I Am Done Trying To Spoof These Morons

Because you simply can not top what they do:

I need a damned drink.

*** Update ***

From the comments, a link to this, which is just disturbing:

At what point did our crazy Hollywood types develop more sense than the entire Republican party? Damon is right- this is like a bad Hollywood movie, and that is how they are marketing her.

337 Responses to “I Am Done Trying To Spoof These Morons”

  1. 1

    Jake

    I think that’s about all the reason I need to tune in to Maddow’s show tonight. Please, Rachel, put an end to the stupid.

  2. 2

    BFR

    They aren’t good at this anymore or McCain’s just not giving them anything to work with.

    Call me kooky but I’m not sure that “ZOMG they said our candidate is an old stinking fish!” is really a winning line.

  3. 3

    xyzzy

    That cartoon blowfish looks like it was swiped from the OpenBSD project. I hope for the sake of whomever made it that they got permission to use the logo, given all the screaming about McCain using copyrighted songs without permission.

  4. 4

    lilly Von Schtupp

    Surely the Daily Show will be able to turn this into comedy gold.

  5. 5
  6. 6

    BFR

    As a side note, I didn’t recognize any of the interviewees. Since Matthews ID’d one of them as a Congresswoman, I’m assuming they are all B-list GOP politicians.

    Question I have – where are Hutchison, Snowe, Collins etc etc in all of this? I’d assume the GOP would desperately like to have them be more visible in this campaign, no?

  7. 7

    Stuck in the Fun House

    I watched that clip this morning, and you have to hand it to wingnuts, they can lie all day and all night without breaking a sweat, or cracking a smile.

  8. 8

    Ted

    Call me kooky but I’m not sure that “ZOMG they said our candidate is an old stinking fish!” is really a winning line.

    As far as I can tell they’re just trying to steal news cycles and interfere with Obama getting his message out.

  9. 9

    Kevin

    Question I have – where are Hutchison, Snowe, Collins etc etc in all of this? I’d assume the GOP would desperately like to have them be more visible in this campaign, no?

    Perhaps they’re trying to avoid getting the stench of the campaign on them?

  10. 10

    Ted

    BTW - since when is Matt Damon married?

  11. 11

    crayz

    It’s obvious the stinking fish remark was in reference to Sarah Palin’s vagina

  12. 12

    Foxhunter

    If you looked at the comment’s section (from the Drudge repository….Breitbart TV) of the Damon video, it was full of ad hominem attacks on him and there was absoultely zero substance or rebuttal to his statements. I guess the Red State Army was unleashed.

    I thought 2004 was depressing in terms of gutter politics. This year has topped 04 and then some…it is disturbing and depressing. It truly does make me want to go all ‘Alec Baldwin’ after November. It is baffling how idiotic our media gets played and we suffer suffer from the echo chamber bullshit.

  13. 13

    Stuck in the Fun House

    Damon is right- this is like a bad Hollywood movie, and that is how they are marketing her.

    Hey, they didn’t make Nightmare on Elmstreet XXI for the fun of it. And Matt shouldn’t be too distraught about having a prez that believes the earth was created 5000 years ago and if EVE hadn’t et the goddamn apple we’d all be nekked and proud of it. The last poll I saw said nearly half the country agrees with Palin.

  14. 14

    gopher2b

    I’m no fan of Hollywood but Damen has always been a decent thinker. In the past, he has had the good sense to keep his opinions to himself because I believe he understands that voicing them hurts his cause more than helps it (most of them can’t keep their trap shut because they care more about appearing worldly and smart then the actual issue).

    I don’t blame Damen here. He probably just can’t take it anymore. Besides, as long as his douchebag friend stays away everything should be fine. .

  15. 15

    Ted

    I thought 2004 was depressing in terms of gutter politics. This year has topped 04 and then some

    One bright side: the media is beginning to call McCain’s sleazy ass campaign for what it is. If he wins, they’ll still be talking about how awful the campaign stinked for years because of McCain’s lack of principles.

  16. 16

    BFR

    The last poll I saw said nearly half the country agrees with Palin.

    Yeah, I’ve seen that too but I wonder how much of the population are true Young Earthers. I’m guessing it’s not that high anymore.

  17. 17

    gypsy howell

    Matthews is still flogging this “stinking pig” story for all it’s worth. What a piece of shit he is too. In case you’re wondering whether he spits or swallows, he gulped down a big mouthful at the end, thanking that putrid lying bitch for “standing up for Palin’s children” against attacks by the Obama campaign nd the media.

  18. 18

    Octavian

    Matt Damon has always been a bright guy. Some in Hollywood are actually intelligent people, as hard as that is to believe.

  19. 19

    aimai

    Matt Damon is the son of a very respected local educator whose focus is on children and violence and the school years. She’s a lovely woman who has worked with my children’s school. His brother and sister-in law and the whole family are typical of what we in Cambridge consider good, healthy, american values. They are down to earth, well educated, thoughtful, artistic, and generous. Good plain folks. As I see Palin and McCain storm trooping the country and ranting about their good country values and demonstrating every minute their complete contempt for education and for the intellect of the American people I’m astonished. Because where I come from lots of people sound like Matt Damon. And we’re damned proud of them.

    aimai

  20. 20

    Ted

    Matt Damon has always been a bright guy.

    First time I’ve heard someone in Hollywood use a word like ‘actuarials’.

  21. 21

    Emma Anne

    Welp, we’ve got the name so we may as well have the game. Sarah Palin is a lipstick wearing pig, and McCain is a stinky old fish. Ha ha.

    And Matt Damon is right on. paraphrase – I need to know if this person thinks dinosaurs walked the earth 4000 years ago. I need to know if she tried to ban books. We can’t have that.

    Also, he sure is cute, if that’s not too misandrist of me. Heh.

  22. 22

    rob!

    that takes guts, what Damon did, because he knows they’re gonna play this clip ad nauseum on Hannity & Colmes, O’Reilly, etc.

    and its kind of funny, that he filters this whole thing through his industry—movies. and he’s right—this is like a bad Disney movie—”The crazy fundamentalist hockey mom wakes up one day…and finds herself President!”

    “Hail to the Hockey Mom”, starring Sandra Bullock and “The Rock” as John McCain.

  23. 23

    db

    The McCain-Palin-Fox ticket is going to run with this Damon thing and talk about “how out of touch Hollywood is with small town America.”

    Damon may be smart. But he’s not smart enough to see that coming, I am afraid.

  24. 24

    Stuck in the Fun House

    Yeah, I’ve seen that too but I wonder how much of the population are true Young Earthers. I’m guessing it’s not that high anymore.

    Here is the Gallup study I was going by. 45 percent believe humans were created in their current form. In 1982, the number was 44 percent. I extrapolated that as affirmation of for the Bible’s version of creation.

    Because where I come from lots of people sound like Matt Damon. And we’re damned proud of them.

    Where I come from (the south) people that sound like Matt Damon (and he’s one of my favorite actors and persons) are called godless commies. Even in this day and age.

  25. 25

    Jeffrey Harris

    Matt Damon went to Harvard, folks. You have to have superb grades and test scores to do that if you are not a legacy admit. And you have to do a lot of work to get thru the place and graduate, too. As he did. By the way, there are plenty of other smart actors. Harvard grads includ Billy Bob Thornton and Elizabeth Shue, for example.

  26. 26

    Funkhauser

    Matt Damon left Harvard to go make movies. I’m not surprised he’s smart – I just wish he dug deeper into the Palin trove-of-mind-boggling-incompetent for more examples.

    And he’s absolutely right – that does sound like a really horrible Disney movie. But still not as horrible as that Chihuahua movie coming out. That looks like doggie excrement, put to celluloid.

  27. 27

    Keith

    I had read about Damon’s interview via Drudge, and since I couldn’t view it, I had this impression of one of these weird rants with tons of anger that gets played as a stereotypical Hollywood fiasco. But Damon was hilarious at his total radiating this sense of “What the fuck??” (best spoken by Jeff Garlin, BTW) that was almost word for word what goes through my head when I think about how surreal this is. And I have had a dozen conversations without people who LOVE Palin (I live in TX), and I reiterate over and over again “What do YOU know about her? You realize her governing experience is 2 years as governer, 10 or so as mayor of Cicily, AK pop 9000, and before that she ran the PTA of said town.” “Yeah, but she wants to DRILLBABYDRILL! And she’s hot! And she’s a firecracker!”
    Apparently, I have a little Matt Damon living inside my head, because WHAT THE FUCK?!??

  28. 28

    Joshau Norton

    Damon may be smart. But he’s not smart enough to see that coming, I am afraid.

    Bullshit. Do you think he napped through the Michael J. Fox/Limbaugh food fight? They know.

  29. 29

    Blue Raven

    Because where I come from lots of people sound like Matt Damon. And we’re damned proud of them.

    Sadly, Aimai, it appears that you and I come from the land of the elitist liberal. Many of us from New England were trained to think of intelligence as a marker of quality and not a sign of a lack of contact with reality. These days, that makes us the enemy.

  30. 30

    rob!

    I’d love some Hollywood celebrity—someone who clearly knows what he’s talking about, like Damon—just come out and say “you know what? I fucking pay taxes—LOTS OF THEM. i have every right to give my opinion on politics as any other voter. So Sean Hannity, Biil O’Reilly or anyone who suggests I don’t have the right to say what I feel—fuck off.”

  31. 31

    Delia

    I like living in small towns. There are many good things about living in small towns, none of which Sarah Palin has mentioned. But the fact of the matter is, that experience alone does not prepare you for becoming President of the United States. There are many reasons that Bill Clinton did not stay in Hope, Arkansas or Barack, Obama did not stay in Hawaii. And most people today don’t live in small towns. They live in cities and suburbs. And only moon about small towns if they’re in an Ozzie and Harriet mood.

  32. 32

    Socraticsilence

    Keith- Its the “firecracker” crap that just pisses me off, I mean really they think snotty saracastic remarks are going to do what to Putin, I mean really at this point its like we’ve decided to make “America” the world’s greatest reality show, where you don’t need vision or a plan, and anyone of us could end up the most power person on Earth.

  33. 33

    james

    It’s like McCain ain’t even on the ticket anymore… this is just creepy.

  34. 34

    DougJ

    I think McCain will get in, be exactly like Bush, and that Palin will one day be president either in 2012 or earlier if McCain dies.

    I think it’s all over. Not what we’ll all perish in some disaster (though I wouldn’t rule that out) but that our years of being a functioning first-world society are over.

    It’s impossible for me to see how you can have a functioning government with a media ruled by Matt Drudge and David Broder. I don’t think it can be done.

  35. 35

    mark

    I don’t care that much about the dinosaur thing, but I’d like to see a nice, polite question like this:

    “Gov. Palin, many people who don’t share your particular Christian tradition are concerned that you eagerly await the end of the world, and that this would influence your decisions as President, especially in the Middle East. Would your belief in prophecy in fact influence your policy?”

  36. 36

    lampwick

    If you were forced at gunpoint to decide whether you would take four more years of Bush/Cheney or four years of McCain/Palin, and you had no third option, what would you choose?

    (I mean, after the bullet to the head option.)

  37. 37

    LiberalTarian

    Listen, I had 30 people in my graduating class. That’s a small town. And, this is an area with more than its share of kooks and flat earthers and survivalists—but they were by far the minority and people listened politely but NO ONE thought they had a sane thought in their heads.

    Polls are lies and damn lies. I have only had a cell for the last three years—they NEVER call me. They only call land lines. And, if they are calling between 8 and 5, WHO ARE THEY TALKING TO???

    Sorry about the volume, but c’mon folks, our education system is in decline, with half of kids dropping out in some areas, but it is not that bad. Don’t believe the hype.

  38. 38

    DougJ

    If you were forced at gunpoint to decide whether you would take four more years of Bush/Cheney or four years of McCain/Palin, and you had no third option, what would you choose?

    Bush/Cheney, in a heartbeat. Palin scares me more than Cheney and McCain is more likely to die.

  39. 39

    PeterJ

    I think McCain will get in, be exactly like Bush, and that Palin will one day be president either in 2012 or earlier if McCain dies.

    McCain wins, but loses the reelection to Clinton. McCain then out of spite resigns a couple of days before Clinton is sworn in so that Palin gets snub Clinton on being the first female president.

  40. 40

    Salty Party Snax

    Bob Barr asked Ron Paul to run on the Libertarian slate today. Ron has yet to reply to the offer.

    Let’s hope Representative Paul says yes and the votes the Libbers siphon off from McStrange is enough to save the United States from foreclosure.

  41. 41

    t jasper parnell

    Prediction:
    McCain/Palin win but in a stirring moment on National TV, McCain realizes that he has sold his sacred honor for a mess of potage. He then shots Palin, commits suicide and a stunned nation watches in disbelief as Speaker Pelosi nominates Obama as her VP and then resigns. Obam, ripping off his mask, reveals himself to be an animtronic Vladimir Lenin and immediately appoints zombie Trotsky as VP, declares the constitution illegal and the ghost of Zukov rides over the Bearing Strait on invisible reindeer. Our onliest hope? John Connor born of Sarah emerges from hiding in New Mexico allied with the Wolverines and Wolverine. Between they defeat the Zombies, ghosts, and animatronic Bolshevik dictators. Thus America enters it salad days.

    You heard it here first.

  42. 42

    t jasper parnell

    My goodness what a lot of typos, but you get the idea.

  43. 43

    Notorious P.A.T.

    Of those two videos—and be honest—which of those people would you rather have running this country?

    “I don’t know if he was calling McCain a rotting old fish. who knows? We can’t know for sure either way.” Shut your stupid piehole you moron.

  44. 44

    oh really

    So, if I said “a complete idiot with clown make-up who is a disgrace to the human race” do you think Congressdope Blackburn would know who I was talking about.

    No matter how many times this stuff happens, I can never figure out if 1) these people are that stupid (in the case of someone like Blackburn that is obviously a good possibility) or 2) they are that unbelievably dishonest?

    In Reprehensible Blackburn’s case I’d opt for both.

    What a waste of protoplasm.

  45. 45

    Nellcote

    re: top vid. she’s from Palin’s Ministry of Truth.

    full list here:
    http://mudflats.wordpress.com/...../#comments

    great Alaska blog btw.

  46. 46

    Glen

    re: Damon

    I tend to agree (to a certain extent) with a currently McCain leaning friend (whose last Bush vote she has lived to regret, but apparently not to learn from): celebrities’ political opinions are no better or worse than mine – they just have bigger microphones.

    That said, Matt’s words are very on target: I don’t want an new-age-earthist in charge of the red button. (“God will bless me if I accelerate the Rapture!”) It’s bad enough that we had one of these folks in charge for 8 years, I don’t want two: one elected, the second as back-up.

  47. 47

    Robert Johnston

    If you were forced at gunpoint to decide whether you would take four more years of Bush/Cheney or four years of McCain/Palin, and you had no third option, what would you choose?

