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CBS Sunday Morning

by John Cole

Your open thread. Discuss.

I know the feeling.

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October 26, 2008 8:19 am Posted in: Cat Blogging, Site Maintenance  108 Comments

108 Responses

  1. calipygian - October 26, 2008 | 8:24 am · Link

    Much, MUCH shorter Mark Levin:

    "Barack Obama is the unholy love child of Stalin and Hitler"

  2. Justin Ogren - October 26, 2008 | 8:30 am · Link

    I’ll take some pictures of the neighbor cat which comes to my door for you John. :)

  3. smiley - October 26, 2008 | 8:32 am · Link

    Our health care system is an embarrassment.

  4. SGEW - October 26, 2008 | 8:39 am · Link

    Our health care system is an embarrassment.

    You’re still capable of being embarrassed by it? I’m practically inured to it after all these years.

  5. The Grand Panjandrum - October 26, 2008 | 8:43 am · Link

    Yesterday in my old stomping grounds (New Mexico) we have the tale of two campaigns.

    John McCain: Two campaign stops which drew 4500 people.

    Barack Obama: One campaign stop which drew 45000 people.

    hhhhhmmmm … sounds like Mark Levin’s worst nightmare is coming true. Oh, darn.

  6. Punchy - October 26, 2008 | 8:47 am · Link

    Clearly, McCane was in Real New Mexy, which is the only part that counts.

  7. Tattoosydney - October 26, 2008 | 8:47 am · Link

    I only just had a chance to read Ken Adelman’s column.

    I’m fascinated by the number of conservatives (Adelman calls himself a con-con) who have come to the belated realisation that the Republican Party has left them behind.

    Obama has (for good reasons, it appears) developed a reputation for basic competence, particularly when contrasted with McCain, that seems to have genuine conservatives remembering that one of the more basic conservative tenets is the need for good, wise government.

    Never mind that it took Adelman eight years to remember this.

    I liked this bit:

    People emerging suddenly, from the dark matter of time, into the recesses of the brain.

    These folks were important at various stages of my life—grammar school playmates, Grinnell classmates, Indianapolis cousins, Dan Quayle, Dick Allen, colleagues from the Reagan arms control agency (chuckling over my quip to Packer that I wouldn’t have hired Sarah Palin to a mid-level job there).

    because I wanted to know what Dan Quayle had to say about Palin…

  8. Laura W - October 26, 2008 | 8:50 am · Link

    Thanks for posting my Sadie, John. Aka "Perfect Cat".
    Not needy, not neurotic, low maintenance, non-destructive, non-aggressive, not territorial or combative, quiet, self-contained but affectionate…one of the best things to come out of my 10 years in SW Colorado.
    She streaked by in an alley, just in front of my car, July of 2002. She was tiny, starving and dehydrated. Little ball of fluff.
    Perfect Cat.
    Perfect weight, too.

  9. Tattoosydney - October 26, 2008 | 8:50 am · Link

    Oh, and Joe Lieberman sucks.

    "When I go out, I say, ‘I have a lot of respect for Sen. Obama. He’s bright. He’s eloquent.’ Someday, I might even support him for president, but now in the midst of this series of crises, John McCain is simply so much better prepared that that’s who I am proud to support," Lieberman said.

    That is all.

  10. Kathy - October 26, 2008 | 8:51 am · Link

    Sunday Morning music critic for the win again-Check out Adele.

  11. kommrade jakevich - October 26, 2008 | 8:52 am · Link

    Is that TZs infamous Too Big To Fail Maine Coon cat?

    Oops maybe not. Anyways, I like a cat that looks he’ll claw your face off if you don’t let him get some mother fuckn sleep.

  12. smiley - October 26, 2008 | 8:53 am · Link

    @SGEW:

    You’re still capable of being embarrassed by it?

    After watching the segments about it and the French system on CBS Sunday Morning, it’s more a combination of embarrassment and disgust.

  13. Tattoosydney - October 26, 2008 | 8:56 am · Link

    @Kathy:

    There is an mp3 which I downloaded (and I can’t for the life of me remember from where), with Adele singing Hometown Glory live, that is one of the most wonderful things I have heard for a very long time.

  14. zzyzx - October 26, 2008 | 9:00 am · Link

    "Special Obama flags"

    Damn you state of Ohio for making your state flag support Obama! Damn you!

  15. Punchy - October 26, 2008 | 9:01 am · Link

    It’s CLEAR from that picture that that cat HATES cowboy hats and bolo ties…

  16. SGEW - October 26, 2008 | 9:02 am · Link

    I was seriously creeped out when I first read that Ken Adelman had endorsed Obama.

    I mean, this guy was the neo-coniest of the neo-connivers. He literally* introduced Paul Wolfowitz to Dick Cheney, fer cryin’ out loud! He was one of the founding voices of the self-described neo-conservative philosophy (it’s preposterous that he now calls himself a "con-con," unless he is making a con-man joke). He literally titled a 2002 column on the upcoming invasion of Iraq "Cakewake in Iraq."

    Then again, when commenting on Donald Rumsfeld’s resignation in 2006, Adelman said of Rumsfeld, a friend and associate of 36 years:

    “How could this happen to someone so good, so competent? This war made me doubt the past. Was I wrong all those years, or was he just better back then?"

