The reason is simple: Being right or wrong is secondary to whether you’re "serious" or "unserious" – in other words, whether you’re advancing or opposing the establishment* narrative.
If you agree that invading Iraq was a good idea and we mustn’t leave; that torture, unconstrained wiretapping, and suspension of habeas corpus are all necessary for fighting terrorism; that unfettered greed is good for the economy; and that progressives are dirty smelly soft-on-terror hippies who scare Ordinary Americans, then congratulations! You’re officially a Very Serious Person, and you’ll get lots of facetime or column inches to share your seriousness with the world.
On the other hand, if you disagree with all of those establishment views, then you’re an unserious irritant – tolerated at best ("Look! We have a liberal! We’re totally balanced!"), and removed at worst. Whether or not you’re consistently proven right isn’t even a consideration.
The problem is magnified even further when you consider that the media establishment and the political establishment are interchangeable, as we see the same dynamic play out in our supposedly representative government. As digby, Stoller, and hell, even me, have pointed out, a huge bloc of Democrats routinely sides with the establishment over the public good, their own party’s base, and even the American people as a whole.
And do they pay a price for it? Rahm Emanuel became DCCC, then House Democratic Caucus chair. Steny Hoyer was elected House Majority Leader. Nancy "impeachment is off the table" Pelosi was elected Speaker. Joe Lieberman chairs the Homeland Security Committee. And Give-Em-Hell-If-It’s-Not-Too-Much-Trouble Harry is Senate Majority Leader.
You see, everyone knows that betraying the base is good political strategy for Democrats, because all the most prominent pundits say so. And they wouldn’t be so prominent if they were always wrong, right?
*Think media conglomerates, RNC, DLC, Rahm, Broder, Russert, Matthews, and all the other vacuous pundits, consultants, and cocktail weenie-munchers.
(f/t Attaturk for Radar’s excellent where-are-they-now article, which I had trouble finding)
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Eli!
Ugh. Happy New Year. Nice to know nothing is changing…
Ann!
Hey Eli, does this mean you are not a Very Serious Person?
I told them downstairs; now to read your post. Happy New Year to you Eli!
I’m with Edwards. We gotta fight back. Fight!! Don’t give up!! Don’t give up! Don’t give up! (Peter Gabriel – Secret World) There’s a song…..ummmmm
Not even remotely Serious, thank God.
Happy New Year, Ann!
Hi Eli.
Serious is overrated.
Although I do sometimes get wistful about all the money I could make if I were wrong more often.
Maturity too.
Hi Betsy. Serious is a word that has lost its real meaning in much the same way as “centrist”, “moderate”, and “bipartisan”.
Eli, in my house “serious” is almost always in the context of “You need to get serious about completing that homework young man.” That and “I am SERIOUS. I want those dishes CLEANED and not RINSED.”
Otherwise, we don’t even know the concept.
His father is an asshole but capital S Serious. Bill is just a joke.
Happy New Year, Eli! It is asinine that the ones whom are consistently wrong are still employed…
Happy New Year, CTut!
Again, the thing to remember is that being Wrong All The Time is actually their JOB.
So how do you explain Bobo?
Just looking at him I see a befuddled middle aged man with a wife, house and 1.5 children.
All I see is a guy who gets lost getting his 1.5 kids to soccer practice on Saturday.
Reading a couple of his columns , he reminds me of Ward Cleaver, serious in the fact he acts like he is talking to a trouble making three year old.
Cool, if not serious.
Digg this
umm, you *do* know there’s a game on, right?
Oops, silly me… ;-)
Uhh, not that I can recall… *g*
The op-ed page of the New York Times has been open to every right wing neocon hack for some time now. Kristol should feel right at home. I would dearly like to know who is behind this though. It smells of Bill Keller’s warmongery but one can never overlook Pinch Sulzberger’s dopiness having a role.
Bobo is a textbook example of someone who is professionally wrong.
the Grey Lady’s Bilk Wrist Toll problem…
And Tom Friedman. Let us not forget him either.
Evening all! If serious means sounding like Kristol and the rest I think I’ll pass, thanks.
And they’re not just wrong, but actually insufferable as well.
All I know is that Krystal drives me up the wall; it’s like fingernails on a chalk board!
It’s not just the NY Times. The WaPo and the LA Times also seem to be using the same worn out Rolodex.
So, in other words, if we are part of the “reality based community” we are “not serious.” And “serious” = fantasy-based. Ok. Got it! I can hardly keep up with “American” usage anymore.
Firing Scheer and replacing him with Jonah Goldberg was a brilliant two-fer, a masterstroke.