    That’s an easy Bush/Cheney. Bush and Cheney are evil and stupid, but they don’t radiate the kind of batshit crazy motherfucker that comes off of McCain and Palin. Bush might have invaded Iraq for oil or to show up Poppy, but McCain will nuke Sweden because he was served his Fruit Loops with 1% milk rather than skim, and Palin will rendition all Jews to Israel and then nuke Jerusalem just to bring about the Rapture.

  48. 48

    KRK

    Occasionally for work I have to read reports by Inspectors General of one federal agency or another, and their aridity cannot be overstated. So I find this line rather amusing:

    sexual relationships with prohibited sources cannot, by definition, be arms-length

    Less amusing is the revelation that the Bush Administration’s Department of the Interior has literally been in bed with the oil industry.

    The single-most serious problem our investigations revealed is a pervasive culture of exclusivity, exempt from the rules that govern all other employees of the Federal Government.

    effectively opting themselves out of the Ethics in Government Act, both in practice, and, at one point, even explored doing so by policy or regulation.

    between 2002 and 2006, nearly 1/3 of the entire RIK staff socialized with, and received a wide array of gifts and gratuities from, oil and gas companies with whom RIK was conducting official business. While the dollar amount of gifts and gratuities was not enormous, these employees accepted gifts with prodigious frequency. In particular, two RIK marketers received combined gifts and gratuities on at least 135 occasions from four major oil and gas companies with whom they were doing business….When confronted by our investigators, none of the employees involved displayed remorse.

    We also discovered a culture of substance abuse and promiscuity in the RIK program – both within the program…and in consort with industry

    Stuff like this:

    According to the RIK employee, on more than one occasion, Smith directed her to purchase cocaine for him during normal MMS business hours, and Smith used the term “office supplies” when discussing cocaine while at work.

    Is just so 1980s. Though they did throw in a little crystal meth to keep it current.

    h/t Hilzoy

  49. 49

    NR

    I think McCain will get in, be exactly like Bush, and that Palin will one day be president either in 2012 or earlier if McCain dies.

    McCain won’t even have to die. If McCain gets in, and takes Palin with him, you can bet that we’ll see a serious effort on the part of the religious right and the GOP leadership to push McCain out before the end of his term. McCain’s old and tired; Palin is the GOPs new star, and they’ll want her to have a leg up on the 2012 elections.

    If McCain wins, we’ll see President Palin by 2011, even if McCain stays in perfect health.

  50. 50

    Robert Johnston

    And, BTW, the title of this post misspells “moran.”

  51. 51

    Robert Johnston

    And, BTW, the title of this post misspells “moran.”

  52. 52

    DougJ

    You know, there’s a side of me that wants to see Palin as prez. Our system richly deserves it. The only trouble is that the millions of people whose lives are ruined by it won’t be named Cokie or Broder or Nagourney.

    To paraphrase Plutarch, pundits appoint leaders in sport, but the country dies not in sport but in earnest.

  53. 53

    t jasper parnell

    Prediction two:
    Despite the powers of the Drudge/Broder axis of evil, Obama become president. Shortly thereafter Joe Biden dies under mysterious circumstances. Obama reaches out to an obscure second term congressman from Minnesota, who is later revealed to be the 12th Imam. Obama then resigns and the (re)creation of the Caliphate is complete. Except that Ronald Reagan and Margret Thatcher emerge from the clouds to rescue, once again, the world from this latest scourge. Thus America and the World enter into a new golden age.

  54. 54

    Ted

    Palin is the GOPs new star

    You’d think they would be embarrassed about that.

  55. 55

    KRK

    If you were forced at gunpoint to decide whether you would take four more years of Bush/Cheney or four years of McCain/Palin, and you had no third option, what would you choose?

    Cheney’s a soulless cyborg, but did he ever obstruct the business of the Senate after the Democrats got the majority in ‘06? I just envision President-of-the-Senate Palin blithely preventing any Senate business from moving forward, and I don’t know what even 75 Democratic Senators could do about it other than try to get ahead of the “do-nothing Congress” blame game.

  56. 56
  57. 57

    Tsulagi

    Damon is right- this is like a bad Hollywood movie, and that is how they are marketing her.

    Still think within a couple of weeks the novelty and some of the excitement will be off her. They’re putting her at rallies and away from interviews to try to keep the buzz going as long as possible.

    I liked near the end of the Damon vid after most of it is his asking who is this woman who could become president: “I want to know if she thinks dinosaurs were here 4,000 years ago. She’d have the nuclear codes.” Yep. Get ready to Rapture! Coming closer to Jesus one split atom at a time.

  58. 58

    bad disney movie

    Bad Disney movies frequently do very, very, well at the box office.

  59. 59

    Ted

    Coming closer to Jesus one split atom at a time.

    Don’t forget the crowd-pleasers that fuse them. 3% efficiency, baby! Yes, let’s have president Palin!

  60. 60

    Stuck in the Fun House

    t jasper parnell Says:

    Prediction two:

    Hey Jasper, can you send me some of whatever it is your taking. I want to see the future too. :}

  61. 61

    t jasper parnell

    Then again, maybe history does, in fact, repeat first as tragedy then as farce. One version of TRs ascent:

    Republican leaders wanted him, believing he would bring a new kind of glamour and excitement to President McKinley’s candidacy. When his magnetic presence at the national convention fired the enthusiasm of his partisans, the nomination was his. Roosevelt then defied conventional practice by waging an active national campaign for the ticket, publicizing the Republican cause in a way that President McKinley could not. Had not an assassin’s bullet in September 1901 propelled Roosevelt to the White House . . .

  62. 62

    t jasper parnell

    For the worrywarts this might be of interest.

    Hey Jasper, can you send me some of whatever it is your taking. I want to see the future too. :}

    I read on one of the other threads that being + something was required therefore this seemed necessary.

  63. 63

    hwickline.com :: Matt Damon makes sense.

    [...] Seriously, what gives? (via balloon juice) [...]

  64. 64

    Blue Buddha

    At what point did our crazy Hollywood types develop more sense than the entire Republican party?

    Someone pointed out that in the past couple of months, we had Paris Hilton give a witty yet mature response to McCain bashing her, Lindsey Lohan writing an article saying that Palin was picked to distract the country from real issues, and Jamie Lynn Spears giving a baby gift and support to Bristol when she heard that she was knocked up. These are three of the most ditzyest celebrities in all of Hollywood, yet they’re acting far more intelligently and maturely than the entire McCain campaign.

    And that folks, is seriously, seriously, seriously fucked up.

  65. 65

    jcricket

    Bullshit. Do you think he napped through the Michael J. Fox/Limbaugh food fight? They know.

    If they/us (liberals, famous people, the press) are smart, they will realize there is nothing, short of complete capitulation and prostrate worship that will satisfy Republicans.

    If you agree with them, they call you a pussy. If you disagree, they yell, smear your family, call you an appeaser.

    They have lost any and all contact with objective reality, and deserve to be treated as such, by everyone, especially the press and elected Democrats.

  66. 66

    t jasper parnell

    And that folks, is seriously, seriously, seriously fucked up.

    How ‘bout this:

    Two Russian strategic bombers landed in Venezuela on Wednesday as part of military maneuvers, President Hugo Chavez said, welcoming the unprecedented deployment at a time of increasing tensions between Moscow and the U.S.

    Why the future just writes itself: McCain and Palin use the Alaska National Guard to beat back this growing threat because “liberal” George Bush won’t bomb Venezuela fast enough and are swept into office on a straight martial law ticket.

  67. 67

    TR

    Matthews is still flogging this “stinking pig” story for all it’s worth. What a piece of shit he is too.

    I normally loathe Matthews, but he’s been pretty dismissive of the lipstick thing.

    He basically called the woman in the top video an idiot to her face, and right after stopped and made an Olbermann-like comment about how 40 years from now, this country might be a disaster and people will look back at this moment and wonder just what the fuck we were doing talking about this nonsense.

    I was stunned, but there it is. McCain’s stench is so bad, it has even broken through Matthews’ shield.

  68. 68

    ThymeZone

    Take heart, John. I have almost stopped thinking of the rotting old fish in the GOP as being members of “your” party.

    So you see, things are getting better. Nobody here is asking you to wrap yourself in newspaper and throw yourself away.

    Republicans right now have turned into caricatures of themselves. The press is turning on them. Life is good.

  69. 69

    Laura W

    Jasper, can you work Bast into your next prediction?
    That would be COOL.

    To the poster from previous thread promising we’d see more of Unk Pat on Rachel….
    Would you rather be right or happy?
    (I think Jerry Jampolsky said that.)

  70. 70

    t jasper parnell

    After McCain and Palin impose martial law they die in a freak accident when their driver Toonces “accidentally” drives over a cliff. Pelosi rips off her mask to reveal that she is Bast. In a surprise move she reanimates Socks for VP and immediately resigns. It a move first deemed “statescat” like, Socks reaches across the aisle and nominates Barney, citing his extensive literary and presidential experience. Americans, raised on LOL Cats and Benji movies, look on in slack-jawed glee; too late they remember Bill Murray’s warning from Ghostbusters. The liquid fire that rains from the sky ushers in the dark ages.

  71. 71

    Laura W

    LOLZ, Jasper!
    You roxx.

  72. 72

    Jake

    I’m not sure I’d be worried about backlash if I were Damon. He’s a pretty likable guy, first of all, and secondly the only thing that probably matters right now are the undecideds/independents.

    I like the video because it expresses just how I’ve felt: simply astonished that this wingnut is this close to being POTUS. It is absurd. There’s no better way to put it.

  73. 73

    Stuck in the Fun House

    The liquid fire that rains from the sky ushers in the dark ages.

    For my part, Armageddon and the Rapture can’t get here soon enough. It means we’ll be rid of the like of Sarah Palin, James Dobson and the rest of the nutbag corp. And the Tribulations to follow should be a cakewalk compared to the shit we’re putting up with now. Amen

  74. 74
  75. 75

    Bob In Pacifica

    Is Margaret Thatcher in the clouds? How did I miss that?

  76. 76

    ThymeZone

    Armageddon and the Rapture can’t get here soon enough.

    Global death and destruction …. maybe not the best model to prop up. Just saying.

  77. 77

    The Other Steve

    Did you see The Mavrick?

    This is the Moran of the 2008 campaign.

  78. 78

    liberal

    Robert Johnston wrote,

    That’s an easy Bush/Cheney. Bush and Cheney are evil and stupid, but they don’t radiate the kind of batshit crazy motherfucker that comes off of McCain and Palin.

    Agreed.

  79. 79

    t jasper parnell

    Armageddon and the Rapture can’t get here soon enough. It means we’ll be rid of the like of Sarah Palin, James Dobson and the rest of the nutbag corp.

    Not to put to fine a point on it but you have it exactly backward:

    Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. I fast twice in a week, I give tithes of all that I possess. And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner. I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for everyone that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted” (Lk. 18:9-14).

    Or, in other words, Dobson et al, God is coming back and man did you miss the point.

  80. 80

    t jasper parnell

    Margaret Thatcher in the clouds?

    Metaphorically speaking.

  81. 81

    Peter Johnson

    I’m not sure I’d be worried about backlash if I were Damon. He’s a pretty likable guy, first of all, and secondly the only thing that probably matters right now are the undecideds/independents.

    I know I’ll never watch another Matt Damon movie. I destroyed my copies of Bourne Identity and Oceans 11 after I saw this absurd, preening interview.

    Shut up and act.

  82. 82

    KRK

    Aggghhhh!

    Did anyone else catch this? The Bush Administration’s official line now is that Osama bin Laden was NOT the mastermind behind 9/11, so no biggie that they haven’t caught him.

    Question: [Helen Thomas maybe?] But Osama bin Laden is the one that – you keep talking about his lieutenants, and, yes, they are very important, but Osama bin Laden was the mastermind of 9/11 –
    Dana Perino: No, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was the mastermind of 9/11, and he’s sitting in jail right now.

    Video at VetVoice.

  83. 83

    t jasper parnell

    Shut up and act

    I couldn’t agree more; damn and tarnation visit those bicoastal, if you know what I mean, uppity elitists from SAG, AFTRA,and AEA, like Dennis Miller, Heston, Reagan, Ron Silver, James Woods, et alia, who fail to realize that should never ever attempt to use their “celebrity” to foist their pinko commie crap on god fearing Americans.

  84. 84

    Joshua Norton

    Palin:

    Iraq? Is that the one shaped like a boot? No, wait, don’t tell me…....

  85. 85

    Notorious P.A.T.

    Shut up and act.

    From the party of Ronald Reagan, Arnold Schwartzeneggar, Sonny Bono, and Fred Thompson. Now that’s integrity!

  86. 86

    Joshua Norton

    Dennis Miller, Heston, Reagan, Ron Silver, James Woods, et alia,

    You forgot Ahnold! 10 demerits.

  87. 87

    t jasper parnell

    Also Mel Gibson, Schartznegger, Freds Gandy and Thompson, and Bono, Sonny. I’m sure I missed some. But I can ratify your conclusion never again shall I knowing listen to I Got You Babe.

  88. 88

    Conservatively Liberal

    Peter Johnson P e n i s P e n i s Says:

    Just to show what a tool I am, I destroyed my copies of Bourne Identity and Oceans 11 after listening to this fellow American having the audacity to speak freely.

    Now I have nothing and Matt Damon has his cut of the money I paid for the movies. That will show him!

    Sheer brilliance!

  89. 89

    t jasper parnell

    You forgot Ahnold! 10 demerits.

    And his w, for which I will stand myself in the corner, although not that one, for a five count.

  90. 90

    Stuck in the Fun House

    Global death and destruction …. maybe not the best model to prop up. Just saying.

    Geesh, Of course you realize I was joking in that the fundies would be whisked to heaven and out of our hair. And for the record, I don’t believe Biblical profecies to begin with, so no model exists. Only mocking and bad jokes.

  91. 91

    Peter Johnson

    From the party of Ronald Reagan, Arnold Schwartzeneggar, Sonny Bono, and Fred Thompson.

    Do you really call what Arnie and Sonny did acting? Both were far better politicians than actors.

  92. 92

    Kevin

    I destroyed my copies of Bourne Identity and Oceans 11 after I saw this absurd, preening interview.

    I’m sure he’s crushed.

  93. 93

    jibeaux

    Peter Johnson = Dick Dick, guys
    Chill.

    I knew that when my brother discovered that “John McCain and Sarah Palin” forms the anagram “Anal Maniac John’s Ranch Dip”, that you guys would need to know.

    You’re welcome.

  94. 94

    Joshua Norton

    Both were far better politicians than actors.

    As governor, he’s STILL acting. He’s waiting for the writers to fix all his problems in the next set of script revisions.

  95. 95

    NYT

    Today on CNN’s “Situation Report”
    1. Video clip of Palin firing an automatic rifle (reminded me of a Tarantino movie with chicks in bikini’s firing different weapons)
    2. Story about Palin’s “celebrity” and huge crowds
    3. Story about impact of Palin’s glasses featuring her optician
    4. Story about new Palin dolls (small ones with a toy gun, not the blow up kind).

    All on one Situation Report. In the week of the largest business failures in U.S. history and with another investment bank on the ropes.

