We did this. The press. America tried to give us a real race, and we turned it into a bag of shit, just in the nick of time.
[]
If you could train a chimpanzee to sit still through a Joe Biden speech, it could probably do the job. The only thing that elevates this work above monkey level is that we get to guess who wins.
For most of us, this is a guilty pleasure. But some of us get so used to being asked who should be running the world that our brains start to ferment. I’ve seen it happen. The first few times a newbie comes on the campaign trail, he’s watching all the flag-waving and the soldier-humping and he’s writing it all down with this stunned expression, as if to say, "Jesus, I went to college for this?" Two months later, he’s doing six hits a day on MSNBC as a Senior Political Analyst and he’s got this weirdly pissed-off look on his face, like he’s mad that the world woke up and forgot to kiss his ass that morning. This same meek rookie you saw bent over a steno book just months ago is suddenly talking about how Hillary Clinton needs to do this, Barack Obama needs to do that — and he’s serious! He’s not kidding! Next thing you know, he’s got an eight-figure book deal and a ten-foot pole up his crack, and he’s wearing a tie and loafers to bed. In other words, he’s Jonathan Alter.
It’s hard not to get caught up in the horse race aspect of it, all roads lead in that direction as it were. But there is a stunning lack of context on the part of the media, as if George Bush and all the damage he has wrought never existed, as if the winner will simply get doused in a bucket of GatorAde and we’ll be off to the next race.
I must say I find the disconnect to be somewhat disorienting.
Related posts:
- The Nobel is Great, but the Press Release is Even Better
- Online Health Care Townhalls Sunday at FDL: Ohio Democratic Senate Candidates
- Late Night: Wingnuts Warn: If Grandma Suddenly Sprouts a Schlong, Blame Obama
- Matlock!!!!
- FDL Book Salon Welcomes Eric Boehlert, Bloggers on the Bus: How the Internet Changed Politics and the Press





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In a few weeks, this’ll all be settled, and most all of us will settle behind the Dem candidate. We can concentrate on helping Blue America wins and taking down Mittmo.
Jane! How is Katie doing?
People on the net tend to be more savvy than non-netters. And they tend to be overwhelmingly for Obama. That’s because they are more informed. If you care to hear more on this topic and express your vote see: http://www.dailykos.com/storyo…../39/440324
Alas, in this case I think some (one) of the candidates are more to blame. THe NYT actually called Bill and others out on the racist stuff.
Maybe true, but then you have Jeralyn Talkleft and Taylor going all Clinton all the time. Go figure. Happily here and at Kos there is more openness to different points of view.
The Disconnect…brought to you by Fox News.
Yeah, but George Bush is a regular who everyone wants to have a beer with, and Al Gore is a phony who wears earth tones.
In response to DuckSoup @ 4 , count your vote , not mine. Sounds like New Hampshire polling to me…
Hi, Jane!
Maybe it shouldn’t be that surprising that the candidates (and press) are not really getting honest with the public about how incredibly shitty things are still going to be on the second day of a new Democratic (let’s frickin hope!) administration, and how incredibly difficult it is going to be for the new president to stop the slide we are in. The repubs have fucked things up real good, and embedded right-wing partisan hackdroids throughout the executive branch that are going to have to be rooted out like grounded muskrats. But the candidates don’t want their names to be associated with gloom-and-doom scenarios, so they just play it like it’s gonna be the start of a whole new season.
Endorsement from former governor of New Mexico, Gary Johnson:
“I am endorsing Ron Paul for the Republican nomination for President because of his commitment to less government, greater liberty, and lasting prosperity for America. We are at a point in this country where we need to reduce our dependency on government and regain control of our future. To this end, Ron Paul will bring back troops, end the War in Iraq, and will strengthen the U.S. dollar and the economy. For these reasons and more, Ron Paul has my support, respect, and vote.”
“If you could train a chimpanzee to sit still through a Joe Biden speech, it could probably do the job.”
Does that mean Fox will hire GWB next February?
I hereby propose this thread as a Hillary-Obama partisan-advocacy-free zone. Anybody with me?
Yikes. Depressing what’s happened to this country and to the media.
I have to say, after all the “my candidate is better than your candidate” rancor of the past few weeks, this photo on a NYTimes piece today regarding speeches from the Dem candidates for an MLK Day ceremony in SC made me smile. Sometimes, you have to take a step back from the nasty and pause to be thankful that Dick Cheney isn’t running for anything at the moment. *g*
I am an Edwards supporter, a definite HRC disliker, but I would love for someone to convince me why Obama is a good candidate. So far all I have from him is rhetoric. “change” with no specifics. “unite” as though he is going to be able to compromise with big bidness I mean what the hell does he have to bargain with? Then he gets all bent out of shape when people mention race… he campaigned with oprah for gosh sakes! why not babawawa if he wanted a talk show quenn?
