Can I just say that, while I was thoroughly disgusted that Sanford has not resigned, I have a different take on his narcissistic ramblings, now. He can’t seem to shut his mouth and I think he is using the media as his therapist. Altho I really don’t give a flying fuck about his sex life or what “lines” he’s crossed (eye roll), the good thing about it is it’s bad for the republican party so now I’m like, more of this pls, especially during the health care reform “debate”.
Now that said, his behavior shows a dismal lack of judgment which should be of serious concern to us constituents, but since we are pretty fucked as a state anyway, not sure it matters if we have a wack-job for a governor at this point and perhaps his fumbling recounts of how he just couldn’t keep his teeny dick in pants will serve a larger purpose.
Warning: You may want to put down your morning coffee/tea lest you need to replace some computer peripherals. We are so fucked as taxpayers.
3.
robertdsc
Michelle Malkin doesn’t have that. She’s just a mean little dunce who’s wedged herself into a nicely paying career as a GOP spokesclown, and she’s going to ride that gig for as long as it keeps gas in her minivan.
Arizona has moved a step closer to becoming the only state to criminalize the presence of illegal immigrants through an expansion of its trespassing law.
I’m sure this wouldn’t lead to any inconvenience for citizens who happen to be/look Hispanic.
6.
BDeevDad
The FDA just recommended taking Percocet and Vicodin off the market. Thank goodness House is in rehab.
Obama issues 23 million in aid to Palestine refugees, who are surely fucked, and because the word “Migration” is in the order, the stupids run around saying that Obama is resettling thousands of Hamas terrorists in the United States, and how the media is not reporting the TRUTH and we are losing this country.
At least my friend had the semi-decency to say, “I don’t know if this is true, but it’s scary if it is.” If you don’t know if it’s true, why the hell are you sending it to everyone you know?
8.
PaulW
I love the fact that Rep. Bachmann is telling her constituents not to fill out their census forms. Because it means her state will underreport the population numbers, meaning Minnesota will lose a district or two more than they would have, meaning she’s not going to have that seat much longer. Way to put yourself into retirement, Ms. “Didn’t Think My Wingnut Fantasies Through” Bachmann…
9.
Persia
@robertdsc: The whole thing was beautiful. I love that ‘pioneers pulled themselves up by their bootstraps without sharing’ meme too. Does that mean Malkin wants to abolish Thanksgiving?
10.
harlana pepper
Okay, I guess I need to go and ((choke)) read the Malkin thing. burf!
11.
inkadu
@PaulW: Excellent point! The people most willing to listen to Bachman are her local crazies, so she is one census away from representing herself at the neighborhood bake sale.
Oh, and there’s one other thing. I heard today from Steve Wamhoff of Citizens for Tax Justice. He had an interesting tidbit to offer on the teabagging movement. According to his research, 39% of respondents with incomes below $30,000 told the Gallup agency that they felt that federal income tax levels were “too high.” Which is interesting, because only 32% of respondents in that income category will pay any federal income taxes at all on their 2008 income. You can draw your own conclusions.
15.
Punchy
Arizona has moved a step closer to becoming the only state to criminalize the presence of illegal immigrants through an expansion of its trespassing law.
I’ll take your $1000 and Daily Double that in the category of “Looming Prison Population Explosion Disasters”
16.
SiubhanDuinne
Happy Canada Day to everyone in the True North Strong and Free, not to mention all the expats living south of the 49th. You’re looking damn good on your 142nd birthday!
17.
Ash Can
@inkadu: Based on the kind of stuff she usually sounds like she’s ingesting, I wouldn’t go anywhere near her brownies myself.
Seriously, though, I have mixed feelings about the prospect of her wingnutting her way out of political existence. While the more immediate issue is that people like her should not be in positions where they speak or act on behalf of other people, there’s still the fact that we’d be missing out on an awful lot of comedy upon her departure from the public eye.
The problem is that the batshitcrazy Bachman is going to get some poor soul just trying to do their job to put food on the table census worker assaulted or worse shot. With the rhetoric she has been spewing it is going to happen and the blood will be on her hands. I hope to FSM that someone in her party takes her to one side and points out the error of her ways before those poor census workers start knocking on doors.
Last night Glenn Beck’s guest was ex-CIA person Michael Scheuer, who stated that the only hope for the country was for Osama Bin Laden to “deploy and detonate a major weapon in the United States.” Seriously.
Nice to see all the Matt Taibbi Love in here! Helps me clear my head after reading the Scheuer/Beck thing.
If a Dem said this shit, they’d be so tossed overboard, run over, and blown up and the media would eat the remains. Openly hoping for a OBL attack on the country? Are you fucking kidding?
h/t: TPM
Edit….DAMN YOU JENJENJENJEN :)
21.
Kennedy
John,
God bless you for getting rid of that eye-searing Pam Anderson ad.
22.
harlana pepper
@Ash Can: Oh noes, I really don’t wanna see those knobby, hairy knees! Apparently, however, Latina chicks really dig that sorta thing.
23.
boomshanka
Oh, this is good:
Michael Scheuer tells Glenn Beck on Fox that “the only chance we have as a country right now is for Osama bin Laden to deploy and detonate a major weapon in the United States.”