    I wonder if this stuff was part of McCain’s strategy for a while and the reason he ran those weird “celebrity” adds against Obama last month was to innoculate himself from blowback over this.

  96. 96

    Peter Johnson

    As governor, he’s STILL acting.

    Acting against global warming, acting for bipartisan compromise. I thought those two were your mantras, guys. Where’s the love?

  97. 97

    t jasper parnell

    Do you really call what Arnie and Sonny did acting? Both were far better politicians than actors.

    You clearly never watched Bonzo, which only the conservative media’s hatred of liberal Hollywood, kept from receiving the Oscar it deserved. And, of course, a deep thinker like Bono, Sonny, although most Americans remember him as a singer and are only secondarily bothered that his pinko commie misuse of his celebrity renders reruns of Love American Style unwatchable, and a “real” American like Arnold would have obtained yet more votes had they not been tarred with the unfair brush of celebrity. The depths of your insight and the crystalline brilliance of your thought ought properly excuse your porn star name. You sire deserve a spot in the Palin/McCain’s cabinet.

  98. 98

    mannemalon

    Prediction:
    McCain/Palin win but in a stirring moment on National TV, McCain realizes that he has sold his sacred honor for a mess of potage. He then shots Palin, commits suicide and a stunned nation watches in disbelief as Speaker Pelosi nominates Obama as her VP and then resigns. Obam, ripping off his mask, reveals himself to be an animtronic Vladimir Lenin and immediately appoints zombie Trotsky as VP, declares the constitution illegal and the ghost of Zukov rides over the Bearing Strait on invisible reindeer. Our onliest hope? John Connor born of Sarah emerges from hiding in New Mexico allied with the Wolverines and Wolverine. Between they defeat the Zombies, ghosts, and animatronic Bolshevik dictators. Thus America enters it salad days.

    LOL

  99. 99

    Kevin

    As governor, he’s STILL acting. He’s waiting for the writers to fix all his problems in the next set of script revisions.

    Would you rather have had Tom McClintock?

  100. 100

    genesic

    Flipping through channels, I saw one of the cable news shows seriously interviewing Chuck Norris. The graphic said “Chuck Norris on Taxes”. Chuck Norris.

  101. 101

    tBone

    I knew that when my brother discovered that “John McCain and Sarah Palin” forms the anagram “Anal Maniac John’s Ranch Dip”, that you guys would need to know.

    Full. Of. WIN.

  102. 102

    Brian J

    At what point did our crazy Hollywood types develop more sense than the entire Republican party?

    I don’t think that is fair. I don’t think Damon has ever been like what you describe.

  103. 103

    tomjones

    Damon/Affleck ‘16 bitches!

  104. 104

    The Moar You Know

    I knew that when my brother discovered that “John McCain and Sarah Palin” forms the anagram “Anal Maniac John’s Ranch Dip”, that you guys would need to know.

    I came.

  105. 105

    tBone

    I don’t think that is fair. I don’t think Damon has ever been like what you describe.

    Doesn’t matter. I’d expect lots of clips from Team America to be making the rounds on wingnut blogs tomorrow. MATT . . . DAMON!

  106. 106

    Ted

    I destroyed my copies of Bourne Identity and Oceans 11 after I saw this absurd, preening interview.

    lol. He still got the residuals from your purchase.

  107. 107

    Delia

    I am waiting for the TV gooper morans to denounce the liberal supermarket media’s latest installment in the vetting of the Palin family.

  108. 108

    BrownSugar

    Hey Baby.. after all these years, and I still pout… Me

    Are you still married..?

  109. 109

    Bostondreams

    Hey, Peter, why should he shut up? Are you saying he does not have the right to speak his opinion? What makes his less valid than Limbaugh or O’Reilly or hannity? They are all actors too…what makes Damon’s opinion less valid?

  110. 110

    jbarntt

    As far as I can tell they’re just trying to steal news cycles and interfere with Obama getting his message out.

    Yep, that’s about right and Obama has fallen for it for about a week now. Whining that he shouldn’t have to be talking about the “pig” comment, as he talks about it is a bit non productive.

    Obama has gotten himself into a debate with the Republican veep nominee, and is losing, even though said nominee isn’t in the debate. It’s like he’s in a boxing match with himself and is landing some solid punches.

    I guess running against Alan Keyes wasn’t really much experience for a real contest, the one against Sarah Palin.

    It’s all about judgment you know, not experience. Get a load of Obama’s judgment ! An obscure governor of Alaska throws him completely off his game without even doing much of anything.

    Probably some big grins at the Clinton household these days.

  111. 111

    Kevin

    I am waiting for the TV gooper morans to denounce the liberal supermarket media’s latest installment in the vetting of the Palin family.

    Where are their flag lapel pins?

  112. 112

    Blue Buddha

    Peter Johnson Says:
    As governor, he’s STILL acting.

    Acting against global warming, acting for bipartisan compromise. I thought those two were your mantras, guys. Where’s the love?

    September 10th, 2008 at 9:25 pmHe also declined several invitations to the RNC, and has been distancing himself from Bush for the past couple of years. I wouldn’t be surprised if he dumps the GOP, and becomes an independent or creates his own “Arnie party”. If he were to do it, he’s probably waiting until after the election out of respect for the McCain campaign (whatever little respect there remains of it).

  113. 113

    t jasper parnell

    I am waiting for the TV gooper morans to denounce the liberal supermarket media’s latest installment in the vetting of the Palin family.

    I, for one, refuse to credit this report until the Enquirer apologizes for being right about John Edwards. After all who could possibly believe that teenagers stuck in the middle of nowhere engage in all manner of whatnot in order to make some fun in the land of the midnight sun. After all who could argue that rates of rural drug and alcohol abuse are trending upwards but uppity elitists who rely on facts and what not?

  114. 114

    t jasper parnell

    It’s all about judgment you know, not experience. Get a load of Obama’s judgment ! An obscure governor of Alaska throws him completely off his game without even doing much of anything.

    Yes, yes indeed, as more and more pundits point out that Sarah Palin and John McCain are lying liars it becomes increasingly clear that Obama and his campaign are in a shambles. Why each day more and more top drawer Republican come out of the woodwork to cling to the Palin/McCain message of er, um, uh, Obama is a doodyhead? We see the juggernaut that is the Palin/McCain campaign. Why next they will, because their campaign has so wrong-footed Obama, that his order of pig in a blanket is evidence of his hatred of the police. Yep, Obama has been totally pwnd.

  115. 115

    tomjones

    jbarntt, you seem to be acknowledging that the McCain ticket is not interested in debating the issues, but rather is hoping to distract the American people with fake controversies. I’m confused: is it now trolling Standard Operating Procedures to agree with the party one is attempting to troll?

  116. 116

    joeyess

    Am I the only one that the Youtube vids are merely a black screen?

    Same thing on Crooks and Liars.

    Youtube seems to be working fine.

    What’s up?

  117. 117

    Chris Johnson

    Today on CNN’s “Situation Report”
    1. Video clip of Palin firing an automatic rifle

    Are you joking? While I am not exactly a gun control freak and have not felt any particular need to ban automatic weapons, the idea that the electorate thinks this is what a President (or veep) should look like is worrying.

    Seriously. What the FUCK.

    Cheney only shot a guy in the face with a SHOTGUN, for fuck’s sake. This one clearly expects to rack up a bigger high score when HER VTEC kicks in.

    What the FUCK you guys.

  118. 118

    tomjones

    Why next they will, because their campaign has so wrong-footed Obama, that his order of pig in a blanket is evidence of his hatred of the police.

    It’s so obvious now. Fish ‘n CHiPs

  119. 119

    t jasper parnell

    I have to go to bed and pray to the patron saints of pitbulls with lipstick and POWs but this kind of report simply shows the terrible circumstances in which the Obama camp finds itself. How can they possibly fight back or off a the Palin/McCain campaign’s brilliant idea to nominate someone with a series of such ethereal accomplishments and man whose maverickness is such that he now runs against his own record.

  120. 120

    airmail

    Am I the only one that the Youtube vids are merely a black screen?

    Nope, they are black for me too, and I really want to see them.

  121. 121

    Matt Damon Rips Sarah Palin - Page 2 - Sportbikes.net

    [...] John Cole (former Republican) on Damon’s comments: Quote: [...]

  122. 122

    Delia

    After all who could possibly believe that teenagers stuck in the middle of nowhere engage in all manner of whatnot in order to make some fun in the land of the midnight sun. After all who could argue that rates of rural drug and alcohol abuse are trending upwards but uppity elitists who rely on facts and what not?

    Are you questioning American small towns as a beacon of moral rectitude and hope unto the world? You must be an urban elitist.

    And BTW, here’s a true story. I was recently visiting my sister who told of working with some students at Utah State University in Logan, UT (which is admittedly not a major urban center, but at least has a university, stores, and a bit of cultural life). She overheard one young woman from a very rural Utah town confessing to another that until she came to school she honestly thought the gestation period for babies was five months because that was the length of time from the wedding to first birth in her town.

  123. 123

    joeyess

    Nope, they are black for me too, and I really want to see them.

    Well, that at least makes me feel a little better.

    Must be a youtube problem then, huh?

  124. 124

    Conservatively Liberal

    I knew that when my brother discovered that “John McCain and Sarah Palin” forms the anagram “Anal Maniac John’s Ranch Dip”, that you guys would need to know.

    My wife loves ranch dressing/dip so I asked her if she was interested in trying that brand and she said ‘no thanks, I’ll pass’.

    That name is just overflowing with WIN.

  125. 125

    flavortext

    I wouldn’t be surprised if he dumps the GOP, and becomes an independent or creates his own “Arnie party”. If he were to do it, he’s probably waiting until after the election out of respect for the McCain campaign (whatever little respect there remains of it).

    Me neither. He’s his own special brand of crazy.

  126. 126

    jbarntt

    Hi John,

    I Am Done Trying To Spoof These Morons

    Before I read your post, I assumed you meant Obama and his campaign, given that Obama has spent almost a week throwing punches at Palin, but mostly just hitting himself.

    Amazing that the totally unqualified, lacking in experience Palin has completely thrown His Oneness off His game. Sure she hit him hard by comparing His experience as community organizer to her’s as the mayor of a small town, but that’s about all, but it was enough to make The One fold up like a cardboard box in a rain storm.

    Fortunately, guys like Vlad Putin are rank amateurs and have nothing on The One when it comes to judgment. Obama will be OK a “heartbeat away”, even if not quite as strong as Palin.

    Let’s get back to the serious debate between the serious candidates, McCain and Biden.

  127. 127

    tomjones

    Does jbarntt write here to convince himself of the rightness of his cause? Cuz he sure isn’t convincing anyone else.

  128. 128
  129. 129

    jbarntt

    Why next they will, because their campaign has so wrong-footed Obama, that his order of pig in a blanket is evidence of his hatred of the police. Yep, Obama has been totally pwnd.

    Your English is a bit obscure, so I’m not entirely clear what you mean. First, it isn’t about being “totally pwnd”, it’s about shifting numbers, and it looks like McCain/Palin has done that, to their benefit. Second, it looks like an unforced error on the Obama/Biden side.

    Sure, Mc/P were helped by the wild accusations made against her by the lefty blogs and reported as news by the press, but nonetheless, Obama threw Palin into the briar patch, just as she requested.

  130. 130

    Delia

    I say, “Embrace the Pig.” Put it on posters and wave it at McPOW and Palin rallies. Make them eat it.

    Oh, and one more thing: Without his magic Sarah at his side, McPOW turned back into a pumpkin today. He got drowned out by Obama supporters and left early.

  131. 131

    Stuck in the Fun House

    Before I read your post, I assumed you meant Obama and his campaign, given that Obama has spent almost a week throwing punches at Palin, but mostly just hitting himself.

    You know barnett, you already said this once and it’s still a crock. If you don’t watch yourself, people are going to think your some wingnut spoof bot, instead of just an idiot troll.

  132. 132

    Conservatively Liberal

    McCain likes to talk about waste and use the $3,000,000.00 bear DNA study in Montana as an example. Never mind that this was outdone by Palin this year as she wants $3,200,000.00 to study seal DNA.

    Or how about Palin wanting $2,000,000.00 to study crab mating habits, or half a million to study recreational halibut fishing?

    Sarah Palin is just another porker at the trough. This made-up bulldog is really just another pig wearing lipstick.

  133. 133

    Peter Johnson

    Hey, Peter, why should he shut up? Are you saying he does not have the right to speak his opinion?

    He has the right to say what he wants, and people like me have the right to boycott his movies and destroy his DVDs if we own them. That’s how the free market works.

  134. 134

    Conservatively Liberal

    Amazing that the totally unqualified, lacking in experience Palin …

    Your unswerving admiration for your candidate is showing.

    Your mental farts are pretty entertaining if only for the stupidity that shines through them. jbarntt backfires once again!

  135. 135

    Ted

    He has the right to say what he wants, and people like me have the right to boycott his movies and destroy his DVDs if we own them. That’s how the free market works.

    The free market only works when you change your purchasing decisions, moron. You’ve already paid for those DVDs. Go throw $15 in your trash can; it would be about the same thing.

  136. 136

    Rock

    “Does jbarntt write here to convince himself of the rightness of his cause? Cuz he sure isn’t convincing anyone else.”

    Actually, I think he’s pretty convincing. Can anyone look at Obama’s campaign and not think that he’s incredibly inept? McCain has owned every single news cycle. Every. One. Obama’s one feeble atempt to attack was on education. McCain fought back by bitch-slapping him with the pedophile ad. It looks like Obama doesn’t have the guts or skills to play the game he needs to to get elected. He has let down the Democratic Party and America.

  137. 137

    Chris Johnson

    McCain likes to talk about waste and use the $3,000,000.00 bear DNA study in Montana as an example. Never mind that this was outdone by Palin this year as she wants $3,200,000.00 to study seal DNA.

    Can’t she find a seal who’ll let her blow him for nothing?

  138. 138

    jbarntt

    tomjones Says:

    jbarntt, you seem to be acknowledging that the McCain ticket is not interested in debating the issues, but rather is hoping to distract the American people with fake controversies. I’m confused: is it now trolling Standard Operating Procedures to agree with the party one is attempting to troll?

    I’m a Republican and McCain/Palin supporter. If I were a troll, I would not say that, and would attempt to disguise it. Perhaps you don’t understand the meaning of the term ?

    McCain threw a curve ball to Obama and Obama not only swung and missed, but his bat came back around and hit him upside the head. Obama has been in a debate with Palin for about a week now. Why ? She’s the Republican veep nominee, the fish Obama needs to fry is McCain.

    Palin gave a speech at the Republican convention and Obama has been after her ever since. Palin does nothing, and watches as Obama beats himself up.

    No trolling on my part.

  139. 139

    mark

    O/T, Krugman refers to W as “He Who Must Not Be Named.”

  140. 140

    Conservatively Liberal

    He has the right to say what he wants, and people like me have the right to boycott his movies and destroy his DVDs if we own them. That’s how the free market works.

