I think the traditional media, having gorged on a diet of press releases pre-chewed by Rahm Emanuel, are having a hard time working what really happened in the 2006 election through their alimentary canals. From the AP's :
In the win column: YouTube, Giorgio Armani suits, racy fiction by public figures, San Francisco, Arctic caribou, Rahm Emanuel, lobbyists who abide by the law and immigrants who didn't.
Losers? How about gun control, Halliburton, the legend of Karl Rove, officials who know about secret prisons and might be forced to talk, and liberal bloggers who may find it harder to rage against the machine now that their side IS the machine on Capitol Hill?
That is just so misguided I don't even know where to begin. If he thinks we're going to have trouble — er — gently steering Democrats towards the agendas we applaud, the ones we raised over half a million dollars to promote (yes: ending no-bid Pentagon contracts, no: draconian bankruptcy bills) Mr. Woodward might want to try reading a few liberal blogs as opposed to simply regurgitating generalizations gleaned over cocktail weenies. Quick, someone get me Biden! (graphic courtesy Lily Tomlin Cheese Museum)
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Das Weiners! Go Blue!
FITZ!
Jane!
Sorry Twolf1, NO SOUP FOR YOU! OR WEINERS!
HEY!
can’t we get part two of the 9/11 commsision?
perris @
5
peel the white-out off “Habeas Corpus” might be a good idea, too.
“Trained as a ballet dancer, Emanuel won a scholarship to the Joffrey Ballet but turned it down to attend Sarah Lawrence College[1] where he graduated in 1981. He received a master’s degree in Speech and Communication from Northwestern University in 1985. While still a student at Sarah Lawrence, he joined the congressional campaign of David Robinson of Chicago.”
“For a time, Emanuel worked as a professional ballet dancer.”
I love the dynamic here since Wednesday morning.
Lest anyone think we are one-trick ponies, think again. We are fearsome foe to enemies and to those in sheep’s (lambs’) clothing who wrong us.
Carville is the first; let’s make an example of him.
All I want for Xmas/Hannukah/ Kwanzaa/Yule/Festivus is Al Gore and/or Russ Feingold/John Edwards accepting the nomination at the Pepsi Center in Denver in 2008.
Is that too much?
Hey, has anyone ever been to the Lily Tomlin Cheese Museum?
It’s gotta be in Wisconsin, right?
I wonder if they can keep their Medals of Freedom in their cells http://www.time.com/time/natio…..42,00.html
PeteCO @ 8
Don’t say that too loudly or Loofah man will be all over your ass like a cheap suit.
Mmm… Das good eatin’!
Let them think what they want and it will come back to bite them in the ars AGAIN in 2008…. Well done, you guys and gals!
Clearly, conservatives won because they lost and we lost because we won. Simple!
Eine Kase-kopf.
Sehr gut!
If Calvin Woodward thinks that progressives don’t have anything to be enraged about just because the Democrats won on Tuesday night, he is fucking clueless. The battle has just begun, and a lot of it will have to be waged within our own party. Don’t read this if you prefer to stay adrift in post-election euphoria for a while longer:
http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/001981.php
Twisted Martini @ 11
Bill O’Rally? He posts here?
Pelosi/Clinton in ‘08?
Some questions about the Lamont vote numbers and Giordano’s (who previously ran against Lieberman) being the same. Strange coincidence
or what? You may be interested in taking a look:
Are there any statisticians in the house?
http://securingamerica.com/ccn/node/9615 #comment-153006
You’ll be reported to Fox News Security!
Oklahoma kiddo @ 18
Anyone but Clinton in ‘08.
gore in 08, the greatest president ever elected
Twisted Martini @ 20
Orally says:
http://www.geocities.com/Baja/…..hority.wav
When you believe your own propaganda (”angry bloggers”) then you almost invariably make a fool of yourself over and over and over again.
When this happens, please remember:
It’s really not polite to stare.
Giggle? Yes.
Guffaw? Fur sure!
But, please, please don’t stare.
(Your jaw may drop and hit the floor.)
Arctic caribou?
I doont caribou teh weenies
The impression here is that Gore and/or Clark are the best choices.
jane -> I’ve been lurking for a while. However, I just read your last three posts and well, hell, you are a national treasure. Thanks so much for your commentaries.
Great pic, Jane -
I’d always wondered where cocktail weenies grew.
(none in the farmers’ markets hereabouts)
The AP thinks they can define us Bill O’reily tried to define the Daily Show viewers and it turned out they were not only more aware about politics, but they were a better though smaller advertising demographic. Now then the MSM is losing their audience to the Daily show and US! But who are we? I suspect that we are the Daily show audience kind of which come to think about it why is the AP pissing off an audience they are so desperate to get? Maybe we could sponser a study to find out who we are and how we stack up to the AP readers, I’m betting WE TAKE EM!
Oklahoma kiddo @ 26
As I commented earlier, He don’t stink of Eye-rack, he knows what it is to lose, and he OWNS THE BIG IDEA.
I’m trying not to start in on Hillary for a whole weekend. But it’s difficult and it’s only Friday.
PeteCO @
9
Not at all. Which is why we have to start on Monday morning kicking people like James Carville to the curb, and putting Rahm Emanuel back where he belongs… what the Brits would call a “back bencher.” We’ve got 2 whole years to get this done. While we have the majority in Congress. If we can’t get the job done we don’t deserve the country we were bequeathed by our ancestors.
What the fuck fuck fuck is wrong with msn? They are in the same bubble where the bushtards reside.
