(John Deering via GoComics.com)
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A little palate cleanser, from the great Doghouse Riley:
This week a major New York Times opinion writer, one who is inexplicably David Brooks, wrote a column about how dull the 2012 Presidential campaign is because the candidates won’t talk about the issues. The good news here is that he was not immediately struck down by a Vengeful God, so, pretty much anything goes from here on out….
Then after twenty-seven debates it turns out that the Republican party managed to nominate George Bush III. (Can we start calling Willard “Dubya” now?) And it did so, you may recall, because the Republican party, which is goddamned apodictically certain about everything, decided that no one who talked like a real Republican had any chance of winning.
I don’t need to tell you that this is a party whose public intellectuals include George Eff Will, Chuckles Krauthammer, Charles Murray, and the aforementioned Mr. Brooks, and that, as a result, it has suffered from a serious overcompensation problem for the last thirty-five years. The job of “conservative” intellectual pays well enough that one can afford to overcome the habits that plague other intellectuals, like independent thought, open dialogue, and honesty…
To be fair, this year they were focused more on derailing the nomination of any of a dozen Sara Palins, Jr. Then again, the mere fact of the original Half-Term is another object lesson they’ve studiously, and incomprehensibly, avoided when they knew the mic was on. You are the party of paste-eating morons and the Hopelessly Entrenched Privileged, who have effectively captured the steering mechanism whereby the Accumulated Wealth and Strength of Post-War America is being stolen, headlong and in haste, and right out in front’a God an’ everbody. And the closest thing we get to a public acknowledgement is the occasional Brooks PBS smirk, or Eff Will objection that some 19th century principle he made up is being ignored by The Washington Establishment. If you honestly believed in the Reagan legacy (I mean the fake, positive one, not the real, disastrous one) you’d be screaming bloody murder about what his party, and yours, has “done” to it. Instead there’s the aristocratic grabbing of handkerchiefs when Newt Gingrich or Michele Bachmann farts in an elevator again, or when Rick Perry turns out to be a complete moron despite your wife’s best efforts….
***********
Apart from pointing and mocking, what’s on the agenda for the evening?
muddy
Swimming with my dog at the millpond this afternoon, I am really sleepy, and he is snoring loudly. I think forward motion for the day is over.
Todd
Here’s a guffaw moment. This is making the rounds over at Facebook.
http://www.mittromney.com/sites/default/files/shared/presidentialaccountabilityscorecard_1_1.pdf
Some republicans are yelling at the posters and stating that these are goals, not a plan.
trollhattan
ZOMG, TBogg digs up another nugget.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2012/aug/02/ann-romney-horse-dressage-medal
Phylllis
Hoping the rain on the radar doesn’t disappear before it gets here. And a rum & pineapple juice or ten.
MattR
@Todd:
Mitt’s a manager. He sets goals and he expects his underlings to meet them. Who cares if they are reasonable or not? He’s already rigged the game so he makes money either way.
kindness
Mmmmm, but that mocking looks might tasty though.
More mocking please.
Scratch
Woot, I got a rebate letter from the insurance company that provided the plan for where I work. It didn’t say how much was given back, but it’s nice to know that we’re getting money back and it’s not disappearing into the insurance company ether.
Brachiator
Here’s how you do a tax shelter. You don’t just move your money to an island.
You buy an island.
Chris
@MattR:
Never fails to amaze me how much those disconnected cretins resemble the Soviets they day they loathed.
cat48
Obots; New Pew Poll is out Obama 51% to Romney 41% W00T!
Not bad for someone who “has failed America” per Mitt.
Mitt Favorables are down to 37/52 Obama 50%
Well down, Mr President!
burnspbesq
So Randy Lerner is selling an iconic NFL franchise (the Cleveland Browns) and keeping a mediocre English Premier League team (Aston Villa).
http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/8225861/randy-lerner-sells-cleveland-browns-more-1b-sources-say
Suck on that,
footballgridiron fans.MattR
@Chris: I heard Romney is going to announce a Five Year Plan for America next week.
lamh35
Even if you know the outcome, I don’t plan to miss the Gymnastics final on NBC tonight. I was already darn near jumping for joy at work when I read the headline.
