The Frenchified title is intended for the usual reasons, namely, to rub teabagger wingnut noses in their swinish lack of sophistication. I’d say I was just making a joke, but I’m afraid our right-blog friends have cracked that code, so why pretend?
Though apart from the obvious allusion to the fact that all Republican voters are dreadful unlettered hillbillies who poo in their trucker caps and only have sex with chickens because the goats move too fast and are probably gay Muslims anyway, I also wanted to reference a column written in September by one of America’s Finest Political Minds, Lanny Davis. The title of this column alludes to the phrase I likewise reference, though I don’t, as it happens, botch it.
But pedantry aside! It is the Predictive Power of Lanny Davis that I wish to invoke, because you may find it a Comfort in these Dark Days for the Progressive Cause.
If the Democrats lose the House and lose seats in the Senate, there may be a ray of sunshine out of the bad news for President Obama. This is not just making chicken salad out of chicken-you-know-what –
Chickenshit, Lanny. Chickenshit.
– history shows that a president forced to deal with the opposition party in Congress can actually end up more successful and more popular.
Well, that’s a relief! More popular! But… more successful…?
So don’t be surprised that, if the Democrats lose the House or — God forbid — the Senate, too, this November 2010, the end result could be a boon and gift of independence for President Barack Obama from following, or at least being heavily influenced by, Democratic congressional majorities — and the liberal blogosphere and organizations such as MoveOn, which hammered him over the last two years for not being liberal enough.
Great news for America! The Liberal Blogosphere will no longer Ruthlessly Control the National Agenda! Obama is FREE! FREE!
President Obama should immediately invite to the White House Senate and House Republican leaders, and legislators with a history of working across the aisle, such as Republican Sens. John McCain (Ariz.), Lindsey Graham (S.C.) and Orrin Hatch (Utah) and Democratic Sens. Ron Wyden (Ore.), Mary Landrieu (La.), Mark Pryor (Ark.) and Tom Carper (Del.), as well as Independent Democrat Joe Lieberman (Conn.), and ask them:
“Give me your proposals to create new jobs, achieve energy independence and reform abuses in the tort law system, and improve public education — and let’s write legislation — together — finding something we all can support.”
And this is how Social Security dies, to the strains of “Kumbaya.”
Anyway, in regards to Evan Bayh, at least, we can say of Lanny Davis, “Après le wank, le douche.”



173 Comments










Support this site!
Subscribe to the newsletter
Advertise on Firedoglake
Send
us your tips
Make us your homepage
About Firedoglake
THERSday!
Remind me again, exactly when did we ever have any influence on Obama? My reocllection is that “The LEFT” has been his whipping boy ever since he took office, while he has consistently caved to Republicans, Blue Dogs, and ConservaDems.
wedsthersday!Good evening all.
Silly Dr Dick. Finally the Liberal Blogosphere has lost its jackbooted stranglehold. Good thing too, as my ankles were getting tired.
Wait until all the new Republican state legislatures discover the giant holes in their budgets and go crying to the new asshats in charge of Congress for some spare change. It will happen soon in Arizona.
Merde, alors!
I think I need to start doing like the Republicans and Lanny Davis do, and just create my own reality. In my case, however, that would simply land me in Warm Springs.
Bush tried all their ideas before thats what created this mess.
We have been “trying their ideas” for the past 30 years. We now have conclusive evidence that they do not work and actually make things worse for everyone except the very rich, who do quite well indeed.
GOPers don’t make jokes unless they put someone else down.
Agreed :)
The good news is, we were already fucked, so the difference is really only one of degrees.
well, the very rich are all that really matter to them
And Pelosi has “No Regrets” mind boggling spin or just really stupid minds leading the country down the broken sewer mains. While Mr O reaches across the aisle… second time is a charm except it our asses they are betting.
Also totally ignores what is blatantly obvious to any sentient being (which would seem to exclude everyone in Washington). The Republicans do not compromise on anything ever. It takes two to tang, but somehow all of this is always the Dems’ fault.
I have a headache.