    Maybe he’s done some serious soul searching over the past two years (he’s apparently also a Shakespeare scholar too, btw . . . wonder what he’s been reading lately?**). But even so, his support makes me nervous . . . it’s like if Bill Kristol suddenly supported Obama. All I can think is "where’s the scam"?

    *Literally "literally," not Joe Biden "literally" (which means "virtually").

    **Note: Adelman compared W. Bush to Henry V. Literally.

  17. Brian J - October 26, 2008 | 9:04 am · Link

    Much, MUCH shorter Mark Levin:

    "Barack Obama is the unholy love child of Stalin and Hitler"

    Quote of the Day, from yesterday, via Talking Points Memo:

    Barack Obama is noted for his powerful intellect, but I don’t think he gets nearly enough credit for the mental dexterity it takes to be simultaneously an Islamic theocrat, atheistic communist and national socialist while posing as a center left candidate. Those must be the compartmentalization skills they taught him at that Manchurian madrasah in Indonesia.

    They forgot to include the fact that he’s gay, but still…

  18. Brian J - October 26, 2008 | 9:12 am · Link

    because I wanted to know what Dan Quayle had to say about Palin…

    I said this the either day, but nobody responded. I was a child back then, so this is just based on what other said and a quick Wikipedia reading on him, but Quayle seemed to have a decent amount of experience in both state and national politics before he became vice president. In the Senate, as one conservative mentioned, he was the author or co-author of major job retraining legislation. In other words, he may have looked like a lightweight, but all things considered, his record was not nearly as bare as Palin’s.

    So yes, I wonder what he’s saying, too.

  19. SGEW - October 26, 2008 | 9:18 am · Link

    After watching the segments about it and the French system on CBS Sunday Morning, it’s more a combination of embarrassment and disgust.

    I’ve been good friends with a good number of northern Europeans over the years (Swedes, Dutch, Norwegians, a Finn or two), and, believe me, I am incapable of being any more embarrassed or disgusted about the comparison between our "health" care system and the successful European model. Oh, and our social benefits. And our labor laws. And our "education" system. And our environmental standards. And our human rights records. And our . . . .

    . . .

    Sorry, I’m goin’ all elitist here*. Stupid Europeans and their higher quality of life, grumble grumble.

    At least we have our guns! And our free speech** . . . and, soon, we’ll have our President Obama! Eat yer heart out Europe! Bwa ha ha!***

    *For your "elitist" pleasure, please peruse Mr. Ben Shapiro’s latest magnum opus on what defines one as an "elitist," as published in the esteemed journal Human Events. Behold! (warning: link leads to Human Events, and may cause the viewer to lose three to four points of I.Q. per page load). ‘Tis a most jolly read.

    **This is the one argument (almost, see below) I always win when defending th’ good ol’ U.S.A. to the Swedes. The gun argument does not impress them.

    ***Seriously! My European friends are getting pretty jealous. They’re all like "When can we get our President/Prime Minister Obama?" And I say "Ha ha, eat it homogenous monocultures! Get some diversity and get back to us in a hundred years!"

  20. kommrade jakevich - October 26, 2008 | 9:20 am · Link

    All I can think is "where’s the scam"?

    A. The neo-coward is convinced there will be a revolution if Obama is elected. He wants to be able to point to his black friend when the Afro-Ninjas start rounding up whitey.

    B. Sometime after Obama takes the oath of office,* (two hours? a day?) he’ll start shrieking about how awful things are and how could Obama have messed up the country so badly and OMG, how could he have been such a fool as to support the man and this is a PERSONAL BETRAYAL SLAP IN THE FACE STAB IN THE BACK!

    Take your pick.

    *We need to start a betting pool. If Obama is elected, which fReichtard will be the first to swear that he took the oath on the Qu’ran and the Little Red Book?

  21. Brian J - October 26, 2008 | 9:32 am · Link

    Sometime after Obama takes the oath of office,* (two hours? a day?) he’ll start shrieking about how awful things are and how could Obama have messed up the country so badly and OMG, how could he have been such a fool as to support the man and this is a PERSONAL BETRAYAL SLAP IN THE FACE STAB IN THE BACK!

    I’m giving my conservative friends no later than the middle of April to start bitching about how badly Obama screwed things up/or hasn’t fixed what Bush screwed up.

  22. Nicole - October 26, 2008 | 9:50 am · Link

    And yesterday European horses ran one-two in the Breeders’ Cup Classic, America’s richest race. Healthcare, bail-outs, horse racing- they’re beating us at everything!

    (Seriously, it was a good race.)

  23. SamFromUtah - October 26, 2008 | 10:01 am · Link

    @Tattoosydney: ...I wanted to know what Dan Quayle had to say about Palin…

    "She forgot the ‘e’ on the end of ‘maverick’."

  24. Bill H - October 26, 2008 | 10:03 am · Link

    I’ve been good friends with a good number of northern Europeans over the years (Swedes, Dutch, Norwegians, a Finn or two), and, believe me, I am incapable of being any more embarrassed or disgusted about the comparison between our "health" care system and the successful European model. Oh, and our social benefits. And our labor laws. And our "education" system. And our environmental standards. And our human rights records. And our . . . .

    In this country everything, everything, is corrupted by the compulsion to structure it for the making of profit, maximum profit, from the many for the few. That is what this country stands for. Forget all that nonsense about essential liberties, privacies… That is all nonsense to keep the masses in line while the few go about extacting profit from the many.

