Can’t see it Mithras.  What’d you say?

Yeah, Mithras, it just defaults to a link to the post.

Reading through the comments though, I did see one from you, subtly needling the hot air ego balloons.  Not sure if you posted more than two comments, but the ones I can see made me smile gently.

Nothing. I’m sorry I even responded to him.

The “how is it even possible?” thing is hysterical.

OT, but Holy Mother of God - how intellectually bankrupt is the Right that they keep trotting this guy out as some kind of “expert”?

The thing is, Sirota is a fucking dick.  I don’t really know that I can cheer this on.

Tom, I think the Instaputz guys and me are the only folks who watch PJTV videos.  I saw that Joe the Plumber thing a few days before BT posted about it. He’s so dreadfully boring and witless I have a hard time writing about him.

John Cain—I am hoping that, through positive reinforcement, we can direct his dickishness in a useful direction.  But yes, he is a huge dick, and it always amazes me that he manages to get on TV.

He’s so dreadfully boring and witless I have a hard time writing about him.

Rick Sanchez (of all people!) totally nailed it when he compared JTP to the obnoxious, dickhead, know-it-all neighbor / colleague / relative we’ve all endured at some point in our lives. The big-mouth nitwit who pontificates endlessly on subjects about which he is 100% ignorant. Hey, if the GOP wants to let that toilet trained gorilla form its strategy, I have no problem with that.

The thing is, Sirota is a fucking dick.  I don’t really know that I can cheer this on.

My dick scale:

myiq1/2u—> lambert strether 2.0/bugfucker—> sirota

But, yeah, I know what you mean.

My initial reaction is to say, again, that Sirota’s a dick and just spoiling for a fight to raise his own profile.  This doesn’t make bugfucker et al. less dickish, I’m just saying is all.

That said, I think BTD, Lambert, and bugfucker are also insufferable assholes.  Rather than attempting to see why people might support Obama, they just ascribed superficial motives, giving us “creative class”, “the One”, and all other sorts of pejoratives.

They all cared more about domestic policy, and at least in the later months, Clinton was more populist/progressive on these issues.  For those of us who cared about foreign policy, especially after the last 8 years of horribleness, Obama was clearly the better choice.  It’s not just specific positions (anti-Iraq war, no on Kyl-Lieberman, as opposed to Clinton).  Clinton, like Kerry and Gore before her, approached the politics of foreign policy as an attempt to out-hawk the Republicans, and her language reflected this.  Obama rejected this type of posturing and outlined a more dovish approach strongly without resorting to GOP framing.

Furthermore, Lambert seems to see the Iraq war as just another check on a pro/con list between the candidates, and not the most important issue in the election.  Clinton AUMF vote, and more importantly her failure to apologize for it, legitimately pissed off a lot of people.  Lambert is blind to this, which is why he can cry WORM on any instance of nuance in Obama’s positions yet write a lengthy piece explaining how Clinton’s AUMF doesn’t mean she’s pro-war, all without a hint of irony. 

John, I agree with pretty much everything you wrote, but I do think I should point out that Obama didn’t vote on Kyl-Lieberman. Which is still better than Hillary’s yes vote, of course, but not as good as active opposition.

And you’ll grow old and die waiting for PUMAs or any other hardcore Hillaryists to explain to you why anyone with real progressive instincts, especially feminists, shouldn’t take her war vote into consideration. How many Iraqi women have had their lives destroyed thanks to that? But PUMAs and (sad to say) many members of the American left have given up caring about anything but their own class—those “hardworking Americans, white Americans” Hillary Clinton sucked up to so effectively she forgot she publicly supported NAFTA as First Lady repeatedly and enthusiastically.

As I said to Bugfucker in a previous comment, he and his ilk appear to have a 3/5ths rule in place when it comes to the war—non-Americans, especially non-white Americans, simply don’t matter as much.

John, my reason for supporting Obama was pretty straightforward ... I thought he stood the best chance of winning. I also agreed with a lot of his opinions and policies or I wouldn’t have actively supported him.  As I’ve stated, Bernie Sanders would be my ideal president, but fat chance that’s ever going to happen. I would have been fine with Hillary as Prez, but I just didn’t think she was electable (the Clintons’ problem, not mine) and my primary concern was getting a Dem in the White House and our reputation restored abroad. Would Hillary have been better on the domestic/economic front?  Who in the hell knows. I think it would have been a wash at best. I think in the long run Obama will be much better when it comes to nat’l security (a somewhat major concern of mine as a pacifist/NYC resident) and foreign relations.

