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Make the republican party small enough to drown in a bathtub.

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You are here: Home / Politics / GOP Death Cult / Monday Evening Open Thread: Our Failed Media-Punditocracy

Monday Evening Open Thread: Our Failed Media-Punditocracy

by Anne Laurie|  November 22, 20215:59 pm| 90 Comments

This post is in: GOP Death Cult, Media, Open Threads, Our Failed Media Experiment

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so what's the challenge. just say that, you idiots https://t.co/AD3Px0ijCF

— Elon Green (@elongreen) November 21, 2021

listen, @jonkarl, if this is hard for you you can absolutely quit

— Elon Green (@elongreen) November 21, 2021

Jon Karl, of course, is a lifelong GOP operative currently getting paid to ‘report’ for a major news network. He’s not gonna quit, because where else will he find such an easy and profitable gig? He just wants his fellow media Repubs to be a little less obvious about their mission!

Not that it takes much skill to outsmart Our Professional Pundit Class…

Ah, the the biggest thing about getting BBB done is that Dems then can shut up about their biggest achievement….. brainworms pic.twitter.com/UbNpn67SOZ

— veto players stan account (@Convolutedname) November 20, 2021

"This GOP dude is right, the Dems need to shut up about their agenda, we never should mention the Child Tax Credit again, and only talk about what the GOP wants"

— veto players stan account (@Convolutedname) November 20, 2021

so the core of how the democrats have moved to far to the left is that they have said their policies are good. democrats should instead avoid touting democratic victories in order to avoid alienating republicans. https://t.co/frOOOzNWsA

— augean stablecoin (@Theophite) November 22, 2021

DougJ for the capper:

This is the unironic view of 99% of pundits here. https://t.co/JQE6ag45Co

— Let's not, Brandon (@agraybee) November 21, 2021

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Previous Post: « The Durham Investigation, the Steele Dossier, & Misusing the Department of Justice For Partisan Political Purposes
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Reader Interactions

90Comments

  1. 1.

    satby

    November 22, 2021 at 6:10 pm

    If they gave Pulitzers for Tweets DougJ would win every year.

  2. 2.

    Chief Oshkosh

    November 22, 2021 at 6:13 pm

    @satby: Yep, and even for different categories!

  3. 3.

    satby

    November 22, 2021 at 6:14 pm

    And, this happened today too!

    They’ll be obnoxious and try to refuse, but I’m glad they’ve been called to testify.

  4. 4.

    Betty

    November 22, 2021 at 6:15 pm

    @satby: He has developed into a master of the art. He is so prolific!

  5. 5.

    eclare

    November 22, 2021 at 6:20 pm

    @Betty:  He is being recognized more and more…

  6. 6.

    debbie

    November 22, 2021 at 6:21 pm

    @satby:

    It cracks me up that Stone always has to have “protection.” I can’t imagine what he thinks could endanger him (other than that subpoena).

  7. 7.

    eclare

    November 22, 2021 at 6:22 pm

    @satby:  Excellent!  They were invited to attend the rally, and yet they did not.  Hmmm.

  8. 8.

    sab

    November 22, 2021 at 6:23 pm

    OT : Should I wait? Bad news about mackeral cat.

  9. 9.

    burnspbesq

    November 22, 2021 at 6:25 pm

    Wonder if Stone has the stones to argue that contempt of Congress is within the scope of his pardon.

  10. 10.

    Parfigliano

    November 22, 2021 at 6:28 pm

    If the dont show arrest and jail.

  11. 11.

    zhena gogolia

    November 22, 2021 at 6:29 pm

    @sab: Share if you want. I’m very sorry.

  12. 12.

    Spanky

    November 22, 2021 at 6:29 pm

    An Open Thread palate cleanser: A wonderful video of Peter O’Toole talking about Lawrence of Arabia.

  13. 13.

    evap

    November 22, 2021 at 6:34 pm

    Year ago, when I read lots of different politcal blogs, I thought Yglesias was great.  How the “mighty” have fallen…

  14. 14.

    Ohio Mom

    November 22, 2021 at 6:35 pm

    @sab: Oh no! Sorry to hear all is not well. I thought it was one of your dogs we were worried about — a tumor IIRC. What did the vet say about the cat?

