One of the bigger surprises of election night were the polls which revealed that the number one issue voters were concerned with was "corruption." But as Sidney Blumenthal argues, that word may have sybolized something more broad to voters than just Hot Tub Tom and his Scottish golfing trips:
This revulsion at "corruption" was more than the sordid wheeling and dealing of the Republican congressional barons. It was disgust at the moral hypocrisy and false sanctimony of the cultural warriors and the transparent fakery of Bush's imagery. The fate of the Senate turned on many contests, including crucial ones in Missouri and Virginia. In Missouri, an initiative that would authorize embryonic stem cell research that could lead to cures of many diseases divided the candidates. Actor Michael J. Fox made a TV commercial for the Democrat, Claire McCaskill. Looking straight into the camera, with no imagery other than his constantly swaying body, racked with the effects of his medication for Parkinson's disease, Fox made a simple appeal wholly on the basis of the stem cell research issue. Fox was a promising young actor whose his career came to a halt when his disease seized control of him. Now he plays only himself. Immediately, Rush Limbaugh was thrown into the breach against the new enemy. Earlier this year, he had declared, "What's good for al-Qaida is good for the Democratic Party in this country today." Mocking Fox by spastically wriggling in his chair as he spoke on his syndicated radio show, Limbaugh told listeners that Fox's jerky movements were "purely an act" and that he'd whack him "if you'd just quit bobbing your head." In the ensuing uproar, Limbaugh steadfastly refused to apologize. He depicted his mockery and physical threats as expressions of conservative conviction: "I stand by what I said. I take back none of what I said. I wouldn't rephrase it any differently. It is what I believe. It is what I think. It is what I have found to be true." As the criticism built, he acknowledged: "So I will bigly, hugely admit that I was wrong and I will apologize to Michael J. Fox, if I am wrong in characterizing his behavior on this commercial as an act."
Missouri native Rush will (probably) always have his constituency — he is so tribally tied to white rage cultural conservatives that there is literally nothing he could do that could compromise his high priesthood. But if Sidney is correct, and I believe that he very well may be, the electoral rejection of "conservatism" had much to do with the perceived corruption of its symbols and its prophets as the deportment of its political representatives. The Mighty Wurlitzer and the PR Presidency may have been powerful transmitters of message and iconography, but the steady drip, drip drip of scandal seems to have tainted the messengers to the point of public revulsion. I really don't know anyone who isn't mainlining pure kool-aid who can watch Rush's ridicule of Michael J. Fox without palpable disgust, and Claire McCaskill may very well owe her victory in Missouri to the "show me" state's recoil from his repugnant specter.
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OT: How to re-enable the spacebar in FireFox after a “Refresh Comments”
Press Ctrl-T (new tab)
Press Ctrl-F4 (close tab)
Double Click on the page.
The spacebar now scrolls down a whole page as expected.
Hope this helps!
Rock the world FDL!
Hi, Jane (speaking unofficially).
for german nwo jokes
http://www.geocities.com/aastingeraa10/usedcars
GO Webb!
snoopy dances all around!
I certainly heard this over and over again canvassing precincts here in CA-11.
I heard so many times, “They’re all corrupt!” from the voters I talked with. They were not even planning to vote because they really felt strongly that all politicians were corrupt.
The fact that Jerry McNerney had never been in office before really helped me convince quite a few voters to vote for him.
Ah Rush Phlegmball.
Maybe inbreeding isn’t the best approach.
‘Transparency’. That’s the ticket. That’s the key. That’s the word. It’s a new dawn.
sanitas @
1
That’s a good tip, although I like my way, too — I think it’s easier.
Since it’s just a question of re-engaging the cursor (away from the refresh button), I just hit Control-F (to bring up the “find text” windown) and shut it again.
Whatever way you choose, you just have to engage the active cursor elsewhere on the page.
angie @
5
Isn’t that what Rush is doing above?
Fat Snoopy. heh. heh.
Tester on Hardball…
Wow!
Tester for president (or is it Testor?)
Upon seeing Limbaugh’s act, didn’t Pat Spewcannon say: “He just delivered them the Senate”?
I hate that fat fuck. Glad his world got rocked.
Oh goody, more of this crap. As if I wasn’t pissed off enough at my local paper’s editorial cartoon.
BTW, I think my local paper needs more letters and phone calls about it – can anyone help me out here?
http://www.woodka.com/2006/11/…..newspaper/
Eyes must be tired. I kept reading the last three words as “this repugnant sphincter.”
You were too kind, Jane!
Oklahoma kiddo @ 8
and accountability
What happens when The Mighty Wurlitzer and the PR Presidency goes down? (As in a tech-crash.)
Mrs. K8 mentioned it and it will be much clearer soon — this economy is in real distress.
Doesn’t it sound unreasonable for goopers to continue pumping up the market with hype and hopefulness now that the results are in?
While that may become the excuse the market uses to discount the future (e.g. sell-off), the real force behind what we’ve been experiencing economically is the continuation of a deflationary trend aka the bubble.
The surface level take away is that the changes being made to the administration over the next six months will trigger a recession — ending with a new president. Beyond that, well, let’s just say that a “national unity” ticket is a fool’s errand. We know that already because we’ve been discussing it at FDL.
For investors — if we really do continue to deflate, interest rates will reflect the lack of enthusiasm and subside, long end first.
So the twenty year treasury is a good anchor while the tide goes out. Call it demand deflation. Less war, less guns. More butter? yes…for popcorn!
Could someone foward a request from a citizen to Speaker to be Madame Pelosi?
Replace this drivel (archive it for posterity’s sake):
http://www.house.gov/house/Contract/CONTRACT.html
With a “Hundred Days Plan/Goals/Agenda/Legislation.
