I am not interested in blogging, so a few quick hits is all you are going to get from me today.
1.) Despite the fact the Republicans are the party of torture, fiscal irresponsibility, domestic surveillance, blown war management, drug warriors, and sex cops, self-styled libertarian Glenn Reynolds just couldn’t find it in himself to pull the lever for Harold Ford. Glenn places some of the reasoning for his vote for the GOP candidate on the ‘sexual McCarthyism’ of the ‘left’ (translation- one leftwing blogger) despite remaining silent on the Blackwell campaign (and the entire GOP establishment) attempting to smear Strickland (more here on this). He then links to ‘analysis’ from batshit crazy Dan Riehl, who explains how the ‘Dems’ are ‘blowing it.’
For those of you keeping score, the logic goes like this:
Fucking up the country in every way imaginable and betraying all of your alleged libertarian beliefs = bad.
One left-wing blogger allegedly outing a Republican Senator= MUCH worse.
I am beginning to think the only person Glenn is fooling with his libertarianism is himself (BUT HE VOTED AGAINST TENNESSEE’S ANTI-GAY AMENDMENT!). Not even Red State is pretending he is a libertarian anymore (“More importantly, if moderate Republicans like Glenn are sticking with unexcited Republican candidates over charismatic moderates like Ford…”).
2.) What the hell is Peggy Noonan talking about?
3.) Red State is outraged (OUTRAGED!) about a one minute call to a phone sex number. Since the GOP has blown the budget, it can’t be about the expense, and since the GOP has proven itself full of perverts and philanderers, it can’t be about the sex, so we will just file this under “Election Year BULLSHIT“:
State Sen. Raymond Meier, R-Western, who’s running against Arcuri, criticized the ad and requested it be pulled.
The ad, which WUTR, WKTV and Syracuse stations WSTM and WSTQ refused to run Friday, asserts that Arcuri, the Oneida County district attorney, called a telephone sex hot line while staying in a hotel at county expense.
No one is disputing that a telephone call was placed from Arcuri’s hotel room two years ago to 800-457-8462, a number that today is a sex line. But the significance of that call — which documents show lasted one minute or less — was hotly contested Friday.
•Arcuri provided records showing that a number with the same last seven digits, but a 518 area code, was made one minute after the 800 number was called. That 518-457-8462 number goes to the state Department of Criminal Justice Services.
Sean Byrne, executive director of the New York Prosecutor Training Institute, said Friday he had misdialed the 800 number from Arcuri’s hotel room.
•Meier denounced the ad, which his campaign did not create or pay for, and called it “way over the line.” He said he’s asked that the ad be dropped.
•One media expert said he was baffled the National Republican Congressional Committee decided to run the ad, given the flimsiness of the facts.
“It is such an egregiously stupid accusation,” said Robert Thompson, professor of television and popular culture at Syracuse University. “It really does make you look sleazy when you can say they knew this and still ran it.”
Principles, Red State. Principles.
Somewhat related story- Bush stumps for adulterer during values week.
4.) Bush announces he will not change strategies in Iraq. Before you get too depressed, realize that his statement is actually reassuring, as I was unaware we had a strategy in Iraq. Maybe if we are all good and eat our vegetables and vote Republican, they will share it with us after the elections. Unless it is still super-duper double-secret probation confidential. I can’t believe I ever voted for these people.
5.) Some good news from Iraq- there has been a huge growth in opportunity for independent contractors:
Behind the maze of men with guns in Iraq is a very simple truth: their barrels offer protection, something Iraqis say the government has never given them.
A Divided City On Friday, the web wound tightly around the southern city of Amara, where the two largest and best-armed militias, both made up of religious Shiites, were fighting for control of the city.
But when the prime minister speaks of disarming militias — those mushrooming armies of men with guns that carry out most of the killing here — Iraqi brows begin to furrow.
“He’s just talking,” snapped Fadhil Sabri, a 37-year-old generator repairman in a grease-stained shop in Sadr City, a Baghdad stronghold of the Mahdi Army, a Shiite militia.
“Not now. Not even in 10 years. You need arms to defend yourself,” he said.
That is all. Have a good weekend!
Perry Como
6) Rumsfeld is confident that the US can make a swift regime change in Iran by using massive air strikes and tactical nukes. This time we’ll be greeted as liberators. No, really. People *like* nuclear strikes on their country.
ThymeZone
Noonan? Well, I filed her under “batshit crazy” a long time ago. A paid liar, still earning her keep.
