Watch for low flying pies

Zed?

Hi Christy

popcorn!

One thing I do like about McCain is that he will yell at Boxturtle Cornyn like a road ragin’ netroots commenter. That’s kinda cool sometimes.

And it’s great fun to watch Ron Paul say what the GOPness doesn’t want to hear.

Oh, how rude! And fun.

They’re angry at him because he has put the national interest in front of their special interests.”

That’s kinda what I want in a president. Not McCain of course, but the idea.

The machinations and subplots of all this Rethug chicanery give me a headache.

Guess these guys missed the classes in civics that discussed the concept of the “common good”. When did we last hear that phrase in the MSM?

I believe in their lexicon “common good” means “whatever it takes to upgrade my Lexus.”

Hi Christie. Buy popcorn futures. Question, though. If the money masters sit this one out, what happens in the next two years when they have to face an overwhelming Dem majority and resentful rethugs? Not a very good bet. I think Keene and company are bluffing.

Couldn’t agree with you more, Tex. The more pissed off that group is, the better I like it. Directly inverted indicator of national political health, perhaps?

wouldn’t want to embarrass the neighborhood with a non-upgraded Lexus…

LOL

Kind of like the “rising tide lifts all boats” meme (as long as theirs is a yacht and mine is a leaky raft).

Oh dear. No wonder you don’t use your real name online.

Mebbe it will come to to Huckabee vs. McCain. Grover will have nada — time to wander in the wilderness, ya creep.

Why aren’t Grover and Ralphie in jail? Surely to Dog, Jack Abramoff has thrown them under the bus with his “talking to prosecutors.”

Right? Right? Bueller? Anyone?

McCain is just like Snarlin’ Arlen. They’ll make noises about being principled and all, but in the end they’ll cave like they always do.

Does the name Alice Fisher ring a bell for you? Just for starters…

Yep…have saved that McCain hug photo (of Bush) to send to all of my (few) Rethug friends should McCain get the nod.

Don’t forget Ted Sampley, we’ll hear from him soon on John “The Manchurian Candidate” Mc Cain.

http://www.usvetdsp.com/manchuan.htm

The Dems are working hard to make McCain the next president. Bob Johnson throwing bombs for Hillary and and now this:

At Obama Victory Event, Campaign Played Jay-Z’s “99 Problems (But A Bitch Ain’t One)”

link

Both campaigns are engaged in a “MAD” strategy and that isn’t good.

See him hug a former Hanoi Hilton guard at the above link. Huggy dude ain’t he?

Does the name Alice Fisher ring a bell for you? Just for starters…

The Defender of one’s Constitutional right to have the Statute of Limitations expire….

That Alice Fisher?

Yeah. I knew it was a rhetorical question but I had to ask anyway.

The last few days have been incredibly frustrating on the preventable crap front, haven’t they? From far too many places at once, and from far too many people who really ought to know better.

Yea, and Reagan used Born in the USA, a well known patriotic ditty.

Got in a little hometown jam

Cow pies?

ON topic even:

http://rudepundit.blogspot.com…..inton.html

In Brief: Someone Tell Hillary Clinton That Barack Obama Isn’t Part of the Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy:
Let’s be grown-ups here for a second. When Bill Clinton said, “The whole thing is the biggest fairy tale I’ve ever seen,” he was talking about Barack Obama’s stand on the Iraq War, not Obama himself. When Obama said during a debate that Hillary Clinton was “likeable enough,” it was a stupid attempt at a joke in response to an idiotic question on Clinton’s likeability. And, yeah, you know what? No shit that Martin Luther King couldn’t actually sign anything into law, that only Lyndon Johnson could do that in 1964 since JFK was RIP’ing. Whatever the hell Senator Clinton was trying to say by bringing it up, it was simply the statement of a patently obvious fact.

People are the sum totals of their treatment by the world. When you adopt a dog that’s had the shit beaten out of it again and again by its first owner, no matter how gentle and kind you are to it, that poor beast’s got scars that’ll never heal. And sometimes when you reach your hand out to pet it, it’ll recoil like it’s about to get smacked once more. Or it might even lash out, maybe bite, maybe get back at that mo

Isn’t McCain the guy who stood up against torture for the front page news and then caved to Chimpy Cheney once it was off the front page?

