Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Mediocre white men think RFK Jr’s pathetic midlife crisis is inspirational. The bar is set so low for them, it’s subterranean.

Jesus watching the most hateful people claiming to be his followers

This really is a full service blog.

… pundit janitors mopping up after the gop

Do not shrug your shoulders and accept the normalization of untruths.

She burned that motherfucker down, and I am so here for it. Thank you, Caroline Kennedy.

The National Guard is not Batman.

One lie, alone, tears the fabric of reality.

Celebrate the fucking wins.

Not all heroes wear capes.

Hell hath no fury like a farmer bankrupted.

There is no right way to do the wrong thing.

Republicans don’t lie to be believed, they lie to be repeated.

The worst democrat is better than the best republican.

This blog will pay for itself.

Weird. Rome has an American Pope and America has a Russian President.

Let’s delete this post and never speak of this again.

An almost top 10,000 blog!

Insiders who complain to politico: please report to the white house office of shut the fuck up.

They want us to be overwhelmed and exhausted. Focus. Resist. Oppose.

Imperialist aggressors must be defeated, or the whole world loses.

After dobbs, women are no longer free.

Bad people in a position to do bad things will do bad things because they are bad people. End of story.

When they say they are pro-life, they do not mean yours.

Clinton/Pirro Match-Up

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Via Kos, it looks like the 2006 Clinton/Pirro senate race is starting to look like the 2004 Obama/Keyes race. In other words, an outright debacle for the Republicans:

JEANINE PIRRO’S gaffe- marred announcement and her emphasis on liberal social positions has led to new unrest in some quarters of the state GOP, party insiders said yesterday.

“A lot of people were unhappy with her boatload of mistakes, and they’re starting to take another look at Ed Cox as a result,” said a prominent Republican lawmaker, referring to the son-in-law of former President Richard Nixon who hopes to challenge Pirro in the GOP primary for the right to run against Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton.

It looks like the Clinton strategy for handling this ‘law and order’ Republican is to give her enough rope to hang herself.

Talk Left also notes this cheap shot by the NY Post. Cna we just leave families out of this stuff?

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Watching Out For Number One

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I mentioned the rant by Bob Schieffer about the TSA changing/relaxing the screening guidelines for airline passengers, and here (thank to Linda in the comments) is a writeup:

The federal agency in charge of aviation security is considering major changes in how it screens airline passengers, including proposals that an official said would lift the ban on carrying razorblades and small knives as well as limit patdown searches.

An initial set of staff recommendations drafted Aug. 5 also proposes that passengers no longer have to routinely remove their shoes during security checks. Instead, only passengers who set off metal detectors, are flagged by a computer screening system or look “reasonably suspicious” would be asked to do so, a TSA official said Saturday.

Seems sensible enough, but this seems like something a smart populist seeking office might seize upon as a prime example of Washington being out of touch:

The Aug. 5 memo recommends reducing patdowns by giving screeners the discretion not to search those wearing tight-fitting clothes. It also suggests exempting several categories of passengers from screening, including federal judges, members of Congress, Cabinet members, state governors, high-ranking military officers and those with high-level security clearances.

It seems to me that the people responsible for the oversight of the TSA and the Department of Homeland Security should be the last people exempted from the sorts of invasive searches they think are fine for the rest of the country. In fact, many of the members of Congress seemed to agree with me, at least in spirit, back in 1993 and 1994:

On the first day of the 104th Congress, the new Republican majority will immediately pass the following major reforms, aimed at restoring the faith and trust of the American people in their government:

FIRST, require all laws that apply to the rest of the country also apply equally to the Congress…

I understand that most of the posturing and most of the claims about members of Congress and elected officials being just one of the people are nonsense, as they aren’t just like the rest of us, but it seems that this is one area where they should be treated just like one of us everyday average Joes.

