Big Tent Party!

Not.

This is really good news. It will convince the GOP to go full wingnut in 2010, setting themselves up for epic fail in 2012.

One in Ev'ry Crowd.

Wingnuts have been blessedly silent re: the repeal of the HIV/AIDS travel ban.

Not all, of course.

Big-time blogger Steve Gilbert of Sweetness & Light -- who is not, I am sure, paranoid -- sees Obama's angle:

Ever wonder why it is so important for Mr. Obama and the Democrats to stop insurance companies from ‘discriminating’ against prior conditions?

Well, sure! I mean, pre-existing conditions are sometimes a bit ridiculous...

WRONG ANSWER! Gilbert's commenters hear the dog whistle loud 'n' clear:

Liberals Demise

October 30, 2009 at 2:37 pm

Muslims and illegals to the left; HIV positive spreaders to the right.
The sickness from this regime is “Out of Control!”
Will they get free gubbamint health care too?

Right of the People

October 30, 2009 at 2:48 pm

Like they used to say back in the early 90s, “Got Aids Yet?”
This is right up there when Jemmy let Fidel empty his jails and insane asylums and send them here. The Won™ probably has some distant family members from back in the old country who couldn’t get a visa to visit. After all, the Dark Continent is where this sh*t started.

proreason

October 30, 2009 at 2:57 pm

Great. Now we will have thousands of HIV Apple Seeds infecting the country.
How many people does each HIV victim infect?
How racist of me. These new voters, of course, will be very careful to protect our countrymen. Obamy will insist on it.
But lets just say, for grins, that each one infects 5 others, and those infect 4 each and those infect 3 each and those infect 2 each and those infect 1 each. And that the cost to treat each is $100,000 (it’s more like 1,000,000), and that a mere 1000 will get into the country (it will be more like 10,000 per year), and of course, that TAXPAYERS will pay for everything.
The cost of those outrageously understated assumptions is 12 Billion a year.
Redistribution.
Isn’t it wonderful.

Jesus. I haven't seen such humanitarians since Althouse's comment section.

Joke?

Obama exploited the troops by greeting the dead at Dover Air Force Base. BUSH LOVES THE TROOPS!!1!!

That was the wingtard reaction to this post.

Like fish in a barrel.

Shocker.

Putz seems to think an endorsement from this self-loathing prick is significant.

GAY PATRIOT endorses Doug Hoffman.

Hoffman, by the way, is a real moderate on gay marriage. He against it, naturally, but allows, "I don't want to persecute anyone."

Generous!

Several Readers Have Asked Me To Comment on Caritas in Veritate.

Odd.

Several readers have asked me to predict the outcome of this world series.

Methinks someone is out of her element.

Hehindeedy!

From Ezra Klein's chat on WaPo.com:

Atlanta, Ga.: Any individual mandate requirement (to buy health insurance) should be inviting a court challenge. "Health Care" is not mentioned under Congress's enumerated powers in the Constitution. Some liken the mandate requirement to that of car insurance, but you could always opt not to drive a car. What next, Congress will demand we buy a Chevy to sustain bailed-out GM?

Ezra Klein: Or they'll demand we buy car insurance if we drive a car? Or abide by laws? Or pay taxes. SOMEONE CALL JOHN GALT!

RedState to Shep Smith: You're Not Gay, Are You?

A couple of days ago, Shep Smith apologized for the "lack of balance" during a FOX segment on the NJ governor's race.

It was a nice moment.

Today's response from Erick Erickson is, well, curious:

This is just silly. The Corzine team won't sit for an interview with Fox, so Shep Smith thinks they should not have interviewed Christie. Too much time in piano bars will cause you to lose your mind I guess.

What? Piano bars? What? Whatever could could Mr. Erickson be referring to?

Presumably this:

Smith once chatted me up in a New York City gay piano bar, bought me drinks, and invited me back to his place. When I declined, he asked me to dinner the next night, another invitation I politely refused.

We sat at the bar chatting and drinking martinis until 3 a.m., our conversation interrupted only when he paused to belt out the lyrics to whatever showtune was being performed.

Ah. So RedState's position is, I guess, that only a homosexual would traffic in balanced reporting.

...This comment from a RedState reader is priceless:

Shep Smith lost all credibility standing on the bridge with the dead body in NO during Katrina bemoaning and whining that no seemed to be doing anything about the dead body. Hey Shep, put it in your trunk and take it to Costco and put it in their produce cooler.

Shorter George W. Bush: I support the troops...

...I just don't like gettin' up early.

Hmm.

From an online bio of wingnut columnist and "political consultant" Nathan Tabor:

Nathan Tabor consulted with North Carolina Senator Fred Smith and worked as the director of internet outreach for Congressman Duncan Hunter's presidential campaign. Additionally, Tabor has worked for Jim Oberweis in his campaign for governor of Illinois in 2006, and Jeff Crank, who ran for Congress in Colorado.

Let's see...what did those four campaigns have in common?

This guy makes Bob Shrum look like a golden horseshoe wielded by a magical wish-granting pony.

El Rushbo still thinks Donovan McNabb is overrated.

Quoth the drug-addicted sex tourist.

Of course, Goodell's a total weasel. He had no answer about the Dolphins' owners so wouldn't even address the question, and he got on his high horse about how McNabb is a fine player and a fine person and it has nothing to do with the color of his skin, when I (a) never said he was not a fine person; (b) never said he was a bad QB -- just that he was overrated (which no one should deny); and (c) said the MEDIA was obsessed with the color of his skin (which is also undeniable), not that I was.

McNabb currently has over 30,000 career yards passing, 3000 yards rushing, 200 TD passes, and 27 rushing TDs. And he's a 5-time Pro Bowl selection. And he holds several NFL records.

In other words, he's headed to the Hall of Fame.

More spot-on analysis from El Rushbo.

Starbursts!

Even money this incurs the wrath of Cole by lunch.



Also: Ew?

...Damn.

The Human Garbage Index.

1. Joe Lieberman (+5)
2. Maggie Gallagher (+2)
3. Rod Dreher (-1)
4. Roger L. Simon (-1)
5. Olympia Snowe (+12)
6. Martin Peretz (No change)
7. Kathryn Jean Lopez (-1)
8. Ann Althouse (+4)
9. Lambert (+1)
10. Bonnie Erbe (-3)

(HGI will be updated on weekly basis, unless Maggie Gallagher eats it.)

Everyone still hates Republicans.

And Palin fares no better.

No, seriously, is this a fucking joke?

I have lost all ability to differentiate between earnest commentary and satire thanks to Ian Robinson's "Right Wing Women Rock."

The only sensible footwear you'll find in a right-wing woman's closet are the Nike cross-trainers that go with her gym membership.