This particular piece can be shortened to:
“Power is an aphrodisiac, which I really need at my age. Ronnie Reagan was so handsome! I could have fucked him all night.”
Which is fine, but not really politically relevant.
Or is it?
Vladi G
A one minute call? Who calls a phone sex line for one minute? Have these people never inadvertantly dialed a wrong number?
radish
Shorter Peggy Noonan: For some reason voters seem to be more focused on “issues” in this election, when what’s really important is that politicians should really enjoy lying to the electorate, so that politics can be more like “Dancing With the Stars.”
Note that Raymond Meier, who is running against Arcuri, is also outraged, but for the exact opposite reason from Erick.
Sigh… To think there was a time when I thought RedState might function as a desirable counterweight to The Big Orange.
Pb
The Republicans should be thrilled about Iraq–it’s a huge conservative success for them! What’s their problem with the deeply religious, gun-toting, socially conservative base in Iraq? Mission Accomplished!
Vladi G
This seems to be a republican strategy this year. Have the national committee come in and run a really despicable ad, then have the candidate denounce it. They’ve done the same thing in Washington with McGavick. That way the candidate is seen to take the high road, but the allegations still get out there. Pretty typical Rove. Classic good cop, bad cop.
jcricket
Radley Balko wrote a great post about Glenn Reynold’s bizarre justifications for voting GOP.
If gay Republicans, libertarians and “well-meaning” but misguided single-issue groups (NARAL) would stop endorsing/voting for the GOP, we’d go a long way towards highlighting that the GOP is: anti-gay/gay-rights, 100% anti-choice, and thoroughly happy to act as the moral police – a type of “nanny statism” that libertarians supposedly hate when it comes from Democrats.
At this point in time, it doesn’t matter whether an individual GOP candidate is mildly not-so-much anti-gay or not a huge fan of Terri Schiavo-esque interventions. In any national race, voting for a GOP candidate is a vote for continued torture, elimination of gay rights, interference with end-of-life decisions & fiscal insanity.
Any libertarians, gay person or pro-choice person who votes Republican is voting against themselves. If you can’t “bring yourself” to vote Democrat, stay home or vote for the Libertarian candidate or write someone in.
jcricket
I might add, if libertarians continue to vote for the GOP it will prove that there is no such thing as a libertarian. They’re just anti-tax Republicans who aren’t concerned with anything else.
rs
Either a wrong number or very problematic premature ejaculation.
John Cole
The Balko piece is already linked. I read the agitator and high clearing daily.
Zifnab
This seems like a somewhat desperate and lame strategy. I mean, if you run a negative ad, then have your candidate denounce it this really only gives the impression that your own party is fractured and weak. “I’m sorry, the NRCC ran a negative ad on my turf and I couldn’t do a thing to stop them. Vote for me,” hardly boasts the legendary Republican Unity and Strength they touted in the last three election cycles. It just sounds like more Mark Foley-esque “I couldn’t do anything because I’m a Party Bitch” logic to me.
Jill
The less than one minute call to a sex phone line was immediately followed by a call to the same 7 digit mumber but with a different area code. But, explanation never matter, especially if they tell the truth.
Zifnab
There’s a crazy-ass thought right there. Maybe Libertarians should try to… you know… get Libertarians elected. The Green Party and the Democrats butt heads in a similiar fashion with Greens kinda-sorta supporting Dems, then getting kicked in the nuts when any of their real issues come up for a vote. Why are Greens and Libs considered somewhat of a joke in national politics? Because their physical presence in national politics is virtually non-existant. (They’re not so hot at the state and local level either).
Want to clean up politics and get a real voice? Stop sending LINOS (and GINOS) to Washington and actually send someone up with the balls to form his own caucus.
Gold Star for Robot Boy
I am Gold Star’s total lack of surprise. As if Insty would ever leave the Repubs, considering his total lack of introspection and intellectual honesty.
Perry Como
Silly Liberal. The real outrage (according to the RedState commentors) is that TAXPAYER MONEY was used for $1.25 call. If Democrats will spend $1.25 on a misdialed number, what else will they spend your money on?!
Pb
How much do they think 800 numbers cost these days?
Perry Como
An outrageous, budget breaking $1.25. This is just another example of how the Republicans are the only party we can trust with our tax payer dollars.
The Other Steve
It’d be sad if it weren’t so pathetic.
Pb
Oh, and… regarding that first item, Glenn Greenwald is all over it, as usual:
CaseyL
Is there a real Green Party anymore? The most high-profile Green candidates turn out to be funded mostly or entirely by the GOP, to siphon off Democratic votes. The Greens look a lot like the American Reform Party after that one was hijacked and destroyed by Pat Buchanan.
