Good, in the sense that it’s fun to see someone getting solid whacks on the Palin pinata. But depressing to hear that Beck and Levin both have books at the top of the charts. Depressing to hear that 71% of Repubs are totally insane. Also, Nixon.
2.
spudvol
Can we trust Frank Rich? Has he ever been groped by a Republican senator?
3.
** Atanarjuat **
One day, during an election (not) far, far away, a beaten and demoralized GOP strategist will send out a desperate message that reads thusly:
“Help us, Sarah Palin. You’re our only hope!”
The trick will be getting this plaintive plea to past the Obamessiah Evil Empire blockade to that desolate, tundra-like land in the North…
-A
4.
SiubhanDuinne
I always enjoy reading Frank Rich (“enjoy” is perhaps not the best word, depending on the subject under discussion and his views on that subject — but I try never to miss his Sunday column). His take on Palin and her constituency is, I think, spot on. But his last few paragraphs today scared and depressed the bejibbers out of me. I really just want to weep and gnash my teeth (or, alternatively, just curl up and whimper) when I contemplate the mindless, race-and-class-fueled rage that’s out there, backed by an intransigent gun culture and cheered to a froth by the Levins, Savages, Becks, Hannitys, Limbaughs, Coulters and Malkins of this world. So for me, I’m not sure reading Rich was a good way to start the day, but maybe I’ll feel better about things after I have some coffee.
And wildly OT, but why is Billy Mays still shouting at me?
5.
A Mom Anon
The big boys in the GOP aren’t going to let her do anything but raise money. All those egos letting a girl be their nominee? I’m not so sure about that. Their “feminism”is only gonna go so far. I also don’t think she or her family would hold up in a Presidential campaign of any real duration. She’d be DESTROYED in the debates too.
That 71% percent of Republicans that would vote for her is only a percentage of the stragglers who still ID as GOP. 71% of the hard core 25% of crazy fuckers out there isn’t that many. She might be able to win if there’s some cheating,but not without it.
6.
Comrade Mary
Like!
(The NY Times link for those with no account is here.)
7.
GReynoldsCT00
The cartoon alone made my day! Hee!
8.
Molly
The politics of resentment are impervious to facts.
Now that I’ve read the whole thing, I agree with you. Very unsettling. The fact that someone can say that they will get a gun, and it’s acceptable to this group.
Always good, always the best part of the Week in Review.
According to the Froomkin Principle, that means he’ll be fired shortly.
12.
El Cid
I’m glad someone in the major news media finally made the point us dirty fringe hippies have been making since the Palinocalypse: Will Sarah Palin now apologize for sneering at Obama for having been a mere ‘community organizer’ and not a small town mayor with ‘actual responsibilities’, one of those ‘actual responsibilities’ being to quit your elected office for no god damn decent offered reason?*
————————
* The answer is no, but it’s the question which counts.
13.
greennotGreen
by the immigrants who have taken some of their jobs
Have recent immigrants actually taken jobs from the European immigrants who’ve been here longer (’cause if you want to feel victimized, I think there are some indigenous Americans who can give you a run for your money)? I know GM went bankrupt and has been reborn as GM-light, but did it shed all its union employees and hire Hispanics? I can see that an influx of immigrants might depress wages, and that can be a real problem for workers (though not so much for their Republican big business bosses,) but are they actually losing their jobs to immigrants? This is a real question; I really don’t know.
14.
Kirk Spencer
Musing on it, I can see Palin winning the nod for 2012 and then pulling 48% of the electorate. If she runs – and I don’t see her doing that.
The key thing that brings all this together is that (probably) the GOP nod in 2012 won’t matter. Barring a near catastrophic failure, the economy still tanking, or Obama’s inability to run for reelection he’s not only probably going to win but most people will recognize it. Yeah, there will be GOP activists who’ll say otherwise, but then they’ll couch their strategy and chances in the frame of an underdog.
This will cause several small things to come together. Simplistically, Palin will have not only more charisma but would still be going all out while a number of GOP voters won’t turn out. As a result, Palin could win. Her GOP votes in the main event wouldn’t really be for her, they’d be to keep the GOP alive (so to speak).
The funny/sad thing would be the effect on 2016 if this happened. A lot of campaign managers would be telling their candidates, “Yeah, I know what the polls say. But they said that in 2012, and look who actually got the nod.”
All that said, I’m becoming convinced she won’t run. I think she’s going to make decent money from her book and from the talk circuit and compare that to the not-so-fun life as governor and say no.
I could be wrong, of course. My crystal ball is in the shop.
What I find amazing is how much I feel like there is a Republican in office, and how crazy the actual Republicans have become. Modest and sober foreign policy, no massive tax increases and in fact tax cuts, honest appraisals of the budget crisis and serious attempts to address issues, modest proposals to regulate Wall Street but over all a hands off approach for the market, no gun grabs, a boring Supreme Court pick, respect for the rule of law while still embracing much of the national security apparatus. The cap and trade debate is what would be considered conservative 30 years ago, and the attempts to fix health care are not an attempt to usher in single payer, but an attempt to deal with the looming budget disaster if we do nothing. No radical expansion of abortion, no radical expansion of stem cell research, no needle exchange or relaxation of drug laws, no major movement on gay rights, no moratorium on the death penalty or radical changes in environmental law, no radical ramping up of the minimum wage, etc. This is what I always imagined Republican rule was supposed to look like. Hell, he just nominated a devout Christian to head the NIH, and even the recently passed tobacco regulation had the endorsement of… the tobacco industry.
Compare that to the current conservatives- radical Randian nonsense on the economic front, and that is when they are not engaging in what amounts to economic nihilism (let them all fail, go back to the gold standard, kill the fed, etc.), neocon militarism, belligerence, and adventurism on the foreign policy front, and on the domestic front, in your face big government Christianism and unchecked authoritarianism on the law enforcement and surveillance front, when there is racial grievance-mongering, it comes from the Palinite minority, and in general, an overall embrace of ignorance and dogma over enlightenment and reason.
Maybe I am delusional, but I honestly don’t feel like I have changed all that much politically. The conservatives have.
16.
Kirk Spencer
@John Cole: Yes. The nation is a center-right nation provided you use 30 or 40 years ago as your definition of center.