I spoke in the grocery store this morning with a friend of a long time that is an obama supporter and he had not one “issue” that he could convince me that obama had any convincing detail on. He did have a few minutes of a bolixed health care plan that was just more money for the insurance companies… Please I will have to vote for one of these turkeys can anyone convince me?
That sure is a nice moment. Thanks!
Answer to question: Press. No question in my mond.
Hope Katie is well. Hope everyone here is well.
Remember: Destiny has NY in it.
Fine with me. But, the topic, is it the candidates or the MSM makes it tough. That said, one of the major contexts for both candidate information and later trashing are the debates. Sees as if the NH debate in part “made” Hillary with the attacks on her by both the other candidates and the moderators. Interestingly, although Edwards tended to do better than the others in the early debates, he did not get the vote.
mind not mond. Is the spell check working yet?
Thanks for sharing.
Ever had personal contact with his Chicago Staff?
Why not a just plain adocacy zone? Doesn’t sound like much fun. But why make it an Edwards only advocacy zone? I like Edwards and I say: Bring ‘em on.
Yes. Authentic smiles even.
There’s a phrase I’m looking for. What was it again?
Oh yeah
Bite me.
People have chosen their candidates for a lot of different reasons. Those of us who have not chosen Obama are not making that choice because we’re ignorant.
My $.02:
It is the Press. We’ve had folks with various grades of Progressive credentials running this year on the Democratic Party side who could get no press at all since the TradMed seemingly decided up front that Senators Clinton and Obama horse race/history making was the theme of the year.
I beg to differ. I would love if it Dick Cheney were running for something right now. The entertainment value alone would be worth it.
Thanks,
Thos all look like genuine smiles to me.
I would like to see reporters rotate in and out of campaign coverage. It might keep them more honest and less jaded. Same for covering Washington. Spend two years in DC then a year in Chicago. They don’t cover anything else, because they don’t know anything else. The only way to end the inbreeding and the kowtowing to power is to make them go out and report where there is nothing to be gained by sucking up.
I know this is fantasy, but I would like to see it nonetheless.
Heh. I kind of meant that it might be fun to not spend time and effort in this particular thread trying to convince each other of the relative merits of any particular candidates, and instead discuss “Who’s To Blame: The Press or Candidates”.
Shit. I meant “just plain advocacy free zone.” I finally spell stuff right an’ I still fuck up. Damnit.
DestiNY
My key points for Obama is 1) his coming out against the Iraq invasion; 2) the respect I hold for those who support him (Lamont, Leahy, etc.), 3) the boldness with which he spoke out yesterday against homophobia and anti-Semitism in the pulpit, 4) the positive message/vision attempting to bring people of various races, points of view together; 5) what it would say to the world as we try to heal the American name in the face of the disasters of the Bush administration; 6) his foreign advisers are better than his opponents; 7) he is a brilliant speaker (and selects good speech writers); 8) I haven’t seen his campaign do the sort of Rovian political tricks that in the end causes more harm than good; 9) I prefer Mrs. Obama to Mr. Clinton as first spouse; 10) I really don’t know if the later can be controlled.
Great photo, Christy, thanks. We are so lucky that one of them will lead this nation out of the darkness.
Soldier humping? In the middle of the street?
Hmmmm…..
points ARE not is: Jeez….
I blame the press. If you look at the unbalanced coverage of Edwards against the coverage of Clinton and Obama there is no question that the press has decided for the American people who will be the front runners and who won’t. The Edwards message is being virtually blacked out by the media. If you have to ask yourself why that would be then you are not paying attention. The only good news is that Edwards has forced some more Populism into the message of the media selected “front runners”.
Ok. But the answer to that is “press.” No question. End of discussion. I haven’t seen all that much HRC or BO advocacy. Much more dumping on ‘em. But you’re right, I think all the effort at convincing others is pretty much a waste.
How about his plan to open up government in unprecedented ways? This is one of the key issues for me since it’s at the heart of all the nefarious things the Republicans have been able to do.
http://venturebeat.com/2007/11…..y-officer/
Just for fun…here’s an example of good decision-making even though it was an unpopular opinion at the time.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=sXzmXy226po
Notice he also talks about what to do “if it happens,” and how that’s completely consistent to what he’s saying to this day.
Matt Taibbi’s Rolling Stone article is quite good. He really tells it like it is. I especially liked the Monkey/Biden reference. And the Alter slam. Though, actually, I think Alter is pretty good most of the time on Olbermann. The shoulder shrugging Richard Warmonger Wolffe(SP?) and Dana Milquetoast Milbank not so much.
Taibbi asks – why can’t we work for change and hope for change and demand change. It really is silly – the lack of substance – especially on the part of Obama and Hills. At least Edwards offers a little meat. Why is he doing so poorly? I think Edwards is far better than the other two.
I agree with your point on Edwards and the press. Alas, I think – as with Huckabee – his populist appeal (anti-big business) freaked out the MSM owners.