Oklahoma kiddo @
19
I for one would stay home.
perris @
23
Okay. Gore/Edwards?
Oklahoma kiddo @ 31
One day at a time, kiddo.
I like Gore/Clark, Gore/Pelosi, Clark/Pelosi.
These guys ought to be cut back to one column a week, so they have time to think (assuming they have the capacity). The reporter is just making noise with his mouth. I don’t know what the point is, since none of us are running for office. The establishment press are having a very hard time getting their minds around the fact that there are a lot of very smart people out here, and we are getting to know each other and work together. This is something that people who got where they were by luck and connections and think they earned it can’t understand.
What difference does it make what other people think. We went out on the trail and talked to them one by one. The Op-Ed model of opinion formation is also on the way out. None of these guys could hold a candle to Anthony Lewis or Russell Baker anyday. The model is running on fumes now.
The great thing is we are at the tipping point. They need our approval more than we ever needed (it never occurred to me that we did) theirs.
Living well is the best revenge.
kirk murphy @
29
And now you know that cabbage heads and cocktail weenies go together. :)
mayan @ 28
Welcome to the lake, Mayan. Yeah, she is, isn’t she!
do you want to weigh in on the cabbage, Pach?
Marion in Savannah @ 32
Something that I’ve really picked up on in this campaign that I didn’t see in 2000/2002/2004 is the use of satire to expose the ridiculousness and hypocrisy of the GOP and their media surrogates. Stewart/Colbert & KO should get medals, along with numerous others on the internets.
tuneforg @ 30
I’ve been tracking cable news ratings for about a year now. Primarily because I think there’s a correlation with peoples political views and which cable news channel they watch. I’m happy to report that Fox News has been taking a beating ; )
http://www.mediabistro.com/tvnewser/ratings/
PeteCO @ 43
EXCEllENT POINT! The best we had earlier, that I can recall, was SNL before it turned to crap. Between Stewart, Colbert and Olbermann more “real news” got past the MSM filter than in years past. You are SO right!
This is the funniest goddamned thing I’ve seen all week. Cocktail weenie hair-do? Uh. Mah. Gawd. Teh. Perfect.
PeteCO @ 43
so, so glad to see it happening -
the other side (talk radio) has been atacking with limbic weapons for twenty years…
so glad to see progressives move from fact-based to limbic-based mass messaging….
(no matter how much i wished it in jr high, nerds are not a majority…. gotta reach the majority who decide viscerally…)
cozumel,
Don’t forget to factor in folks like me. Just about the only TV that I ever watch is the SciFi channel (what can I say… I’ve got a real thing for crappy monster movies…), and reruns of Law & Order and CSI. I only learned about KO here…
Knut Wicksell @ 38
Krugman & Rich are the only two whose op-eds I actively seek out. If I want intelligent, informed commentary I come here, or go to Digby, or Greenwald, or Carpetbagger, or AmericaBlog, or…..
Thanks for sharing dinner, Jane. But, . . . uh, what is that thing on your plate? And why are you playing with your food.
wrt to lazy, clueless, reporters: Progressive bloggers and their readers helped several progressive Democratic candidates get elected who would not otherwise have won. Next time, the bloggers/readers will be even better at this and will get even more elected. In the process they will help inform the public and the media, except for lazy, clueless reporters who will never get it, and as a result, a lot of the bad things that “machines” do will become public and receive some oversight they would not otherwise have gotten.
I frankly don’t care whether the laziest of the AP “reporters” understand this or respect us; but they can’t ignore the math:
Senate = 51 Dems – 49 Repubs
House = 230 or so Dems – 200 or so Repubs
Oversight and investigation to follow.
Marion in Savannah @ 48
I LOVE CSI reruns! Now that the midterms are over I might pick up that habbit again. But not if it interfears with KO ; )
PeteCO,
In case you didn’t know, I put the NYT columnists up every morning some time between 6:30 and 7:00 eastern time, from “behind the firewall.” So now your search may be easier…
New York poll says Hillary for prez by 57% to 39%.
Marion in Savannah @ 52
Gee…that’s nice! Thanks.
punaise @ 42
AP reporter = cabbage Pach dull
Oklahoma kiddo @ 53
Well, they just re-elected her as their Senator. Of course they love her. She should stay in the Senate and become a REAL power. That’s where she’ll do the most good.
Oklahoma kiddo @ 53
Georgia Poll
Newt 4 Prez – 30%
LOL
Oklahoma kiddo @ 53
See DLC – New Yorkers want her to go away, also.
Oklahoma kiddo @ 54
You’re really welcome! There was some interest expressed about a week ago, and they usually end up towards the end of TRex. CAVEAT: They may be a bit later on weekends…
I think, despite the cabbage-headed media and the Carvilles of the country, there are some good signs. As someone mentioned earlier today, Ike Skelton intends to revive the armed forces subcommittee on oversight and investigations (which the Gingrich Revolution got rid of when they came to power).
With any luck, we’re going to find out where the money has been going. That can’t but help 2008 and beyond. Nothing like a ton of abused taxpayers to upset the electoral applecart….
Corruption was top of the list of reasons for change this time around. What’s it going to be like when they find out what’s really been going on?
Marion in Savannah @ 55
I’m a New Yorker. I’ve been a Hillary fan from the day presidential candidate Bill Clinton said: “If you elect me, you get two for one.”
But I don’t want her to make the run for president.
Marion in Savannah @ 52
wow – thanks Marion!