17.
greennotGreen
John, I don’t think you’re delusional now, but I do think you were delusional when you thought the Republicans stood for thoughtful, rational government in your lifetime. I think Nixon made the Republican establishment insane (I guess he dragged them along with him.) After that, they just wanted a stooge in the White House that they thought they could control, so they elected an actor, but since they are at heart authoritarians, or monarchists, they fell for their own creation, and St. Ronnie was born. They tried again with Bush Jr. and fell almost as hard which brought the Republican party and the country to this nadir.
Maybe I am delusional, but I honestly don’t feel like I have changed all that much politically. The conservatives have.
Purity tests will do that to any political party. The Democrats may drive you crazy but when it ranges the political spectrum from Dennis Kucinich to Ben Nelson, that is always going to be the case. Better that, then a group so narrow you couldn’t ride your bike down that back alley.
BTW I love the ad for meeting Thai women. When are we going to start getting the ads for dildos, wetsuits and books with titles like How To Hike The Appalachian Trail Without Going to Argentina and Going Galt For Dummies?
(I love seeing the ads and reading all the comments about them. How many blogs do you know where ads can actually be hijacked in order to complain about the ads?)
19.
Bellwetherman
Do not underestimate Palin. She is the most gifted demagogue to appear in American politics since Huey Long. Although winning a majority of the electorate would be an impossibility for her at this point, who can say what possibilities the economic situation will present in two or three years?
What I have not seen discussed in regards Palin’s chances in 2012 are the three years till then, three years in which she will make more and more mistakes, and become further entrenched as a joke and point of mockery. Unless you believe she’ll be able to “bone up” on the necessary material and somehow transform herself into a somewhat competent talking head.
I don’t think she has it in her, and her cadre of advisors will not be able to tell her that, nor her adoring fans. So, it seems much more likely we’ll get more of what we’ve already seen: Lunacy from Palin, spun by her supporters as some “real ‘merican talkin'”. Good enough for the 23%er’s, but no one else.
Read Rich’s last two paragraphs again. If, perchance, unemployment is still in the range of 10% come 2012 and Wall Street is still standing, do not think that the likes of Palin, and perhaps Palin herself, cannot demagouge their way back into power and make us long for the days of Bush 2.
What I find amazing is how much I feel like there is a Republican in office
From the standpoint of purely domestic policy, I don’t feel that we’ve had a Democratic president since Lyndon Johnson. Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton were democrats in name only. According to George Stephanopoulos’ memoir, Bill Clinton once described himself as an Eisenhower Republican.
Bill Maher hit a similar theme a few weeks ago. I’m paraphrasing, because I don’t remember it verbatim, but Maher basically said the Democratic Party is the party of Wall Street and the Republican Party is the party of mental patients.
I regret the disappearance of the Rational Wing of the Republican Party. There used to be a number of Republicans in Congress who were sentient, reasonable non-Ditto heads. I’m thinking of people like Everett Dirksen, Howard Baker, John Chaffee, Mark Hatfield, Lowell Weicker, Jacob Javitts, William Cohen, and Milicent Fenwick.
24.
Fern
Given the astronomical amounts of money required for a presidential primary and campaign, and the fact that so much of the money has to come from corporate sources, I don’t see how you will ever get a true center-left president.
25.
Rey
I don’t see how you will ever get a true center-left president.
Maybe after that meteor strikes in the year 2028. Just our luck, Palin will probably survive the hit, and finally get her chance. Trig will be her VP.
26.
inkadu
There was just a bit in the Frank Rich article that bugged me:
The politics of resentment are impervious to facts. Palinists regard their star as an icon of working-class America even though the Palins’ combined reported income ($211,000) puts them in the top 3.6 percent of American households.
This is bullshit on a lot of levels. First of all, you can’t expect a nationally-known figure, or, heck, even a Governor of a nowhere state like Alaska, to be making $33,000 a year. If they are, they are doing something wrong. Money and power always go together.
200k may be in the top 3.6 percent of households, but I don’t think it’s saying much. The money curve gets VERY steep at the right — so she is probably a lot closer to the 30% below her than the 2% above her.
And money is just money; it doesn’t say anything about who you are or what you believe in. I remember being very pissed off when Republicans attacked Edwards on this point; as if you can’t be really be for “working class values” if you actually have money; similarly, you can be for environmental preservation and still fly airplanes. It’s nonsense.
Finally, culture is more important to Palinites than any amount of money. She is “one of them” because she fishes and hunts and is white, and all that; that’s what they care about. Shit, Dick Cheney is popular in Wyoming (or wherever it is), and he’s a gazillionaire. What counts is that he still likes shooting his friends in the face, despite his money.
Also, what ever happened to the indenting the first line of a paragraph? I guess an empty line is a better way to separate graphs, and since we’re not paying for paper, we can do it.
27.
maya
@JK: I’m thinking of people like Everett Dirksen, Howard Baker, John Chaffee, Mark Hatfield, Lowell Weicker, Jacob Javitts, William Cohen, and Milicent Fenwick.
With Palin as it’s titular head the GOP is now the party of the Duchess of Fenwick.
LOL. I wish I had videos of The Mouse that Roared and The Mouse on the Moon. I need a good laugh and those 2 movies really hit the spot for me. Thanks for reminding me to add them to my list of movies to get on dvd.
29.
forked tongue
She is the most gifted demagogue to appear in American politics since Huey Long
.
I don’t get it. I honestly don’t. I hear people say this but I just don’t understand it. What the hell are her gifts? I mean, she looks good, but what are her gifts as a demagogue? Admittedly I didn’t watch her convention speech, but she didn’t write that. What are the gifts of a demagogue that she has? Shamelessness, I’ll give her that. What else?
30.
inkadu
@forked tongue: The Sarah Palin you see on interviews isn’t the demagogue. She brings da noise, brings da hate in her public rallies.
But Huey Long could eat her for breakfast and crap out better demagaguery by lunch time.
31.
MattF
I don’t think Palin, by herself, can succeed. But if she finds and goes with the right manager, watch out. The combinations Palin + speech writer, Palin + political tactician, Palin + brain trust would be a real danger. The only thing stopping this from happening is Palin’s own arrogance. We can only hope that she doesn’t wise up.
32.
Brick Oven Bill
Frank Rich seems to be more jealous and bitter than Peggy Noonan. Nice gratuitous hit piece though Frank, you little twit.
Palin’s value is that she is an outsider, and has shown a willingness to go after the power structure. Government officials do not have to be super-smart, they need to be principled. This is why the best ticket would be Sullenberger-Phillips. But in their absence, Palin would be OK. She would appoint smarter and more ethical Cabinet members than Obama.
Obama-Geithner is a disaster for the country. It is open corruption that we seem to accept for now.