Because then Americans at a grassroots level will demand the protection they need that calls for our government to use more violent means.
@Punchy: Sorry!! I see you and I are cruising the same block of information highway this morning!
Hey, John, if I’m not mistaken, this is your first venture to the dog park with Lily? If you’ve mentioned it before, I missed it. Have a blast, you two!
The FDA just recommended taking Percocet and Vicodin off the market. Thank goodness House is in rehab.
Bad week for Rush- first Franken, now this.
In all seriouness, am I being too cynical in thinking the drug companies will love this? Remove the offending acet., rejigger the chemistry slightly, and voila- new patent, no more generic competitors.
This is a beautiful piece of writing. Describing the misdeeds of Wall Street in the last decade by saying “few people acted… nobly” is sort of like saying that Stalin was “not always sociable” or O.J. Simpson was “not always committed to preserving life.” I mean, talk about a freaking understatement.
I still miss Hunter S. Thompson. But I guess Taibbi will do.
The Glenn Beck clip was in the last thread. The Matt Taibbi rant was discussed in a previous thread … written two months ago…
Oh my god these comments must be leaking directly through the thread walls. Time and space are breaking down. Yesterday, today, and months ago, are becoming one.
Don’t you see? It’s here! Peak Wingnut has arrived!
Lieberman at TPM via Atrios: Remember how Reid was saying oh come on, Lieberman is a liberal in the finest tradition on everything except the war, gosh I wish I had more Joe Liebermans voting with me!
if it wasn’t for The Soup, i’d have no idea who these people are. zero.
32.
Bill E Pilgrim
@cleek: Even weirder, I just clicked on that and read the first parts of the article, and I still have no idea what or who it was about.
33.
SGEW
@cleek: Too bad I don’t watch The Soup, I guess. Should I know who those people are?
Pretentious elitist snob alert: I had no idea who Billy Mays was, but I was (kind of) familiar with the work of Pina Bausch.
I did, however, know who Michael Jackson was.
34.
Ash
Holy shit, that Scheuer guy isn’t just some random nut, he works for CBS and TEACHES grad courses at freaking Georgetown! WHAT THE HELL?
Should I know who those people are?
No, probably not.
35.
gex
@PaulW: As a Minnesotan, I’ll gladly take that hit to get her out of Congress and to put this ugly chapter in MN politics to bed. I hate that she is associated with our state.
36.
gex
@John Cole: I think this properly underscores how, for the privileged, there are only win-win situations. Bankers made out like bandits for going broke, and I think you are right on these meds getting tweaked slightly and then receiving fresh new patents.
Sigh.
37.
SGEW
Btw, speaking of celebrities and all that, this quote from Achewood is the single best thing written about Michael Jackson:
“He was your Elvis, and when your Elvis dies, so does the private lie that someday you will be young once again, and feel at capricious intervals the weightlessness of a joy that is unchecked by the injuries of experience and failure. In other words, you died a bit today. Welcome to the only game in town.”
personally, i love The Soup. it’s the TV version of nutpicking – find the most ridiculous things on TV that week and make fun of them. i don’t watch any of the shows they mock, but that makes it even better: the fact that everything’s out of context heightens the absurdity.
On Tuesday, in what was described as yet another “emotional” interview with the Associated Press, the governor admitted more encounters with his Argentine lover and other details that contradicted what appeared to be a contrite, sincere apology last week.
Hey, John, you got played for a sucker. I can’t believe Governor Gomer Pyle was able to pull a fast one on you, but hopefully you’ll learn from this. If not, I’ll make the lesson clear: just because a clean cut white boy starts crying at a press conference doesn’t mean he’s actually sorry for anything.
Next time wise up and toughen up, John.
41.
inkadu
@Litlebritdifrnt: If they start shooting census workers, I the only proper response is to send census workers out in armored vans in teams of 5, equipped with full body armor, fully automatic weapons, a battering ram and a clipboard.
@cfaller96: I think he’s sorry he made such a mess of things, ruined his career, and put his family through a lot of misery. He should get a divorce and move on. Why does he have to stop seeing his mistress?
It’s pretty damned handy. My gawd, our defense spending is just mindblowing in comparison with nearly everything else. This is not news, of course, but the site is very good at illustrating where the money goes.
43.
Molly
Ah good, I need an open thread for this.
Here in Wingnut Central, The Bubbas have a new bumper sticker for their Chevy and Ford trucks. “I’ll keep my money, freedom, and guns, and you can keep the CHANGE.” It’s popping up like crazy. Bless their hearts.
I’ve yet to have a beer and a conversation with one of them (it will happen, you can’t throw a rock in my part of Texas and not hit three Bubbas, and I need my Shiner Boch to survive it all). I just want to tell them “I really could give a rat’s ass about your damn guns. Keep ’em. Knock yourselves out. Go shoot some deer and a dove or two on the weekends. Don’t want your money or your freedom either, wish I could give both back and take some for myself too. But gee, Billy Boy, got a few things to clean up before all of us can have some of that back. And there’s a reason I don’t own a gun, because watching well-fed, self-righteous assholes such as you who drive your big trucks with your gun racks and spend your hard-earned time and cash to put dumb-ass, ignorant bumper stickers on your trucks, who worry more about your guns than the really important problems in this country makes my trigger finger itch REAL BAD, son.”
