Tuesday, November 16, 2010

In the wake of their horrific “shellacking” in the midterms, the Dems and Obama are annoying a lot of people who never supported them by refusing to roll over and submissively urinate like the beaten Radical Leftist and/or Anti-Working-Class Corporatist dogs they are.

Betty Cracker has already deconstructed the WaPo editorial by perennially hands-in-the-air Vichy Democrats Schoen and Caddell, which urged Obama to fall on his sword and commit to a one-term Presidency, thus freeing Congressional Republicans to embrace single-payer Medicare-for-All, Card Check, Comprehensive Immigration Reform and final passage of the ERA without fear of reprisals from Sarah Palin. Or something.

Now comes Mark Penn, chief strategist for Hillary Clinton’s 2008 primary campaign, sadly shaking his head and pronouncing Obama “DOA” in 2012 unless, like Bill Clinton in ‘94. he “moves to the center,” which is to say “the Right”:

In 1994, President Bill Clinton heard the message loud and clear — he was facing both houses in the hands of the Republican Party, so he moved aggressively to the center and remade his White House and his policies.

read the whole post »

Posted by StrangeAppar8us on 11/16/10 at 01:40 PM
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Tuesday, October 19, 2010

In an apparent attempt to seem both pithy and edgy Michael Gerson, writing an op ed for the Washington Post today, titles it Obama the Snob. 

Other titles would have worked just as well.  Obama the Uppity.  Obama the Elitist.  But Gerson goes with the one syllable slam of “Snob”.  And why is Obama such a, you know, snob?  Why because, when speaking at a fund raiser the other day he suggested that voters might not be making the most rational decisions right now is because the country is scared.

“Part of the reason that our politics seems so tough right now,” he recently told a group of Democratic donors in Massachusetts, “and facts and science and argument [do] not seem to be winning the day all the time is because we’re hard-wired not to always think clearly when we’re scared. And the country is scared.”

“Let’s unpack these remarks ” Gerson cries as he goes on to denounce Obama for his snobby tendency to call the voters lizard brained or something.  He kind of skips over the part of Obama’s speech where he calls on Americans to move past their fears and push forward.

“You can respond in a couple of ways to a trauma like this,” Obama said, referring to the economy. “One is to pull back, retrench and respond to your fears by pushing away challenges, looking backwards. Another is to say we can meet these challenges and we are going to move forward. And that’s what this election is about.”

No, Gerson seems to define “unpacking” as taking a quote out of context and going on for many, many, many more paragraphs to prove that it means Obama is a “neocortical” (whatever that is) “arrogant” president who just thinks voters are all icky, lizard brainy neanderthals.  He even works in Obama’s post-colonial father and early socialist mentors!  Yay!  Nothing scary about that!  (Or “heeeeeeere Fido” either.)

read the whole post »

Posted by marindenver on 10/19/10 at 04:26 PM
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Saturday, September 04, 2010

I’m sure National Review Editor Rich Lowry meant well in his New York Post fugue on Glenn Beck’s Tentless Chautauqua Revival on the Capitol Mall. But perhaps it was the perennial pub-deadline trap of staking out a novel, contrarian claim in an oyster bed of commentary that’s already been shucked clean that led him to type this Pearl of Faint Praise:

The much-analyzed speeches at the Glenn Beck Lincoln Memorial rally weren’t as notable as what the estimated 300,000 attendees did: follow instructions, listen quietly to hours of speeches and throw out their trash.

...not unlike, say, the attendees at a Soviet May Day Parade or the rapt crowds at a Fidel Castro talkathon, with venue litter patrols directed by the People’s Committee for Culturally-Correct Beautification and Turf Amelioration, although I doubt those were the parallels Rich intended to invoke. 

Then again, maybe it was the humiliatingly Pee-Wee-ish “He who smelt it dealt it” pose Elite Country Club Conservatives are compelled to strike whenever expedience demands that they flatter their upstart, common-folk allies-of-necessity by attacking their Limousine Liberal counterparts for being, you know, “elite”:

In extremis, Democrats and liberal commentators have dragged the debate over the Tea Party into the well-worn rut of elite condescension to the bourgeois

...as opposed to the Alaska, Arizona, Colorado, Delaware and Washington GOP establishments who’ve framed the Tea Party debate in friendlier terms such as “criminal,” “crazy.” “extreme” and “unelectable.”