Think link is a bit of a spoiler, but the pic was too beautiful (IMHO) to miss.
Looks who’s on the cover of this week’s TIME magazine!
ATTENTION: DO NOT CLICK IF YOU DON’T WANNA KNOW THE OUTCOME!!!
Southern Beale
Wow I thought Obama was talking about tax policy and Romney wanting to cut taxes on the top 1% — people like him. Whereas Obama wants to help the middle class.
Isn’t that an issue? Or maybe he’d prefer we discuss Chock-Full-O-Hate some more?
MattR
@burnspbesq: The iconic Cleveland Browns now play in Baltimore.
Martin
@Brachiator: Bah, weak Frenchies! Americans at least buy BIG islands!
The Moar You Know
Nailed Will to the wall with this one. So true it hurts.
Thoughtcrime
@MattR:
McCarthyism!
FFredPalakon
I’ve been posting about this guy for a while, but I post a quote and a link because he was in the news again over his “the Europe trip went great!”, and this is an open thread with an “assholes” tag. I’m sure the Obama campaign knows of all the terrible things Stuart Stevens has written, but they’re happy to have him stay where he is because he’s doing such a great job running the Romney machine into the ground.
http://italkyoubored.wordpress.com/2012/07/29/he-hates-you-a-profile-of-stuart-stevens-mitt-romneys-media-assassin/
lamh35
Oh and I’m also gonna enjoy watching the 200M fly between Lochte and Phelps.
Speakin of Lochte, finally someone says exactly what I’ve been thinking… Ryan Lochte is kinda a douche. I haven’t really been impressed with his attitude this whole Olympics.
Also, a pet peeve of mine, I hate grillz on anyone, but Lord save me from white boyz wearing grillz! White boyz (not named Paul Wall) wearing grillz…DOUCHE!!!!
Warning, this link “May” have spoilers if you care bout that kinda thing.
10 Reasons Why Ryan Lochte Is America’s Sexiest Douchebag
Seriously read the list and try not to come out of it agreeing that Lochte is a major douche.
ThatLeftTurnInABQ
@Brachiator:
OK everybody, repeat after me:
She sold Seychelles by the Seyshore.
Now, can you say it five-times-fast?
burnspbesq
@lamh35:
Who cares? Ryan Lochte’s role in the divine order of things is to swim fast. Nothing else is relevant.
Brachiator
@lamh35:
Very nice. Well done.
@Martin:
Ha. Good one. Ellison, however, appears intent on running the island and making a go of it, not using it as a tax shelter.
Martin
@MattR: I set the following domestic production goals to reduce unemployment and expand GDP:
6.2 million manual typewriters
11.4 million jelly molds
2.3 million dressage saddles
and a bomb shelter in every back yard!
redshirt
I laugh at Rmoney then I think: He truly was the best the Repukes had to offer this year. Then I laugh harder.
Then I get bit scared, cuz he does have a chance (small).
trollhattan
@lamh35:
Even his mom would seem to agree:
“He goes out on one-night stands. He’s not able to give fully to a relationship because he’s always on the go.”
http://nymag.com/daily/intel/2012/08/ryan-lochte-just-wants-to-bang-mom-reports.html
Josie
Oh, good – an open thread. I have been wanting to ask a question. I heard Senator Inhoffe on Morning Joe this morning state that Social Security and disability would be out of money in eighteen months. Is there any truth to this, or, if not, where did he get this number? I confess to being a political junkie but do not understand economics and the budget. I’m sure someone here is much better informed on this than I (a very low bar). TIA.
MikeJ
@burnspbesq:
If we only had to see him in the pool I’d agree.
Martin
ZOMG! Someone build a wall! Furriner anchor dust is invading the US at an alarming rate!
70%? What’s wrong with Made in America particulate matter? Can we get Michele Bachmann on this? Stat!
trollhattan
@redshirt:
Per Nate Silver, his chances of winning are up to 70%.
http://fivethirtyeight.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/08/02/aug-1-obama-extends-electoral-college-advantage/?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter
Events, of course, can still bite the presidential ass between now and November, but with Dream Opponant Willard I’m allowing myself to believe reelection is likely.