Reading wingnuts will do that to you. That is why I am glad to let you do it for me.
you are not the only one dood
Today Obama looked like a guy that had been receiving a lot of four letter words from all the democratic politicians he just sent to un-employment line.
It gets better, the democrats that survive will now be force to defend OBAMACARE, the health care bill everybody hates!!!
the big question of the day will be, how many Dems want to follow Obama?
Lanny Davis our favorite Tea Party leader, that thinks he is a progressive, need to go find the blue dog caucus, they sorta got wipe out last night
Nancy Pelosi carried a lot of water for the OBAMA white house and guess what she got for all her work, she loss 60 dem seats. How much water is Nancy going to carry now?
I bet there are some Dems in the house and senate ready to kick Obama to curve and go there on way.
Lanny Davis, when you find your peers the blue dogs, please tell them Obama is going to miss kissing them.
Obama does like the left, and he knows we don’t like him.
Lanny by the way, the road to white house runs thru the LEFT.
Lanny good luck finding the blue dogs
As far as I can understand from the news, the Obama cabinet is David Axelrod, and the President’s idea of an inspiring cabinet shakeup is to fire Emanual (after he found another calling, to make it easy on him) a month before the election. Ah, the inspiration is palpable!
House Dems should be electing a new House Speaker soon right?
So very weird! I was just reading an old post on the slime ball Lanny Davis by Glenn Greenwald and come here – only to see his name again!
Lanny Davis twice in one night is too much. Excuse me while I go throw up.
OK, I actually have a big day tomorrow — must be niters pour moi
g’nite thers — hope you feel better soon
It’s WedThersday.
I went into campus this morning, and one of my yellow-dog-Democrat friends said, “How are you?”
I responded, “Not nearly drunk enough.”
Howdy, ‘pups.
Good night, Thers.
Suzanne!
Thers!
Regardez “in regards to…” de nouveau.
(In regard to; with regard to; as regards; regarding (le best). Dire seulement.
Is there a plywright in the house. 1730 Henry Fielding wrote… “The Author’s Farce and the Pleasures of the Town” Maybe Washington on Broadway, a three act farce exposing the player’s in there sublime sillinesses. At some one can only look on with laughter at this bixarre state of affairs. Taming of the shrew, Virginia Wolff…ot os time for some satire. Go for the big one Thers.
Take a look at Paul Craig Roberts today commenting on Chris Hedges on the Left …
Who Has The Crystal Ball?
That was a wonderful response1
OK, Clinton may be trying to make a go of foreign policy, which can be kind of dicey, when gunboat diplomacy holds sway, but why, oh, why was acting like a dormat for the Republicans considered a strategy. I wish I could see the Frontline show on the The Deal. I recall O’s announcement of the the deal with Big Pharm. He gave a brief announcement with a row of suits behind him, then they shuffled off the stage shamefacedly. Not even a smile to be had about what a good deal this was, what a win-win.
I was inspired by Animal House: when Dean Wormer landed on the Deltas like a air-dropped tank with a failed parachute, someone advised Flounder to begin drinking heavily.
I agree with you
Nancy sounds like she thinks the Obama, Axelrod, Rahm, game plan worked? Hello Nancy you just got wipe out!!!
This is going to get crazy, the GOP is going to attack OBAMACARE daily, how many democrats are going to fight for a health care BILL the RIGHT HATES AND THE LEFT HATES? ( talk about committing politcal suicide)
in the mean time, people will be losing their jobs and homes.
I see more dems running from the trojan horse name Obama, just to stay employed after 2012
Sleep well.
Obama is a joke.
I can’t wait to see him defend himself against his BFF repukes impeaching him. Srsly, I can’t. What the fuck is he gonna say? “I love you, I mean I really love you bro! Don’t impeach me, like come on, man!”
evening, firegods
Heh! Did you know that the French translation of “Animal House” was “American College”?
I’m dying to know the story of the lickity split Rahm exit…
great ariticle
If we run from Obama, we must be running to something. Who (or what) is it we’re running toward? And don’t tell me it’s Magic-underwear Mitt.