Everything else has a three-inch heel. Minimum. Left-wing drabs recycle. Right-wing women shop.

A right-wing woman hits the gym, swings past Sobey's and has dinner on the table by the time you get home ... while her left-wing counterpart is still stuck in traffic listening to Sarah McLachlan on her iPod and feeling morally superior about her carrot choices. And when that plate of food is put in front of you by the right-wing hottie you had the good sense to marry, it will be 100% tofu-free. If you're lucky, she just remembered to buy steak and forgot about the carrot entirely.

The good thing is, I can't imagine this getting any worse!

And in case you're not convinced, to indicate the utter superiority of the right-wing woman over the left-wing variant ... just turn on The View. The left has Joy Behar and Whoopi Goldberg. We've got Elisabeth Hasselbeck.

Checkmate.

Uh. Well, I, uh, guess I never thought of it that way. Perhaps my deep, deep skepticism about anyone who is sexually aroused by Elizabeth Hasselbeck prevents me from seeing your point. Great argument, though! She may sound like a pageant contestant who suffered repeated head injuries, but's she's way hotter,* which makes her way better!

*(As long as one finds leather muppets attractive. I mean, if you're whole point is that she's "sexy" and therefore Better, at least pick someone who doesn't look like an old catcher's mitt to make your idiotic point.)

Ringing endorsements

Intellectual Chernobyl brings us the musings of shaved ape and dessert aficionado Lisa De Pasquale ("Next Generation of Conservative Leaders Line Up for Hoffman") on the special election in NY-23. The contest features a Democrat, a Republican, and "Conservative Party" candidate Doug Hoffman.

Who are the New Generation of leaders lining up to throw their weight behind this gallant conservative warrior?

Hoffman has received strong endorsements from former elected leaders like Sarah Palin, Dick Armey, Fred Thompson and Steve Forbes.

Jesus H. Tap Dancing Christ on a pony, if that is the next generation of up-and-coming conservative leaders the party might want to consider blowing its brains out. But are any incumbent Republicans willing to speak up for Hoffman and the forces of good?

One of the first elected officials to endorse Hoffman was Representative Michele Bachmann of Minnesota.

I just pooped a little.

Shorter Nathan Tabor

Man, it sure is hard to be a Christian, the most oppressed of all major religions!


(Thanks, S,N! We too are aware of all internet traditions)

The Frum-Hewitt catfight is getting good.

Frum:

I should have thought that a man who dispenses the kind of violent language Hugh Hewitt dispensed throughout the interview – accusations of cowardice, accusations of misrepresentation, accusations of slander, etc. etc. - would have had the toughness to withstand a little gentle teasing. But no. On the radio, it seems, the tolerance for criticism goes only one way: the host may vilify anyone and everyone in the most extreme language. But one little spoof against the host, and it’s like you slapped a baby.

Of course. That's the way it is with all bullies, David.

Prescient.

"It may take years, or even decades, for Democrats to relearn the lessons we thought, naively, they had learned for good under Clinton. But one day, Joe Lieberman's warnings in this campaign will look prophetic. And the principles he has espoused will once again guide the Democratic Party. It will be the work of this magazine, to whatever small degree possible, to hasten that day."

-- The New Republic, January 19, 2004, "Our Choice"

Chimpy gives a speech.

If this had been in Austin and not Ft. Worth, I'd have plunked down my $4.95 to witness it.

More Althouse Putziness.

Althouse links to footage of Barney Frank reaming Ralph Nader. She says:

the internet is abuzz with that other quotable word-string: "We are trying on every front to increase the role of government."

ZOMG creeping socialism, right?

Well, no. Althouse -- perhaps by accident! -- left off the rest of Frank's sentence: "in the regulatory area."

Now, even a crypto-conservative like Althouse probably isn't against increased financial regulation.

So: She recently issued a correction record after some prompting. Perhaps she'll do it again?

Hugh Hewitt's Skin is So Thin He's Transparent.

It's not clear why David Frum continues to sit for interviews with Hugh Hewitt -- who is craaaazy -- but I'm grateful he does because this is entertaining:

HH: I am…wait a minute. I’m not…Mark Levin is my friend. I have practiced law alongside of Mark Levin for 25 years. He is an extraordinary intellect…
DF: Well, I wouldn’t go as far as that.
HH: He is a very principled lawyer. Well, on what basis? How do you slander Mark Levin? On what basis?
DF: How did I…sorry, I’m saying I wouldn’t go quite as far as you just did, but go ahead.
HH: What would you say about him? He is an accomplished lawyer. Are you a lawyer, David Frum?
DF: Well, I graduated from a law school.
HH: And did you pass the Bar?
DF: I didn’t ride the Bar.
HH: You never sat for the Bar?
DF: No.
HH: Then on what basis do you get off and attack Levin’s legal credentials then?
DF: You know, Hugh, I didn’t attack his legal credentials. I just wouldn’t go as far as you said, that he was an extraordinary intellect. I wouldn’t go as far as that.

Heh. He said "get off."

Sad.

Outsourcing whambulance duty to Mr. McArdle:

PETER SUDERMAN: Why Won’t The Public Option Die?

Short answer: People seem to like it, you flaming asshole.

This bit is simply delightful: "This may simply be a way for Democratic leaders to appease the liberal base. But it also might be a serious attempt at passing a bill with a public option."

Check out the big brain on Brett Brad!*

*I was right the first time. He says Brad, even though the character's name is Brett.

And after all those Tea Parties.

I'll take "Totally Impotent Political Movements" for $200, Alex.

Krugman:

...the teabaggers have come and gone, as have the cries of “death panels” and the demonstrations by Medicare recipients demanding that the government stay out of health care. And reform is still on track. Right now it looks highly likely that Congress will, indeed, send a health care bill to the president’s desk.

This is Getting to Be a Bit Much.

Putz:

SARAH PALIN as Eleanor Roosevelt.

Mrs. Roosevelt once said:

I believe that anyone can conquer fear by doing the things he fears to do, provided he keeps doing them until he gets a record of successful experience behind him.

Even if you change the gender, that still doesn't describe a lady who quit her last gig halfway through.

Full metal stupid.

Hitler was good at speeches. Obama is good at speeches.

Ergo, Obama=Hitler.

Oh Dear.

Via Putz, BLACKFIVE -- a site best known for advocating the killing of children during wartime -- has written an open letter to Obama.

I hope the White House give this all the attention it deserves

/haha

Dept. of Soft Bigotry.

Jonah Goldberg:

Fox is a lot closer to the New Republic than to the Scientologists when it comes to breaking stories.

Um, okay.

Laura Ingraham: Dick Cheney is very popular!

