Move over Lindsey, we’ve got another contender for the dumbest cause of the crisis in Ukraine- mom jeans:
Former Gov. Sarah Palin has been basking in her “told ya so” moment, making sure Americans know she saw the current situation in Ukraine arising six years ago all the way from her home in Alaska – and she’s not ready to let it go just yet.
During an interview Monday night with Fox News, Palin – in her own, quirky way – moved the conversation forward, calling out bizarre distinctions between Putin and Obama.
“People are looking at Putin as one who wrestles bears and drills for oil. They look at our president as one who wears mom jeans,” Palin said “Anyone who carries the commonsense gene would know that Putin doesn’t change his stripes,” she said. “He wants to exert huge power and dominance, so he has to get to those border areas and he has to capture them.”
Ron Christie (easily one of the most vile commentators out there, and a buffoon to boot) thinks that the crisis is still going on because Obama wore jeans while on the phone with Putin:
“Talking with the President of Russia about an invasion in a button-down shirt and jeans is not up to the task,” Ron Christie, a former adviser to President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney, told the Daily News.
While it “irks” him to see the casual wear that passes through the door of the Oval Office these days, he says Obama’s wardrobe choice for the Putin call was particularly bad for failing to send the “right message” given the seriousness of the issue.
Can people who look like this stop lecturing me on what is and is not macho and manly attire?
Would wearing a pink button down while talking on the phone to Putin send the right message?
different-church-lady
Because when he’s not wrestling bears, Putin can see what you’re wearing though the telephone!
The Dangerman
When the best you have is to complain about what the President is wearing, you ain’t got shit.
Belafon
Has everyone else seen the pictures of Reagan with the grey sweat pants pulled up to his armpits? At least he’s got a tie on.
Chris
I’m still not clear on what Palin’s “toldjaso” moment was. What the hell did she say six years ago? All she said was “I hate to say I told you so, but I did” – as they say, link it or it didn’t happen. Did she in fact predict six years ago that Russian troops would invade the Ukraine? Because if not, someone really needs to point out that she is (as usual) full of shit.
Since the MSM couldn’t even be arsed to fact-check the “death panel” claim, I’m not holding my breath, of course.
Jerzy Russian
Did Mr. Putin and Mr. Obama use Skype? Otherwise, how would each know that the other was wearing?
Jesus Hussein Christ. Can’t we ban stupidity already?
Certified Mutant Enemy
Some should come out ask Palin to explain in detail the underlying causes of the crisis in Ukraine….
Jerzy Russian
@Certified Mutant Enemy:
Then all we will here is how the media were mean to Mrs. Palin. If asking her what papers and magazines she reads is “mean”, asking here about the current crisis in Ukraine would be double plus mean.
dmsilev
Sarah Palin probably confused the Oval Office with the Oscar red carpet. Easy mistake to make, assuming one is an idiot.
Chris
@Certified Mutant Enemy:
Hell. I’ll settle for the MSM giving it a shot.
max
@Chris: I’m still not clear on what Palin’s “toldjaso” moment was. What the hell did she say six years ago?
Shorter Palin six years ago: ‘Russia scary. Oogy. I can see them!’
Thus, ‘Leader of Ukraine overthrown precipitating crisis and major Russian move into Crimea’ == ‘Russia Scary’
max
[‘The problem, of course, is this thing they have with this ‘Russia SCARY! Me so horny!’ thing they got going on.’]
cleek
Palin has no power over those who ignore her
hildebrand
Actually, I want them to continue to pour on the stupid. Bigger. Dumber. Faster. Just keep running those traps until every last member of the 73% know, in their very heart of hearts, that these people are knaves and pikers, never to be trusted with power ever again. I want them saying stupid shit like this from now until election day this fall. Every day. The dumber the better. I want them to bray like mules until everyone with a brain mocks them. I want their foolishness to be so pervasive that the Onion and John Stewart will both feel like they can close up shop.
SP
I await Victor Davis Hanson telling us about Greek wars started because someone was insulted by a wrinkled tunic.
OGLiberal
The moment I saw that pic of Obama on the phone with Putin, I immediately wondered when it was that the wingers would flip out over Obama desecrating the office with those gosh darned jeans and all that. Of course, it’s happening.
When speaking with the Evil Empire, you must always wear suit….or dress like an urban cowboy…but make sure he wears the same thing!
http://www.hotnewsgator.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/1380015944533.cached.jpg
I’m sure in their wet dreams the wingers envision Vlad speaking with Obama, shirtless, sidearm bulging, phone in one hand, the other arm tightly wrapped around the neck of bear, all while riding a wild stallion.
Wait…did I just write the first line of a review of a Putin porn film?