    Yes it works that way you wise little weasel! Damon has his residuals from your purchases and you have absolutely nothing to show for your expenditures. But at least you have the smug satisfaction of knowing that what you did changed absolutely nothing! Now that is not sending a message!

    If you are trying to inspire us with your mindless support of McCain I regret to inform you that you are coming across as less than underwhelming.

    Dumb fuck.

  141. 141

    jbarntt

    You know barnett, you already said this once and it’s still a crock. If you don’t watch yourself, people are going to think your some wingnut spoof bot, instead of just an idiot troll.

    I’ll be awake at nights worried about that. Thanks for the concern.

  142. 142

    Delia

    A couple of weeks ago when McLame first announced Palin’s existence, I wrote a screenplay on this site (well, sorta the outline of a screenplay) called “My Mom the President”. Maybe I should send it to Matt Damon. But I’d have to revise it, because it was a romantic comedy and it was before we knew that Bristol was preggers and her BF was being shotgunned into marriage or that Track was a druggie or that there were suspicions that Sarah had been sleeping around on Todd. So I think we’d have to drop the romantic comedy and turn it into some sort of sleazeball backwoods comedy. Or maybe even a “Last House On the Left” type horror film. I don’t know. It’s getting really complicated. But for the benefit of all you trolls, I did have a big scene at the end where she’s at the G8 and she wins over all the cynical world leaders with her big brown eyes and small town ways. But as we find out more about Sarah Palin, we might have to go with the “Last House On The Left” formula and just have her take out her big old moose rifle and blow them all away.

  143. 143

    Kevin

    Palin gave a speech at the Republican convention and Obama has been after her ever since. Palin does nothing, and watches as Obama beats himself up.

    WTF are you talking about? Obama has barely even talked about her at all. He only mentions Palin when someone else asks him about her, and even then, he pretty much dismisses her as an irrelevance, stating that his real opponent is John McCain.

    Nice try. Do you think that repeating this bullshit over and over will eventually make it true?

  144. 144

    mark

    Can’t she find a seal who’ll let her blow him for nothing?

    “He told me I’d blown a seal. I said, just fix the damn thing and leave my personal life out of it.”

    Dr.Demento – Wet Dream

  145. 145

    Joshua Norton

    Do you think that repeating this bullshit over and over will eventually make it true?

    Repiggies think the same way about their dick sizes.

    This:

    is 8 inches if you keep saying it is.

  146. 146

    Rock

    You know barnett, you already said this once and it’s still a crock. If you don’t watch yourself, people are going to think your some wingnut spoof bot, instead of just an idiot troll.”

    So you think Obama is running a good campaign? You may hate the message, but don’t blame the messenger. Is it just me or does Obama’s campaign look slow and weak? The polls say it’s not just me. At this point Obama’s performance is indefensible.

  147. 147

    Ninerdave

    He has the right to say what he wants, and people like me have the right to boycott his movies and destroy his DVDs if we own them. That’s how the free market works.

    And I’m sure he’ll be crushed.

  148. 148

    Conservatively Liberal

    jbarntt, do you even read what you write? Just in this thread, you say:

    Amazing that the totally unqualified, lacking in experience Palin …

    and

    I’m a Republican and McCain/Palin supporter.

    You can’t be real, no f’ing way. You are taking Republican stupidity to a whole new level with this kind of vapid shit.

  149. 149

    Delia

    WTF are you talking about? Obama has barely even talked about her at all. He only mentions Palin when someone else asks him about her, and even then, he pretty much dismisses her as an irrelevance, stating that his real opponent is John McCain.

    Nice try. Do you think that repeating this bullshit over and over will eventually make it true?

    Yes. In fact, this is precisely what they think. This is why McPOW-Palin keep repeating their Bridge To Nowhere mantra despite the evidence on all sides that it’s manifestly untrue. The goopers have become completely detached from anything resembling reality or truth.

    How do you tell they’re lying when they’re talking? Their lips are moving.

    How do you tell they’re lying when they’re writing? They’re stringing words together to form sentences.

  150. 150

    jbarntt

    Can’t she find a seal who’ll let her blow him for nothing?

    Classy way to convince undecided women to vote for Obama, it’ll be a big help. Are you a troll for the McCain campaign ?

  151. 151

    Stuck in the Fun House

    Oh, and one more thing: Without his magic Sarah at his side, McPOW turned back into a pumpkin today. He got drowned out by Obama supporters and left early.

    His Cinderella will bring pumpkin doom to the GOP well before midnight.

  152. 152

    zuzu's petals

    Because you simply can not top what they do

    Not that nobody’s trying.

  153. 153

    Conservatively Liberal

    How do you tell they’re lying when they’re writing? They’re stringing random words together to form what they think are sentences.

    Fixed.

  154. 154

    d0n Camillo

    How can they possibly fight back or off a the Palin/McCain campaign’s brilliant idea to nominate someone with a series of such ethereal accomplishments and man whose maverickness is such that he now runs against his own record.

    McCain’s such a maverick, he even opposes himself.

  155. 155

    zuzu's petals

    Matt Damon left Harvard to go make movies.

    And promptly won an Academy Award for writing one.

  156. 156

    Conservatively Liberal

    At a Palin rally in Anchorage, the crowd was chanting Palin and the campaign guy on the stage was trying to get them to shout McCain. Palin really should consider dropping McCain because he is dragging her ticket down.

    mccain/PALIN! ‘08

  157. 157

    Peter Johnson

    McCain threw a curve ball to Obama and Obama not only swung and missed, but his bat came back around and hit him upside the head

    Bingo. You don’t see that often in baseball but you see it a lot on the Democratic campaign trail.

    McCain-Palin 62%
    Obama-Biden 38%

    Take that to the bank. Biggest blow-out since 1964.

  158. 158

    Stuck in the Fun House

    McCain threw a curve ball to Obama

    Maybe, but Mccain’s curve ball is rapidly becoming the Eephus kind.

  159. 159

    jbarntt

    Hi Conservatively Liberal:

    You assume that the readers of this blog are idiots, I don’t. You quote sentence fragments out of context, here’s what I said:

    Amazing that the totally unqualified, lacking in experience Palin has completely thrown His Oneness off His game. Sure she hit him hard by comparing His experience as community organizer to her’s as the mayor of a small town, but that’s about all, but it was enough to make The One fold up like a cardboard box in a rain storm.

    You are either a special needs child or a Democrat, maybe there is no distinction. Anyone with an IQ over 60 would understand my post, even if they disagreed with it.

    You are a shining example of why voting Democratic is foolish.

  160. 160

    Kevin

    You assume that the readers of this blog are idiots

    Stop talking to yourself, it’s kind of creepy.

  161. 161

    Peter Johnson

    You are either a special needs child or a Democrat, maybe there is no distinction.

    There’s none. What do you think all those short buses were doing outside Invesco Field?

  162. 162

    Dennis - SGMM

    Just heard a line on BBC’s broadcast of the Secret Policeman’s Ball that summarizes jbarntt (Who must be from Banff): “Essentially, you’re an oxygen thief.”

  163. 163

    Oracle

    You are either a special needs child or a Democrat, maybe there is no distinction

    Leave Trig out of this, you stoopid moran.

  164. 164

    Johnny Pez

    Do you think that repeating this bullshit over and over will eventually make it true?

    Yes.

    Next question?

  165. 165

    Jess

    Repiggies think the same way about their dick sizes.

    This:

    is 8 inches if you keep saying it is.

    Well, lemme know when it’s in, so I can start faking my orgasm.

  166. 166

    Kevin

    What will be the mavericky response to this?

  167. 167

    jbarntt

    At a Palin rally in Anchorage, the crowd was chanting Palin and the campaign guy on the stage was trying to get them to shout McCain. Palin really should consider dropping McCain because he is dragging her ticket down.

    Not likely to happen, but since Obama is focused on her, and dropping in the polls, you might have a point.

    But let’s get serious. Biden should dump Obama. He clobbers Palin on experience, and goes toe to toe with McCain. Obama would be an OK veep for Biden, even though he doesn’t seem to be able to deal effectively with Palin.

    Probably the best things for the Democrats to do would be to go with a Clinton/Biden ticket. Never to late for change, and hope !

  168. 168

    Lidane

    What do you think all those short buses were doing outside Invesco Field?

    What else? Driving around the Republican protesters and the PUMA imbeciles.

  169. 169

    Stuck in the Fun House

    McCain-Palin 62%
    Obama-Biden 38%

    Take that to the bank. Biggest blow-out since 1964.

    Is this the fucking Twilight Zone or what. No fantasy too dumb to be mentioned. We’re going to have to force feed our wingnut trolls Prozac or Thorazine or something.

  170. 170

    blogreeder

    Palin gave a speech at the Republican convention and Obama has been after her ever since. Palin does nothing, and watches as Obama beats himself up.

    Exactly! That’s why she doesn’t have to give any interviews. The Democrats just self-destruct. If Matt Damon just googled “Anchorage news” He would have gotten tons of information on her. What an idiot.

  171. 171

    Dennis - SGMM

    You are either a special needs child or a Democrat, maybe there is no distinction.

    Ah, you cocksuckers. I am still raising a twenty-three-year old autistic son. It is instructive to remember that a Republican occasioned the memorable “You’ve done enough. Have you no sense of decency, sir, at long last? Have you left no sense of decency?”
    Your rising star has a special needs son, assholes, and if I were you I’d be careful because she seems to have a habit of getting even.

  172. 172

    cain

    Nice try. Do you think that repeating this bullshit over and over will eventually make it true?

    Hey it worked for Bush! All wingnuts believe if you repeat something ad nauseum it becomes truth.

    cain

  173. 173

    jbarntt

    Stop talking to yourself, it’s kind of creepy.

    How so ? Don’t be coy, explain. I’m all ears.

  174. 174

    Koz

    I didn’t watch the clip, though Matt Damon is obviously entitled to vote for whoever he wants. But if his thesis is that the Republican ticket is a bad movie, he should be careful. I watched one of the Bourne series, and that might have been the most awful thing I’ve ever seen in my life.

  175. 175

    blogreeder

    You are either a special needs child or a Democrat, maybe there is no distinction. Anyone with an IQ over 60 would understand my post, even if they disagreed with it.

    They like to snark here. That’s all. Don’t get too upset. They try to out wit each other with lame remarks. Sometimes it’s like watching children.

  176. 176

    Kevin

    Hey it worked for Bush! All wingnuts believe if you repeat something ad nauseum it becomes truth.

    Well, of course; I just want to see a wingnut admit it sometime :-)

  177. 177

    Conservatively Liberal

    jbarntt, just to spell out in the hope that your simple mind will grasp what I am saying, you claim to be a McCain/Palin supporter and yet you said that Palin is totally unqualified, lacking in experience.

    Your claim that I quoted you out of context lacks any context on your part to back it up. Your quote changed nothing, just as Dick Dick’s throwing his money in the garbage did not change anything.

    If you two are prime examples of the residue that is left of the Republican party, your party (and you) are beyond help. You two are nothing more than a couple of vapid, empty-headed fuckwits who couldn’t find your asses with both hands, maps, mirrors and escorts.

    You two are too stupid to even ride the short bus. One throws his money in the garbage and the other supports a totally unqualified, lacking in experience ticket.

    Asshat fuckwits.

  178. 178

    Kevin

    How so ? Don’t be coy, explain. I’m all ears.

    You can have the other voices in your head explain it to you.

  179. 179

    Peter Johnson

    Ah, you cocksuckers. I am still raising a twenty-three-year old autistic son. It is instructive to remember that a Republican occasioned the memorable “You’ve done enough. Have you no sense of decency, sir, at long last? Have you left no sense of decency?”
    Your rising star has a special needs son, assholes, and if I were you I’d be careful because she seems to have a habit of getting even.

    No offense meant. Sorry.

    But I also don’t see Sarah Barracuda tracing any IPs and taking action against commenters here. That seems a bit paranoid to me. Especially given the duties of a VP.

  180. 180

    iluvsummr

    NPR gets a farmer to put lipstick on a pig.

    Well, if McCain/Palin do win, I have a feeling I won’t be alone in hoping that the Large Hadron Collider does create a black hole or a strangelet that destroys the world. No matter what Stephen Hawking says about this being unlikely.

  181. 181

    blogreeder

    if I were you I’d be careful because she seems to have a habit of getting even.

    It almost sounds like you’ve done research. Do tell, what has she done??

  182. 182

    Kevin

    No offense meant. Sorry.

    Bullshit. I’m not Dennis, but I don’t believe you.

  183. 183

    Conservatively Liberal

    Koz Says:

    I didn’t watch the clip, though Matt Damon is obviously entitled to vote for whoever he wants. But if his thesis is that the Republican ticket is a bad movie, he should be careful. I watched one of the Bourne series, and that might have been the most awful thing I’ve ever seen in my life.

    Shorter Koz: I just love to pull stuff out of my ass and I don’t need any facts to get in the way.

    No shit Sherlock.

    Shit, this is like shooting fish in a market. No competition at all. Are they holding the Stoopid Olympics here tonight?

  184. 184

    Dennis - SGMM

    But I also don’t see Sarah Barracuda tracing any IPs and taking action against commenters here. That seems a bit paranoid to me. Especially given the duties of a VP

    Apology accepted. Do you really believe that you’re anonymous on the Internet these days? Take a close look at the current administration’s requirements for internet provider’s IP record keeping.

  185. 185

    jbarntt

    Leave Trig out of this, you stoopid moran.

    Why ? The fine Democrats didn’t. They think that Palin is a bad woman because she didn’t have an abortion. God knows that good women abort their babies rather than raise them.

  186. 186

    zuzu's petals

    Blue Buddha Says:

    Peter Johnson Says:
    As governor, he’s STILL acting.

    Acting against global warming, acting for bipartisan compromise. I thought those two were your mantras, guys. Where’s the love?

    September 10th, 2008 at 9:25 pm

    He also declined several invitations to the RNC, and has been distancing himself from Bush for the past couple of years. I wouldn’t be surprised if he dumps the GOP, and becomes an independent or creates his own “Arnie party”. If he were to do it, he’s probably waiting until after the election out of respect for the McCain campaign (whatever little respect there remains of it).

    He didn’t really “decline,” he couldn’t leave town because there STILL is no state budget (2 mos overdue and counting). So he sent a taped speech instead.

    He’s been distancing himself from GWB only to the extent it’s politically expedient. After all, in 2004 he was right up there and the podium extolling “George Double-Yew Boooosh!” ...

    I’m not saying he’s insincere in his criticism of the administration on things like global warming, but he is also taking a politcally popular position here in California.

  187. 187

    Peter Johnson

    Palin is totally unqualified, lacking in experience.

    She’s got more executive experience than. ALL THE OTHER CANDIDATES COMBINED.

  188. 188

    Kevin

    If you two are prime examples of the residue that is left of the Republican party, your party (and you) are beyond help. You two are nothing more than a couple of vapid, empty-headed fuckwits who couldn’t find your asses with both hands, maps, mirrors and escorts.