Much more worried about congress.
Alison
@lamh35: It made me so freaking happy this morning :) Happy enough to not care that I “spoiled” it for some whiny ex-coworker on FB.
IMHO if you don’t want to know about a topic everyone is talking about, maybe don’t go to sites where the whole point is talking about stuff everyone’s talking about.
jl
Sitting back and thinking wise and deep thoughts about Obama’s chances of winning going over 70 percent in Nate Silver’s Fivethirtyeight blog.
Edit: which it did, as I just saw with my own damn eyes.
I guess maybe judges’ scores for Mitt’s Olympic performance came in.
trollhattan
@Alison:
Even though I know what you’re saying and why, that’s still some impressive word salad. :-)
scav
@lamh35: Saw the result elsewhere and can’t wait for the party at the WH and any Wheaties Box
Martin
@Josie:
Social Security disability will be out of money. Of the OASDI (old age, survivors, and disability) it’s that last pot of money that is paying out way faster than pulling in and running out of reserves. The old age part (retirement) is still doing pretty well, and will be for a while. It’s also one of the smallest components to the whole Social Security apparatus.
Social Security disability is a bit of a disaster, to be blunt. It’s desperately in need of reform and changes to how its funded. Retirement? Not nearly so much.
Martin
@jl: And the degree of difficulty was pretty damn low too.
R-Jud
@lamh35: Watched it live on the BBC. My little girl was going bananas; she’s totally in love and was trying to do handstands and forward rolls the rest of the night.
So pleased the first pop-culture type person to put stars in her eyes is an athlete and not Princess Whatever from a Disney movie.
Brachiator
@trollhattan:
I don’t know. I don’t think it’s fair to judge these men and women by sound bites based on what they do under a brief shining spotlight when many of them are still very young and wet behind the ears.
MattR
@Martin: You forgot the 4M car top dog carriers.
lamh35
@burnspbesq: you obviously care enough to respond. ignore it like you probably ignore other things.
Back to other things, I see Romney’s respons to Harry Reid today is “put up or shut up”! Um isn’t that funny, Romney could shut this down by just releasing the tax forms.
What’s sad is the the MSM will essentially not call Romney on it at all. I say keep in talking Reid!
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/02/mitt-romney-harry-reid-taxes_n_1735197.html
trollhattan
@Josie:
If Inhofe is saying it it is surely untrue, but perhaps he’s talking about raiding the SS trust account to keep the gummint afloat if they don’t raise the debt ceiling, or somesuch? So I’ll guess he’s threatening another congressional Republican hostage-taking.
Alison
@Martin: Eek. As someone who is currently on SSDI and doesn’t foresee being able to get off it any time soon…that scares me. :/
Tonal Crow
@cat48:
Good. Now (1) Mr. President, please keep pounding Romney; and (2) Everyone here please chip in a few bucks to Obama, DCCC, DSCC, and DFA.
—
Tag: Romney: like Sarah Palin, but more dishonest.
Josie
@Martin: Got it. Thanks for the explanation.
trollhattan
@Brachiator:
I don’t judge, I’m just repeating what his own mom is saying, which in this case is freaking bizarre for a mom, any mom. Anyhoo, he’s in his late 20s so has been around the block more than once, so he’s his own dude living life in his chosen fashion.
Josie
@trollhattan: No, he was just saying that a solution needs to be found before the money runs out.
lamh35
@Brachiator: Not for nothing, but Lochte is 27 years old. At what point aren’t you young and wet behind the ears???
Not to belabor the point, since I don’t really care as long as he’s not one-night standing me or my daughter of mine.
jl
@Josie: @Martin: That is my understanding too. Claiming disability is partly an economic decision, and with the job market so very bad for so long, disability claims are up big time.
The problem with rises in mostly economically motivated claims in disability programs has been a long standing problem, mostly because of deteriorating job prospects for older workers whose jobs require any physical work at all.
Inhoffe’s BS was an opportunistic effort to run a little disaster capitalism social engineering propaganda. I am sure Inhoffe was very responsible and precise in describing the problem, and gave an adequate overview of all the reasons behind the problem.
