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Stand up, dammit!

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At some point, the ability to learn is a factor of character, not IQ.

Good lord, these people are nuts.

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Balloon Juice, where there is always someone who will say you’re doing it wrong.

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These days, even the boring Republicans are nuts.

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Reader Interactions

63Comments

  1. 1.

    Comrade Mary, Would-Be Minion Of Bad Horse

    What exactly is it about Kristol that makes him look like the world’s creepiest Muppet?

  2. 2.

    Mr. Stuck

    about how great it is for Republicans to have lost Arlen Specter.

    Shorter Kristol – Maybe this time they will greet us with flowers.

  4. 4.

    JenJen

    Personally, I think it helps the generic 2012 presidential nominee of the GOP the best… The Mayor Of Crazytown.

    I’d say it’s pretty adorable to watch Kristol co-opt a fave phrase of us DFH’s… “Good News For Republicans!”

    Because, let’s be honest, what isn’t?

    Gawd I love politics. Probably a tad too much.

  6. 6.

    Keith

    Obviously, the big question is who it helps the most, Mitt Romney or Rudy Giuliani.

    Tsk, tsk, young padawan, this is obviously great news…for John McCain!

  9. 9.

    Shibby

    I noticed that throughout Kristol’s article there is an assumption that the democrats will fail at governing. I’m surprised (not really) that Republicans haven’t caught on to the fact that a fundamental realignment is taking place.

  11. 11.

    Chuck Butcher

    Am I missing something or is this really as stupid as I think it is?

    Democratic defections will become the constant worry and story line. This will make it easier for GOP candidates in 2010 to ask to be elected to help restore some checks and balance in Washington — and, meanwhile, Specter’s party change won’t likely have made much difference in getting key legislation passed or not.

    I do think Kristol is an idiot, but is that partisanship?

  12. 12.

    Joshua Norton

    Whew. For a minute there I was afraid Kristol was in danger of losing his wrongest-neocon-in-the-universe-100%-of-the-time title.

  15. 15.

    jl

    Hokay! This is bad for the Democrats because they will pass popular and sensible policies….

    Once The SNL guy is seated and assuming Specter is half way reliable (which might be a big assumption)

    But let us be optimistic (er… I mean pessimistic since this will spell our doom)

    energy efficiency
    health care reform
    electrical auto-mobiles powered by a new and more efficient ‘lectric grid
    end of Bush II tax cuts for rich
    SUPERTRAINS!!
    adequate funding for natural disasters and epidemic preparation
    net neutrality forever with real broadband, not at cartelized prices

    Yeah, we are doomed. No one will like it. Pitchforks and torches will be out, and we will be dinner. Kristol is right, just as he always has been before.

    I hope Specter is halfway reliable, the GOP will never be able to undo that stuff once its done, since I think the popular reviews will be mostly positive. There will be some goofs in the health care reform, and it give a lot of people another gummint program to gripe about, but I predict any problems will be fixed quicker than under the current situation (unless by ‘solving’ you mean things getting even worse). A social insurance health care policy will never ever be turned back. SWEDEN here we come! Wahoo!

    Financial reform so we have boring little banks again would be good, and I think would improve the economy, but I am not betting on that.

    So, we are doomed.

  16. 16.

    JK

    Obviously, the big question is who it helps the most, Mitt Romney or Rudy Giuliani.

    Romney, because Giuliani is a bigger dope.

  18. 18.

    Zifnab25

    I remember back in 06 when discontent was really heating up, the joke was that Dems would win simply by default. Of course, it took 6 years of terrible decisions and their inevitable failout to yield Dems electoral fruit. Kristol thinks it’s going to snap back in months? Lulz

  19. 19.

    demkat620

    I think I od’d on popcorn. This is just way too much fun. Don’t much care for Spector myself, but this crackup is hilarious.

  20. 20.

    Mr. Stuck

    I seem to remember a lot of this happening in the 80′ and 90’s but on the flip side of dems going GOP. Phil Gramm used to be a dem, Richard Shelby defected, and a whole slew of mostly southern dem reps. Nice to be on the receiving end of sinking ship jumpers, even if they are opportunist pols. It’s about the numbers long term, with a little nose holding.