And use it as a rolling checklist. Maybe links to bill’s progress.
I bet if a memo from her is sent to House IT, it wouldn’t take long.
Sorta like what Hoover said after Dealey Plaza.
I was just going to say: Tester rocked.
He spoke from the right place. Left me feeling very happy for him.
rwcole @ 11
Love that hair!!! Love that smile!!!
The Mighty Wurlitzer and the PR Presidency may have been powerful transmitters of message and iconography, but the steady drip, drip drip of scandal seems to have tainted the messengers to the point of public revulsion.
I so hope this is true. As I said in a previous thread, it would be useful to have a retrospective DVD showcasing the worst excesses of the Mighty Wurlitzer and the Republican-dominated government (e.g. Conyers’ humiliation) as a lesson in what Democratic government should avoid – but not forget has happened.
Whenever anyone told me “They’re all corrupt” as an excuse to throw up their hands in apathy, I would say to them –
‘Only in the sense that one patient with a hangnail on their toe and another patient with a gangrenous foot both have “medical problems.“‘
That seemed to sink in a bit.
From an email from Patty Wetterling:
Is there any way to determine how much the Reprobates spent on Bachmann? Based upon the heinous mailings that came for weeks, it must have been a lot.
Like Ned, a valiant effort that came up short but still served great purpose.
Go Patty!
windje @ 16
You got that right! :)
Mrs. K8 @ 22
No matter how disastrously some policy has turned out, anyone who criticizes it can expect to hear: “But what would you replace it with?”
When you put out a fire, what do you replace it with?
donna @ 14
That is truly uncalled for. Is it Poway, near San Diego? I’m local, so I will definitely help out. I just don’t get north county.
Peter King on Hardball. I really dislike this man.
windje @ 25
A breath of fresh air.
So when will we see a change in tradmedia? Fox’s numbers are plummeting, KO’s are rising. Tweety and Joe Scar are looking very confused – like their scripts just exploded. Will the honchos figure out that there is revenue in our side, or will they continue to follow the wurlitzer around?
Balrog @ 28
:>)
(I will not make a ziggurat repeat 100 times)
I hope Sid’s right about the icons of the right actually tainting the political debate.
I’ve been wondering when the general public would finally have enough of this sort of empty-headed vitriol. Let’s hope they have.
The idiots on the right defend this sort of thing as simple antagonism for a PC world, but, in fact, it’s just a means of propping up the most indefensible aspects of neo-conservatism. Greed, selfishness, white supremacy, neo-colonialism, anti-environmentalism and its evil twin, laissez faire economics, militarism, faux patriotism are all effectively indefensible in modern society, but that’s what they’re pushing. Rush does his best to make all those things appear to be noble ideals, but, eventually, the public will see them for what they are.
What progressives should be doing, from now on, is to continue calling out the indefensible for what it is, and offering better alternatives to that carefully contrived defense of the powerful at the expense of the powerless.
When Limbaugh said that he didn’t have to carry water for the GOP any more, he was admitting — like Bush — that he’d been happy to lie and smear and bullshit his devoted listeners into striking poses. Of course, this is the new, honest Limbaugh, isn’t it? You can trust him now.
Or, rather: for a big man, he’s an expert contortionist. An entertainer, a comedy turn. Jester to the rump.
I’m surprised that no-one picked up on Bush from yesterday, yuk-yucking about how all those ‘Democrats want to lose in Iraq’ lines were just election politics — no hard feelings, calling people traitors is just part of the game. (I missed Countdown — did Olbermann mention it?)
Sorry, no dice. Campaign politics is rough, but it’s not filthy.
Did Tweety ask Tester about the Patriot Act?
Any details like that?
windje @ 30
Same here, but I like BOTH of your comments!
Fox’s ratings are off. FoleyGate can’t have helped. The public defrocking of “Pastor” Ted
SwaggertHaggard was one more nail in the coffin. Abramoff, Cunningham, Ney, all contributed to the cognitive dissonance many must have felt in the last year or so. I’d like to think the Mighty Wurlitzer’s days are numbered, but I’ll wait for more evidence.windje at 30:
what’s a ziggurat?
windje @ 30
Zbigniew “Zig” Brzezinski thanks you
randiego @ 36
Too many blockquote indents which screw up the margins and make the mods mad.
I LOL’d getting a Greg Walden mailer yesterday – keep spending that money Greg. Next time you’re ours!
Rush may be beginning to realize that his schtick doesn’t work as a water carrier. His golden years were as a free lance attacker of the status quo- not as a defender of it.
He’s probably thinking that the dem takeover is the best thing that ever happened to him since the big pimple on his ass popped.
randiego @ 36
With this software, if you keep quoting a quote of a quote of a quote, etc. eventually you’ll end up with a weird structure looking like a ziggurat, and it’ll “break” the page structure.
Gosh, I wonder which media/papers and journalists would find this post interesting? Missouri? “religious”? panelist? editorial?
Mrs. K8 @ 9
Whatever way you choose, you just have to engage the active cursor elsewhere on the page.
Thanks Mrs K8, you’re right it is easier!
punaise @ 37
punnin or funnin tonight?
scarecrow @ 42
All of the above?
One of the things I want to find out is what the “leadership” held over the heads of the more moderate R’s in times of serious voting. Lincoln Chafee just killed Bolton’s nomination for good. Why didn’t he and some of the other halfway decent R’s stand up to the insanity before now? Is it a cocoon-like protection being inside the Beltway or what?
Oh Hill. What to do?
thanks guys! totally makes sense.
It’s time to Flush Limbaugh.
punaise @
37
As does the Zizzer-zazzer-zuzz.