I figure any self-styled progressive who refuses to vote for Democrats because they’re not pure enough – who still subscribes to the Naderesque strategy that things have to get really, really bad because then The People will rise up against The Oppressor – is pure, all right. A pure idiot.
The Other Steve
Cray Curt Weldon is apparently compiling a list of contributors to Joe Sestak and threatening retribution.
Zifnab
I don’t know how much worse Nader hopes it could get?
Perry Como
According to CREW, an organization funded by billionaire George Soros (who is also a secular Jew).
Perry Como
Also, I wonder what Nancy Pelosi and Rahm Emanuel knew about Rep. Weldon’s (D – PA) “hit list” and when they knew it? I demand that Pelosi and Emanuel testify under oath about their egregious behavior.
Andrew
That just means his horns are well hidden.
The Disenfranchised Voter
Speaking as an actual libertarian, Glenn Reynolds never was, and never has been a libertarian. Big L or even little L.
Mother fucker is a Repbulican through and through.
He is the Bill O’Reilly of blogging. He is not what he portrays.
KC
The thing that bothers me most about the Republicans, is their uncanny ability to deflect all substantiative criticism by concocting 1) outlandish conspiracy theories and 2) playing the victim all while holding complete power in Washington. I mean, it really is amazing. I have no doubt that any number of Republicans are completely focused on voting the Republican leadership back in just to get at the liberal demons that so effectively stalk them in spite of the odds. It really is crazy.
OCSteve
John,
I’m breaking my self-imposed moratorium on commenting here to say this:
Dude – take a break from politics. You are going to give yourself a coronary. I literally picture you ranting and raving as you type some of these posts. I’m considering buying stock in Windex just based on your monitor Seriously – do some cultural posting or something – or just take a break. Seriously – this is not meant to provoke you, I have been around a couple of years here and I genuinely like you – but I think you are getting angrier and angrier by the day. It is really not healthy. Take a break until after the elections then come back and analyze it for us. But Christ you are going to blow a gasket the way you are going.
Our government is self-correcting by design. Wait and see.
Jay C
Darrell?
Common Sense
Hasn’t Peggy “Polka” Noonan seen Dick Cheney recently? Shheeesh, talk about joyless.
r4d20
‘sexual McCarthyism’ of the ‘left’ (translation- one leftwing blogger
But the genius of ‘the left’ is hiding the presence of the vast criminal conspiracy behind ‘a single blogger’. They are crafty, those leftist bastards.
r4d20
“Not now. Not even in 10 years. You need arms to defend yourself,” he said.
It’s like Colbert said: “What the #1 rule of gun safety? If you have a gun, you will be safe.”.
Kiril
There is no such thing as a libertarian. It is simply a way to vote Republican and still have the right to complain about everyone without having to defend your vote.
John Cole
I swear to God- I am less angry now than I was four months ago when I was conflicted. I have been feeling much better the past month- it is pretty clear what the problem is with our current politcial situation, and I am no longer a part of it.
I feel the best I have in years.
Punchy
Tell that to the Diebold machine, after it erases 10K votes for the Democrat.
Perry Como
It looks like partisan Democrats have infiltrated the DoJ (I wonder if Soros is involved?). The DoJ raided a Republican candidate’s office and home.
ThymeZone
Hopefully, a few years from now, the Dems will have pissed off 2/3 of the country, and you can lead the way to a GOP revival.
I say this of course as a lifelong Dem, who knows all too well that if you put them in charge long enough, they will mess it up.
chopper
to quote berke breathed, “…I’d be a Libertarian, if they weren’t all a bunch of tax-dodging professional whiners. “
Randy
I don’t see why everyone buys Arcuri’s story about the one minute phone sex call. It’s pretty commmon for guys to “get a fix” with a couple minutes of phone sex and then pretend it was a wrong number. Not that I know from personal experience or anything….
srv
Given Glenns fascination with outer space, I’m negotiating a ticket for him on the Golgafrincham B-Ark.
Perry Como
Bingo. It’s obvious that Arcuri is just another Democrat pervert – a future Gerry Studs in the making. And their entire defense doesn’t even pass the smell test. If you dial the area code of Albany (518) instead of (800), you get the “New York State Department of Criminal Justice Services”, whatever that is. It’s probably some shell organization set up by Howard Dean and billionaire George Soros to give political cover for Arcuri.
