this happened last night on The Hill (click the top tweet to view the whole thread): John Lewis and Cory Booker on the Capitol Steps, turning into a rally on health care.

    Roll your eyes if you must, but the fight is exhausting, even if righteous, and we need to have each other’s backs on this for the long haul. Too much at stake not to keep at it.

  100. 100.

    Uncle Cosmo

    Found this in the lyrics of a WW2 Soviet patriotic song. For zhena gogolia & anyone else here who reads Russian:

    Нам нужна одна победа,
    Одна на всех — мы за ценой не постоим!

    Loose translation:

    We need a victory,
    One for us all – whatever the cost!

    (ETA: Keep in mind how hopeless & disheartening things looked for Mother Russia before Stalingrad – & take heart.)

    Stirring song – here’s a recent performance, & here are lyrics with translation.

  102. 102.

    Mnemosyne

    @ruemara:

    Well, c’mon, we just have to admit that white people are oppressed in America, and white men the most oppressed of all, and then white people will deign to vote for women and people of color. It’s pure logic! /s

  103. 103.

    Gravenstone

    @Ben from Virginia:

    Obama would be just fine, personally, if the bill passed–he’s a rich man who has no stake in this whatsoever.

    You mean other than watching despondently as his legacy is systematically dismantled by possibly the worst human ever to be expelled from its mother’s loins? And possessing the empathy to know just how badly served the people of the US would then be as a result?

    Fuck off, purity pony boy.

  105. 105.

    zhena gogolia

    @Formerly disgruntled in Oregon:

    Last night, this person compared the Russian stink around Trump to the “Protocols of the Elders of Zion.” A particularly offensive analogy, since that text was concocted by the spiritual ancestors of the Russian nationalists who rigged our election to put Trump in office.

  106. 106.

    zhena gogolia

    @Uncle Cosmo:

    I’m partial to Идет война народная / Священная война — that’s the one that goes through my head when I need a pep rally.

  107. 107.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @zhena gogolia: The clip I linked to is taken from a concert (google “elena vaenga pesni voennih let”, it’s on UToob) that opens with Священная война. Seventy minutes of songs from the stirring to the sorrowful. (My current earworm is “Журавли.”) By comparison the US produced very little in the way of memorable music during the war. (“Praise the Lord & Pass the Ammunition”? “Boogie-Woogie Bugle Boy”? Oy.)

  108. 108.

    zhena gogolia

    @Uncle Cosmo:

    I have heard her Священная война — it’s really good.

    But a friend of mine who lived through the war can sing you some of those corny American swing songs (“Comin’ in on a Wing and a Prayer”) — they were all translated into Russian when we were allies. The Russians loved them.

  109. 109.

    schrodingers_cat

    @zhena gogolia: That was my guess because his English seems a bit peculiar and he offered Brezhnev(sp?) as an example of corrupt fossilized party apparatus while badmouthing NP. Also, seems to become defensive as soon as Russia is mentioned.

  113. 113.

    pattonbt

    @TaMara (HFG): I’ve emailed several times – appealing to human decency and legacy (“is this how you want to be remembered for your time on earth? Taking away health care from millions to give those who are not in need?”). No response.

  114. 114.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @zhena gogolia: Tacky, but Russians like tacky too. I especially liked the craziness of “Enn” & Leonid singing over top of one another in their respective tongues in the last verse.

    There’s one song in that Vaenga concert (I think it was “When we were at war”) that I swear to Christ reminds me of the music for the Chicken Dance…maybe it’s just the accordion…

    I want to learn “Zhuravli” to sing it for our Muscovite barista at the weekly jazz jam session. And then use the translations to compose an English version that respects the meter & rhymes. IIUC Bernes wept when he recorded it because he knew he didn’t have much time left (dying of lung cancer a month later).

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