Or maybe he just pumped out scary BS to promote the idea of just gutting everything. The idea is to panic people into thinking that the best way to solve the problems of funding social insurance is to get rid of social insurance.
the Conster
@lamh35:
Ha ha. The local morning sports talk jock pegged this guy as a flaming douchenozzle a couple of weeks ago because he’s a sk8er also too who wants everyone to know he’s street. Yeah, no.
trollhattan
@Josie:
Just saw Martin’s post above but couldn’t edit mine because…FYWP. So, now Imhofe will fix it because it’s the right thing, amirite?
LanceThruster
Mocking and pointing?
JohnK
Pointing and mocking is all I got. Oh yeah, and taking the dogs to play with the other dogs at Yappy hour. And watching Holly’s Half Dozen puppy cam.
JGabriel
@ThatLeftTurnInABQ:
I shoulda seen that one coming, but did not, and laughed. Out loud.
.
kindness
@lamh35:
Not only that, many of us would prefer to share a bong with Phelps any day.
Josie
@trollhattan: He didn’t go into specifics – just the same old “congress refuses to work together to find a solution, blah, blah, blah.” Then I had to get ready for work and didn’t hear the rest.
danielx
The end of the Doghouse Riley post ain’t bad either…
Ooh. I may have to have a cigarette.
Brachiator
@lamh35:
The Romans didn’t consider a person to be sufficiently mature until age 30.
And an earlier story I linked indicates the extreme degree to which an athlete can be sheltered or channelled into a single goal at the expense of anything else.
We also have a story coming out about how 15 Olympics officials supposedly ran up a $70,000 restaurant tab, which included £19,000 for a bottle of 1853 Hennessey. Note that this has not yet been completely verified.
In any event, there’s lots of outrageous behavior to go around at the Olympics. But most Olympics competitors go on to have lives much like everyone else (with occasional flashes of the extraordinary) once they are outside this rarefied bubble.
kindness
@Brachiator:
Was that at one of Romney’s ‘fundraisers’? Fox will be blaming Obama in 3….2…..1.
Raven
You fuckers posting results? Dick heads.
PeakVT
Has anyone anywhere mapped out a way for the Dems to take the House? Because approximately jack will get fixed next year – SSDI, USPS, the tax system, etc. – unless they do.
NotMax
Far from a perfect analogy, but the use (and abuse) of the filibuster process as an everyday obstructionist tactic by Republicans in the Senate can be looked at, in a sense, as the purest form of voter suppression.
Forces a cloture tally, which is designed to disallow everyone (although the point is to disallow Democrats) from voting on the actual bill if cloture fails.
Haven’t had the first cup of java yet today (going to remedy that now), so be kind.
Raven
@NotMax: Runnin late huh?
SatanicPanic
@burnspbesq: Are you trying to say we need a reason to mock people here?
Shawn in ShowMe
@PeakVT:
The whole point of redistricting was to prevent Dems from taking the House. The only way they’re getting control of that insane asylum is wingnut backlash, akin to the backlash against disco in the late 1970s. You don’t really plan cultural backlash, that evolves over time.
Turgidson
@PeakVT:
Best way to do that is probably to work as hard as possible for an Obama blowout so that he has real coattails. But that might not even work considering that Democrats in swing districts like to pretend they’ve never heard of the guy. And presidential blowouts don’t always lead to downticket blowouts. I think Nixon either lost seats or gain a trifling number when he demolished McGovern, for example.
I suspect that if Romney is still getting crushed in, say, another month, the angry old white billionaires and the SuperPACs they’re funding will turn their sights on close Senate and House races, which probably can be turned their way just by drowning the district in anti-Democrat ads. Then they’ll at least make it impossible for Obama to do anything useful.
ThatLeftTurnInABQ
@PeakVT:
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In theory it shouldn’t be any more complicated than simply taking back almost all of the seats which Dems held in 2008 but lost in 2010. In practice that is going to be a tough nut to crack.