  25. Bobzim - October 26, 2008 | 10:05 am · Link

    Uh…. the Gipper died, Senator McCain.

  26. slag - October 26, 2008 | 10:05 am · Link

    Quote of the Day, from yesterday, via Talking Points Memo:

    Barack Obama is noted for his powerful intellect, but I don’t think he gets nearly enough credit for the mental dexterity it takes to be simultaneously an Islamic theocrat, atheistic communist and national socialist while posing as a center left candidate. Those must be the compartmentalization skills they taught him at that Manchurian madrasah in Indonesia.

    They forgot to include the fact that he’s gay, but still…

    And apparently, if you don’t believe Obama is all those things, you have abandoned "rationality".

    No self-awareness for these people. None.

  27. Dennis - SGMM - October 26, 2008 | 10:16 am · Link

    Forget all that nonsense about essential liberties, privacies… That is all nonsense to keep the masses in line while the few go about extacting profit from the many.

    “The law, in its majestic equality, forbids rich and poor alike to sleep under bridges, beg in the streets or steal bread.”
    — Anatole France

  28. jcricket - October 26, 2008 | 10:27 am · Link

    I somehow missed the GOP using the Holocaust to strike fear into the heart of Jewish voters in PA:

    On Thursday the Pennsylvania GOP sent out an email to 75,000 Jewish voters in the state warning that electing Obama could lead to a second Holocaust, the AP reports

    Classy.

  29. Bobzim - October 26, 2008 | 10:28 am · Link

    HOLY SHIT, McCain is looking BAD on MTP!!

    Trying twice too name the 5 former Secretaries of State and STILL had to have Brokaw do it for him?

  30. Stuck in the Funhouse - October 26, 2008 | 10:29 am · Link

    Say what you will about Tom Brokaw, but this morning, using John Mcane’s own past words, pretty much destroyed Teh Maverick and his Straight Talk Express on national TV.

  31. gbear - October 26, 2008 | 10:29 am · Link

    People emerging suddenly, from the dark matter of time, into the recesses of the brain.

    What, the ‘con-cons’ are channelling Ted Nugent and the Amboy Dukes? That could be a line from ‘Journey To The Center Of Your Mind’ (which would be an improvement, by the way).

    Perfect Cat. Perfect weight, too.

    You saying she’s not fat?

  32. Throwin' Stones - October 26, 2008 | 10:34 am · Link

    @SGEW: BS article

    That most definitely hurt my head, but at least you forewarned us. How again does this kid have a job? Apparently, I’m an elitist by several measures.

  33. ppcli - October 26, 2008 | 10:40 am · Link

    QUOTE:
    "Barack Obama is noted for his powerful intellect, but I don’t think he gets nearly enough credit for the mental dexterity it takes to be simultaneously an Islamic theocrat, atheistic communist and national socialist while posing as a center left candidate. Those must be the compartmentalization skills they taught him at that Manchurian madrasah in Indonesia.

    They forgot to include the fact that he’s gay, but still…"
    ENDQUOTE

    Good point – therapists say that children who are abused (i.e. "have underage gay affairs" in wingnut-speak) develop remarkably compartmentalized psychic lives.

  34. gbear - October 26, 2008 | 10:41 am · Link

    @kommrade jakevich:

    B. Sometime after Obama takes the oath of office,* (two hours? a day?) he’ll start shrieking about how awful things are and how could Obama have messed up the country so badly and OMG, how could he have been such a fool as to support the man and this is a PERSONAL BETRAYAL SLAP IN THE FACE STAB IN THE BACK!

    Yea, but most of the democrats will be doing that too.

  35. Jeff - October 26, 2008 | 10:41 am · Link

    @SGEW: My neurologist did a residency or fellowship in England and was wondering why we cannot have a similar system. When specialists realize this, you know the system here is worse.

  36. HRA - October 26, 2008 | 10:42 am · Link

    Beautiful cat and great photo, Laura.
    I am still taking pics of Tiki. Seeing all these great pics is making me very picky.

  37. Laura W - October 26, 2008 | 10:48 am · Link

    Speaking of keeping the masses in line…this just in. Is there anything these people do not think of in advance?:

    Hi Laura,

    I’m a volunteer for the Obama campaign in North Carolina and am helping recruit volunteer performers to entertain people standing in line waiting to vote on Election Day. Sometimes the lines get really long and we want to keep voters happy while they wait.

    We are looking for musicians, magicians, singers, acrobats, jugglers, tap-dancers, rap artists, clowns, mimes, puppeteers, basketball tricks, dog tricks, stilt walkers, church choirs, barbershop quartets, and anybody else who can volunteer to entertain a crowd and help keep every last Obama voter in line until they have voted! We are asking performers to be at selected polling places by 5:30pm on November 4 and entertain voters in line until everybody has voted. Polls close at 7:30pm, but performers could potentially be there until 9:00pm.

    As a member of North Carolina’s creative community, we wondered if you yourself might be interested in volunteering to perform and/or if you could forward this email to your creative/performer friends and anyone you think could spread the word to performers. We especially need the help in Asheville, Winston-Salem, Greensboro, Charlotte, Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill, Fayetteville, Rocky Mount, Greenville, Elizabeth City, and Wilmington.

  38. Notorious P.A.T. - October 26, 2008 | 10:51 am · Link

    Much, MUCH shorter Mark Levin: "Barack Obama is the unholy love child of Stalin and Hitler"

    He thinks OBAMA represents abandonment of rationality? What a freakin’ moron.