I heard Randy Rhodes say he was down by about 50% in his ratings. While he will keep that certain smelly type that get off on his foul smelling verbal bile, I think he is losing a chunk of his audience. But, hell he is so damned rich it doesn’t matter. And remember, Blue Man is cheap too. Reports are he flies to the Dominican Republic for $20 whores.
windje @ 44
I have to choose?
Iraq!
punaise @ 52
if you’re pro choice
sanitas –
Sounds like you found an answer that worked by accident, without knowing why it worked.
That was true for me too until I engaged Mr. K8 — I said, “what the @#$% is WRONG with this stupid thing”? — and he was kind enough to not only bail me out, but explain WHY it worked!
Mrs. K8—Glad to see you in top form.
Gnome de Plume — it’s going to take the corporate owners of tradmedia a while to figure out the lay of the land.
Wait until the first piece of legislation is submitted that the corporatists hate; then the gloves will come off. In the mean time, they’re going to vacillate, particularly if Rover doesn’t threaten them directly or indirectly (a la Heritage Foundation/Townhall.com and Parents Television Council). If Rover’s too absorbed with trying to salvage Dubya’s legacy and also trying to fend off what might be a potential problem with Fitzgerald’s investigation, Rover may be unable to force the tradmedia to toe the line.
Let’s assume the tradmedia has two agendas, increased profits and access to content/power. How do they gain both under a lame duck presidency and a Democratic majority in Congress? This, too, will color coverage.
I caught on Faux News earlier today on Cavuto’s segment a LOT of blathering about Dems talking anti-business, with further speculation that this caused the market to pause today. What unmitigated bullsh*t. It was pure spin. It may be absolutely true that pharma and oil are going to be under pressure (reflected in recent stock declines), but they’ve earned it and the public knows it. That’s where we need to manage the media’s messaging, not let them get co-opted by these specific segments and companies; we do it by tightly managing access to leaders in Congress.
Hello, Madame Speaker, Mr. Majority Leader?
were that we had real civility, but that is only possible where you have intelligence
but alas, american’s are a stupid lot. not ignorant, for that has a cure. as a collective hole (yes, hole) we do not learn, remember, or associate the things of even the near past with the year over the horizon. we are delivered most of the information that the collective corpse wants us to see on teevee, and we have to find the rest.
I consider this the most important point. what we have to find for ourselves. in this, perhaps we are one of the weakest nations on earth. our government hides everything from us. always has, for we are but rabble. “the common clay, people of the soil, you know, morons” (blazing saddles) and we do not deserve that lofty air between here and artificial royalty. that is only for those who have proven they are related to kings by their means and their toys.
remember it, for you will be expected to be prepared for what is next.
Oklahoma kiddo @ 53
poor Afghans and Iraqis and Lebanese and Palestinians are counting on us!
Mrs. K8 @ 45
Yep. Dorothy is being very clever here.
I stand by my recommendation on Tuesday that we should sell North County to the OC (or to whatever red state will accept it). This is the same part of the metro area that just re-elected an Abramoff bribee under current grand jury investigation, who doesn’t even LIVE in his district (and who, in his victory speech, made pretty blatently racist comments thanking the presence of Mexican immigrants in his district for scaring whites into voting for him). Poway, Rancho Bernardo, Penasquitos, Encinitas, Carlsbad, San Marcos, Vista, please go away.
Oh, and why is it that their politicians like to do all their photo-ops in the 53rd district, on the waterfront? The 53rd is quite blue, thank you. Can’t we charge them for the privilege?
kristinejoy @ 26
Gnome de Plume @ 46
The Republican party holds their Congressmen in check with a combination of bribes and threats, mostly having to do with pork and campaign funding. For example, Chaffee got a lot of RNCC money to fight the Club for Growth candidate in the primary. Since he’s not running now, he can do as he pleases.
angie @ 59
Precisely. :)))
Tester gave a rock solid answer to Matthews pitch about a newly elected Senator’s naive goal of fiscal responsibility dissolving in the back room dealings that are ‘reality’ in DC.
Tester responded that people do it every morning at the breakfast table and that transparency is necessary. Matthews jumped.
Blub–Hell no! Ya can’t SELL me!
Does anyone have a tally of which House and Senate seats we picked up due expressly to Howard Dean and his 50 state strategy? Or can anyone link me to a site which reports this? I know Tester is one, and I am really impressed by him. If he does well in the Senate, I think he’s real presidential material and would appeal to all kinds of people all across the country.
Gnome de Plume @ 46
The bloom is off the stinking (turd)blossom. I think office holders like Chafee were so afraid of Rove, Cheney, etal that they didn’t dare upset their masters. Watch the change in all but the core right-wing nutjobs. Votes (on Dem-lead legislation..it feels so good to say that!) will end up passing by much larger margins then 51-49 and the party margin in the House. I have a feeling lots of Goopers are actually breathing a sigh of relief, that they can now tend back to the center and do something for their constituents to actually keep their jobs.
Yet they’ll still have a target on their backs from this voter. I don’t forget!
RBG @ 56
It’s good to see you the same way, too, sweetie!
:-)
Actually, I’m so freakin’ exhausted that I can’t get up from the computer yet. Besides needing to do basic chores and physical therapy, I need a shower badly — I was too tired to get there this morning — so if I can manage to drag myself up 2 flights of stairs, I may disappear for a bit.
Anybody have any suggestions for what’s good for adrenal exhaustion?
Tester is GREAT.
Run him dems- you won’t find a better candidate. He’s got IT- (as my great grandmother used to say).
Oops. Claire McCaskill just stepped out on the wrong foot. She tells Tweety that John Bolton should “probably” be confirmed, and that she would tend to be deferential to the presidents’s choices.
Can’t she do better than that?