NotMax
They wouldn’t be satisfied unless had been been wearing a holster and bandoliers.
And even then…
El Caganer
@Certified Mutant Enemy: “Gov. Palin, what are the underlying causes of the conflict in Ukraine?” “All of them.”
gogol's wife
@Certified Mutant Enemy:
You haven’t read her article on how the implications of the Khmel’nytskyi rebellion affected the russification of the zapadnyi krai in the late Imperial period? (just making that up)
NotMax
“We apologize for the delay. Your call is very important to us. Please remain on hold while the President changes his clothes.”
chopper
the idea that this whole thing is going to eventually de-escalate like syria is just driving these people up the fucking wall, innit?
Karmus
Little Orphan Sarah’s next “prediction”: The sun’ll come up tomorrow.
chopper
@Certified Mutant Enemy:
oy, the word salad that would come out would be legendary.
EriktheRed
Unfortunately, we’re going to have to get used to this line of attack.
Fortunately, though, the Prez isn’t likely to take what these bozos say seriously, and neither are most of the American people.
EriktheRed
Unfortunately, we’re going to have to get used to this line of attack.
Fortunately, though, the Prez isn’t likely to take what these bozos say seriously, and neither are most of the American people.
low-tech cyclist
As I recall, this is the woman whose expertise on Russia was basically “I can see Russia from my house!”
OK, that was the Tina Fey version, but it wasn’t that different from what Palin actually said.
Amir Khalid
Are “mom jeans” for men really a thing in America, or is that just a Republican schoolyard taunt? Also, aside from his unusual sartorial style Mr. Pink Shirt from the TV screen shot appears to be slightly bucktoothed and cross-eyed. Or maybe it’s just me.
Suffern ACE
@chopper: Yeah. I’m hopeful it solves itself with a little more autonomy for Crimea as a fig leaf to save putin’s stupid face. And then we can have an example of where the US DOESN’T actually do things to escalate a crisis into a CRISIS!!!! It would be soo unusual.
We need regime change in Russia! We needed it six years ago!
hoodie
Yeah, but what was Putin wearing? Naked on a bearskin rug, stroking his Kalashnikov?
Suffern ACE
@Amir Khalid: My mom wore mom jeans when she was younger. They had a zipper on the side. No one wears mom jeans any more.
I think what they are referring to is that the President doesn’t wear Levi’s or Wrangers.
NotMax
@Amir Khalid
It’s her believing she’s being oh so clever by using code to imply he has no balls.
IowaOldLady
Look, she’s a silly woman and she’s going to say silly things.
I know it’s annoying, but it’s like the cold outside right now. It’s without a brain, and it just does what it does.
scav
Sarah! Sarah! Show us all your Magic Mama Grizzly-Wrassling Pants! Shake It Starburst Sarah, Shake It Hard!
The Red Pen
This may seem off topic at first, but I have to mention that a number of Americans think that a gigabyte is an insect commonly found in South America.
What is that number of Americans? 27 Percent, of course.
Hill Dweller
Palin’s comment was obviously fed to her by the McCain campaign. She couldn’t find Ukraine on a map if her life depended on it.
kc
@Certified Mutant Enemy:
In what respect, Charlie?
raven
Maybe they’ll send her son “Fragg” to kick ass and take names.
randomworker
It will be good for the grift. She might give out another $5000 from her multi million dollar rake soon.
srv
Things always become clearer when Putinsplain is Palinsplained to me.
Felonius Monk
@Amir Khalid:
No, it is definitely not you. Those facial features appear to be the result of the extreme vacuum being pulled by an empty cranial space.
? Martin
I’m pretty sure proper conservative etiquette while talking to the Russian president is to sit at the Resolute desk, wearing your finest suit, leg crossed above the knee, phone held confidently in the crook above your left shoulder, speaking in a stern, commanding voice, while you masturbate to this photo.
Chris
@low-tech cyclist:
As I recall, Palin was under the impression that being Commander-in-Chief of the Alaska National Guard qualified as foreign policy experience. And that that Alaska National Guard had nuclear weapons.
Would be interesting to have your foreign policy run by a woman who couldn’t be bothered to find out whether her armed forces had nuclear weapons or not, wouldn’t it?
The Dangerman
@Hill Dweller:
I’m not sure she could spell it even if you spotted her the “-kraine”.
Roger Moore
@Jerzy Russian:
You liberals are always calling for Death Panels.
different-church-lady
@cleek: We don’t get enough of you around these parts anymore.
slag
Pretty sure these people won’t be happy until they see Obama punching Putin in the face while “It’s Raining Men” plays in the background.
Who says bromance is dead?
different-church-lady
@low-tech cyclist:
Indeed: the only major difference was Fey’s version was more coherent.