Kristol looks and acts like a maniac. He’s an educated maniac, but a maniac just the same. Have you ever seen such a maniacal grin aside from the Cheshire cat? I looked up the word maniac to be sure that I chose the correct adjective. He is a textbook example of ungovernable enthusiasm for something.
I see this too,Right Wing Welfare with a soapbox.
Reality has a well-known unserious bias.
As Greenwald and Horton have said more articulately, this has become a fight of average Americans against the Oligarchy, not one between Democrats and Republicans. The best solution is to remind Pelosi, Hoyer, Emanuel, et al, that their public employment contracts are NOT automatically renewable. They have decided to give average Americans only a whiff of a government in their interest, like Henry Ford conceding just enough of a fair wage to his workers so that they can buy his products, but not a fair share of the return earned via their labor, sacrifice and commitment.
The current Democratic leadership is neither democratic nor exhibiting much leadership. Let’s send them back to the private sector.
Aloha, MM! Are ya watching? I’m none to thrilled…
Well, some kind of a stroke, anyway.
Well, I have just flashed on the most disturbing visual ever. I hope you’re happy.
f/t: for a fez-tip occasion?
Yep, it’s early. Calm down.
Our current situation is why we are in such desperate need of primaries in House & Senate races. Lots of them.
I was wondering if anyone would catch that.
Time replaces Kristol with Ramesh Ponnuru. The NYT picks up Kristol. It’s all the musical chairs world of infotainment and rightwing welfare. It would be a mistake to consider this to have anything to do with news or analysis. The Times is less about the gray lady. It is more into becoming the bearded lady.
Louisiana is gearing up to replace Jindal soon. All the “name” candidates are GOP. The talk is it is pretty much a foregone conclusion that the seat will remain Republican. Landrieu is far from bulletproof either.
CT-now you can get mad. Some defense would be a delightful change of pace.
That’s a good one bro! lol
The authority on serious.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b4VvBynKsM0
Flashdance-the only movie I have ever walked out on.
Some tackling would be nice…
D’oh! I totally should have used a McEnroe video.
One would think that The Very Serious People would be an endangered species. It’s such a *small* group.
And then there’s the in-breeding…
Bobo Brooks is a professional calmer. His job is to come up with sellable phrases that reassure the RabidWing and NewsHour afficianados that the RabidWing aren’t rabid, that they are calm and centrist, and that it’s those DFH’s who really and still are DFH. He pretends to do the analysis, to be Serious and Thought Provoking, an honest broker of the “conservative” vision we all share.
We Don’t Share That Vision. If truth be told, “they” don’t either; they just use it as the public image of movement conservatism. What they are is George Bush and Dick Cheney. But it’s oh, so civil and gentlemanly for Jim Lehrer and the NYT to pretend along with Bobo. Because like Russert and Cokie and Broder and Friedman, tney are millionaires, too, and know which government promotes their interests.
Leave it to Louisiana to trend exactly opposite of the rest of the country.
That chick is sooo hot! She’s a maniac in a good way. ;)
I was wondering what was so disturbing watching a little hottie dance around.
Well, when hackworth called Kristol a maniac, my brain did something really horrible to me.
Well, we do have a certain reputation to uphold :P
Its all good. Don’t tase me, bro!
If you come across a video of kristol dancing around like that, call me first.
Hi, all!
I am so seriously fucking pissed off at the NY Times that I have sworn off giving them clicks. Fuck ‘em until they get rid of their roster of fuckwits: Dowd, Brooks, Friedman, now Kristol. And the occasional commentators they give inches to are a fucking disgrace. Seriously.
Until I sent to see “A Walk in the Clouds”.
don’t miss Doughy Pantload in the premier of FleshDunce.
Schlock Doctrine by Doughy Pantload.
I loved Flashdance.
let’s not forget that the Philly Inky is now providing a regular op-ed forum for Man-on-Dog Santorum. Very serious.
I saw a great quote describing Time Magazine the other day:
You’re killing me, marymac – as usual!
Ouch. Maybe it’ll go the way of Life, which at least had some great photography…
Ok, that last comment about Time was meant to be in response to Hugh@43. Haven’t quite got the hang of this yet.
I have out of town guests so I must go be a hostess with the mostess.
That sums it up quite nicely.
I have a post up about the same subject – as far as I’m concerned the NYT can bite me.
That’s an interesting read…
Hi Karin!
My dad once did a photo essay for Life. I think it was the June ‘51 issue. He climbed the side of Mt. Kilahuea while it was erupting! He always spoke of it as the scariest day of his life, scarier even than flying medical evacuation planes in WWII.
Yikes. That’s pretty awesome, though.
Is that Kilauea? It’s not considered a MT!
Hey, Busted: Somebody liked your comment over at Driftglass.
Arrgh…
HAHA!
Really?