Maybe the best bet would be to have the United States Marine Corps take over for two years, and then hand the reins of power back to civilian control. The early Romans had a similar system and these guys were successful for the better part of a thousand years.
The Mouse That Roared was just on Sundance or TCM in the last day or so. Worth catching next time.
34.
JR
Tempting fate here, but…:
SARAH PALIN WILL NEVER BE THE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE FOR THE GOP. EVER.
The voters in New Hampshire aren’t that stupid.
The voters in Iowa will listen to her for a few months before deciding they’d rather have someone coherent and semi-accomplished in front.
The voters in southern suburbs will wonder if they really want the social secretary from their megachurch to be in charge of nuclear weapons.
And the only, I say the only reason that the entire GOP intelligentsia hasn’t turned their fire on her (Nooners excepted) is that they don’t have anyone they’re supporting for a nomination yet, so when they do finally turn it’ll have more oomph. “Gee, I’ve defended Palin for years and think she was unfairly attacked by the Liberal media, but compare her to [insert generic right-wing jackass here] and you’ll see that she isn’t, and never was, ready to be President.” It won’t even take a major scandal for them to bail on her–they’ll do it as a matter of course.
And really, other than her poor defenseless victim of the elites schtick, she has no real public identity, and that one will get really freakin’ old over the next year or so. Her next persona will be whatever her opponents paint her as in their attack ads. Think about how Kerry’s guys savaged Dean in Iowa, and imagine what Romney or Huckabee’s guys will do to her if she gets above 10% in polls–she’ll be known as a Wiccan lesbian commie who drinks goats blood while fornicating in front of children within a month.
She’s a flash in the pan–an entertaining piece of disaster footage. But she’s not a Presidential nominee…
…unless the Constitution Party drafts her, that is.
Palin’s value is that she is an outsider, and has shown a willingness to go after the power structure…Government officials do not have to be super-smart, they need to be principled. This is why the best ticket would be Sullenberger-Phillips.
Anything uttered beyond this phrase can be dismissed, especially if it contains:
the best ticket would be Sullenberger-Phillips
You are pure, distilled wingnut, BOB.
37.
DonkeyKong
“You know, I tried to talk about good roads and good schools and all these things that have been part of my career, and nobody listened. And then I began talking about niggers, and they stomped the floor.”-George Wallace
Palins not W in a skirt, she’s not even George Wallace, she’s one of those idiots stompin the floor. Thats why they love her. She’s them.
38.
Brick Oven Bill
Re: Dunning-Kruger
This is an interesting link you put up inkadu. In my life, a similar theory has been developed which places people in one of four categories:
Palin is probably bordering on a #4. Obama is a flaming #4 with a large dose of arrogance to boot. This arrogance will be his downfall. He has said too much and as world events play out he will have to reconcile his words with reality, and will look pathetic and weak. He probably will not be able to handle this and might publically crack.
Sullenberger is a #2. You can tell this by the manner in which he landed his plane and checked the cabin clear (demonstrated competence) and by the fact that as a 50+ year old professional, he is still checking library books out on professional ethics (demonstrated desire to improve one’s own skill set). Philips too seems to be a modest professional with a strong set of ethics. We should all strive to be #2s.
Sullenberger-Philips 2112.
39.
geg6
BOB, are you seriously rooting for a military junta to take over the American government? Are you off your meds or just simply letting your treasonous freak flag fly?
40.
inkadu
I was actually going to put Dunning-Kruger above as a reason Sarah Palin will never get her act together– will never assemble a team to manage her image, etc. She knows so little, that she doesn’t know how badly she’s failing. Of course, with all the great Republican support she’s getting, we can make a good argument that she isn’t REALLY failing. But if she wants to win primaries and elections, she is going to need some help.
Obama outmaneuvered better funded and better known candidates and weathered media circus after media circus to win the presidency of the United States. To put him in the same league of incompetence as Sarah Palin is laughable. You don’t have to like the guy or agree with him, but he’s already proven himself.
I like Sully, too, good strong supporter of unions and government regulations. For that alone, I don’t think he is your guy.
I have both, Roared, and On the Moon, Mouses, on old vhs. They seem a bit dated now, but Peter Sellers playing different roles is always a treat. The best at multiple role acting, to my mind, was Alex Guinness in, Kind Hearts and Coronets
Maybe I am delusional, but I honestly don’t feel like I have changed all that much politically. The conservatives have.
Remember Ronald Reagan saying, “I didn’t leave the Democratic Party. The Party left me.”?
Sounds as if you are saying that about the GOP?
For years I said, “I am not that liberal, but everything shifted so far to the right I ended up moving from the center to the left without taking a step.”
Philips is the one who surrendered himself to the pirates to get his crew released. His crew reportedly thought very highly of him before any of this happened. When the smoke cleared and Obama had gotten his photo-op, Philips quietly went back to work as a Captain of a ship.
There are far worse things than unions, especially ones that work to set up protectionist trade measures. Take Goldman Sachs, for instance.
There is some large animal on my roof and I am currently armed.
Uh, BoB, we’ll all be dead when this ticket is punched.
45.
Cat G
She quit because of the money she might be able to make. She’ll maintain the facade of running because it keeps her relevant. As the VP candidate she didn’t have to deal with any of the ugly details of running a campaign, and she has not demonstrated any interest in surrounding herself with experienced competent people. She couldn’t stand the pressure or workload of being governor of Alaska. She’ll publicly flirt with the idea, but she won’t really run for president, she’d have to get off the gravy train and it will be to haaaaard. Presidentin’ is hard work…as W kept telling us. Remember how eight years ago W was telling us about how hard he was working on deciding about stem cell research. She will, however, drive us nuts as the MSM slavishly covers her every move.
Maybe the best bet would be to have the United States Marine Corps take over for two years, and then hand the reins of power back to civilian control. The early Romans had a similar system and these guys were successful for the better part of a thousand years.
OMG! Is it even possible an American could say such a thing? Even possible to think it???
Palin wants to be a kingmaker. She wants Romney, Huckabee, Pawlenty, and Jindal to come to Wasilla, grovel at her feet, and beg her for an endorsement.
49.
Brick Oven Bill
This is how it was between the end of the Revolutionary War and 1789 Political Pragmatist. It is impossible to predict what happens when a country’s currency collapses and there is no powerful neighbor to invade and conquer it. I trust the USMC, as they study history closely, and honor America’s traditions. If there is a better organizational custodian of the Constitution and Country should things fall apart, I cannot think of it.
