Even if we can’t use the word “retarded” anymore, at least we’re still allowed to torture and execute mentally disabled people.
(A little dark for a Saturday morning, I realize. But it’s true.)
by DougJ| 52 Comments
This post is in: Good News For Conservatives, We Are All Mayans Now
by DougJ| 166 Comments
This post is in: General Stupidity, Good News For Conservatives, We Are All Mayans Now
I’ve been thinking for a while that the discussion of the deficit reminds me of the pre-war discussion of Iraq. Krugman spells it out:
To me — and I’m not alone in this — the sudden outbreak of deficit hysteria brings back memories of the groupthink that took hold during the run-up to the Iraq war. Now, as then, dubious allegations, not backed by hard evidence, are being reported as if they have been established beyond a shadow of a doubt. Now, as then, much of the political and media establishments have bought into the notion that we must take drastic action quickly, even though there hasn’t been any new information to justify this sudden urgency. Now, as then, those who challenge the prevailing narrative, no matter how strong their case and no matter how solid their background, are being marginalized.
This sort of thing happens every so often in the Village — the Clinton impeachment is another good example and I’m sure there are lots of others.
I don’t think I’ll ever understand how this happens, but maybe we could think of a good catchphrase to describe it, something we could add to the lexicon. Any ideas?
by DougJ| 61 Comments
This post is in: Good News For Conservatives, We Are All Mayans Now
This isn’t my blog (I’m just a hired hand working on a dream I plan to try) so I think I can safely tout this without being called a braggart: traffic was fantastic here last month! Nearly two million page views, which is over 50% more than in January 2009, and more than this place ever got even during the election.
I think the credit for this is entirely due to all of you, if for no other reason than that page views actually measure how many times you visit the site.
by DougJ| 74 Comments
This post is in: General Stupidity, Good News For Conservatives, We Are All Mayans Now
All I could think of when I saw this crazy Carly Fiorina ad was the Roger Sterling “Gold, Women, Sheep” ad from Colbert:
To be perfectly honest, the “Gold, Women, Sheep” ad made more sense to me.
by DougJ| 106 Comments
This post is in: Good News For Conservatives, We Are All Mayans Now
Kos has a poll dealing with my question — do Republicans want to impeach Obama — among others. It’s pretty nuts:
Should Barack Obama be impeached, or not?
Yes 39
No 32
Not Sure 29
Do you think Barack Obama is a socialist?
Yes 63
No 21
Not Sure 16
There’s lots of other nuttiness in there too.
Kos mentions that this poll is part of the research for his upcoming book American Taliban, about the Republican party.
I think it’s fair to ask, and I don’t mean this in a snarky way: is the Taliban this crazy? If one made an honest, detailed comparison between the beliefs of Republican rank-and-file and the beliefs of Taliban rank-and-file, what conclusions would one reach? This is a serious question.
Update. This is probably a better example:
Should public school students be taught that the book of Genesis in the Bible explains how God created the world?
Yes 77
No 15
Not Sure 8
by DougJ| 30 Comments
This post is in: Good News For Conservatives, We Are All Mayans Now
For the first time in recent history, the lobbying, grassroots and advertising budget of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce has surpassed the spending of BOTH the Republican National Committee and Democratic National Committee.
This is significant. It means that the Great Transition has already begun. In the days following the decision in Citizens United, campaign finance experts predicted that the decision would open the floodgates of money for trade associations like the Chamber of Commerce. The influx of corporate money, according to some, would weaken the power of the political parties and candidates and lead the political parties to become less important. Republican lawyer Ben Ginsberg went so far as to say that the parties would be “threatened by extinction.” And Ginsberg supports the CU decision!
(emphasis mine)
If you accept the premise that Roger Ailes is the effective chairman of the GOP, one could argue that the Republican party, in its traditional form, is already extinct. When you strip away Fox News and AM radio and the Chamber of Commerce, is there any Republican party left?
I also believe that the reason, for better or worse, that Obama (Rahm!) cut so many sweetheart deals for corporations in the HCR bill is that the the companies could and would have killed the bill immediately otherwise.
by DougJ| 86 Comments
This post is in: Domestic Politics, Good News For Conservatives, We Are All Mayans Now
You make shitty-SCOTUS-decision-ade:
In the wake of the Massachusetts Brown out — or — hastened by that event — the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee wants their Senate candidate to emphasize two main points on the campaign trail: pin down Republican opposition to a tax on banks — and pin down Republican support of the Citizens United decision, which would open the door to increased corporate influence in American elections.
This item is a few days old (Ambinder wrote it on Friday), but I think it’s especially relevant in light of this (via Steve Benen):
Democratic Party committees entered an off-year election with more money in the bank than their Republican counterparts for the first time in at least 18 years, giving the party a financial boost as it tries to stave off a surge by the opposition.
The Democratic National Committee and the fundraising arms of House and Senate Democrats reported $37.9 million in the bank as of Dec. 31, almost double the $19.4 million the Republicans had, Federal Election Commission filings show.
Part of the impact of Citizens United may be to blunt, or frankly overwhelm, any Democratic financial advantage in 2010. So there’s no doubt the decision helps Republicans politically, unless Democrats can find a way to take advantage of the optics of the decision.
They need to hammer home the foreign corporations angle, IMHO.
When God sends you a shitty SCOTUS decision…Post + Comments (86)