Suffern ACE
@Chris: Or thought that she did, when she didn’t. I think it would be prudent, were she to be elected president, to tell her that Obama sold all of the nuclear weapons and we don’t have any for her to use.
Cervantes
The more one pays attention to her, the more likely she is to keep talking.
She and many of her critics are locked together in a positive feedback loop.
Simple enough to understand, I should think.
(Incidentally, if she has any influence at all at this point, I suspect that for us it’s a net positive influence, so I’m not calling for her to shut up.)
different-church-lady
@Hill Dweller:
Fixed that for the hell of it.
Chris
@slag:
“Black Chicago thug savagely beats beloved national leader. If only Russia had a Stand Your Ground law, kids!”
different-church-lady
@Cervantes: I understand what you’re saying about a symbiotic relationship, but I seriously believe if there was nobody around to hear her she’d continue spouting gibberish at exactly the same rate she does now.
Cervantes
@different-church-lady: And … ?
Marc
I’m more concerned by the news that May of 2008 was John McCain’s best month yet. Looks like he won the day again!
different-church-lady
@Cervantes: And that’s it. Would you care for a cocktail?
ruemara
Fuck this, fuck that and fuck them. What a bunch of morons.
IowaOldLady
@ruemara: I wish we a “like” button.
Villago Delenda Est
@Certified Mutant Enemy:
All of them.
Betty Cracker
I’m with hildebrand; keep the stoopit coming! I’ve been around non-Democrats when stuff like this comes on the news, and I’m telling y’all, it’s like when O’Reilly “interviewed” Obama before the Superb Owl: The more outrageously the wingnuts behave, the faster the scales fall from the eyes of people who normally don’t pay attention to this shit. Let the GOP be winnowed down to the core 27%, I say!
flukebucket
I was not prepared for the picture of Ron Christie in the post. Of course I am not sure how one could prepare oneself for such a hilarious and jarring sight.
John PM
Perhaps the call between Obama and Putin would have gone better if Obama had been shirtless.
aimai
@Betty Cracker: Oh betty, tell me more about this strange world you live in? Please. I mean it. I could use a cheery anecdote about the scales falling from someone’s eyes.
Narcissus
That’s nothin’. Lindsey Graham just about passed out from the vapors when he heard someone talking about Vlad the Impaler.
Mandalay
@Amir Khalid:
This is how a real man wears jeans.
And for those who wondered about dubya doin’ hard work on the ranch clearin’ brush, I suspect that picture is what started it all.
zirgar
Shorter Palin: I finally got one right (sorta by accident), and I’m gonna milk it for all it’s worth, because who knows when I’ll ever be right again about anything!
Villago Delenda Est
@EriktheRed:
It’s basically playing to her base in the hopes that it will turn into contributions to her PAC.
Outside of the 27%, no one gives a fuck about the Palin bimbo;
Hal
Palin never said anything about the Ukraine. Does she even know where it is. Also, Romney completely back tracked on his statement that Russia was the greatest threat to the US during the debate and downgraded Russia to a geopolitical threat. Unless the Ukraine is part of the US this business is for the U.N. and not a direct threat to the US or Europe.
danimal
When, oh when, do we get to sign up for death panel duty?
catclub
@Chris: I would like a link also. And a puppy.
Botsplainer
The asshats like ties.
I’ve had discussions with my mother about this – a white guy wearing a nice suit could get her to sign away everything since he looks so “respectable and distinguished”.
If it was up to me, nobody would ever have to wear a tie again. We could all go about in open collar shirts, shorts and tevas, weather permitting.
slag
@Chris: That’s a good point. Whenever one of these altercations happens, it’s hard not to think they’re strongly rooting for the other side.
Mike E
When Ron Christie and Virginia Foxx look at each other, what does either of them see? A cyclops?
Villago Delenda Est
@SP:
I’m sure that VDH can document said claim with photographs or something. Perhaps from the set of “300: The Next Generation”?
ranchandsyrup
As putin rears his perfectly coiffed and symmetrical head and comes into the airspace of the real ‘murica, where does that giant head go? It’s Alaska. It’s just right over the
borderinternational date line and the bering sea. It is from Alaska that we send those out to make sure that an eye with an appreciation for fashion and really really good looking people is kept on this very powerful nation, Russia, because they are right there, next to our state.El Cid
Where’s the part where Assandra predicted the overthrow of the existing government of Ukraine, providing enough chaos that such Putin actions might follow?
Villago Delenda Est
@John PM:
Or if Obama had been wearing nothing but a thong, with an AR-15 in his hand.
danimal
Will some prominent Dem leader please call the GOP out on their ridiculous feeding frenzy? It really is objectively supporting Putin in his aggression. Calling these treasonous pukes traitors when they are actively undermining American diplomatic efforts is both accurate and the only way to cut thru the media filter.