This shit may have flown in '05, '06, or even '06 -- even though it wasn't true -- but 2009?

Really, Laura?

George Will likes Michelle Bachmann.

When even the 'polite' village Republicans like Will are writing love letters to objectively crazy bomb-throwers like Bachmann, does anyone wonder why the GOP is in the toilet?

Some of her supposed excesses are, however, not merely defensible, they are admirable.

Keep right on heading off that cliff, Republicans.

Tweety smacks NY Conservative Party chair around.

TS Out.

However, before I hit the road, please note the newest member of our illustrious blogroll family, Barrett Brown. He's a terribly talented writer and seems to abhor Stacy McCain as much as we do.

Also, I'm guessing he's the only author to be blurbed by both Alan Dershowitz and Cenk Uyger.

Consider him a brother and a fellow traveler.

How the Mighty Have Fallen.

Apparently, former Times reporter Judith Miller wasn't sufficiently embarrassed by her keynote appearance at the Pajamas Media launch party.

For unfathomable reasons, the Pulitzer winner consented to an interview by Bill Whittle on PJTV -- a low-rent operation with an audience perhaps in the millions thousands hundreds. (PJTV refuses to divulge traffic stats.)

Yikes. Whittle is fruit loops. I think we can all be grateful that he hasn't gotten his "virtual city-state", Ejectia!, off the ground.

From the hallowed halls of the Times to this: Sure, there are second acts in American lives, but sometimes -- as Judith Miller demonstrates -- that's a mixed blessing.

Your Friday Nooners.

Friday just wouldn't be Friday without Nooners applying radically different standards to Republicans and Democrats.

El Oh El.

Putz on the Obama White House:

"They recognize no barriers."

After 8 years of Bush, what finally convinced Putz to give a shit about Executive Branch overreach?

A push for health-care reform.

What happened to the guy who said that if Bush wanted to "nuke Baghdad, there is nobody to say him nay -- and damned few who would want to"?

Former President or Former Dallas Cowboy?

If I told you someone was giving a 20-minute speech at a Fort Worth, TX seminar by a group called "Get Motivated!, Inc." would you think:

A. Retired former Dallas Cowboys linebacker Tom "Hollywood" Henderson
B. Retired former Texas Rangers third baseman Dean Palmer
C. Retired former San Antonio Spurs center Will Perdue
D. The 43rd President of the United States of America

Sure, it SOUNDS like the kind of shitty "motivational" business crap that ex-jocks do ("Today I want to talk to you about leadership, because every team needs a good leader in the huddle!"). But you're wrong. It is what the 43rd President of the most powerful nation on Earth is doing. Soon appearing at an airport Radisson near you.

TEAPARTY!

Behold the awesome power of the Teabaggers.

Personal responsibility update.

Shorter GOP elected officials: Rush and Glenn ate our homework.

I'm on the edge of my seat

With all due respect to Sadly, No!

Shorter Robert Knight: "Lifting the Ban Would Do a Rank Disservice"

How are we supposed to kill people if there are faggots everywhere?


(Sorry, S,N! We too are aware of all internet traditions)

Paging Dr. Freud.

Matt Lewis:

If Obama is going to be tough to beat, the question becomes almost a philosophical one: If you’re going to lose anyway, is it better to lose atop the horse you really want to ride?

The horse in question is Sarah Palin.

The Most Anticipated Book Since Dog Days.

This, from Publishers Weekly, has to be a joke.

I'd love to know the logistics. A gal who can't write is expected to produce a book for an audience that can't read?

Anyway, I look forward to the book tour and the inevitable Hugh Hewitt appearance.

Oh, Mark Steyn. You're the Ziggy of journalism.

10/21/09: Mark Steyn is outraged that anyone could oppose background checks for "welfare" recipients. It's just a simple background check that any government agency could feasibly do.

5/29/07: Mark Steyn is outraged that anyone thinks background checks by immigration officials will be sufficient to keep out colored people immigrants with criminal records. How can we expect a government agency to conduct meaningful background checks on so many people?

Insert comedic foghorn here.

Cut and paste

Make your own Megan McArdle piece. Bring the kids - it's fun and easy for ages 5 and up.

Senator Al Franken!

Beautiful.

Why Authors Hate Book Tours.

Richard Dawkins in an interview with Hugh Hewitt:

HH: I think you understand what I’m saying, and you’re saying no, you don’t believe that, that it would not in fact fit that, a giant…for example, have you read the Harry Potter novels?
RD: No.
HH: Do you read any fiction at all?
RD: Of course.
HH: What’s the most complicated bit of fiction you’ve read? Like War and Peace?
RD: Yeah, what’s your point? What point are you making?

TEAPARTY!

Still not working.

Eventually, the GOP will figure out that all this Teabagging is counterproductive. Then again, maybe they won't.

Shock. Awe. Etc.

Try to act really, really surprised that this guy...



...erupts in rage when Meghan McCain shows some titty. There's a reason Ben's high school classmates voted him "Most Likely to Become a Tenth-String Right Wing Columnist and Possibly Rape Someone."

(Via S,N!)

Kay Graham Would Not Be Pleased.

A while back, Sally Quinn made the Catholic League's Bill Donohue very angry . Was Donohue's "On Faith" piece yesterday -- in which he blamed homosexuals and atheists for the fall of western civilization -- part of a kiss-and-make-up quid pro quo?

I really hope so, because otherwise I might just question the Post's editorial judgment, which is historically impeccable.

Here, friends, are a few sentences The Washington Post has seen fit to legitimize:

-- "Sexual libertines, from the Marquis de Sade to radical gay activists, have sought to pervert society by acting out on their own perversions. What motivates them most of all is a pathological hatred of Christianity."

-- "From banning nativity scenes to punishing little kids for painting a picture of Jesus, the zealots [the ACLU] give Fidel a good run for his money."

-- "Catholics were once the mainstay of the Democratic Party; now the gay activists are in charge."

-- "The culture war is up for grabs. The good news is that religious conservatives continue to breed like rabbits, while secular saboteurs have shut down: they're too busy walking their dogs, going to bathhouses and aborting their kids."

Feel free to write Jon Meacham, one of folks responsible for the section, here. Be nice.

Or not.

Pajama Putziness.

While refuting an assertion no one is making -- that conservatism is akin to Nazism -- Pajamas Media concurrently compares the White House to Nazis.

Like the great Annie Savoy once said, "The world is made for people who aren't cursed with self awareness."

Guaranteed Suckage.

I'd like to have been a fly on the wall during that editorial meeting.
 
"Hey, you know who'd make Dennis look funny and smart?"

Richard Miniter AWOL! Hehindeedy!

Where is Richard Miniter? His current employer won't say.