    I will leave it up to you which one of our friends from this evening is which in this video

  189. 189

    Dennis - SGMM

    Do tell, what has she done??

    You’re either disingenuous or willfully ignorant.

  190. 190

    Peter Johnson

    Do you really believe that you’re anonymous on the Internet these days? Take a close look at the current administration’s requirements for internet provider’s IP record keeping.

    I’m at a library terminal, so I’m not worried.

  191. 191

    oh really

    RE: jbarntt

    It’s stupid. Ignore it and it will go away.

  192. 192

    Kevin

    Peter Johnson Says:
    Palin is totally unqualified, lacking in experience.

    She’s got more executive experience than. ALL THE OTHER CANDIDATES COMBINED.

    Okay, who is this, really?

  193. 193

    zuzu's petals

    If he were to do it, he’s probably waiting until after the election out of respect for the McCain campaign (whatever little respect there remains of it).

    PS, don’t forget Steve Schmidt ran his re-election campaign.

  194. 194

    ThymeZone

    Response to Matt Damon: The remedy is to work for Obama’s election.

    That is the remedy. Pearl clutching doesnt’ feed the bulldog. Do what you can to get Obama elected. Period.

    Palin is neither the first nor the last of them. Stop complaining and get to work.

  195. 195

    jenniebee

    Hey, Peter, why should he shut up? Are you saying he does not have the right to speak his opinion?

    He has the right to say what he wants, and people like me have the right to boycott his movies and destroy his DVDs if we own them. That’s how the free market works.

    You not buying a ticket or a DVD and Damon “shutting up” are two different things. Sure you’re entitled to not purchase his product, but I sincerely doubt that your patronage is worth giving up free speech to Mr. Damon. But you might consider asking yourself some serious questions about what kind of country this would be if there were political alignment tests for every occupation, or what life would be like if your comments here determined what employment and service providers were open to you, and which would refuse to work with you, in the complete distortion of the free market you imagine.

    BTW, the whole theory of the free market is specifically that what consumers care about is purely x product for y price. The whole fucking point about why it’s supposed to be so liberating and free and great is that it’s theoretically blind to race, creed, color, political inclination, gender, etc, because supposedly the seller wants more than anything else to make money and the consumer wants more than anything else to get a good deal, and neither cares about their personal prejudices as much as they care about profits and bargains. If the market isn’t blind to those things, which you take as a given that it not only isn’t, but shouldn’t be, then it’s just lost one of its principal advantages, and all its got left is that it’s (again, theoretically) able to deliver what’s wanted where it’s wanted (as long, of course, as the people who want it are the right race, creed, color, political inclination, etc…). woo fucking hoo.

    Sigh… I’m going to go watch The Front now, to remind myself that the country’s resilient, we will survive, it’s been this bad or worse before, etc.

  196. 196

    Conservatively Liberal

    She’s got more executive experience than. ALL THE OTHER CANDIDATES COMBINED.

    Argue that with your Republican buddy jbarntt, he thinks otherwise. Fuckwit.

    You’re either disingenuous or willfully ignorant.

    Fixed.

  197. 197

    blogreeder

    You’re either disingenuous or willfully ignorant

    I’m talking about the getting even part. What has she done to “get even” with someone?

  198. 198

    SGEW

    My, the stench of troll is thick here tonight.

    I go and have a life for a while, and look what happens to my beloved WordPress>Error site.

  199. 199

    Peter Johnson

    Argue that with your Republican buddy jbarntt, he thinks otherwise

    I’m not a Republican. I would have voted for Hillary as the nominee. But I just can’t stomach Barack Hussein. Don’t know jbarntt that well, but it wouldn’t surprise if he’s in the same boat.

  200. 200

    Joshua Norton

    I love the “more experience” meme. She has more experience at sucking at her job, and that’s about it.

  201. 201

    zuzu's petals

    John, time to put up a new fundraising thingy?

    http://www.actblue.com/page/balloonsforobama

  202. 202

    jbarntt

    You two are too stupid to even ride the short bus. One throws his money in the garbage and the other supports a totally unqualified, lacking in experience ticket.

    Asshat fuckwits.

    Who are these two you refer to ? I assume the other is someone else, but why do you associate me with him/her/it ?

    The McCain/Palin ticket has experience on the top, not so much on the bottom. Not ideal, but the veep job really has no power. Funny thing is that the Obama/Bden ticket puts the amateur at the top and the qualified guy at the bottom.

    Biden and Clinton must be wondering what the heck is going on in their party.

    Asshat fuckwits.

    Ah, now we have reached your best argument, name calling. Sure to win the junior high school vote. LOL.

  203. 203

    blogreeder

    I love the “more experience” meme. She has more experience at sucking at her job, and that’s about it.

    She does have more experience than you’re giving her credit for. Plus, shouldn’t we be celebrating the fact that she’s a women? Isn’t that out of the Democratic playbook? Diversity and all.

  204. 204

    Kevin

    I’m not a Republican.

    Okay.

    I would have voted for Hillary as the nominee.

    Sure thing.

    But I just can’t stomach Barack Hussein.

    ah, a PUMA, aka a ratfucker! That explains your knuckledragging, drooling idiocy.

  205. 205

    SGEW

    What has she done to “get even” with someone?

    Well, she might not have successfully banned the books, but she did fire the librarian who refused to remove them from the library.

    That and that whole, you know, troopergate thing.

    Idle speculation about alleged activity (sure wish we knew more, but what’re you gonna do? Get a responsible national media or something?), but the implication’s out there.

    Oh, by the way:

    Bush and Cheney are evil and stupid, but they don’t radiate the kind of batshit crazy motherfucker that comes off of McCain and Palin.

    Nonsense. McCain may (may!) be one literally crazy motherfucker, and Palin may (may!) be a young-earth believing, Rapture awaiting, evolution denying, vindictive pitbull BUT: We know that W. Bush and Dick Cheney are actively trying to destroy our country and the world with evil and failure and teh stupid. I’d go with the unknown quantity – I simply cannot see how McCain or Palin could be as evil as Cheney.

  206. 206

    Delia

    Peter Johnson Says:

    Do you really believe that you’re anonymous on the Internet these days? Take a close look at the current administration’s requirements for internet provider’s IP record keeping.

    I’m at a library terminal, so I’m not worried.

    Well, if you’re posting at this hour from a library, that means that you’re a university student or lying, so that narrows the possibilities right there.

    And do you think universities won’t be able to figure this stuff out (who’s posting from what terminal at what hour?) if the geniuses at DHS come demanding their records?

  207. 207

    Conservatively Liberal

    Peter Johnson Dick Dick is a racist Democrat and that means he is a NEWLY minted Republican. More (white) power to ya baby!

    Anyone who says that they supported Hillary, refers to their non-support of Obama using his middle name and is voting for McCain is clearly a racist Democrat and nothing will change that fact.

    Yup, you truly are a double dick. Good riddance racist.

  208. 208

    blogreeder

    Ah, now we have reached your best argument, name calling. Sure to win the junior high school vote. LOL.

    Name calling is their defining characteristic.

  209. 209

    Mrs. Peel

    Isn’t that out of the Democratic playbook? Diversity and all.

    No, it’s out of the ratfucker wingnuts playbook. Any pair of tits will do. After all, all those broads are the same.

    Shithead.

  210. 210

    Kevin

    Ah, now we have reached your best argument, name calling. Sure to win the junior high school vote. LOL.

    Hmm, interesting.

    You are either a special needs child or a Democrat, maybe there is no distinction.

    What were you saying about name calling?

  211. 211

    Conservatively Liberal

    Who are these two you refer to ?

    Look in the mirror if you want half of the answer. I am afraid that you are too stupid to understand the answer to the other half.

    I call them as I see them. You are a fuckwit.

    Peter Johnson is

    Propping
    Up
    McCain’s
    Ass

  212. 212

    SGEW

    But I just can’t stomach Barack Hussein.

    And we just have simply no idea why that may be, Mr. (I assume) Johnson.

    Begone.

  213. 213

    Peter Johnson

    Any pair of tits will do. After all, all those broads are the same.

    No one said that. I would have voted for Hillary as president but I’d much prefer Sarah Barracuda’s…er…assets.

  214. 214

    SGEW

    Movin’ on:

    McCain threw a curve ball to Obama and Obama not only swung and missed, but his bat came back around and hit him upside the head.

    Ahem. Not to be overly cute*, but may I interpret your sentiment thusly?

    “McCain (or, rather Steve Schmidt and Karl Rove) played a genius political move (i.e., jumped hard on the DNC bounce and took back the media narrative) by announcing Gov. Sarah “Holy Shit I’m Scandalous” Palin. This single move placed the game back into Rove’s comfort zone (namely running on “character, not issues,” as the McCain campaign has admitted). Sen. Obama, as he has consistently repeated throughout his public career, has purposely eschewed from the “politics of division and distraction,” and therefore has a crippling disadvantage trying to play the same game, one where Team Republican has their greatest strength (lie, spin, distort, smear, distract, misdirect). Therefore, in the zero-sum win or die game of national politics, McCain is the “superior” candidate, and Obama is the “inferior” one (or, rather, has been “pwnd”).”

    Yes? More or less? Is “winning the game” by assuming the electorate is, for the most part, too stupid/apathetic to care about issues that will affect their lives so you might as well just lie to them and whip up irrational fervor (which you, as a self-described intelligent person, must admit is McCain’s battle plan) worth more than responsibly fulfilling the office of the Presidency?

    . . .

    Wait, that may have been too complicated. Summary:

    Do you think that winning a single election cycle by any means necessary is more important than Truth, Justice, and The American Way?

    Seriously. Answer the question.

    *Gawd forbid.

  215. 215

    jbarntt

    Hi Pete,you said:

    I’m not a Republican. I would have voted for Hillary as the nominee. But I just can’t stomach Barack Hussein. Don’t know jbarntt that well, but it wouldn’t surprise if he’s in the same boat.

    I am a Republican and I would have voted for McCain against Hillary. Nonetheless, I think Hillary would have been OK. Obama, not so much. I guess I’m what they used to call a Rockefeller Republican, and McCain works for me.

    Democrats like Bill Clinton, Al Gore, Richard Gephardt, etc. are OK by me. Obama is from the far left of the party, McCain is an oddball in some ways, but he has a lot of centrist proclivities, some of which I agree with and others that I oppose. I find him to be the best of my two options.

  216. 216

    Kevin

    Do you think that winning a single election cycle by any means necessary is more important than Truth, Justice, and The American Way?

    You’ll never get an honest answer to that question.

  217. 217

    SGEW

    Obama is from the far left of the party . . . .

    Why? Name 3 of his policies you would label “far left”?

    . . . centrist proclivities, some of which I agree with and others that I oppose.

    Name 3 that you agree with.

    These are questions in good faith. I am honesty curious.

  218. 218

    Darkrose

    He didn’t really “decline,” he couldn’t leave town because there STILL is no state budget (2 mos overdue and counting). So he sent a taped speech instead.

    I still think he called all of the legislators and said, “Please, whatever you do—give me at least a week. I’ll make it up to you.”

  219. 219

    blogreeder

    Well, she might not have successfully banned the books, but she did fire the librarian who refused to remove them from the library.

    Thanks for the info. Still the only way she could get even with someone is if they worked for her. Oh, the Librarian didn’t get fired and she didn’t ban any books.

  220. 220

    Conservatively Liberal

    Being a wingnut means never having to say you’re sorry think for yourself.

    Fixed. ;)

  221. 221

    Peter Johnson

    Democrats like Bill Clinton, Al Gore, Richard Gephardt, etc. are OK by me

    Clinton and Gephardt I like. And I voted for the 2000 model of Al Gore. Lately, though, he’s drifted pretty far to the left, maybe as far as Obama.

  222. 222

    Kevin

    Obama is from the far left of the party

    HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA

    You’ve never met the far left of the Democratic party.

  223. 223

    TenguPhule

    Peter Johnson Says: I’m a dick.

    We know. We know.

  224. 224

    SGEW

    You’ll never get an honest answer to that question.

    I know, I know. Too cute by half.

    Can’t help it. I’ve been holding in snark all day.

  225. 225

    Kevin

    Peter Johnson Says:
    Democrats like Bill Clinton, Al Gore, Richard Gephardt, etc. are OK by me

    Clinton and Gephardt I like. And I voted for the 2000 model of Al Gore. Lately, though, he’s drifted pretty far to the left, maybe as far as Obama.

    Okay, who is this? I am now convinced that “Peter Johnson” and “jbarntt” are the same person.

  226. 226

    TenguPhule

    Palin initially requested Emmons’ resignation, along with those of Wasilla’s other department heads, in October 1996. Palin described the requests as a loyalty test

    blogreeder, hoist by his own linkie.

  227. 227

    Church Lady

    After reading through the crap on this site today, I have made a pledge to myself. I’m going to have to check out on the blogs, drag myself away from MSNBC, and attempt to restrain myself from reading anything other than the Times, the Post and my local paper. As Howard Beale said, I’m mad as hell and I can’t take it anymore.

    I have almost gotten to the point that I am ashamed of being a registered Democrat. The only thing worse would be being a registered Republican. I think identifying as an Independent is the road for me in the future. The coarseness I am seeing from both Democrats and Republicans is something I find absolutely disheartening, but especially when it comes from Democrats. In 2004, I was angered by the Republicans. In 2008, I expected it. What I didn’t expect was for Democrats to crawl in the mud along with the Republicans.

    All of you may enjoy lobbing the insults back and forth, but when you are reduced to making fun of the mentally disabled and participating in the most scurrilous forms of rumormongering, you are no better than those you denigrate. I used to find many of the comments here quite witty. Not so much any more.

    Enjoy continuing to lob the juvenile insult bombs back and forth in the nursery that Balloon Juice is fast becoming. I’ll check back in after the election is over, when sanity will hopefully have returned.

  228. 228

    Conservatively Liberal

    Oh, the Librarian didn’t get fired and she didn’t ban any books.

    Oh, the Librarian was fired but the townspeople raised hell and got her reinstated, and the post stated that she did not ban any books. I thought that was obvious but you somehow missed it. Go figure.

    Try again wingnut.

    Then they hired a city manager in Wasila to rein Palin in. Will she need a nation manager if she becomes president?

  229. 229

    Kevin

    The only thing worse would be being a registered Republican.

    The only thing worse than being talked about, is not being talked about.

  230. 230

    Martin

    Plus, shouldn’t we be celebrating the fact that she’s a women? Isn’t that out of the Democratic playbook? Diversity and all.

    Do you think that a male with her resume would be the VP nominee? I hate to point it out, but Palin reminds me of a gender quota selection, as does damn near every defense of Palin.

    Hillary was far more deserving. We didn’t bash her for a lack of experience, we bashed her for claiming what she didn’t have and for the occasional bouts of hypocrisy. But if David Paterson was nominated by Obama for VP, in spite of being both blind and black and probably a good guy, we’d have ripped the shit out of the guy for not being ready for the job and for being a political pick.