@JenJen: Saw that. Good stuff! One thing to note though is that it appears to be tracking IT spending only. Not the whole shebang.
45.
BDeevDad
@John Cole: As someone who just switched from a generic to a tweaked version (it is now time released so I now have to take a pill once a day instead of thrice), I understand this. My med costs went up by ~$500 a year. Then again, the non-generic doesn’t give me a daily case of nausea.
46.
inkadu
@JenJen: What the website doesn’t tell is that most of the so-called defense budget goes to pay for abortions, Cadillacs for blacks, and to resettle terrorists in the United States.
47.
Laura W
Speaking of Lyle Lovett and Sanford, this just came on during my walk. I love this song. Mucho. I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to hear it again without thinking of Soulmates Mark and Maria.
(And I’m not mocking…I seriously thought of them. Please don’t throw stones.)
inkadu, Sanford’s not sorry he did these things, he’s only sorry he got caught. And that is evidenced by A) his “truly sorry” moment last week was dishonest, B) his refusal to resign, and C) his continued reverence for the source of this disaster (his mistress). These are not the actions of a repentant and sympathetic man, these are the actions of a man desperately trying to hold on to everything he had before it all blew up.
John got suckered in by the tears, and fell for Sanford’s ploy hook, line, and sinker. He (wrongly) felt sympathy for Sanford, got pissy with some of us for (rightly) shitting all over Sanford, and (conveniently) ignored the fact that Sanford didn’t actually show he was sorry by resigning (or, as it turns out, making amends with his wife). And from that passage (which I obv screwed up emphasizing), it now appears that the “contrite, sincere apology” press conference that hit home with John was little more than damage control. Most of us suspected that at the time…except John, of course.
I’m simply reminding John of the fact that he was wrong to sympathize with this childish, dishonest, and reckless governor. Yes, I’m being that guy. Hopefully John can wise up next time, if only to avoid jerks like me taunting him for being wrong.
50.
4jkb4ia
The sky is blue, the grass is green, Roger Federer is king of the world, and Wesley Moodie and Dick Norman may actually win another five-set doubles match. I have realized that everyone in the men’s doubles semifinals here is over 30 except for Mardy Fish. You only think that Moodie and Norman are more alterkockers than the others because they have quit decent singles careers. I hope the ATP is watching in horror at how the third-set tiebreak has not saved doubles.
51.
4jkb4ia
If they put doubles on TV more often, people would enjoy it. There is finesse and people approach the net and stuff.
I’m simply reminding John of the fact that he was wrong
Yes, but he’s consistently wrong.
You just are not going to find that degree of predictability on any other blog, you know.
53.
inkadu
@cfaller96: This is what puzzles me: Why should he stop seeing or start disparaging his mistress? What “amends” should he make to his wife? Why should he resign over an affair? I know, he should resign for dickishly hiking the trail for 5 days, but in this context, you want him to resign to demonstrate remorse for an affair.
My view is that the marriage was over and Sanford has some emotional neediness issues. To slink back to a marriage out of shame is a bit 17th-century, as is blaming the mistress (aka “the source of this disaster”).
1. Why should he stop seeing or start disparaging his mistress?
Uh, because he said he would stop/has stopped? I’m simply asking that he be honest with me, a SC resident, and that he follow through on his promises in an effort to regain my trust.
2. What “amends” should he make to his wife?
Well, that’s really up to Jenny, but for starters how about he not refer to the mistress as his soulmate and not publicly claim that he’s struggling to love his wife again? And while we’re at it, how about he just not talk about any of this in public? I mean, Jesus Tapdancing Christ, I don’t want to hear about this and it’s really unsettling watching my Governor behave like a fucking 13 year old.
And again, I’m not insisting that Mark Sanford stay in his marriage. I’m simply holding Mark Sanford to his own words- remember, it was Sanford himself who promised to repair his marriage as part of his new way going forward. If Sanford believes (and Lindsey Graham agrees) that repairing his marriage is part and parcel of becoming a better, more trustworthy governor, then it logically follows that his failure to do so should be held against him.
3. Why should he resign over an affair? I know, he should resign for dickishly hiking the trail for 5 days, but in this context, you want him to resign to demonstrate remorse for an affair.
No, that’s not what I’ve said. You’re unfortunately getting caught up in the middle of an argument that started last week. Not your fault, but just clarifying.
When the private life of Mark Sanford starts to affect the public life of Governor Sanford, that’s when something has to change. And if Mark Sanford cannot settle his personal life to the point that Governor Sanford can at least function, then that’s when Governor Sanford needs to resign in order to give Mark Sanford time and space to put his life back together.
Speaking for myself, the (planned) 10 day dereliction of duty had me demanding his resignation. But at this point let’s not pretend that the affair has nothing to do with any of this. He went AWOL because of his mistress, he took taxpayer money because of his mistress, and I dare say we’ll find out more things he did on the public dime because of his mistress. And thanks to all of Mark Sanford’s recent statements, it seems pretty clear to me that he’s not able to keep his public and private life separate. So, for many reasons, Sanford should resign.