Muzzy @ 64
I’d like to see Tweety jump.
Off the long end of a short pier.
Mrs. K8 @ 22
I had a few people say “They’re (Dems & GOP) all the same.” I would immediately ask them if they thought the country would have been where it is if Gore had won in 2001. “Would we be in Iraq?” That seemed to make an impression.
McCaskill DOESN’T have “IT”.
neurophius @ 70
Recount!
Remember Limpbaugh is just a “self-discredited drug-addled gasbag”.
http://www.crooksandliars.com/…..ed-gasbag/
Gates lacks defense experience, views on Iraq unknown
Gates is an old Bush family flunky. Like Baker. Let’s block this Iran-Contra crime boss.
http://www.suntimes.com/news/n…..09.article
rwcole @ 73
As I asked in a prior thread — when does she get a Senate email box?
We could HELP her get “IT.”
rwcole @ 69
He just has the looks of the quintessential american
Sorry RW.. we’ll let you stay :).. just kidding..
Seriously though, there might be a way to ask the new administration to make a point to the CA-50 political elite as well as to those in Issa’s district to the north:– lobby the Dems to cut Federal funds for a ridiculous transportation boondoogle project that the Dukestir secured for them:– the ridiculous Sprinter high speed commuter train. I really think it’s time for these boondoogle earmarks to end… whether they’re in Alaska or in San Diego.
rwcole @ 65
here is a piece about Gates.
http://www.tompaine.com/articl….._cabal.php
rwcole @ 73
Perhaps she needs to be counseled? Not unlike Hill.
Gnome de Plume @
29
Media’s not going away.
see Pach’s post, Tale of Three Parties
http://www.firedoglake.com/200…..e-parties/
windje @ 78
Quite true.
And Jim Webb’s speech was very, very inspiring too. He looks like the kind of Mr. Smith going to Washington who will not only have integrity and fairness — he will kick ass and take names, too.
Webb’s insistence on “social justice” and “economic fairness” today was very bracing.
rwcole @ 40
That’s not a pimple. Turn him over, the blue pill’s workin’ ….
Jon Tester is the only politician I have ever met in person – we chatted for five minutes at a meet ‘n greet fundraiser in SF this summer. He is personable, he listens, he is genuine.
More on Gates: http://www.bradblog.com/?p=3768
This was posted over at Have Your Say on the BBC website..
–
The plan for Iraq may apper to be run away… The more detailed plan is to run away as quickly and as quietly as is possible.
This may not appear much of a plan, but lets face it, it’s more of a plan than we have had so far.
Unfortunately, there is no international etiquet for pulling out of a country that you have invaded and made a complete hash of. It’s not like leaving a dinner party after throwing up over the hosts’ dog. Sending apologies and flowers the following day just does not cut it on the global stage.
Pulling out of Iraq will leave a vacuum to be filled by the insurgants and so the country will become the terrorist hot-spot that it had never been before.
Luckily for the UK the US and Iraq, the oil may just prove to be the answer. In the next ten to twenty years oil will be at a premium and China will be very happy to provide workers, expertise and a market. This alone may act to stabilise the region.
Ironically, the war will have provided the terrorists with; a base, the inspiration to fight and also the money: sort of a Bin Ladin incubator state.
It has always been said that the Americans don’t understand irony: this has been a hard way to learn.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/the…..ide_1.html
Memo to Democrats: Don’t buy into Bush’s act
kristinejoy @ 84
AAARRRGGGGGHHHH! Why did you do that? I’m about to eat! ;)
oldtree @
58
I disagree here. It has long been recognized that not all people are equal in smarts, in imagination, in logical ability, or any trait or quality that a human may possess.
That is why we have *good manners*. It is not necessary that we be intelligent, or that we love or respect our fellow men, it is enough that we be polite. And that is teachable.
Do not make deals with Republicans. Give them no quarter.
PeteCO @ 89
I think he hears that a lot.
See? Newspapers are still good for something!
Mrs. K8 @ 83
My sister lives in VA. She’s hated Allen from the moment he appeared on the political scene there. Described it as an instant chemical dislike.
Felt very good about Webb. Thought he was a ‘plain speaker’ with common sense.
Bustednuckles @ 93
Do you mean for “smacking on the nose with”? Or for reading Miss Manners?
angie @ 80
Bev Harris over at Black Box says Gates was connected to a voting machine company. What an interesting CV this guy has.
Bustednuckles @ 93
I learned a lot from Miss Manners and Dear Abby…
And so it begins….
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. Senate Democrats have begun to re-embrace Joseph Lieberman and seem ready to give the former Democrat turned independent a chairmanship in the new Congress that convenes in January, party aides said on Thursday.
Lieberman won reelection to a fourth Senate term on Tuesday, running as an independent in Connecticut following his loss in a Democratic primary to anti-war activist Ned Lamont.
http://www.rawstory.com/
********************
Boy, disregarding your party’s primary and crapping all over the rightful nominee really has consequences.
Blank Kludge @
18
I saved the whole page two months ago when i realized it was still on the .gov site.
windje @ 94
Boy, do I know what that’s like. I’ve felt that visceral sense with several folks — Nixon, Reagan, Dubya, Cheney. And Allen, of course.
Your sister has good instincts, and should trust them always!
Lisa Caputo, former Press Sec. to Hillary arguing on Hardball for a “slow, methodical withdrawal” from Iraq. Stuff it Caputo. You too, Senator Clinton.