That should of course said “non-white non-Americans.” Though PUMAs are still racist pieces of shit, so yeah.

That bugfucker can now question what’s the big deal about being a PUMA, even after specifically pointing out himself their myriad problems, speaks to this inability to see thing from any perspective other than his own.

I just saw goldberry/Riverchuck’s comment on that thread. Someone should come up with a Perl script for her to just generate the same talking points over and over so she doesn’t have to keep retyping that sino-peruvian lesbian-based “we told you so” malarkey.

Kevin—Your wish is my command:

Sean wins comment of the day, if not week.  I bow before you.

Sirota vs. PUMAs: can they both lose?  Please?

Fresh Chucky lulz at CW; she’s attacking poor Bugfucker like a woman scorned! And *squish* squish*—there go Bower and Mantavalous under the bus!

LOL @ Tom Hilton.

Yes, that would be the ideal outcome.

Sirota, not actually being a community organizer, makes a classic mistake with this posting.

You don’t attack DOWN, you attack UP.

Pointing out that a tiny group of people who live in a hermetically sealed bubble are stalking you only brings attention to your critics without building any new coalitions in support of your mission.

In David v. Goliath, people root for David.  When you are, compared to your enemy, Goliath, you don’t celebrate their Davidity.

Sirota vs. PUMAs: can they both lose?  Please?

I hear ya, Tom. This is how I felt when Florida State played Tennessee in the BCS game awhile back.

And *squish* squish*—there go Bower and Mantavalous under the bus!

I think they threw them under the bus quite a while ago. You all know what I think about Bower and Mantouvalos, but, sweet jeebus, at least they occasionally performed well under the media spotlight. We’ve all seen what a disaster the hunched-over and scowling Murphy has been and I can’t even imagine how horrible Riverchucky and Taggles would have been if they’d gotten the airtime Bower and Mantouvalos allegedly horded.

Bower and Mantavalous are incredibly easy to detest. I’ve had dealings with both of them, and they were as plastic as could be. But, unlike Murphy, Bower is at least willing to face the music when things get dicey. Darragh has turned out to be incredibly manipulative and cowardly in ways I’ve found to be truly astonishing.

Folks, I just got off the phone with my Congressman—Thompson, CA 1—and to say it kindly, the stimulus bill is not what we think it is. The one thing that jumped out at me after a print reporter asked a question was that the bulk of the money is not going directly to the states, but instead, you’ll have to apply for a Federal grant to get what you need.

That’s not to say Cali won’t see some 30-billion, it’s just that the road to getting your hands on any of those funds is going to take quite a while, particularly here in paradise where 30-billion would only cover 3/4 of our predicted state deficit.

Just thought I’d take a little of the nasty, cold Pacific storm we’re experiencing and share it with you all.

I could care less about Sirota.  I just like messing with hte PUMii.

The one thing that jumped out at me after a print reporter asked a question was that the bulk of the money is not going directly to the states, but instead, you’ll have to apply for a Federal grant to get what you need.

I kinda figured that’s how it would be, though.  It’s not like states are fiscally responsible like, say, TARP banks or Sunni militants.

Just thought I’d take a little of the nasty, cold Pacific storm we’re experiencing

But dude, the snowboarding is epic!  Spend some time outside this weekend—the PUMAs will still be a-bittering on Tuesday.

Gang, I caught the early, outraged response to Sirota’s post from the deadenders at The Flatulence and PUMAtown…but I haven’t followed up because it was all too ridiculous.

I never followed Sirota prior to this, and the PUMAs seemed to be more upset by the fact that he didn’t name them specifically, than by his exhortation to Hillary supporters to STFU. It all seemed rather artificial.

PUMA is over. Even ##### (Duh!) is catching on to that. Now that Hillary’s SOS duties have been squeezed-down to making the morning coffee for Samantha Power, I’m not sure what else there is to be PO’ed about.

For good or ill, the Stimulus Bill will pass.

For good or ill, Hillary’s position has been circumscribed to the point where she will be lucky to plan the State Department’s Christmas Party.

For good or ill, “The Audacity of Democracy” is a dud.

And for good (but no ill), Riverchucky and Darragh (aka Buffy the Victim Pimp) have fallen so far off the radar that they are now officially vanity Web sites.

Alessandro Machi is next. I mean, has anyone been watching the “Pumasphere” site? Grass grows faster. “The Daily Puma”—while slightly more active—will only survive if it is absorbed by FreeRepublic or RedState.