  39. Gus - October 26, 2008 | 10:54 am · Link

    Looks (and sounds) like my cat Harold, except he has white feet.

  40. Kilo - October 26, 2008 | 11:01 am · Link

    After a week of wingnuts crying about nobody in the MSM covering their web donations fraud claims, the WaPo has picked it up with hilarious results….

    "While the potentially fraudulent or excessive contributions represent about 1 percent of Obama’s staggering haul" – "One-tenth of one percent were marked for refund" – "John McCain’s campaign has refunded more than $1.2 million in contributions from anonymous, excessive and fraudulent contributors" – "It’s the model of the future," said Rick Hasen, an election law specialist – "When you have that many contributors," McGahn said, "it does in a weird way cleanse the system." – "a former FEC chairman … agreed that Obama’s effort would "put to rest all the shibboleths about campaign finance reform – that it is needed to prevent corruption" – "Both parties have filed formal complaints calling on the agency to investigate their rival. Only McCain will automatically be subjected to an audit"

    Ace of Spades just can’t catch a break, can he.

  41. Throwin' Stones - October 26, 2008 | 11:03 am · Link

    I’m sure it’s been covered, but Bush/DOJ is going for more voter suppression in Ohio. Same old story.

    I’m next to his district and I really dislike ‘shed some tears when necessary’ Boehner, WATB.

    TS

  42. Kilo - October 26, 2008 | 11:04 am · Link

    Wow, this is one crap formatting system here.
    First it made one paragraph bold for no reason, then the whole thing is posted as bold, without line breaks and looks nothing like the preview did.

  43. Comrade Darkness - October 26, 2008 | 11:05 am · Link

    "Special Obama flags"

    Damn you state of Ohio for making your state flag support Obama! Damn you!

    The whole article is a cry for help smothered by a massive, tangled ball of projection. Yes, Mr. Levin, you ARE the cult of Obama. Maybe you’d do best to redirect your nervous energy into promoting Ms. Palin for 2012, by, oh, I don’t know… designing a flag for her. I honestly think that would make you feel better.

  44. SamFromUtah - October 26, 2008 | 11:12 am · Link

    @Laura W: We are looking for musicians, magicians, singers, acrobats, jugglers, tap-dancers, rap artists, clowns, mimes, puppeteers, basketball tricks, dog tricks, stilt walkers, church choirs, barbershop quartets, and anybody else who can volunteer to entertain a crowd and help keep every last Obama voter in line until they have voted!

    That’s so cool.

    I assume that these performers have to stay outside the no-campaigning zone or else not have any Obamaphenalia on them?

    I can’t wait to see Ace O’ Spades et al claiming that a troupe of jugglers, mimes, and clowns at a polling location is really a gang of jackbooted commie thugs.

  45. Damned at Random - October 26, 2008 | 11:17 am · Link

    Sadie with the sleepy eyes is a kitty I could love.

    I’m not asking much from Obama. I want a thoughtful response to the big stuff and basic competence in the appointees. Also, I’m hoping he’ll restore the Bill of Rights, though no one seemed interested in asking about his views on FISA in the 3 debates.

  46. gbear - October 26, 2008 | 11:23 am · Link

    Ugh. The St. Paul and Minneapolis papers both endorsed Norm Coleman for senate today. He’s such a willing-to-work-across-the-aisle type of guy, doncha know. We’ll see how that works if the senate dems have less than 60 seats (not counting fucking Lieberman).

    Double ugh. Snow is falling here right now.

  47. Maggy & Zoey - October 26, 2008 | 11:27 am · Link

    Sadie, sexy Sadie… we know you well, and luv ya more!

  48. OriGuy - October 26, 2008 | 11:27 am · Link

    Speaking of Dan Quayle, the Indianapolis Star, which was once owned by his family, declined to make an endorsement for president. I guess since they’d never endorsed a Democrat for president in history, they weren’t going to start now.

    McCain, however, has delivered a muddled message on how to confront the economic challenges facing the nation. He also is unlikely to provide a sharp enough break from the Bush administration’s policies on the economy and foreign relations. His running mate, Gov. Sarah Palin, also has limited experience, raising concerns about her readiness to lead the nation if needed.

    From one of the comments:

    What this really says is that we acknowledge that both of these candidates suck, but McCain sucks more and since we have never endorsed a Democrat in any competitive race, and we want to keep selling papers in the donut counties, we won’t endorse anyone.

    The "donut counties" are the eight counties around Indianapolis, which are much more conservative than the city.

  49. Comrade grumpy realist - October 26, 2008 | 11:30 am · Link

    McCain just gave his latest presser from Waterloo, Iowa….

    I kid you not.

    Guess we don’t need any of that evil Yurrupeean history, you betcha.

  50. Woodrow "asim" Jarvis Hill - October 26, 2008 | 11:34 am · Link

    @Laura W,

    I’m in NC, and I know some entertainers—esp. belly dancers. Can you get me in contract with that person, or drop me a line at asim@raqsstorm.org? I’ll be happy to spread word!

  51. gbear - October 26, 2008 | 11:37 am · Link

    I’m in NC, and I know some entertainers—esp. belly dancers.

    Can I come vote in NC? We’re lucky if we get coffee in our lines.

  52. donovong - October 26, 2008 | 11:38 am · Link

    WHAT?!