Marion in Savannah @
52
Thank you. I can always find them via Technorati. I never understood why the NYT went to that model. How do they expect to influence the debate when they ask people to pay for their opinions? The WSJ gives them away for free, and gets people to pay for the editorial, which makes more sense.
mrsmarks @ 61
I’m a transplanted NYC person. I really truly believe she can become a HUGE power in the Senate, and will only shoot herself in the foot if she runs for Pres. She seems to have the skill set that is particularly suited to the Senate, where she’s becoming better and better liked by her colleagues and more and more powerful. Which is precisely why she should stay there.
Marion in Savannah @ 63
You hit that nail smack on the head!
Cozumel @ 57
The impression is that Newtie is not reality based.
I have felt odd in the wake of tuesday nite. Not happy but relieved. It is like a close relative was just saved from certain death by a horrid disease. Now we have a long recovery process. I am thankful for the life of the patient but know that there is more hard work to be done. The opportunistic infections need to be battled back. This includes msn and the elites of the democratic party.
Oklahoma kiddo @ 66
Familiarity breeds contempt. He’s an a**hole
These guys are so clueless…it is obvious that they haven’t actually read any blogs.
He and his type should just wait until our elected team deviates from the straight and narrow, pulls rethuglican light or doesn’t call Bush/Cheney on bullshit. They will then see what blogging can do. We have elected a good team and they know what to do. We, on the other hand, also know what to do. Watch ‘em like a hawk.
PeteCO @ 63
Beats me. All their news is free, as are their editorials. I pony up for the rest of it because it’s my old home town paper, and I get the puzzles too (which is extra ON TOP OF the Select news/opinion material). I guess it’s one way to help make up for the advertising revenue that print media is losing hand over fist.
Marion in Savannah @ 64
She willl not only shoot herself in the foot, she will shoot us all in the head. I have a sick feeling Gingrich is going to run, and HRC will be no good at all in that race.
Oklahoma kiddo @ 66
Imagine over-inflated Newtie as a balloon in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade. Let go of the tether ropes and Newtie drifts off into the stratosphere….
scarecrow,
watching you on TBS right now. You and Dorothy just killed the wicked witch. . . .
I am going to take it as a sign that I came out soixante-neuf. I’m happy and that is all that matters.
Today I had a fun time anticipating the Kos Convention next summer in Chicago with the dems being in control of Congress. Do you think many of the ‘movers and shakers’ will come to court?
I practically am ready to book the rooms. I am taking the train from St. Paul to Chicago and partying grandma style.
Mary McCurnin @ 67
You’re right, Mary, but it had better be a rather quick recovery. We’ve got 2 years to get this patient healthy and up on its feet again, in good enough order and with the proper skills and weapons to take the field and win the White House back. If anyone hears the party sneeze, let us all know and together we’ll supply the Kleenex.
RevDeb, How did the get out the vote work out for your candidate?
Marion in Savannah @ 75
Lots and lots of occupational therapy to be done.
These folks don’t know the differnce between using Lotus 1-2-3 and site hits.
A little like FDR using RADIO for his famous ‘Fireside chats’ or JFK using TV effectively.
The right ran with talk radio and cable news.
If we get to keep Net Newtrality, the game is as much changed as in prior periods. It is a tide that connot be rolled back. Christy’s Saturday morning ‘Pull Up a Chair’ is one example of medium/message community.
Peter Dauo has to make this clear to his employer.
And that her triangulation is strangulation.
AZ Matt @ 76
I assume you mean the local state rep. write-in to replace my beloved rep. who died. Our candidate won. A really good thing.
PeteCO @ 71/6:53,
I’m being good and trying not to build huge ziggurats…
If the Repubs run Newt we will simply have to start early and often and remind the “values voters” about how he treated his wives, etc., etc., etc. He’s scum, everyone in the country knows it, and it will be almost fun watching them try to rehabilitate him.
Jane, you won’t be surprised to learn that the delightful picture above reminded me of something in addition to heartburn. I know you’re all waiting anxiously to learn that Tommy Thompson, the former rethug governor of Wisconsin and the effective HHS secretary of a few years ago (remember anthrax?) wants desperately to toss his hat (and hairpiece) into the presidential ring. Oh rapture. Heck, the ol’ boy’ll be shaking hands at the Iowa-Wisconsin game tomorrow. That’ll convince all those Iowegans that he’s really their man.
Good ol’ Tommy versus McCain, Romney, Vilsack, Guiliani etc. etc. Every race needs a village idiot. And at least two (three?) adulterers.
I was going to be ill, then I realized the entertainment value would be priceless, especially to those of us who have put up with his hypocrisy for years. The snark that could result would be of such high value that even I might be able to produce quality material.
punaise @ 26
punaise, as a master of words, can you explain to me when, and why, people started substituting “teh” for “the”?
I feel so out of it.
HotFlash, if you’re still at the Lake -
That was an impressive letter you wrote Carville!
Oklahoma kiddo @ 53
What were the alternatives?
neurophius @ 81
Thank you for asking! Wanted to myself.
Marion in Savannah @ 79
That’s a good point-there’s plenty of ammo to use against him.
OK, bed time. The curse of the early-shift worker; I got to see a fox and two raccoons at 5 this morning, but I rarely see past 8:30 at night.
Have a good night, all.
Marion in Savannah @ 80
Newt has so much baggage he’d be ripped to shreds. Plus, he’s never subject to an election beyond his House district
sneurophius @ 83
started out as aa type, seemed cool to do it
I mean typo, when im, you don’t correct typos
PeteCO @ 71
Maybe they could get married and take each other out.