Actually, my initial thought on hearing the news about Kristol was, where is the Times firewall now that we need it?
on the OT of volcanoes,
i was just viewing these lovely pics of Volcanoes in Alaska
I see, whoever it was has a great deal of taste and is obviously a genius, he liked your comment too.
Yeah.
Yeah, when they finally gave up on the firewall, I found myself wondering if I could pay extra to keep Brooks and Friedman blocked…
I am not a happy camper…
Everywhere I’ve visited on blogtopia (wy,Sdct!)*, people have posted their letters to the NYT about cancelling their very long-time subscriptions and promising never, ever to return, or click, or quote, or attribute, or advertise, ever. I wonder at the wee market sliver the NYT hopes Kristol brings to their enterprise, and how it can ever make up for the loss of credibility, and readership, and revenue, they will sustain by hiring him.
*(why yes, Skippy did coin that!)
It’s not really their fault. They were raped and the rapist moved in, took the checkbook and hasn’t left yet.
I think Driftglass is one of the best writers around. He has such a magnificent mastery of metaphor and English sentence structure.
Sorry, man.
You just took the words out of my mouth.
Understood. We’re still hurting here in Gator Nation.
Cool! Where I blog we keep it non-political, so I can’t whore for DG, but he is fucking brilliant and deserves a lot more exposure.
Nice post.
Carr and Henne went out with a bang!
Try being an Illini! Go Dawgs!
To my 7 yr old eyes, it was a MT! Scroll down to Dec. 14, 1959. My dad was a Life stringer and accompanied Jerry Chong, got a photo credit, IIRC.
bulls-eye.
Try being a Cardinal. Oy.
One of the benefits of being Chief, cook and bottle washer I guess.
Woof
Thanks!
Hey, I thought the Illini did very well. They found the field and everything. It’s not their fault no one told them their was a football game going on.
I L L
I N I
Yeh. I’m just a co-blogger, but I like not being responsible for anything other than squeezing out a post now and then.
Besides playing as poorly as they did they also had ZERO luck. Dropped lateral for 65 yards, the pass that popped in the air. . .shit.
Thanks Betsy. I was so bummed I didn’t go but now. . .
Hugh’s right, Alicia. They held back information in the time before the 2004 election that could have changed history in a beneficial way, had they been honest and had they done their jobs. Sort of the opposite of the “butterfly effect.”
The SEC is 5-2 thus far in bowl games, with 2 still undecided. Not bad for an over-rated conference ;0)
Over-rated by whom?
In this house (w/out sounding lofty I hope) like to think of ourselves as seiously principled. We all too many times fail and fall down in that endeavor, but we keep trying. To improve. Goodnight to each and everyone of you.
I was wondering about that. When they beat Ohio State, they got most things right and were able to recover from their mistakes but not this time. I think an appearance in a more moderate bowl would have done them good. As it was, they were dumped into the big time and they choked.
Beerfartliberal was throwing a few slurs at the SEC last night. All in good, trash talking fun, of course. I was hoping that Hawaii would make thing interesting. They have made some dramatic comebacks this year, though…
They won’t go quietly into the night… I’m disappointed with their meager 95 yards of offense this half…
Newspapers and magazines have had declining readerships for many years now. Several bloggers have had skyrocketing readership during this same timeframe. MSNBC has found gold in Olbermann while Pox News is declining.
As a business owner, if something isn’t working for a year or so, I try to figure out what’s wrong and make changes. If something’s not working after several years and I never try anything different, I’m out of business.
Wouldn’t these champions of free enterprise and competition, the Conglomerates, try something different with their businesses that are failing? Yet they just keep promoting the same people. If Tim Russert, Chris Matthews, or Bobo Brooks were fired, which any manager could rationalize quite easily since their viewer/readerships have been in decline for years, would there be a public outcry? Hardly. Certainly nothing even remotely close to the movements that developed when Air America Radio got rid of Mark Maron or Mike Malloy, or how communities have fought to have AAR stations re-instated. The only person signing a petition to bring back Russert would be Dick Cheney.
Of course we know these people keep their jobs because they advance a certain message on the electorate in order to keep people voting in the status quo. It has nothing to do with ratings.
If it did, a major newspaper would surely be giving someone like a Jane a shot by now, or another blogger who has proven to create massive audiences quickly, and can speak well on camera also. Not to mention many of these familiar Conglomerate names are not even great writers or talkers. There’s basically no upside to keeping these people around in a direct business sense.
Case in point, one of my all-time favorite examples of Bobo Brooks lunacy, where he tells poor people their gonna be sorry for kicking Man on Dog Santorum to the curb:
http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/2333
In the interest of full disclosure, I will admit that I also asserted that the SEC is overrated. And they are.
