This young man is going to do some great things, I predict. I’ve got some early morning plans so here’s an open thread.
Open Thread: Yep, Still Crazy
Since this was once a political blog, here’s a couple laffers to help us Democrats start off the weekend in a good mood.
Ed Kilgore, at the New Republic, (rhetorically) wonders “Are Republicans Out of Their Minds?“:
… Democrats (especially those in Congress) have been plotting for months to make Paul Ryan’s budget proposal, and particularly its radical treatment of Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security, the centerpiece of their 2012 campaign. After all, the proposal drew the support of nearly every Republican in Congress, despite abundant public opinion research (and at least one special election) showing the potential for a strong public backlash against its specific provisions. A Ryan candidacy, in other words, would rigidly align the GOP with its least popular ideas at the very moment that all Democrats, from the president to the lowliest House candidate, are desperate to make this a “comparative” election instead of a temperature reading on life in the Obama era. So why would prominent Republicans be interested in making Democrats so very happy?
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One explanation is that Paul Ryan may be simply too emblematic of contemporary Republican thinking to be resisted by his own party… Aside from the laurels he has won by putting together a budget proposal that reflects the long-frustrated conservative goal of demolishing the New Deal/Great Society safety net once and for all, Ryan is also beloved of neoconservatives struggling to rebuff resurgent neo-isolationism in the GOP, and he is a faithful ally of social conservatives as well. And what libertarian can’t help but feel good about a congressman who reportedly has made Atlas Shrugged required reading for his staff?…
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But my hunch is that the main motivation behind the growing Ryan boom in elite circles is that Republicans have more or less decided they cannot lose the presidential race in 2012 unless their candidate has big personal flaws or comes off as legitimately crazy. As a result, they are beginning to assess the field in terms of capacity to serve as president rather than mere electability. And they don’t like what they see.
Which is why Dave Weigel at Slate cheerfully suggests that it’s never too early to hope for a brokered convention!:
Karl Rove says “we are likely to see several other candidates think seriously about getting in” on the GOP primary. His intentions are clear: He’s making life unpleasant for Rick Perry. He’s also telling the truth. Perry just entered the race after weeks and weeks of hype, and he hasn’t settled anything. The din of the draft campaigns—Ryan! Christie! Rudy! Palin! hell, even Pataki!—rings just as loud and fills just as many midday Fox News segments.
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Democrats, who have so little to be cheery about, are cheery about this. Iowa Democratic Party Chairwoman Sue Dvorsky sort of likes the idea of a bone-crunching, time-sucking Republican primary.
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“It’s an internal family discussion that plays out in public,” Dvorsky says. “While they’re doing that, we’re able to take our messaging, take our field organization, and begin it. We’ve had months of a jump on this, and we’re going to get months more. It’s a historical change for them. Gone are the days when it’s ‘Bob Dole’s turn,’ and they have their next guy up.”…
Open Thread
Christ that was a long day.
Also, some jackass left in such a hurry this morning that he left Lily outside in the yard, and she was found two hours later by my parents trying to melt through the back door to get out of the thunderstorms. I feel awful.
Hello? Hello? Is this blog on?
I’ve had a nap, a bath, eight martinis, four lines of blow, two joints and my arse fondled by Marcus Bachmann, and my post from five hours ago is STILL at the top of the page.
Does no one else care that there is important political analysis to be written?
Non-jobs Open Thread
So the jobs thread doesn’t get too messy and non-jobby.
Random fact: My favorite web search which led someone to my blog this week:
“fuck+at+the+convent”
Open Thread: Thursday(ish) Garden Chat
(Yeah, but if I’d posted this any sooner, I was afraid of being found strangled with an ipod cord.)
Since nobody sent any pics this week, you’re stuck with mine. Roughly top-to-bottom, left-to-right: Persimmon, Stupice, Great White, Ramapo, Black Plum, Black Prince, Kellogg’s Breakfast, Tomatoberry, Japanese Black Trifele, Sara Black, Golden Sweet Plum, Rose, Sweet Treat, Black Pearl, Carbon, and Juliet.
What’s going on in your garden, this week?
Or just in your neighborhood?
Open Thread
My brother’s dog Boghan is over for a visit, so the chaos factor has hit 11 here. I have no idea where Tunch is, and this is a major concern, because Tunch cut Boghan the last time, lacerating his eye to the point that Boghan needed surgery. TUNCH RAWR!
Currently making some loaves of buckwheat bread with a little bit of almond flour to mix things up. I give about 90% of what I bake away, but I just really like doing it. It is fun experimenting, and for some reason the entire process just relaxes me more than cooking does (although I do love cooking!). There’s just something inherently soothing about baking, just like gardening. I guess maybe I like making things and building things after a youth of destroying shit. Plus, no one seems to bake any more, so all my friends just love the bread.
*** Update ***
An action shot of Boghan:
Such a pretty dog.