Well, it was certainly the college most of us wish we had attended.
me too — i think it was tied into what happened yesterday. he got shoved under the bus to chicago before he knew what hit him…
We saw this film in Paris, and nearly died laughing. “American College” indeed! 1978
Hey!
I was in graduate school at Oklahoma then and Sigma Chi was doing its best to emulate Animal House. Even burned down their own frat house, which earned them the nickname Sigma Fried.
SPOILER ALERT if you’ve never seen Hitchcock’s ‘Psycho’ — don’t read!
Did you know the Portuguese translation for ‘Psycho’ was (back into English) ‘The Boy Who Dressed Up As His Mother’?
Dubbed or subtitled?
Mid-terms are always about turnout. The base that turns out wins. When a nationwide poll of Democrats finds that NEARLY HALF (47%) it’s base is so pissed that they want to primary their own President, then you’re going to lose. Badly.
To me, this is the clincher. If there were any doubts about why the Dems lost, this poll clears them up. And if there were any doubts as to whether we here at FDL are really some tiny minority of Democrats, that’s been answered too. Nearly half of all Democrats are just as pissed as we are. They lost because their base was disappointed. Period. I mean it’s got to be unprecented for a President to be in office less than two years and half of his base wants him gone.
I realize the MSM will tell us all another story (over-reach, too far left, etc.), but they’re all bullshit.
I was at K-State. Our Animal House was Sigma Alpha Epsilon (We Are Pissing on your lawn.)
McConnell plan to attack democrats is to make them defend OBAMACARE.
McConnell and the GOP have no plans to fix the economy, to keep their base happy and upbeat all the way to 2012, why not attack OBAMACARE daily because it doesn’t take a genius to see that the RIGHT and The left hate Obamacare
how many democrats are going to spend the next two years fighting for OBAMACARE?
when their voters are losing jobs and their homes
Ugh, I sure do miss edit.
Forgot the put the link in that post.
Wow! We were mad then!
If Lanny Davis is a public face of the Democratic Party, then I need to find a new political home.
The Dems lost not because they tried too much, but because they did too little. There are no style points in politics and you are judged solely on what you actually deliver. Krugman nailed it today.
So crazy!
the MSM keeps ignoring the fact that 47% of Obama base hates him
where is that so call liberal media, when you need them?
I he is the face of the Democratic Party, we need a face lift.
Hiya CE
And the answer to my question is what? It was a simple question which had nothing to do with what McConnell might or might not do.
Care to guess what triviality they will use as grounds for impeachment? I have no doubt Obama has committed crimes and misdemeanors… I suspect every president does. I am also confident any charge brought by Republicans will be utterly inane.
World gone insane. Good news, MSCE moving back to Ohio.
Or a refacing job.
Ha! One doesn’t need to know a word of French to totally appreciate the final line. Nicely done!
Isn’t being black and a Democrat enough? It is for the teabaggers.
If you’d go back to typing exclusively with your fingers you’d make fewer mistakes. Other extremities are less reliable, in my experience. “g”
Yeah but not technically against the law… yet.
BTW, Rahm Emanuel has now been Chief of Staff of the White House that suffered TWO of the largest electoral defeats in history.
New Rule. If any Democrat ever announces Rahm for the position of anything above janitor, that person is immediately stripped of his/her D after their name.
Why introduce irrelevant criteria? Either of them alone is sufficient to teabaggers.
Let me make it very simple, if you want to stay in congress, following Obama may shorten your career.
Did you see any commercials, that had democrats talking about how great OBAMACARE is? I did not
I’m sure that they will quickly push it through the House and then in the Senate with the help of Nelson, Landrieau, and the rest of the wrecking crew.
LOL!
Evening RF.
Not exactly an unexpected consequence to the wipeout, if you pay attention to committee assignments and political ambition:
Handing over the House ’cause the Dems suck gives us this – Steve King will now be the chair of the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration, Citizenship, Refugees, Border Security and International Law…
This Steve King.
(The title is illustrative of the content: Congressman Steve King: Stop Bilingual Ballots)
And this.