But that wasn’t the argument I had with John. John kept making the claim that despite all the bad/wrong/hypocritical things Sanford had done, his train wreck press conference nonetheless showed him as a sympathetic character who “didn’t give a shit about his political career.” I thought that absurd, and pointed to his lack of a resignation as proof that Sanford did indeed “give a shit about his political career.”
And at this point I think it should be obvious that Sanford is not some guy painfully bearing his soul and being nakedly honest with everyone damn the politics blah blah blah…but rather a man desperately trying to hold onto his governorship by tiring us out with the details of his personal struggles. The more he talks about the romance of his affair and his efforts to get back with Jenny, the more uncomfortable we all get and the less attention gets paid to all his abuses of office that occurred because of the affair. Last week’s press conference was just part of that overall effort, and John was wrong to fall for it.
I’ve never been able to get into Lovett, but I admit I haven’t tried hard. I will study this video diligently.
P.S. Can’t believe he was ever married to Julia Roberts, however briefly.
56.
Laura W
@Steeplejack: While you’re cramming the Lyle (er…you know), here is another along same lines.
I’d pay good money if I could find you the version he does Live in Austin with Rickie Lee Jones joining him on stage. Goose bumps just thinking about it.
I only have two of his CDs, but I rarely get sick of this one.
(The “Nobody Knows Me” link above is from the same series of Austin concerts.)
57.
SGEW
To me, Lyle Lovett will always be the guy in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas who needs a place to cook his L.S.D.
58.
Tax Analyst
Can I just say that, while I was thoroughly disgusted that Sanford has not resigned, I have a different take on his narcissistic ramblings, now. He can’t seem to shut his mouth and I think he is using the media as his therapist. Altho I really don’t give a flying fuck about his sex life or what “lines” he’s crossed (eye roll), the good thing about it is it’s bad for the republican party so now I’m like, more of this pls, especially during the health care reform “debate”.
I blame his Spiritual Advisor. I mean where was HE when Good Governor Sanford needed him?
Or do I have the gig confused with Jiminy Fucking Cricket?
I get a particular snarky kick out of all the times Sanford has apparently asked his wife if it would be OK for him to keep seeing the mistress…as if one of those times she was just going do a complete 180 and go, “Well, you know Mark, perhaps I’ve been a bit narrow-minded about that. Yeah, fuck it, go see your mistress in Argentina, and while your there make sure you thoroughly bang her in every available orifice, and tell her I said ‘Hi’. And when you’re done fucking that Argentinian trollop just keep heading south until there is no more south before you, and when you reach that point you have my explicit permission to stay there and spend the rest of your miserable sick, cheating, lying life fucking yourself. Don’t even consider crawling back here again you twisted piece of shit.”
@cfaller96: Sanford is a politician… are we really going to start holding them accountable for the crap they say in public? The guy is obviously going through an emotional crisis and panicking. It must be really difficult to start dealing with this thing at a press conference. Unfortunately (or, you know, fortunately for US), Sanford can’t keep it private.
Amends – I think we have two different meanings of this word; one is positive (doing something — that’s mine) and one is negative (not doing harmful things like naming his soulmate publicly — that seems to be yours). But I agree he should stop flinging dirt at his wife while he is digging his hole.
This is a theoretical question for you — what if his wife (or whoever his soulmate is) was raped and dismembered by an Objectivist. Should he resign due to the trauma? Or should he just take a few weeks to pull himself together? The legislative season just ended, so he could take a little time off (responsibly).
Judging politicians by their private lives things gives me the creeps. If you are talking about judging him for how he handles his private life in public, then, ok, I can agree with that. He certainly should resign for having the state pay for his booty calls.
That ethical angle probably LESS to the public than watching the Mark & Jenny show. If he keeps talking about that people are going to be distracted from the ethics, but so what? How many people do you think really earnestly cared that Clinton lied under oath? Misplaced semen drives a lot more news coverage than misplaced cash.
And I can’t believe you said all those mean things about John, after what he did to help that poor doggie. As it teaches us in the bible, “For animals, as all things, serve the Lord, and he that careth for a lost beast shall receive his reward from the Father.” You should be ashamed. (h/t Jenny S.)
@inkadu: Um, just to point out that your example of his soulmate being killed raped murdered whatever is not the same thing at all as him taking off of his own volition to screw his mistress on the state’s dime. I had a drop of sympathy for Sanford before he compared himself to King David and admitted that he has crossed the line but not the ultimate line with other women. I really don’t give a shit about his private life, but he is making it very public. It’s all him. No one else is forcing him to babble about this in the public. If he didn’t care about his political career, he would have resigned and if he really loved his mistress, he can divorce his wife and go be with his mistress.
However. To me, he sounds like a teenage boy in lust, and it’s MUCH easier to love someone when you don’t have to live with that person. This is all of his own making. He needs to STFU and resign.
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harlana pepper
Have a nice walkies!
Can I just say that, while I was thoroughly disgusted that Sanford has not resigned, I have a different take on his narcissistic ramblings, now. He can’t seem to shut his mouth and I think he is using the media as his therapist. Altho I really don’t give a flying fuck about his sex life or what “lines” he’s crossed (eye roll), the good thing about it is it’s bad for the republican party so now I’m like, more of this pls, especially during the health care reform “debate”.