It's not the first time his behavior has been a bit erratic. A while back he sued Regnery -- a hack outfit that was kind enough to publish his work.

Now he's not showing up for work at the only paper corrupt enough to hire him? Ingrate!

For the past few months, Washington Times staffers have been asking one another: Where’s Richard Miniter?

Miniter, who came aboard in March to run the editorial pages—and remains on the newspaper’s masthead today—hasn’t been seen much around the Times’ offices since July, according to staffers.

My guess is he ate himself to death.

Oy.

Dexter Filkins:

The Taliban, measured by the number of their attacks, are stronger than at any time since the Americans toppled their government at the end of 2001.

Putz, April 2004:

IN THE AFTERMATH OF THE 9/11 COMMISSION HEARINGS, this alternative history by Gregg Easterbrook is interesting. What if Bush had taken decisive action against Osama and the Taliban before 9/11?

Take This Red Book and Shove It, Wingnuts.

I see the wingnuts are having a collective ragegasm because heretofore unknown White House flack Anita Dunn favorably quoted Mao.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't there a certain Republican candidate for president who did the same -- three times?

McCain on a blogger conference call:

The WWS: "How you doin' Senator?"

McCain: "You know Michael, in the words of Chairman Mao, it's always darkest before it's totally black...(laughing)

McCain in New Hampshire:

Despite the meltdown of his near-bankrupt campaign, McCain showed no outward signs of despair--not even when one reporter impishly asked him whether we have a better chance of winning in Iraq than he does at winning the nomination. I braced for a flash of McCain's famous temper, but instead he just chuckled. "In the words of Chairman Mao, it's always darkest before it's black," McCain cracked.

McCain on Letterman:

"I think we had some difficulties and righted the ship," McCain told Letterman. "For a while there, I was reminded of the words of Chairman Mao, who said it's always darkest before it's totally black."

Please find me a single wingnut who chastised McCain for this. Please?

BT adds...

It's actually 4 times. Including last week.

ctrl+alt+retarded

A little known fact about McTardle is that she is a robot. Unfortunately her OS is based on Vista and it occasionally restarts in the middle of a task. That is the only possible explanation for stopping in the middle of a book review to recite faux-libertarian talking points. After making a few decent albeit simplistic points that are actually about the book - for example, if everyone adopted this theory of consumptive asceticism then the waste which fuels the second-hand shopper's lifestyle would disappear - before having a firmware error and restarting in Dipshit Mode:

True, barring huge advances in energy technology, the current American lifestyle is unsustainable. But it doesn’t really follow that we should therefore turn into a nation of Dumpster divers. Rather, it suggests that we’ve got the prices wrong. We should be taxing carbon, pesticide overuse and other excesses that push the costs of our consumption onto others. But once things are priced properly, there’s nothing particularly admirable in refusing to spend money you can spare.

That's fuckin' fascinating, Megs. Now back to the book...

Just. Stay. Down.

The Roasters came back hard. I thought all was lost. However...

Re-raise!

That, my friend, is a libertarian cruise, promoted last month in The Liberator.

Fold now.

NFL = National Federation of Liberals

Mmm-hmm.

Meanwhile, Cole has predictably good reaction as well.

This Will Fail.

Rush shall overcome.

Putz makes a funny:

LIMBAUGH FANS STARTING A punt the NFL campaign? “I have cancelled my DirecTV NFL Sunday Ticket package (including the Supercast). I will not watch ONE MINUTE of NFL games or coverage this season—including the Super Bowl.”

This boycott will undoubtedly be every bit as successful is the previous boycott -- of Dunkin' Donuts, which recently opened its 15,000th store, and Google, which is, you know, doing okay.

Rumproast Ups the Ante.

Am I ready to fold? Uh, no. I raise you ... the NewsMax Cruise!

If ever there was a ship in want of an iceberg! Sure, Ralph Reed and Christopher Ruddy would be more than enough -- dayenu! -- but no, these cruisers get to sail the high seas with none other than Bob Grant!

Be honest. You thought the noted racist pirate was dead.

I guess what I'm say is, Roasters, you should fold now and spare yourself further embarrassment.

Wingnut Poker.

Ms. Cracker, I'll see your Keyes and Kreep and raise you...

National Review: Rush Limbaugh=Martin Luther King Jr.

The Corner:

In the 1970s, I went to a highly integrated, all-boys high school (Cardinal Hayes) in the Bronx. It was one of the best experiences in my life, and I had great friendships with all manner of guys, because from the first day they treated us like we were all "Hayesmen" — not white guys, black guys, Spanish guys, Chinese guys, etc. We were encouraged to see each other as peers, not tribesmen. Of course there was intra-group affinity along ethnic and racial lines — there always is. But there wasn't a lot of tension. There was some — again, there always is — but there was no special treatment and no pressure for enforced separateness. We laughed at each other's expense (ethnic and racial jokes were not cause for banishment from society back then) and competed on a level playing field of merit. Everyone was treated like he belonged, if you did something good it was yours, and if you screwed up it was on you, not your heritage.

That's how Rush treats people — in the Martin Luther King aspiration that the content of one's character is what matters, not the color of one's skin. Yet, in the media narrative, he's somehow the one who's got a race issue — and the guys who trade on race, live and breathe it 24/7, are held up as our public conscience. The Left calls this "progress." I call it perversion.

Sure, it's disgraceful to compare a hedonistic, racist junkie to King, but it also represents progress. Here's what National Review used to say about Dr. King:

"For years now, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King and his associates have been deliberately undermining the foundations of internal order in this country. With their rabble-rousing demagoguery, they have been cracking the “cake of custom” that holds us together. With their doctrine of “civil disobedience,” they have been teaching hundreds of thousands of Negroes — particularly the adolescents and the children — that it is perfectly alright to break the law and defy constituted authority if you are a Negro-with-a-grievance; in protest against injustice. And they have done more than talk. They have on occasion after occasion, in almost every part of the country, called out their mobs on the streets, promoted “school strikes,” sit-ins, lie-ins, in explicit violation of the law and in explicit defiance of the public authority. They have taught anarchy and chaos by word and deed — and, no doubt, with the best of intentions — and they have found apt pupils everywhere, with intentions not of the best. Sow the wind, and reap the whirlwind."

Maybe He Should Ask His New Colleague, Hugh Hewitt, How He Feels About DOMA and DADT...

I know John is unhappy with Obama, but I just don't see the upside in appearing on Pajamas Media.

Who is John hoping to reach? PJTV commands no respect or -- outside of Putz links -- traffic. Is he really hoping to win over teabaggers?

Conservatives furious that private industry is acting in its best interest.