Why yes, he is.

Ironic. At 6am EG and I got dissed for talking OT about the little abandoned cocker we adopted Friday. Now we have parables about abused dogs that ARE on topic :)

EPU’ed from below.

Since I try to avoid both Brittany Spears and Wingnut sites, I am wondering why they would be popping their whatevers more than all the B.S. (funny found verity there) observers of other stripes and colors.

speaking colors, is the little green football you meant?

[link disabled — but yes. — CHS]

Back to the d**n deadline.

I feel like we’re watching a prime example of our culture’s “scorched earth” approach to winning. It’s just win….no matter how much damage you do in the process.

And I cannot abide how much KKKarl must be enjoying this show.

The last few days have been incredibly frustrating on the preventable crap front, haven’t they? From far too many places at once, and from far too many people who really ought to know better.

People cheering from the side lines hoping that Edwards will be the “last man” standing..well that isn’t going to work. Dems will be angry and just stay home. When I was talking up Edwards to my sister (Obama supporter) she said that he is a good candidate but she has no enthusiasm to vote for another Southern White Male.

On top of that, his famous temper and expletive-laden tirades against fellow Republicans have long led opponents to question his suitability for the White House.

I dunno – I kind of like having Republicans who show Teh Crazy right up front and out in the open.

Transparency is a good thing…

At least it’s a little more honest to be open about it, I suppose. *g*

Yeah, but preventing crap is new behavior. When under stress, most people fall back on old crappy behavior. It’s almost like watching teenagers act all crazy with the hormones coursing through their bodies. They just have to.

“I feel like we’re watching a prime example of our culture’s “scorched earth” approach to winning. It’s just win….no matter how much damage you do in the process.”
_____

Ding, ding, ding!

Exactly.

Would that be me? Not dissed, just gently teased. No harm was intended and as the conversation flowed back to the subject of the adopted pup (admirably adopted, admired by an ex-cocker spaniel owner, too), no harm resulted.

both Brittany Spears and

Britney Spears…

perrspectives blog had something on the Republican War on Dogs. Didn’t read it but the title made me laugh, it’s so Spot on.

This says a lot about difference between the republican and democratic candidates (from Think Progress):

GOP candidates on staff health care coverage: no comment. NPR attempted to contact all of the Democratic and Republican presidential campaigns about whether they provide health care coverage to their staffs. All the Democratic candidates confirmed they offer health insurance, except Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH), who, ironically, “advocates the most generous tax-funded health plan of any candidate.” On the Republican side, Mike Huckabee, Fred Thompson, and Mitt Romney refused to even answer the question.

To digress a little:

No shit that Martin Luther King couldn’t actually sign anything into law, that only Lyndon Johnson could do that in 1964 since JFK was RIP’ing.

Thank you. Most of the blacks I have known also think that JFK and Dr.King did so much, and never give Lyndon Johnson any credit. Dr.King and JFK DID bring the issue to the front, but it was Johnson that implemented the changes. History need to acknowledge that the real hero of the civil rights movement was LBJ with JFK and Dr.King laying the groundwork (and died for their trouble). (I don’t want to minimize Dr.King (my personal hero) or JFK, it’s just that without LBJ, nothing would have happened).

When I read the story about Clinton’s remarks it was presented with a sneer. I couldn’t find anything wrong in what she said.

Lambert at Correntewire has had an ongoing series on that as well. Just FYI…

When I read the story about Clinton’s remarks it was presented with a sneer.

Clarification: I wasn’t referring to the post here.

McCain lost credibility when he didn’t confront Chimpy on the signing statement to the torture bill. After what the Bushies put him through, I believe he has Stockholm syndrome.

going to check it out. brb. thanks!

the dog thing is out of control. One of my primary character indicators is how people relate to animals, love ‘em, neutral, don’t like, and actively cruel. Why this last one doesn’t set off alarm bells for Christians, I just can’t say.

Wasn’t McCain the one…..

Involved in the Keating Five?
Hold “loyalty” oath only Townhalls on social security?
Ignored when someone trashed his own child & wife in the media?
AND then kissed up to those same trashers?
My stinking senator?

Just where is Cliff Schecter’s book that he was writing called The Real McCain?