Funny post, good picture of the dems, life is good :D
No where is that bucket of GatorAde!
Re: 1-10, inclusive:
Bah.
Cheney runnin for Fat Ass. Has a nine point lead in Kansas
I firmly believe that a certain amount of spelling errors, typos, etc. is necessary to the spirit of the blog. Any blog or net group.
It’s like….deliberately making a tiny weaving mistake in a Navajo rug. Otherwise, the spirit is trapped.
;-) How’s that?
Yeah, press suck. Because they are nearly all socioeconomically elite peers of the candidates they cover, they have a huge vested interest in keeping the coverage away from those candidates whom they do not see as their peers, or at least who will not keep the cocktail weinies, cosmos, and crab cakes flowing in DC and NYC like they do now. They want people to not really get how fucked we are, and that it is the fault of all the press’s pals.
But the candidates, even the Dems, also think they have an interest in presenting things as not being nearly as fucked as they truly are. (I actually think the majority of voters would respond positively to an honest appraisal of how fucked we are, a clear assertion that the reason we are fucked is a consequence of 30+ years of wackaloon conservative feudal ideology, and clear advocacy for a progessive route out of this chamber of horrors.
To indicate that we in this house are less than pleased with the main stream press would be a ridiculous understatement. But the bottom line is we seem to be left with the possiblities of a president McCain, Clinton, Romney or Obama. We will vote Democratic regardless of the candidate’s name. But damn, can’t Americans support better than this? At some point, we subscribe to the notion that what comes into play is ‘we get the government we vote in, and therefore perhaps deserve. Quite frankly us two Dems are sick of our Party and its so called “leadership” and, the two front runners. But vote Demecratic? We will. We suggest that many voters begin to educate themselves on what exactly each candidate stands for. That is YOUR responsibility. We apear to truly be in the midst of the ‘age of mediocracy’. In both parties.
1,733 DAYZ AND THE KILLIN’ GOEZ ON AND ON AND…
Citizen PhysioProf:
You are right as rain there, Professor, right as rain…and that’s why tryin’ ta chose a candidate without declarative statements and debates on the issues is like tryin’ ta hit a Pinata with a toothpick in yer teeth.
Let’s not vote for either Mrs. Clinton or Barak O’Lieberman and gather the progressive clan tagether for a little hardball politics from the street at the Democratic Convention…give the anointed corporatist a chance ta disarticulate from the fascist oligarchy or face defeat in November.
KEEP THE FAITH, THESE BASTARDS WON’T DO THE RIGHT THING UNLESS YA SCARE ‘EM INTO IT!!!
Will Cheney lose his personal MASH unit when he is out of office?
I agree with your agreement. It’s definitely the press. edwards is a great example. Also, look at McCain. Remember when they were writing his obits? Wondering if he would stay in? Noe he’s sorta been annointed front runner. Without much discussion of how wrong they were in peddling the story of his demise months ago.
So is this an advocacy free thread?
If so, I’ll phrase my comments with that in mind, although I’m not advocating for any of HRC/BHO/JRE.
Hmmm, well there is that. Anyone know if Bill has been drinking recently? Those images of him red faced and bull like makes me think…..
ILY – for that one – and the Navajo rug metaphor
I don’t blame the candidates any more than I fault the voters for falling for their bullshit.
Very kind of you. Like I’ve said before- The problem isn’t really my spelling. It’s my typing. As long as it doesn’t interfere with conveying what you’re saying, it’s “no biggie.” I cringe when I hear an adult say that. Don’t even get me started on “awesome.”
No, he outsourced, privatized it, then bought it out with a hostile takeover.
And if you have progressive goals in mind, it is also worth continuing to advocate for those goals even if, on the whole, the likely Democratic nominee is not going to embrace them all. The more support the nominee see for particular progressive agenda items, the more likely it is that he or she will consider it necessary to incorporate those items in the general campaign platform and, hopefully, work towards them as President. It is not the time for resignation or apathy.
I cannot fathom why anyone would be surprised as to the MSM coverage.
It is entirely consistant with the coverage of Plamegate (no underlying crime), the Iraq invasion (WMD WMD WMD – greeted as liberators), the 2000 and 2004 election losses by George Bush ….
If the GOP wins next November, it will make George W. Bush seem in hindsight, a warm and fuzzy liberal.
I was going to go through the points 1-10 and offer my criticism or agreement for each point. I just got tired and said “Bah.” Sounded nicer than “fuck it.”
yeah, i liked that too :)
Who’s to blame ? That there are no issues, that its just another
horse race ? I think fatigue with issues and scandals and the apparently impunity with which they are committed, has left people feeling that those issues will not be addressed, or resolved, that personal qualities are the only feature of democratic process we are entitled to vote on.
No real debate on controversial issues, the GWOT, Health Care, etc,
there lots of photo-ops and empty rhetoric, what else is there but
whether or not a particular candidate has any charisma. This is not
just something that has been shoved down our throats by an oppressive
media, its a diet that we are being force fed, and in some quarters
have accepted, unfortunately.