(Congressman Steve King’s Opening Statement at 9/30/10 Hearing on Illegal Immigration)
And this.
Crazy is just the appetizer. And this is just one abysmal critter, on one issue.
Who woulda thunk?
We were celebrating that good news last time, CE. Apparently MsCE can have it both ways when Ohio secedes from the union — living close to family … in another country.
Yea, and knowing Obama, he’d sign the damned thing.
I predict that the Thugs will go for maximum irony and impeach Obama for war crimes.
‘course, they’ll never get enough votes in the Senate, but then, conviction isn’t the real goal: distraction and time-wasting are.
It will be some action which posed a grave danger to our great nation, like, he didn’t curb his dog.
Howdy howdy howdy.
Oh ya? Where you pulling these numbers from, if I may so politely ask?
Maybe the ‘Dems’ didn’t try hard enough, maybe they didn’t want to be the fan blades or the fan operator. The consequences of the meltdowns and bursts haven’t visited us yet, not to the extent they will when Xmas doesn’t save retail’s ass, and retail defaults on their leases and debts, and unemployment triples. Maybe the ‘Dems’ realized they wouldn’t even be able to find any undocumented immigrants to start their cars for them. Maybe they didn’t want to wear heavy vests all the time. Maybe they really do want to spend more time with their families instead of in an underground bunker: maybe they read Tom Hayden on Woodward’s Obama’s Wars in The Nation (10/25/10).
No need to explain, to me, it’s funny anyway.
Well, it would be bipartisan.
That is the party platform after all.
Dunno, I think the only fault a Republican (or Democrat) could possibly find in conducting a war would be ending one.
WOW!!!
this is all I can say
I have a feeling these Tea Party candidates are going to do what Obama and the corporate dems refuse to do, destroy the GOP!!
Good question – seems kinda low to me…
the best show on TV
Dylan Ratigan had this poll on his show yesterday
Yes, and jolly old Nation gets a ride down the crapper as part of the bargain.
Time for me to toddle off. Have young minds to corrupt on the morrow and getting my theory seminar through postmodern critical anthropology today was exhausting.
Well, we won’t have Blanche to kick around anymore. S’pose she’ll have to return to relying upon the kindness of strangers.
Even after the NY Times featured Even Bayh spooning out the same crap as Davis you still hear them called the liberal media. We are in the era where nothing means anything, or anything can mean whatever you want.
Hiya margot
Sucinct is good. Trenchant, too. Who knew we were getting a procedural law professor, not a courtroom brawler.
Nite. Corrupt ‘em good. Niters to DrSmoke too.
There’s a link at 52 to HuffPo discussing the Poll.
Good night good sir.
Colbert speaks:
That still didn’t answer the question.
If Dems in Congress are running away from Obama, who will they be running towards?
If there’s a progressive “standard bearer”, they’d better show themselves quick. 2012 started yesterday. And don’t tell me Feingold or Grayson – any potential candidate who got wiped out yesterday is damaged goods for the next cycle.
g’nite dr dick
It is a crazy world. I don’t even care enough about bilingual ballots to go read about them, and this guy’s on a jihad or something …
Thanks for that Krugman link..”Nobody Cares” it is irrelvant just show us the money stupid and blather all you want.
Congrats!!
Thanks, Spotts. You’re more patient than I am.
Only Harry Reid. And he pulled it off.
That must be where all the DSCC money went.
I’m trying to figure out what the lesson lies in Harry’s win. There has to be a lesson for us there.
Thanks Loo Hoo!
And he’s also ignoring the fact that the Blue Dog caucus lost heavier than any other subgroup.
Harry really lucked out this time, both in drawing such a weak opponent and in keeping his job as majority leader.
OT
Anyone know what happened to what I thought was supposed to be on the California ballot: the initiative that was to allow the legislature to use a majority vote (not 2/3) on all matters of revenue and expenditures? The one that passed that I saw left all tax measures with the 2/3 mountain to climb.
Harry is Mormon, y’know. Lesson is we should all be purchasing magic underwear.
Only Harry Reid. And he pulled it off.