  21. 21.

    El Cid

    Well, then let me be among the first to wish the Republican Party more such good news — great news, in fact!

  22. 22.

    Keith

    @jl:
    I tend to think Specter will be more reliable than expected. I suspect right now, he’s in pure political mode and will leverage his card-check & Johnson cloture votes for ransom in exchange for a committee chair (I can’t imagine why else he’d switch and then come out and flat-out say he’s not voting for one of the most important issues on the current agenda AND the root cause of his GOP problems unless Harry Reid really is more politically impotent than a piece of rope).
    Of course, with the GOP basically yelling “AND THE HORSE YOU RODE IN ON!” at him on his way out, he has even more motivation to vote party-line (to say “FUCK YOU!” right back at them)

  23. 23.

    GregB

    Bill Reverse Costanza Kristol.

    Whatever he says, do the opposite and you’ve got the right position.

    -G

    Keith is right. After Specter gets the Jefford’s treatment he’ll be even more likely to want to tell Chinless Mitch and Cornhole Cornyn to go chew his saggy ass.

  24. 24.

    TenguPhule

    Am I missing something or is this really as stupid as I think it is?

    No. But Kristol is apparently missing his sanity.

  25. 25.

    TenguPhule

    Nice to be on the receiving end of sinking ship jumpers, even if they are opportunist pols.

    The trick is to squeeze everything of worth out of them, then kick them back into the sea where the hungry sharks are waiting.

  26. 26.

    Warren Terra

    It’s actually got a few gems in it, something of an achievement given it’s only about three paragraphs. In addition to the “Good News for Republicans!” in title, there’s this:

    On May 24, 2001, I wrote an op-ed for The Post in the wake of Vermont Sen. James Jeffords’s party switch. I argued that the switch, which cost Republicans control of the Senate, could well turn out to be good for President Bush.
    Not entirely for the reasons I speculated on in the op-ed, I turned out to be right. Bush was still able to get enough cooperation to govern over the next year and a half, and he was also able to run successfully against the Democratic Senate in the fall of 2002. The GOP regained control that November.

    Of course, some of use remember an event later in 2001 – if you’ve forgotten, Rudy will be happy to tell you all about it – that rather changed the political landscape such that the Dems in the Senate knuckled under for all of 2002 and still lost a bunch of seats, in effect validating Kristol’s prediction of a bright future for Dubya for reasons that had precisely nothing to do with any advantages the Republicans could get from Jeffords’s departure.

    And there’s this:

    With the likely seating of Al Franken from Minnesota, Democrats will have 60 seats in the Senate, giving Obama unambiguous governing majorities in both bodies. He’ll be responsible for everything. GOP obstructionism will go away as an issue, and Democratic defections will become the constant worry and story line. This will make it easier for GOP candidates in 2010 to ask to be elected to help restore some checks and balance in Washington — and, meanwhile, Specter’s party change won’t likely have made much difference in getting key legislation passed or not.

    Yup, you read that right; because they’ve got Specter the Dems will get all the legislation they want and be held responsible for its effects, except that they still won’t get all the legislation they want. The mind does rather tend to boggle.

  28. 28.

    arguingwithsignposts

    @Mr. Stuck:

    Phil Gramm used to be a dem.

    Gawd, I wish we could erase that memory. FWIW, he was a “Texas” dem, which means he was a wolf in sheep’s clothing. He was always an idiot. The “D” obviously didn’t change that. I’ve met enough “Texas” dems to confirm that facdt.

  29. 29.

    Shawn in ShowMe

    What exactly is it about Kristol that makes him look like the world’s creepiest Muppet

    No upper lip, pasted-on expression, and speaks as if a wingnut puppeteer has a hand up his back.

  30. 30.

    MattF

    “Hey, Bill– why don’t you write an op-ed on how this is good news for Republicans, ha ha”. See study on how conservatives miss the point of sarcasm.

  31. 31.

    Comrade Kevin

    Good news, everybody!

    They should replace Kristol’s picture on that piece with one of Professor Farnsworth.

  32. 32.