Oklahoma kiddo @ 81
Unfortunately, this is a fairly common attitude in, particularly, the Senate today. Even Feingold has said that the President is entitled to his choices in appointments. I would put the question this way: how exactly does an inclination to deference fulfill the obligation to advise? Such appointments do not depend solely on Senate consent. If the President were, for example, to appoint Satan as his UN ambassador, would that be acceptable because of a tendency to defer? If not acceptable, then that policy is not an absolute. Bolton is rightly seen as a bull in a china shop, and is that an acceptable qualification for UN ambassadorship, simply because George Bush believes it is?
Rejecting such people forces Bush to do better for the country at large.
Oklahoma kiddo @ 101
damned right, OK.
Blub–The political climate here is pretty oppressive- but we had a good chance at a dem congresscritter- cept the candidate was Busby- the self proclaimed “soccer mom from Carlsbad”
One of the worst political candidates it’s ever been my misfortune to experience. She should have won- it was the perfect set up- she needed to be an attack dog but chose instead to be a soccer mom.
Hopefully she just misread the new speaker-elect’s cues. I’m still counting on Waxman, Conyers and others to do the subpeona’ing. Or maybe we can make ‘em a deal:– we promise not to subpeona if they just quit… we give them a list of names. Beginning with Darth Veep.
My personal take (or maybe hope) is that this ‘we won, so now we’ll just roll over” bs is going to last about a week, until Bush starts to seriously try to fast-track his surveillance legislation. Here’s to hoping.
Oklahoma kiddo @ 81
Montag–Well her not having “IT” is a separate issue from her view on Bolton (which is bullshit). She has zero charisma.
I think Claire just has been so focused on her own campaign, that she hadn’t had time to read the freakin’ papers to know that the Bolton nomination had already been KILLED earlier today by Lincoln Chafee.
Sad to say, she probably wasn’t even up on all the details of the Senate battle over him which denied him the Senate confirmation.
She had better get a good team of assistants who know what’s what and can keep her on her toes.
Ms. McCaskill, listen to and honor Michael J. Fox and me.
or lose yer seat.
My Grandma taught me manners. Newspapers were not part of the equation. *g*
rwcole @ 106
Charisma is an over-used word today. I care much less about that than a candidate’s understanding of his or her Constitutional obligations–that’s something that can be impressed upon someone, where charisma cannot.
Bustednuckles @ 109
They’re good for training puppies, I hear.
All these guys on Hardball are saying Clinton is way out in front for the Democratic nomination for the presidency in 2008. I don’t like it. Not unless Hillary changes her position on Iraq. I thought the Hill had this Big Brain. Didn’t she watch the returns late Tuesday night?
Yeah, I hear you. But I also think that the I-15 corridor communities are a huge problem politically. They owe their livelihood to the weapons plants and defense contractors in their midst, and they have reason to hate the pepole they think of as hippy-dippy old-101 corridor beach community dwellers. Breaking the corrupt link between their corrupt politicos, the weapons peddlars, the real estate developers and the local elite is going to be a tall order for anyone. I’m actually a North County native (now living in the city), and I would love to see things change.
rwcole @ 104
Oklahoma kiddo @ 112
Maybe she did, but looks like the guys on Hardball didn’t.
Lisa Caputo wouldn’t give Howard Dean credit for the election…she said Rham Emanuel was responsible for all the state houses that turned Democratic…..BWAAAHAHAHAHAHA….
Message to Caputo the triangulator troll heffa!;
YOUR GIRL HILLARY IS TOAST….go back to whatever hole you just crawled out of……we know why you have reared your triangulating ugly head…..Ain’t gonna work this time Caputo…LOSER!
Hill will never get my vote until and unless she puts AMERICA first.
I heard the bullshit Hillary talk tonight as well and my wife was pissed about it. Let’s let the process play out and see what happens.
Twisted Martini @ 117
Time for BlueAmerica 2008. Oh Howie, Jane?
On Olbermann. Bush, in a clip, lecturing us on ‘bravery’.
Let Hillary keep talking…every time she speaks she puts a nail in her political coffin……….
At this point there is NO way she will get the nomination…..the ReTHUGS would love to have her…NO WAY
HotFlash @ 114
Those guys WANT Hillary to run, that’s all. They figure if they say it often enough — that she’s inevitable — that it’ll be true.
Hmmm. How has that approach to reality been workin’ out for them?
Oklahoma kiddo @
101
Matthews also asked if Dean deserved some credit for the 50-state strategy, and she laughed and said that Rahm deserved tremendous credit. That was a completely gratuitous snub from Hillary’s former aide.
“Day after day,
Alone is the Hill,
The woman with the foolish grin is keeping perfectly still,
But nobody wants to know her,
They can see that she’s just a tool,
And she never gives an answer,
But the fool that is Hill
Sees the sun going down,
And the eyes in her head,
See the world spinning ’round.
…
And nobody seems to like her
They can tell what she wants to do.
And she never shows her feelings,
But the fool on the hill
Sees the sun going down,
And the eyes in his head,
See the world spinning ’round.”
Milbank is feeling his oats.
too late, imho.
Mrs. K8 @ 121
They want her so bad, they can have her. So, Clinton/McCain or McCain/Clinton?
Oh, just checked the VA voter reg site. Looks like, with 100% of precincts canvassed and reporting, the final Macaca Sqawking Monkey Deficit is 8941 votes, for what it’s worth.
oh, this is real helpful:
Pelosi is going to drill Bush right between his political eyeballs.
Turley on KO
Blub @ 126
It’s very big and totally worth reporting, imho!
Turley up on KO!
Lindy @
99
I happened to Google it while I had a question about what it actually said. What an atrocity of perverting democracy and liberty. And clean, transparent government.
Well…hurricane season is just hitting it’s stride and maybe, just maybe it’s solve our ’southern problem’ by wakin’ dem folks down in Dixie up to the fact that their asses are hangin’ in da breeze due to ‘Pills’ favorite Peznint.