Imagine the odds of Harry Reid running the smartest campaign of any Democratic Senate candidate this year. Something around a gooleplex to one.
“If you’re less popular than smallpox, you better find a batshit crazy opponent to run against.”
I’d like to argue that’s not the lesson. But I suspect it may be.
Prize for Cujo’s 100.
Doesn’t work everywhere. Kentucky leaps to mind.
I’m out for the night. Splendid evening to all.
Harry had tons of his own money. Don’t know how much the DSCC spent.
California has a DEM GOV and DEM Lt Gov. We passed the 50% budget rule so the minority cannot stop our budgets anymore, We are in position to pass single payer/public option after three vetoes. The repukes that got elected can suffer through this!! I am lsughing. Taxes for the rich!!!
I doubt if anyone will primary Obama in 2012
you never know, it is still very early
the MSM is already doing everything they can to protect the trojan horse that is Obama
the best opportunity progressives have is getting strong progressives candidate ready to run against the new batch of crazy republicans
the best news about last night was the blue dog caucus being wipe out,
I really doubt if Obama will be able to work with these republicans, Clinton had a different set of republicans to work with.
Obama is looking at a very divided congress, the progressive caucus got a lot stronger yesterday, the blue dog caucus is gone, THE GOP DOES NOT NEED BLUE DOGS
Check this. He used the old fashioned democratic gob-smack.
Hiya PPD.:)
NOT luck. See 121.
A little bit of luck, a lot of RIROs (Republicans In Registration Only) trying to push Jim Gibbons on the ballot and force Nevada GOPers to either defend him or repudiate him (and pushing Angle through in the bargain), and the casino lobby throwing their weight behind Reid (it’s a lot like the Bugsy Siegel days in that respect).
Good-bad news here: here.
Obama is looking at Pakistan.
good one!
im late to the game….hi yall…hangovers anyone?
Right… Fair is Foul and foul is fair. The holders of the ring of power are effecasius dilletants. The media is bad theatre for thoughtless bufoons…did that happen in the 30s somewhere in Europe?
Obama is looking ………………………..older
and Andrea Greenspan is extremely vile
well guess ill go back to my cave…..sad this country is ,and facing cat 5 tornado
How’s everything in OH tonight, margot?
Collapse isn’t pretty, and we’re going to shift into a higher gear. The antics of the Republicans in Congress will provide a little diversion as our mighty walls rush asunder.
Lotsa typos from here apologies. Why not the Dems impeach Obama. Then thank the Repukes for saving the economy (they are going to save us right?) So put up or leave next election en masse.
Hey, sadly!
I take your word for it — I haven’t seen the First Dood since his HCR Joint Session Send Up.
its gonna be hell for a looooooooong time!! boner & issa are sharpening the impeachment claws.. dems are still kissing repug asses as they cower in fear….
Corporate is throwing him under the bus. The base is too. He bet the farm and lost he has no cards to play he sold out his friends. Treachery has its own rewards. Maybe he can call Ghost Busters.
That is some scary shit, man. Not least because my son is in the combat engineers and my daughter-in-law is in signals.
Oh, thank you. I realized that I was just being to lazy to Google it myself. I was reading that LA Times editorial, too. I see George Lakoff was supporting Prop. 25. I am trying to figure out what happened to his pure ’14 word’ measure, that was decorated with multiple off-putting (tea-bagger-summoning) references to increasing your taxes in Jerry-Brown-as-AG’s ballot summary. Back to Google.
Well…I’m not feeling great about losing our dear Governor Strickland, who I just like a lot. He’s kind and his farewell speech was warm and classy.
Then the tv showed Mike DeWine, who we got rid of a few years ago as a senator. Now he’s the Attorney General. He walked on stage with a broom and started sweeping. “Out with the old!”
Class act, Mike.
Is your new governor and legislature going to go after higher ed funding in Ohio?
why did feingold get kicked to the curb? i kinda thought he’d pull it out…
can americans REALLY be tthis gullible and bought the corporate line?? OMFG!!! talk about cutting off one’s nose to spite your face…………..