    On a completely different topic, as long as I know you are here, here is a link to a great article on what exactly “autism spectrum” means that I think you’ll find interesting. I put it in a comment for you a couple of weeks ago but it was a pretty dead thread: https://neuroclastic.com/its-a-spectrum-doesnt-mean-what-you-think/

  15. 15.

    debbie

    November 22, 2021 at 6:35 pm

    They just get better and better.

    Ron DeSantis deliberately killed at least 10,000 Floridians. Here’s why that’s bad news for Joe Biden.— New York Times Pitchbot (@DougJBalloon) November 22, 2021

  16. 16.

    eclare

    November 22, 2021 at 6:37 pm

    @debbie:   That is classic!

  17. 17.

    dr. bloor

    November 22, 2021 at 6:47 pm

    The Beltway is a fairly limited chunk of real estate, and yet Karl has managed to avoid meeting, reading, or being generally aware of Daniel Dale’s existence?

    Jonny Boy can go execute a self-performative act of eroticism with an iron oxide-coated farm implement.

  18. 18.

    JoyceH

    November 22, 2021 at 7:00 pm

    @Spanky: OMG! Thanks for that! It’s been a few years, time for another viewing. Just the music alone gives me chills!

  19. 19.

    Kay

    November 22, 2021 at 7:04 pm

    New York Times Pitchbot
    @DougJBalloon
    ·Nov 21
    The left’s opposition to vigilante killings has me rethinking my decision to vote for Tulsi Gabbard instead of Donald Trump last November.

  20. 20.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    November 22, 2021 at 7:05 pm

    Econ and business twitter have been saying today that the worst of the supply chain block is behind us (I take their word for it), and I just heard on the NPR business show that the price of oil is down ten percent for the month, back to where it was on October 1

    Here’s the CEO of WalMart giving Biden credit for his work to open things up.

  21. 21.

    Betty

    November 22, 2021 at 7:05 pm

    I have started reading Adam Schiff’s Midnight in Washington. Very interesting so far. I like the way he has weaved together his personal story with the political events he is describing.

  22. 22.

    dm

    November 22, 2021 at 7:06 pm

    @evap: Yglesias is still great, except for occasional apparent stupidities on Twitter (which I suspect is more the problem of context-free quotation than the point he’s trying to make).

    Since I don’t use Twitter, and Twitter now makes it impossible to browse their web-site without “signing up”, I can’t tell if there’s a context that makes the tweet make sense in this case, however.

  23. 23.

    Brachiator

    November 22, 2021 at 7:07 pm

    If Republicans are more effective at breaking things than Democrats are at fixing them, then it’s only natural that voters should view the GOP as the more competent party.

    I generally don’t like trolling. But this is goddam funny as hell.

  24. 24.

    lowtechcyclist

    November 22, 2021 at 7:14 pm

    @satby: ​
     

    That Elon Green tweet just kills me. “So what’s the challenge – just say that, you idiots” Straight to the point.

  25. 25.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    November 22, 2021 at 7:15 pm

    So police say the suspect in that Parade Massacre

    * Was fleeing the scene of domestic voilance when he drove threw the parade. Because of course he would be that kind of douche.

    * Skin is lighter than a brown paper bag.

    I am going to go out on a limb and predict that the Right will be “move long, nothing to see here”

  26. 26.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    November 22, 2021 at 7:19 pm

    @Enhanced Voting Techniques: I’m surprised at how relatively little discussion I’m seeing around the tubes

    The suspect, Darrell Brooks Jr., 39, recently had been released from custody in a strikingly similar case, in which he was accused of driving over a woman during a domestic dispute, sending her to the hospital and leaving tire marks on her pant leg.
    The Milwaukee County District Attorney’s Office, which is prosecuting that case, said Monday it was launching an internal review of a prosecutor’s “inappropriately low” $1,000 bail recommendation. The bail amount was signed off on by a court commissioner.

  27. 27.

    SiubhanDuinne

    November 22, 2021 at 7:21 pm

    @Spanky:

    Wow! That was a real treat! Thank you so much.

    Lawrence of Arabia, IMO, is just a stunningly beautiful film — beautiful scenery, beautiful chiaroscuro, beautiful acting — and was there ever a young man quite as beautiful as the youthful Peter O’Toole?

  28. 28.