But I’m not holdin’ muh breath, homer.
Whatever else Pelosi is about, I have to say I don’t envy her that she had to eat lunch with W AND shake his hand.
I could not have dunnit.
Contract on America? How typical from the Gambino Republicans. Too bad we sent Silvio to pick ‘em all up!
Mrs. K8…
“Hmmm. How has that approach to reality been workin’ out for them?”
That is the pertinent query.
To the head of the class for you.
Acc. to Professor Turley, Dingle and Rangle “do no suffer fools lightly.”
yee HAW!
go get ‘em!
Re HotFlash @ 128 in the preceding thread (EPU’d answer carried forward here):
Sorry not to post a link to DU, in my comment in the thread before last about the exit polls in Virginia and Montana.
‘autorank’ at DU is the commenter who posted TIA’s analysis and numbers. The comment is at 12:58 p.m. today, 11/9, in the latest Discussion Threads (the headlines you see when you enter DU after the front page). It’s also in their Election Reform forum, I believe. This is the direct DU link to the information, which seems to work [I tried to translate his numbers into something a little more ‘user-friendly’ you’ll notice, because TIA is quite the number-cruncher]:
http://www.democraticundergrou…..215;457571
In addition to the Bolton nomination, one of the pieces of unfinished business that Bush wants the current Republican Congress to handle is a new statutory authorization for his warrantless surveillance (NSA) program. We may have to crank up support for a filibuster.
bg @ 133
As Barry Crimmens says, “never shake hands with a war criminal.”
A.Citizen @ 132
You know, a Dem Congress could create some goodwill in the Confederacy by kickstarting a real rebuilding effort for the Gulf Coast.
I suspect that if someone checked the fate of those in the lead for the presidential nomination two years out- one would find that few of those leaders ever won the office. They tend to become a king sized target.
I almost never watch cable but I saw Blitzer for a few minutes. He had a couple of guests and his first question was: How do these elections affect Hillary in 2008? It’s like these guys have only 3 settings: Hillary, McCain, and today’s WH talking points. A jackinthebox could do as much and would be more entertaining.
KO goin after Cheney who is reputedly approaching doorknob status.
punaise @
127
I dunno Punaise, it has a certain truthy ring about it.
rwcole @ 141
And, then, there are the hopelessly out-of-touch, never-had-a-chance hangers-on. (Joementum, anyone?)
angie @ 124
Gold-star angie calls it again!
Balrog @ 144
yeah, but that’s not a sentencing option at the Hague.
Olbermann does not like the Vice President.
I just cannot stomach that doughboy
Thom Defrank YUCK
punaise @ 147
I wouldn’t be averse to seeing him in jail for a long, long time. Nor would I be averse to seeing the Bush fortune dissipated in a futile defense of him before the ICC. :)
Check that. Poppy would cut him loose before he’d spend any of that fortune….
Mrs. K8 @ 68
Mrs. K8, cut back drastically on stimulants. One helpful place with other recommendations is here. I had to search it out for myself, cause I have the same problem.
Oklahoma kiddo @ 148
KO’s hardly alone in that opinion. :)
Bump in the road.
…and Iraq is just a comma and the dead troops are just a number.
Just because Bush is a criminal jerk doesn’t mean that Hugo Chavez isn’t a posturing thug.
Olbermann’s guest calls him on the Spiro Agnew parallel and tells Olbermann that Cheney never took money in “brown bags”. Maybe. But Cheney has been taking huge money from Halliburton and Gawd knows who else for at least the last six years.
punaise @
147
What’s good for the Goose (Saddam) is good for the Chimp.
How prescient my old Gran was when uttering that famous old saw. Never knew what in the fuck she was talking about, but now I do.
twolf1 @ 153
Norquist is of the opinion that his upcoming indictment will be just another bump in the road to continued cronyism.
Hugh @ 142
I’m a long time CNN watcher but CNN has become unbearable. The slogans, the graphics and just generaly following the Fox model, yuk.
MSNBC on the other hand seems to get better every day. Dan Abrams has really turned it around, IMO
Oklahoma kiddo @ 155
The money from Halliburton doesn’t fit in brown bags.
Native son, aye, he’s a Bigger Thomas if ever there were one. It will be Rush’s epitaph and he’ll never even understand why. Pity him.
More like the bags they dropped in the hole in the levy.
The money from Halliburton doesn’t fit in brown bags.
Balrog @ 159
but it does fit into a**hats.
I loved the look on KO’s face!
Bill Maher:
Republicans = Scientologists
Jane,
That is really a good post. Thanks.
immanentize @ 164
Where you been, Imm?
The money from Halliburton doesn’t fit in brown bags.
well, the “B” in KBR is Brown….just sayin’
Mrs K8 from way back at 68
What to do about adrenal exhaustion?
I’ve been working on that with my physician acupuncturist for 2 years. Bad news……too much coffee is not good or sugar.
There are DEHA supplements (Keto 7 is very good). AdrenaStim is an excellent cream that contains amino acid and DHEA.
Think tonic rather than stimulant. We’re all pretty stimulated at FDL and of course coffee feeds that.
An easy thing to do to calm down the adrenaline rush is to lay down on your back, rest your legs up on a chair and just breath for 10 minutes.
Thanks for bringing up the subject. We really can get burnt out if we don’t pay attention to things like adrenal exhaustion.
Hehe. I’m sure the eastern ‘burbs here would appreciate it if we all volunteered to support Duncan Hunter’s presidential exertions. Maybe he’ll be so decent as to resign from his House seat to campaign full time, if we can convince him he has a decent shot at the WH.
montag @ 145
montag @ 157
Norquist. Primary punk. I’d love to give this boy a “bump”.