    Notorious P.A.T.

    throughout Kristol’s article there is an assumption that the democrats will fail at governing

    “Fail” compared to what? President Pinhead and his merry band of assholes?

  33. 33.

    Mr. Stuck

    @Keith:

    I tend to think Specter will be more reliable than expected

    If he wants to keep the DNC and Senate re-election committee bringing the campaign cash and support. At his age and illness, he could go at any time, and I think he’s one of those guys who wants to check out working, in the Senate.

    He will do what it takes to get re-elected and continue to ride the fence, but now falling off on the left side of the isle and driving wingnuts crazy instead of dems. If he does win though, he may well turn into one ornery dude, which is his nature.

  35. 35.

    LD50

    On May 24, 2001, I wrote an op-ed for The Post in the wake of Vermont Sen. James Jeffords’s party switch. I argued that the switch, which cost Republicans control of the Senate, could well turn out to be good for President Bush. Not entirely for the reasons I speculated on in the op-ed, I turned out to be right. Bush was still able to get enough cooperation to govern over the next year and a half, and he was also able to run successfully against the Democratic Senate in the fall of 2002. The GOP regained control that November.

    Tho of course, if I recall correctly, in ’06 the Dems got the Senate back by a margin of ONE SEAT. If Jeffords hadn’t switched, Senate would have been a tie presided over by Dick Cheney.

    So yeah, Jefford’s ‘defection’ had only good results for the GOP. Sure.

  36. 36.

    r€nato

    I am relieved that instead of the administration taking advice from Bill Kristol, it’s the GOP.

    We really couldn’t afford much more of Bill Kristol being ‘right’.

  37. 37.

    jl

    A solid and credible democratic primary opponent for Specter would help. Any ideas? I don’t know much about PA politics.

    What is the risk? Toomey can’t win and he is guaranteed GOP nominee now.

  38. 38.

    Just Some Fuckhead

    Breaking News: Jesus Leaves Republican Party

    “Who are these clowns?”, Jesus demanded, after spending over thirty minutes in prayer with a visibly demented Senator Bunning. In private remarks with friends over the weekend, Jesus said he didn’t leave the party, the party left him. Jesus pointed to remarks he made during his Sermon on the Mount and contrasted them with the Republican platform. “Was I too vague with the word peacemakers?”, Jesus asked, rolling his eyes, noting Republicans latched on to the word “makers” and forgot about the “peace” part. The Republican party, founded around AD30 by Jesus and twelve associates around agrarian ideals, free healthcare and fishing rights reached its highwater mark in AD2004.

  39. 39.

    Josh Hueco

    @arguingwithsignposts:

    I’ve met enough “Texas” dems to confirm that facdt.

    Sigh. In October ’08 my gf and I went to the county Dem HQ to pick up some bumper stickers. The volunteer there told us about how the Rothschilds and the Catholic Church and the Bildebergers, etc. etc. etc. really run the world. At least she didn’t say that evolution was a Kabbalah-ist conspiracy.

  40. 40.

    Mr. Stuck

    @jl:

    A solid and credible democratic primary opponent for Specter would help. Any ideas?

    I’m guessing, but I suspect he wouldn’t have done this without striking an agreement that the dem party machinery only support him. Someone could run, but they would likely be on their own.

  41. 41.

    Will

    I don’t know about “world’s creepiest Muppet”… Kristol always looks to me like the Nazi tank driver in Kelly’s Heroes

  42. 42.

    Krista

    This will make it easier for GOP candidates in 2010 to ask to be elected to help restore some checks and balance in Washington

    Ah yes. It’s “obstructionism” when Dems do it, but it’s “checks and balances” when Republicans do it.

    My land, their hypocrisy is rather breathtaking in its depth and breadth, is it not?

  45. 45.

    JK

    Specter’s defection felt good for an hour or so, but all “Big Bad” John Cornyn or Mitch McConnell have to do now is convince Tom Ridge to jump into this race. If he does, the race probably becomes a toss-up instead of an easy Dem pick-up.

  46. 46.

    jl

    @45 JK: Good point, though I don’t know enough about PA politics, particularly crazy GOP primary politics, to know whether Ridge would have a chance.