Marion in Savannah @
36
Hamsher/Clooney
Waccamaw @ 84
Thanks, Waccamaw! I never realized all that stuff about how we are powerful until I started writing it. And thank you, James Carville!
Cozumel @ 88
Neither did Jerry Ford.
;->
JohnSwifty @ 90
THAT’s the ticket!
perris @ 87
From Wikipedia:
“The form “teh” offers a special case of this transformation. This originated as a corruption of “the”, and often pops up spontaneously when typing fast. So common has it become, in fact, that it has made the jump to deliberate usage particularly when satirising newbies; a common example is referring to the internet as “teh internet” or “teh internets”.
“Teh” is also now used a lot more commonly, in sentences such as “That was teh pwnage!” or, a more common one used to indicate if someone is hot or not, “He is teh sex.”
“Teh” is also used to denote a specific or immediately present article, for example, “dude, hurry up and get in teh car.” teh can also, depending on where you are, mean a good thing, or something that is slightly bad-ass or awesome.”
JohnSwifty @ 92
Can’t imagine a lot of, uh, work will get done…
Blank Kludge @ 92
And, uh, how many Presidential elections did Jerry Ford win? :)
zig freed
I just used the “teh” to avoid the “th” sound of the….
Punaise, I had no idea you were an opera lover!
Patrick 4/4 @ 97
Work: result of applying energy to bodies….
mrsmarks @ 95
Yeah, I don’t care what anybody says, they’d make the best Time cover EVER…opps, I mean teh BEST Time cover EVER!
Okay, Jane, I sent this to 10 AP political reporters/editors:
Can I have a cocktail wienee now?
montag @ 98
Exactly. But, iirc ’twas teh birth of Cheney/Rummy.
Beware.
kirk murphy @ 102
Mmmm…worrrrk….
Blank Kludge @ 94
As it turns out, we were right about Newt. It really was the Contract on America ; )
Marion in Savannah @ 101
it’s just a folly
I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again: I am Soo Over teh Hill.
Well, I’ve been up since about 5:30 this morning so I’m going to take myself to bed. Sleep well, everyone, with only good dreams.
RevDeb @
73
Ah, the good ole days. I miss Dorothy, and that nice Reddhedded witch with the wand.
bg @ 109
I’ve been overt teh Hill for a long time – never liked her politics
Marion in Savannah @ 110
Nigh, Nigh, sugar pie!
scarecrow, you rule. That is an outstandingly good letter.
Blank Kludge @ 103
Actually, no. Rummy and Cheney came together when Rummy was a congresscritter and Cheney was a congressional intern. When Nixon hired Rummy to run the WH EOC office (a do-nothing job because they were grooming Rummy for the Senate and his resume needed fluffing up), Rummy hired Cheney as his special assistant.
So, it really started earlier than that. Ford, being far more right-wing than the popular press gave him credit for being, saw something in those two Nixonian twins, and let them have their way with him, to Ford’s ultimate downfall….
punaise @ 111
Hey guys, let’s not get OK kiddo started. He’s trying to go cold turkey on Hill and it’s getting to him.
FYI, pattyp has posted this diary at Kos:
Roundup of Dean birthday/DNC contribution ideas
Hey, the DLC gave us both the Gore/Lieberman and the Kerry/Edwards tickets!!!! Why would we abandon such an awesome political juggernaut now?
Punaise -
In a Thursday nite thread you ref’d William Rivers Pitt article; I read EVERYTHING he puts up at Truthout. Have you read either of his books? Was hoping for some feedback before having local bookstore special order. The new one (House of Ill Repute) coming out this winter sounds interesting.
I’m also so over teh Bill. He’s got the charisma, but not going there again.
We should have known all we needed to know about him when during the primary of ‘92 he executed a man on death row who saved half his last piece of pie for his next meal. You know, so BC could look “tough on crime.” Teh.
Renee in Ohio @ 115
It is a splendid idea. I think it would really gain traction if Jane/Kos/Jerome/Joshua et al put out the call to arms.
SusanD @ 114
thanks, SusanD; it’s the only way to get fed around there. Could I offer you an
eyeballolive?jinny @
20
I went a-googling this to see if there were exit polls or anything, and wow! Joe’s 2000 GOP opponent not only got skunked at the polls, he got 37 years for (wait for it) having his hooker bring her 8yr old daughter and her 10 yr old niece *to work*. Blergh, as Christy would say!
I can never say that without somehow Freudianly saying that same thing – ‘Contract ON America’ even when I sorta want to call it by what they called it. Weird.
——
punaise – that ‘zig freed’ reminded me of this guy:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larry_Siegfried
Another genius move by teh (late) redheaded one.
scarecrow @ 121
Scarecrow,
Isn’t winning great? It reminds me of this ; )
http://cache.boston.com/images…..S_bgsg.jpg
What’s with the italics?
F*ck it all. I think I figured out what that *sswipe Carville is trying to do. Read the DNC charter and bylaws; he’s not tainting the state party elected delegates, but the unpledged delegates. He doesn’t need to taint the perceptions of all the state party elected delegates, only the executive committee.
Damn him. We need to get serious about taking control of our party.
If you haven’t paid your dues to the local party, do it now. We need your vote in local elections and in turn, elections of the DNC delegates depending on the rules of your party. Can’t participate if you haven’t paid your dues.
Uh, thanks, but I’m all full up.
Coz @ 125…
Nice photo. Ya just know Jeter’s thinkin’ – ‘Who ARE these guys?!’
Rayne — not following your comment. Can you explain the delegate distinction and what Carville’s comments had to do with that. thanks.