    Roger Moore

    November 22, 2021 at 7:21 pm

    He’s saying it badly, but I think there’s some point to what Matt Yglesias is saying.  The thing that’s hurting the Democrats right now is that all the news is about process rather than policy.  As long as they’re still working on passing BBB, the discussion will all be about horse trading and Democrats in disarray.  Once it’s passed, they can focus, or at least try to focus, the discussion on all the good stuff it’s going to give us.

    I think he’s also right about not going overboard.  Yes, the Democrats should be happy to tout all the good stuff their policy does, but they shouldn’t oversell it.  On  the one hand, overselling gets the right wing even more riled up than they otherwise would be.  On the other hand, it sets up Democratic supporters for disappointment when their policy isn’t as far reaching as promised.  People will always be happier if you under promise and over deliver than if you do the opposite.

    Of course “he has a point but has expressed himself badly” isn’t a good position for a pundit to be in.  Expressing himself well is an important part of his job.

  29. 29.

    Kristine

    November 22, 2021 at 7:21 pm

    @Spanky: Thanks for that link–it was great.

    Pretty sure Lawrence of Arabia was the first O’Toole film I ever saw. I was in grade school or junior high and boy did that man make an impression.

  30. 30.

    Kristine

    November 22, 2021 at 7:22 pm

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    and was there ever a young man quite as beautiful as the youthful Peter O’Toole?

    Nope.

    Fair ruined me, he did.

  31. 31.

    SiubhanDuinne

    November 22, 2021 at 7:23 pm

    @Betty:

    I’m thoroughly enjoying it, and very much looking forward to our book club discussions.

  32. 32.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    November 22, 2021 at 7:24 pm

    O’Toole and Richard Harris used to go on the Letterman Show and tell great stories about their wild days.

  33. 33.

    dr. bloor

    November 22, 2021 at 7:25 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: ​
     

    Forget it Jake, it’s Wisconsintown.

  34. 34.

    Brachiator

    November 22, 2021 at 7:29 pm

    RE: 72 percent say that Biden should focus on inflation and the supply chain.

    Biden is actually doing something about the supply chain, particularly through his efforts to get the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach to deal with backlogs. And oddly enough, the free market global economy fucking works. Businesses are dealing with the supply chain. It’s not all up to the government.

    The president cannot do a whole lot about inflation by himself. Many businesses are frankly jacking up prices to make up for declines and disruptions during the lockdown. They are being greedy fucks.

    But the Biden team of the treasury secretary and the fed chairman are on top of this. And yeah, I approve of Biden continuing to back Fed chair Powell, even though some progressives are unhappy with him.

    “This GOP dude is right, the Dems need to shut up about their agenda, we never should mention the Child Tax Credit again, and only talk about what the GOP wants”

    Uber wealthy pundits don’t get the child tax credit and so just don’t understand how helpful it can be to families.

    But what’s crazy is that pundits and ignorant ass middle and lower income Republicans believe that the Child Tax Credit is a new program handing out free money to nonwhite sluts who don’t work and are pumping out babies so that they can get gummit checks. But the damn credit has been around since 1998. Hell, even Trump increased the credit as part of the 2017 GOP tax bill.

    The Child Tax Credit helps families with children. Republicans hate it because it has been a clear success.

  35. 35.

    SiubhanDuinne

    November 22, 2021 at 7:31 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    There’s a wonderful, raunchy book called Hellraisers: The Life and Inebriated Times of Richard Burton, Richard Harris, Peter O’Toole, and Oliver Reed. Author is Robert Sellers.

  36. 36.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    November 22, 2021 at 7:36 pm

    I find the international angle on this interesting.

    Jennifer Jacobs @JenniferJJacobs 7h
    SCOOP: Biden is preparing to announce a release of oil from the nation’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve in concert with several other countries as soon as tomorrow. Will be an unprecedented effort to tame prices after OPEC+ rebuffed US.

    and apparently Jacobs is the pool reporter today? Here’s what your POTUS and FLOTUS are up to tonight

    Jennifer Jacobs @JenniferJJacobs 
    In North Carolina, @POTUS serves Thanksgiving stuffing to Fort Bragg military members. He and @FLOTUS head to Nantucket tomorrow night for a private family Thanksgiving.

  37. 37.

    West of the Rockies

    November 22, 2021 at 7:36 pm

    @debbie:

    He needs protection cuz he knows he’s a colossal A-hole.