ThymeZone
OCS, come back and post more.
srv
Just wait until Nov. 8th, when the republicans still hold both Houses. What more damage can GW do in two years?
cd6
the question was never whether Reynolds was going to vote Repub or not.
The question is whether he actually masturbated while he pulled the lever, or if he was able to hang on till he got out to the parking lot.
Perry Como
More likely, he made everyone else that was trying to vote wait until he, umm, finished up. It seems to be a Republican thing to do ::cough:: Foley.
Randy
Mock all you want to, but it is the oldest trick in the book. “Honey, I had the wrong address, I didn’t know it was a strip club.” And take a look at Arcuri, if that guy’s not a p***y hound, you tell me who is. You know what Italians are like (I can say that because I am Italian myself, if you said it, I’d hafta breaka your leg).
Punchy
John Cole
WHy didn’t I think of that? I am gonna search for phone sex numbers that start with 800 but have the last seven digits of my work, and then when I go on business trips and get a litle lonely- FREE LOVE, BILLED TO THE UNIVERSITY.
Pb
The saddest thing is that one minute isn’t even enough for any ‘phone sex’ to take place–that is to say, unless a recorded message on a free 800 number saying something like “hi, baby, we take major credit cards” is your idea of a fun night in. Don’t they at least have in-room movies, still? Sheesh.
And incidentally, what ever happened with Hookergate, or the recently rumored female page? At least *they* had real girls.
Randy
Are you referring to Gary Stubbs, by chance?
Pb
No. And who the hell is ‘Gary Stubbs’? Does he perchance know ‘Don Crate’ or ‘Mork Fobey’? By the way, for your sake and ours, I hope ‘Randy’ is a spoof, because there probably are real people out there who are that stupid.
OCSteve
That is great to hear. I have just felt like you have been this great rumbling volcano these past few weeks. Honestly, I thought more than once your rage could honestly imperil your health. I know – taking a blog post beyond pixels on the screen is dumb.
But – Hey, I like you. Hang in there man. I don’t have to agree with you 100% to like you. Try to chill just a bit. Your blood pressure will thank you.
I want to be reading your thoughts in Oct 08!
demimondian
Seeing as how (a) Gary Studds was not female, (b) he was never a page, and (c) his indiscretions occured with a male page, I can’t see how Pb would possibly have been referring to him.
But what do I know? I’m just a stupid nanny-statist.
Ted
I know some actual, real libertarians, and every one of them favors government gridlock over one-party dominance. They switch their party-line votes constantly to try to make gridlock a constant feature of the federal government.
The real libertarians I know don’t trust either party one bit, and vote accordingly. Glenn Reynolds should just come out of the closet and admit he’s a Republican.
OCSteve
It’s tough being in the minority here – maybe I’ll give it another shot. I don’t disagree with John or even Tim so much in substance as in tone and decibels.
And the way you can get pummeled here is unique:) There are commenters who just bang your head against the wall, and those that can filet you and you don’t even feel you have been cut…
And who doesn’t like a good pummeling?
Bob In Pacifica
Peggy Noonan watches Dancing With The Stars with her vibrator.
Wickedpinto
Insty, never said a bad thing about Harold Ford (I like Ford, think he would be a better presidential hopefull than obama) he simply thought of the broad aspect of the Dem’s playing victim, while simultaneously participating in a deliberate smear campaign/s.
You can disagree with degree, but not motive, shouldn’t be so harsh with the honesty that Insty shared in his deliberation of his vote. At the very least, he deliberated, and thought about his vote rather than just letting “EFFING BUSH! Vote Dem!” rule his mind. Also, note he is no fan of bush in most cases.
Your breakdown is too simplistic and unfair.
The Disenfranchised Voter
“Insty” is not a libertarian.
I don’t care how many times he says it. He does not think, nor vote like a libertarian.
Vladi G
There’s no such thing as a “real libertarian”. A libertarian is a republican who’s too ashamed to admit in public that he/she is a republican.
John Cole
No. He never said a bad thing about Ford. IN fact, a lot of people probably thought he was going to vote for him. But, he didn’t- he voted against Ford because ‘the Democrats are worse’ and because of, as he stated, the ‘sexual mccarthyism.’
He voted against libertarian interests by voting to keep the GOP in power, yet he wishes to transfer the patina of ‘libertarianism’ with his vote. It is nonsense. He may disagree with Bush occasionally, and he supports stem cell research and rethinking the drug laws and is in favor of gay marriage. And by voting against Ford, he voted against all those interests and despite disagreeing with Bush, he chose to re-enable him.