Thank you Christy…. we need to jump on all the McCain issues…

I’m willing to cut Kucinich some slack on the health insurance as he has no money, and probably almost no staffers. He probably feels the irony more than the rest.

btw, for folks who missed the Book Salon on “Follow the Money,” I thought this was worth repeating to give you some flavor for Grover Norquist’s character and commitment to “conservative principles” (and yes, that was typed in a snarky tone, why do you ask?):

– The fact that Grover Norquist is still running the K Street project, to the extent that he is even running the GOP-linked website of the same name. Given Norquist and Ralph Reed’s proclivities for “taking a cut” on any monetary pass through for Abramoff’s many shell company money laundering schemes for client largesse, what are the odds that either man is also looking at a future federal inquisition (from page 35):

…On another occasion, Abramoff e-mailed Reed to let him know that a payment of $300,000 was on its way, adding that it would, unfortunately, prove “a bit lighter” than that because he had had to “give Grover something for helping.” That something amounted to $25,000, Grover Norquist’s standard fee for acting as a “pass through” for Indian gambling money. Following yet another money transfer to Reed via ATR, Abramoff had cause to complain, “Grover took another $25K!” And so it went.

Norquist’s appetite for money was insatiable — as was Reed’s (whose management fees could run as high as $45,000 per month) — as was Abramoff’s. No wonder these three proved such good friends. They no doubt saw more than a little of themselves in each other.

And so it went, indeed, for years of back and forth of Abramoff’s client money to his pals and back to his shell companies, each taking a larger and larger cut, and providing fewer and fewer real services to the clients. Why, then, have Norquist and Reed thus far escaped much scrutiny? And, for that matter, why have former Sen. Santorum, DeLay’s Senate counterpart on the K Street scheme and Sen. John Cornyn, Reed’s errand boy when he was AG in Texas, escaped stringent scrutiny? The listing of contacts of all these cronies with the Bush White House truly ought to be plastered into every news story about them from now forward. (You can find this on pp. 262-263.)

Savory little crew, aren’t they?

*Whew* Boy, I’m sure glad there are no titantic egos involved in the Democratic race!

(Ouch, I just got an eyeball cramp from rolling them so hard.)

While we’re patting LBJ on the back, let’s try not to forget that presidents do not write or pass legislation, that’s the function of the Congress. The president had not become the dictator unitary executive yet. ;-)

Hi Christy:

I sent you an email…

Thanks for highlighting this. Still cannot believe that CNN actually had Ralph Reed on as an analyst.

Some folks might call LBJ an SOB, but he did deal, not dictate.

While we’re patting LBJ on the back, let’s try not to forget that presidents do not write or pass legislation, that’s the function of the Congress. The president had not become the dictator unitary executive yet. ;-)

So true. However, LBJ knew how to “influence” and push his agenda. Imagine if the likes of Harry Reid had been prez at the time. We would still be discussing the viabilbity of civil rights.

Back to lurking…..

Aw, I never took offense in any of it.

Whether this is a pie fight or street fight, it’s nothing compared with what the GOP will throw at the Dems during the election. The GOP’s treasury, the Chambers of Commerce, has already declared war on “progressives”, equating them with whatever dark image will scare its members into coffering up – Commies, pinkos, DFH’s, socialists, Hillaryites, darkies (using whatever code words are currently fashionable).

How does an ethical politician confront the forces of evil or anyone adamantly opposed to them and all they stand for? How does Eliot Ness confront Scarface and not find his family in the morgue? How does Maximus confront Comitus and return Rome to glory, and not find his loved ones burned and crucified alive? Or, in the case of Benito Bush, find them prosecuted and jailed for ordinary behavior, like former Alabama governor Don Siegelman and Democratic trial attorneys in Mississippi and Michigan?

Suggestions, please.

One thought is that “bipartisan” rhetoric is self-destructive unless you robustly define it. What merits cooperation and compromise? What demands refutation and resistance? Another is that there is no silver bullet. It will be an enduring struggle. Not for “freedom” or “democracy”, which MacBush has debased into empty rhetoric read from a teleprompter. But an equitably shared struggle for opportunity, a return to common sense and restraint, and a return to investments in the social programs that made twentieth century America great.

But how does one keep eye on legions of lean and hungry men and not turn into one? I think openness, transparency and a return to the rule of law are a good start.