  38. 38.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    November 22, 2021 at 7:37 pm

    @SiubhanDuinne: Thanks! I may just have to order that

    Have you read it? Does it have the story about the time Harris snuck into one of O’Toole’s plays disguised as a monk, cause they were on the outs and Harris didn’t want O’Toole to know he was there? (and no, that’s not the punchline)

  39. 39.

    Poe Larity

    November 22, 2021 at 7:39 pm

    Dimorphos 2024! or maybe 2028.

  40. 40.

    Jeffro

    November 22, 2021 at 7:47 pm

    @Brachiator: isn’t this just a variation on people voting for “strong and wrong” over “right (on the issues) and…Democratic”?

    Bill Clinton said something along these lines back in 2004.  Off to go look it up…

  41. 41.

    Jeffro

    November 22, 2021 at 7:50 pm

    @Roger Moore: what’s hurting the Dems is the constant reporting on their dithering while

    • gas (and other) prices go up – ie inflation in general
    • the end of the pandemic continues to be out of reach thanks to the efforts of the Kneecapping America Party
    • trumpov and Co still run around free
  42. 42.

    Brachiator

    November 22, 2021 at 7:53 pm

    Young firebrand Peter O’Toole talking about Hamlet with a bemused Orson Welles and London theater critics. At this time in 1963 Peter was starring in Hamlet at the National Theater, directed by Laurence Olivier.

  43. 43.

    SiubhanDuinne

    November 22, 2021 at 7:54 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    I read it several years ago, but I must admit at this point all the anecdotes kind of run together into a boozy, funny (and very sad) slurry, and I don’t remember specific incidents that well. It’s on my Kindle app; once I finish one of the three or four books I’m currently reading* I might pull it up and reread it, if only to refresh the old memory.

    *I know a lot of people are horrified at the idea of reading several books at a time, but it’s been my M.O. all my life.

  44. 44.

    Brachiator

    November 22, 2021 at 7:59 pm

    @Jeffro:

    isn’t this just a variation on people voting for “strong and wrong” over “right (on the issues) and…Democratic”?

    No. Not if you are talking about the California recall election.

    The recall confirmed the impotence of the California Republican Party.

  45. 45.

    Villago Delenda Est

    November 22, 2021 at 7:59 pm

    Patrick Ruffini cannot die in a tragic meteor shower a nanosecond too soon.​

  46. 46.

    Villago Delenda Est

    November 22, 2021 at 8:02 pm

    @dm: Context gets in the way of engagement, which is what generates revenue, which is what the sociopath Zuckerborg is all about.

  47. 47.

    Villago Delenda Est

    November 22, 2021 at 8:04 pm

    @Brachiator: Are you saying the California GQp is filled with limp Nixons?

  48. 48.

    Brachiator

    November 22, 2021 at 8:04 pm

    Richard Burton on Welsh coal miners and his family. Also perhaps explains why some American miners want to hold onto the profession.

  49. 49.

    rivers

    November 22, 2021 at 8:05 pm

    @SiubhanDuinne: You mean there are people who only read one book at a time? I mean, why bother?

  50. 50.

    MagdaInBlack

    November 22, 2021 at 8:15 pm

    @SiubhanDuinne:  I assumed all readers did that. I usually have at least 3 going.  I think its 5 right now.

  51. 51.

    lowtechcyclist

    November 22, 2021 at 8:17 pm

    I usually read one book at a time, but there are times when I have two or three going, especially if one is a bit of heavy nonfiction reading.  Three at a time is about my limit, though.

  52. 52.

    SiubhanDuinne

    November 22, 2021 at 8:23 pm

    @rivers:

    @MagdaInBlack:

    @lowtechcyclist:

    Right? My mother and grandmother and aunt always had several books going at once, so for me it was and is just normal.

  53. 53.

    David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch

    November 22, 2021 at 8:25 pm

    @Enhanced Voting Techniques: ​
      Police used new technology to rule out terrorist act (photo)

  54. 54.

    David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch

    November 22, 2021 at 8:31 pm

    Does anyone know if John F. Kennedy showed up today, as it’s the anniversary of him framing a hard working white for his fake assassination?​

  55. 55.

    Sure Lurkalot

    November 22, 2021 at 8:31 pm

    This thread by the Editorial Board, seems appropriate to this thread and “Dem messaging”.

  56. 56.