This is OT, but I’m wondering if anyone has written recently about the connection between Sibel Edmonds story and its links to Brewster Jennings, and the apparent two-fer with Valerie Plame ? There was some commentary back in March 07 but I’m wondering if there’s been a more recent discussion hereabouts ?
and NBC tells Clenis that his fellow demo party dogs are barking?
after the missing email today, do you still think we will have an election?
no chance that martial law isn’t in our future
So many clueless voters. Some really can’t decide if they like MCain or Hillary? Honest to God its a sick joke! They just don’t f**king get it. Its like not knowing if you prefer Luke Skywalker to Darth Vader.
Hey, I’m another schmuck with a keyboard, and certainly don’t have any power to make this any particular kind of thread. I am just throwing an idea out there for consideration.
We have had a number of threads over the last two days that have pretty much devolved into Obama’s better, no Hillary’s better, no Obama’s better, no Hillary’s better. At this point, no one is convincing anyone of any of that by this mechanism, and so it just unproductively diverts from discussing other stuff.
The revlolution will not be spell-checked!
True dat!
I totally agree with Richmond. I would add the name Jerome Armstrong to the list of bloggers that have turned themselves into pimps for Team Clinton. They are doing everything in their power to make sure the least progressive candidate gets the Democratic nomination.
Might it be because the MSM sees more advertising dollars from the people with the biggest bank accounts?
I dunno. Bush will always be the one who laid the foundation for them to have unprecedented and scary power. Hard to imagine, right now, a VP who would be a bigger prick that Cheney. I don’t think Bush/Cheney can ever be warm & fuzzy liberals by comparison to anybody.
This is starting to sound like a Lewis Black comedy routine.
Jonathan Alter is about the only interesting person out there.
Certainly more interesting than this article~
The possibility exists that Senator Clinton or Obama, if elected, will turn out to be a great president. I am prepared to take that chance in the coming election. I will vote Democratic.
The day will come when the MSM will wish they hadn’t stood in the way of Edwards in the White House.
Tents and camels, tents and camels….
And we PRAISE Jeebuz for dat!
Yeah. I’ve heard McCain or Obama. Tough one isn’t it. Leaves me shaking my head.
I think you have to blame the press. Edwards was outlining an Economic Stimulus package back in Early December. Was there any press coverage? No. As soon as HRC outlined a stimulus plan – smaller and less robust than Edwards, the MSM eat is up then Bush is out calling for one. Why didn’t Edwards get the credit? Because he is not the Press Sweetheart. I am glad that his message is eventually getting out there.
I wanted to tell you guys that as I was driving downtown, small Ohio town-city, I saw some people carrying signs on a bridge.
There were like 14 Ron Paul signs carried by 7 people on a beautiful, cold sunny day.
Grammar neither. Burn the bluebooks!!!!!
LOL, yeah, at some point it gets to the pont of burn out – plus, lots of work on the plate, to say nothing of an occasional personal life.
To get another VP like Cheney we’d have to get another dim, bored, fratboy President like Bush. There’s not even another one of those in the Bush family.
As always, you have provided great wisdom, humanity, and humility. And thanks for the cocoa last night!
No chance for the Clintons
Same way with health care, Seamus. Edwards was out in front. Credit/recognition? Zero.
LOL. Very occasional for me.
The belief here, which of course is always subject to disagreement, is that Huckabee, Romney or Rudy might well be even more dangerous than George W. Bush, should either of these three candidates be elected prez next November. We may unfortunately, find out.
Brace yourselves for tomorrow…story from 7 minutes ago…Toronto stock market plunge:
http://canadianpress.google.co…..MDeJfCwDfg
Those Paultards are doing yeomen sign work. If signs were any indication of how the vote would turn out, he’d be ahead where I am.
Don’t discount GWB’s Access Hollywood’s first Cousin Billy Bush.
LOL – well you deserve 2 then!
Hillary’s gonna be in South Carolina now. Wonder if she’ll trot out her “southern” twang thang again?
http://youtube.com/watch?v=bvlr0BNgWW0
http://youtube.com/watch?v=DGDm4jkDbGQ
Ugh. People fall for this stuff?
The thing is, seeing people marching in this area on Martin Luther King, Jr. day…that struck fear in my heart. We’ve had to endure rallies here before with the sheet guys. It gave me a scare, and when I saw it was just Ron Paul suppoerters I laughed with relief.
Huckabee becuase he’s a JF whacko.
Rudy because he’s a megalomanic who brooks no dissent.
Williard I don’t get. Don’t get me wrong. He’s a bum. But why do you think he’d be even worse than Bush? Bush has set the bar pretty high.
Today Europe and Asia crashed. Devastating not only for people, but also for communities, social service funds etc.