Could be, too, that Rich is the sort of well-heeled, genteel beau who will dutifully contrive a compliment for even the most repellent blind date: 

To be sure, the Tea Partiers are fiercely anti-establishment, and that produces political candidates who are exotic and unexpected.

...like, for example, the tattooed stripper who just showed up on the veranda of your parents’ vacation house at Hilton Head to announce that you’re her Baby-Daddy. 

Or, quite possibly, Rich has simply popped a major neural pathway trying to reconceptualize his party’s invasion by throngs of RINO-Hating Islamophobic Flag-Fucking Theocratic Birther Conspiracy Nuts as a “teachable moment,” and an admonition to the soon-to-be-enthroned Mutant GOP to eschew the Icarian hubris that drove the Newt Gingrich Congress to fly too close to the sun:

They could do much worse than to take their cue from the Tea Partiers at the Lincoln Memorial, who knew how to make an impression without scaring anyone or trashing the place.

read the whole post »

Posted by StrangeAppar8us on 09/04/10 at 05:04 PM
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Friday, August 13, 2010

Yes it’s trite, but it fits.

Petulant Left blogger Jane Hamsher, quoted today in The Hill:

Markos Moulitsas of Daily Kos, who is also a columnist for The Hill, said he didn’t think Obama would get a 2012 primary challenge “in a million years.”
In an e-mail, Moulitsas also said Obama shouldn’t be challenged.
Still, some influential figures on the left, which erupted in fury this week at criticism White House press secretary Robert Gibbs made in an interview with The Hill,
suggest a multitude of voices in New Hampshire and Iowa could be helpful to the party.

“I have always encouraged a diversity of voices in the primary process, within all parties and at all levels of government,” said Jane Hamsher, founder of Firedoglake.com, a leading liberal blog.

Yes, Jane, because the only way to advance Progressive issues is to elect more Republicans. It’s so obvious to me now.

I’ve never had much regard for Hamsher. Her disastrous dalliance with the Lamont campaign was an early indicator that her first and only love is the sound of her own voice. Then there was the Grover Norquist Incident. And now this.

Team Gibbs.

Posted by Tom65 on 08/13/10 at 06:19 PM
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Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Wow.  Just wow.

“This is a very sad day for me personally,” Hayward told a conference call.

“Whether it is fair or unfair is not the point. I became the public face and was demonised and vilified. BP cannot move on in the US with me as its leader.”

Hayward added: “Sometimes you step off the pavement and get hit by a bus.”

Yeah, and sometimes you go to work on an unsafe oil rig drilling an unsafe well and you get blown to bits. 

And sometimes you get on your fishing boat to earn a living and get hit by waves of black oil polluting your water and ruining your livelihood.

And sometimes you look at your empty restaurants and beaches and get hit by waves of fear that the people will never come back.

And sometimes you see image after image of dead wildlife covered with that oil and get hit by waves of sadness and revulsion.

Life’s a bitch, Tony.  Wish I could feel sorry for you.

Posted by marindenver on 07/28/10 at 07:38 PM
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Monday, July 26, 2010

After Breitbart’s spectacular expose fail over Shirley Sherrod’s supposed evil bigotry you’d think the Repubs might want to distance themselves from him a bit.

Think again my friends.  Not only are they not distancing themselves, they are apparently embracing his brand of *journalism* by having him be a featured player at an upcoming swanky fund raising event in Beverly Hills, CA.

According to the invitation, which TPM was able to get a copy of, for a mere $5,000 contribution you too can attend a Welcome Reception on Thursday featuring none other than Chairman Michael Steele and Andrew Breitbart.

Well, why not, anyway?  While most normal people were pretty much aghast over the treatment of Sherrod by not only Breitbart and his flying monkeys but also the mainstream media and her boss and all his flying monkeys, the conservative crowd doesn’t seem to want to let go of her.

read the whole post »

Posted by marindenver on 07/26/10 at 05:40 PM
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Wednesday, July 14, 2010

A couple of days ago yr ed. reported here that Senator Jon Kyl (R-AZ) blathered that tax cuts never had to be paid for while spending, such as extending unemployment benefits, must always be offset by revenue or other cuts.  His fuzzy reasoning seemed to be that cutting taxes is an entitlement for the wealthy.

Well, he’s not the only Republican embracing this point of view.  From TPM:

“That’s been the majority Republican view for some time,” Minority Leader Mitch McConnell told TPMDC this afternoon after the weekly GOP press conference. “That there’s no evidence whatsoever that the Bush tax cuts actually diminished revenue. They increased revenue, because of the vibrancy of these tax cuts in the economy. So I think what Senator Kyl was expressing was the view of virtually every Republican on that subject.”