    Miss Bianca

    November 22, 2021 at 8:33 pm

    @SiubhanDuinne: it’s been my MO just within the last few years. I don’t know whether it’s a factor of age, COVID, the Internet, or what – maybe a creamy and delicious blend of all three plus who knows what factor – but my attention span is just not what it was. It used to be that I’d plow through texts one after the other, fast ‘n’ furious. Now I meander, distractable, through several at once. What once took me hours to read now takes me days. What took days now takes weeks. WTF. : (

  57. 57.

    Brachiator

    November 22, 2021 at 8:38 pm

    @Villago Delenda Est:

    The Tricky Dick GOP cannot get elected to statewide office. They tried to recall their way into the governor office, but could not pull it off.

  58. 58.

    SiubhanDuinne

    November 22, 2021 at 8:47 pm

    @Brachiator:

    I could listen to Burton talk 24/7/365. What a glorious voice.

    That was so interesting about the great coal fault running from the Basque Country through Wales to Pennsylvania, and the almost sensual love the real miners had for a fecund seam of coal.

  59. 59.

    Kay

    November 22, 2021 at 8:48 pm

    @Sure Lurkalot:

    *The* Editorial Board
    @johnastoehr
    ·22m
    Second, is it desirable for the Dems to speak in lockstep. I don’t think so. The Dems represents the full spectrum of legitimate politics in America. Let individuals have their say. That’s what we want. 4

    Don’t make it so complicated and profound. I’m asking 6 or 7 people to all talk about student loans on the same day and say BASICALLY the same thing, not ordering them to face a firing squad. Instead every Democrat acts like they’re in a presidential primary debate with other Democrats, every day. It doesn’t have to be this difficult. We’re supposed to be the cooperative people who work well with others and have some sense of solidarity and collective action.

  60. 60.

    Dan B

    November 22, 2021 at 8:49 pm

    @Enhanced Voting Techniques: The driver is black.  His hair is nappy and he has dreads.  It’s likely to be a barrage of RWNJ calls to lynch mobs.  And Russia and others are likely to exploit the social media chaos.  It will be interesting if Russia waits for the chaos to come to a boil and then invade Ukraine.  Create fog- make war.

  61. 61.

    Dan B

    November 22, 2021 at 8:55 pm

    @Kay: One of the first rules of communication is the bigger the intended audience the simpler the message must be to get traction and the more times it must be repeated, at least the underlying critical message must be.  You can wrap it up in stories about women who get to go back to work and have money to charge up the economy and in other simple stories about how Biden / Harris are helping the economy but it doesn’t change minds unless the message gets through the fog.  Your critique is valid.

  62. 62.

    LongHairedWeirdo

    November 22, 2021 at 9:03 pm

    @Brachiator: Honestly, this strikes me more as satire than trolling, because trolling refers to a method of fishing – dragging bait through possibly-fish filled waters, to see what you hook. In ancient Internet times, it was called “trolling for newbies” on Usenet – to bring up an imagined controversy that has been hashed out in group until everyone’s sick of it, and only newbies would take the bait, because everyone else *is* sick of it.

    Doug doesn’t seem to be trying to hook anyone; he’s calling out how a bunch of New York Times articles are written from a perspective that, properly described, is obviously, objectively, bad.

    Like, “Are you afraid that the Trump White House is a rudderless ship? Well it isn’t, because I, an anonymous staffer, and many other staffers, all refuse to do what Trump wants, if it’s stupid. So, it’s like, it’s not rudderless at all, it has dozens of rudders! Aren’t you relieved to know we’ve chosen insubordination and a broken chain of command, over pointing out that Trump is unfit for office, and unable to carry out his responsibilities?”

    Or, “Lots of people yearn to commit mass murder, and only realize how much they want to be a mass murderer when they see a gun in the hands of a good, god fearing, patriotic American, so let me explain why you must make sure you kill all of those people, before they can remove your gun, and call the cops on you.”

    (He’s certainly more effective than I at getting stuff down to tweet level!)

  63. 63.

    Roger Moore

    November 22, 2021 at 9:14 pm

    @LongHairedWeirdo:

    Doug doesn’t seem to be trying to hook anyone; he’s calling out how a bunch of New York Times articles are written from a perspective that, properly described, is obviously, objectively, bad.