I think so too but I’m not sure anyone would have beaten this healthy USC team. There were flashes there and if we don’t fumble on the 10 with a chance to cut it to 3 who knows. My old man used to say “you can’t look up a dead horses ass”.
Not against this team.
I don’t think they choked. They were just athletically way overmatched.
Compared to what. (Les McCann and Eddie Harris). I am a lifelong Big 10 and Ilini fan and I have lived in Athens for 23 years. If you haven’t lived in and SEC environment you have no idea what these lunatics are like.
Is football season over yet? she asked hopefully.
Yup
I wouldn’t be too sure, mi amigo…!
Cui bono? That’s what I’d like to know. Who keeps pouring money into these old media losers?
Hiya Eli!
I am mostly right and sometimes serious. The big newspapers would not want me.
College next Monday night, NFL not til Feb.
That’s what I wrote about in my article, ET. The fact that the NYT is wringing its hands over warrantless wiretapping when they themselves sat on the info so as to assure Dubya another disastrous term just floored me.
OT, I guess.
I’ve been feeling bad about Kucinich and Obama but found this article in the Nation.
http://www.thenation.com/blogs…..pid=264324
I’ve been given to understand that Superbowl isn’t until the first weekend in February, dammit. Didn’t they used to do it in January?
Spoken like a true fan. I like the Warrior’s moxie but that cheap shot to start the game set the tone. Georgia is used to killer hits.
The key word is “Conglomerates”. Which means that their media holdings are just a small part of the total corporation. Even if they lose revenue on the news side, they still come out ahead on the corporate side if Republicans win.
9 teams in bowl games, 5-2 record thus far, likely to go at least 6-2, maybe 7-2. Overrated?
Bingo!!!!!
LOL, That’s the way I feel about it. But every so often there is actually a good game.
Yea, they added the wild card weekend and have that stupid-ass extra week between the conference championship and th SB.
It’s a favorite media hobby, to bemoan situations they created, without ever taking responsibility for their own role.
Because, of course, they are nothing but innocent and impartial observers…
Eye of the beholder. I love it.
But I hate 30 minute halftimes, what crap,
I believe these are called in marketing “lost leaders”.
Exactly. It’s why big media can keep recycling the same people, who are consistently wrong about everything, without worrying about declining ratings or readership. Haven’t news departments been money losers for a while now?
Actually, the republicans in the north have been waiting for decades to take over. North being pretty much anything that is not New Orleans.
But don’t you like halftime shows?
Much as I am required to hate Cal, I have to admit that this one is pretty awesome.
Here’s a better version – it has an answer key.
Yes, agree completely. I’m still amazed though how many people, even around here, who argue that if Liberals could get better ratings, they’d be on more. For more of the public to understand this is crucial IMHO.
The cost of fact checking with teh google is skyrocketing these days. /s
If liberals were on more then maybe people would watch.
I guess this has become a sports blog for now.
Dammit indeed.
Eli gave a :”f/t” to Attaturk. What’s a f/t ?
The whole system is fucked up because the real drivers and incentives aren’t what people think they are.
So when people like Rush and Kristol and Hannity and Coulter are all over the media, the logical assumption is that it’s because they’re profitable and/or credible, when they’re not really either.
I go to every Georgia home game and a good number of bowls. It’s just so much gas. They players hate it, witness the NFL now has 12 minute half-times. I’m in this for the football.
Soon. Don’t lose hope.
Fez tip.
You gots to gives da people what dey wants.
Dropping in late to say Happy New Year, Eli! And I’m glad you’re not a Very Serious Person.
I was thinking today about what Jane and Glenn sent out last week regarding the Telcos and their need to get immunity.
EXCELLENT point!
This is about money as much as it is about breaking the law.
How much money will it cost the telcos in fines and fees if they don’t have immunity?
My buddy, the most reflective man in Silicon Valley, said to me, “It’s about the money.” so if we ask the keepers of the narrative about the money of the issue and NOT the principle then well they can talk about it without getting all “Democrats vs. Republicans”
We often only focusing on the law makers in the “news” narratives. But that is only one kind of story. So, how about this?
I propose contact the financial analysts who cover the telcos. Especially the ones quoted by the media regarding the telcos. We ask them these questions:
And
Then when we get the answers to these questions we provide them to the reporters who are writing the stories on this immunity questions so they have have a “He said, she said and the classic X vs. Y story” that is different from the standard “Shape of Earth in doubt” story.
Then it can be reported in the financial pages and maybe not just in the political pages. And when it is about money people will see that of COURSE the telcos will do what ever they can and spend millions to get off the hook for 200 million in fines. And we can then predict where those millions will go and what they will be saying to the the people who count with the thing that counts, money.)