In times of crisis, the early Romans turned the normal political process over to a military leader for a short, defined period of time. Later on, Roman military-political leadership became less disciplined.
The noise was not, as was my concern, a mountain lion, it was six large turkey vultures.
50.
SqueakyRat
I trust the USMC, as they study history closely, and honor America’s traditions. If there is a better organizational custodian of the Constitution and Country should things fall apart, I cannot think of it.
One thing a good custodian of the Constitution might do is to refrain from violating it.
51.
JR
BOB – do you remember who the last guy they turned that power over to was? You have to read the book to the end, moran.
52.
fliegr
Sullenberger? The man appears to be overwhelmingly decent and is fantastically good at his job, but I think you’ll find that after a long career in the airlines he’ll have a healthy (and warranted) suspicion for corporations. Not the hallmark trait of a solid Republican. I spent 18 months at a major airline that underwent much less turmoil than US Air and it was an experience that illustrated the absolute necessity of unions as a counterbalance to corporate management. Sully might actually be (gasp!) a Democrat.
53.
Irony Abounds
@forked tongue: I’m with you. She was only a shining star until she actually had to speak to anyone other than a chosen crowd. In front of even semi-skilled journalists (aka, America’s mainstream media) she becomes incoherent. Faced with what really were minor controversies (minor ethics complaints, Letterman) and she flailed and overreacted. The only ones she appeals to are the luddites on the right.
54.
Brick Oven Bill
The last guy they turned power over to was George Washington. He was pretty good.
55.
inkadu
BOB – I think JR is referring to Caesar. Maybe. Your idea is so batty it is generating a thought-interference field.
Phillips. Don’t know. I was out to lunch for about a month during the whole piratin’ business.
Did you bag any of the turkey vultures, or did you let them go on their merry way?
I like almost all the old Ealing comedies: Kind Hearts and Coronets, The Lavender Hill Mob, The Ladykillers, The Captain’s Paradise, Passport to Pimlico and I’m All Right, Jack. Maybe not all from Ealing Studios, maybe. But a joy to watch Alec Guinness and Peter Sellers in action.
Also have a soft spot for the ridiculous Miss Marple movies with Marguerite Rutherford. “I’ll have you know I was the All-England ladies fencing champion in 1934!”
The six turkey vultures are gliding happily in the sky.
I’ve got to go and cannot do the looking at this time, but the early Roman process went something like the house of commons proposed a temporary suspension of representative rule and a name of a prospective leader, then the Senate approved the measure for I believe six months, giving that one individual total power. The six months was extendable by another vote of the Senate.
This was in the very early part of the Roman Empire and was used mostly when there were military threats, not economic collapse. But economies were much simpler back then.
I have no beef against Democrats, just their leadership. Sully should run with Philips on an independent ticket. They would probably win.
61.
JK
@Steeplejack: All great movies. I’d add A Run For Your Money and The Man in the White Suit to your list.
62.
fliegr
@Nellcote:
I agree, but you never know how much the ex-AF fighter guy background might effect things. My current colleagues are a politically… unsophisticated lot, and the default ideology is right-wing because they’re the “tough guys”. Any arguments to the contrary involving Republican pants-pissing behavior in the face of terrorist threats find no traction. I have learned to never talk politics at work.
63.
inkadu
@Brick Oven Bill: The Roman system sounds like it was used for a limitted period to deal with a very easily verifiable goal — military conquest or military defense. I am not sure “reordering the government and clearing out the political driftwood” is a recipe for short-term governance.
And if you’re going to use history to support your crackpottery, then you might as well include the last hundred-or-so years of military coups that devolved power to civilian governments in 20 years, not two, and then sometimes only sporadically.
Turkey vultures are damned big beasts. If they weren’t so ugly, I’m sure they would have more of a following.
64.
SGEW
It is important to point out that the civil systems B.O.B. always uses as historical examples were all slave economies.
The former Republican vice-presidential nominee and heroine to much of the GOP’s base said in an interview she views the electorate as embattled and fatigued by nonstop partisanship, and she is eager to campaign for Republicans, independents and even Democrats who share her values on limited government, strong defense and “energy independence.”… “I will go around the country on behalf of candidates who believe in the right things, regardless of their party label or affiliation,” she said over lunch in her downtown office, 40 miles from her now-famous hometown of Wasilla — population 7,000 — where she began her political career… “People are so tired of the partisan stuff — even my own son is not a Republican,” said Mrs. Palin…
The GOP are such losers that they’re losing Sarah Palin??? AWWWSUMMMM.
The trick will be getting this plaintive plea to past the Obamessiah Evil Empire blockade to that desolate, tundra-like land in the North…
Of course, part of the problem may be that while the message is sitting on an ice shelf in Alaska, Palin herself will have gone Hollywood.
I’m listening to a radio news story saying that next month Palin is going to appear at a private gathering of Republican women in Southern California.
Could a Fox News job be far behind?
67.
maya
“People are so tired of the partisan stuff—even my own son is not a Republican,” said Mrs. Palin…
That kid, Trig, is a pretty smart f*cker already. Of course, she probably means he’s an AIPer.
68.
maya
@Steeplejack: Yeah, I do like British comedy more than most of our stuff. If you get a chance see, Kate Beckinsale’s, early effort,Cold Comfort Farm. The only problem is you have to watch it twice because you’ll have a hard time understanding the dialects and sub-plot the first time. But it moves along very quickly so that’s not a hardship. “I saw something nasty in the woodshed”.
On the establishment of the Roman republic the government of the state was entrusted to two consuls, that the citizens might be the better protected against the tyrannical exercise of the supreme power. But it was soon felt that circumstances might arise in which it was important for the safety of the state that the government should be vested in the hands of a single person, who should possess absolute power for a short time, and from whose decisions there should be no appeal to any other body. Thus it came to pass that in 501 BC, nine years after the expulsion of the kings, the dictatorship (dictatura) was instituted. By the original law respecting the appointment of a dictator (lex de dictatore creando) no one was eligible for this office, unless he had previously been consul.
from wiki – roman dictator
the dictator would most likely have been a political person rather than a military one. you point to the marine corps – more likely the romans would have named bill clinton or al gore to be the dictator.
71.