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The DLC/Progressive Rift

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The progressive wing of the Democratic party better get these centrist DLC types back in line soon, or they are going to piss all over Operation Yellow Elephant and the wildly popular Chickenhawk meme:

After months of internal debate and closed-door discussions, Democrats have begun to develop a more aggressive foreign policy that focuses heavily on threats they say are being neglected by the Bush administration, while avoiding taking a contentious stance on Iraq.

Even Democrats who have been associated with liberal positions on international affairs are calling for more troops in uniform, proposing that threats of force be used to stop nuclear weapons programs in Iran and North Korea, and pressing for potential military intervention to ease famine and oppression around the world.

Democrats are also calling for better pay and benefits for soldiers and heightened efforts to protect mass transit and other potential terrorist targets.

The emerging message among Democrats reflects a recognition that winning congressional and presidential elections in the post-Sept. 11 era requires candidates to establish a willingness to use America’s military might and keep the nation safe, according to party leaders and strategists.

Despite pressure from liberal groups calling for a quick exit from Iraq, several of the party’s White House aspirants and congressional leaders are calling for the United States to intensify efforts to bring stability to the nation before troops come home.

Give it a read. Might be seeing the return of the Scoop Jackson wing.

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Balloon Juice Rules

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Lot of new people here, it appears, so some quick rules:

1.) I don’t mind swearing, but I try to keep it to a minimum unless I am unhinged about something. Which is frequent. Please try to do the same (not the unhinged part), and at least leave comments that have some substance.

2.) I have spam filters, so the first time you leave a comment, it will go into the moderation cue until I can manually approve it. You are not being censored, this is a mechanism for preventing spam. Deal with it. You will be allowed to pretty much say whatever you want.

3.) Try not to spam the comments yourself with multiple pointless comments.

4.) Use the button bar to embed your links. Above the comment box is a little arrow ‘<<.' Click that, and buttons become available. Also, there is an icon on the lower right to enlarge the font size. 5.) There are only two ways to piss me off: One- leave a comment on a particular post assuming all sorts of things about me, when this is the first damn thing you have ever read by me. Two- demand I write about something or make catcalls such as 'why haven't you written about this,' etc. I have no problem with you leaving links to things you want me to see, but I get pissy when you tell me to write about something or accuse me of covering something up because I haven't written about it. I probably won't do anything about it, but those two things really get me going. 6.) Whenever I write 'this is the last I am going to say about this issue, you can be assured I will have 15 posts about the topic in the next few days. Deal with it- I know I am full of it myself. That is all. Have at each other and come back if it pleases you. And if there is anything you would like done to aid readability, let me know (feeds, etc.)

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Now This is an Obscenity

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*** Warning ***

Unhinged rant ahead.

Look- Cindy Sheehan’s statements should stand on their own, and from my perusal, some of them are pretty damned outrageous. Likewise, it is my opinion that many of the ‘peace’ and ‘anti-war’ groups that are now aligned behind Cindy are pretty damned vile. Furthermore, it is clear to me that this President means what he says, that we are not leaving Iraq until he says so (no matter what the polls say), so the only reason Democrats are grabbing on to Cindy is for partisan gain and for retribution for real and perceived sins over the past few years. Fine. All well and good, I am not afraid of saying so and dealing with all of the bullshit and catcalls from the left.

But this kind of bile coming from Michelle Malkin is fucking out of line, and spare me the ‘like it or not, this is news’ crap. It is goddamned disgraceful. Knock it off, take down that post, and then apologize. Cindy Sheehan’s marital status, her relationship with her husband- none of that is your damned business. Even if you think it ‘proves’ a point. If it proves anything, it proves that losing a son in war fucks up families. Thanks for the deep insight.

No fucking shame. I don’t give a shit what even the nastiest folks on the left say about Malkin anymore. She brings this shit on herself, with vicious bullshit like this. No wonder she rushes to defend Karl Rove at every opportunity.

[/rant]

*** Update ***

Just out of curiosity, does anyone remember Malkin’s stance on the NYT doing a background check on Judge John Robert’s adoption records? I do.

Or, as Crooks and Liars notes, her reaction to John Kerry mentioning Dick Cheney’s lesbian daughter?