Now that said, his behavior shows a dismal lack of judgment which should be of serious concern to us constituents, but since we are pretty fucked as a state anyway, not sure it matters if we have a wack-job for a governor at this point and perhaps his fumbling recounts of how he just couldn’t keep his teeny dick in pants will serve a larger purpose.
Fulcanelli
And now for your morning dose of black humor…
Matt Taibbi: Teabagging Michelle Malkin.
Warning: You may want to put down your morning coffee/tea lest you need to replace some computer peripherals. We are so fucked as taxpayers.
robertdsc
Mein Gott, that’s a winner if there ever was one.
Ash Can
@harlana pepper:
He may still be hanging onto his job as governor of SC by the time all is said and done, but he’ll be wearing an empty pickle barrel to work.
kommrade reproductive vigor
I’ll take Looming Disasters for $1000.
I’m sure this wouldn’t lead to any inconvenience for citizens who happen to be/look Hispanic.
BDeevDad
The FDA just recommended taking Percocet and Vicodin off the market. Thank goodness House is in rehab.
inkadu
Hey! I get first Obama spam EVER!
It is corrected at:
http://www.snopes.com/politics/obama/palestinians.asp
Obama issues 23 million in aid to Palestine refugees, who are surely fucked, and because the word “Migration” is in the order, the stupids run around saying that Obama is resettling thousands of Hamas terrorists in the United States, and how the media is not reporting the TRUTH and we are losing this country.
At least my friend had the semi-decency to say, “I don’t know if this is true, but it’s scary if it is.” If you don’t know if it’s true, why the hell are you sending it to everyone you know?
PaulW
I love the fact that Rep. Bachmann is telling her constituents not to fill out their census forms. Because it means her state will underreport the population numbers, meaning Minnesota will lose a district or two more than they would have, meaning she’s not going to have that seat much longer. Way to put yourself into retirement, Ms. “Didn’t Think My Wingnut Fantasies Through” Bachmann…
Persia
@robertdsc: The whole thing was beautiful. I love that ‘pioneers pulled themselves up by their bootstraps without sharing’ meme too. Does that mean Malkin wants to abolish Thanksgiving?
harlana pepper
Okay, I guess I need to go and ((choke)) read the Malkin thing. burf!
inkadu
@PaulW: Excellent point! The people most willing to listen to Bachman are her local crazies, so she is one census away from representing herself at the neighborhood bake sale.
More brownies, please.
cleek
don’t pick up any crazy bitches.
over_educated
Are we peak wingnut YET?
jrg
Good article. This bit is really amazing:
Punchy
I’ll take your $1000 and Daily Double that in the category of “Looming Prison Population Explosion Disasters”
SiubhanDuinne
Happy Canada Day to everyone in the True North Strong and Free, not to mention all the expats living south of the 49th. You’re looking damn good on your 142nd birthday!
Ash Can
@inkadu: Based on the kind of stuff she usually sounds like she’s ingesting, I wouldn’t go anywhere near her brownies myself.
Seriously, though, I have mixed feelings about the prospect of her wingnutting her way out of political existence. While the more immediate issue is that people like her should not be in positions where they speak or act on behalf of other people, there’s still the fact that we’d be missing out on an awful lot of comedy upon her departure from the public eye.
Litlebritdifrnt
@PaulW:
The problem is that the batshitcrazy Bachman is going to get some poor soul just trying to do their job to put food on the table census worker assaulted or worse shot. With the rhetoric she has been spewing it is going to happen and the blood will be on her hands. I hope to FSM that someone in her party takes her to one side and points out the error of her ways before those poor census workers start knocking on doors.
JenJen
Oh, dear.
What This Country Needs Is A Good Terrorist Attack! Scheuer on Glenn Beck Show
Nice to see all the Matt Taibbi Love in here! Helps me clear my head after reading the Scheuer/Beck thing.
Punchy
Holy fuck…..
If a Dem said this shit, they’d be so tossed overboard, run over, and blown up and the media would eat the remains. Openly hoping for a OBL attack on the country? Are you fucking kidding?
h/t: TPM
Edit….DAMN YOU JENJENJENJEN :)
Kennedy
John,
God bless you for getting rid of that eye-searing Pam Anderson ad.
harlana pepper
@Ash Can: Oh noes, I really don’t wanna see those knobby, hairy knees! Apparently, however, Latina chicks really dig that sorta thing.
boomshanka
Oh, this is good:
Michael Scheuer tells Glenn Beck on Fox that “the only chance we have as a country right now is for Osama bin Laden to deploy and detonate a major weapon in the United States.”
Because then Americans at a grassroots level will demand the protection they need that calls for our government to use more violent means.
JenJen
@Punchy: Sorry!! I see you and I are cruising the same block of information highway this morning!
Hey, John, if I’m not mistaken, this is your first venture to the dog park with Lily? If you’ve mentioned it before, I missed it. Have a blast, you two!
The Grand Panjandrum
The Glenn Beck clip was in the last thread.