Robertdsc-iphone
What I find amazing is how much I feel like there is a Republican in office, and how crazy the actual Republicans have become. Modest and sober foreign policy, no massive tax increases and in fact tax cuts, honest appraisals of the budget crisis and serious attempts to address issues, modest proposals to regulate Wall Street but over all a hands off approach for the market, no gun grabs, a boring Supreme Court pick, respect for the rule of law while still embracing much of the national security apparatus. The cap and trade debate is what would be considered conservative 30 years ago, and the attempts to fix health care are not an attempt to usher in single payer, but an attempt to deal with the looming budget disaster if we do nothing. No radical expansion of abortion, no radical expansion of stem cell research, no needle exchange or relaxation of drug laws, no major movement on gay rights, no moratorium on the death penalty or radical changes in environmental law, no radical ramping up of the minimum wage, etc. This is what I always imagined Republican rule was supposed to look like. Hell, he just nominated a devout Christian to head the NIH, and even the recently passed tobacco regulation had the endorsement of… the tobacco industry.
This is precisely why he’s on track to be one of the worst Presidents ever. After the Bush catastrophe, we don’t need Republican-lite.
I am fully aware he’s no liberal, but his appeasement to the haters & shafting of liberals will only make the problems we’re in even worse.
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Svensker
Good, in the sense that it’s fun to see someone getting solid whacks on the Palin pinata. But depressing to hear that Beck and Levin both have books at the top of the charts. Depressing to hear that 71% of Repubs are totally insane. Also, Nixon.
spudvol
Can we trust Frank Rich? Has he ever been groped by a Republican senator?
** Atanarjuat **
One day, during an election (not) far, far away, a beaten and demoralized GOP strategist will send out a desperate message that reads thusly:
“Help us, Sarah Palin. You’re our only hope!”
The trick will be getting this plaintive plea to past the Obamessiah Evil Empire blockade to that desolate, tundra-like land in the North…
-A
SiubhanDuinne
I always enjoy reading Frank Rich (“enjoy” is perhaps not the best word, depending on the subject under discussion and his views on that subject — but I try never to miss his Sunday column). His take on Palin and her constituency is, I think, spot on. But his last few paragraphs today scared and depressed the bejibbers out of me. I really just want to weep and gnash my teeth (or, alternatively, just curl up and whimper) when I contemplate the mindless, race-and-class-fueled rage that’s out there, backed by an intransigent gun culture and cheered to a froth by the Levins, Savages, Becks, Hannitys, Limbaughs, Coulters and Malkins of this world. So for me, I’m not sure reading Rich was a good way to start the day, but maybe I’ll feel better about things after I have some coffee.
And wildly OT, but why is Billy Mays still shouting at me?
A Mom Anon
The big boys in the GOP aren’t going to let her do anything but raise money. All those egos letting a girl be their nominee? I’m not so sure about that. Their “feminism”is only gonna go so far. I also don’t think she or her family would hold up in a Presidential campaign of any real duration. She’d be DESTROYED in the debates too.
That 71% percent of Republicans that would vote for her is only a percentage of the stragglers who still ID as GOP. 71% of the hard core 25% of crazy fuckers out there isn’t that many. She might be able to win if there’s some cheating,but not without it.
Comrade Mary
Like!
(The NY Times link for those with no account is here.)
GReynoldsCT00
The cartoon alone made my day! Hee!
Molly
The politics of resentment are impervious to facts.
What Frank said.
GReynoldsCT00
@SiubhanDuinne:
Now that I’ve read the whole thing, I agree with you. Very unsettling. The fact that someone can say that they will get a gun, and it’s acceptable to this group.
J.
That’s just Rich. ; )
TR
Always good, always the best part of the Week in Review.
According to the Froomkin Principle, that means he’ll be fired shortly.
El Cid
I’m glad someone in the major news media finally made the point us dirty fringe hippies have been making since the Palinocalypse: Will Sarah Palin now apologize for sneering at Obama for having been a mere ‘community organizer’ and not a small town mayor with ‘actual responsibilities’, one of those ‘actual responsibilities’ being to quit your elected office for no god damn decent offered reason?*
————————
* The answer is no, but it’s the question which counts.
greennotGreen
Have recent immigrants actually taken jobs from the European immigrants who’ve been here longer (’cause if you want to feel victimized, I think there are some indigenous Americans who can give you a run for your money)? I know GM went bankrupt and has been reborn as GM-light, but did it shed all its union employees and hire Hispanics? I can see that an influx of immigrants might depress wages, and that can be a real problem for workers (though not so much for their Republican big business bosses,) but are they actually losing their jobs to immigrants? This is a real question; I really don’t know.
Kirk Spencer
Musing on it, I can see Palin winning the nod for 2012 and then pulling 48% of the electorate. If she runs – and I don’t see her doing that.
The key thing that brings all this together is that (probably) the GOP nod in 2012 won’t matter. Barring a near catastrophic failure, the economy still tanking, or Obama’s inability to run for reelection he’s not only probably going to win but most people will recognize it. Yeah, there will be GOP activists who’ll say otherwise, but then they’ll couch their strategy and chances in the frame of an underdog.
This will cause several small things to come together. Simplistically, Palin will have not only more charisma but would still be going all out while a number of GOP voters won’t turn out. As a result, Palin could win. Her GOP votes in the main event wouldn’t really be for her, they’d be to keep the GOP alive (so to speak).
The funny/sad thing would be the effect on 2016 if this happened. A lot of campaign managers would be telling their candidates, “Yeah, I know what the polls say. But they said that in 2012, and look who actually got the nod.”
All that said, I’m becoming convinced she won’t run. I think she’s going to make decent money from her book and from the talk circuit and compare that to the not-so-fun life as governor and say no.
I could be wrong, of course. My crystal ball is in the shop.
John Cole
What I find amazing is how much I feel like there is a Republican in office, and how crazy the actual Republicans have become. Modest and sober foreign policy, no massive tax increases and in fact tax cuts, honest appraisals of the budget crisis and serious attempts to address issues, modest proposals to regulate Wall Street but over all a hands off approach for the market, no gun grabs, a boring Supreme Court pick, respect for the rule of law while still embracing much of the national security apparatus. The cap and trade debate is what would be considered conservative 30 years ago, and the attempts to fix health care are not an attempt to usher in single payer, but an attempt to deal with the looming budget disaster if we do nothing. No radical expansion of abortion, no radical expansion of stem cell research, no needle exchange or relaxation of drug laws, no major movement on gay rights, no moratorium on the death penalty or radical changes in environmental law, no radical ramping up of the minimum wage, etc. This is what I always imagined Republican rule was supposed to look like. Hell, he just nominated a devout Christian to head the NIH, and even the recently passed tobacco regulation had the endorsement of… the tobacco industry.