    I didn’t think these guys could do anything more to impress me! Holy shit!

    All I had while I waited two hours here in ATL two weeks ago, was Blackjack on my Blackberry. I am truly gobsmacked.

    "We are looking for musicians, magicians, singers, acrobats, jugglers, tap-dancers, rap artists, clowns, mimes, puppeteers, basketball tricks, dog tricks, stilt walkers, church choirs, barbershop quartets, and anybody else who can volunteer to entertain a crowd and help keep every last Obama voter in line until they have voted! We are asking performers to be at selected polling places by 5:30pm on November 4 and entertain voters in line until everybody has voted. Polls close at 7:30pm, but performers could potentially be there until 9:00pm."

  53. Polish the Guillotines - October 26, 2008 | 11:41 am · Link

    I can’t wait to see Ace O’ Spades et al claiming that a troupe of jugglers, mimes, and clowns at a polling location is really a gang of jackbooted commie thugs.

    Jugglers? Mimes? Clowns?

    I’d be more concerned about the inevitable riots this "entertainment" is bound to incite.

    If I was stuck in a voting line for hours with some mime pretending to vote, I’d beat him over the head with a juggler and strangle him with a clown.

  54. eyeball - October 26, 2008 | 11:41 am · Link

    If that cat was a wolf, Sarah Palin would shoot it from a plane.

  55. Common Sense - October 26, 2008 | 11:41 am · Link

    Since John hasn’t started an NFL thread yet, let me start:

    Condi is laying plans post Apocalypse—she’s gunning for a president-type role in the 49ers front office. Warren Sapp gets the quote:

    "The multi-tasking didn’t work in Washington so maybe the single-tasking will work in San Francisco."

    I would SO love it if the 49ers were to become the wingtard’s officially approved All American team despite being

    A) based in Leningrad on the Bay and
    B) led by a confirmed bachelorette.

  56. Laura W - October 26, 2008 | 11:45 am · Link

    @Woodrow “asim” Jarvis Hill: Done!
    Belly dancers would be too cool.
    To SamFromUtah’s point…can you imagine the "belly gyrating terrorists" possibilities?

  57. o kanis - October 26, 2008 | 12:02 pm · Link

    The cat is a doll face persian.

    Beautiful, friendly cats.

  58. Leo - October 26, 2008 | 12:10 pm · Link

    Yet another SHOCKING VIDEO that we can expect to be released any day now.

    So sad.

  59. Colonel Danite - October 26, 2008 | 12:14 pm · Link

    I just watched the McCain MTP interview and I’m left asking myself one question. Isn’t it time for the Arizona AG to investigate the parties that have taken advantage of this senior citizen?

    As we know, seniors are frequent targets of con men. Usually it’s an unscrupulous home repair scam or someone cheating them out of their savings in some other way.

    In the case of John McCain, the con men are the old Bush/Rove cabal that first savaged McCain and his family in 2000. McCain let them into his house and they’ve absolutely destroyed the man. They convinced him to pick the corrupt and unqualified Palin as his running mate. They suggested that he "suspend" his campaign to deal with the economic crisis that made him look erratic and out of touch. They’ve sold him on Joe the Plumber and other nonsense as major campaign themes. And, worse of all, they’ve had him embrace the nativists, racists and religious nutters as part of his core constituency.

    I know many of you will blame McCain himself for destroying his legacy as an honorable man, but I’ve watched 20/20 and Dateline NBC enough to recognize when grifters take advantage of a vulnerable old man.

  60. Cassidy - October 26, 2008 | 12:15 pm · Link

    @ Polish
    There is a joke about balloon animals in there somewhere.

    I voted absentee. My entertainment was finding wingnuts were supporting in FL and doing the opposite.

  61. Cassidy - October 26, 2008 | 12:18 pm · Link

    @ Colonel
    I’ve come to believe the honorable legacy was a sham.

  62. Comrade Nixon Hailfire Palin - October 26, 2008 | 12:37 pm · Link

    Via Sully, the Anchorage Daily News endorses Obama.

  63. The Thinking Man's Mel Torme - October 26, 2008 | 12:42 pm · Link

    After watching the segments about it and the French system on CBS Sunday Morning, it’s more a combination of embarrassment and disgust.

    That piece said how it costs every French taxpayer about $3600 for healthcare. I contrast that with the fact that, between my small-business (~120 employees) employer and each employee, it costs $6400 per employee for insurance on a risk pool of healthy people whose average age is 38.

    That same report hit on why single payer or even (absent a total collapse) much change to the current abortion won’t happen: doctors’ salaries are $50000 – 100000, which the reporter said is less than half what a comparable US doctor makes, but I think is more like one-third. The local county-chartered but not tax-funded hospital is looking at socializing to a degree by buying up practices and putting the doctors on salary in one umbrella practice, in exchange for handling administration and liability. Even though the plan isn’t out of the just-talking stage, the doctors are in open revolt, threatening to start a new hospital group. This jerk town of 150,000 in which I live, that has no cultural institutions outside of the library and a movie theater, has six MRI/CT clinics, aside from the hospital. The only commercial construction extant is on three new medical practice office buildings.

  64. robertdsc - October 26, 2008 | 12:52 pm · Link

    Obama has a web ad on opposition to California Prop 8. the anti-gay marriage thing:

    I found it at Talking Points Memo.