If her husband comes forward, and makes a statement, that is his right. He was, after all, Casey’s father. But running through Cindy Sheehan’s marital records to call her a liar or score political points is wrong.

*** Update ***

Michelle comments:

Unhinged critics have gone ballistic over the fact that I linked to this news, which was first broken by another site called Dang If I Know over the weekend.

In response, this blogger spewed profanities left and right.

Hey- I warned you I go unhinged when I see people dumpster diving into people’s marriages. Particularly when it is folks on my side- you know, the ones who believe in the ‘sanctity of marriage.’ Particularly when they are self-styled social conservatives who pretend to have a passing concern for standards of public conduct and human decency.

And quit pretending you are just breaking the news of her divorce. You are breaking the news of her divorce as an active attempt to discredit her. Have some decency. Try, just once, to be better than Chris Lehane.

I also like the attempt to just pass this off as ‘Hey! I just linked to news someone else broke!’ A true profile in courage. Personally, what got my knickers in a twist, and still does, is this:

Assuming this report pans out, it will be interesting to see if Cindy Sheehan continues to insist that she and her husband “are on the same side of the fence” with respect to her anti-war activism.

Who f-ing cares? Sheehan’s marriage is irrelevant- married, single, gay, straight, she is still Casey’s mother, and no amount of discussions regarding what her husband believes, or why she is divorced, or any other personal details change that. Stick to her statements about the war, stick to her actions, and stick to the groups promoting her. But stay the hell out of her marriage, or her failing marriage. Or get a job with the National Enquirer.

Again, no shame.

*** Update ***

Now damnit, cursing, loud expression, even stupidity are allowed, but I will not tolerate racist garbage, Michelle’s name is Michelle Malkin, and Michelle being wrong about something doesn’t give you the right to act like a spokesman for Stormfront in the comments section.

*** Final Update ***

This is why we shouldn’t go rummaging through her martial life.

Now This is an ObscenityPost + Comments (223)

Big Government Conservatives

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The truth hurts:

THREE TIMES in the past quarter-century, conservative leaders have promised to restrain wasteful government spending. President Ronald Reagan tried it and showed he was at least half-serious by vetoing the pork-laden 1987 transportation bill. House Speaker Newt Gingrich tried it and risked his party’s electoral standing by battling to restrain the growth in programs such as Medicare. And President Bush has tried it, declaring on numerous occasions that he expected spending restraint from Congress. None of these efforts proved politically sustainable. As The Post’s Jonathan Weisman and Jim VandeHei reported Thursday, Mr. Bush’s attempt at spending discipline has been especially limp…

The nation is at war. It faces large expenses for homeland security. It is about to go through a demographic transition that will strain important entitlement programs. How can this president — an allegedly conservative president — believe that the federal government should spend money on the Red River National Wildlife Refuge Visitor Center in Louisiana? Or on the Henry Ford Museum in Michigan? The bill Mr. Bush has signed devotes more than $24 billion to such earmarked projects, continuing a trend in which the use of earmarks has spread steadily each year. Remember, Republicans control the Senate and the House as well as the White House. So somebody remind us: Which is the party of big government?

And please spare me the attempts to justify this, I am not buying. And the light seems to have gone on (albeit, a couple weeks late to stop the latest spending orgy) even at Town Hall:

President Reagan often said it’s hard to recall that you came to drain the swamp when you’re up to your armpits in alligators. Republicans like Rep. Don Young of Alaska would rather use your tax dollars to build a scenic bridge to the swamp.

Hard as it is to believe, Young is more in tune with the GOP that rules Congress today than the former president who restored the party to national power in 1980 when he won the White House and a Republican Senate.

Their differences are nowhere more evident than on limiting government and reducing federal spending. Reagan said in his first inaugural speech that “government is not the solution to our problem, government is the problem.” Today, Young crows about the $286.4 billion transportation bill to The New York Times, saying he “stuffed it like a turkey.”

No excuse, so no excuses, please.

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