Compare that to the current conservatives- radical Randian nonsense on the economic front, and that is when they are not engaging in what amounts to economic nihilism (let them all fail, go back to the gold standard, kill the fed, etc.), neocon militarism, belligerence, and adventurism on the foreign policy front, and on the domestic front, in your face big government Christianism and unchecked authoritarianism on the law enforcement and surveillance front, when there is racial grievance-mongering, it comes from the Palinite minority, and in general, an overall embrace of ignorance and dogma over enlightenment and reason.
Maybe I am delusional, but I honestly don’t feel like I have changed all that much politically. The conservatives have.
Kirk Spencer
@John Cole: Yes. The nation is a center-right nation provided you use 30 or 40 years ago as your definition of center.
greennotGreen
John, I don’t think you’re delusional now, but I do think you were delusional when you thought the Republicans stood for thoughtful, rational government in your lifetime. I think Nixon made the Republican establishment insane (I guess he dragged them along with him.) After that, they just wanted a stooge in the White House that they thought they could control, so they elected an actor, but since they are at heart authoritarians, or monarchists, they fell for their own creation, and St. Ronnie was born. They tried again with Bush Jr. and fell almost as hard which brought the Republican party and the country to this nadir.
The Grand Panjandrum
@John Cole:
Purity tests will do that to any political party. The Democrats may drive you crazy but when it ranges the political spectrum from Dennis Kucinich to Ben Nelson, that is always going to be the case. Better that, then a group so narrow you couldn’t ride your bike down that back alley.
BTW I love the ad for meeting Thai women. When are we going to start getting the ads for dildos, wetsuits and books with titles like How To Hike The Appalachian Trail Without Going to Argentina and Going Galt For Dummies?
(I love seeing the ads and reading all the comments about them. How many blogs do you know where ads can actually be hijacked in order to complain about the ads?)
Bellwetherman
Do not underestimate Palin. She is the most gifted demagogue to appear in American politics since Huey Long. Although winning a majority of the electorate would be an impossibility for her at this point, who can say what possibilities the economic situation will present in two or three years?
Redshirt
What I have not seen discussed in regards Palin’s chances in 2012 are the three years till then, three years in which she will make more and more mistakes, and become further entrenched as a joke and point of mockery. Unless you believe she’ll be able to “bone up” on the necessary material and somehow transform herself into a somewhat competent talking head.
I don’t think she has it in her, and her cadre of advisors will not be able to tell her that, nor her adoring fans. So, it seems much more likely we’ll get more of what we’ve already seen: Lunacy from Palin, spun by her supporters as some “real ‘merican talkin'”. Good enough for the 23%er’s, but no one else.
Bill H
Read Rich’s last two paragraphs again. If, perchance, unemployment is still in the range of 10% come 2012 and Wall Street is still standing, do not think that the likes of Palin, and perhaps Palin herself, cannot demagouge their way back into power and make us long for the days of Bush 2.
JK
@John Cole:
From the standpoint of purely domestic policy, I don’t feel that we’ve had a Democratic president since Lyndon Johnson. Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton were democrats in name only. According to George Stephanopoulos’ memoir, Bill Clinton once described himself as an Eisenhower Republican.
Bill Maher hit a similar theme a few weeks ago. I’m paraphrasing, because I don’t remember it verbatim, but Maher basically said the Democratic Party is the party of Wall Street and the Republican Party is the party of mental patients.
JK
@John Cole:
I regret the disappearance of the Rational Wing of the Republican Party. There used to be a number of Republicans in Congress who were sentient, reasonable non-Ditto heads. I’m thinking of people like Everett Dirksen, Howard Baker, John Chaffee, Mark Hatfield, Lowell Weicker, Jacob Javitts, William Cohen, and Milicent Fenwick.
Fern
Given the astronomical amounts of money required for a presidential primary and campaign, and the fact that so much of the money has to come from corporate sources, I don’t see how you will ever get a true center-left president.
Rey
Maybe after that meteor strikes in the year 2028. Just our luck, Palin will probably survive the hit, and finally get her chance. Trig will be her VP.
inkadu
There was just a bit in the Frank Rich article that bugged me:
This is bullshit on a lot of levels. First of all, you can’t expect a nationally-known figure, or, heck, even a Governor of a nowhere state like Alaska, to be making $33,000 a year. If they are, they are doing something wrong. Money and power always go together.
200k may be in the top 3.6 percent of households, but I don’t think it’s saying much. The money curve gets VERY steep at the right — so she is probably a lot closer to the 30% below her than the 2% above her.
And money is just money; it doesn’t say anything about who you are or what you believe in. I remember being very pissed off when Republicans attacked Edwards on this point; as if you can’t be really be for “working class values” if you actually have money; similarly, you can be for environmental preservation and still fly airplanes. It’s nonsense.
Finally, culture is more important to Palinites than any amount of money. She is “one of them” because she fishes and hunts and is white, and all that; that’s what they care about. Shit, Dick Cheney is popular in Wyoming (or wherever it is), and he’s a gazillionaire. What counts is that he still likes shooting his friends in the face, despite his money.
Also, what ever happened to the indenting the first line of a paragraph? I guess an empty line is a better way to separate graphs, and since we’re not paying for paper, we can do it.
maya
@JK: I’m thinking of people like Everett Dirksen, Howard Baker, John Chaffee, Mark Hatfield, Lowell Weicker, Jacob Javitts, William Cohen, and Milicent Fenwick.
With Palin as it’s titular head the GOP is now the party of the Duchess of Fenwick.
JK
@maya:
LOL. I wish I had videos of The Mouse that Roared and The Mouse on the Moon. I need a good laugh and those 2 movies really hit the spot for me. Thanks for reminding me to add them to my list of movies to get on dvd.
forked tongue
.
I don’t get it. I honestly don’t. I hear people say this but I just don’t understand it. What the hell are her gifts? I mean, she looks good, but what are her gifts as a demagogue? Admittedly I didn’t watch her convention speech, but she didn’t write that. What are the gifts of a demagogue that she has? Shamelessness, I’ll give her that. What else?
inkadu
@forked tongue: The Sarah Palin you see on interviews isn’t the demagogue. She brings da noise, brings da hate in her public rallies.
But Huey Long could eat her for breakfast and crap out better demagaguery by lunch time.