Is he a fan of Bush- I have no idea. He claims to oppose him, yet every time, when the chips are down and it matters, he goes to bat for him. Just like he did voting against Ford. And he does it by puishing generic bullshit like ‘the Democrats are worse’ and he links repeatedly to any gibberish put out by raving right-wing lunatics like Dan Riehl.
My analysis is not simplistic- you are being played the fool.
Randy
Bush Derangement Syndrome is a serious condition ;)
To be serious, I can see why a lot of donks hate Bush so much. It’s fair to say Bush has been a failure on most counts. But what’s not so obvious is that a Democratic president and Congres would have been much of an improvement. I just hope that if the Democrats take the House in November, that they don’t let their anger get in the way of serving the country’s best interests.
It might be the worst thing to have some checks on Bush. But a raging PMS Nancy Pelosi is not going to be good for anyone.
ThymeZone
“EFFING BUSH” is the sentiment of most Americans at this point. Of course, the people who didn’t trust the people enough to take the time, do the due diligence, and have an honest debate before starting a useless war, probably don’t have much interest in the sentiment of the people now.
ThymeZone
If it helps, I offer you ppGaz’s First Rule of Internet Verbal Wars: Never take anything personally.
Even at the peak of the hottest flame war, I try to observe that rule. This is all theater. “Hot air.” I don’t succeed at the rule a hundred percent of the time, but it’s good to keep it mind.
Anyway, I hope you can find the way to come back and mix it up with the rest of us.
Ted
This is irrelevant. Real libertarians, at least all of the ones I’ve known, only care about slowing government expansion, by either party, for any purposes.
I guess you’ve never met the real variety then. I’m a fairly partisan Democrat, and I still admire genuine libertarians. They will infuriate me to no end with their calls to abolish most of the federal government, and deregulate corporations. But at the same time they will rail against government alignment with corporations (ie, some corporations weilding government power against their competitors) as being a move in the fascist direction. Modern republicans, and democrats to some degree, love their corporate contributors, and often do their bidding.
I can’t stand a lot of what libertarians think about politics, but they do exist.
Ted
Nice sexism there. You couldn’t just stick to what actual political issues you have with her. You had to go there. It’s somewhat similar to when people who don’t like what Andrew Sullivan has to say dismiss what he says as ‘AIDS dementia’.
Do you really think Dennis Hastert has had the reigns of policy and agenda the last few years? If so, you greatly overestimate the power of the House speakership. He may have had his ‘majority of the majority’ rule going, but he didn’t exactly define the Republican government agenda.
CaseyL
This is sarcasm, right?
Randy
Casey, give me an example of something a Democratic leader would have done differently that would have made a difference on any of the big issues: I’m talking about Iraq (which most Dems voted for), the budget deficit, and North Korea. I’ll grant you the FEMA screw-up and big oil giveaways. No argument there — those probably wouldn’t have happened. But the big stuff? What would have been different?
Wickedpinto
True John, also, he was in opposition to fords stance on one of the gun laws, I forget which, I’m not a law prof with all the free time, and “academic rationale” to defend my research into the subject.
However, “When the Chips are down” Insty voted for bush, because bush was running against JOHN FRIGGEN KERRY!
My old mans a moron, and a pot head, but my father is also a viet vet, and EXTRAORDINARILY LIBERABL, in all things but gays (he’s a normal truck driver type, since he is normal, and he drives a truck, my father that is) My father, would have NEVER voted for either of the “veterans” the dem’s offered up for election, because my father has a memory.
Thats a BIG deal John (sorry if me using your first name offends since we don’t know eachother, sorry about that) But the fact is that while the dem’s for PRESIDENT, have chosen the WORST possible “veteran” candidates that they could.
THATS prolly why glenn supported a man who actually shared all his military documentation, without hyping it, instead of a man who hyped his military experience, without sharing his military documentation.
If John Kerry were to “grass roots” his ass across my childhood home? My father would beat the loving crap out of him. At least gore would only get spit, but kerry would get an outright assault delivered unto him via a real viet vet, who never lost faith for the purpose of political advantage.
The presidential candidates asside.
I like Obama, and would have voted obama AFTER ryan withdrew, even though I’m not a fan of dem’s and I think they are means to the ends kinda players, I would have voted for Harold Ford, without a doubt the single most charismatic player in all of politics (other than allen before he went on the defensive) I’m not a partisan, I’m REMARKABLY liberal, but I don’t trust the Dem’s.