Blub @ 167
Yeah, Hunter very much fits that doesn’t-have-a-clue mold, doesn’t he? I have a feeling that he doesn’t realize that the only people with whom he’s going to be popular are federal investigators….
Balrog @ 159
Millions? With and ‘M’?
707
Gates must explain his role in Iran-Contra.
Lou Costello @ 171
Conyers is makin’ a list,
He’s checkin’ it twice,
He knows who’s been naughty,
He knows who’s been vice….
Re Norquist — isn’t he the guy who invented waterboarding — only he wanted to do it to the entire federal government?
The voters just rescued their government from this torture, and Mr. Norquist will probably be indicted for it.
he never apologized. Said if it’s not an act I will. Never did. Our media at work.
from my original 58. polite has it’s merits. but not when your lives, and the life of your planet are at stake. here is where the 100 days before Pelosi’s 100 days can begin will be the most critical in history. sociopaths don’t understand polite and will use it against you.
they are robbing us blind now, for that is what they can do until January. the celebration should be over, and we need to get back to work and on WATCH. The simple fact that this and a few other blogs raised millions for candidates means we don’t need the party, they need us.
they will come begging this time, don’t worry.
and what 164 said too.
I have been up way past my bottom in alligators. Some stuff where I work, street work for Patrick in MA, and additional work in the courts. I have been here, just couldn’t be so engaged.
Thanks for asking, you denisen of the caverns.
Senator John Warner. Another piece of….
montag @ 173
Brown paper bags, give me a fucking break. Cheney gets direct deposit from Halliburton; of course it’s not pay, mind you, they call it a stipend.
scarecrow @ 174
Something about a bath tub and drowning us. I think.
twolf1 @ 153
It would be fun to have the Dems dig a bit deeper in the Abramoff sewer to get that fucker locked up for a long time.
Hey kids, I wasn’t really watching…can someone confirm or deny: I think I just saw a comercial from CVS Pharmacy, advertising how great Medicare part D has been. Is that so? Can we expect a flood of propaganda from big pharma?
Somewhere, I still have a poster with Norquist’s drowning the federal government in a bath tub quote overlayed onto an aerial shot of the ruins of New Orleans….
scarecrow @ 174
Oklahoma kiddo @ 178
poop.
I want good leaders!
You have to read Jonah Goldberg’s advice to Bush. We may need a straightjacket.
Goldberg link at C&R
I just read tht Democrats are in control of more legislatures now than ever before. If we keep it up, in 2010 when the next census happens, it will be our turn to redistrict. . .
Another thing to be happy about.
Jonah, Jonah, Jonah…
LOFL
Somebody’s been reading True magazine under the covers with a flashlight again.
There’s only one ‘bear’ that Georgie can wrassle, Jonah… And he likes his tum tum scratched after
;>)
Oklahoma kiddo @ 178
Soon to announce his retirement….
One of the fabulous unintended/considered consequences of the Dem sweep is that we will now see SERIOUS retirements on the rep. side. Many of those in Congress who have an “R” after their name have never been in the minority. When the reality of their diminished influence hits them, many will skiddadle for the private sector. Another benefit of retaking the majority….
Got here late, so if no one has mentioned it, there is a snarky Rush graphic on http://waynemadsenreport.com/
Oklahoma kiddo @
101
Well, that’s an improvement. Last I’d heard Hill was asking to send more troops and to beef up the DoD budget.
Still, it’s a bit late. She’ll be an okay NY senator, but I don’t see leadership.
Hell, they just show up at the Observatory with the hookers and the whiskey. Party on Dick!
Ed Bradley, R.I.P.
A beautiful man.
Drug stocks take big dive today as the thought of “negotiating price” with the govt. circulates through boardrooms.
Olbermann terms Ed Bradley a “titan”. Yesiree.
Heh-heh. I am cracking up over last night’s Colbert Report, with Representative-elect John Hall. He’s singing the national anthem with Colbert.
This was one of the nails in Native Son’s coffin, right here. Not only did the Oxy-moron pound in the first nails with his illegal drug usage, abuse of his help demanding his maid obtain drugs for him, and doctor shopping, along with his sex tourism with blue pill help, but Colbert made it very clear by contrast that Limbaugh is a completely humorless f*ck.
Successful talking head pundits are funny, don’t take themselves too seriously.
Not Limbaugh.
His savagery against Michael J. Fox was only the last nail.
That coffin is as big as a piano case!
Twisted Martini — can’t imagine who they’d get to lug that piano case to the hearse and again to the grave, either.
Limbaugh’s about as toxic as Bush right now.
darkblack @ 187
darkblack — that’s wonderful. Rove = teddybear.
Twisted Martini @ 196
Gonna need something much bigger than that when his ego goes belly up….
kemo @ 179
zig alert
one thing you can credit bush with is identifying that approximately 35% of the American population is as sciopathically derranged as him and the likes of limbaugh. That 35% will hang with the wack pack no matter what they do. This scary fact made the remaining 65% of the population frightened enough of having them in power to actually go out and vote.
scarecrow @ 198
Putting those two mooks in the Overlook was a minor act of kindness on my part, scarecrow…Thanks.
But that paragraph …What, did Jonah get hit in the head by The Condensed Hemingway as he jiggled the bookcase while looking for his special ‘naughty’ card deck because Hugh Hewitt was jogging over for their weekly penny-a-point pinochle game, or what?
;>)
new thread
Balrog @ 5:30 pm (#159)
Yes, and it also might be instructive to point out that Spiro Agnew never shot his friend in the face while hunting pen-raised, almost flightless quail-tards. In any question about who has brought less dignity to the office, this must be a consideration, I think.
Super Spiro-Graft!