Joe Biden to the batphone, paging Joe Biden to the batphone.
SatanicPanic
@low-tech cyclist: There’s an island in Alaska, with like 200 people living on it, and from there you can see a Russian island with no one on it. 45% percent of our nation wanted that woman a heartbeat away from the presidency.
SatanicPanic
@Botsplainer: Ties make good napkins.
Jebediah, RBG
@Belafon:
regarding teh Reagan-in-sweatpants pic: I had not seen it. Now I have. My eyes and I curse you!
Villago Delenda Est
@El Cid:
No one knows. Particularly Sarah.
cckids
@Hill Dweller:
Well, The Obama Diary is trying to help her with that; this is what they tweeted in response to her incoherence.
Citizen Alan
I will hate John McCain until the day I die for elevating this cretin to the point that her every subliterate bleat gets aired on the nightly news. We will never be rid of her. When I am dying in a nursing home, Sarah Palin will still be bitching idiotically about what President Malia Obama has done wrong this week.
NotMax
@SatanicPanic
45% of voters. Turnout was around 62%. So purty darn close to 27% of the nation’s eligible voters
Citizen_X
@SatanicPanic:
Fixed.
Belafon
@Jebediah, RBG: LOL. I was going to try to get you the NOPE satellite gif, but work won’t let me search for it.
different-church-lady
@SatanicPanic: ALASKA IS RUSSIA’S PATH TO THE SEA!
Chris
@catclub:
Yeah, it really SHOULD be the absolute fucking minimum. Maybe not for Palin, but at least for the journalists talking about her.
kc
@Chris:
All of them!
NotMax
Next up:
It’s all that squishy liberal Democrat Roosevelt’s fault for stopping at Berlin instead of pressing on to Moscow.
Villago Delenda Est
@different-church-lady:
Warm water ports in Alaska?
kc
@raven:
LOL! That was tbogg-worthy.
Chris
@Citizen Alan:
The more I see of McCain, the less I think he was any brighter than Palin.
Chris T.
Yes, but only if a Republican is doing the wearing, talking, and “Presidentin'”.
Renie
The RWNJ’s fascination with Putin is a bit weird. Do they know he is basically a dictator?
Gin & Tonic
Here’s a statement from the commander of the Sevastopol brigade of the Ukrainian Navy, in case anyone is interested: “We, the officers, warrant officers, and sailors of the Naval Forces of Ukraine declare that we will faithfully and always fulfill our military obligation to defend our country and the people of Ukraine, as we have done since independence, not for positions and salaries, but because this is our land, and we consider the life of every resident precious, regardless of their nationality.”
Quickly translated from the Russian(!)-language posting on the Ukrainian Navy’s webpage, 2-3 paragraphs down from the part where they call Putin a blatant liar in his Reuters interview this morning.
Suffern ACE
I love the Russian finance minister threatening to destroy the US Banking system if we so much as sanction one iota of Russia. And they won’t sell their gas which will destroy Europe. One has to wonder though if Russia isn’t selling gas to Europe, where will it sell the gas? Will they just burn it?
catclub
@SatanicPanic: Little Diomede and Big Diomede!
Played a crucial part in Polar Star book.
SatanicPanic
@NotMax: This is true. 27%ers would probably still want her as prez.
catclub
@NotMax: Ummmm, by that counting, only 32-33% of the population wanted Obama to be president. Not sure you meant that, too.
jl
@SatanicPanic:
Someone could check if she ever had a vacation house on Little Diomede Island.
Diomede Islands
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diomede_Islands
Note the the US has Little Diomede Island while Russia has Big Diomede Island.
Yet another symptom of U.S. weakness? Thanks, Obama!
Villago Delenda Est
@Suffern ACE:
Bluster, bluster, bluster.
That’s all these hacks can do.
raven
@kc: Yay!
SatanicPanic
@jl: Oh great, another Diomede measuring contest
Liquid
Ron Christie sounds exactly like Eddie Murphy’s impression of a white guy.
Suffern ACE
@Villago Delenda Est: “Hah. If you throw a tarrif on a few hundred million dollars of Vodka costing our economy millions, we’ll cut off your gas supply, costing our economy billions!”
Villago Delenda Est
@jl:
Actually, you can blame that proto-Obama, Seward, for this example of US weakness in the face of the Russian bear.
Villago Delenda Est
@Suffern ACE:
It’s like Dr. Evil is running the show, and needs the guy played by Robert Wagner to inform him that he’s talking about spare change.
mai naem
Sarah Palin is like the monkey you place in front of a keyboard and monkey taps nonsense,but, based on statistical probability the monkey types out
W-A-S and everybody goes crazy pointing out that the monkey typed out an actual word!OMG! what is the monkey trying to say? What does WAS mean?