I find the wingnut response to Limbaugh's laughable attempt to buy an NFL franchize, well, laughable.

No one has an inherent right to own an NFL franchise. It's a private club and a multi-billion dollar business. A mutli-billion dollar business that's driven largely by PR. And businesses that are heavily invested in their image don't typically like having loudmouthed unpopular assholes who say lots of offensive things on a regular basis associated with them.

But the Anchor Baby's take? Rush is a victim!

The apocalyptic hysteria over Rush Limbaugh’s interest in buying an NFL team is yet another stark reminder of the limits (and double standards) of left-wing tolerance.

Now I'm willing to bet a lot of money that the vast majority of NFL owners are not "left-wing." They alone will decide if having the drug addicted college dropout sex tourist as one of them is in their best business interests. If it is, he'll get the Rams. If it's not, he won't.

It's that simple.

Memo to GOP: Susan B. Anthony would not be a Republican today.

Someone should tell MC Steele that the GOP of 2009 barely resembles the GOP of 1979, let alone 1879.

Fun with Urban Dictionary.

This definition of "Teabagger" is pretty good.

A republican who: 1. Protests taxation WITH representation (just because you disagree with it, doesn't mean it doesn't exist) 2. Thinks colonial Americans were prophetic, just because they lived during an earlier time period 3. Falsely claims that the 2009 Teabagging Festival was "bipartisan" 4. Agrees with Joe the Plumber on most major issues 5. Agrees with Glenn Beck, but can't explain exactly what he or they stand for 6. Doesn't understand Constitutional law 7. Doesn't understand what democracy is 8. Blindly uses the words "socialism" and "communism" without knowing what the fuck they mean 9. claims not to be a republican 10. Criticizes democrats, even though their own party has been in office for the past 8 years 11. Thinks the GOP needs to be "more conservative" to get more votes 12. Will listen to every high school dropout before hearing the opinion of ONE intellectual 13. Believes that Fox News is "fair and balanced" 14. Claims to be independent, but certainly doesn't have any liberal beliefs, and listens to guest speakers from the CPAC conference 15. Is a closet anarchist/Paultard 16. Thrives on a mob mentality 17. Prides himself/herself on doing everything he/she has made fun of when Bush was in office 18. Says things like "Where's MY bailout" without understanding how the economy works 19. Like Glenn Beck, has an extremely high word-to-meaning ratio 20. Uses TONS of words from the GOPAC memos of 1990 21. Thinks Russia is still a "threat" to the U.S. 22. Thinks China is still a "threat" to the U.S. 23. Thinks Cuba is still a "threat" to the U.S. 24. Thinks Europeans hate living in Europe 25. Doesn't believe Obama's actual birth certificate is real, but has no problems with McCain's ties to the Iran-Contra Affair or the Keating Five 26. Would rather have the GOP tell them which hole they can put their own DICK into, than raise taxes on the wealthiest Americans from 36% to 39% 27. Doesn't realize that they actually benefit from the stimulus package 28. Is only teabagging because Sean Hannity told them to 29. Says they like books by Ayn Rand, but cannot correctly pronounce her name 30. Gets their information from Rush Limbaugh, Fox News, Google searches, YouTube videos, partisan blogs, and Wikipedia "No taxation without representation!" --"Um, wasn't Barack Obama DEMOCRATICALLY ELECTED?" "Well, yeah..." --"And didn't he win fair and square?" "Well, ACORN..." --"Where did you learn about ACORN?" "Um, Michael Savage said..." --"Didn't Michael Savage also say that most autistic children are just 'putzes' who need to shut up?" "Yeah, but..." --"And how's the stock market doing today?" "It's soaring." :( --"It is, isn't it?" "Yeah." --"Now what did you learn?" "Don't be a teabagger on national TV until I have proof that Obama's economic policy has actually done some damage." --"That's right, and it hasn't yet, has it?" "No." :'(

Bill Maher, Crazy or Stupid?

I've always been fond of Bill Maher. So I'm disappointed to learn he's an idiot.

The talk show host Bill Maher is best known for his pointed political commentary. But lately he has been dispensing surprisingly unscientific medical advice about flu and the vaccine that prevents it. Mr. Maher recently told his Twitter followers that people who get flu shots are “idiots.” On his Friday HBO show “Real Time With Bill Maher,” he explained his opposition to the flu vaccine during an interview with Bill Frist, a heart surgeon who was a Republican senator from Tennessee.
Mr. Maher questioned letting someone stick “a disease into your arm,” wrongly implying that the flu shot contains a live virus. The flu shot is a killed vaccine. (Only the nasal mist vaccine contains a weakened live virus.)

He said he did not believe that healthy people were vulnerable to dying from the new H1N1 virus. This contradicts statements from the World Health Organization and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that young, healthy people from ages 5 to 24 appear particularly vulnerable to this flu. About a third of the 76 children who have died of H1N1 since April have had no underlying health problems.

This is Alex Jones-level crazy.

Dept. of Generalissimo Francisco Franco is Still Dead.

This has to be a joke, right? Michael Ledeen:

Dear god.

Sure, if Ledeen keeps reporting that Khamenei is dead, odds are he'll one day be right!

What are they smoking at The Nation?

It's "whining" to call Fixed Noise a partisan outfit? Really?

Beating a dead horse

Not to belabor yesterday's rant about the stupidity of McTardle, but there is some gold in the follow-up comments from her site.

After several commenters note the fundamental flaws in her argument (note to bloggers: it's always a good sign when the first five comments are all pointing out factual errors in your post) McTardle cites a particular CBO report to justify her argument that Medicare/Medicaid make costs increase faster than private insurance. Quote from page 16 of said report, after an explanation of the data and methodology:

Consequently, the differences in excess cost growth between Medicare, Medicaid, and other health care spending should not be interpreted as meaning that Medicare or Medicaid is less able to control spending than private insurers.

But it's much more convincing if you ignore that part and cherry pick something that supports your recycled faux-libertarian bullshit talking points argument!

Charles Johnson, DFH.

Charles Johnson is the Arlen Specter of the blogosphere. I don't mean this derisively. Once blind, Specter may well be the bastard son of Wade Boggs and Ted Williams, happily supporting a "robust public option."

As for Johnson, well, these guys have been monitoring the ex-jazzman for well-nigh six years. That is a long time!

So, even though Johnson's split with the wingnuts has been well-chronicled, it's still a tad disorienting to see him adopting one of the reality-based community's most cherished googlebombs.

Odd, yes. Weird, yes! But at the same time, kinda delightful!

Althouse Putziness.

Here's a Politicker headline:

Here's Althouse's response:

What an inaccurate headline!

