Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Relentless negativity is not a sign that you are more realistic.

Hot air and ill-informed banter

White supremacy is terrorism.

Is it negotiation when the other party actually wants to shoot the hostage?

How any woman could possibly vote for this smug smarmy piece of misogynistic crap is beyond understanding.

Republicans do not trust women.

So fucking stupid, and still doing a tremendous amount of damage.

Fear or fury? The choice is ours.

With all due respect and assumptions of good faith, please fuck off into the sun.

75% of people clapping liked the show!

This really is a full service blog.

“They all knew.”

They punch you in the face and then start crying because their fist hurts.

Trump should be leading, not lying.

No Kings: Americans standing in the way of bad history saying “Oh, Fuck No!”

I desperately hope that, yet again, i am wrong.

“Alexa, change the president.”

He seems like a smart guy, but JFC, what a dick!

This is dead girl, live boy, a goat, two wetsuits and a dildo territory.  oh, and pink furry handcuffs.

All hail the time of the bunny!

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

A tremendous foreign policy asset… to all of our adversaries.

Yeah, with this crowd one never knows.

This fight is for everything.

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Saturday Afternoon Open Thread

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Okay, everybody — Senator Sinema is officially over as a topic of discussion; Maureen Dowd wrote a column about her:

The Arizona senator’s name is pronounced “cinema,” and it is apt because she sweeps — and sometimes, when the triathlete has a sports injury, limps — through the Senate like a silent film star.

“The Greta Garbo of Congress,” as one top Democrat called her.

Oh well. It was fun while it lasted, but the underwater location where the shark abides has been traversed via that mighty leap, so we’re done here.

Open thread!

Reader Interactions

46Comments

  1. 1.

    Another Scott

    TheHill has an S-free story. Includes extra M!

    Senate Democrats are trying to turn down the temperature after days of high-profile drama and a delay of the bipartisan infrastructure bill in the House.

    The House broke on Friday after days of intense, hours-long meetings without an agreement on a path forward on the Senate-passed infrastructure bill and the reconciliation bill, which is supposed to carry many of Democrats’ long-held policy ambitions.

    The standoff on Capitol Hill sparked a proxy war between “the Squad” and Senate moderates, with leadership stuck in the middle trying to figure out a way to satisfy them both. But Senate Democrats, including progressives in the caucus, are largely avoiding piling on against Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.).

    “We are in negotiations with all Democrats. Everyone is trying to row in the same direction,” said Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), when asked if she was surprised or frustrated by Manchin’s $1.5 trillion top-line figure that’s $2 trillion short of what Biden and other Democrats have been pursuing.

    Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.), who was spotted huddling with Manchin and Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.) on the Senate floor this week, noted that they talked about “things that we want to get done, that we share.”

    “There’s a lot of common ground,” she added. “There’s a lot of positive effort.”

    […]

    It’s a good piece, and an indication that it’s going to get done.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  2. 2.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    One more? because timestamp

    New York Times Pitchbot @DougJBalloon Oct 1
    Sinema Vérité
    DC budget talks are often described as liars’ poker, but this Chardonnay-loving Arizona maverick is trying to change that. In vino veritas? by Maureen Dowd

  4. 4.

    zhena gogolia

    She and Dowd deserve each other.

    I am so looking forward to talking about something else.

  7. 7.

    waspuppet

    The Arizona senator’s name is pronounced “cinema,” and it is apt because she sweeps — and sometimes, when the triathlete has a sports injury, limps — through the Senate like a silent film star.

    Oh FFS is there literally a person in this country who knows how Sinema’s name is pronounced who DIDN’T think that? HOW much does the Times pay for this?

  8. 8.

    NotMax

    Morning thread went belly up real fast today so will drop this in again.

    Rolls out on October 6. Maybe not everyone’s thing but the promo video there is appealingly entertaining. What is it, you ask? It’s Wondercade.

    ;)

  9. 9.

    Mike in NC

    Chardonnay-loving Arizona maverick

    Joe should find out what cheap crap she drinks and send her a case of it.

  10. 10.

    grumbles

    Wow, Dowd took longer than usual to sober up enough for that one. Given current goings-on, she should have multiple interns hard at work at the shiv factory, and all we get is this.

  12. 12.

    WhatsMyNym

    @waspuppet:

    Oh FFS is there literally a person in this country who knows how Sinema’s name is pronounced who DIDN’T think that? HOW much does the Times pay for this?

    Honestly, I have never thought about how her name is pronounced. She’s just a no name junior senator trying to get attention.

  15. 15.

    PsiFighter37

    We shall see if this gamble pays off. I am less concerned about Manchin than I am about Sinema, TBH. He can get to ‘yes’; she just seems to enjoy reveling in the spotlight and getting her rocks off by telling Democrats exactly nothing about where she truly stands.