Kazahkstani poll show sister of Borat number 4 prostitute in all of Kazakhstan. With a bullet.
Not included in poll were dog-fucking Uzbeks.
Rayne @ 127
OK, ok, when do they hold the elections?
Rayne @ 127
Rayne, this is all news to me. (And sorry to be so naive.) You’re saying anybody can have a say in their local party by paying some dues? How do you go about doing this?
jexter-
On the other hand Gore/Edwards has a nice ring to it.
Blank Kludge @ 129
That was THEE play of the game, I’ll never forget it ; )
Rayne @ 127
Rayne, I don’t understand your reference to paying dues to the local party. I have been active in Democratic Party politics for 34 years, and have never been asked to “pay dues,” although I have been asked to make contributions plenty of times.
As a local precinct committeeman, I am entitled to vote on delegates to the congressional district committee. That committee elects the members of the state committee, which in turn elects the state’s members of the DNC. Never in that process have I been asked to pay “dues,” however.
Now, if you are talking about paying dues in the metaphorical sense, it all becomes clear to me. I hope I am not being dense.
I don’t know about you folks, but I bought a lotto ticket tonight and I’m totally going to win. So I can’t even relate to your problems. I’m going to, like, buy stuff and get my name in hte phone book and be somebody. So I won’t need to worry about anyone else but numero uno.
Man, being “right” is so easy. Nevermind I’m working 12 hours on a Saturday.
Twisted Martini @ 131
Huh?
Anderson Cooper on CNN seems to be exploiting the notion that the Democrats’ victory Tuesday in the USA was also a victory for the Iraqi insurgents and al-Qaeda. He’s not saying it was, but making a big deal about the fact they have claimed that it was.
STFU, Anderson. You are helping to spread their lies.
Poll coincided with Gingrich’s 30% support in Georgia.
See post #53.
Twisted Martini @ 4
No soup for those that thought they’d deli’d the election. No House of Representatives or Senate for you!
(Did I leave an italic open? I’ve tried and can’t find it, silly me. Send help.)
next time someone says our win was a move towards conservatism just say “where’s Senator Steve Laffee?” then
punaise @ 100
I’m in your fridge eating your f00dz!1!
We’re fresh out of Biden.
Here; have a McCain, instead.
(On election night, looking like his case of oval-office thigh sweats, is getting terminal…)
Waccamaw @
119
sorry – away from computer
wrt WRP, I’m not an expert – a friend sent that link
Supertelevangelistic Sex-and-Drugs Psychosis!
We saw Borat tonight. It was unreal.
OT -
Hey pups – even Forbes is agog at the 160 billion supplemental Defense Authorization that will hatch out in the next days.
Forbes is also agog over the the goodies for “small cap” defense firms. As Forbes droolingly notes, the “small cap” firms are
That’s Forbes-speak for
“the emergency supplementals are so full of Dukester give-aways that the usual defense bribers will think they’re Bill Gates shopping for Christmas: no limits.
Jump on board.”
The Defense Supplemental is a must pass, and the administration needs it passed in the lame duck session.
Congressional Dems have this opportunity to restore habeus corpus, eliminate all funding for secret jails and torture, and restore Posse Comitatus.
How’s that for a conservative agenda, Carville?
Over at No Quarter, SusanUnPC found something nifty for the Gates shoebox:
The post also has links to the lobbying forms.
Michael Scott @ 146
hee, hee, hee…..
grs @ 137
:( That’s a long day. “Other than that, have a nice weekend, ‘kay?” Here’a a bit of lucky to put on your ticket.
preznit giv me turkee @
142
Maybe it’s this lean to the right?
Pachacutec @ 147
He was unreal, but the Americans he enounters are very real. I can’t get the bedroom scene out of my head! And then the pentacostals!! OMG! America is full of nuts. The terrorists may be right.
Those weenies look like vienna sausages. Aren’t cocktail weenies more like little smokies? For added cocktail weenie pleasure, a bit of pastry makes them irresistable pigs at the trough in a blanket.
Weenies all around! Extra helpings for the AP and Anderson Cooper. Godfather Kos is gonna get pissed.
Mod! Mod! Rogue italics at 141!
Prior to Bush’s invasion of Iraq, Egypt’s Mubarak said an invasion would create “a thousand Bin Laden’s”.
We know how much the Chimp and the Gimp listened to that.
Now Mubarak chimes in again:
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak warned Thursday about executing Saddam Hussein, saying, “Carrying out this verdict will explode violence like waterfalls in Iraq . . . ” adding that his execution “will transform (Iraq) into pools of blood and lead to a deepening of the sectarian and ethnic conflicts.”
Looks like the job for Michael Brown, he has experience with floods.
-GSD
prostratedragon @
149
Isn’t Steny Hoyer another name we were asked to look out for?
“Isn’t Steny Hoyer another name we were asked to look out for?”
The same.
neurophius,
The April NIE says that it was the Republican backed war in Iraq that was creating terrorists. It would be natural to see the statements of al Qaeda’s new Number One in Iraq through that lens.
kirk murphy,
I would have to look to see what the timing is on the defense supplemental but the government’s fiscal year begins on October 1 and the regular defense bill has either been passed or is still in process. A supplemental before the regular bill doesn’t seem right, and a supplemental so close on the heels of the regular bill if passed doesn’t either.
I have tried three times to post a comment, and I keep getting error messages. I don’t know whether that means it is stuck in moderation, or what. I don’t know any reason why it would be in moderation. [note: I am not trying to harrass the moderators}
Let’s see if this one goes through.