Oh, and if anyone has forgotten why we hate these fucking idiot pinheads, here’s the latest quote from svelte, attractive J4H:

Jeezus if only American women–and women worldwide–would seize the nearest penis and twist it till the sun didn’t shine we might change this stupid old world…

I don’t care if Sirota is a dick. If he wants to help us destroy the PUMAs, I’m all for it.

Jeezus if only American women–and women worldwide–would seize the nearest penis and twist it till the sun didn’t shine we might change this stupid old world…

Happy ending!

Dick-twisting is the way to world peace? who knew? Considering we have a bunch of jackoffs in elected positions already, it should happen quickly, no?

Or does world peace happen faster if one deploys the nipple-twister tactic instead of the dick twister?

For good or ill, “The Audacity of Democracy” is a dud.

Funny how they won’t talk about it on any of their sites. Seems Murphy doesn’t like her abandoning PUMA PAC headquarters without a word or warning to anyone and leaving mommy to clean up her mess, being portrayed onscreen. Seems like they don’t take kindly to their public support of McCain being out there, either.

The art of sweeping under the rug. Rrrraaaaauuuuuuugggggrrrr!

Or does world peace happen faster if one deploys the nipple-twister tactic instead of the dick twister?

A little of both does wonders….err….

@HumboldtBlue

Yes, the Stimulus Package is a total ruse, which may (at best) buy us another 6-9 months to dodge the inevitable. I never saw it as anything else, and I hope that no one else does, either.

In a global economy, with major corporations disconnected from national loyalties, the America standard of living can only fall as the worker pools of other nations become capable of what we do at a vastly lower cost. Of course, once we approach the entropic mean of living standards, either the whole world will unionize, or we will only remain competitive by living more cheaply.

In the end, there won’t be enough consumers to sustain the high-tech world we enjoy now. And either tiny slave-owning Atlantises of healthcare and weaponry will emerge, or we we will all be reduced to the hunter-gatherer paradigm.

It’s just a damn shame that Obama became President at exactly this moment. There’s not a gawdamn thing he can fix, and the choice of alternative futures is really ugly.

Even ##### (Duh!) is catching on to that.

Let the comment war begin!

If you have examples of where ##### has differed from her PUMApeers and been shat upon for it, be sure and offer them up.  Time to peel her off from the herd.  (Moo!)

Ridicule other people. Especially fat people, people with unusual chromosomes, and children who have been sexually assaulted. Also women who have been abused or killed by their husbands and boyfriends. Then maybe the jerks you are so afraid might turn around and ridicule YOU will forget to do it as you egg them on to ridicule someone ELSE. (For some real doozies, see some of the comments Rumproasters left over at KPFT.) When people question you about why you were making fun of them, say you know they were having icky thoughts and they deserved it. Make and wear the special inverse tinfoil hat that amplifies other people’s thoughts so you know what they are thinking.

This one from ##### did piss me off a bit because it’s not factual (just like the wild balloon-popping pet accusations!).  We’ve gone out of our way to not make fun of people’s weight. And when some folks here made fun of a woman “with unusual chromosomes” I deleted the comments and emailed them individually asking them to stop. And “women who have been abused or killed by their husbands and boyfriends”? WTF? If this is a reference to BettyJean’s daughter,I don’t know where she’s getting that.  It’s never happened here. In fact, as soon as I found out that BettyJean’s other daughter was sick with cancer (before the attack), I asked Roasters to stop commenting on her blog and they did.

I’m like the Gandhi of snark, for fucksake.

The Betty Jean thing is highly problematic. PUMAs are incredibly two-faced when it comes to her particular situation. On the one hand, the vast majority of them recognize that she’s got more than one screw loose and has an exhibitionistic streak a mile long, but there’s also the absolute horror of her family situation and the naked pain attendant to that.

So what do they do? Use her as a symbol to bump up the outrage meter readings at PUMA PAC.

I’m like the Gandhi of snark, for fucksake.

I’m glad you mentioned Gandhi. This has been bothering me for some time.  You may have noticed that Lambchop keeps this famous quote in his signature:

“First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, then you win.”—Mahatma Gandhi

I guess that’s to reassure his readers that even though the Obots make fun of him, that one day every one will agree that he was “prematurely correct.”

I would point out that there are also folks who are really deserving of ridicule- Lambert, for instance.  In those cases I’m pretty even Gandhi would say that people will continue to point and laugh at them ad infinitum.