Seems that that info was withheld until quite recently. Billy Bush – Dubya’s cousin. Guess he weren’t too proud of that fact. You know, Billy is pretty darned articulate for a Bush. I’ll bet he’s got a higher IQ than any of them. Prolly din’t blow up frogs as a boy, either.
Bush will use the bad news as opportunities to cut his own taxes some more. All of the Republic candidates will nod in agreement.
What would she do if she had to campaign in Florida? We’ve got goober good ol’ boys, northeast transplants, natives who have a pretty slight accent, some Hispanics… she’d be twisted like a pretzel.
The Three Horsemen of the Apocalypse ride into town tomorrow lead by Kudlow, Kramer, and KNBC.
Fortunately, I kashed out on Friday.
Just for the record, have you ever lived in a part of the country different from where you grew up? As a southerner myself, I have spent a lot of time in the Northeast and New England. You start to use the sounds and words you hear all the time and after a while, you adapt to the dominate accent for the area you’re in. I’m in TX now, so sound more TX/Southwest. If she’s hearing the southern accent a lot, she adapts. It’s called human nature.
hehe…with extra salt.
Whew! It’s just the Paultards. But hey. Some of them can be pretty scary. As can the candidate himself.
Lots of NY expats, however.
The impact of a continuation of Republican rule on the US and on the entire world would be truly devastating. Therefore, any of the Republican candidates will be worse than Bush. Bush has laid the groundwork to make the next rethug even worse than him.
Yes. quite a bit, and grew up all over the country as well. I know how to adapt. Hillary was not doing that in these clips. She’s the Pamela Anderson of speech – fake.
Lets be careful with the word crashed.
Europe’s Dow Jones Stoxx 600 Index sank 5.7 percent.
5.7 percent is a bad day for sure, but it is not a crash.
Well, if the economy burns out like a Red Dwarf Star and there are only cinders left in the economy perhaps we will be going back to a Ron Paul gold-based barter exchange system. Heck maybe those embryos he’s so wont to bring into the world without the permission of the pregnant mothers will be needed as the serf-ers of the future. And nobody will be worried about those meddling “foreign entanglements” as they hire up all those Iraq Veterans (the ones not brain addled by EPD’s, that is) for private “Second Amendment” militias to protect their gated communities from the squatters and angry real-estate agents!
SERF-in’ USA!
OT- If there are any marathon runners in the thread, there is some bad news in the running world today. Well known and respected marathon runner, Wesly Ngetich, was killed today. He was shot with an arrow in the chest during ongoing violence in his home town of Trans Mara, Kenya.
Good point, but shall we say, pretty bad.
The thought here is that Romney or any newly elected Republican president in the next election will take that election as a mandate for approval of the Bush policies. And this might encourage a new GOP chief exec. to push the Republican domestic viewpoint and the neocon-Bush foreign policy agenda envelope even further. Just a thought. ;0)
Didn’t think that Edwards has enunciated a single-payer model of truly universal healthcare, but I could be wrong.
I thought only Kucinich supported such a plan.
I hope our Congressional Democratic Leaders will push back on Bush’s Permanent Tax Cuts for the Wealthy. It will be a real simple response: If the tax cuts were so effective then why are we in another recession? Bring out the charts that show how those Fiscal Republicans baloon spending and increase defecits exponetially.
How long does this take? I want people to stop makin’ fun of my “Jersey accent.” I mean, I’ve taken to callin’ license plates “tags.” I call a “buncha people” a “group of folks.” Use “anyways” in lieu of “anyway. “You all” instead of you (& no, we don’t say “yuuuze” in NJ). (I draw the line at “y’all”. I refuse to say that.) What more do these people want?
HA! Gotta file that one away…
I guess this is another area where we’ll have to agree to disagree. I realize that you detest Senator Clinton with every fiber of your being, but it is possible that she’s an actual human being who has been forced to respond in these ways you deride as fake due to the abuse she and her husband have had to put up with from all aspects of the political circle for, oh I don’t know, the last 15 or 20 years?
Bogus.
Night of The Living Dead comes to mind. Serfers lookin fer a place to stay.
Right. He hasn’t.
Get used to the idea that for the rest of your life, the dominant point made is “You ain’t from around here are ya?”
Permanent Vice President Cheney has promised to select a second puppet on par with George W. Bush.
Could well be. Bush & Cheney have laid the groundwowrk for them to do that.
Yup, there will be plenty of serfers coming ashore next week.
Depressions are always due to loss of purchasing power by the working class.
Stay with the Jersey accent – at least people won’t assume you are a racist.
And I respond: ” ‘ the fuck makes ya say that?” No?
I’m kinda used to it. it’s just weird to move someplace and have people tell you that you talk funny.
Oh God
How about global rout? Zat ok with all of us?
Unless you are looking to avoid a fight, sure /s
No. Just involved with organized crime. True story. Somebody I worked with asked me if I knew anybody in the mafia.
I’m always looking to avoid a fight. Except maybe with the Gathering of Assholes people.