[Mod Note; there’s nothing from you caught in the filters]
HotFlash @ 157
Sweet Holy Jesus and Blessed Goddess!
HotFlash, what a catch!
Please let it be Congresscriter Hoyer….
GSD @ 156
And Arabian horses, too. Gets a little mouthy, though. Doesn’t suck up the blame like the good toady should. Floods though, yeah, right up his alley. A seasoned veteran he is now.
Hugh @ 159
Hugh, if you could check, that would be great. The Forbes article and another M$M article this week both have the same schedule (the latter stating Admin held off Supplemental ’til after election…).
For once, I’m hoping the MSM got it right….
(ooooh – if this helps, I think the Forbes article on the linky talks about the remainder of the 2007 fiscal year…IIRC)
How ironic. I just received an e-mail from Speaker-to-be Pelosi, apparently sent to me as someone who in the past had contributed to the DCCC. (I stopped doing that early in 2006 when (a) I learned what Rahm was all about and (b) I found out, through FDL, about ActBlue).
“Dear neurophius:
We have so much to celebrate, so much to talk about, and so much to work on in the days and weeks ahead. But, let me start by sharing just two words with you.
Thank you.
My colleagues in the new Democratic majority – in both the House and the Senate – are in a position to lead America in a new direction and we wouldn’t have this opportunity without your energy, dedication and commitment. The DCCC community, who stayed engaged day after day, who responded every time we were in need, was the heart and soul of this effort.” (more)
Well, she is correct that the DCCC “community” deserves some credit for the new majorities. I hope she understands that they don’t deserve all the credit. In addition to the “DCCC Community,” the efforts of the DNC community (Howard Dean et al., down through the state and local committees) and of the netroots were also important.
Based on a post by Christy the other day about a blogger conference call from Pelosi, perhaps she does understand. I hope so.
Waxman vows Bush investigations
‘The most difficult thing will be to pick and choose’
HotFlash @
151
Don’t cry for me Argentina. Overtime is the backbone of America.
The conference report for H.R.5631 Defense Appropriations Act for 2007 was passed by the House on Sept. 26 and the Senate on Sept 29 on the last day of the session. It was signed into law by Bush the same day.
So again a supplemental before the new Congress just seems wrong to me.
Schumer on Maher saying he has no problem with Dean and the 50-state strategy, that the DNC gave the committees $7.5 million in the last month, and that they wouldn’t have had the victory without him. Plus he’s talking about the rule of law and the Constitution, and how Bush’s “bipartisanship” is “everyone do what I want,” and generally sounding good.
kirk murphy @ 161
This is undoubtedly our man: WASHINGTON, DC – House Democratic Whip Steny H. Hoyer (MD), who was the lead Democratic sponsor in the House of the Help America Vote Act of 2002 (HAVA), …
So, what do we do with this clue?
I like what I’m hearing so far from Waxman, Rangel, and Pelosi specifically.
Of interest about the election: the perecentages that cited “corruption” as a fundamental issue and reason for voting Dem. Do you all think that it cast a lasting shadow over the GOP or was it a 1-time catalyst? Or, the most realistic probablity…that it depends on what the Dems do with their newfound power.
neurophius @ 164
It’s a fundraising-related letter; not surprisingly it focuses on a single organization. I wouldn’t read too much into it.
So Sorry for Italics/ but found the correction, finally.
Vote for Hamsher/Clooney!
and opera rules/Strauss, Verdi
jinny @
20
Also, I found the exit polls for the Liebermann 2000 election here. But I don’t know how to read them. Any exit poll mavens out there?
rat bastahd @ 170
Depends on how much corruption turns up in the investigations. I’d think investigating would be a *good* Dem strategy for 2008, assuming they’re reasonably clean themselves.
Hugh @ 167
The iraq war has made it possible to sneak a lot of things into the defense budget without going throught the regular appropriations process. It won’t get a close reading (as if the actual budget does) because “we have to have it for the troops”.
I also found this:
http://www.defenselink.mil/New…..px?id=1650
My favorite part of this was the purchase of 14 Ospreys, a plane that does not fly for $1.4 billion.
Patrick 4/4 @ 175
For instance: May 2, 2006 (the last supplemental):
Nebraska’s Senator Ben Nelson issued the following statement today regarding H.R. 4939, the defense Supplemental Appropriations Act:
“This vote is a choice between supporting our troops and not supporting them. Right now there are 1600 Nebraskans serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. I’m not going to vote against giving them body armor, armored humvees, and other equipment they need to be safe and fulfill their duty. I will not turn my back on these troops.”
montag @
60
Just bringing this comment of Montag’s down from up top because it’s highly relevant here.
Patrick 4/4 @ 175
That’s about the most simplistic explanation for wasting money that I’ve heard. The best way to ensure their safety is to have them here–defending our territory, our people, our homes and businesses–as the Constitution intends. Nelson makes this seem as if it is the only option. It is not.
Oh in case I wasn’t clear. The defense appropriations bill folded the supplemental request for Iraq/Afghanistan into it. This does not mean there won’t be a further defense supplemental later, perhaps in early summer. Up until now Iraq/Afghanistan were not considered part of the regular budgeting process because they represented exceptional “one time” outlays. This distorted real defense spending. But they have be going on so long that language was put in the 2006 bill IIRC for them to be part of the regular budget but I am not sure what year that is supposed to start. And as I said above, there could be a further supplemental anyway.