Clinton, who lost the Democratic presidential nomination to Barack Obama, said "No" three different times when asked by NBC's Ann Curry "Will you ever run for president again? Yes or No?"

"This is a great job," Clinton said in the interview broadcast Monday. "It is a 24-7 job. And I am looking forward to retirement at some point."

That's not "no." Does that count as one of the "three different times"? When the question even includes a "yes or no" prompt and there's no "yes/no" then that means it's not not no or yes.

Excitable! Here's the actual exchange with Curry:

"Will you ever run for president again? Yes or no," Curry asked.

"No," replied Clinton.

"No?" Curry followed up.

"No. No," Clinton emphasized. "I mean, this is a great job. It is a 24/7 job. And I'm looking forward to retirement at some point."

Perhaps the congenitally incurious Althouse will run a correction. Even she does, though, she'll blame her kneejerk wankery on CNN. She will not, I predict, explain her inability to use that terribly complicated thing called The Google.



UPDATE

BT adds...

OMG THAT NOBEL IS GOING TO MAKE EVERYONE HATE OBAMA!

Nope.

Barack Obama appears to have gotten a slight bounce in support after he was announced as the Nobel Peace Prize winner on Friday. His 56% job approval rating for the last two Gallup Daily tracking updates is up from a term-low 50% as recently as last week, and 53% in the three days before the Nobel winner was announced.

When was the last time wingnuts were right about something?

This video is for Glenn Reynolds.

Because he was one of the wingnuts happily running with the RNC's "no confidence meme" too.




Suck on this, Putz.

Dept. of Play-Doh and Bacon.

Ross Douthat is taking a lot of crap -- all of it justified -- for his latest column.

Bravo to Megan Garber, who notes that among Douthat's other deficiencies, his use of the words "messianic hoo-ha" betrays a lack of familiarity with anatomical slang.

Douthat is famously wise-beyond-his-years; but he is, apparently, unaware of the modern meaning of that word.

Oops.

At this point, I find Douthat's ignorance of the female body less than charming -- given that, like most social conservatives, he believes he has some dominion in that area.

Rick Perry plays death penalty CYA.

I'm rather used to seeing unhinged behavior from Texas Republicans. But I must confess: I've never seen anything like this.

If this were a state with an actual legislature, Perry would be impeached over this.

McTarded

Megan McArdle really brings the retarded to an extent which could only be described as retarded in this piece about "Why Medicare Costs are Growing Faster than other Healthcare."

One of the commenters offered a retort that I've seen in a bunch of places: "Of course Medicare is growing faster! It cares for a sicker population!"

It's a common intuition, but it's wrong. Consider a simple model of a population with two groups: young and old. Assume that the old consume five times as much of an undifferentiated good, healthcare, as the young do, and that each unit costs $2,000. So the oung cost us $2,000 apiece per year, and the old cost us $10K. Now assume that the cost of healthcare in each group grows at 10% a year. At the end of five years, each young person will cost us $3,221 and each old person will cost us $16,105 - or exactly five times as much as a young person.

First of all, Megan reminds us yet again that there's no good reason to look up facts when you can just make up a hypothetical. Eight seconds of Google research would have shown that her entire premise is made of stupid and wrong.

Second, the CBO report on which she bases her entire argument that Medicare/Medicaid are growing faster than private insurance explicitly says that it shouldn't be used to say Medicare/Medicaid are growing faster then private insurance. Megan, you so bad! The sign says "No Loitering" but you loiter anyway!

Third, look at the fucking math she feels compelled to show us. "Assume" that the old consume five times as much healthcare as the young. If each grows by 10%, after five years the old will consume five times as much healthcare as the young. Watch Megan's neurons fire wildly in an effort to understand multiplication. In other news, if Megan is twice as stupid as Jonah Goldberg and they each double their stupid over the next year, Megan will be twice as stupid as Jonah Goldberg.

Fourth, way to pull a McArdle^tm by throwing in a $5 phrase like "an undifferentiated good" in an effort to sound smart and cover up the fact that she hasn't the slightest idea what in holy hell she's talking about.

Fifth, stay tuned for the Oscar-baiting biopic of Megan McArdle starring Tara Reid as a dull young girl who overcomes her childhood addiction to eating Elmer's glue and her own shit to become a Real Financial Journalist.

In conclusion, if we assume that the elderly use far more healthcare than the young and that their use increases at a faster rate, we can clearly see that the elderly use far more healthcare than the young and that their use increases at a faster rate.

TEAPARTY!

It really is a delight to see the teabaggers eat the GOP.

As organizers and activists see it, the Republican Party-backed candidates just aren't reliable enough, so Teabaggers are exerting their influence and deemphasizing the notion of a GOP congressional majority. "It's an outgrowth of the frustration people have had with the Republican Party," said Andrew Moylan, director of governmental affairs for the National Taxpayers Union, a group that has played a large role in organizing the tea party movement. "I think a lot of people have been angry at Republicans for betraying our trust."

RedState's Erick Erickson told Isenstadt that Tea Party activists should "put down the protest signs" and "start infiltrating the party," including staging takeovers of local Republican parties.

Now, the notion of hostilities between right-wing activists and really right-wing activists is, to a certain extent, entertaining. State and local Republican parties are already pretty unhinged -- pick a state GOP platform at random and read it -- but that's apparently insufficient.

That's what Putz thinks. The GOP lost in 2006 and 2008 because it wasn't wingnutty enough.

Good luck with that.

But political science isn't a science!

Indiana University political science professor wins Nobel Prize for economics.

That slightly moist smacking sound you hear is Tom Coburn licking our discipline's collective asshole.

Mr. Popularity

Rush Limbaugh being one of two dozen people in a proposed ownership group of the St. Louis Rams is enough for the league's black players to point out that they won't play for the man.

Gee, I wonder why. He's so popular and all.

Speaking of racist asshats...

...here's another one in Erickson's state.

Patrick Lanzo owns a restaurant in Paulding County, Georgia. His restaurant has a mannequin dressed as a Klansman. The sign out front says, "Obama's plan for health-care: nigger rig it."

Lovely.

Erick Erickson, still a racist asshat.

Classy!

And of course, the Anchor Baby linked.

Subtle

GOP Congressional candidate goes to gun range, takes target practice at a silhouette of Debbie Wasserman Schultz with "DWS" written on the head for good measure.

Oh, wait. Now I get it.

Dear Tom Coburn

Eat my ass.


Love,
Ed

And Yet Politico is Very Surprised!

Heh.

Sarah Palin stands ready to stump for the Republican gubernatorial candidates running in the two most closely-watched campaigns in the country this fall, but neither seems to want her help.

What's the world coming to, when nobody's beating down the door of a lady who couldn't get elected VP and quit her job?

So weird, right?