? Martin
@Chris:
That electing Obama would indeed lead us to having a black President.
Cervantes
@different-church-lady:
Drambuie, neat, thanks.
NotMax
@catclub
Also true, but trumps 27% any day of the week. (And I was careful to deliberately not use ‘wanted’ in my response. Was a light-hearted instancing of arriving at that magic number again.)
Cervantes
@Gin & Tonic: Worth repeating:
And as for:
Thanks for posting it here.
Mike in NC
Why in the world are people asking for Sarah Palin’s deep thoughts? Was Octomom unavailable?
chopper
funny thing is if putin’s whole shtick really is ‘acting tough’ and ‘being the decider’ and all that, he really stepped on his own dick here. he looks like a buffoon.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
In ’01 there were rumors that McCain was going to switch parties and an anonymous Republican laughed and said something like, “you can have him, the dirty little secret is that he’s not that bright”. Then Jeffords stole his thunder and it wouldn’t have been mavericky enough. Then 9/11 and the chance to be a war leader. I’d say his every tantrum confirms that he wasn’t last in his class at the Naval Academy because he was a lovable rascal with no time for book learnin’
chopper
@Mike in NC:
octomom is always available.
LanceThruster
All wisdom of future events comes from the SarOracle!
Chris
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Supposedly, Kerry even considered him as a VP in 2004, still going off of his “Republican moderate” image, and also counting on the Vietnam veteran link. McCain, of course, wasn’t interested and stuck by his party. Reportedly to Kerry’s disgust, who said something along the lines of “how the fuck can he stand by them after what they put him through in the 2000 primary?”
LanceThruster
@LanceThruster:
The Palin of Delphi!
joel hanes
@aimai:
I could use a cheery anecdote about the scales falling from someone’s eyes.
My Mom and middle sister.
Mom’s a joiner and a conformer, always trimming her behavior and ideas by carefully watching the nicest, most respectable people in her community. Living in North Iowa, and married to my Paleoconservative father, that made her a Republican for most of her life — until McCain (who Mom likes) nominated Palin. Mom was aghast: a lot of banality-of-evil good-German conformism goes right past her, but Palin opened her eyes to the fact that a substantial part of the Republican Party has gone bug-fuck crazy. That was my opening. I had considerable assist from truly hateful public statements by Rep Steve King (who Mom knows and dislikes) and by Rep Michelle Bachmann. Mom voted for Obama both times, thinks he’s a great President, the only adult in the room, and finds the lies and nihilism of the current Congressional Republicans to be repellent.
My middle sister was a businesswoman for most of her career, absorbed most of Dad’s Goldwater/Chicago economics conservatism, and is temperamentally truly conservative — hates to make a scene, always follows all rules and does exactly what she’s supposed to do, takes no unnecessary risks, regular church-goer. She’s still conservative, but Palin’s nomination was the lever that drove her from the GOP. Now she’s another Obama voter, and another thoughtful conservative who is beginning to understand the magnitude of the falsehoods on which modern American conservatism has been constructed.
There must be others who are reachable.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Chris: his mealy-mouthed, half-assed defense of Max Cleland against the Rove-Chambliss attacks should have been enough to torpedo his reputation as a man character, courage and integrity, but the collective Daddy issues of a Beltway are a Force more powerful than George Lucas, Sigmund Freud and Darth Vader could imagine.
Hungry Joe
@Renie: Do the RWNJ know Putin’s basically a dictator? Hell, that’s what they like about him. They think Obama’s a dictator, too, but the bad kind: a weak one. Hence, the Russkies are out-dictatoring us in Ukraine.
(Linguists point out that aside from common, everyday phrases like “What time will you be home?” and “Are these dishes clean or dirty?”, a high percentage of the sentences we utter/write are unique — they’ve never been written or uttered, word for word, before. I’m pretty sure that’s true of “Hence, the Russkies are out-dictatoring us in Ukraine.”)
jl
I have to wonder whether this is a hoax.
If not, you clowns scoff, but GOP manhood marches on, in boots, that will walk all over you.
GOP Candidate Changes His Name, Says Real Name Sounds Like A Girl’s
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/colonel-conrad-reynolds-girls-name
Trollhattan
@danimal:
“A noun, a verb and Vlad Putin” might do the trick.
Chris
@Hungry Joe:
This.
Remember the post from this morning. “See, Putin’s being a REAL leader!”
LAC
@Certified Mutant Enemy: someone should ask that stupid bitch how to spell it first.
shelly
So, in other words, the guy’s a loose cannon and a fucking menace. Thanks, Ms. Palin!