    What I think is more important is that his satire- which IMO is the correct word for what he’s doing- has been remarkably successful at getting people to notice what the media is doing.  I think his humor is more effective at this than a thousand earnest articles about the same topic.  You can see this because plenty of other people have taken up the mantle and started to do the same thing.  It’s also hilarious when one of the targets of his satire actually produces a column using one of his ideas.

  64. 64.

    Kay

    November 22, 2021 at 9:19 pm

    @Dan B:

    Biden promised to open schools. Schools are open. Now I know something about schools so I know Biden can’t open or close schools but Biden also isn’t responsible for gas prices and he takes that hit, so what the hell.

    “Schools are open”. There’s the weird preemption thing they all do- “while I know…bad thing…I also know…good thing”. What? Is this necessary? Can’t we come up with the bad thing ourselves? I know I can.

  65. 65.

    Jeffro

    November 22, 2021 at 9:20 pm

    @Brachiator: no, I meant the concept of people voting for the folks who’ll fix things…after those same folks have contributed to breaking them.  CA recall was a cynical long shot undertaken by big money.  Not really seeing the comparison.

  66. 66.

    Jeffro

    November 22, 2021 at 9:21 pm

    @lowtechcyclist: the WaPo “best books of 2021” list just hit, and I’ve already got a few on my wish list.

    (also humblebragging – I have already ready several! ;)

  67. 67.

    Kay

    November 22, 2021 at 9:25 pm

    @Dan B:

    If schools were closed it would be 24/7 “why won’t Biden open schools?!”

    I feel like that gives him permission to say “schools are open, as promised”

  68. 68.

    LongHairedWeirdo

    November 22, 2021 at 9:34 pm

    @rivers: No offense taken, but one reason a person might “bother” even though they’re limited to a single, lousy solitary book at a time, is because that person might have so little time and energy that reading two is equivalent to reading none – no progress, or too little retention.

    I mean, I get the context – you’re on the multi-book team, defending your people’s ways against those from the single book team who might think you strange.

    Thing is, for many years, I didn’t know why I was a book at a time reader. And while I knew other people were different, it might still be annoying to hear someone act like my way wasn’t good enough for something so personal.

    Eh. Grownups handle annoyances. Crazy thing about fatigue is, sometimes you’re far too tired to bring up the resources to flush an annoyance out of your head.

    What are you going to do? Never make a playful joke, for fear of offense? Nah, that won’t work. Maybe be patient if someone snaps at a playful joke? Well – some people are just grouches. That said, sometimes, treating a grouch as a person who might be under immense stress might have a degrouching effect.

    Sorry. Long ramble.

  69. 69.

    trollhattan

    November 22, 2021 at 9:42 pm

    Got Pfizer #3 today. So far, not reacting like #2 and hoping it stays that way. That was a looooong night.

    Jeez, feel like I’m swapping medical gossip at the early dinner seating. “My doctor said it could be gout, but how would I have gout?”

  70. 70.

    Brachiator

    November 22, 2021 at 9:51 pm

    @Jeffro:

    no, I meant the concept of people voting for the folks who’ll fix things…after those same folks have contributed to breaking them.

    Okay. Got it. Fair point.

  71. 71.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    November 22, 2021 at 9:51 pm

    @Dan B:  Wife beating practically makes him a Proud Boi.  Women are one of these things these chuckleheads are scared of.

  72. 72.

    Gin & Tonic

    November 22, 2021 at 9:52 pm

    @Dan B:

    and then invade Ukraine.

    A remark about 8 years too late.

  73. 73.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    November 22, 2021 at 10:00 pm

    @trollhattan: Heh. Got my third Moderna shot on Friday. I think my arm was a bit more sore this time, but didn’t have the jet-lag-like crash I got after my second. Nothing after the first.

  74. 74.

    karen marie

    November 22, 2021 at 10:01 pm

    @Enhanced Voting Techniques: Not “fleeing the scene of domestic violence,” he was on bail for hitting and running over his girlfriend. He fled an alleged “knife fight” when the cops showed up to avoid getting picked up and having his bail revoked.

  75. 75.

    karen marie

    November 22, 2021 at 10:02 pm

    @Roger Moore: Yglesias is a troll.

  76. 76.

    karen marie

    November 22, 2021 at 10:05 pm

    @Jeffro: “Dithering” = getting infrastructure passed in nine months where the last GOP president couldn’t do it in four years.

