Well, it looks like Andy Drama’s latest bout of Trig truth-squading has come to naught: “There is no proof here of anything.” I guess I was hoping for a denouement resembling a scene from “Chinatown“, or at least from a very special episode of “Little House On the Prairie”. Now, it looks like the best we’ll see is some kind of half-baked second shooter theory.

I don’t think this kind of focus on Sarah Palin’s personal life is healthy or productive. It reminds me too much of the Clinton-Monica Lewinsky thing, pointless gossip about something that has no affect on anyone beyond the people direclty involved.

But I don’t agree that the current media fixation with Palin is bad all in all. Remember that Palin was a major party’s vice-presidential nominee. And that before she embarrassed herself in interviews, Palin polled pretty well. And that the top of her ticket was an elderly man who had a reasonable chance of dying in office. The fact that someone who seems dumber and more vindictive than George W. Bush was close to becoming president should frighten us all. To the extent that the current focus on Palin reminds people of that, it’s a good thing.

Speaking of Twitter, Atrios has an account now. That’ll teach him to slim down his prose.

Top stories at memeorandum:

1.) Sarah Palin’s numbers and whether she could run for President.

2.) We’ve moved from whether or not it was treasonous for Obama to bow before the Emperor to an in-depth discussion of whether Obama used the appropriate technique. No matter what, Allahpundit assures us that Obama was in the wrong.

3.) John Yoo telling us that trying terrorists is an intelligence coup for the terrorist.

Same shit, different day.

I was interviewed last week by Erik Kain at the League of Ordinary Gentlemen. You can read it here.

From the NYT obituary for Claude Lévi-Strauss:

The accepted view held that primitive societies were intellectually unimaginative and temperamentally irrational, basing their approaches to life and religion on the satisfaction of urgent needs for food, clothing and shelter.

Mr. Lévi-Strauss rescued his subjects from this limited perspective… he found among them a dogged quest not just to satisfy material needs but also to understand origins, a sophisticated logic that governed even the most bizarre myths, and an implicit sense of order and design, even among tribes who practiced ruthless warfare…

“The thirst for objective knowledge,” he wrote, “is one of the most neglected aspects of the thought of people we call ‘primitive.’ ”

Of course humans have always had an obsessive interest in the odd ways of That Tribe Across the River, but how many scholars can say they’ve had so much influence on the way “we” discuss “they” today, whether as political bloggers or Media Village Idiots?

I suppose one day Rick Moran will learn:

Because Rick is not sufficiently conservative wingnutty, we are told he is just angling for a Democratic job and he is comatose. I would hope that the lesson Rick would learn from this is that the party we both loved at one point is now run by insane people, but I’m afraid he drinks deeply from the cup of Broder and will decide that “if Pam Gellar and Robert McCain hate me and the Daily Kos doesn’t link me, I must be doing something right.”

At any rate, go give him some encouragement in the comments. Someone has to save the GOP, and it damned sure isn’t going to be me. I’ve got wooden stakes, garlic, and an attitude.

I wonder what it would look like if liberal groups ever advertised online.

Sully:

John Cole is upset. The bill does add gender identity to the roster of victims, and I should have noted that as well. But the inference that if you oppose the logic behind this bill, you support violence or discrimination against transgender people is repulsive. Here’s Cole’s moronic gibe:

What does it say that Sullivan only seems to give a shit about the gays. What about the lesbians? What about transexuals? Why do you hate them, Andrew?

Of course I don’t. What conceivable evidence do you have for saying so?

Andrew, I’m just applying your standard. You’re the one who spent the last 36 hours complaining that Obama really doesn’t care about gay rights because he didn’t use the word “gay” at the signing ceremony. Using your standard, what are we supposed to do but assume you do not care about lesbians and transgendered since you failed to mention them all day in your rants.

Additionally, Andrew completely ignores the points brought up by the commenters here about why Obama’s language was appropriate at the ceremonies. Andrew likewise ignores all of the comments from those of you who chimed in about why this was a good and necessary bill and why it should be supported. At least he has now acknowledged that the bill he claimed does nothing actually does something new. That is progress, I guess.

I have finished polishing the latest round of edits, corrections, and additions—even a stolen cool epigraph!—to the first section of the new tripartite Balloon Juice Lexicon (A – H). Your revisions, suggestions, and links are hereby solicited.

Specifically: I could use some good links for ACORN that would give a better flavor of the whole mishagaus than Wikipedia’s blandly correct entry. I’ve been told there is such a thing as a Cavuto Mark, but its meaning is not clear to me. I know people had some wonderful snarky links to explicate the Doughy Pantload, but the list has been lost and my google-fu is not strong enough. If there is to be an entry for Freeping, and there probably should be, someone is going to have to explain its history.

And finally, perhaps there should be some explanation of why accusations of goat molestation are so popular, but I’m not even gonna try googling that meme!

By the way, in case you were wondering what you could actually do to help move the ball on LGBT issues that might be a touch more effective than screaming “just words” or flaming the administration for not issuing executive orders that will be rapidly over-turned as soon as a Republican takes office, go to this great diary at the GOS. There is a whole range of activities you can take part in that will actually make a difference.

Now granted, this involves actually expending time and energy, and will be nowhere near as exhilarating as writing hundreds of posts claiming that the DLC and Rahm Emmanuel hate progressives, and that Obama has let you down, or that moderates stole your bike, but it might actually be useful and sway the opinions of people that matter. Probably won’t get you on the top of memeorandum or an invite to PJTV to tell everyone how much Obama sucks, though, so make sure you have your priorities straight.

I feel like I have been down this road before:

The only thing missing is an anonymous quote from John Harwood. So let’s see how this plays out. By the end of the day, everyone throw eggs at the Administration, and particularly blame it on Rahm (he is evil, dontcha know!). Maybe we can join with the Republicans and chant “just words” and write long posts claiming Obama is selling us out. Then, tomorrow, when the administration says that they still strongly support a public option, we can all pat ourselves on the back and say “See, they listened! Keep the pressure up, guys!”

Rally round the Leader:

I challenge you to think of anyone not named Palin or Limbaugh who would get this kind of full-throated defense from the blogospheric right. Dear Leader wants an NFL team, so the troops must rally.

In the future, the FTC can rest assured I will burn every free book from the Heritage Foundation and Regnery. Considering I felt like going on a three day bender after I read the Party of Death by Ramesh Ponneru, burning the damned things is probably healthier in the long run. If I get a copy of Going Rogue, I might just be driven to shoot smack.

As a side note, it is really hard to argue for good government when you have jackasses like Cleland running around.

(via)

You guys did such a good job with Sarahgeddon that I’d like to know why you think Karl Rove’s twitter got suspended.

Bonus non-funk 70s music footage. I don’t know why but I love this song.

I missed this the first time Kos posted it but saw it in this piece:

So when did wingnuts start cheering against America? Their unbridled joy at losing out to Brazil is a bit unseemly, isn’t it? “America, fuck yeah!” has become “Fuck America, Yeah!”

I like it because (a) it sums things up perfectly and (b) it sounds exactly like something from the Balloon Juice comments.