    We’re not about putting women or minorities out there for the sake of doing so, but we do celebrate those that are deserving. Hillary was deserving, just was a bit more flawed than Obama. Palin isn’t deserving as I can tell right now. Maybe if she would stop hiding from the voters and actually tell us something relevant to the job of running the country we could find reason to celebrate her, but so far she’s just the woman McCain chose.

  231. 231

    SGEW

    Oh, the Librarian didn’t get fired and she didn’t ban any books.

    Ahem. From the site you, yourself, linked to:

    Palin asked general questions about what Emmons would say if Palin requested that a book be banned. According to Emmons, Palin “was asking me how I would deal with her saying a book can’t be in the library.” Emmons reported that Palin pressed the issue, asking whether Emmons’ position would change if residents were picketing the library.
    . . . .
    We can’t read minds, so it is impossible for us to know whether or not Palin may actually have wanted to ban books from the library or whether she simply wanted to know how her new employees would respond to an instruction from their boss.
    . . . .
    [I]n January 1997, Palin fired Emmons, along with the police chief. According to the Chicago Tribune, Palin did not list censorship as a reason for Emmons’ firing, but said she didn’t feel she had Emmons’ support. The decision caused “a stir” in the small town, according to a newspaper account at the time.
    . . . .
    Palin did re-hire Emmons the following day, saying that she now felt she had the librarian’s backing. Emmons continued to serve as librarian until August 1999, when the Chicago Tribune reports that she resigned.

    I said, above:

    Well, she might not have successfully banned the books, but she did fire the librarian who refused to remove them from the library.

    Reading comprehension. It haz a flavor.

  232. 232

    blogreeder

    After all, all those broads are the same.

    No, you’re wrong here. What does Sarah Palin bring to his campaign?
    For one thing, the Republican base. Remember, he’s a maverick and might have hurt his relationship with them. Sarah has shown she’s as conservative as they come. She’s pro-life. Gun totin’. She’s a reformer. She went after corruption in her own party. Two years as Governor is plenty of time to get experience in an executive position.

  233. 233

    Conservatively Liberal

    Church Lady Says:

    I’m a disgruntled Hillary supporter.

    We know, we know, you keep telling us that. Your vote is yours to do with as you wish, but if you are are not for Obama then you are

    Propping
    Up
    McCain’s
    Ass

    whether or not you vote for McCain. I am sure that you are aware of that already.

  234. 234

    jbarntt

    ah, a PUMA, aka a ratfucker! That explains your knuckledragging, drooling idiocy.

    If I understand you, you are saying that the person you are responding to is a moron because he supported Clinton in the primaries

    Nice !

    Also nice that your complete commentary is simply insults, without any rationality.

    Gotta love you liberal Democrats !

  235. 235

    Kevin

    Do you think that a male with her resume would be the VP nominee? I hate to point it out, but Palin reminds me of a gender quota selection, as does damn near every defense of Palin.

    Tokenism is a rather ingrained trait of the current Republican party. They like to throw someone out there in a lame attempt at pretending they’re interested in “diversity”, all the while snickering behind their backs.

  236. 236

    Mrs. Peel

    Gotta love you liberal Democrats !

    Yeah. What a freaking surprise that the people you don’t like pretty much can’t stand you, either.

    Deal with it, ratfucker.

  237. 237

    blogreeder

    Well, she might not have successfully banned the books

    Here’s where your comprehension is lacking. What books did they list? None. The librarian was hired by a previous administration don’t ya know. Loyalty testing is what Palin was doing. It’s part of being an executive. You need to have people that will execute your decisions.

  238. 238

    Jeff

    Something I’ve wondered but am hesitant to bring up. McCain was fifth from the bottom of his class at the Academy. Fighter pilots usually come from the top of their class and is a very competitive position to get. Yet, McCain still became a fighter pilot.

    Did McCain’s father, an admiral, pull strings to get him that assignment and if so, was he really qualified to be fighter pilot?

    Really has nothing to do with the election except to prove the point that McCain has always wanted to be in the spot light and get the glory.

  239. 239

    SGEW

    Church Lady Says:

    What I didn’t expect was for Democrats to crawl in the mud along with the Republicans.
    All of you may enjoy lobbing the insults back and forth, but when you are reduced to making fun of the mentally disabled and participating in the most scurrilous forms of rumormongering, you are no better than those you denigrate.

    In general sentiment, I agree. However, I would state in defense of the Democratic party (and, particularly, our titular head and current candidate) that the party itself (with the exception of two (three?) examples) has performed on a very admirably high level of honor, scrupulousness, and honesty*. For which they have been excoriated for “wimpishness” (etc. etc.) by certain people, here and elsewhere.
    A few malcontents and ne’er-do-wells commenting on a blog (especially this blog!) should certainly not be held against the Democrats in toto.

    I’m going to have to check out on the blogs, drag myself away from MSNBC, and attempt to restrain myself from reading anything other than the Times, the Post and my local paper.

    Contra my above sentiments, this is probably a good idea. Lord knows I could use a break.

    • But if you’re referring to “Lipstick-Pig-Gate” or whatever as an example of “coarseness” or “insults,” you’re an idiot and should leave the premises forthwith.
  240. 240

    Kevin

    If I understand you, you are saying that the person you are responding to is a moron because he supported Clinton in the primaries

    Nice !

    Also nice that your complete commentary is simply insults, without any rationality.

    Gotta love you liberal Democrats !

    You don’t understand me correctly. There may be a few PUMAs who aren’t Republican plants, but they’re very few and far between. The chances you are one are remote.

    Boiling it down: I don’t believe you supported any Democrat in the primaries. I think you are a wingnut pretending to be one.

  241. 241

    jbarntt

    Okay, who is this? I am now convinced that “Peter Johnson” and “jbarntt” are the same person.

    It was me. I don’t know Peter Johnson. I screwed up my html tags, so shoot me.

  242. 242

    SGEW

    Gotta love you liberal Democrats !

    Again, commenters on Balloon-Juice are not (NOT!) representative of liberal Democrats.

    Well . . . I am, but many people commenting here are not.

  243. 243

    SGEW

    blogreeder Says:

    Loyalty testing is what Palin was doing. It’s part of being an executive. You need to have people that will execute your decisions.

    Fail.

  244. 244

    Conservatively Liberal

    She’s a reformer.

    She is the Queen of Pork, check it out.

    That is just her new pork requests. Alaska and her town were at the top of the heap in per-capita feeding at the pork trough.

    Try again wingnut.

    She went after corruption in her own party.

    She got rid of the previous Republican governors cronies and replaced them with her own cronies. Look up the story about her mishandling of the Mat-Su Creamery if you want one example of her incompetence and cronies in action.

    Try again wingnut.

    What does Sarah Palin bring to his campaign?
    For one thing, the Republican base.

    I will give you this one wingnut, but only because that is all she brings to the campaign. She is an empty pantsuit, the anti-Hillary.

  245. 245

    SGEW

    Did McCain’s father, an admiral, pull strings to get him that assignment and if so, was he really qualified to be fighter pilot?

    This has actually been bouncing around the rumor-o-sphere for quite a while now. There are a lot of vets (Navy and other) who think of John S. McCain as a nepotistic spot-light hogging washout who should have been shit-canned out of flight school.

    Just rumor and whatnot, but it’s been out there for a while. Untouchable during this campaign, of course.

  246. 246

    blogreeder

    Palin isn’t deserving as I can tell right now.

    This is really funny. Tell me, had McCain chosen anyone else; say Condoleezza Rice as a running mate would you have said “She’s deserving?”. I don’t think so. But I do commend your open mindedness.

  247. 247

    blogreeder

    I will give you this one wingnut, but only because that is all she brings to the campaign.

    And that probably will be enough to beat Obama.

  248. 248

    jbarntt

    Something I’ve wondered but am hesitant to bring up. McCain was fifth from the bottom of his class at the Academy. Fighter pilots usually come from the top of their class and is a very competitive position to get. Yet, McCain still became a fighter pilot.

    I have no citation for you, so take it with a grain of salt. I read a similar question on Democratic Underground and a responder said that selection for flight school was/is only partly based on graduating position at Annapolis.

    Also, graduating from Annapolis is not a requirement to become a Navy pilot.

    Whatever McCain’s failings are in the political realm, his Navy service was fine.

  249. 249

    blogreeder

    Fail.

    You have no imagination, do you? Tell me, what doesn’t an executive do? They give orders to others. A Senator doesn’t have to do that. All they have to do is vote.

  250. 250

    The Other Steve

    Here’s where your comprehension is lacking. What books did they list? None. The librarian was hired by a previous administration don’t ya know. Loyalty testing is what Palin was doing. It’s part of being an executive. You need to have people that will execute your decisions.

    Is it possible for you to be honest? I mean if I wanted spin, I’d go upstairs to the washer and set it on the rinse cycle.

  251. 251

    mannemalon

    Obama has been in a debate with Palin for about a week now. Why ? She’s the Republican veep nominee, the fish Obama needs to fry is McCain.

    Palin gave a speech at the Republican convention and Obama has been after her ever since. Palin does nothing, and watches as Obama beats himself up.This is just utter nonsense. This is a classic case of creating your own reality with what you wish it to be. Obama has consistently been hammering McCain, linking him to Bush’s policies, and barely mentions Palin, except for saying “as far as I know, she subscribes to the same policies John McCain does”. Tying her to Bush-McCain as well.

    What you’re describing is what wingnuts are wet dreaming for. Sadly for you .. and thankfully for our country, your superwoman is actually a small town hockey mom, and isn’t actually capable of the dreams and fantasies you’re putting on her shoulders. If she was, she wouldn’t be hiding from the press. If she was, the McCain camp wouldn’t have put out a preemptive strike against Obama about future Palin dirt that they clearly expect to come out. If she was, she wouldn’t be giving the same exact speech, literally, every single day.

    This election is playing out in a god damn hilariously absurdly ironic way. Every attack the Republicans have been building on for almost a year against Obama (celebrity, empty suit, inexperienced, etc) was completely undermined as they put someone on their ticket that actually personifies those traits in a historic fashion.

    The GOP picked someone who’s scared to go on Meet the Press, and has Joe Lieberman shadowing her feeding her foreign policy talking points LOL. The schadenfreude is killing me.

  252. 252

    SGEW

    Tell me, had McCain chosen anyone else; say Condoleezza Rice as a running mate would you have said “She’s deserving?”

    Um. Yes. Condoleezza Rice was a National Security Advisor and is currently the Secretary of State. She is also an accomplished scholar, and has spent years becoming conversant in foreign affairs*. Please contrast this with . . . . well, you know.

    Try again?

    And that probably will be enough to beat Obama.

    And how does this illuminate us on how well she and John McCain might govern?

    *Ok, you might not know it from her tenure in the Bush administration, but she does have the resume.

  253. 253

    Mrs. Peel

    It’s part of being an executive. You need to have people that will execute your decisions.

    The call of the Fascist Ratfucker. Your not going to invest your little Moose-alini with any “executive” aura no matter how long you keep flapping your yap. The only reason she is popular in that state is because she sent out nice big checks to everyone as a payoff to like her. She’s a real executive like Dr. Pepper is a real Dr.

  254. 254

    blogreeder

    I read a similar question on Democratic Underground

    You’ve gone in there?? Last time I went in I lost all my bodily hair. It’s awful in there.

  255. 255

    Jeff

    Just to be clear, I never questioned his service and thanks for answering without calling me a pinkie commie. I would have been alright with the 2000 McCain (I wanted to vote for him), even the 2002 version. It’s the recent ones that are insane.

  256. 256

    blogreeder

    Um. Yes.

    Then you would have been voting for McCain?

  257. 257

    r€nato

    Did McCain’s father, an admiral, pull strings to get him that assignment and if so, was he really qualified to be fighter pilot?

    This has actually been bouncing around the rumor-o-sphere for quite a while now. There are a lot of vets (Navy and other) who think of John S. McCain as a nepotistic spot-light hogging washout who should have been shit-canned out of flight school.

    Just rumor and whatnot, but it’s been out there for a while. Untouchable during this campaign, of course.

    Of course. And completely unlike that time Republicans alleged a war hero faked his wounds.

  258. 258

    blogreeder

    thanks for answering without calling me a pinkie commie

    It works better like that, doesn’t it?

  259. 259

    r€nato

    You have no imagination, do you? Tell me, what doesn’t an executive do? They give orders to others. A Senator doesn’t have to do that. All they have to do is vote.

    By golly, you’ve convinced me not to vote for Sen. John Sydney McCain.

  260. 260

    SGEW

    Then you would have been voting for McCain?

    WTF?! Just because she’s qualified to be a V.P. nominee, doesn’t mean that the ticket automatically becomes the best option!

    Tell me, what doesn’t (sic) an executive do? They give orders to others. A Senator doesn’t have to do that. All they have to do is vote.

    Should I try and continue? Further education is necessary here . . . but it would do no good. I give up. Stupid wins again.

    SGEW’s rant for the day, starting now:

    I have long pondered the question of how a just, fair, and benevolent government should function. I have continued to stand by my decision to be a liberal, culturally progressive, Social-Democrat, supporting the U.S. Constitution and the structure of our Federal Government (post 14th Amendment, natch).

    But . . . what if the people truly are too god damned fucking stupid to be allowed to “govern themselves”? I know, I am ashamed to even ask the question, but the Republican party politics (circa 1999-present) that see an uninformed, uneducated, and irrational public to be a net plus has reignited it.

    Yes. I am an elitist. To quote David Rees, “If being an ‘elitist’ just means ‘not the stupidest motherfucker in the room, I’ll be an elitist.”

    Or:

    “(I)f (a governmental body) should be actuated by sinister ambition and a lust of meretricious glory, then the feeble part of it, to whom at first they conform, becomes in turn the dupe and instrument of their designs. In this political traffic, the leaders will be obliged to bow to the ignorance of their followers, and the followers to become subservient to the worst designs of their leaders.

    Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in France.

    Burke was once a conservative icon. This is what we’ve been brought to (and shows you why Mr. Sullivan hates the current Republican party so very, very much).

    /”elitist” “cosmopolitan” “east coast” rant

  261. 261

    SGEW

    [emphasis mine, in above quote]

  262. 262

    r€nato

    Yes. I am an elitist. To quote David Rees, “If being an ‘elitist’ just means ‘not the stupidest motherfucker in the room, I’ll be an elitist.”

    I wonder if when Sen. McCain has issues with his skin cancer, does he go to the elitist oncologist or the fundamentalist faith healer?

  263. 263

    SGEW

    Jeff Says:

    I never questioned his service and thanks for answering without calling me a pinkie commie.

    Ironically, many Communists greatly admired military service. Not that means anything, but that’s what irony is. ;)

    I would have been alright with the 2000 McCain (I wanted to vote for him), even the 2002 version.

    It was when he caved on torture (torture!) that I decided that he was inherently dishonorable.
    Tragic. Literally, in the Shakespeare/Sophocles sort of way.

  264. 264

    Jeff

    SGEW says:

    It was when he caved on torture (torture!) that I decided that he was inherently dishonorable.

    For me it was his embrace of Bush and visit to Liberty University. What both had done to him during the 2000 election made the Obama/Clinton contest look like a lovefest.