Chris
@shelly:
“Huge power and dominance.” LOLOLOL, thanks. I somehow missed that nugget. Palin-speak FTW.
LAC
So far, you have a moron, a Viagra candidate, a cross dresser, and the worlds oldest girl weighing in about masculinity. How is it that the RNC haven’t eaten a gun yet?
Chris
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
It’s funny, but the run-up to the 2004 election is precisely when I originally split from Repub to Dem (was basically a 9/11 Republican for a couple years – don’t worry, I wasn’t old enough to vote yet :D ). And the reason for it was, originally, not a hell of a lot to do with ideology: it was simply seeing people like Kerry and Cleland on one side, who were war veterans with front line experience, and on the other side, a faction that valued phonies and draft-dodgers like Bush, Cheney and Chambliss instead. My (kind of natural) reaction was basically “well, it’s wartime: I’m voting [well, I would be] for the people who actually know what that is.”
Watching conservatives and centrists pick the tough-guy posturing phonies over the real thing was a pretty good intro to what’s fucked up about American politics.
RaflW
@Botsplainer: Oh hell no. You’ve gone too far. No Tevas.
They’re the Prius of footwear.
RaflW
@Renie: yes they know he’s a dictator. It’s what they want. Big daddy to fix everything and make them feel safe. And pass the patronage, please!
Mandalay
McCain is pissed that he is being outstupided by Graham and Palin, so he’s upping the ante: Hitler, and Communists invading Poland, get rolled into a single quote that should have us all hiding under our desks….
Trollhattan
@Mike E:
SOMEBODY owes me a new keyboard….
mai naem
@LAC:
Ms. Palin how do you spell Ukraine?
Sarah(turns to brainiac daughter Bristol and whispers for help) :Oh, oh, You-krane – Y-O-U-C-R-A-N-E. See, I do do know how to spell. And it’s name Youcrane because the Youcranese are freedom loving pro-life people who love babies – you know how cranes deliver babies and all(brainiac daughter Bristol whispers in mommy’s ear “-Mooommm, thats storks, not cranes.”
NotMax
@Mandalay
McCain can invite film crews to follow him patrolling the oceanfront of Brighton Beach in Brooklyn (a.k.a. Little Russia) to fend off the impending fleet of submarines.
Another Holocene Human
Tommy mentioned in the last Ukraine thread about bitcoin and how he was forced to use Paypay even by tech savvy people. They use it because they’re forced to. PayPal engages in super shady practices and gets away with it because they’ve managed to evade being regulated as a bank. They screw non-US citizens worse than US citizens (who can sometimes get satisfaction with a lawyer threatening to sue). There is Google wallet but Google has been dumb about rolling Google everything out and pissing people off so the uptake isn’t exactly great.
A few years back some dude from Discover was saying he was going to create an alternative to PayPal but it never got off the ground. Too bad. Paypal sucks.
Suffern ACE
@Mandalay: ok. I know protecting Russians in this situation is a pretext. But I don’t know…wouldn’t Putin need to actually annex the Crimea?
les
@danimal:
I strongly suspect that the rest of the world doesn’t pay any more attention to Grampa Walnuts and the Gang than we do. They’ve been raving dipshits so long it doesn’t matter; except maybe to Putin, who’s apparently a 27%’er.
NotMax
@Suffern ACE
Using an executive order?
That would provide some “homina, homina, homina” moments among the rabidocracy punditatus.
Chris
@Suffern ACE:
Wikipedia confirms for me that after 2008, Russia and a handful of other nations recognized the Republic of South Ossetia as an independent republic, and that Russian troops have remained there ever since. Think they have an outcome like that in mind for Crimea? Even if they annex it, I imagine there’d be a referendum first – whether or not it was free and fair, the forms would be observed.
Juju
Perhaps President Obama should have been shirtless when he made the call to Putin.
Trollhattan
@Another Holocene Human:
At this point Paypal has become like a really giant Ticketmaster. You can’t beat Ticketmaster and you can’t beat Paypal.
With that said, i avoid it like the plague as much as possible.
Bill Arnold
@Another Holocene Human:
One good thing about Paypal is that they are (from asides mentioned by an engineer) extremely serious about computer security in their operations. Everything encrypted, even on internal networks. “Need to know” a design principle. A few other things I’ve forgotten.
Suffern ACE
Poland used the existence of poles in Ukraine to lop off bits of it in 1918. The Americans used the existence of Americans in Hawaii to annex that country. And Texas. And don’t get me started about the French in Vietnam or the Brits in India.
I know, protecting your ethnic brothers is a lame old pretext. But it isn’t exactly hitlerian.