I just don’t, and they are proving why they shouldn’t be trusted with ANYTHING! Harry Reids, “It is not me but thee” attitude, from the first abrahamoff connection (granted minor, but so are most of the connections that reid was accusing the ‘Pubs of, it’s no different, and TRUE! that is not an acceptable argument “they do it too” but you know what? they both do it, so I side with the people who offend me least, knowwhatImean?)
It’s a shame that it’s become so ugly, but at least the right, even if it’s false, have better ideas than the left, who have none, and only accuse the ‘pubs of doing the very things that the left is doing, meanwhile the left hasn’t offered any idea’s.
To assuage your anger in this, I will say this. I’m not gonna vote, cuz noone deserves my name as a validation of their office. Earn it from your “base” ‘pubs or ‘dems. You won’t catch me in your cottierie.
Wickedpinto
Ted?
There is no such thing as a “real libertarian” and Glenn says he doesn’t like being marked in any broad form. He isnt’ a member of a party, he is someone who is an American voter with a lot of different foci, and he must chose which of those foci are most important.
that is what someone who is interested in REAL personal liberty should do, rather than “slavishly” assigning themselves to a party. I Think Glenn has made his bed, and he is willing to criticize himself while laying in it.
Thats why the judgement is unfair, and simplistic.
Ted
Again, you apparently haven’t met a ‘real libertarian’. Have you ever met what is commonly referred to as a ‘Randroid’?? These are people who believe in a libertarian, free-market utopia, where the federal government exists only for national defense, and nothing else. These are people who think (correctly or not) the constitution forbids the president from having a police force, and thus find abhorrent the FBI, DEA, Secret Service, etc. They think presidential term limits are against (small ‘r’) republican democracy (and maybe they’re right, or not). The ones I know think the last 15 years have seen the greatest erosion of civil liberties in US history. They’ll go from ranting about Janet Reno and Waco, to ranting about George W. Bush and habeas corpus. They’ll call Lincoln one of the most dangerous presidents and an outright dictator. You can keep claiming they don’t exist, but stubbornly, they do.
My point is Reynolds can distance himself now from a party label all he likes, but he has used it in the past more than once, and donned the Libertarian mantle. This is all just fine for him, but it’s hilarious to see people defending his libertarian credentials when he is clearly a Republican in his own avowed voting habits. No libertarian in their right mind (so to speak) would want one party to control the executive, and all of congress. Even a fairly partisan Democrat like me liked the balance of most of the 90s with a Democratic president, and a Republican House. Reynolds just doesn’t want that kind of balance. If he did, he’d vote for a cow before he’d ever vote to keep one party in complete power.
Pb
Randy,
Check out what Gore and Kerry’s positions were on the issues–we wouldn’t have gone to war in Iraq in the first place, we certainly would have been more responsible wrt. the budget deficit and Social Security, and we would have continued Clinton’s policies with North Korea instead of pissing them off like Bush did with his Axis of Evil speech. Heck, I bet President Gore would even have *listened* to Richard Clarke when he talked about al-Qaeda instead of ignoring him for 8 months, and then listened to him after 9/11–if the question even came up–when he cautioned against invading Iraq…
Pb
Wickedpinto,
What, pray tell, was Harry Reid’s Abramoff connection? I don’t think there ever was one, except perhaps in John Solomon’s fevered imagination. And as for the left having no ideas–give me a break.
Wickedpinto
Pb is blind to the failures of his own oppinion.
Ted?
I’m VERY liberal, VERY VERY liberal, and I will let that be my motivation for local election, however, the strategy of the dem’s is not, individual districts supporting various represesentatives to actually represent the opinions of people, it was the DEM’s! who made impeachment a basic campaign format for their election.
I’m NOT a Republican in general, however, I’m completely and totaly pro-these-wars, and I will not accept “impeachment” as an option.
Hatred of bush, is the only real format that the majority of dem’s have. I don’t like bush in most ways, and I think he is an outright retard in many more, but he should not be impeached, because all the dem’s have offered ONLY ALFTER! the 2K election, is insult.
I’m all about insults, but when it comes to the president? that is not enough, because if all you can do is insult the President of The United States of America, then all you can offer is an insult to the people the United States of America.
I have no problem voting Dem, but if all the dems can give me is impeachment? than I am not interested. That is small, weak and childish.
Ask someone else to side with you.
Steve
Here is Al Gore’s speech prior to the vote on the Iraq war. Read it and tell me he wouldn’t have done a better job.
The Disenfranchised Voter
Hey Ted,
Fuck off.
Don’t act like you know sht about the political spetrum beacause you don’t know shit.
Anyone, in fact, everyone, here know that the political spectrum is 3D.