  265. 265

    Brachiator

    At what point did our crazy Hollywood types develop more sense than the entire Republican party? Damon is right- this is like a bad Hollywood movie, and that is how they are marketing her.

    It looks as though ABC News may be a willing co-conspirator in the marketing of Sarah Palin (Details Emerge On ABC Palin Interview Special):

    In prime-time on Friday, ABC News will premiere a Barbara Walters-style interview special with Sarah Palin, including a biography segment, interviews with Palin in various Alaska settings, and a post-interview panel discussion. Charlie Gibson will host and interview….

    Charles Gibson’s interviews with Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin will form the basis of a special prime-time edition of “20/20” Friday, ABC said Wednesday….

    Parts of the interviews will be spread around other ABC news programs, including “Nightline” and “Good Morning America.”

    The prime-time special, at 10 p.m. EDT, will also include a bio of Palin by ABC’s Kate Snow….

    The whole thing comes across not as journalism, but as an entertainment “event” used to promote both Palin and also various ABC programs.

  266. 266

    r€nato

    The whole thing comes across not as journalism, but as an entertainment “event” used to promote both Palin and also various ABC programs.

    Now that is deference you can believe in, my friends.

  267. 267

    Jeff

    The whole thing comes across not as journalism, but as an entertainment “event” used to promote both Palin and also various ABC programs.

    ABC is owned by Disney, so maybe they bought the movie rights. ;-)

  268. 268

    SGEW

    ABC is owned by Disney, so maybe they bought the movie rights.

    Art no longer imitates life. Life no longer imitates art.

    Now art creates life, and dangles it before our noses.

    . . .

    Wait, no. I retract that. I should never conflate the word “Disney” with Art.

  269. 269

    blogreeder

    WTF?! Just because she’s qualified to be a V.P. nominee, doesn’t mean that the ticket automatically becomes the best option!

    Look at it this way. What if we were at the same store buying a computer and you looked in my cart and said “that’s a bad choice. This PC is better”. And I said, “Are you buying the better one?”. “No it’s stupid. I’m a Mac.” Your advice would be worthless, wouldn’t it?

    That’s what it’s like here. You’re giving a worthless opinion on Palin.

    supporting the U.S. Constitution and the structure of our Federal Government (post 14th Amendment, natch).

    You don’t support the bill of rights??
    Amendments 1 – 10??

  270. 270

    wolfblade

    Speaking of Shakespeare, I’m sure I’m not the only one who thinks of Marc Antony’s speech at Caesar’s funeral every time there is talk of McCain’s honor.

    It doesn’t matter if he keeps spreading lies about his opponent, or picked a candidate for purely political reasons instead of for the well being of the nation. For McCain says Obama is sexist, and McCain is an honorable man.

  271. 271

    Chuck Butcher

    John,
    You are ever so much nicer about it than I am. The media may be beginning to have a gut full of it, as well.

  272. 272

    r€nato

    Look at it this way. What if we were at the same store buying a computer and you looked in my cart and said “that’s a bad choice. This PC is better”. And I said, “Are you buying the better one?”. “No it’s stupid. I’m a Mac.” Your advice would be worthless, wouldn’t it?

    huh?

  273. 273

    SGEW

    What if we were at the same store buying a computer and you looked in my cart and said “that’s a bad choice. This PC is better”. And I said, “Are you buying the better one?”. “No it’s stupid. I’m a Mac.” Your advice would be worthless, wouldn’t it?

    I honestly have no idea what you’re saying. Are you speaking in tongues?

    You don’t support the bill of rights??
    Amendments 1 – 10??

    Hoo, boy. Do you really want a discussion about the incorporation of the due process clause post-Civil War? Well, after the Slaughter-House cases of 1873, the main argument about the “privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States” was primarily about . . .

    No, wait, I have a better idea. Eat pie-filter*!

    Anyway. . .

    *Yes, even though I use Safari I have a pie-filter. In my mind.

  274. 274

    r€nato

    The media may be beginning to have a gut full of it, as well.

    I think the media are finally saying, “Look, the voters may be that dumb, but we aren’t.”

    I mean, it’s way past time for that to happen. It sure seems like the GOP - having no successes to run on, full of corruption and failure – is trying to see exactly how much stoopid they can get away with and still win an election.

  275. 275

    Delia

    Loyalty testing is what Palin was doing. It’s part of being an executive. You need to have people that will execute your decisions.

    This is just adorable. After eight years of Bush-Cheney and Fox non-stop propaganda, all the little boot-licking, fascistic, kiss-up-kick-down authoritarian goopers can’t imagine an organization that’s run on anything less than blind obedience and instant servility to authority. Their little minds boggle at the thought that small towns all across this great land run themselves on discussion and the marketplace of competing interests and ideas.

    No, for them it’s all the click of the heels, the salute and “Jawohl, mein Fuehrer.” Or in this case, “Jawohl, meine Fuehrerin.”

  276. 276

    blogreeder

    I honestly have no idea what you’re saying. Are you speaking in tongues?

    I was using a analogy. You’ve never seem those I’m a PC, You’re a Mac ads?

  277. 277

    Jeff

    The media need a story and a blow out is not a story for very long, while a tight race is. They will do what they have to do to keep it close.

    /conspiracyTheory

  278. 278

    blogreeder

    was using a analogy.

    My n must be sticking.

  279. 279

    r€nato

    yes i have but i had a really hard time parsing what the hell you were getting at.

  280. 280

    r€nato

    Loyalty testing is what Palin was doing. It’s part of being an executive. You need to have people that will execute your decisions.

    You know, somewhere in that quote there ought to be something about RULE OF LAW! RULE OF LAW!, but I can’t figure out where it fits.

  281. 281

    SGEW

    Wow it got real late, real fast.

    Final thought:

    To further illustrate my “I can’t believe how stupid Americans are” rant, above, observe this lovely poll at our good friends WND:

    Warning: This Link Takes You To Teh Stupid

    I think someone mentioned Chuck Norris before. He has a regular column on WND, and Jerome Corsi (of Obama-Smearing-Book-From-Regency fame) is on the masthead. They’re also one of the top “independent news sites” on the web.

    And, with that depressing thought, I bid y’all g’night. I, myself, am going to avoid all politics for the next three days, as I meet and greet my sister’s new Mormon in-laws from Texas*. I wonder what they’ll think of me?

    ;)

    • I have also been ordered to refrain from talking about religion. For some reason.
  282. 282

    Pooh

    So, I got in trouble with my GF last night for saying that I’d be more upset if McCain won then if we broke up. She was initially upset, but then found it difficult to dispute the following:

    “I’m just thinking in terms of scale,” he said. “I mean, John McCain gets elected, that’s, like, the end of the world. We do nothing to stop global warming, resources disappear, we begin fighting over limited food supplies, nuclear war ensues, and soon everyone’s dead except for a few people living in a Mad Max movie.”

  283. 283

    blogreeder

    yes i have but i had a really hard time parsing what the hell you were getting at.

    Really? I was illustrating that your advice about better candidates for VP is worthless advice.

  284. 284

    r€nato

    “I’m just thinking in terms of scale,” he said. “I mean, John McCain gets elected, that’s, like, the end of the world. We do nothing to stop global warming, resources disappear, we begin fighting over limited food supplies, nuclear war ensues, and soon everyone’s dead except for a few people living in a Mad Max movie.”

    Sounds like GOP paradise.

    Government drowned in the bathtub. No more Social Security, Medicare, welfare, unemployment insurance, and so on.

    The ultimate individualist society. Everyone owns guns, everyone fends for themself.

  285. 285

    blogreeder

    Can’t wait for the hard hitting interview later today.

  286. 286

    Chuck Butcher

    SGEW said

    Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in France.

    Are you trying to make the 2nd Amendment relevant?

  287. 287

    Jeff

    SGEW, I should have taken your warning more seriously. They are actually quoting Michael Savage saying Obama has a woman problem.

  288. 288

    r€nato

    I was illustrating that your advice about better candidates for VP is worthless advice.

    you phrased it so poorly that nobody but the voices in your head understood it.

    Look, it’s very simple and should not require much explanation nor discussion.

    Palin is unfit for the job. She has very little experience. She was the mayor of a small town in a small state, then a governor of the small state for a short period.

    It’s like promoting the director of a small regional office who just two years ago was a store manager, to senior executive vice president at the company headquarters.

    Unless they’ve proven that they are really fucking brilliant, it is a stupid move.

    If you still don’t get it… it’s because you don’t want to get it.

    In which case I won’t waste my time on you any longer.

  289. 289

    r€nato

    Can’t wait for the hard hitting completely deferential interview later today.

    fixed

  290. 290

    flavortext

    Christ on a cracker, stop feeding the trolls!

  291. 291

    Blue Raven

    She’s got more executive experience than. ALL THE OTHER CANDIDATES COMBINED.

    So do I, but I’m not on any of the Presidential tickets. Of course, my political experience is limited to high school student council and the backroom bullshit that goes on in volunteer organizations, but I’ve been in charge of more people than Palin was when she was mayor of Wasilla.

  292. 292

    zuzu's petals

    Kevin Says:

    Peter Johnson Says:
    Democrats like Bill Clinton, Al Gore, Richard Gephardt, etc. are OK by me

    Clinton and Gephardt I like. And I voted for the 2000 model of Al Gore. Lately, though, he’s drifted pretty far to the left, maybe as far as Obama.

    Okay, who is this? I am now convinced that “Peter Johnson” and “jbarntt” are the same person.

    I don’t know about you, but I’m about ready for some pie.

  293. 293

    oh really

    I saw an amusing clip of Obama on Letterman, and Barack pointed out that had he meant the Pig/Lipstick comment in the way the McCain campaign was (absurdly) contending, Palin would have been the lipstick not the pig.

    For some reason the deeply wounded Republicans decided entirely on their own that Poor Widdle Sarwah is the pig. Maybe they know something we don’t.

    Be that as it may, I for one find it deeply offensive to not only Widdle Sarwah, but to all women everywhere—past, present and future—that Barack Obama thinks that Widdle Sarwah Palin is no better than an inanimate object (and one with a disturbingly sexist shape at that). Shame on you Barack Obama. I think it’s time for the Republican Supreme Court to step in and award the election to McCain and Palin. Enough is enough!

  294. 294

    zuzu's petals

    but I’ve been in charge of more people than Palin was when she was mayor of Wasilla

    So has Obama, for that matter.

    Number of city employees, Wasilla: 53. Overseen by city administrator specially hired by Palin.

    A sampling of the numbers of people Obama has been “in charge of” over the last 25 years or so:

    First year out of college, director of the Developing Communities Project in the south side of Chicago, oversaw a staff of 13 and a budget of $400,000, and helped set up a job training program, a college preparatory tutoring program, and a housing organization.

    At Harvard Law School, elected as president of one the most prestigious law publications in the country, the Harvard Law Review. Serving as full time editor-in-chief while carrying a full course load, he supervised a staff of 80 editors.

    After graduation, and while teaching at U. of Chicago Law School, he directed a voter registration drive with a staff of 10 and 700 volunteers that registered 150,000 new voters.

    Not to mention establishing and successfully overseeing a 50-state presidential campaign with a budget of over $100 million to date.

  295. 295

    zuzu's petals

    Oops, make that over $400 million to date.

  296. 296

    zuzu's petals

    Oops, make that over $400 million to date.

  297. 297

    zuzu's petals

    These people are truly vile.

    Mississippi’s Ballot Trick

  298. 298

    Bedlam UK

    As there isn’t a new post yet, I just wanted to put this here.

    Me and my colleagues here in the UK are sending our thoughts to you guys today.

    Its a rough day today, and I hope that you guys can find some peace though it.

    Peace to you.

  299. 299

    zuzu's petals

    I saw an amusing clip of Obama on Letterman, and Barack pointed out that had he meant the Pig/Lipstick comment in the way the McCain campaign was (absurdly) contending, Palin would have been the lipstick not the pig.

    Right here.

  300. 300

    JenJen

    At this point, I’m hoping Sarah really can wield a gun, and point it right at my head to put me out of this misery.

    I feel like I’m trapped in a Clown Car and I can’t get out.

  301. 301

    rachel

    zuzu’s petals Says:

    These people are truly vile.

    Mississippi’s Ballot TrickNothing is going to happen to them, though. :(

  302. 302

    Xenos

    Loyalty testing is what Palin was doing. It’s part of being an executive. You need to have people that will execute your decisions.

    Aside from the Bushian absurdity of this assertion, this issue brings to the foreground what a backward, undeveloped and petty place Wasilla, Alaska must be. The idea that the town Librarian is a town employee under direct supervision of the Mayor, serving at the Mayor’s pleasure, is absurd and indicates the town is a pathetic, cousin-fucking shithole.

    Even a tiny town in the lower 48 will have independently elected library trustees, with an entirely independent fund-raising board, active citizens running much of the operations as volunteers, and so on. Any well run town would be institutionally protected from some douche-bag Mayor on a power trip trying to boss around library policy, school policy, and so on.

    If being Il Duce of Wasilla is some sort of executive experience, it is entirely the wrong sort of experience for someone preparing for political office in the United States.

  303. 303

    Bedlam UK

    Just popped onto the Obama and McCain sites,
    Obama’s got a nice front page of Rememberance. Very nice words.
    McCain just has a ‘we remember’ bit.

    However, McCain does have a link to a very good page showing how people can get involved in helping communities, volunteer and stuff. Very good page.

    Couldn’t help thinking however that it seems a little odd to be calling out to community organisers after pissing all over them in their Speech, calling them worthless.

    Ho hum.

  304. 304

    Conservatively Liberal

    Couldn’t help thinking however that it seems a little odd to be calling out to community organisers after pissing all over them in their Speech, calling them worthless.

    It’s the duality of the Republican mind. They can have their cake and eat it too, and that is the only way the party as it is can survive. They will insult you and expect your vote. They will mouth platitudes to their members and then leave them out in the cold.

    That is why they need to be defeated this fall. The Republican party is a cancer within our nation, and the only way that they can try to win now is by unleashing every vile thing that they can contrive. To hell with the kitchen sink, they are going to throw the whole house at this. If they have to kill the host, so be it. Winning is everything to them, even if we all lose in the end.

    They will stand there, looking you right in the eye, and boldface lie about anything that they can manipulate into either a positive for them or a negative for Obama and/or the Democrats. They have nothing left, they are empty and all they can offer is a new face to paper over the same old shit in the hope that the gullible masses swallow it one more time.

    Hope, the Republicans are full of it. Dark, evil hope.

  305. 305

    Marshall

    She’s got more executive experience than. ALL THE OTHER CANDIDATES COMBINED.

    Sorry, but running a major Presidential campaign is way more executive experience than she has. So that puts her at 3 out of 4 at best.

  306. 306

    Conservatively Liberal

    She stepped into the executive position, she did not create it. Obama created his campaign from the ground up, and the Obama team made it work with direction from Obama. She has been a governor for 20 months, just slightly longer than Obama has been building his campaign right in front of the media and public.