Obama wins Nobel Peace Prize

Commence wingnut pant-shitting in 3....2....1..........

This just in: people still hate Republicans. Still.

TEAPARTY!

Republicans get their lowest grades since Obama was elected on several measures:

• Voters disapprove 64 - 25 percent of the way Republicans in Congress are doing their job, with 42 percent of Republican voters disapproving;
• Only 29 percent think Republicans on Capitol Hill are acting in good faith;
• Voters trust Obama more than Republicans 47 - 31 percent to handle health care;
• Voters 53 - 25 percent have an unfavorable opinion of the Republican Party.

I really can't understand why 42% of Republicans disapprove of Republicans. They're voting party-line against everything Obama does, shouting him down when he addresses Congress, calling him a fascist, etc., etc.

I mean, what do they want?

Althouse's Sewage.

Andrew Sullivan observes what we've known for a while -- Althouse's comments section is unusually toxic.

Althouse, as is her wont, loses it:

What I don't do — and what Sullivan is wrong to infer — is monitor the hundreds of comments that come in every day. I don't systematically keep track of anything. Sometimes I read haphazardly, and I am a very busy person... a very busy person who is committed to free speech and to creating a place where people with different opinions can talk with/at each other.

Blah blah blah. That's terribly convenient! This, dear readers, was not always the SOP in La Casa de Althouse. Back in the day, in the wake of the Garance Franke-Ruta incident, Althouse told Daniel Drezner:

I moderate and delete really insulting comments on my blog.

Well, perhaps that was true then and, for some reason, not true now. Althouse is a very busy person!

Or maybe, in Althouse's mind, the suggestion that Sullivan "has had his fudge packed so tightly it has replaced what diseased grey matter may have once occupied is [sic] craniumon [sic]" is simply not terribly insulting.

JEB!

Always love it when a Bush lectures us about personal responsibility.

Daily update

Michael Gerson brings today's installment of the daily reminders that the GOP, in both the short- and long-term, is fucked.

Also, "evangelicals" won't tolerate foreigner bashing? Guh?

Return of the PUMA.

Expect this horribly written piece by Wendy Button to get lots of play today. (The Corner's already highlighting it.) It's largely jibberish, but she does have a cute bit of advice for "Congress and the president."

If Congress and the president want to fix health care, then it is time to start over. They need to look at what's worked and what has failed in Massachusetts. They are going to have to actually take former Gov. Sarah Palin's advice and "look north to the future." Who knew that would ever make sense?

Nobody, and for good reason! Palin wasn't discussing health care reform; she was talking about energy independence.

If Button's hack work seems familiar, there's good reason. She wrote the much-mocked piece in The Daily Beast in which she claimed that, despite her lifelong status as a Dem, she would be voting for McCain/Palin:

And when someone can sit on a stage during the Sarah Palin rap on Saturday Night Live, put her hands in the air and watch someone in a moose costume get shot—that’s a sign of both humor and humanity.

Jesus. I'm so looking forward to more sophisticated analysis of health care reform from this lady.

QOTD.

Karl Rove:

Passing health-care reform could be harmful to the health of congressional Democrats.

Hate to admit it, but now that Rove has been quarantined on the WSJ editorial page -- where he can't do any real harm -- he's a guilty pleasure.

What were you saying about Peak Wingnut?

I hate to play the oneupmanship game, but...HOLY SHITBALLS. Be sure to linger in the bottom right corner of the image where you can find comedy gold like "Liberal News Reporter" and the Supreme Court Justice who buries his head in his hands to avoid the gaze of Christ.

That would be Christ in the middle. You know, holding the Constitution.

Your move, TS.

This is Either Proof of a) the Singularity, b) Peak Wingnut or c) Both.

But we can all agree, I think, that this represents a low point of some kind?

When future historians wonder why a certain segment of the American public so eagerly believed that, say, Saddam Hussein possessed nuclear weapons or that Terri Schiavo could sing and dance, I do hope they remember this thread.

In retrospect, it all makes a lot of scary sense.

Christmas morning

The way these people are talking, there are going to be some sad little wingers the morning after the 2010 election.

Richard Cohen goes to the "winning just requires will" card.

Still totally unconvincing.

You think 8 years and two Bush wars would've taught these people something, but nope.

Hehindeedy!

Putz, nearly a year ago:

VIDEO: JOE THE PLUMBER weighs in on the debate. Can we vote for him?

[via]

Not Good Enough.

Sullivan links to Michelle Cottle's terrific piece on noted succubus Elizabeth McCaughey.

He adds:

"____"

Which is to say, nothing.

The last time he mentioned the piece he was still pretty high on it, and laughably asserted that, in fact, "TNR tried to rescue universal healthcare at the time."

Well, they had a funny way of going about it!

A little honesty would nice.

Admit it, TS. You're "Veronique de Rugy"

The moribund "Corner" at NRO Online has been enlivened over the last few months with the presence of one "Veronique de Rugy," a clearly pseudonymous writer whose sole purpose appears to be to one-up the stupidity of the other contributors and perform routine maintenance on the Dumbass machine. To "wit":

The New York Times claims that these new initiatives do not amount to another stimulus. I agree — it won't stimulate the economy. It never does. But one thing is certain: It amounts to more spending. For instance, the White House is considering giving employers a $3,000 tax credit for each new hire, or extending the always popular $8,000 tax credit for first-time homebuyers that was included in the $787 billion stimulus law because as we know, we need another housing bubble and more people buying houses they won't be able to afford.

And the National Review continues its consistent and long-standing opposition to tax credits for A) big business and B) homeowners.

Admit it, TS. This is you, isn't it? You've infiltrated The Machine, haven't you?

Contain Your Surprise.

No one could have predicted...

JONAH GOLDBERG defends Glenn Beck.

Of course he does. Incidentally, I'm not big on appropriating psychology terms, but this is as sad a case of projection as you'll see this week.

Michael Steele: the AMA has no credibility on health care.

Heee-larious.

"The AMA is — does not have the credibility on this healthcare issue, as they would like to project," Steele said on "Fox and Friends" Monday morning.

Whatever George Soros is paying Steele isn't enough.

Also, Kenny Gladney=Strom Thurmond Wasn't A Racist.

oy.

3 Americans win the Nobel Prize in Medicine, and I don't suppose that creates an occasion to talk about how our health care system might not be so terrible. Does it?

No.

Bobby Jindal makes a bunch of shit up.

I love the wingnut "what Americans clearly want" article, based on absolutely nothing.

The funny thing about this entry is Kenneth himself urges us to "believe the polls" -- which contradict everything he writes.