Yep…and he was a master of the constitutional process re: legislation.

And, who, pray tell, said that there weren’t? This isn’t an either/or proposition…but if you know anything about McCain and Norquist, you know that ego is likely to drive this into one, long, ugly pie fight…unless, of course, they cut a mutually beneficial deal. Either way, it deserved spotlighting.

You know…one thing that may have prevented a major push-back from the South ( a la George Wallace on the steps of the Montgomery schoolhouse with a baseball bat) regarding the Voter Rights Act and other Civil Rights legislation was the fact that LBJ WAS a Southerner.

If LBJ had tried to push this through he would have likely have been hit with far greater resistance in the South and in Congress. This is something that isn’t recognized…that LBJ was able to do things that JFK, a white Northerner, would have been seen as IMPOSING on the South. Johnson’s support was seen by many Southerners as a personal transformation that they also needed to go through.

It was akin to Nixon going to China…something that the right would have flipped out about and screamed “Manchurian candidate” for years if done by a liberal Democrat.

One of my biggest fears about this election is that voters don’t know or will want to look ahead (i.e. forget) the harsh realities of how this group has “governed”.

If the Dems win back the WH , we’re fools to approach any negotiations with others unless we acknowledge the weapons and tactics of the other people at the table.

Exactly so. Especially folks like Norquist who insist on getting a cut of the action to even contemplate sitting at the table in the first place. The “what’s in it for Grover et al.” crowd needs a hefty amount of sunshine on their tactics and their motivations.

I’m wondering if Huckabee, going up to the dais, and preachin’ ” ’bout how you cain’t get to Heaven without holding the hand of Jeesus” was a stealth effort to get McCain to make some comment about it.

Huckabee said afterward that he doesn’t know if people of other faiths and non-Born Agains will get up to Heaven with all those other Born Agains…he’s jesta sayin’ what the Bible says to him…God might be more generous. He’s not even sure many Baptists will be let in. Hmm! I thought the Good Book was the WORD!

And “I’m just saying what I need to get elected President!”

Imagine that we could have a President who thinks that 70% of the country are unsaved sinners but won’t say what he BELIEVES…but what will get him into the Oval Office.

And Huckster also whinges to the Press “Why does everybody ask me about my religious faith…you don’t ask the other candidates” …while at the same time talking about Romney’s not bein’ a real Christian out of the other side of his Basset Hound drool mouth. Bworhooo!

But he’s trying to draw McCain (or perhaps Mitt) out to make some statement in SoCarolina where the folks are so sure of their getting into heaven because they are saved and God-fearin’ that any statement that might make it appear that Huckabee is wrong about God’s selective saving is gonna lose their votes.

I think it IS worth pointing out that the current clash of egos in the Democratic party isn’t doing it a whole lotta good. I for one would be thrilled to vote for any combination of President/Vice President of the top three Democratic candidates, yet if there is anything that will prevent that kind of happy consolidation at the convention it will be ego… and of course the hard feelings being generated these days.

You mean in posts such as this one? Or this one? Or this one? Just from the last coupla days alone on this one blog, I mean…

We cannot cover every issue in every single post. Or we’d be writing a doctoral thesis a minute.

I think that’s true, also the national trauma and sympathy over Kennedy’s assassination. I’ve already related a story here that Congressman Ray Roberts (a Rayburn, LBJ protege) told me. LBJ told him he wanted him to vote for Civil Rights Act of 1964. Congressman Roberts told LBJ his constituents would throw him out if the did. Both parties held their postion. The McKinney, Texas VA hospital, acquired by Roberts with the help of Johnson as majority leader, closed the day following passage of the Civil Rights Act.

Johnson knew and said he would lose the south to the Democrats for a generation. It doesn’t change the obvious credit MLK deserves and receives.

In my opinion anyone who thinks civil rights was not a team effort with MLK being the lead coach, quarterback, and center is far out of historical context and the meaning of blood sweat and tears. Small to moderate deal that someone eventually had to catch up with the times that enough people were ahead of and the constitution and bill of rights had established 200 years in the past.

If Clinton does not shut up with hooks and slices in this line of attack I will sit this one out should she win (and just leave if any R wins). Maybe she should shit on femenists next – since by her logic all the great women in our history are any unworthy afterthought since none of them have got it done as President (oh the great and holy Presidents of justice and the light of humanity and all things that are good and right).