I think this is less OT than it looks. Der Shrubbenfuhreradministration just seems to be desperately trying to convince somebody that they have any mojo left at all.
Admittedly, I don’t remember the Human Rights Council making some of the boldly declarative moves Bush has during his reign…you know, like reminding African countries that slavery is bad and stuff like that.
And how much of the money they appropriate goes to Hallibuton, KBR, etc.?
montag @ 179
This is a crystal-clear example of the kind of ass-covering demagoguery that 9/11 opened us up to. The Iraq War Resolution that so many presidential hopefuls and other squeamish dems voted for out of fear for their careers shows why we have to keep our New Democratic Overlords on a very short leash.
Maybe it’s just the lasting effects from today’s happy hour(s), but I doubt it. I FEEL GOOD! A lightness of being, breathing deep, the heavy veil lifted. I feel it wherever I have gone since Tues. People are smiling, congratulating, and talking about it. The thing I’ve heard most = a renewed confidence in the American people to SEE, to do the sane thing.
Meanwhile, back to work…here we come Carville!
A couple days ago, I asked Jane if there would be a summary article showing how well our Blue America candidates did. She, John Amato and Howie Klein were already writing it — and it’s now up over at Crooks and Liars:
BLUE AMERICAN SHAREHOLDER’S REPORT: How’d We Do?
I probably missed mention of this earlier, but this is the article that needs to be SPOTLIGHTed all over the media, both to show how well the progressive blogs did in supporting progressive candidates and contributing to the Democratic wins and to refute some of the nonsense with Rahm taking all the credit. If you can’t SPOTLIGHT tonight, please do so tomorrow. Thanks.
Just caught Jeff Flake (R) on Maher. I think the most interesting thing about him is that at 5 years old he lost a finger on his family farm.
More on the Republican civil war.
Looks like a lot of sane Republicans are looking for a divorce from the theo-con wing.
This is gonna get ugly, all I can say to those disaffected Republicans, we’ll leave the tent open for ya, just leave the horsehit outside.
Iowa’s civil war.
-GSD
scarecrow @ 185
You got that, Scarcrow. It has been a sorrowful worry, as per Jane’s frontpage.
There’s a programme on AirAmerica at the moment and people calling in are discussing the state of the nation. The host just said that they
have discovered that all Cheney’s investments are in various countries overseas. He (Harrison the host) said that Cheney has dumped $25M into a European
Development Fund just recently.
Hugh @ 167
So much of what this lot does seems wrong to me, too.
Forbes seems quite certain however:
If Forbes is in error, somebody had to sop up a lot of drool for nothing – they were really Jonsesing for the 160 bil.
But if they’re drooling for accurate reasons, the defense industry’s newest pacifier may be a very sought after tool…though a rather slimy one.
I’m not suggesting stop the bill – I’m looking for adroit ways to support the troops and the Constitution and Republic – the same Constitution that military officers swear to preserve.
“While our servicemen and women fight overseas for Amercia and our freedom, we’re fighting at home to protect their freedom – and ours.
Torture, secret prisons, and armies in the street at home are dangerous and un-American.
These un-American, unpatriotic laws are (forty/thirty? whatever) days old. Our nation lived without these bad laws for over two hundred years. We didn’t need them last month (summer) – we don’t need them now.
We’ll honor the troops sacrifice overseas and preserve freedom at home by stopping torture and secret prisons.”
OK – this is why no one pays me for political ads….
but it’s a start…
(not for me to get paid – for a wordsmith to find the right notes….)
GSD @ 187
Western Iowa–southwestern Iowa, anyway, from where GoodMrsPuma hails–is a scary, scary place. The accent is really the only way to be sure you haven’t walked onto the set of a “Deliverance” remake.
I think there was an army general who talked about $160 billion but I thought Rummy had shot this down. What all of this would be for is the question. It was definitely an outlier. Iraq/Afghanistan has been costing around $90-100 billion a year so far.
People are calling in and dishing the dirt on the R’s. Apparently Hannity of Faux fame runs a gay dating website called “Hannidate”.
Patrick 4/4 @ 181
Having spent the better part of a year writing about defense spending issues, I think this is something that the public knows so little about that if the truth comes out, it’s going to devastating politically–for all concerned. The amount of money being spent on defense and war is eating up much of the discretionary budget, and so much of it is hidden (the defense appropriations bill is only part of the actual spending), and the amount of it funded by debt is rapidly increasing the interest of the debt, which is further eating away at other spending.
In many ways, the country simply can’t afford to continue this military expansionism for neo-colonial purposes. We can’t have better education, serious energy R&D and pay for the development work necessary to address climate change without scaling back defense spending.
If people understood, for example, that we’re closing bases here to fund the construction of more and more bases overseas (and that it’s enormously expensive to maintain a middle-American lifestyle in the midst of, say, Uzbekistan), they’d want some explanation for where this militarism is leading us. If it’s just for oil, it means we’re spending more and more to ensure high profits for multinationals as those resources shrink.
We don’t have a clue right now about what technologies might pull our energy asses out of the fire twenty or thirty from now, but, what’s certain is that if we continue spending this sort of money on the military, on the international credit card, we aren’t going to have any money left to fund that future technology. Others will do it and we’ll have to pay them for it. (!)
montag @ 194
Name to remember: Jane Harman
Late nite thread is up.
HotFlash @ 169
As Hoyer is the DLC candidate against Murtha for Majority Leader, I’m wondering how Hoyer’s paid work for the same folks who are tanking his Congressional colleagues goes over with:
the Congresscritters whose votes he needs to tank Murtha for the DLC.