The Matt Taibbi rant was discussed in a previous thread but I can’t find the link. The piece was written two months ago.
John Cole
Bad week for Rush- first Franken, now this.
In all seriouness, am I being too cynical in thinking the drug companies will love this? Remove the offending acet., rejigger the chemistry slightly, and voila- new patent, no more generic competitors.
SGEW
Speaking of Taibbi, I hope everyone read his excoriation of Fareed Zakaria.
I still miss Hunter S. Thompson. But I guess Taibbi will do.
Bill E Pilgrim
@The Grand Panjandrum:
Oh my god these comments must be leaking directly through the thread walls. Time and space are breaking down. Yesterday, today, and months ago, are becoming one.
Don’t you see? It’s here! Peak Wingnut has arrived!
Run!
Okay. Back to work for me. Carry on.
JenJen
@The Grand Panjandrum: One can never get enough of that Matt Taibbi piece.
Here’s another fun story of the day; Heidi and Spencer Nobody complete morph from annoying idiots into stark-raving-mad idiots!
Speidi: “9/11 Was Definitely An Inside Job.”
That ought to stop the 15-minute clock, right?
Bill E Pilgrim
Lieberman at TPM via Atrios: Remember how Reid was saying oh come on, Lieberman is a liberal in the finest tradition on everything except the war, gosh I wish I had more Joe Liebermans voting with me!
Not so much, it turns out.
cleek
if it wasn’t for The Soup, i’d have no idea who these people are. zero.
Bill E Pilgrim
@cleek: Even weirder, I just clicked on that and read the first parts of the article, and I still have no idea what or who it was about.
SGEW
@cleek: Too bad I don’t watch The Soup, I guess. Should I know who those people are?
Pretentious elitist snob alert: I had no idea who Billy Mays was, but I was (kind of) familiar with the work of Pina Bausch.
I did, however, know who Michael Jackson was.
Ash
Holy shit, that Scheuer guy isn’t just some random nut, he works for CBS and TEACHES grad courses at freaking Georgetown! WHAT THE HELL?
No, probably not.
gex
@PaulW: As a Minnesotan, I’ll gladly take that hit to get her out of Congress and to put this ugly chapter in MN politics to bed. I hate that she is associated with our state.
gex
@John Cole: I think this properly underscores how, for the privileged, there are only win-win situations. Bankers made out like bandits for going broke, and I think you are right on these meds getting tweaked slightly and then receiving fresh new patents.
Sigh.
SGEW
Btw, speaking of celebrities and all that, this quote from Achewood is the single best thing written about Michael Jackson:
“He was your Elvis, and when your Elvis dies, so does the private lie that someday you will be young once again, and feel at capricious intervals the weightlessness of a joy that is unchecked by the injuries of experience and failure. In other words, you died a bit today. Welcome to the only game in town.”
cleek
personally, i love The Soup. it’s the TV version of nutpicking – find the most ridiculous things on TV that week and make fun of them. i don’t watch any of the shows they mock, but that makes it even better: the fact that everything’s out of context heightens the absurdity.
a good buzz and The Soup = good times.
SGEW
@cleek:
fixd.
Seriously: when people say “Oh man, this movie is great to watch when you’re tripping your balls off!” all I can say is “So is shag carpeting.”
[Insert Standard Disclaimer denying any and all personal illegal narcotic usage here]
cfaller96
Ok, John, let me rub it in a little bit with a passage from this Greenville News editorial (emphasis mine):
Hey, John, you got played for a sucker. I can’t believe Governor Gomer Pyle was able to pull a fast one on you, but hopefully you’ll learn from this. If not, I’ll make the lesson clear: just because a clean cut white boy starts crying at a press conference doesn’t mean he’s actually sorry for anything.
Next time wise up and toughen up, John.
inkadu
@Litlebritdifrnt: If they start shooting census workers, I the only proper response is to send census workers out in armored vans in teams of 5, equipped with full body armor, fully automatic weapons, a battering ram and a clipboard.
@cfaller96: I think he’s sorry he made such a mess of things, ruined his career, and put his family through a lot of misery. He should get a divorce and move on. Why does he have to stop seeing his mistress?
JenJen
Has everyone checked out the new USASpending.gov site yet?
It’s pretty damned handy. My gawd, our defense spending is just mindblowing in comparison with nearly everything else. This is not news, of course, but the site is very good at illustrating where the money goes.
Molly
Ah good, I need an open thread for this.
Here in Wingnut Central, The Bubbas have a new bumper sticker for their Chevy and Ford trucks. “I’ll keep my money, freedom, and guns, and you can keep the CHANGE.” It’s popping up like crazy. Bless their hearts.
I’ve yet to have a beer and a conversation with one of them (it will happen, you can’t throw a rock in my part of Texas and not hit three Bubbas, and I need my Shiner Boch to survive it all). I just want to tell them “I really could give a rat’s ass about your damn guns. Keep ’em. Knock yourselves out. Go shoot some deer and a dove or two on the weekends. Don’t want your money or your freedom either, wish I could give both back and take some for myself too. But gee, Billy Boy, got a few things to clean up before all of us can have some of that back. And there’s a reason I don’t own a gun, because watching well-fed, self-righteous assholes such as you who drive your big trucks with your gun racks and spend your hard-earned time and cash to put dumb-ass, ignorant bumper stickers on your trucks, who worry more about your guns than the really important problems in this country makes my trigger finger itch REAL BAD, son.”