Your ass is still in the 2D mode. Left to Right, Right to Left.
Wake up and start up punkass.
Ted
Funny, but I don’t recall any Dem running on a platform of promised impeachment. And Democratic congressmen have repeatedly said they’re not planning on that should they take the majority. At best you can expect investigations of spectacular incompetencies that have taken place.
‘Fuck off’ because I said something you disagreed with? Wow.
All I was saying was that people shouldn’t buy into Glenn Reynolds’ bullshit brand of Republican conservative dressed up as libertarianism. Get some Xanax or something.
And what is your third dimension that you describe? I thought accurately describing a political ideology that places itself outside of Republican/Democrat polarity and distrusts both was beyond “Left to Right, Right to Left.” I may think pure libertarianism is about as idiotic as communism, but that ‘3D’ is definitely there. Anyone who thinks it’s a good idea to have one or the other major party have the executive and both houses of congress is pretty much a die-hard member of their favored party. The rest of us know a divided government is better.
Newport 9
John, you didn’t know about Bush’s strategy for Iraq? Here it is:
1. Depose Saddam.
2. Steal billions from U.S. taxpayers.
3. Turn Iraq into chaotic bloodbath.
4. Blame Democrats.
See? Mission accomplished!
Wickedpinto
Minute deconstruction of valid statements.
Derrida is a know-nothing philospher, and his philosphy is known by noone cuz it is just that selfish.
Wickedpinto
BTW, TDV is an asshole, I don’t side with them.
lard lad
Is wickedpinto an avant-garde poet? Just wondering.
I especially like the line “beat the loving crap out of him”… bet that’s what Dick Cheney’s dad did to him when he was little.
neil
It’s also interesting that Reynolds voted for Corker over Ford because of the Democrats’ generic “Sexual McCarthyism.” I guess he hasn’t seen the attack ads the NRSC is running in Tennessee, blasting Ford for dating a white woman. Take a look at your sexually liberated Republicans now.
Rusty Shackleford
What the Iraqis should do to keep their militias is refer to them as “defense contractors”. The U.S. will get confused and offer them no-bid contracts.
Randy
Don’t tell me you believe all the lock box stuff. Gore voted for Iraq War I, didn’t he? What makes you think he’d have been different this time around, when the case for war was much stronger.
Rusty Shackleford
Dug Jay,
John Cole is 180 degrees from simplistic foolishness. You can identify “simplistic fools” by what they say.
Some examples:
“You’re with us, or against us”
“Axis of Evil”
“Stay the Course.”
“Evildoers”
“Cut and Run”
Randy
Wickedpinto writes:
Still? I don’t know anyone who feels that way still. And you say you’re very, very liberal too. Is that you Christopher Hitchens?
ThymeZone
It’s hard to know where to start bashing your weird disjointed posts, so I just closed my eyes and stuck a finger here.
This assertion is just baloney. This is a midterm election, not a presidential year. It’s about Congress and state houses. It’s about hundreds of individual contests in districts and states across the the country. All politics is local. It would be silly for Democrats … or Republicans, for that matter … to try to smother those local contests with the weight of a national agenda. And it would be antithetical to the whole model of the Republic, and representative government.
The Dems don’t owe you some kind of neatly packaged line of crap to solve all the world’s problems. If you want a box of crap with a pretty ribbon around it, then you’re a Republican. Vote for them.
Gold Star for Robot Boy
You forgot:
5. Profit!!!
Gold Star for Robot Boy
Whoa, the Internets ate the exclamation points after “profit.”
ThymeZone
And by the way, WickedHorsesAss, hatred of Bush is what the Republicans have. It’s their deal, he’s their boy. Democrats nationwide are not running on a “hate Bush” platform. For one thing, they don’t have to … the voters already are sick of Bush, there is no need to gin that up. Let the Republicans figure out what to do with Bush. For another thing, Democrats are busy telling you about the eleventy things they are going to do to try to make life better for middle class Americans, which is what our party is all about. It’s about smart, better policy that helps real people, not corporations and the Bush family’s Saudi sponsors.
ThymeZone
WickedP, these commercials are for you. Take two of these and call me in about 16 days.
Walker
In the first war Iraq invaded a sovereign country. All but the most die-hard pacifists were for that action. This war was about regime change (or are you still a WMD believer), which is always a tricky situation. Any career diplomat will tell you that you often get worse than what was there before.
There is no way the case was much stronger for Iraq II.
ThymeZone
Uh, no. I am not a die-hard pacifist, and I was against it.