Shorter version…no MLK did it.

For the record, and the sake of accuracy, both sides — the Obama and the Clinton campaigns and their surrogates — have been stirring this pot. For days. And as of today, the Edwards campaign and their surrogates jumped in as well.

No one has clean hands on this at this point. And, also for the record, I’ve made my feelings of annoyance known to all three campaigns at this idiotic turn of tactics. Just in case anyone was wondering…

It might save the election if we dropped it and started arguing over whether Frederick Douglas or Lincoln was more responsible for the Emancipation Proclamation.

I mean, can you imagine having to read headlines to the effect that McCain Wins in Close Election, due to argument over who gets or deserves the most credit for the Civil Rights Act?

Yes, I can. And I can also see the behind-the-scenes pushing of this constant narrative from the media, the “go to the surrogates with big mouths for a quote” tactics, and other bits and pieces…and the hand of the Wurlitzer pushing a narrative of Democratic disarray to conceal the infighting in and among the entirety of the GOP.

Coincidence? Not on your life…and the fact that Dem strategists, candidates and surrogates are falling for this BS? Beyond annoying. Good for media ratings, and for the GOP — not good for the Democratic party and certainly not even close to advancing real issues that progressives care about if the story is all infighting, alla time. They all need to knock it off.

COVERING what the candidates do or say isn’t the point – the coverage is inevitable. I think it would help if the candidates (and their representatives) could exercise a little bit more restraint themselves. And no, I’m not selecting one candidate over another, I’m just sayin’ let’s tamp down the egos, cool the jets, and try to keep in mind that after the primary we’re all one big happy family again, gettin’ ready to move furniture into the White House.

(And I do regret that ego makes it unlikely that we’ll see a Clinton/Obama, Obama/Edwards, Edwards/Clinton or any other combination candidacy. But if we do, great!)

Yep…this Wurlitzer is playing the same kind of music that had obscured fuller MSM coverage of the Iraq war and Katrina.

Except now…we’ve moved from Natalie Holloway and Anna Nicole to Britney, Lindsay and the “Squabbling Trio” – a black man, a wealthy white man and a “strong” woman.

Made to be marginalized and minimized.

You know what I would LOVE to see, all of the Democratic candidates standing at a single event they schedule together on race, gender, and politics in America, denouncing the divisive crap — all telling their surrogates to knock it off. And then having a real conversation for an hour or two about race, gender, poverty, inequality, the rule of law, etc. Now THAT would be worth watching, wouldn’t it? And a powerful statement of unity on issues that really ought to matter to all of us.

Yes mama. And I would like to hear each affirm that they would be proud to support, to the fullest, any of the others nominated.

Good idea and a great way to break out from the usual boring campaign rhetoric and engage voters.

Use these divisive issues and have healthy informed discussion. Turn it constructive rather destructive.

Forgive me Christy, that was supposed to be YES, MAM.

Well, I’ll quit on that embarrassing note. I’m getting way too involved in the conversation.

LOL It’s okay — I’m both a Mama and a Ma’am. *g*

Well. I’m sorry again. I’ll recover by tomorrow.

Agreed. Unfortunately, not likely to happen since we seem to be dealing with some lawyers, including supposed professors in Constitutional Law, who are seemingly incapable of taking ANY steps necessary to restore the Constitution. So why would they be willing to actually sit down with one another and discuss issues that affect us all in a rational manner?

Actually, it was a nice giggle break for me. *g* And I know it’s just a dream scenario because campaign strategists would be having a heart attack at any other candidate getting equal billing, but I think something like that would be fantastic for everyone. And, frankly, would do more to advance the conversation on those issues than any other initiative I can think of at the moment. That would be an awfully bright spotlight to shine on both the issues in question…and the media self-promotion frenzy, all in one fell swoop.

depends what the meaning of “common” is.

one of the above & Huckabee….

“he’s jesta sayin’ what the Bible says to him”

which bible (of the 900 or so translations)? with or without the apocrypha? and, as Jews, Christians (ones who do & don’t believe in the trinity) and Muslims are all people of the book, will he agree all these people will be in heaven?

Sad, but true…