Not had that special bonding moment yet. Yet.
slag
@JenJen: Saw that. Good stuff! One thing to note though is that it appears to be tracking IT spending only. Not the whole shebang.
BDeevDad
@John Cole: As someone who just switched from a generic to a tweaked version (it is now time released so I now have to take a pill once a day instead of thrice), I understand this. My med costs went up by ~$500 a year. Then again, the non-generic doesn’t give me a daily case of nausea.
inkadu
@JenJen: What the website doesn’t tell is that most of the so-called defense budget goes to pay for abortions, Cadillacs for blacks, and to resettle terrorists in the United States.
Laura W
Speaking of Lyle Lovett and Sanford, this just came on during my walk. I love this song. Mucho. I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to hear it again without thinking of Soulmates Mark and Maria.
(And I’m not mocking…I seriously thought of them. Please don’t throw stones.)
inkadu
@Molly:
You want to have a conversation with people what communicate in belches and mudflaps. What you need, dear, is your own bumper sticker.
“I’ll take health insurance, world peace, and a clean environment, and you can keep the STUPID.”
Unfortunately, everything us liberals like tends to have more syllables, so you’ll need a wider car; preferably electric.
cfaller96
inkadu, Sanford’s not sorry he did these things, he’s only sorry he got caught. And that is evidenced by A) his “truly sorry” moment last week was dishonest, B) his refusal to resign, and C) his continued reverence for the source of this disaster (his mistress). These are not the actions of a repentant and sympathetic man, these are the actions of a man desperately trying to hold on to everything he had before it all blew up.
John got suckered in by the tears, and fell for Sanford’s ploy hook, line, and sinker. He (wrongly) felt sympathy for Sanford, got pissy with some of us for (rightly) shitting all over Sanford, and (conveniently) ignored the fact that Sanford didn’t actually show he was sorry by resigning (or, as it turns out, making amends with his wife). And from that passage (which I obv screwed up emphasizing), it now appears that the “contrite, sincere apology” press conference that hit home with John was little more than damage control. Most of us suspected that at the time…except John, of course.
I’m simply reminding John of the fact that he was wrong to sympathize with this childish, dishonest, and reckless governor. Yes, I’m being that guy. Hopefully John can wise up next time, if only to avoid jerks like me taunting him for being wrong.
4jkb4ia
The sky is blue, the grass is green, Roger Federer is king of the world, and Wesley Moodie and Dick Norman may actually win another five-set doubles match. I have realized that everyone in the men’s doubles semifinals here is over 30 except for Mardy Fish. You only think that Moodie and Norman are more alterkockers than the others because they have quit decent singles careers. I hope the ATP is watching in horror at how the third-set tiebreak has not saved doubles.
4jkb4ia
If they put doubles on TV more often, people would enjoy it. There is finesse and people approach the net and stuff.
Laura W
@cfaller96:
Yes, but he’s consistently wrong.
You just are not going to find that degree of predictability on any other blog, you know.
inkadu
@cfaller96: This is what puzzles me: Why should he stop seeing or start disparaging his mistress? What “amends” should he make to his wife? Why should he resign over an affair? I know, he should resign for dickishly hiking the trail for 5 days, but in this context, you want him to resign to demonstrate remorse for an affair.
My view is that the marriage was over and Sanford has some emotional neediness issues. To slink back to a marriage out of shame is a bit 17th-century, as is blaming the mistress (aka “the source of this disaster”).
cfaller96
1. Why should he stop seeing or start disparaging his mistress?
Uh, because he said he would stop/has stopped? I’m simply asking that he be honest with me, a SC resident, and that he follow through on his promises in an effort to regain my trust.
2. What “amends” should he make to his wife?
Well, that’s really up to Jenny, but for starters how about he not refer to the mistress as his soulmate and not publicly claim that he’s struggling to love his wife again? And while we’re at it, how about he just not talk about any of this in public? I mean, Jesus Tapdancing Christ, I don’t want to hear about this and it’s really unsettling watching my Governor behave like a fucking 13 year old.
And again, I’m not insisting that Mark Sanford stay in his marriage. I’m simply holding Mark Sanford to his own words- remember, it was Sanford himself who promised to repair his marriage as part of his new way going forward. If Sanford believes (and Lindsey Graham agrees) that repairing his marriage is part and parcel of becoming a better, more trustworthy governor, then it logically follows that his failure to do so should be held against him.
3. Why should he resign over an affair? I know, he should resign for dickishly hiking the trail for 5 days, but in this context, you want him to resign to demonstrate remorse for an affair.
No, that’s not what I’ve said. You’re unfortunately getting caught up in the middle of an argument that started last week. Not your fault, but just clarifying.
When the private life of Mark Sanford starts to affect the public life of Governor Sanford, that’s when something has to change. And if Mark Sanford cannot settle his personal life to the point that Governor Sanford can at least function, then that’s when Governor Sanford needs to resign in order to give Mark Sanford time and space to put his life back together.