  65. ThymeZoneThePlumber - October 26, 2008 | 12:53 pm · Link

    No, not my cat. Mine has those big paws and the coloring, but shorter hair and a bigger head …. like me.

    And of course, she always wears one of these.

    More like this.

    Meow, pardner.

  66. J. - October 26, 2008 | 1:05 pm · Link

    Lazy kinda day for our usually frisky felines, too. Purrrr.

  67. J. - October 26, 2008 | 1:08 pm · Link

    What a pretty kitty. It’s a lazy kinda day for our usually frisky felines, too.

  68. gbear - October 26, 2008 | 1:14 pm · Link

    @robertdsc:

    Obama has a web ad on opposition to California Prop 8. the anti-gay marriage thing:
    I found it at Talking Points Memo.

    Do you have a link? I went to TPM but don’t see it on their front page. Is the link in the comments somewhere?

    Wow ThymeZone. I’m guessing that someone required medical attention moments after that ‘More like this’ picture was taken.

  69. ThymeZoneThePlumber - October 26, 2008 | 1:19 pm · Link

    Scouting report in John McCain’s neighborhood (central Phoenix, where the great man maintains one of his seven houses, shows up at church many Sundays, and keeps his campaign headquarters.

    Campaign offices:
    Obama for President …. busy, parking at a premium, noisy and boisterous, people on phones all the time. You will stand in line to get information.

    McCain for President: Closed. Lights off. No cars in the parking area. Apparently shuttered.

    Bumper Sticker Poll: Last seven days, central Phoenix:

    Obama for President stickers seen on other cars: 30-40
    McCain for President stickers seen on other cars: 3

    The Obama campaign is ceding nothing to McCain, including his home neighborhood.

  70. robertdsc - October 26, 2008 | 1:19 pm · Link

    This is what the ad looks like.

    I took a screen shot:
    TPM front page

  71. ThymeZoneThePlumber - October 26, 2008 | 1:21 pm · Link

    I’m guessing that someone required medical attention

    Possibly. But my cat, huge though she is, is very docile. Her principal tactic is licking her victims to death.

    Also her former owner had her front claws removed. I would never de-claw a cat, but this cat was declawed by someone who does not share my distaste for this practice.

  72. kommrade jakevich - October 26, 2008 | 1:28 pm · Link

    @OriGuy: That’s actually rather interesting. The Indianapolis Scar has (or had) a Biblical passage in its banner so I assumed they would have endorsed McPOW the minute he introduced the Moose-Stepping Queen to the rest of RealAmerica. When I lived in the Radical Dirty Hippie Ghey People’s Republic of Bloomington, the citizens took great pride in NOT getting the I.S.

    I think the comment you pulled is spot on.

  73. SamFromUtah - October 26, 2008 | 1:56 pm · Link

    @Polish the Guillotines: If I was stuck in a voting line for hours with some mime pretending to vote, I’d beat him over the head with a juggler and strangle him with a clown.

    Fair point, the mimes are probably not such a good idea.

    @Laura W: …can you imagine the "belly gyrating terrorists" possibilities?

    LOL! Yes. Yes, I can.

  74. Punchy - October 26, 2008 | 1:59 pm · Link

    the anchorage newzpaper is going OBAMA?? ARE U fucking kidding me?

  75. Comrade Jake - October 26, 2008 | 1:59 pm · Link

    @ThymeZoneThePlumber:

    The Obama campaign is ceding nothing to McCain, including his home neighborhood.

    "I’m in ur h00d messin with ur d00ds!"

  76. TheHatOnMyCat - October 26, 2008 | 2:00 pm · Link

    Can anyone explain what McCain is doing in Iowa today?

  77. kommrade jakevich - October 26, 2008 | 2:00 pm · Link

    @Laura W: Belly buttons are sort of ‘O’ shaped so clearly it would be a blatant attempt to hypnotize voters into picking Obama!

  78. Tony J - October 26, 2008 | 2:01 pm · Link

    Did anyone order a big ass crate of Teh Funny? Because there’s a guy at the door and he says someone did.

    Jim Nuzzo, a White House aide to the first President Bush, dismissed Mrs Palin’s critics as "cocktail party conservatives" who "give aid and comfort to the enemy".

    He told The Sunday Telegraph: "There’s going to be a bloodbath. A lot of people are going to be excommunicated. David Brooks and David Frum and Peggy Noonan are dead people in the Republican Party. The litmus test will be: where did you stand on Palin?"

    Mr Frum thinks that Mrs Palin’s brand of cultural conservatism appeals only to a dwindling number of voters.

    He said: "She emerges from this election as the probable frontrunner for the 2012 nomination. Her supporters vastly outnumber her critics. But it will be extremely difficult for her to win the presidency."

    Mr Nuzzo, who believes this election is not a re-run of the 1980 Reagan revolution but of 1976, when an ageing Gerald Ford lost a close contest and then ceded the leadership of the Republican Party to Mr Reagan.

    He said: "Win or lose, there is a ready made conservative candidate waiting in the wings. Sarah Palin is not the new Iain Duncan Smith (lame-duck Tory Opposition leader in Britain), she is the new Ronald Reagan."

    If there is a God, then Mr Nuzzo will be in charge of Palin’s 2012 Primary campaign.

  79. SamFromUtah - October 26, 2008 | 2:04 pm · Link

    @Punchy: the anchorage newzpaper is going OBAMA?? ARE U fucking kidding me?