MattF
I don’t think Palin, by herself, can succeed. But if she finds and goes with the right manager, watch out. The combinations Palin + speech writer, Palin + political tactician, Palin + brain trust would be a real danger. The only thing stopping this from happening is Palin’s own arrogance. We can only hope that she doesn’t wise up.
Brick Oven Bill
Frank Rich seems to be more jealous and bitter than Peggy Noonan. Nice gratuitous hit piece though Frank, you little twit.
Palin’s value is that she is an outsider, and has shown a willingness to go after the power structure. Government officials do not have to be super-smart, they need to be principled. This is why the best ticket would be Sullenberger-Phillips. But in their absence, Palin would be OK. She would appoint smarter and more ethical Cabinet members than Obama.
Obama-Geithner is a disaster for the country. It is open corruption that we seem to accept for now.
Maybe the best bet would be to have the United States Marine Corps take over for two years, and then hand the reins of power back to civilian control. The early Romans had a similar system and these guys were successful for the better part of a thousand years.
Steeplejack
@maya:
The Mouse That Roared was just on Sundance or TCM in the last day or so. Worth catching next time.
JR
Tempting fate here, but…:
SARAH PALIN WILL NEVER BE THE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE FOR THE GOP. EVER.
The voters in New Hampshire aren’t that stupid.
The voters in Iowa will listen to her for a few months before deciding they’d rather have someone coherent and semi-accomplished in front.
The voters in southern suburbs will wonder if they really want the social secretary from their megachurch to be in charge of nuclear weapons.
And the only, I say the only reason that the entire GOP intelligentsia hasn’t turned their fire on her (Nooners excepted) is that they don’t have anyone they’re supporting for a nomination yet, so when they do finally turn it’ll have more oomph. “Gee, I’ve defended Palin for years and think she was unfairly attacked by the Liberal media, but compare her to [insert generic right-wing jackass here] and you’ll see that she isn’t, and never was, ready to be President.” It won’t even take a major scandal for them to bail on her–they’ll do it as a matter of course.
And really, other than her poor defenseless victim of the elites schtick, she has no real public identity, and that one will get really freakin’ old over the next year or so. Her next persona will be whatever her opponents paint her as in their attack ads. Think about how Kerry’s guys savaged Dean in Iowa, and imagine what Romney or Huckabee’s guys will do to her if she gets above 10% in polls–she’ll be known as a Wiccan lesbian commie who drinks goats blood while fornicating in front of children within a month.
She’s a flash in the pan–an entertaining piece of disaster footage. But she’s not a Presidential nominee…
…unless the Constitution Party drafts her, that is.
inkadu
@Brick Oven Bill:
A better ticket for the GOP would be Dunning-Kruger.
John S.
Anything uttered beyond this phrase can be dismissed, especially if it contains:
You are pure, distilled wingnut, BOB.
DonkeyKong
“You know, I tried to talk about good roads and good schools and all these things that have been part of my career, and nobody listened. And then I began talking about niggers, and they stomped the floor.”-George Wallace
Palins not W in a skirt, she’s not even George Wallace, she’s one of those idiots stompin the floor. Thats why they love her. She’s them.
Brick Oven Bill
Re: Dunning-Kruger
This is an interesting link you put up inkadu. In my life, a similar theory has been developed which places people in one of four categories:
1. Consciously competent;
2. Unconsciously competent;
3. Consciously incompetent;
4. Unconsciously incompetent.
Palin is probably bordering on a #4. Obama is a flaming #4 with a large dose of arrogance to boot. This arrogance will be his downfall. He has said too much and as world events play out he will have to reconcile his words with reality, and will look pathetic and weak. He probably will not be able to handle this and might publically crack.
Sullenberger is a #2. You can tell this by the manner in which he landed his plane and checked the cabin clear (demonstrated competence) and by the fact that as a 50+ year old professional, he is still checking library books out on professional ethics (demonstrated desire to improve one’s own skill set). Philips too seems to be a modest professional with a strong set of ethics. We should all strive to be #2s.
Sullenberger-Philips 2112.
geg6
BOB, are you seriously rooting for a military junta to take over the American government? Are you off your meds or just simply letting your treasonous freak flag fly?
inkadu
I was actually going to put Dunning-Kruger above as a reason Sarah Palin will never get her act together– will never assemble a team to manage her image, etc. She knows so little, that she doesn’t know how badly she’s failing. Of course, with all the great Republican support she’s getting, we can make a good argument that she isn’t REALLY failing. But if she wants to win primaries and elections, she is going to need some help.
Obama outmaneuvered better funded and better known candidates and weathered media circus after media circus to win the presidency of the United States. To put him in the same league of incompetence as Sarah Palin is laughable. You don’t have to like the guy or agree with him, but he’s already proven himself.
I like Sully, too, good strong supporter of unions and government regulations. For that alone, I don’t think he is your guy.
Who is this Phillips guy?
maya
@Steeplejack:
I have both, Roared, and On the Moon, Mouses, on old vhs. They seem a bit dated now, but Peter Sellers playing different roles is always a treat. The best at multiple role acting, to my mind, was Alex Guinness in, Kind Hearts and Coronets
Political Pragmatist
@John Cole:
Remember Ronald Reagan saying, “I didn’t leave the Democratic Party. The Party left me.”?
Sounds as if you are saying that about the GOP?
For years I said, “I am not that liberal, but everything shifted so far to the right I ended up moving from the center to the left without taking a step.”
Wayne
http://www.politicalpragmatist.com
Brick Oven Bill
Philips is the one who surrendered himself to the pirates to get his crew released. His crew reportedly thought very highly of him before any of this happened. When the smoke cleared and Obama had gotten his photo-op, Philips quietly went back to work as a Captain of a ship.
There are far worse things than unions, especially ones that work to set up protectionist trade measures. Take Goldman Sachs, for instance.
There is some large animal on my roof and I am currently armed.
maya
@Brick Oven Bill:
Uh, BoB, we’ll all be dead when this ticket is punched.
Cat G
She quit because of the money she might be able to make. She’ll maintain the facade of running because it keeps her relevant. As the VP candidate she didn’t have to deal with any of the ugly details of running a campaign, and she has not demonstrated any interest in surrounding herself with experienced competent people. She couldn’t stand the pressure or workload of being governor of Alaska. She’ll publicly flirt with the idea, but she won’t really run for president, she’d have to get off the gravy train and it will be to haaaaard. Presidentin’ is hard work…as W kept telling us. Remember how eight years ago W was telling us about how hard he was working on deciding about stem cell research. She will, however, drive us nuts as the MSM slavishly covers her every move.