    Would that make a real primary challenge to Specter a better or worser idea?

    Any PA political mavens in the house?

  48. 48.

    JK

    @jl: Michael Smerconish spoke about Ridge on Larry King tonight and someone else wrote about a Ridge candidacy on CQ Politics.

    It’s only natural to assume that Cornyn and McConnell would pull out all the stops to get Ridge to run if they become convinced that Pat Tomey is dead meat in a general election.

  49. 49.

    Llelldorin

    @John Cole:

    Oddly enough, he damned near was greeted with flowers, by a mob of rapturous staffers in his office. Apparently becoming Democratic staffers agreed with them.

    In a strange way, this makes sense. Staffers tend to be like their boss, only more so. Specter has always been a strange, strange man, with highly–eccentric?–voting patterns. That flies pretty well in the Democratic Party; our internal discipline is laughably bad. It didn’t fly at all in today’s Republican Party. I’d imagine they were pretty tired of fielding whingy calls from wingnuts accusing him of treason for sensible votes.

    You’ve noticed this yourself, I think. When you attacked the stupidity of the Republican leadership in the old days, you were effectively excommunicated. When you switched parties and attacked the stupidity of the Democratic leadership, we all congratulated you on how quickly you’d settled into the party.

  50. 50.

    PeakVT

    Phil Gramm used to be a dem.

    But he has remained a mean-spirited corporate hack no matter what party label he wore.

  53. 53.

    omen

    he may well turn into one ornery dude, which is his nature.

    specter reminds me of the grumpy, sour faced landlord, mr. roper.

  54. 54.

    BC

    Don’t know why people who have observed the Dems over the past oh, say, 70 years have not noticed that there is little party discipline in their ranks. Will Rogers told them years ago, “I’m not a member of an organized political party, I’m a Democrat” – you’d think they would know by now. So Specter is going to be a member of an undisciplined caucus. Reid is well liked in that caucus for the same reason he drives us on the outside crazy – he really doesn’t put pressure on the members, he tries to persuade them. He’s herding 58 (now 59) cats and he knows it. As for checks and balances – the Congress will be a check on the president in a lot of ways. That’s what checks and balances really refers to – not two opposing parties, but three equal branches of government, each of which can check the other two. That Bill Kristol doesn’t know that after all the time he has been a pundit and in the know with the Republicans tells you all you need to know about how the Republicans view government.

  55. 55.

    Tom Ames

    I’d like to know Kristol’s views on how 21% of Americans admitting an affiliation to the Republicans is actually good news for their party.

    Oh, and “greeted with flowers” FTW.

  56. 56.

    Ash Can

    Obviously, the big question is who it helps the most, Mitt Romney or Rudy Giuliani.

    What do you mean, “helps?” As two of the last eight or so remaining Northerners in the GOP, they’re probably next on the chopping block.

  59. 59.

    Hari

    This showed up in the Post’s Opinion section this morning. It was immediately followed by a letter from Ed Rogers, who worked for Reagan and Bush I. He says “Notice to Republicans: Arlen Specter changing parties is good for the Democrats and President Obama and bad for us. If you think otherwise, put down the Ann Coulter book and go get some fresh air.”

    I’m sure whoever laid out that page had a good laugh while doing it.

  60. 60.

    Frodo

    Would Tom Ridge survive a Primary against Pat Tomey? Isnt he Pro-Life and therefore an heretic?

  61. 61.

    Scott

    Kristol’s last line is right on…
    Now the Dems have to put up with him….
    He’s going to be a real PITA with his bait and switch politics.
    It will be interesting to see where he comes down on judicial appointees. He supported many of Bush’s most conservative appointees… As he says, his party moved away from him; he did not move toward the Democratic Party. Interesting times.

  62. 62.

    xochi

    It’s always fun to go through the works of Bill Kristol to determine what is the most wrongheaded thing he said in a given column/post/what have you. In this one, I’d have to put my vote in for:

    GOP obstructionism will go away as an issue

    Yeah. Good luck with that.

  63. 63.

    chrome agnomen

    at this rate, in a couple of years beck will have to say. ‘i surround them”.

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