Thx for that, punaise. so, how many deep is OK?
kemo @ 206
don’t know that there’s a set number – seems like three or four quotes are OK; beyond that gets problematic
Frank33 @
189
Crooks & Liars has video of K.O. last nite of Limpballs. His parole officer definetly needs to get him to piss in a bottle again, supervised! Something in the water he’s holding.
Thank you to all who gave adrenal exhaustion advice — Carmen and Lindy and anyone else I forgot in my fog.
So the bad news is I’m supposed to unhook the I.V. coffee drip? Oh dear.
The sugar thing is easy — don’t consume it, never ever ever. No desserts, ever. No honey either, nor any carbs with a high glycemic index.
Refined carbohydrates put me into a coma, I live on a sort of modified Atkins diet — happily! Eating little bits throughout the day. Gives me more energy, and I’ve never had a sweet tooth in my life.
But I guess that’s not virtue if it’s easy to do, eh? The coffee thing will be much harder. Oh well.
Thanks muchly for the link!
Interestingly, when I’m like this I often find that the 20 minute lie-down helps.
Through all my ups and downs, it seems that lots of the things that are good for me, especially regarding the lymphedema, are things that I gravitated toward instinctively.
My (now *former*) physical therapist kept telling me to exercise on land rather than in the water. That aquatic exercise was “second class.” I told him, bunk! I was going to do water exercise first and foremost because I knew it was better *for me.* Low and behold, my recent research on this condition shows that the BEST exercise I can possibly do — bar none — is water exercise. The water acts as a “body compression garment” and stimulates the lymphatics everywhere. So we went out and bought me a wetsuit so I can work out through the AZ “winter.” That’s a lot cheaper and energy-efficient than a heater for the pool.
Ha! So there! I fired my p.therapist, and will be going to a Lymphedema Treatment Center — luckily the only one in the state is nearby, in the Phx metro area (not Tucson, for instance). Thank God! They have therapists certified to treat this (takes 135 hours post-grad of training!) — my therapist was doing all the wrong things, making it WORSE, not better.
In the meantime, I thank you guys for your your info today — and thank all of you who have been so helpfully supportive of me during these health crises — the Lake is the best place to be. Someday I hope to get the opportunity to hug you guys IN PERSON!
punaise @ 6:08 pm (#207)
My own rule of thumb is that if there are four of those quote bars, like there are in kemo’s 5:45 pm (#179) comment, I start to re-arrange the quotes or delete them. So far, I haven’t broken anything.
(((Mrs. K8))))
– Anybody have any suggestions for what’s good for adrenal exhaustion?
It’s awful, I know you won’t want to hear it, but sleep and bed rest are best. Get yourself a big bunch of stinging nettles and drink nettle infusion, several cups a day. It’s also loaded with calcium and oddly tastes alot like milk. Close your eyes when you drink it and you’ll be surprised.
Gentle yoga and tai chi will help too. And of course a House and Senate controlled by the Democrats will work wonders too.
Be well.
susan –
Thanks, sweetie!
You ARE the “susan” from over at the Washington Note, yes? (And did I ask you that before? Please forgive the brain fog!)
Stinging nettle, eh? I take a nice 3x per day dose of coral calcium (with other good, helpful minerals, including important trace minerals, like boron, which help move the system every-so-slightly alkaline, away from the bad acidic range). Do you think stinging nettle would do more for me than that?
My recovery from a smashed femur is not quite complete enough for me to do the yoga and tai chi — YET. That will come.
In the meantime, after tons of research on the lymphedema, we learned that the best LAND exercise (coming in second after water exercise) is jumping on a trampoline.
So we bought me a mini-trampoline with a stabilizing bar to hold onto for support. It’s wonderful! It stimulates the lymphatics in the trunk area to uptake the lymphatic fluid in my leg. Even if I’m too tired to do real jumping, just a gentle bounce gets all the juices flowing! I even do a sort of dance-like gentle movement to music. Using the bar keeps me stable.
But there will be yoga and/or tai chi in my future, once the limberness gets further along.
Thanks for your hugs and good thoughts!
About the “Washington Note” question, susan, I ask because it’s lovely to see Steve Clemons so happy about Bolton being gone for good from the U.N.
He deserves the savoring of that, as he worked so hard to see Bolton denied confirmation. Just wondering if you are, in fact, the susan I knew over there. It was a terrific discussion we had going there back when Bolton was coming up to the Senate committee.
If not, just ignore me here! :-)
One of the stupidest things Republicons did this cyle was to attack Michael J Fox. The msm replayed it endlessly showing Limbaugh attacking him and then bush had the nerve of a tooth to go on Limbaugh himself and proclaim”words have consequences”. Really Georgie
People like Michael J Fox and were disgusted by Limbaugh, they also remember him blaming Katrina victims and calling Abu Ghraib a frat party. Going to Limbaugh and keeping on going to him has hurt the Republicons and boy they do deserve it.
michael j. fox to rush limbaugh:
“Dance like a butterfly, sting like a bee…”
susan @
211
all good. and walking ………..
beautiful job, jane. both tonight and for the past fourteen months. never change ……..
Many are sick of the hate politics. Look what it’s gotten the country. The so called muscular way has us in a quagmire and our country is sinking.
The era of the Angry White Man I am hoping is waning for good.
My one question is: what do alot of his listeners really think when he says he’s full of crap. That he’s been lying to them the whole time. Yes some will stick by him no matter but, what about some of the others?
I have to wonder how many of the “Well, at least he apologized” crowd would accept that sort of lame apology from one of their kids?
“So I will bigly, hugely, apologize for wrecking the car if in fact it was really my fault.”
If Rush has offered a real and sincere apology for his comments, I’ve yet to hear it.