Hair-trigger, all day all night, all of us have targets on our backs. Our media are merciful, they distract us with trivia. Our beloved bloggers and blogeresses rail about war crimes.
I really don’t know, but I imagine so. Are they doing that in NM too?
I’m thinking 1920s Germany, a foul progress of hyperinflation, Dada and Goebbels. Of course they didn’t have our ultimate modern distraction: the return of McRib.
1. Feingold got assaulted by a boatload of money he couldn’t answer.
2. Feingold was a long way from the most popular Senator in the Democratic caucus.
3. Related to 1. and 2., Feingold got minimal support from the DSCC.
We’re going to have program cuts for sure.
My wife just started the tenure-track on one of UC’s satellite campuses. She’s worried for her job.
Gag…
Copying the Giants who swept the Rangers in the World Series. In America violence is king…kindness not so popular. Sorry you lost your good guy and peeps.
It’s really depressing, isn’t it. People vote this way and shop at Walmart both.
It’s called The Race to the Bottom.
all the more reason his people should’ve pulled him thru – he lost by a fairly wide margin which surprised me………
Bringing water balloons to a knife fight
Harry Reid’s first legislative negotiation with the republicans will start with him selling social security to Wall Street. When he finally wakes up, watch him make history by being the first U.S. senate majority leader who invokes a filibuster to stop the minority plus Lieberwhore & Nelson from sacrificing social security on the altar of fiscal restraint.
At least the phone calls are over.
The Republican commentors in the NYT today sounded a common theme: “you liberals all looked down on us and now you’ll see.”
They might as well sing, “tomorrow belongs to me.”
The Giants swept the Indians in the ’54 Series, this year they lost a game.
That’s a shame. What about OH’s secretary of state Brunner?
and the bottom is winning………………
WTF, I never wanted to retire anyway.
I see. This is what I’ve found in quick search…I hope that’s all there is, some HR and IT cuts (not that I want those either).
Before there was a Wal*Mart, before there was a K-Mart, when there were still Woolworths and Kresges, on the Wednesday morning after the McGovern defeat, my friend at work asked me in genuine sympathy, “Are you really disappointed?”
Is it unending Karma b/c this nation, “conceived in liberty…” was stolen from George III, and it’s been stolen again ever since?
Article available only to subscribers…
She lost in a primary for senator to Lee Fisher, who lost by a ton of votes.
I’m heading for the sheets. Good night, folks.
I’ll see if The Mods can help send it to you.
Gee, Lanny, it’s really great news Obama will no longer be hamstrung by the demands of progressives and sundry DFHs. All those progressive policies he had to implement under the progressive regime: start new foreign wars in the third world; continue wars started by the previous Republican regime; medical insurance giveaways in the guise of affordable health care that is not affordable; implementing policies that fail to help people facing foreclosure on dubious grounds; the endless bailing out of banks oh so too big to fail; eliminating social programs including social security; permitting increase surface mining and mountaintop removal; permitting offshore deepwater drilling; promoting a nuclear power renaissance; third way trade policies; promoting candidates who are Democrats in name only. Thank goodness that will all be behind us and we will finally be able to get on with the double mega awesome rapine of the country flat out. Oh fraptious day.
That’s too bad — Brunner was a key to fair elections in Ohio — after The Dark Ages of Blackwell
time for some LLN, I think
“Après le wank, le douche.”
Spew alert was missing. Never before a more accurate description of the Creepy One.
Aside from a Democratic Party that is timid and weak for fear of offending anyone the problem boils down to a corrupt and complicit corporate media that is the primary, if not sole, source of information for the U.S. public. Aside from being poorly educated to begin with they are fed a constant diet of disinformation, misinformation, out right lies and propaganda from corporations that have a stake in the ideological struggle. As long as the game is “fixed” and the media is allowed to create the narrative that best suits it’s personal and corporate interests little will change. The people will continue to vote against their own best interests and the corporate media will continue to profit.
“The Frenchified title is intended for the usual reasons, namely, to rub teabagger wingnut noses in their swinish lack of sophistication…”
It would be a damn sight more impressive if you didn’t make basic errors in French: It’s *la* merde.