In Canada recently, having a conversation with a gaggle of Canadians, another of them joined us and said, sounds like somebody here has an American accent.
There is ethnic cleansing going on. It is really tragic.
It’ll be worse for the Dow and NASCAP since they are gonna have to play catch up due to the King Holiday. If the Foreign exchanges lose some more points overnight the whole thing could require the “Black Monday” computer blocks to kick in. Maybe Bush will have to declare an “economic emergency” and suspend trading for awhile. But that could actually compound the problem, since the foreign markets that are now so tightly integrated with American markets will continue to bleed.
By suspending the US Markets it traps the US investors into losing investments while the foreigners are able to flee.
But I bet Bush will do precisely THAT!
Did you reply, “If I disclose that information, I’d have to knock you off.”
Well you do in their eyes. When I first got to New England, it confused the hell out of me. Folks asking me if I want a tonic and I’m saying nope, a pepsi. I didn’t understand that tonic was the generic term just as Coke is the generic term down south.
1,733 DAYZ AND THE KILLIN’ GOEZ ON AND ON AND…
Citizen PhysioProf:
The only thing left for real progressives to do is try and find a mechanism to convince either Mrs. Clinton or O’Lieberman (whichever wins the nomination) that she/he can’t win the general election without the progressive base of the party. That means not supporting either one of the charlatens and marchin’ on the convention “en mass” and scare the bastards into either articulating positions on the war, the economy and healthcare or losin’ the election. We have one moment left to strike the corporatist Democratic Party bosses and that is to excercise our freedom of speech, assembly and the right to petition and hit the streets of Denver.
KEEP THE FAITH AND PASS THE AMMUNITION…THE BASTARDS WON’T LEAD UNLESS YOU MAKE ‘EM FOLLOW YOU!!
PETA would probably get on your case if you tried to train a chimp to sit still for an entire Biden speech. I mean, that’s cruelty, isn’t it?
I stopped keeping track of all the Kenyans there have been so many. So I don’t know him specifically. But that’s awful.
Did you ever see one of those fact-based movies where someone (not from the northeast) wants to hire a hit man. Invariably, they seek out someone like you BL.
Alas, we are in the very same spot dear nomolos, yet it does cheer me that John Edwards continues his campaign despite the pathetic MSM obit on his campaign. Recently my order from Edward’s campaign – buttons and bumperstickers arrived with a note the yard signs were sold out but would be forthcoming soon.
That’s funny. We can distinguish different regions and they seem to hear it as all the same – American. Or maybe not the same, just not Canadian, eh?
I can’t have yard signs. It’s against the rules. But I’m getting t-shirts next time I get paid.
lol, good point, hadn’t thought about it from animal cruelty angel.
Actually Lahoma ended up making the Swissmiss last night. I became embroiled on another blog at the last moment, in a very polite imbroglio concerning, naturally enough, politics. And as a result became emersed in a very interesting ‘back and forth’ and found my self unable to fix the hot chocolate. The situation became a time constraint thingie. I will convey your thanks to L. ;0)
Funny thing is my sister-in-law is pretty politically aware and more left wing than me and she loved Biden. I couldn’t understand it. She’s for HRC now. But I couldn’t understand why she wasn’t from the beginning.
The betting is whether Bernaked announces a .75 or a full point cut in the interest rate before the market opens. The cut didn’t help last time.
I’m betting fear beats greed like a base drum.
Biden’s problem is his mouth, not his brain.
Keep in mind that the futures Markets are Zero Sum Games. While there are lots of folks losing money and equity with the decliniing value, there are other folks raking it in by being bears and shorting the futures.
Actually Obama fits that Pam Anderson description more thoroughly for me.
But I thought someone upthread maybe PhysioProf, declared this a partisan free zone. So Peace.
Markets crashing? Spend your Bush rebate wisely. More complex economic solutions eat up too much bike riding time so be happy if you get a rebate.
I think Edwards was watching the stock market and the sub-prime issue a long time ago. He has between $12-$30 million invested in the Hedge Fund called Fortress Investment Group, which has been bleeding stock value like a stuck pig since March. Fortress has been trading in distressed mortgages for some time, so Edwards was likely impacted by the drop in his investments since March. Fortress and the subsidiaries where Edwards has most of his investment money has dropped between half and two-thirds of their value since that time.
Anyone reasonably aware of their investments would ask “What’s going on?”
Zackly. It was funny though. You know bein’ American and all xenophobic and superior and all – gettin’ flak from a Great White Norther bout some accent. Everybody knws that the Canadians are the ones with the accents. /S
I’ll disagree. All the candidates have speech writers. HRC seems to have the weakest writers, but during the debates and interviews, I think she holds her own. Always having to parse your responses can make you sound stilted.
Thanks for passing on the thanks! And, I think that is the longest comment I have seen you make here! :-) – double thanks!!
ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ with a capital Z
Over a trillion dollars lost today around the world in related “down turns.” Boy will they REALLY love Bush (and alas, us) around the world now.
But the Senator has very fine teeth. I did like his remark some time back about “retail politics”. But he does have a tendancy to be quite long-winded. ;0)
At the risk of stirring controversy here, I think Romney is the Pamela Anderson.
Is it the anticipation that America will order no more widgets when we lose our homes? Nonsense!
Well – and the pro-insruance company votes!
Hmm maybe McCain will tell Holy Joe to step aside. Cheney seems to luv, luv being the fourth branch of government.
I think I was addressing the spot results for today.
As to whether the futures carry over to tomorrow, I guess we’ll just have to see. I just heard someone on the radio say that today wasn’t a reaction to any specific piece of bad news. Then he conceded that there had been about 15 specific pieces of bad news in the last few days. I take things like that to indicate that “we” aren’t necessarily thinking too clearly about this yet.
Nope only Edwards
And Thompson is trying to get a date with Pamela Anderson.
Cheney was heavily invested overseas, so maybe he took a big hit. That would be a small silver lining.
You nailed that one. Romney is more like P.A. than all the rest.
Without homes, we will have an awful lot less money to buy widgets with, and alot smaller places to put them.
That won’t stir controversy. Unless of course some have said Romney is robotic, so they may not agree with the pamela anderson characterization.
Agree on the disagree.
I should point out that I’ve done some work with Hillary over the years (TV news), and the couple of times we met I was literally creeped out. This didn’t happen with Bill and other major politicians I’ve worked with, but Hillary really felt distant and phony to me. Everything was orchestrated to such a degree I’ve never seen since.
I’m the first to say that you can’t tell from just a couple of brief encounters with people how they really are, but this was my starting point with her, and I’ve never seen anything to change that opinion since. I re-watched the Grying Game from a few weeks ago and now it seems laughable to me how fake it is.
Of course she’s a real person with real emotions. Don’t dispute that. She rubs me the wrong way because she thinks she can “play” people all the time, and I really don’t like being pandered to. Anybody like this bugs the hell out of me.
But if others see those same clips and anything else she does, and it connects with them…to each their own.
LOL. But Fred’s wife will gouge her eyes out first!
Should be fun watching the Plunge Protection Team strut their stuff tomorrow.
Fiddling while Wall Street burns, most likely.
How about an appointment for Senator Joe Lieberman, by a new Republican president to the SCOTUS? The possiblities are almost endless for Mr. Lieberman under a newly minted GOP administration.
I thought she was a blow up doll not a robot
Of course. I was bein’ snarky. Now would you please pass the Grey Poupon?
I do believe you are Wrong.
Kucinich is only Candidate favoring Single Payer
It is too freezing here to pick up snark! My apologies, and compliments on your point!
And of course in doing do, Thompson will be embarrassed by one of Pam Anderson’s jealous ex-husbands.
Stop that, just stop. You’re scaring me.
Both have “prosthetic” qualities.
Rrrrow! Catfight!
Ah but which ex would do the trick? Kid Rock, Tommy Lee? Rick Solomon (I believe his name is)? Are there any I missed?
that’ll get the red base stirred up, nnnooooo not doll on bot!
Yep, mistook. Edwards plan is universal.
Actually, the buzz is that overseas are disappointed in Bush’s, er, package, which might mean partly that they don’t see how it could replace all of the home equity withdrawal that used to be spent on consumer goods, till recently. That might not be all, but that’s likely to be part of the story.
I wonder if some were expecting some regulatory requirements to at least get the recognition of losses to move faster.
LOL. Chuck Norris, that fountaing of wisdom, just said presidents age 3x faster than normal folks. Kinda like dog years.
Thus, McCain’s too old cuz, since he’s 72 now, in 4yrs he’ll be 84.
Are the liars still reporting just a handful of subprime loans made to deadbeat and stupid consumers who didn’t know how to shop for the best predatory lenders? I think so.
I believe that she’s still married to Rick…but that’s sort of on-and-off…and I haven’t checked the Entertainment section in about 30 seconds!
Can’t claim that Pamela Anderson doesn’t have fake components, but she isn’t particularly stupid. Not that I want her as my leader, and I don’t know her politics. She does a fair amount of volunteer work, for PETA and M*A*C AIDS.
Edwards worked as a consultant for Fortress in 2005 and 2006. He raised about 186K from officers and employees of the company in March of 2007. Your 12 to 30 million dollar investment number was based on an unamed Edwards campaign advisor. Not a very credible source. I am glad he is smart and intelligent enough to bring the issues important to Americans to the forefront. Even if the MSM does not give credit were credit is due.
She had her components removed I think.
E.D.?
Chuck Norris is brilliant. Whatever Chuck says, I agree with. /S Incidentally, a former Dallas airport sky cap reported that Chuck was a good tipper. $40 everytime he came to town for Walker Texas Ranger shoots. So at least he’s got that going for him. ; )
Edwards will be included in the debate later today, correct?