    We have seen that Sarah can walk into an existing executive position, and we have seen Obama create one out of nothing but his will to lead.

    Sarah is a wannabe, Obama is the real thing. There is no comparison, it is not even close.

  307. 307

    Cate

    There is no bad Disney Movie He will never star in a Disney Movie again. Just wait until Disney Productions hears this slam.

  308. 308

    Cate

    You can put cologne on a fowl, but it is still FOUL.

  309. 309

    Education Guy

    The Republican party is a cancer within our nation, and the only way that they can try to win now is by unleashing every vile thing that they can contrive. To hell with the kitchen sink, they are going to throw the whole house at this. If they have to kill the host, so be it. Winning is everything to them, even if we all lose in the end.

    Calm yourself sweetie, if you can’t learn to look within for the reasons why you are now failing in this election, you will not be able to change it. Obama should be winning, was winning, until he made the stupid Biden pick and McCain flanked him with the brilliant Palin pick. This is politics, if you want to win – do better. Crying that the other team is being mean isn’t going to win it for you.

    You got the Matt Damon vote, so that’s something.

  310. 310

    oh really

    Sarah is a wannabe, Obama is the real thing. There is no comparison, it is not even close.

    A small point of disagreement.

    Sarah is the real thing. She’s a real Republican. And from what I’ve seen so far, a damn good one. She’s got all of the qualities we’ve come to expect:

    1) Fiercely and utterly dishonest;

    2) Capable of believing or pretending to believe preposterous things;

    3) Willing and able to repeat 2) in public with a straight face;

    4) Supremely creepy;

    5) Remarkably competent at manipulation, deceit, and distraction;

    6) Astoundingly incompetent at governing effectively, protecting the interests of the non-elites, and adhering to the principles of free and open government;

    7) So hypocritical it makes one’s teeth hurt;

    8) Dangerous—especially to the weak, naive, and inattentive;

    9) Willing to say or do anything to get elected, ahead, or even;

    10) Either unaware of the content of the Constitution or hostile/indifferent to its content;

    11) Potentially violent and enjoys killing;

    12) Supremely gifted at feigning outrage and pretending to be the victim.

    I could go on, but you get the idea. It’s almost 5:30AM where I am and the cat just woke me up—that’s the best I can do off the top of my groggy head.

  311. 311

    Cate

    Even if B.O. does a terrible job as President of the U.S.A. under a majority of Dems, it will still be the GOP’s fault of course. Arrogance is on the rise in the U.S.A. and I deal with it every day in the trashed part of the city I live in. I moved there to try and help the neighborhood but now are having the life sucked out of me. You can take a Monkey’s porch away, and he will sit on his rear on your porch.

  312. 312

    Xenos

    Cate- why not just move your racist asshole out of town?

  313. 313

    Rock

    “Calm yourself sweetie, if you can’t learn to look within for the reasons why you are now failing in this election”

    Exactly. There are a lot of reasons, and as Democrats we should be honest about them:

    1) Obama is simply a bad candidate he has no experience and is terrible speaking without a prepared speech.

    2) Obama made a terrible VP pick in Biden, although it doesn’t matter when the top of the ticket is so weak

    3) The Democrat media operation is hopelessly inept compared to the Republican one. They have better ads, better messaging and are faster

    4) Americans simply prefer Republican governance: tax cuts, strong defense, self-reliance, and Christian moral values. That beats “change”

  314. 314

    Dennis - SGMM

    The shorter Cate: “I bought a house in the bad part of town because it was cheap and the neighbors refuse to recognize my whiteness.”

  315. 315

    Stuck in the Fun House

    I moved there to try and help the neighborhood but now are having the life sucked out of me

    My guess is you didn’t have any life in ya to begin with. I have to put up with your kind of asshole everyday here in the Funhouse. You are the un—dead that sucks the life out of everything.

    . You can take a Monkey’s porch away, and he will sit on his rear on your porch.

    You must be a No Quarter minion who every day stinks up the intertubes. Piss off my front porch! Even though I only rent here.

  316. 316

    Conservatively Liberal

    A small point of disagreement.

    No disagreement, just two separate thoughts. I am talking about the qualities of a good executive, and you are talking about the ‘qualities’ of a bad ‘executive’. We agree, but are on different levels here. ;)

    Cate- why not just move your racist asshole out of town?

    We are supposed to believe that this racist ass moved into a “trashed part of the city” “to try and help”?! Monkeys? With that attitude? These idiots aren’t even trying to fool us anymore. It is like they are exhausted or just f’ing lazy. They are just throwing the words out there and we are supposed to be scared or something.

    It’s like they are mentally corpulent and are unable to exert the mental effort to form a paragraph without contradicting themselves in it.

  317. 317

    oh really

    Cate Says:

    Even if B.O. does a terrible job as President of the U.S.A. under a majority of Dems, it will still be the GOP’s fault of course. Arrogance is on the rise in the U.S.A. and I deal with it every day in the trashed part of the city I live in. I moved there to try and help the neighborhood but now are having the life sucked out of me. You can take a Monkey’s porch away, and he will sit on his rear on your porch.

    Ordinarily, I make it a policy to not respond to cretins. But in your case, I’ll make an exception. Ordinarily, I try to avoid vulgarity in speaking or writing in public. In your case, I’ll make an exception. Ordinarily, I try to avoid all caps, because it’s shouting. In your case, I’ll make an exception.

    FUCK YOU, YOU RACIST PIECE OF SHIT

  318. 318

    Bedlam UK

    I dont think arrogance is on the increase Cate.
    I think thats how you got into this mess in the first place.
    The unthinking belief that you can take on anyone, do anything, buy anything without consequence because you are AMERICA.

    Now embarrassment is on the increase, with fear and poverty and desperation.
    And your reign is crumbling away.
    China holds your finances.
    Iraq holds the attention of your army.
    Russia showed your current weakness to the world.
    Your ‘Official’ News is a farce,
    ( except saw Olberman sp? regarding 9/11 TM - brilliant )
    Your Rethug party have travelled far beyond crooked/sanity.
    Your Dem party is still weak and manipulated.
    Fanatisism is growing rather than being defeated, both Christian and Islamic corrupting your politics.

    I have no vote, and no voice either way, but the world is affected by America, as shown by this financial fiasco, so I watch this election to see the path the West will take, Britain following America.
    If the Rethugs get back in, I honestly believe that McWar will attack Iran, possibly Russia, have no luck calmly dealing with Pakistan and our world will be a hell, with only the hope that Palin wont get the Top Spot. I am sure she would happily press the big red button. And smile her way into the Rapture.

    I put what little faith I have in politicians on Obama.
    I truly believe he has the silver tongue to calm the mess outside your borders, whilst he tries to fix your broken country.
    And in doing so, perhaps he can bring the West together so that we can find a real way making a better world.

    And if McCain destroys the Rethugs in his slash and burn technique, that will only help. Perhaps a New Republican party will emerge that actually holds some true values.

    Perhaps I’m putting too much hope on your countrys shoulders, but Europe isn’t strong enough to take the mantle of Western Leader, and we need one. The Middle East and Russia are slowly rising, China is strong, and we need to face the world as Equals.
    We dont need to conquer like McCain thinks, but we do need to stand eye to eye with the other powers of this world. Or we will be assimilated.

  319. 319

    Jake

    There is no bad Disney Movie He will never star in a Disney Movie again. Just wait until Disney Productions hears this slam.

    I’m sure Matt Damon will be absolutely crushed by this. Crushed. After all, his whole career’s been based on a series of bad Disney movies so far, and so it only stands to reason that his career will soon be over.

    Better trolls please.

  320. 320

    oh really

    Conservatively Liberal Says:

    A small point of disagreement.

    No disagreement, just two separate thoughts. I am talking about the qualities of a good executive, and you are talking about the ‘qualities’ of a bad ‘executive’. We agree, but are on different levels here.

    The “small point of disagreement” was just rhetorical.

    It has become apparent in recent years that Republicans aren’t for the “small government” they’re always blathering about, they’re really for the bad government they seem to so effortlessly achieve. There may be Republican governors who are governing competently (fortunately, I don’t have first hand knowledge of this either way), but on the national level the results are so horrendous sometimes it’s hard to believe that Republicans are that stupid and incompetent. It almost makes more sense to believe they are purposefully trying to wreck the government.

    We are supposed to believe that this racist ass moved into a “trashed part of the city” “to try and help”?! Monkeys? With that attitude? These idiots aren’t even trying to fool us anymore. It is like they are exhausted or just f’ing lazy. They are just throwing the words out there and we are supposed to be scared or something.

    It’s just a typical instance of a Republican feeling free to say something with a straight face that no one with an IQ above 60 would believe even for a nanosecond.

    These are really, really reprehensible people.

    Humorous thought of the day (of the blackest humor variety):
    Remember when Bush said he was going to restore dignity to the presidency?

  321. 321

    Doug H. (Fausto no more)

    Shorter Education Guy: “Convention bounce? What’s that?”

    Exactly. There are a lot of reasons, and as Democrats we should be honest about them:

    What’s this ‘we’ stuff, ratfucker?

  322. 322

    Education Guy

    It’s just a typical instance of a Republican feeling free to say something with a straight face that no one with an IQ above 60 would believe even for a nanosecond.

    These are really, really reprehensible people.

    You are applying a standard to a whole group of people based on the actions of one or a few. In most circles this is known as bigotry. It does not do to point out someone else’s bigotry with some of your own. Or so I’ve been told.

  323. 323

    Education Guy

    Doug H

    Time will tell. It may be, as you say, just attributed to convention bounce. OTOH, someone who wanted to ensure an Obama win would plan for the possibility that it isn’t “just bounce”.

  324. 324

    peach flavored shampoo

    Intrade markets just inverted and have McCain ahead of Obama.

  325. 325

    Xenos

    Bigotry? Saying that people who lie are liars, and reprehensible, is bigotry?

    The is a distinction between judgment and prejudgment, but such fine distinctions are lost on some people.

  326. 326

    Conservatively Liberal

    The “small point of disagreement” was just rhetorical.

    I was having some fun with the disagreement in agreement, thus the ;) at the end. I think your post is best expressed as: The Republicans tell us how bad government is, then they prove it once they have control.

    Someone else said this and I am in full agreement with it. I am hoping that with an Obama win will come some sorely needed Democratic spine growth and a redirection of the Democratic effort away from big business and back to the people who they are supposed to be representing. It is a tall order but I am hoping that with so many backing Obama that the Democrats figure out which way the wind is blowing and get with the program.

  327. 327

    Education Guy

    Bigotry? Saying that people who lie are liars, and reprehensible, is bigotry?

    All Republicans are reprehensible liars? So yes, bigotry.

  328. 328

    Jake

    Intrade markets just inverted and have McCain ahead of Obama.

    Well, now we should be REALLY concerned. Excuse me while I sell my home and move to Canada ASAP.

  329. 329

    Rome Again

    For my part, Armageddon and the Rapture can’t get here soon enough. It means we’ll be rid of the like of Sarah Palin, James Dobson and the rest of the nutbag corp. And the Tribulations to follow should be a cakewalk compared to the shit we’re putting up with now. Amen

    I’m sorry to disappoint you, but that isn’t going to happen. They can try to manipulate events to make it look like a million man war (hell, they have pretty much already succeeded there) but, there is no Armageddon, and there is no rapture.

  330. 330

    Stuck in the Fun House

    Time will tell. It may be, as you say, just attributed to convention bounce. OTOH, someone who wanted to ensure an Obama win would plan for the possibility that it isn’t “just bounce”.

    So much concern to share. I know, your heart just bleeds for Obama. Please come in and have some tea and we can discuss the finer points of Mccain sawing off that limb he slithered out on.

  331. 331

    oh really

    You are applying a standard to a whole group of people based on the actions of one or a few. In most circles this is known as bigotry. It does not do to point out someone else’s bigotry with some of your own. Or so I’ve been told.

    Now, if you wrote that with a straight face, I guess I can include you in my statement.

    Yes, I am applying a standard to a whole group of people based on the actions of…hello…those selfsame people. A more careful reading (Education Guy?) on your part will reveal that I said “another case of a Republican saying something….” The class of people I’m referring to is those who belong to that class. It’s really quite simple.

    I didn’t say “all Republicans.” Nor did I even imply that, since I made allowance elsewhere for the possibility of a Republican governor governing competently.

    Your complaint is just one more example of the faux victimhood we see more and more often from selected groups of people, who just happen to be in (and by virtue of their status there define) the Republican Party.

    Special note: “one or a few?” You may be the Education Guy, but you sure as hell aren’t the Math Education Guy. I wouldn’t call virtually the entire Republican elite “one or a few.” They define the party. And the people who vote for them, their ilk, and their policies are no better.

    A little cross-referencing here. I just read a post on Hullabaloo that bears repeating—
    “How can any patriotic American vote for Republican Party candidates when their agenda is to destroy our democratic republic and replace it with a neo-fascist corporate state?”

    Now, Education Guy, that poster refers to the entire Republican Party, which makes sense, because even if there are still Republicans who actually believe in free and open government, they are becoming harder and harder to find, and they certainly don’t represent anything like a significant thread in today’s Republican Party.

    It isn’t bigotry to point to a class of people who display certain attributes and identify them as having those attributes. And those attributes are well-described throughout this current thread.

  332. 332

    Stuck in the Fun House

    I’m sorry to disappoint you, but that isn’t going to happen. They can try to manipulate events to make it look like a million man war (hell, they have pretty much already succeeded there) but, there is no Armageddon, and there is no rapture.

    Well, I’m just crushed then, that my snark is lost on some folks.

  333. 333

    Education Guy

    oh really

    If I misread you then I retract my statement.

  334. 334

    Education Guy

    “How can any patriotic American vote for Republican Party candidates when their agenda is to destroy our democratic republic and replace it with a neo-fascist corporate state?”

    I can answer this. A good chunk of Americans don’t believe that this is the agenda of the GOP. They may well believe, and rightly IMO, that the GOP has lost it’s way, but it is a harder sell to make the case that you pasted here.

  335. 335

    bago

    I had an intelligent argument, but I lost at the wordpress game. So now you all get to see this.

  336. 336

    oh really

    Education Guy, I wrote a long response to your contention that the Republican Party has merely “lost its way.” In the best Balloon Juice tradition it was lost to WordPress error.

    I’m not going to bother to rewrite that response. Suffice it to say, your contention that the Republican Party has lost its way is laughable at best. The Republican Party today is a threat to anything and everything good this country is, was, or ever aspired to be. It is equal parts corruption; unconstitutional, anti-democratic authoritarianism; incompetence; and freakshow buffoonery.

  337. 337

    Rome Again

    I can answer this. A good chunk of Americans don’t believe that this is the agenda of the GOP. They may well believe, and rightly IMO, that the GOP has lost it’s way, but it is a harder sell to make the case that you pasted here.

    Not really that hard, just start by citing Grover Norquist’s bathtub quote and then show how he is a part of the Bush network and move on to how they’ve dismantled so much. The problem is that wingnuts won’t hear logic.