    Oh man… my uber-wingnut brother in law lives in Anchorage. I can’t decide if I wish I could see his response or be glad that I live a couple thousand miles away.

  80. SamFromUtah - October 26, 2008 | 2:06 pm · Link

    @Tony J: The litmus test will be: where did you stand on Palin?

    And, according to Nutzo, "Nowhere! I wouldn’t want to get anything on my nice Manolo Blahniks!" is the Wrong Answer.

  81. Kilkee - October 26, 2008 | 2:06 pm · Link

    Hey, has the world gotten a bit saner in the last few days? Crazy Andy Martin over at contrariancommentary.com announces that the result of his exhaustive investigation in Hawai’i is that Obama is—wait for it—actually the illegitimate son of Frank Marshall, and not even Fox runs with it? True, it kills the Muslim meme, but that’s been losing steam anyway.

  82. Comrade Jake - October 26, 2008 | 2:24 pm · Link

    @Punchy:

    They’ve seen Ms. Palin up close and personal, so… youbetcha!

    We went to the Pumpkin Fest in Keene, NH yesterday. Pretty big parade they’ve got there, lots of costumes. We saw one Palin one that was pretty good. The lady had the hair and the glasses down perfect. Then she had a beauty-pageant sash across her front that read "Miss YouBetcha!"

    Full of win.

  83. Calouste - October 26, 2008 | 2:35 pm · Link

    @SGEW:

    Seriously! My European friends are getting pretty jealous. They’re all like "When can we get our President/Prime Minister Obama?" And I say "Ha ha, eat it homogenous monocultures! Get some diversity and get back to us in a hundred years!"

    They working on it. Denmark had a Princess of Chinese ancestry (now divorced). Holland has two cabinet ministers and the mayor of the second largest city of Morrocan ancestry. And of course France has a Greek-Jewish-Hungarian president.

  84. Kilkee - October 26, 2008 | 2:37 pm · Link

    Oops. Frank Marshall Davis.

  85. jcricket - October 26, 2008 | 2:57 pm · Link

    McCain for President stickers seen on other cars: 3

    I live in Seattle (85-90% Democratic voters) near a couple of Catholic schools (including one all-girls high school). I saw a teenage boy picking up a girl from the school, with a McCain/Palin sticker on the back of his car.

    All I could think of was yelling "don’t get her knocked up, or Palin’s making you keep the baby" after the car.

  86. jcricket - October 26, 2008 | 2:59 pm · Link

    Possibly. But my cat, huge though she is, is very docile. Her principal tactic is licking her victims to death.

    Are we talking about Sarah Palin or your cat? I’m not clear here.

  87. Chuck Butcher - October 26, 2008 | 3:12 pm · Link

    Since I blog-whored the other day I thought I ought to return the favor of space, Balloon Juice.

    BTW, thanks for stopping by, I do check my sitemeter.

  88. kommrade jakevich - October 26, 2008 | 3:14 pm · Link

    The litmus test will be: where did you stand on Palin?"

    Yea verily. Those who stood athwart her yelling "STOP!" will be showered with mooseburgers and hockey pucks.

    Dear God, please, please, PLEASE let these fud snifffing lunatics try to make the Moose Stepping Mistress the Queen B of the Kool Kids Klub.

    Holy shit. Thanks for pulling that over. It fulfills my RDA of Guffaw.

  89. Whammer - October 26, 2008 | 3:46 pm · Link

    Re McCain in Iowa – don’t know what he’s doing there. My unscientific sampling from a recent visit to eastern Iowa showed Obama signs outnumbering McCain signs by more than 2 to 1….....

  90. Delia - October 26, 2008 | 4:06 pm · Link

    He told The Sunday Telegraph: "There’s going to be a bloodbath. A lot of people are going to be excommunicated. David Brooks and David Frum and Peggy Noonan are dead people in the Republican Party. The litmus test will be: where did you stand on Palin?"

    So the goopers are dropping all pretense and going full scale Crime Family after the election? David Brooks and Miss Peggy found in the Potomac wearing cement overshoes? The Moose Queen as Godmother? You know, I’ve been thinking that McCain had better be praying that he lose if he wants to live much longer. Study the look in Sarah’s eyes when the two of them are together, she’s calculating the best way to knock him off.

  91. Kilkee - October 26, 2008 | 4:23 pm · Link

    Here in and around very blue Portland, Maine, the McCain signs on public property (highway medians and the like) vastly outnumber the Obama ones. Conversely, Obama signs (including homemade ones) dominate front yards. I conclude that the McCain people can’t find enough actual voters to take their signs, and that Obama voters either can’t get signs (notoriously hard to come by) or don’t feel the need to declare their allegience.

  92. tavella - October 26, 2008 | 4:43 pm · Link

    Sadly, the No on Prop 8 isn’t an Obama ad, it’s just No on 8 using an Obama quote. Pity, because his willingness to use gays as his Sister Souljah, the liberal group he throws under the bus to prove he’s not one of those Democrats has been the main reason I didn’t join in the swooning (and part of the reason why I voted for Hillary Clinton.)

  93. Shouting at the Rain - October 26, 2008 | 4:53 pm · Link

    @TheHatOnMyCat

    Can anyone explain what McCain is doing in Iowa today?

    Looking for Mr. Puddles?

  94. Delia - October 26, 2008 | 5:01 pm · Link

    @Shouting at the Rain:

    Hiding from Sarah?