Political Pragmatist
@Brick Oven Bill:
OMG! Is it even possible an American could say such a thing? Even possible to think it???
JK
@maya:
Big Choice for Republicans in 2012
Ensign/Sanford
Don’t Stop Till You Get Enough
OR
Palin/Bachmann
The Dimmer Twins
JK
@Cat G:
Palin wants to be a kingmaker. She wants Romney, Huckabee, Pawlenty, and Jindal to come to Wasilla, grovel at her feet, and beg her for an endorsement.
Brick Oven Bill
This is how it was between the end of the Revolutionary War and 1789 Political Pragmatist. It is impossible to predict what happens when a country’s currency collapses and there is no powerful neighbor to invade and conquer it. I trust the USMC, as they study history closely, and honor America’s traditions. If there is a better organizational custodian of the Constitution and Country should things fall apart, I cannot think of it.
In times of crisis, the early Romans turned the normal political process over to a military leader for a short, defined period of time. Later on, Roman military-political leadership became less disciplined.
The noise was not, as was my concern, a mountain lion, it was six large turkey vultures.
SqueakyRat
I trust the USMC, as they study history closely, and honor America’s traditions. If there is a better organizational custodian of the Constitution and Country should things fall apart, I cannot think of it.
One thing a good custodian of the Constitution might do is to refrain from violating it.
JR
BOB – do you remember who the last guy they turned that power over to was? You have to read the book to the end, moran.
fliegr
Sullenberger? The man appears to be overwhelmingly decent and is fantastically good at his job, but I think you’ll find that after a long career in the airlines he’ll have a healthy (and warranted) suspicion for corporations. Not the hallmark trait of a solid Republican. I spent 18 months at a major airline that underwent much less turmoil than US Air and it was an experience that illustrated the absolute necessity of unions as a counterbalance to corporate management. Sully might actually be (gasp!) a Democrat.
Irony Abounds
@forked tongue: I’m with you. She was only a shining star until she actually had to speak to anyone other than a chosen crowd. In front of even semi-skilled journalists (aka, America’s mainstream media) she becomes incoherent. Faced with what really were minor controversies (minor ethics complaints, Letterman) and she flailed and overreacted. The only ones she appeals to are the luddites on the right.
Brick Oven Bill
The last guy they turned power over to was George Washington. He was pretty good.
inkadu
BOB – I think JR is referring to Caesar. Maybe. Your idea is so batty it is generating a thought-interference field.
Phillips. Don’t know. I was out to lunch for about a month during the whole piratin’ business.
Did you bag any of the turkey vultures, or did you let them go on their merry way?
Parole Officer Burke
I’ve never seen so many people arguing about pie.
Steeplejack
@maya:
I like almost all the old Ealing comedies: Kind Hearts and Coronets, The Lavender Hill Mob, The Ladykillers, The Captain’s Paradise, Passport to Pimlico and I’m All Right, Jack. Maybe not all from Ealing Studios, maybe. But a joy to watch Alec Guinness and Peter Sellers in action.
Also have a soft spot for the ridiculous Miss Marple movies with Marguerite Rutherford. “I’ll have you know I was the All-England ladies fencing champion in 1934!”
Nellcote
@fliegr:
A union guy that lives in Marin County, CA? I’d be shocked if he wasn’t a Dem.
JR
@inkadu: Yep, that’s the one.
Brick Oven Bill
The six turkey vultures are gliding happily in the sky.
I’ve got to go and cannot do the looking at this time, but the early Roman process went something like the house of commons proposed a temporary suspension of representative rule and a name of a prospective leader, then the Senate approved the measure for I believe six months, giving that one individual total power. The six months was extendable by another vote of the Senate.
This was in the very early part of the Roman Empire and was used mostly when there were military threats, not economic collapse. But economies were much simpler back then.
I have no beef against Democrats, just their leadership. Sully should run with Philips on an independent ticket. They would probably win.
JK
@Steeplejack: All great movies. I’d add A Run For Your Money and The Man in the White Suit to your list.
fliegr
@Nellcote:
I agree, but you never know how much the ex-AF fighter guy background might effect things. My current colleagues are a politically… unsophisticated lot, and the default ideology is right-wing because they’re the “tough guys”. Any arguments to the contrary involving Republican pants-pissing behavior in the face of terrorist threats find no traction. I have learned to never talk politics at work.
inkadu
@Brick Oven Bill: The Roman system sounds like it was used for a limitted period to deal with a very easily verifiable goal — military conquest or military defense. I am not sure “reordering the government and clearing out the political driftwood” is a recipe for short-term governance.
And if you’re going to use history to support your crackpottery, then you might as well include the last hundred-or-so years of military coups that devolved power to civilian governments in 20 years, not two, and then sometimes only sporadically.
Turkey vultures are damned big beasts. If they weren’t so ugly, I’m sure they would have more of a following.
SGEW
It is important to point out that the civil systems B.O.B. always uses as historical examples were all slave economies.
Ahem.
El Cid
Is Palin going rogue for a third partyish effort?
The GOP are such losers that they’re losing Sarah Palin??? AWWWSUMMMM.
Brachiator
@** Atanarjuat **:
Of course, part of the problem may be that while the message is sitting on an ice shelf in Alaska, Palin herself will have gone Hollywood.
I’m listening to a radio news story saying that next month Palin is going to appear at a private gathering of Republican women in Southern California.
Could a Fox News job be far behind?
maya
That kid, Trig, is a pretty smart f*cker already. Of course, she probably means he’s an AIPer.
maya
@Steeplejack: Yeah, I do like British comedy more than most of our stuff. If you get a chance see, Kate Beckinsale’s, early effort,Cold Comfort Farm. The only problem is you have to watch it twice because you’ll have a hard time understanding the dialects and sub-plot the first time. But it moves along very quickly so that’s not a hardship. “I saw something nasty in the woodshed”.
Steeplejack
@maya:
I saw Cold Comfort Farm. Very good. Also a good novel (1932) by Stella Gibbons.
2liberal
@Brick Oven Bill:
from wiki – roman dictator
the dictator would most likely have been a political person rather than a military one. you point to the marine corps – more likely the romans would have named bill clinton or al gore to be the dictator.
Robertdsc-iphone
This is precisely why he’s on track to be one of the worst Presidents ever. After the Bush catastrophe, we don’t need Republican-lite.
I am fully aware he’s no liberal, but his appeasement to the haters & shafting of liberals will only make the problems we’re in even worse.