Use her as a symbol to bump up the outrage meter readings at PUMA PAC.

Bingo.

If it’s okay with everyone, I’d like to put the BettyJean discussion to rest (I know, I know, I brought it up).  There’s a lot we don’t know about regarding her history and current events and I think it’s best to just wish both of her daughters well and move on.

Deal?

I’ve been prematurely correct about a bunch of things on this blog.  Do I have a slew of stuffed animals coming my way?

Why did it become Barack Obama’s special obligation to take on misogyny from the media? Seriously. I’ve lived through ten presidential elections in my memory now, and have been active in every one since 1984, when I could first vote, and I do not recall any other candidate, ever, being called on the carpet for failing to defend his primary opponent from unfair attacks. Especially when said primary opponent was unapologetically using the “kitchen sink” strategy herself. I think the very fact that Hillary supporters believed that it was Obama’s job, when they never made the same demands on Edwards, for example (and Edwards was the one who publicly mocked HRC’s tears before the NH primary, not Obama) speaks to some uncomfortable truths about the expectations that black men should always be apologizing for getting in the way of white people’s dreams.

Kerry, agree.  It was the job of her campaign (and, to a certain extent, her supporters) to tackle those issues. And I don’t recall anyone asking Hillary to take on racism.  In fact, I recall her saying she witnessed no evidence of it during the primaries.

Right, Kevin. Not even when Hillary supporter Ed Rendell was saying that PA was too racist to vote for Obama in the general (which, whoops!)

That is the exchange of ideas between people who have not staked out a position to be defended at all costs, but are trying to puzzle out a more complete view of what’s happening in this country.

Well said Mrs. Polly, well said.

Now will you bring me my goddamned sammich already!

OMG - they’re screaming “DITTO!” at one another over at PUMA PAC. What an insular group of fucking retards!

sean -

My best guess is that she’s a PUMA. But I see what you mean - there’s a bit of wiggle room in her posting.

HB: One Spicy Meatball Hero, coming up—I’m womanly inching my way over with it now.

Why did it become Barack Obama’s special obligation to take on misogyny from the media?

‘Cos that’s all they got.

Please tell me Carols Haka is one of us mocking them

I’d like to think not - she’s been a reliable fount of hilarity for me for many months.

Sadly, I suspect she’s one of those adbots, like the ones that keep popping up at the end of some of the threads on here:

* vaguely relevant posts to fit in with the Zeitgeist - Check.
* forgot, or didn’t know how, to embed a link in her screen name to whatever she’s selling - Fail.

The latest from myiq2xu:

Obamanation hates us because we are lefty critics of Obama.  Obama supporters call us racists and Republican ratfuckers because they can’t admit we’re the liberals they wish they were.  In fact, they hate us worse than they hate real racists and Republicans.  They hate us because in their hearts they know we’re right.

They misrepresent our beliefs and launch personal attacks on us because they can’t find substantive areas of disagreement with us on the issues.  If, as Riverdaughter says, we’re “Democrats in exile” then Obama supporters are “Democrats in captivity.”  They hate us for our freedom, because nobody tell us what to do or think.

What remains baffling is why non-Obot lefties like Anglachel and the gang at Corrente treat PUMAs with disdain when we agree on almost every issue.

He sounds like George W. Bush (“They hate freedom, they love terrah”).

This is what happens when a group succeeds in becoming as insular as The Confluence. Real discourse subsides and all that remains, ultimately, is smug jingoism. myiq2xu is all style and no substance, and the style - such as it is - is hopelessly ham-fisted.

The PUMAs feel that in order to survive, they have to remain - in the words of Robin Morgan - in “a constant state of rage.” Every day at TC and PUMA PAC is a mini-revival meeting. Sometimes it even seems as if they are speaking “in tongues.”

All that’s missing are the snake handlers.

MyQ2 is never more soulful then when he’s contemplating his own injured feelings.

they can’t admit we’re the liberals they wish they were.

Let me try to admit he’s the liberal I wish I were, just as an experiment.

I wish I could see the Harvard-educated Ali Campoverdi as merely a lingerie-clad avenue to attack Jon Favreau—-

Nope. That one didn’t work.