I’m also wondering if the association with Abramoff is reallly what the DLC want to peddle when “corruption” was the #2 election issue.
Seems like an extreme form of triangulation even for Rahm and the DLC.
But then I’m not from Daley’s machine, so I don’t see the world Rahm sees.
I don’t fuck over my friends, either.
Apparently Rahm’s political acumen is so keen that he thinks the best pick for Majority Leader is the guy who helped Dem members lose their elections – and got campaign cash to do it.
Attaboy, Rahm. Go Steny!
(that’s just two ideas of how to use this clue. of course, as i don’t live in D.C. , i’ve no way of raising this in social networks there.
In group dynamics, Steny was sleeping with everyone’s enemy – and getting paid for it.
Sharing this sense of tribal betrayal will be easiest for someone in the social networks of the Dem congresscrtters. I’d expect this clue will resonate most powerfully if introduced by such a person (or persons).
The corruption aspect of Steny’s bid – because it relates to how the group appears to the outside – may be most powerful when raised by “out-groups” with the ear of Congress critters and/or media.
Hmm – I wonder if any rabid lambs could help?)
Late to the thread, I know, but I have to say…
I saw this idiotic article earlier today and nearly fell off my chair laughing at the notion of liberals not being able to rage against the machine because we are in power.
We’re not in power. The Democratic party is. We hang out with the Dems because it’s our only access to power in this country. But we do it reluctantly. And as for not raging against anybody in power… Well, that’s what we do. It’s what we’ve always done, since the days of Jefferson and Franklin and John Hancock. You’re not a liberal if you’re not taking on power, even if it’s your side who has it.
Thanks Kirk and HotFlash for following up on this. I introduced this issue a few threads back because I know Steny is bad stuff, and while not perfect, Murtha is on the right side of the Iraq issue and deserves the leadership role. I think this is a worthy issue, hey, so does Arianna.
You guys rock.
Just as Howard Dean’s “fifty-state strategy” was bold and energized Democrats nationwide, starting in January 2007, the Democratic-controlled Congress must be bold and aggressive in investigating and prosecuting any Republicans (or any Democrats) for war profiteering, influence peddling, graft, corruption, whatever.
And as a template, Democrats can use the aggressive prosecution of Bill Clinton by Republicans back in the 1990s.
Oh wait, those Republican prosecutions of Clinton had more to do with a partisan smear job, involving mostly smoke and mirrors, than going after someone actually guilty of war profiteering, influence peddling, graft, corruption or whatever.
For instance, the Whitewater prosecution involved a failed land deal from twenty years earlier that actually cost the Clinton’s money.
On the other hand, what the “culture of corruption” Republicans in the Bush years have done has cost American taxpayers (and their children) untold billions of dollars (if not trillions) far into the future.
Clinton lied about a consensual sex act between him and another consenting adult…thus leading to his impeachment.
Bush lied about the necessity of going to war in Iraq, constantly asserting or implying that somehow Saddam Hussein was behind the 9/11 attacks, that Hussein had WMD, that Hussein was an imminent threat to our national security…which has lead to a disastrous war in Iraq, massive war profiteering, tens of thousands of our brave soldiers who’ve been killed or maimed for life, hundreds of thousands of Iraqis either killed or maimed for life…and yet, impeachment of Bush is apparently off the table.
Therefore, Democrats starting in January 2007 must begin aggressive hearings, hearings just as aggressive as Republicans called against President Bill Clinton.
Think Watergate, but a hundred times more intensive because of the widespread Republican corruption that Democrats will be investigating.
Voters who voted Democrat on Nov. 7th demand nothing less.
And, the way I figure it, once the Democrats in control of Congress start conducting aggressive and comprehensive hearings into the rampant corruption on display in the Republican Party today (and over the past 6 years) that Bush/Cheney/Rove/Gonzales will become so much obstructionist toward these investigations (much more than Nixon was during Watergate) that sufficient grounds will emerge to finally bring Bush/Cheney and all the gang up on impeachment or criminal charges.
But Democrats shouldn’t get ahead of themselves. One step at a time. The criminals aren’t going anywhere. Unless, once the heat is turned up on the Bush administration, Georgie flees to his family’s 100,000 acre ranch down in Paraguay.
“liberal bloggers who may find it harder to rage against the machine now that their side IS the machine on Capitol Hill?”
UMMMMM…. Apparently he doesn’t realize y’all are just getting started. Us RABID LAMBS want more… More MORE!
There is just so very much more to do & change & work on. We all have PLENTY to keep us busy for years to come.
One HELL of a good job so far!! :o)
Losers: Swaggering macho-men.
Mainstream media still doesn’t have a clue! They think we are going to rest on our laurels. Wer’e just getting started. Let them be clueless, that makes our agenda easier to obtain. The GOP and the media learned NOTHING from this election. Its the netroots leading this revolution!
i wouldn’t blow the thought off so much about lefty bloggers losing their audience. It should be considered.
the midterms were much a result of the extreme widespread horridness of bush and republicans, so extreme that the usually witless and unengaged couldn’t help but notice at least a little. With a win, the blaring horn of disaster isn’t going to be quite so loud. Also, it will have compitition from the mighty wurlitizeer that is loudest and most affective when republicans aren’t in charge F’ing everything up (and bush has pretty much been nuetered as both right and left agree hs is an idiot disaster so railing against him isn’t very effective).
The point is that much of the motivation for non-lefties to listen to left blogostan has been reduced (expect the screaming beasts on the right to ramp up ever louder).
.