__
Just to take one example, one of those 2008/2010 swing seats was NM-2 in southern New Mexico, which in terms of population is mostly oil-patch country on the southeastern corner of the district and hunting and ranching country over on the western side. So this district is like a mix of the wingnuttier parts of Texas and Arizona with Las Cruces and the Rio Grande valley sandwiched in between. Those folks voting a Dem into office in 2008, that was probably a once-in-a-generation event.
__
I don’t know how the other swing districts in other parts of the nation shake out in that regard; I’m guessing it is a different story in every district and some of them will swing back this year, some of them might be a stretch to swing but within reach, and some of them (like NM-2) are going to be darned near impossible.
NotMax
@Raven
Sinuses acting up and moving kind of slow as a result.
May be due to cane burning going on and the wind blowing the wrong way.
Raven
@NotMax: There were big brown dust clouds between Kahului and Kihei for a couple of days when we were there. It didn’t look like smoke, was it?
NotMax
@Raven
If they were kind of mushroomy looking, and reached way, way skyward, then yes, that was from burning.
Think there was some cane burning going on near Paia overnight. Woke up with the sinuses on red alert.
The front window overlooks the central isthmus, which is entirely planted in cane (am at about 1500 feet above sea level). Not necessarily pretty, but a riveting sight to look down the slope and see large plots of acreage ablaze when they do night burning.
Raven
@NotMax: I hit google image and found a bunch of amazing shots. I think what we saw was dust storms from the wind.
PeakVT
@Turgidson: I think we’ll see a lot of instances of grumpy old men dropping a couple of million on unsuspecting Dem Reps. 50 races at $2 million per race – Adelson alone has promised to spend that much this year.
Here are Sabato’s charts for the House. Dems would need to win all 16 tossups and 16 of 23 “lean Repuke” seats to install speaker with some guts.
Anne Laurie
@lamh35:
Mid-forties, for George W. “When I was young and irresponsible…” Bush. Somewhere around age 15 for a working-class kid, per reality shows like Teen Mom. Twelve, if you’re a foster kid in Florida, at which point the state will try you for murder in the adult system. Calculating Lochte’s expected endorsement money against his social class (lower than Dubya’s), I estimate he’ll be responsible for acting like an adult by his 32nd birthday. But he’ll still be wet behind the ears, at least if he keeps spending so much time in the water…
scav
@Anne Laurie: mmm. 33 is the age for Hobbits, although I doubt they’d be as good at swimming unless they really shaves, in which case the feet might prove an advantage.
Jay
Longtime friend of mine who is a Republican pollster (but not an insane Republican; he swears by many of the Northeastern ones who were defeated or retired) said lots of other pollsters have told him Romney’s swing state field operation looks strong. With Obama doing well in Ohion, PA, &c., should those of us who are fans of POTUS be worried?
NotMax
Long, but wonderfully snippy, piece about following Mitt on the campaign trail. Description of him stooping to deal with reg’lar folk:
freelancer
@NotMax:
Oh man, that’s perfect.
Turgidson
@Jay:
Motivated, yes. Worried, no. I highly doubt RMoney’s operation will “out-ground game” the Obama campaign. If Obama has enduring leads in the states he needs in the couple weeks before election day, I think he’ll get the voters out for him.
Turgidson
@NotMax:
Reminds me of the old Simpsons aliens Klang and Kodos when they impersonated Clinton and Dole in 1996.
Klang: “Abortions for all!”
crowd: “BOOOOOOO”
Klang: “Very well…abortions for none!”
crowd: “BOOOOOOOOO”
Klang: thinks for a second…”Abortions for some, miniature American flags for others!”
crowd: “YEEEAAHHHHH”
That sort of summarizes Romney’s political career to date in 10 seconds, eh?
different-church-lady
“You go right up there and tell him off. Here, I’ll hold your monkey for you.”
That’s the punchline. You can google the joke.
Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism
Comedy at the voter ID trial today.
Senator Inouye has responded to Mike Kelly’s birth control comments. BTW, if you don’t know the details of the Senator’s time in the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, you should correct that deficit at the first opportunity.
mainmati
@muddy: I remember swimming in a millpond at my grandmother’s house in Worcester, MA (Bell Pond). Exquisite. Rarely have had that simple joy since.