Lobbyists will get several million and they will put the pressure on the lawgivers. Which lobbyists should we be watching?
And if you want to push it further, into yet another realm, ask about the issue of privacy and technology for the trade press. “Are the new technologies making it easier or harder to keep your personal information private?”
Just checked out your blog post, Alicia. Well done!
They’re not playing quality teams in these bowls.
Thanks, LL!
Fedora tip.
That was cool!
PhysioProf–Is [Leiberman] an Attorney?
Leiberman is indeed, if that’s who you meant. Lieberman graduated Yale Law School (same as HRC and WJC) in 1967 and 1982 to 1987 was Conneticut’s 21st Attorney General emphasizing consumer protection and environmental protection.
And I hate the fact that Leiberman is in the Senate. He’s abominable, and one of my candidates for the top ten worst Senators. Leiberman isn’t stupid, but many on my list are–Imholfe, Kyle, the Maine Bobsie twins Snow and Collins come quickly to mind.
Lieberman has no significant influence on Obama as to the Iraq war and your country’s determination to be in the middle of it for the next generation.
I haven’t seen any candidate who has proposed to specifically hault the $6 billion and growing monstrosity of an embassy, or the countless permanant bases being built by the U.S. in Iraq.
People who are Hillary suckers or obsessed with Edwards (and Edwards would be fine with me, damn fine compared to what else has a chance on either side besides Obama) are afraid that Obama can attract Reupblicans who can participate in the Democratic caucauses in Iowa or first time participants/or voters apparently.
If you mean the technical legal requirements to serve as a U.S. S. Ct. justice, being an attorney isn’t technically one, but no one will hit that bench without being.
What most people don’t realize at all, is if you look closely at a high percentage of Federal Trial and Appellate Court judges, they are without litigation experience in a federal courtroom. To me that’s tantamount to being a physician without med school and residency training but that’s the way it is.
On some Circuits there are between 50-60% of judges who have no federal litigation experience. A high percentage of federal judges come from the ranks of former AUSAs (U.S. Attorneys) and they bring a prosecutorial agenda with them. Currently it’s been worse as many judges have no federal lititation experience but are loyal Bushies, and that’s all that has mattered. Congress has refused to do anything about this, because while they’ve held Rove and Miers in contempt for not answering subpoenas, they haven’t acted on enforcing the contempt.
Currently immigration judges are appointed by DOJ, and a high percentage of these appointments have had no experience whatsoever as immigration attorneys and know far less than the lawyers before them.
Monica Goodling was actually in charge of vetting Imigration Judge candidates. She was the Director of Public Affairs for the United States Department of Justice, serving as White House liason. Although she graduated from one of the poorest excuses for a law school in the country, she wielded tremendous influence in the hiring of immigration judges and the firing of U.S. attorneys. She had, of course, true to Katrina Bush standards, zero experience litigating in any courtroom in the U.S., including traffic misdemeanors.
Gonzales signed an unpublished order delegating to Goodling and Kyle Sampson, his then chief of staff, the power to appoint or dismiss all department political appointees besides United States attorneys (who are appointed by the President). The delegation included authority over interim United States attorneys (who are appointed by the Attorney General) and heads of the divisions that handle civil rights, public corruption, environmental crimes and other matters.
At least one-third of the immigration judges appointed by the Justice Department since 2004 have had Republican connections or have been administration insiders, and half lacked experience in immigration law, Justice Department, immigration court and other records show.
Two newly appointed immigration judges were failed candidates for the U.S. Tax Court nominated by President Bush; one fudged his taxes and the other was deemed unqualified to be a tax judge by the nation’s largest association of lawyers. Both were Republican loyalists.
Justice officials also gave immigration judgeships to a New Jersey election law specialist who represented GOP candidates, a former treasurer of the Louisiana Republican Party, a White House domestic policy adviser and a conservative crusader against pornography.
PhysioProf–David Brooks is to perceptiveness as positrons are to electrons.
I’ve never thought of Brooks in terms of Beta decay/Beta plus, electron emission or electron and positron physics. It may be an anaology of first impression.
Brooks is a predecessor to Kristol at the NYT in the hall of fame of flawed reasoning to be sure, but I believe he nailed some of the reasons why Romney would fail in the general, and one of my points was that even Brooks sees the huge problems Romney will have if he runs.
Problem is when one damn sports season ends another one starts, and next thing you know its baseball again. Or hockey. or some damn thing or other.
That’s why they have and off switch.
That’s funny! I thought it meant “fart tip”.