It made no sense. “Liberate” Kuwait? Kuwait is an oligarchy set up to reward the ruling family and their friends with oil money. And the land has tribal dispute history going back deep into Mesopatamian history … the seeds of the modern dispute probably sown by the ham-handed British involvement early in the twentieth century. In short, none of our business.
There is only one rationale for that war … oil. If there were no oil there, nobody in this country would … or should … have given a shit about Kuwait.
Saddam the “reincarnation of Hitler?” Once I heard that, I knew the fix was in. What complete and utter bullshit. There is no excuse, in a liberal democracy, for ginning up that kind of horse manure to build popular support for a war. War should be supported when the imperatives are clear and the threat to this country is real and immediate and no other recourse is possible. Not when the Bush family and its Saudi sponsors decide to play oil baron with the Middle East.
Perry Como
Concern troll.
Concern troll.
Sorry, that statement doesn’t match your earlier one:
The only way those statements can be rectified is if you support the liberal use of taxpayer dollars to liberally bomb the crap out of people that given a liberal definition are our enemies.
Concern troll.
This smacks of the “intolerance of intolerance” argument that so many Republicans love to push. When the President disrespects his office by, say, authorizing methods of torture that even Torquemada wouldn’t use…criticism of his actions are perfectly fair.
Okay, the concern trolling is really thick and has grown very unoriginal. Is this Darrell trying a new character?
ThymeZone
Darrell writes better.
Perry Como
“We’ve never been stay the course” – President Bush
Yeesh.
ThymeZone
That settles it … he’s drinking again.
Perry Como
Setting a timetable would be giving in to the terrorists:
I would vote for Democrats, but since they don’t offer up any ideas — like timetables for the war in Iraq — I won’t.
Smart. Strong.
chopper
1) IRAQ: let the inspections go all the way, thus showing us that saddam doesn’t have WMDs. no need for war. no need for sheepishly admitting we were completely wrong on the biggest government fuckup of the last hundred years.
2) DEFICIT: not cut taxes for the rich while spending more money at the same time.
3) NK: diplomacy instead of ignoring the bastards until they explode a nuclear bomb.
ThymeZone
4) Push Congress to address the healthcare disaster
5) Veto the pork-laden, earmark-heavy bloated, obscene budget.
6) Keep the government out of the lives and bedrooms of citizens.
7) Show respect for process and adjudication; support the courts and the separation of powers. Refuse to build the unitary executive in a panicky response to threat.
ThymeZone
Had enough of this shit yet?
Pb
I particularly like this quote:
Clinton impeachment, anyone? Kosovo? By that metric, the Republican party should have tanked by 1998, if not before.
ThymeZone
Heh. Well, then the last 5.8 years have been all about insulting the American people. A president who lies to the people to start a war is not showing respect for anything.
And the president is not the people. We are not a country of elected kings. The president is a civil servant, hired to do a job in a political venue. He is, and should be, a lightning rod for discontent and outrage. If he isn’t up to that, he should find another line of work.
The Disenfranchised Voter
Whoa, my bad Ted.
My post was actually addressed to wickedpinto…
Sorry for the confusion.
Wickedpinto
Perry?
I understand your knee-jerk.
I’m not a nice person in the right environment, but in general, I believe that a discussion should be respectful and honest.
I might have appeared as though I was overly identifying with the Dem’s, though in all things I find important I disagree with them, that is true.
However, to automaticaly depict Insty as a shill for the republicans is unfair.
I just wish that discourse, would actually become discourse, rather than the automatic and arbitrary insults that exist in todays politics.
Wickedpinto
PB?
Oh, the ‘pubs screwed up, and overplayed, and should have been punished in ’96, but by ’98 President Clinton dug his own hole, of course, truth is that none of the things that led to President Clintons situation never should have occured, because if congressmen are inviolable during a vote, then the President should have been inviolable while being the President of The United States of America. Not an immunity, but a delayed prosecution of crimes, after all, that is what impeachment is for.
But that is just one more argument against the culture of judicial legislation which is another conservative concept (one of the ones I agree with.)
For the most part, I don’t disagree with the espoused opinions of the left, but I disagree with the method. Thats why I’m “very liberal” I agree with the left in most things policy, but in FEW things when it comes to governance.
Theresa Campbell
It might be the worst thing to have some checks on Bush. But a raging PMS Nancy Pelosi is not going to be good for anyone.
Could you be more of an asshole, Randy?
Newport 9
Theresa Campbell wonders:
I’m afraid the answer to that question is “yes”. And Randy’s going to prove it.