Jeez, what do they know, that we haven’t been told?! (I had heard that too). Maybe the Dems can use this to put together a better package (somehow I doubt they will though).
I think the corporatized press sold out long ago. I’m more shocked the blogs bought into this selling of the corporate identity politics game. I expected it from the press, not the blogs. It’s done now though. Pretty much this “national disucssion” devolved to right where the powers that be need it to be to retain “the course” and its not going to change. That ship has sailed.
Yup. I think the heads of these firms that promoted them should be put on trial, AND forced to give all their bonuses to the poor. By the way good ole Greenspan should be forced to work in homeless shelters til he passes on.
Those lips aren’t nearly as natural as Angelina Jolie’s.
All that botox comes from bovines. I am not sure they were especially happy with the requisite donation procedures. Just saying.
When I get my four hundred ducats, I’m gonna throw a party. So a party store somewhere is gonna benefit. (Dubya supply-side economics.)
Yep. And what compounds the problem is that at the same time that the media companies themselves have become controlled by the corporate oligarchy, the vast majority of individual journalists in the mainstream media have become members of the same socioeconomic elite as the Presdiential candidates the are supposed to investigate and analyze. This leads unavoidably towards bias in favor of those candidates that seem most like them, in a high-school clique or neighborhood cocktail party sort of way.
Here’s how it stood last year with Edwards and singlepayer. Don’t know if he’s moved on that one. Can’t get that New Republc article at the moment.
OK, I feel better now. :-)
Fortunately, our high-tech economy will save us.
NOT.
Botulinum toxin comes from anaerobic bacteria from the genus Clostridium, not from animals.
Maybe you’re thinking of the collagen that some people have also had injected in their faces, some of which comes from cows and some of which comes from human cadavers.
And I assume this is Edwards latest on healthcare.
As far as I know, none of the top three candidates have brought up single payer. But maybe we should be grateful, we could all have Mitt Romney telling us to take it to the emergency room.
No, where did you get that whole thing about “an unnamed Edwards campaign advisor”? You are talking about something completely different than his PERSONAL Finances. The $186K is money contributed by Fortress employees and directors to his campaign. Edwards WORKED for Fortress as a consultant…and he has stated that his job was as a consultant – advising them on how to lobby the Federal government. He made almost $500,000 doing that…and apparently also was given stock-options in their Hedge Funds, many of which are registered off-shore in the Cayman Islands.
My estimate of the $12-$30 million dollars invested in various Fortress subsidiaries is based upon Edwards’ Federal Electon Commission Filing. You can access it at opensecrets.com. It’s there in it’s complete original forms, signed and submitted by Edwards. All I did was tabulate the reported investments and the range of values of each.
The $12 million is the minimum…the $30 million is if his assets were at the upper limit of the estimate. Go to the opensecrets site and download the FEC notification yourself. You’ll also see that Fortress was the major source of income over the last few years. AND that his Fortress investments are orders of magnitude above those in his other diversified stock-accounts.
Jeez, what do they know, that we haven’t been told?!
It’s going to be really interesting to read the commentaries. I suspect the only way out of this is going to be to think comprehensively.
Botox is derived from the Botulism bacterium, Clostridium bacilli. For those concerned about genetic engineering it could pose a problem as it has been altered using recombinant methods. But I’m unaware of any link to bovine material. Do you have a reliable source?
You may be confusing Botox with Collagen injections, which are a derivative of bovine dermal (hoof) collagen (although some are also taken from skin, apparently). I imagine that the collagen is extracted from cows killed for the hoofs and other purposes, rather than from someone going out and shaving Bossies toenails. So that would certainly be an issue for Vegetarians (or Vegans). I’m not sure how Vegans react to the killing of bacteria…but I’ve seen a few drinking beer and eating bread.
Actually, the dominant point is, “You’re not from around here, are you?”
It is a joke. It is conveniently used in many a circumstances to underline the fact that the person who is the object of the joke, is unfamiliar with the circumstances or surroundings.
FWIW, I grew up in a small southern town and am quite familiar with the usage. And it’s not always said as a joke, believe me.
I’ve been back in CA for 25 years now, but get me around some southern folks and I “y’all’ for weeks.
Sorry, but I blame the American people. If we weren’t so susceptible to rumor, inuendo and political games, the press wouldn’t be making money on it and the candidates wouldn’t pander to it. If we insisted on hearing about the issues, we’d hear about the issues. Time for Americans to stop being shopping dummies and educate themselves on the issues. Do you think if the white southern women who voted for Reagan because of his “black welfare queen from Detroit” comments knew that statistically there was no such thing as the black welfare queen from Detroit and they were in fact statistically the real welfare recipients of the nation, they would have voted for him? They didn’t know and didn’t bother to find out, so we got Reagan and everything went downhill from there. We let these politicians lie to us and we have no clue. Time to get a clue.