  17. 17.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Dowd wrote a column about trump and toxic masculinity a few weeks ago, and as far as I could see nobody with a prominent platform pointed out that she has spent twenty years pink-washing– to use Charlie Pierce’s term– Democratic men and her writings on HRC played into every sexist trope, hitting her nadir with “Obambi and the Dominatrix”. She doesn’t get nearly the scorn she deserves.

    I quit reading her for good around that time so I don’t know how she talked about Warren or Harris last year.

  18. 18.

    Another Scott

    A reminder that things could be worse.

    Or if either one of them had lost in 2018, we would be focused on Alaska and Maine and how to get something a vote even if it got majority support. t.co/fNj20Tfblb

    — Ben Tribbett (@notlarrysabato) October 1, 2021

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  22. 22.

    HinTN

    @Another Scott: Except

    with leadership stuck in the middle trying to figure out a way to satisfy them both

    no, I don’t think that’s what’s happening at all. They’re trying to figure out what will get Manchin over the line.

  24. 24.

    Another Scott

    @HinTN: Ultimately, just about every Democrat needs to be on board. The Progressive caucus is going to fight to minimize cuts to Biden’s proposal, so she’s kinda right even if we can argue about the emphasis.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  27. 27.

    trollhattan

    Ozy Media, People’s Temple for the well-educated.

    “Carlos didn’t like that people slept,” Crane says. “There was one meeting where he stood up and he said, ‘I’m sick of hearing about how people need to sleep! This is a start-up! This is not for the weak!’”

    Anyhoo, it’s gone “buh-bye.”

  28. 28.

    What Have The Romans Ever Done for Us

    WTF did Greta Garbo do to deserve the insult of being linked to Senator Mavericks II, this time it’s a Democrat?

  29. 29.

    Bill Arnold

    @trollhattan:
    “Leaders” like Carlos Watson need to be destroyed and humiliated, as an example. I mean:

    The confluence of these dynamics resulted in high employee turnover: Over the course of one two-year period, 42 people on a staff of 50 quit or were fired, according to a list compiled by Crane.

    That kind of turnover is a strong hint that management is toxic.

  30. 30.

    Frank Wilhoit

    @Bill Arnold: Quite understanding what you say, and agreeing, still it should not come to that: earlier intervention is required.  This fellow, (Musk, Thiel, Bezos, Trump, Murdoch, your favorite) could have been diagnosed in kindergarten or first grade and treated humanely thereafter — leaving them in the general population is not in the very least humane, either to them or to the rest of us.

  31. 31.

    trollhattan

    @Bill Arnold: @Frank Wilhoit:

    These types are coddled, protected, encouraged, even elected if they’re successful (or have the appearance of).

    In the last day, the NWSL (National Women’s Soccer League) has had a scandal blow up that was more than a decade in the making, going back to the even the previous pro league. A coach at four different teams had been accused by players of sexual coercion several years ago and despite one firing (glossed over as simply a needed change)  he went on to another team and became the league’s most successful coach with no consequences. Until yesterday, when he was fired and had his coaching license pulled by US Soccer.

    Then, the league commissioner esigned and all five weekend matches have been postponed/cancelled.

    They could have fixed this years ago and did not.

  32. 32.

    Ruckus

    @WaterGirl:

    I understood that she gives humans of all genders a bad name because no matter what she is or wants to be, she’s wrong about anything.

  35. 35.

    LiminalOwl

    @Bill Arnold: Many years ago, I worked as secretary for a consulting firm.  There were, I think, six employees (plus the two principals).  They had a party for the twentieth anniversary of the firm.

    A (the) long-term employee told me that there was an unofficial gathering of the disgruntled ex-employees. Three hundred of them, IIRC.  (I didn’t last long, either.)

  36. 36.

    LiminalOwl

    I thought of posting a meme I created, four(?) years ago, on an earlier thread. The spouse thinks it would be welcome, but I can’t figure out how to add a picture here. Help?

    Saturday Afternoon Open Thread 10

  37. 37.

    Steeplejack

    @zhena gogolia:

    And I would swear that Garbo quote was made up by Dowd. It’s too pat, and I doubt that even the oldest “top Democrat” would have Garbo top of mind.

  39. 39.

    Old School

    @LiminalOwl:

    I can’t figure out how to add a picture here. Help?

    You can add a picture by getting the ability to post on the main page.

    In other words, none of us regular commenters can do that.  If you see a front pager around, you could email the picture to them and ask them to post it.

  41. 41.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @Bill Arnold: I worked for a guy like that for about 18 months. Card-carrying sociopath. He finally abused the wrong underling (female PhD) who filed harassment charges against him. When Corporate HR descended upon us to conduct interviews, one of my coworkers presented them with a list of all the employees who’d come and gone in the previous 3 years. Our operation fluctuated wildly in size (depending upon the status of work) from 5 to 15 – but in the prior 36 months a total of 42 people had left. That got HR’s attention – as a nationwide consulting firm we had nothing to market but the expertise of the staff, and driving away that many employees that the company had thought highly enough of to hire in the first place was, mmm, not a sound business model. Soon enough the office had a new director…​

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