Bnut
No one has brought up George Will yet!
Money quote”Putin’s contribution to the miniaturization of Obama comes in the context of Obama’s self-inflicted wound — Obamacare”.
Mike G
Repukes plumbing new depths of stupid. “OK, I can’t think of any criticism of what Obama said to Putin…but he WAS WEARING THE WRONG CLOTHES while they talked on the phone.”
The stench of desperation is strong in this one.
Bubblegum Tate
Speaking of stupid women, can somebody explain why Michelle Malkin is so pissed at Lindsey Graham for his dumb Ukraine tweet? What Graham said–“It started with Benghazi. When you kill Americans and nobody pays a price, you invite this kind of aggression #Ukraine”–seems like exactly the kind of drooling stupidity (Everything is Obama’s fault! Everything that happens in the world is about us! BENGHAZIIIIIIIII!!!) that would be right up Malkin’s alley. Yet she told him to sit down and shut up and stop embarrassing the wingnuts.
Now, I’m all for this fight–lots of injuries, please!–but I don’t know why Malkin would be so pissed at Graham’s sentiment.
Suffern ACE
@Bnut: if there is war, blame the peacemakers. Also, screw you Poles!
Love George.
chopper
@Bnut:
if it aint benghazi, it’s obamacare. if it aint obamacare, it’s benghazi.
there, that’s the last ~2 years of the republican platform right there.
raven
@Bubblegum Tate: Because it diminishes the argument these morons are trying to make by connecting it to something that is so obviously wrong.
different-church-lady
@Bill Arnold: According to my experience, everything at PayPal is so goddamned encrypted that you can’t get your own money out of them without an hour long phonecall to tech support. Oh, yeah, and either hand over your bank account info or pay them for a paper check.
Next time that client says PayPal only, I’m saying “no dice, you pay me by check like every other damn company who isn’t you.”
SiubhanDuinne
@Jerzy Russian:
And even if they did, so the fuck what?
Just Some Fuckhead, Thought Leader
@SiubhanDuinne: Do we know if Putin was shirtless during the call?
SiubhanDuinne
@hoodie:
That’s what the kids are calling it now?
Patricia Kayden
Ron Christie is still around? Always screeching and yelling. Never could stomach him.
SiubhanDuinne
@Just Some Fuckhead, Thought Leader:
I’ve never seen a photo of him where he wasn’t shirtless, so I assume the answer is yes.
MoeLarryAndJesus
Ron Christie always looks like some wackaloon talking to himself at an imaginary bus stop.
Patricia Kayden
@chopper: Yep. You got it. It’s always balls to the walls with the crazy folks like McCain, who hasn’t heard of a possible war that he didn’t love.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Dana Milbank, just now on Tweety Show: “Let’s give Lindsey Graham a little slack while he’s in his primary.”
The Moar You Know
my eyes
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@SiubhanDuinne: Vladimir Putin is Matt Damon’s imitation of the pre-Oscar Matthew McConaghey?
SiubhanDuinne
@Mandalay:
Whoa!! That must be some photo!! I got a “403 Permission Denied” message when I clicked.
Patricia Kayden
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Why? And who are “we”?
Suffern ACE
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: thank god. Dana’s saying what we’re all thinking.
Just Some Fuckhead, Thought Leader
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Stupid Milbank, no one is polling within 35 points of Graham in the Republican primary. Graham is just being a douchebag because Republicans don’t have any other plays left in the playbook.
Patricia Kayden
@Renie: As long as he’s “embarassing” the Black Usurper in the White House, Righwingers love them some Putin. It’s as simple as that.
Suffern ACE
@Patricia Kayden: well you see, war isn’t caused by bellicose people who escalate tense situations into unmanageable crises and build weapons. War is caused by people who don’t want it.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Just Some Fuckhead, Thought Leader: I haven’t followed the SC primary, but I assume at least one of his many challengers is a stalking horse intended to make sure no one gets too close
SiubhanDuinne
@Renie:
Please. That’s their favourite part.
NotMax
@SiubhanDuinne
Beat me, daddy, eight to the barski.
Cervantes
Thought experiment: If we were talking about a George Will, or a Rush Limbaugh, or a David Brooks, or, for that matter, a Bill Palin, would the post be entitled thus?
I’d like to think so — but what do you think?
SiubhanDuinne
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Let’s not.
SiubhanDuinne
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
You just made my head hurt with that.
Another Holocene Human
@RaflW: Why, cuz they’re awesome?
note: love tevas far more than toyotas, personally, though it’s Florida, Jake, I wear flip-flops… but I would totally have tevas if I returned to a colder clime
Mandalay
@SiubhanDuinne:
That’s strange, but I promise you that you missed nothing that would have made your life any richer or happier. Consider your 403 as the Lord moving in mysterious ways.