  77. 77.

    Miss Bianca

    November 22, 2021 at 10:08 pm

    @karen marie: What I keep wondering, after I read a harrowing account like this – offender with multiple offenses, who just seems to skate through and through each encounter, each one slightly worse than the last, till one of them at last hits the papers – is: WTF? How does someone like this just keep getting off?

    I am thinking now of guys I read about who had multiple DUIs who were somehow able to keep driving and skating. Now this guy. Again: WTF?

  78. 78.

    Nelle

    November 22, 2021 at 10:11 pm

    @Miss Bianca: I wonder the same thing about Donald J. Trump.

  79. 79.

    karen marie

    November 22, 2021 at 10:12 pm

    @Miss Bianca: It baffles me too. Apparently the authorities are looking into why he got such low bail for assaulting his girlfriend.

    The reality is you cannot imprison your way out of these things. Repeat offenders have serious underlying problems and simply jailing them usually compounds those problems. It’s definitely a catch-22.

  80. 80.

    CaseyL

    November 22, 2021 at 10:13 pm

    @SiubhanDuinne: OMG.  I love(d) all those actors; I must read that book!!

  81. 81.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    November 22, 2021 at 10:15 pm

    @CaseyL: Hellraisers. I think I’m going to order it.

  82. 82.

    James E Powell

    November 22, 2021 at 10:24 pm

    @Brachiator:

    RE: 72 percent say that Biden should focus on inflation and the supply chain.

    I’m suspicious of poll results like this. A lot of people answer with the last thing they heard on the news. And even when it’s not FOX, “the news” is usually “What are Republicans angry about today?”

  83. 83.

    Another Scott

    November 22, 2021 at 10:38 pm

    @James E Powell: It’s a push-poll.  Ruffini says right on his Twitter bio that he’s a “Republican pollster”.

    There were 2 choices:

    1) “Get inflation under control and fix supply chain issues”

    2) “Pass new spending for social services, health care, and green energy”

    The words are loaded. They weren’t interested in what people really thought.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  84. 84.

    patroclus

    November 22, 2021 at 11:32 pm

    @SiubhanDuinne: Timothee Chalamet, in pretty much the same role in Dune, compares very favorably with O’Toole.

  85. 85.

    Brachiator

    November 23, 2021 at 12:19 am

    @James E Powell: 

    RE: 72 percent say that Biden should focus on inflation and the supply chain.

    I’m suspicious of poll results like this. A lot of people answer with the last thing they heard on the news.

    I agree. But I didn’t really care about the number. My main point was that the criticism was unfair.

    I would also say that anyone who held these sentiments does not understand how government and economies work.

    I suppose, though, that conservative pundits like to use polls as a continuing referendum on the Biden administration. Unsurprisingly, in their eyes Biden always comes up short.

    Years ago, I think that Bill Clinton and his people tried to react to polls and to spin it that they were doing what the people wanted. This was a waste of time. Whatever the poll numbers, and even in the face of error and scandal, more people backed Clinton than disapproved of him. Didn’t he win reelection.

    Similarly, it is a waste of time for Biden to chase after popularity because of polling. There is too much that needs to get done.

  86. 86.

    sab

    November 23, 2021 at 12:31 am

    @Brachiator: YES!

  87. 87.

    dopey-o

    November 23, 2021 at 1:34 am

    @Brachiator:

    Richard Burton on Welsh coal miners and his family. Also perhaps explains why some American miners want to hold onto the profession. 

    Digging a hole in the ground is a profession? Good Dog!

  88. 88.

    Tony Jay

    November 23, 2021 at 3:12 am

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    was there ever a young man quite as beautiful as the youthful Peter O’Toole?

    When asked who she saw in her mind when describing her creation, the famously Yummy Francis Crawford of Lymond, Dorothy Dunnett always said a young O’Toole.

    And Lymond was puuuurty.

  89. 89.

    germy

    November 23, 2021 at 8:56 am

    Peter O’Toole had a doubly phallic name.  That counts for something.

  90. 90.

    germy

    November 23, 2021 at 8:58 am

    @patroclus:

    Chalamet was supposed to play Bob Dylan in the biopic “Going Electric” but the project didn’t go anywhere.

    The movie was about Dylan choosing a Fender electric and angering folk fans with his shift to loud rock music.

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