I think that covers it
NFL Open Thread
By request.
Open Thread: Sunday Garden Chat
From commentor Munira:
Here are some garden pictures from southern Quebec. It was a fantastic garden year here – plenty of heat and plenty of rain. I have a huge vegetable/fruit garden and everything did either spectacularly well or pretty well except the cauliflower, which until today had not produced one single head. This morning I finally saw two little ones. I’ve been busy harvesting and taking pictures of all the beautiful veggies. Here are a couple of my favorites (from an esthetic point of view) – butternut, acorn and yellow straight necked squash…
… and scarlet runner beans (shelled)…
GOP on the Loose in FL
There hasn’t been much noise in the MSM, apart from the FoxGoogle debate, but the Super-Conservative wing of the Conservative Republican Conservatives have actually spent the whole last three days networking & nitpicking in Orlando — presumably as a kind of warm-up / road-test for next year’s GOP Convention in Tampa, aka “the herpes sore on America’s wang”. I’m very grateful that Dave Weigel at Slate has been covering the three-ring tent show, because I’d rather read about such antics at one remove, and besides, Weigel has a sharp eye for the telling detail…
ORLANDO, Fla. — Ralph Reed has never lost his knack for PR. His Faith & Freedom Coalition (“Pro-Family, Pro-Freedom”) is holding its inaugural Florida conference right across the street from the Florida GOP’s three-day “Presidency 5” summit/debate/straw poll. Seven presidential candidates will speak on a stage framed on the right by the American flag, the state flag of Florida, and the flag of Israel…
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I noticed that William Temple, the costumed “Tea Party patriot” who materializes at every one of these events as if beamed down from the Enterprise, was seated not far from us…We chatted briefly about Temple’s favorite topic of the day: The Christian faith of the founders.
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“They said that we might lose our way if we didn’t elect Christians,” said Temple. “And I ask you, have we gotten there yet?”
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Who was “they”? It wasn’t from the Constitution, Temple explained. He pulled out a sheaf of paper, flipping past some maps of Orlando to find a quote from revolutionary era North Carolina Gov. Samuel Johnston.It is apprehended that Jews, Mahometans, pagans, etc., may be elected to high offices under the government of the United States Those who are Mahometans, or any others who are not professors of the Christian religion, can never be elected to the office of President, or other high office, but in one of two cases. First, if the people of America lay aside the Christian religion altogether, it may happen. Should this unfortunately take place, the people will choose such men as think as they do themselves….
Jews, Mahometans, Pagans! Speaking of scary juxtapositions, here’s my first introduction to a group that makes “GOProud” seem almost reasonable by comparison:
At noon [Friday], instead of racing back to the main hall of CPAC Florida to watch a few presidential candidate speeches, I dropped into the second Tea Party Debt Commission meeting, sponsored by FreedomWorks. Dick Armey’s Tea Party collossus took over the dining room of a Denny’s, put a powerpoint presentation on a flat screen TV, and began 90 minutes of debate about how to cut the budget.
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I grabbed a seat at a table with a group of Frederick Douglass Republicans, black conservatives who shared their stories of speaking at Tea Party events and making converts. They were having some success, they said, in converting fellow black men. “Frederick Douglass is a badge of honor,” explained K. Carl Smith, who was selling a book about his politics. “Barack Obama is a shield of shame.”
Luck, reporter’s instinct, prescience? Here’s the results of tonight’s culminating straw poll:
Herman Cain won the Presidency 5 Florida Straw poll with 996 votes, 37.1 percent of the total, blowing past Rick Perry and Ron Paul, both of whom had organized to win here. He more than doubled the Perry vote; more delegates chose Cain than chose Perry and Romney, combined.
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Deep so deep so deep
For whatever reason, liberals never talk this way:
“No other candidate on that stage has the record that I have,” Perry said. “Yep, there may be slicker candidates and there may be smoother debaters, but I know what I believe in. And I’m gonna stand on that belief every day. I will guide this country with a deep, deep rudder.”
Perry is trying to make up for his uneasy debate performance in Orlando on Thursday night. Borrowing a line from President Ronald Reagan, Perry declared: “It is time for bold, bright colors, not pastels.”
I’m still hoping that Perry Goldwater can get through the primary and deliver us from a competitive election, but my confidence is flagging. Also too, can you take six months of establishment media fluffing Mitt Romney? You could land a 747 on those shoulders. He stood up to the extremists in his party. The Republicans showed that they still are a serious party by rejecting Perry and Bachmann.
Football Open Thread
Apparently there are games on and people want to talk about them…
Post-modern conservatism
I can’t get enough of this kind of thing. Rick Scott uses a teleprompter to make fun of Obama’s use of the teleprompter:
From the prepared remarks (complete with what appear to be prompter directions to emphasize the joke):
Good afternoon, and welcome to Presidency 5!
I have to admit, i was a little nervous When I looked out here.
i saw all the TV cameras and a teleprompter. I figured President Obama must be here – giving another speech about raising taxes!
Seriously, though, it’s great to see you all today.
When I was in college, I enjoyed taking arty-farty courses on literary theory. I didn’t understand them at all (is that stuff meant to be understood?) but I loved hearing about things like a narrative that re-narrate its own narration as an act of negation. Nearly everything contemporary Republicans do reminds me of this stuff.