"Conservative Bible Project"

Conservapedia, the Phyllis Schlafly-funded trainwreck that brought us unicorns and vast oceans full of retarded, has launched a project to edit the godless socialist liberal Bible and create a "Conservative Bible."

My favorite part is that point #3 is "not dumbing down the reading level" of the Bible, noting that "the NIV is written at only the 7th grade level." Then point #10 is "preferring conciseness to the liberal style of high word-to-substance ratio; avoid compound negatives and unnecessary ambiguities."

So, don't dumb down the language. Just be sure that all the sentences are really short and easily comprehensible by people with minimal reading skills.

The WSJ funny pages

The Wall Street Journal brings us an editorial on the "looming threat" in Iran - and what we need to do about it - from...wait for it...John Fucking Bolton. Insert joke about asking Roman Polanski to babysit one's daughter here.

John Mackey, still a total prick.

It's one thing to put your foot in it. It's another thing to put the second one in.

I, for one, will not spend another dime at Whole Foods.

See How Not-Racist They Are? So Not-Racist!

Seems Janeane Garofalo made a "controversial" claim -- that teabaggers are pretty racist.

Whatever, right? Well, no.

WHY JANEANE GAROFALO’S COMMENTS ARE DANGEROUS.

The answer, you will be shocked to learn, is that black people have now been given license to riot.

The disaffected African-American youth in this country who are looking for any sort of reason to justify their anti-social behavior will latch onto such screeds as a defense.

Yes, apparently the words of a washed-up comedienne

will be used by those on the other side to justify any actions they take against the racists they see in their midst.

Any! Yes, this was just the excuse "the other side" -- wink, wink, cough, BLACK PEOPLE ARE TRAITORS -- needed!

I fully expect to see families of causasians swinging from trees, notes pinned to their fall season pea coats with the message "Janeane is cool with this."

Here, Let Me Set This Pile of Money on Fire.

One of Digby's extraordinary qualities is her generosity. There's probably not another big-time blogger who habitually throws so many links to smaller sites.

Here, however, her good will is misplaced.

No lie: I'll send a check to Operation Rescue before subsidizing Lambert's PUMA-humping nonsense.

Glenn Reynolds and other wingnuts: Yay! America lost!

Guess the "USA! USA! USA!" stuff is only good when a Republican is in charge.

Even Scarborough isn't amused.

Count me as one conservative who is disappointed that President Obama's hometown will not be hosting the 2012 Olympic Games.

Chicago is a beautiful city that would have made a perfect backdrop for the Olympics. The President was right to fly to Copenhagen to try to land the games, not for the sake of his city, but for the good of his country. The fact President Obama failed makes me respect him more for taking the chance, and the fact many right-wing figures opposed the President's mission shows just how narrow-minded partisanship makes us all. [...]

[W]hat we saw from some conservative corners regarding the President's failed Olympics bid was just plain stupid.

It really is Palin's party.

Step Away from the English Language, Wingnuts.

Sensing (correctly) that the term 'tea party' is doomed -- it is, at this point, to Earl Grey what santorum is to former senators from Pennsylvania -- noted intellectual John J. Miller has a great idea:


Intriguing! Just for the heck of it, though, let's consult my trusty copy of The New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English -- you know, just to ensure there's nothing potentially embarrassing about the idea...



Oops.

How inappropriate

Isn't it pathetic and horrible how the President of the United States is taking time away from his duties to pitch for the Olympics? Unprecedented, inappropriate, and flat-out disgusting.

In other news, also appearing in Copenhagen to pitch for their countries are Brazilian President Ignacio Luis da Silva, Japanese Prime Minister Hatoyama, and Spanish President Jose Luis Zapatero.

In other news, by this point in his presidency George W. Bush had spent an entire month on vacation at his "ranch."

Steve Schmidt: Palin in 2012 would be "catastrophic."

Uh, Steve? Didn't you guys think she was qualified to be veep?

"In fact, were she to be the nominee we could have a catastrophic election."

Which is why electing John McCain in 2008 would've been catastrophic for the country.

Kill Me Now.

A couple of days ago, Politico asked "What if Reid loses?" This part, right here, is just precious:

“You’ve got people who ask, ‘What does Harry actually do around here?’ I say, ‘Just wait till he’s gone. You’ll see just what he did; how he held things together,’” says a Democratic insider with ties to the leader.

Uh huh. I'm pretty sure the answer to the question is, "shit might actually get done." But hey, I'd settle for an end to garbage like this:

Senate Democratic leaders signaled Thursday that their version of health care overhaul will include some form of a public option, but it may be limited in scope so they can secure 60 votes to break a Republican filibuster.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) called the public option a "relative term" and Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said "there is not one way to Rome, there are lots of ways to Rome."

"Remember, a public option is a relative term," Reid said. "There's a public option, there's a public option, and there's a public option. And we're going to look at each of them."

It's like Gertrude Stein crapped, and that crap is now a Senator from Nevada.

Totally off topic

Someone on CNN just said that Chicago's high crime rate is a problem for the International Olympic Committee. Which is funny given that, you know, the primary competitor is fucking Rio.

Yes, as a Chicagoan I'm a little biased. But Rio is like a bar on Mos Eisley. Except instead of a cantina band and Boba Fett it has half a million homeless street kids high on pintura and Elmer's glue. I'm not mocking the city for its social problems, but give me a break. Don't complain about Chicago crime and then propose Rio as an alternative.

Every Time You Vote, A Kitten Masturbates.

What I'm saying is, please be ready on October 12 to nominate this beloved blog for an Award.

Although of course InstaPutz enables us -- BT, Ed and myself -- to live a fairly privileged existence (Dalton for the kids and an inordinate amount of boxed wine), what we'd REALLY like is to be, at the very least, in the running.

Thanks!

LEAVE SARAH ALOOOOOOOOONE!!!!!!!

Simply by stating the obvious...

the emerging belief among many establishment Republicans that Pawlenty is becoming the sole viable alternative to former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, a potential Republican primary rival.

Politico, says Althouse, is "disrespecting Sarah."

It's amusing as hell when wingnuts, but particularly this one -- who makes a real show of being a hard-ass -- presume to be on a first-name basis with a politician.

Palin, I'm pretty sure, couldn't pick Althouse out of a line-up of bleached-blonde drunks.

Second -- perhaps explaining Althouse's odd defensive crouch -- it's telling that a banal, unsurprising observation (that Palin is a circus act, not a candidate for President) is taken as a slight.

It's almost as if, for Althouse, every day is September 3, 2008 and Palin's rep remains intact.

The Stuff That Dreams Nightmares Are Made Of.

Pantload, Condensed.

This Jonah Goldberg post is quite typical of his oeuvre. What I've done is simply shorn it to its essence:


He really is a stupid fuck.