Mandalay
@Cervantes:
Who is this Bill Palin of whom you speak? Some spawn of Sarah?
Liberty60
But I am sure Putin was bare chested while he spoke to Obama.
In fact, I am sure that the Red State Strike Force is fixated on that image even as we speak.
Cervantes
@Mandalay: No, I just altered Sarah’s gender to make the question sharper.
(If “gender” is the word I want.)
jl
@Cervantes: I can see a little ‘Somebody punch him in the neck” or “he can shove can shove it up…” action for those guys.
Some one needs to do a search for uncivil blog post titles involving Lush, or those other guys. There must be some candidates. There has to be.
IowaOldLady
@Cervantes: Iowa Congressman Steve King says gay people might try to trick businesses into discriminating against him. Just someone please shut this stupid man up.
Works for me.
Cervantes
@IowaOldLady: For me, too — thanks.
kc
@Cervantes:
If we’re talking about a man in Sarah Palin’s shoes (loser/quitter/grifter), I think probably . . . yes.
SiubhanDuinne
@Mandalay:
You’re attacking my atheism! Halp, I’m being oppressed!!
vhh
@Gin & Tonic: Can you send link please (Russian speaker here). thanks
john
Palin:
So… Russia invaded Crimea through Alaska?
Cervantes
@vhh: Here.
Spike
Obama wearing jeans in his fucking house is an outrage, but Cheney wearing that godawful winter coat to the ceremony at Auschwitz was no big deal. IOKIYAR, as always.
Mandalay
@SiubhanDuinne: Well try this link, but don’t say I didn’t warn you.
patrick II
I have heard Joan Rivers has an opening for a commentator on her show. Perhaps Mr. Christie should appear there and make comments more appropriate to his skill set.
Mandalay
@vhh:
That’s fortunate, because my Google translate seems to struggle with Russian. The translation sounds like something Borat would say…
I can’t make much sense out of that, but I have feeling that things aren’t going swimmingly.
Villago Delenda Est
@john:
Given Palin’s extensive military background, this is pretty much what she’s saying. Alaska is like Belgium…it’s the natural invasion route.
Mike in NC
Has a wingnut pundit yet claimed that “The Crimea will be Obama’s Waterloo”? They’ve been working on that since 2008.
Villago Delenda Est
@Mandalay:
“Bill” Palin? An ordinary conventional name like that, and not “Shiznit” or “Track” or “Double-Diamond Run”?
Suffern ACE
@Mike in NC: I think they stop the “Waterloo” references when the idea of the day is “Obama is Weak and Feckless”. Napolean and “Weak and Feckless” usually aren’t associated with each other.
West of the Rockies
As someone who is liberal and through an eye injury suffers from “lazy eye”, I do rather wish we’d not attack someone over a physical feature out of his/her control. Just saying….
Beyond that though, damn, Palin is a twit!
Gin & Tonic
@vhh: Sorry, I was away. And the translation was going for quick and functional, not literary.
http://www.fleet.sebastopol.ua/articles/obraschenie/
different-church-lady
@john:
I already answered this!
AxelFoley
@Mike E:
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!
Damn, lucky I wasn’t drinking anything when I read that.
NorthLeft12
What the phone conversation between Putin and Obama was, according to RWNJs. Obama calls Putin [of course]:
Obama is kept on hold for ten minutes.Finally……
Putin: Hello, who is this?
Obama: Hi Vlad, it’s me, Barry.
Putin: Yeah, what do you want? I’m kind of busy here.
Obama: Ha Ha, I just thought I would call and see if we can chat about what’s going on in your neighbourhood. Like the Ukraine for instance.
Putin: Don’t you worry about that, my boys will straighten those MFers out. We are kicking ass and taking names as you Americans like to say.
Obama: Indeed. I just think, and a lot of other countries seem to agree with me, that you are stepping a bit over the line there and you should…
Putin: HEY! WHAT ARE YOU WEARING?!!?
Obama: What?
Putin: WHAT ARE YOU WEARING?!!?
Obama: Oh, I’m just kicking back and chilling in my jeans….
Putin: WHAT??!! THIS CONVERSATION IS OVER! I CAN’T TAKE YOU SERIOUSLY IF THAT IS WHAT YOU THINK IS APPROPRIATE TO WEAR TO A WORLD CRISIS PHONE CALL! BENGHAZI!!!!!!
Dial tone.
Howlin Wolfe
@chopper: YEP!
Fred
@Botsplainer: Years ago I read about a study that found wearing a tie reduced your IQ by 7 points. Constricts the blood flow. It sure explains a lot.