Beerfart Liberal was absolutely serious about what he said about the SEC. No fun intended. Beerfart Liberal made his bowl picks this a.m. Beerfart Liberal hopes you all had enough sense to ignore them. Beerfart Liberal was happy to be wrong about one of his picks – Florida over Michigan in the Crapital One Bowl right here in Orlando where it’s gettin’ cold. I loved seein’ Timmy Tebow with a chuck of sod stuck in his facemask. When he gets outta school, Tebow’s gonna be the best thing that ever happened, though — to the Arena Football League. See what happens when you give the Heismann to a sophomore. A sophomore!!! Uh, duh, how were we supposed to know he can’t recognize a blitz until, well, until he’s got sod sticking out of his helmet? Because he’s a sophomore.
Great idea!
As Greenwald and Horton have said more articulately, this has become a fight of average Americans against the Oligarchy, not one between Democrats and Republicans. The best solution is to remind Pelosi, Hoyer, Emanuel, et al, that their public employment contracts are NOT automatically renewable. They have decided to give average Americans only a whiff of a government in their interest, like Henry Ford conceding just enough of a fair wage to his workers so that they can buy his products, but not a fair share of the return earned via their labor, sacrifice and commitment.
The current Democratic leadership is neither democratic nor exhibiting much leadership. Let’s send them back to the private sector.
Really over the top bailing out gamblers at the investment banks in the name of saving the economy with trillions, yet nothing for the kids healthcare. Someone needs to get out the bloodhounds and hunt these fugitives from justice down.
When the perps got away in the 90’s with scoldings they were all home free to ransack the american treasury. These dirty rotten imoral scum steal in the name of morality for god.
All you christians should be mad as hornets. I went to the services and the bible studies and the prayer meetings they used it for politics. I haelp shut that goddamn church down.
Now they are ready to rid the world of terrprist and in the process depopulate the countries of color. They say that they are dispensible but willnopt offer birth control. Those goddamn assholes will cause global warming and the mass starvation of billions of people in the name of God.
If thos period of history ever gets told it will make the Dark Ages look like puppy love.
Am I espressing anger? absolutely. But I am sitting on a pool of outrage that is the tip of the iceberg. Let me say to a prior poster that this energy can be channelled for great good amd I encourage everyone to seek the bottom of their own pools of outrage. It will give you excellent strength and energy to do the work ahead.
I believe in America and the damage that has been done can be mended by good policies Evil and ignorance cannot stand outrage that is reasoned based. People like Karl Rove will be outed and there will be a day of recconing for their crimes against humanity, at least that is my hope that good will overcome evil.
Of course.
Brooks == blind squirrel.
Personally I think that since the NYTeat is hosting Kristolnacht, they should have a comment thread like they do at Wapo.
Don’t forget about college hoops’s March Madness!
no, they mostly overlap but on different channels.
707! I actually read your picks this morning, very entertaining. Tebow won’t be the last Heisman winner to disappear after college. Gino Toretta, anyone?
When I think of the happy dance we all did last January, and the tears of pride in our eyes when Grandma Speaker was handed the gavel….I could honestly cry.
Sports and Religion. The opiates of the masses.
No offense to fans of either. Understand why people like them, and certainly the people here at FDL that like these don’t fall into the drugged up masses.
It makes me want to throw things.
Didja see that outdoor hockey game today? It was cool. The players had a ball. I was watching that when I wasn’t watching Tim Tebow pull sod out of his helmet.
I was thinking about Bill Kristol and his working for the NY Times.
What is one of the few things that will disqualify someone from writing for the New York Times? Plagiarism.
So opinions can be wrong, but as long as they are “controversial” well that’s fine. They like controversial, it allows them to say, “We are strong enough to handle a controversial person, we are like the ACLU letting the Nazi’s march! See we believe in free speech!”
But they do believe in accurate things (factual things that are wrong can be corrected. Opinions can’t be.)
So I think our approach to deal with Mr. Wrong about Everything is to find and point out his factual errors and see if he has plagiarized others.
Charlie Ward, Andre Ware, Jason White, Eric Crouch…
not nearly soon enough for my taste.
Interesting idea. Perhaps intellectual laziness might have caused him to be a bit lax in his sourcing and references.
That will make him a conservative martyr/witch-hunt victim like that nice young Domenech fellow.
I’m still all for it, though.
People forcing you to watch huh?
cry doesn’t nearly begin to describe what I’d like to do.
Fool me once . . . . I won’t get fooled again.
I think we didn’t quite understand exactly why it was that she was able to be elected speaker. It has now become very clear that the progressive wing of the Democratic Party didn’t have much to do with it.
And if anyone went with “take Hawaii and the points” don’t blame me. You know deep down you wanted Hawaii top pull it off and were going to do it anyway. I also wanted to see Illinois win because I wanted to see Zook’s team wind up rated higher than Urban Meyer’s. meyer’s won the championship last year with alot of Ziook’s recruits and Zook got treated like crap down here. Meyer is an arrogant prick.