Let me try to admit Riverbottom, or whoever that is at that terrible Effluents blog, is the sort of liberal I wish I were:

He punctuates his words with head bobs in the style of a preacher, ala MLK or Jesse Jackson. His style is very reminiscent of African American icons and statesmen, which is not a bad thing, but it is imitative.(post-debate thread)

Let me look at Obama head bobbin like MLK. YouTube. Nope. Nope. Nope. I just can’t see Obama head bobbin’ like MLK or Jesse Jackson. He looks different to me.

I’ll just never be the sort of Liberal RB is. Please God, or who or whatever.

They hate us for our freedom, because nobody tell us what to do or think.

Says the Censor of a Thousand Posts.

Nothing says “true leftie” like voting for McFailin and using racist and xenophobic hate speech.

PUMAs. Always the carnival geeks, never the main attraction in the freakshow.

They hate us for our freedom

Nothing says SUPER LIBERAL like a Bush talking point.

What remains baffling is why non-Obot lefties like Anglachel and the gang at Corrente treat PUMAs with disdain when we agree on almost every issue.

MyIQislessthan2 and the gang come to the party, screech because the drinks and food aren’t the kind drinks and food they would have served, take a prodigious dump in the punch bowl, puke all over the place and let their pet goats chew the drapes, and then wonder why they aren’t asked to the next gathering.

My God. What an astoundingly stupid bunch of motherfuckers.

I’ll just never be the sort of Liberal RB is. Please God, or who or whatever.

Amen Mrs. Polly. Amen.

I’d just like to add that if I appear to be turning into a MyIQispoo type liberal, please feel free to hunt me down and put me out of my misery.

This one from ##### did piss me off a bit because it’s not factual (just like the wild balloon-popping pet accusations!).

In a way, ##### is more contemptible than J4H. At least J4H is straight up about what she is: She’s an unapologetic sack o’ hate, and she doesn’t mince words about it or care who knows it.

#####, on the other hand, is a vapors-getting, pearl-clutching, fainting-couch-seeking Precious Princess Pixie Pants who is just all aghast at horrid people who use beastly offensive language and images outside of PUMA PAC. Yet when she’s dishing with the kitties, she employs the self-same brand of “misogynistic slur” she sanctimoniously denounces in others herself. And she ignores it when her compatriots and Dear Leader engage in the same kind of behavior she condemns others for.

In short, she is a ginormous hypocrite. So fuck her.

I recently found this old email interview between Darragh and Tommy Christopher.

Opps. This quote was supposed to slot in between those “” up there:

“Barack Obama CANNOT WIN in November. Look at the polls. Look at the support he loses daily from former die-hard fans. This doesn’t even take into account that Independents and Moderate Republicans won’t touch the guy with a ten-foot pole. We’ve known since Pennsylvania that Barack Obama cannot win the general election. That’s the main reason we are so outraged at the biased selection process the DNC used to force Obama this far.”

Apols etc.

Poo. “of his policies” up there should read “of McCain’s policies.”

Ever had one of those days when it would have been better not to fire up your laptop?

#####, on the other hand, is a vapors-getting, pearl-clutching, fainting-couch-seeking Precious Princess Pixie Pants

A touch, dare-I-say-it, of the Voltaire. Just enough, mind you, to bring me to my knees. Unless, of course, that’s a phrase that’s been bandied about in your circles for years.

Please say it isn’t so, so that I may worship you!

Well, I think ##### is probably a lifelong Republican, inasmuch as her shock, SHOCK at uncivil discourse mirrors that of transparent and pathetic GOP shills Peggy Noonan and Kathleen Parker—two women who had no problems with vitriol being unleashed on Democrats and lefties but who hit the fainting couch the minute both barrels were leveled on them.

She’s just another tool. But since she’s a PUMA tool, she isn’t useful for achieving anything of note.

“#####, on the other hand, is a vapors-getting, pearl-clutching, fainting-couch-seeking Precious Princess Pixie Pants who is just all aghast at horrid people who use beastly offensive language and images outside of PUMA PAC. Yet when she’s dishing with the kitties, she employs the self-same brand of “misogynistic slur” she sanctimoniously denounces in others herself. And she ignores it when her compatriots and Dear Leader engage in the same kind of behavior she condemns others for.”

I throw Donna Darko, the PoMo fauxgressive in the same padded cell with ######.

DD, a supposed critical-thinker who rants and raves against, get this; anti-racists. If you read her sorry blog, all men of color (Obama) are misogynists and are keeping women of color as hostages forcing them to vote for Obama. I haven’t read her blog since November when I decided to make a break from PUMA-craziness, but I’m sure she’s still cranking out her brand of craziness in her own little corner.