  95. CIRCVS MAXIMVS MMVIII - October 26, 2008 | 5:02 pm · Link

    Can anyone explain what McCain is doing in Iowa today?

    He’s throwing the election of course. There is no viable explanation for why he would be in Iowa, or why Sarah Palin was there recently either.

    But, I welcome the McCain narrative that they are going to pull out a victory in Iowa. I would love to watch him choke on that.

    ;)

  96. TheHatOnMyCat - October 26, 2008 | 5:03 pm · Link

    Are we talking about Sarah Palin or your cat? I’m not clear here.

    My cat, I hope, otherwise ….... ewwwwwwww.

  97. gbear - October 26, 2008 | 5:31 pm · Link

    He’s throwing the election of course. There is no viable explanation for why he would be in Iowa, or why Sarah Palin was there recently either.

    Sarah is there to lay the groundwork for her 2012 run. She loves her some early caucuses. McCain seems to be there to highlight everyone in IA who’s slapping republicans today. Thoughtful guy that he is.

  98. Comrade Darkness - October 26, 2008 | 5:51 pm · Link

    @Kilkee: Exactly the same situation here. We have an open, formerly republican congress seat. I’ve spent the last two days delivering signs to people’s lawns for the democrat and most of the republican candidate’s signs are in the medians and quasi-public street corners (neither place are they technically supposed to be).

  99. JL - October 26, 2008 | 5:57 pm · Link

    Wow am I jealous about Laura’s email from Barack. I guess he knows that there is no way that I could entertain the troops but it would be fun to try. See comment #37

  100. JL - October 26, 2008 | 6:30 pm · Link

    @CIRCVS MAXIMVS MMVIII: Next stop Massachusetts Woo Hoo

  101. Conservatively Liberal - October 26, 2008 | 6:54 pm · Link

    Barack Obama is noted for his powerful intellect, but I don’t think he gets nearly enough credit for the mental dexterity it takes to be simultaneously an Islamic theocrat, atheistic communist and national socialist while posing as a center left candidate. Those must be the compartmentalization skills they taught him at that Manchurian madrasah in Indonesia.

    It’s because his borg dual-drive brain is partitioned into separate drives and configured much like Intel’s Matrix RAID introduced in the ICH6R chipset. Obama has performance and redundancy going for him!

    Double ugh. Snow is falling here right now.

    Suffering through low 70’s here, clear skies and lotsa sunshine. Somehow I am sure we will make it through it alive. Sorry to hear of your suffering. ;)

  102. Conservatively Liberal - October 26, 2008 | 7:22 pm · Link

    Da BJ Mad Gawd strikes again! Hep me hep me! ;)

  103. Comrade Colonel Ivan Ivanovich Renko - October 26, 2008 | 7:28 pm · Link

    I was driving through NorthWest Ohio/Northeast Indiana yesterday and saw myriads of Obama signs. McPain/Failin’? Not so much.

    In small town Indiana.

  104. kommrade jakevich - October 26, 2008 | 7:39 pm · Link

    @Comrade Colonel Ivan Ivanovich Renko: Wow. Even though the people I know from that section of the world have a certain "Drop dead* if you’re going to be an jerk**," approach to politics, I assumed it was COUNTRY FIRST country out there.

    Now if the McCainiac or the Palindrone will only say the buckle of the Bible Belt isn’t RealAmerica®, I can die a happy Islahomoafrocentricommie.

    *Other people would say Fuck you, but they don’t swear out there in the Heartland.

    **Asshole. See above.

  105. joe from Lowell - October 26, 2008 | 8:49 pm · Link

    I just wanted to add:

    He’s a great big fuzzy wuzzy! Yes he is!

    I’m gonna get his fuzzy belly. Get you belly! Get your belly!

    Ow!

  106. Delia - October 26, 2008 | 9:53 pm · Link

    It’s because his borg dual-drive brain is partitioned into separate drives and configured much like Intel’s Matrix RAID introduced in the ICH6R chipset. Obama has performance and redundancy going for him!

    And here I thought it was just because he was a cylon.

  107. Jeff - October 26, 2008 | 11:46 pm · Link

    More proof Republican hacks don’t know about the Google. Barbara West, interviewer of Joe Biden, evidently might have gotten her questions from her husband, a political and media consultant for Republican politicians.

    Both Barbara and Wade West have frequently emceed Republican fundraisers in the local Central Florida community for at least a decade.

  108. AnneLaurie - October 27, 2008 | 2:17 am · Link

    Here in and around very blue Portland, Maine, the McCain signs on public property (highway medians and the like) vastly outnumber the Obama ones. Conversely, Obama signs (including homemade ones) dominate front yards. I conclude that the McCain people can’t find enough actual voters to take their signs, and that Obama voters either can’t get signs (notoriously hard to come by) or don’t feel the need to declare their allegience.

    This makes me feel better. We were in Connecticutt (for a gay wedding, no lie) this weekend, and I was wondering if every McCain/Palin supporter in New England lived in the Hartford area because multiple "Country First (Then We’ll Slap the Rest of You Around a Little)" signs defaced every thoroughfare & median.

    Most unusual bumper-art sightings: the McCain/Palin stickers on the ‘organic bee pollen’ commercial vehicle, and the car with the LAO id oval, Laotian flag, Red Sox logo & Obama circle posted for maximum artistic effect.


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