Niiiice snark
Happy New Year.
When Pelosi first said that impeachment was off the table, Betsy said that was just so i could come from another committee and then THEY would push it back on the table. But it really IS off the table.
The happiest day in April is the start of spring training – mostly cuz it means I get to hear the dulcet tones of Vin Scully again, the Velvet Voice. This season promises to be a really good one – Joe Torre coming from the (spit) Yankees and no more forking Murdoch owning the Dodgers. I haven’t been to a game since he bought them.
I also haven’t watched a football game since The Snap Heard ‘Round the World – Theisman’s leg breaking, over and over and over and over…literally, for me, ad nauseum.
All of Zook’s recruits.
I remember being kind of mystified at all the happiness when she became Speaker, because I thought she was kind of an ineffectual nitwit. But I figured, well, so many smart people are excited, maybe I was just mistaken…
Speaking of which, how much credit will Tuna get if the Cowboys go deep?
I had that same break falling out of a tree after football practice in 8th grade except it wasn’t compound. 18 fragments but it didn’t keep me out of the green machine.
Love Vin Scully.
He’s the last one, right? Harwell’s retired, Jack Buck’s gone, Mel Allen’s gone, Bob Murphy’s gone… Is Harry Calas still around?
Scully is the best! I still compare all gruesome injury replays to the sight of Theisman’s leg break on Monday Night Football. A seminal moment :)
Not really. The NY Times has not had any problem whatsoever publishing demonstrably false assertions from unnamed “administration sources” or “military sources”.
My new comments thingy is missing.
Know who my first hero was as a kid? I thought he won the Heisman but he didn’t. Finished second. Tucker Frederickson from Auburn. Giants first round draft pick in 1965. Not a good pro player. But i liked Charlie Ward when he was on tne Knicks.
Ward was more good than great as a basketball player, but the Knicks sure could use him now.
no, more like spouse and I are living in parallel universes. In the same house, but different orbs. I see him at the occasional meal. Then again, when I’m not working, my head is kind of glued to the laptop. I would like to think that hanging out here is a bit more socially redeeming.
Oh God. i remember that. it was against the Giants. Lawrence Taylor was going beserk.
Hit F5
Spocko – is anyone talking about the fact that the telcos were paid for this info by the gov’t? That means that we gave the gov’t the money to steal our personal info and we paid the telcos who sold it to them. Sort of like buying Viagra for your rapist.
Thanks, PhysioProf!
Betsy talks about that one.
Fine. But they always play the victim card. The people that have to be convinced are only a handful of editors at the New York Times.
“Here are examples of his plagiarism. A. B. and C. If you want to run him as a columnist you are saying that the values of the New York Times includes hiring people who copy the works of others and claiming it as their own.”
Maybe they will have to use a disclaimer on his columns if we find examples of plagiarism. “The plagiarism of Bill Kristol is known to the NY Times. This column has not be checked for plagiarism or accuracy, but is the opinion of the author.”
Yeah. He was good, not great. I’m sorta glad I’m not there now for what’s happening to that team. I grew up with that team. Bill Bradley was my idol. It’s a disgrace.
I had a major mad crush on Steve Yeager, the Dodger’s catcher from 72-85. When I found out he was related to Chuck Yeager that cinched it. Alas, it just wasn’t meant to be between us :)
I haven’t found much every to agree with as to Conservative Brook’s far flung rationalizations for why Bush could succeed at anything. His Iraq columns have been among the most ridiculous. I can find a number of analogies in David Brooks’ and Wiilliam Krystol’s pathetically flawed reasoning.
But when Brooks wrote the column in this morning’s NYT spelling out why Romney would fail, I think he’s dead on.
I have always thought Lieberman was full of blather signifying nothing, and regretted that he was ever in the Senate. His Iraq stance and pro-Bush posture lately is ridiculous and regrettable.
Brooks writes some very good travel books that have nothing to do with politics though, and there he excels.
It is easier to click where the number of comments thing would be and it refreshes for you, but I don’t know if there is a new post yet.
James Dolan is the Dubya of sports team owners.
I did not know that the Govn’t paid the telcos for the info. Interesting.
I wonder how much 30 pieces of silver runs these days?
I do know that when the Qwest CEO said, “Not going to do it.” It cost him and the company big time.
I can still see it like it was yesterday. Taylor screaming for the trainers, Theisman laying there in a heap. Then the constant replay. Didn’t a Bengals player break an ankle later that year or the next, might have been the Super Bowl.
I think that maybe Brooks is not actually clueless, but knows which side his bread is buttered on.
New Teddy upstairs!