Speaking for myself, the (planned) 10 day dereliction of duty had me demanding his resignation. But at this point let’s not pretend that the affair has nothing to do with any of this. He went AWOL because of his mistress, he took taxpayer money because of his mistress, and I dare say we’ll find out more things he did on the public dime because of his mistress. And thanks to all of Mark Sanford’s recent statements, it seems pretty clear to me that he’s not able to keep his public and private life separate. So, for many reasons, Sanford should resign.
But that wasn’t the argument I had with John. John kept making the claim that despite all the bad/wrong/hypocritical things Sanford had done, his train wreck press conference nonetheless showed him as a sympathetic character who “didn’t give a shit about his political career.” I thought that absurd, and pointed to his lack of a resignation as proof that Sanford did indeed “give a shit about his political career.”
And at this point I think it should be obvious that Sanford is not some guy painfully bearing his soul and being nakedly honest with everyone damn the politics blah blah blah…but rather a man desperately trying to hold onto his governorship by tiring us out with the details of his personal struggles. The more he talks about the romance of his affair and his efforts to get back with Jenny, the more uncomfortable we all get and the less attention gets paid to all his abuses of office that occurred because of the affair. Last week’s press conference was just part of that overall effort, and John was wrong to fall for it.
Steeplejack
@Laura W:
I’ve never been able to get into Lovett, but I admit I haven’t tried hard. I will study this video diligently.
P.S. Can’t believe he was ever married to Julia Roberts, however briefly.
Laura W
@Steeplejack: While you’re cramming the Lyle (er…you know), here is another along same lines.
I’d pay good money if I could find you the version he does Live in Austin with Rickie Lee Jones joining him on stage. Goose bumps just thinking about it.
I only have two of his CDs, but I rarely get sick of this one.
(The “Nobody Knows Me” link above is from the same series of Austin concerts.)
SGEW
To me, Lyle Lovett will always be the guy in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas who needs a place to cook his L.S.D.
Tax Analyst
I blame his Spiritual Advisor. I mean where was HE when Good Governor Sanford needed him?
Or do I have the gig confused with Jiminy Fucking Cricket?
I get a particular snarky kick out of all the times Sanford has apparently asked his wife if it would be OK for him to keep seeing the mistress…as if one of those times she was just going do a complete 180 and go, “Well, you know Mark, perhaps I’ve been a bit narrow-minded about that. Yeah, fuck it, go see your mistress in Argentina, and while your there make sure you thoroughly bang her in every available orifice, and tell her I said ‘Hi’. And when you’re done fucking that Argentinian trollop just keep heading south until there is no more south before you, and when you reach that point you have my explicit permission to stay there and spend the rest of your miserable sick, cheating, lying life fucking yourself. Don’t even consider crawling back here again you twisted piece of shit.”
cleek
i want that to be my Indian name.
inkadu
@cfaller96: Sanford is a politician… are we really going to start holding them accountable for the crap they say in public? The guy is obviously going through an emotional crisis and panicking. It must be really difficult to start dealing with this thing at a press conference. Unfortunately (or, you know, fortunately for US), Sanford can’t keep it private.
Amends – I think we have two different meanings of this word; one is positive (doing something — that’s mine) and one is negative (not doing harmful things like naming his soulmate publicly — that seems to be yours). But I agree he should stop flinging dirt at his wife while he is digging his hole.
This is a theoretical question for you — what if his wife (or whoever his soulmate is) was raped and dismembered by an Objectivist. Should he resign due to the trauma? Or should he just take a few weeks to pull himself together? The legislative season just ended, so he could take a little time off (responsibly).
Judging politicians by their private lives things gives me the creeps. If you are talking about judging him for how he handles his private life in public, then, ok, I can agree with that. He certainly should resign for having the state pay for his booty calls.
That ethical angle probably LESS to the public than watching the Mark & Jenny show. If he keeps talking about that people are going to be distracted from the ethics, but so what? How many people do you think really earnestly cared that Clinton lied under oath? Misplaced semen drives a lot more news coverage than misplaced cash.
And I can’t believe you said all those mean things about John, after what he did to help that poor doggie. As it teaches us in the bible, “For animals, as all things, serve the Lord, and he that careth for a lost beast shall receive his reward from the Father.” You should be ashamed. (h/t Jenny S.)
Common Sense
My absolute favorite Lyle Lovett song:
“Kiss my ass I bought a boat I’m going out to sea.”
asiangrrlMN
@inkadu: Um, just to point out that your example of his soulmate being killed raped murdered whatever is not the same thing at all as him taking off of his own volition to screw his mistress on the state’s dime. I had a drop of sympathy for Sanford before he compared himself to King David and admitted that he has crossed the line but not the ultimate line with other women. I really don’t give a shit about his private life, but he is making it very public. It’s all him. No one else is forcing him to babble about this in the public. If he didn’t care about his political career, he would have resigned and if he really loved his mistress, he can divorce his wife and go be with his mistress.
However. To me, he sounds like a teenage boy in lust, and it’s MUCH easier to love someone when you don’t have to live with that person. This is all of his own making. He needs to STFU and resign.