Late Nite FDL: Whither Irv?
Tim Krumrie. I think that was at least 4-5 years later.
Tim Krumrie (Bengals) and Steve Wallace (49ers), minutes apart in the SB…
That’s part of the crux of the problem with granting them and the Comcos (companies including the Telcos who are also ISPs) immunity, Spoco. They were not only paid, but they were given considerations that may be illegal, in return for wiretapping Americans, and we need to know what they are.
I just remember seeing his foot flopping about as he flipped over the pile. Gruesome!
Are you trying to make me sick again? {{{shudder}}}
Yep, that was Krumrie. Gah.
Yep. Graphic footage from SB 23. ChirpWorthy.
Kristolnacht, I like it. I hope you don’t mind if I steal it?
Didn’t know that, don’t give a shit. Brooks is a morally bereft apologist for the worst excesses of the Republican Party. He repackages the lunacy of the batshit-insane neo-Confederate base so that it doesn’t disturb the sleep of the suburban fuck-the-poor wing.
Where the fuck is his Cheney?
sorry mommybrain, I though you might have moved to the new thread.
Got his ass prosecuted.
If you mean, who is leading him around by the nose and giving him incredibly godawful advice, then I guess it would have to be Isaiah.
*g* Just yankin’ some chain, othermommy.
Sorry I hit such a nerve within you with the mention of his name.
Fact still remains: Romney will lose a general election, and Brooks nailed it this morning.
Read here and scroll down 2/3rds of the way down the page, where it says ‘Companies approached’
3rd paragraph under that header says:”The sources said the NSA made clear that it was willing to pay for the cooperation.”
Very little disturbs the sleep of most Americans, and very little is done to help the poor in an effective fashion. No candidate has a significant plan for delivering health care to them, and to many Americans who are in the middle class but don’t have coverage in significant areas when a very serious illness strikes.
You didn’t hit a nerve. “Nailing” that some nutjob Republican candidate is going to lose the general is like “nailing” that the sun is going to rise tomorrow.
Brooks is a fucking shill. The fact that he might occasionally correctly recognize something as obvious as the law of gravity doesn’t change that. And if he is a good travel writer, then he should stick with that, and stop soiling the political discourse with his diaper leakage.
“…ineffectual nitwit.”
Yes, thank you Eli that rally sums her up. Her photo dancing with other bozo Hoyer says it in another way.
But I have to say when you put meat in the grinder it comes out hamburger usually. Kuccinich has backbone very unique political animal. Money presuure and threats don’t bother Dennis I love the guy.
To bad america is so rotten we can’t see honesty and pricipals as worth more than wealth. We are Material Girls and Boys as Madonna sang in a material world. I can’t wait til the shop til you drop crowd is spent out.
I don’t hire NYT columnists, and what is obvious to you may not be as obvious to everyone. The Repubs are putting Romney on in the general. Maybe you can help Obama or Edwards write attack ads.
Telco crime on steroid…now they want immunity! How greedy can you get! Hide and watch these dogs are off the leach. Did not knoiw they got paid too. THAT NEEDS TO GET OUT BIGTIIME!!! And before the FISA hearings. Nice going Alicia. Send that over to Jane and Christy maybe.
Plus it is playoff time. These folks have invested time and money watching commercials for beer, shaving cream, cell phones etc.
Now it’s time to see the mega adds, the winning teams and the coaching polls…it will be over soon and back to ho hum political blogging.
One plus if we could get sports fans to follow the blogs and be mad about the Tillman murder it could help stop the wars.
Thanks Alicia:
Interesting.
Where we are now is not hearings. That is long in the past, and limited info was given, including many stonewalls.
We’re at the floor of the Senate in 2 weeks, with S. 2248 with Democratic majority leader Harry Reid trying to slam through immunity, and the remainder of the content of the Bill has DOJ and DNI making calls as to what’s illegal, not the FISA court, who rarely turned down a warrant –5/20,000 in its entire history.
Reid Targets Dodd on Fisa
Without those new ly elected it could have been worse although I don’t know how. If you really want to throw things get some big grapefruits are fun to play catch with they spatter well. Better when smashed.
From that story the thing that stands out are the fines. Qwest didn’t want to pay, they said “Hey as long as you get it all legal we will play ball.”
The NSA said no, showing it wasn’t legal and they knew it. So they went to plan be, threats, which they (or someone) carried out. ‘If you don’t play ball we will reveal some nasty stuff about your CEO. Now will you play ball?”
No. Nasty stuff happens. That is the message that they sent to the other lawyers and CEOs at the other telcos. “You go against us it will cost you, you play ball you will be protected.”
“…guess it would have to be Isaiah.
The wilderness Isaiash? to funny