Vibrancy, indeed!  The tax cuts were vibrant!  They were trickling down vibrancy everywhere you looked!  Tell us more, tell us more!

He (Sen. Judd Gregg, R-NH) said Kyl’s prescription—offset spending with tax increases or program cuts, but treat tax cuts differently—is exactly right. “It makes a lot of sense, because, you know, when you’re raising taxes you’re taking money out of peoples’ pockets,” said Gregg when asked by TPMDC. “When you’re spending money, you’re spending money that is—it’s not the same thing because it’s growing the government. So I tend to think that tax cuts should not have to be offset.”

Makes perfect sense, right?  Assuming that you live in Republatopia where decreasing revenue sources magically increases revenue, why it does!  But we don’t live there.  We live in RealWorldUSA.  Let’s see what some actual statistics say about all that trickling down vibrancy.

read the whole post »

Posted by marindenver on 07/14/10 at 05:37 PM
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Saturday, July 03, 2010

When you’re in a hole, don’t keep digging.

Kathleen has a sad  because she’s gotten pissed off e-mails from “self-identifying African Americans” politely, and some not so politely, disagreeing with her recent declaration that Obama is our first female president.

Kathleen explains.

Do I think people are too sensitive? Yes. Do I think I may have overstepped the line? No. It’s a column, not a dissertation. And my thesis, bouncing off the notion that Bill Clinton was the first black president, is serious only insofar as you really think Clinton is black.

Yes, because the purpose of having a column is so that I can say anything I want without the benefit of fact checking or backing up my opinions.  And can’t you guys take a joke?

read the whole post »

Posted by marindenver on 07/03/10 at 12:59 PM
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Tuesday, June 22, 2010

It’s only Tuesday, but I think we’re done here with the following sentence that concludes this Taylor Marsh post:

It makes my realist vein throb.

For reasons obvious to all, no more entries for “Worst Metaphor of the Week” honors will be accepted for June 20-27, 2010.

Posted by Betty Cracker on 06/22/10 at 06:29 AM
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Tuesday, June 08, 2010

Capehart pens a great post at WaPo that mines the same territory Betty covered back in late May:

Let me ask you a question. When was the last time you saw your black male colleague, especially if you’re in a white-collar profession, show anger or rage in public? My hunch is never. There’s a reason for that. African American men are taught at very young ages (or learn the hard way) to keep our emotions in check, to not lose our cool, lest we be perceived as dangerous or menacing or give someone a reason to doubt our ability to handle our jobs. Think of the emotional corset women in leadership positions are expected to maintain to ensure they never cry in public or show TOO much compassion for fear of raising the same doubt and seeming weak.

read the whole post »

Posted by Kevin K. on 06/08/10 at 01:23 PM
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Thursday, June 03, 2010

From Hullabaloo:

So these calls for Obama to behave like a Big Daddy to rage and weep are worse than stupid and embarrassing. They’re ignorant and dangerous.

Read it all.  The comments, as you can imagine, are jam-packed with The Screech.

Posted by Kevin K. on 06/03/10 at 10:07 AM
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Wednesday, June 02, 2010

As chronicled recently by Betty Cracker, a troubling trend of middle aged males apparently wearing Tribbles on their head has emerged.  Latest to join this movement appears to be BP CEO Tony Hayward attempting below to appear humble and apologetic after realizing that his statement that, hey, he wants the leak plugged as bad as anyone because he wants his freakin’ life back! might be seen as a tad insensitive.

Because, you know, several million Gulf Coast residents would like their freaking lives back too, friend.  Along with their livelihoods and their whole freaking ecosystem.  I don’t think anyone needs to poll the fish, turtles, shrimp and pelicans to guess they’re not too happy about literally losing their lives over this too.

Hear me, Mr. Hayward.  I hope you do not get your worthless life back.  I hope you get your ass fired, your company liquidated and you lose everything you own and hold dear so you can experience what you will have done to others.  Oh, and I hope they repossess the Tribble too.

Posted by marindenver on 06/02/10 at 05:28 PM
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Tuesday, June 01, 2010

From their “Opinion” page:

Finally, those who are fond of Joe McGinnis might remind him (if he doesn’t already know) that Alaska has a law that allows the use of deadly force in protection of life and property.

I guess the Frontiersmen aren’t members of the “lamestream media” or big fans of that silly concept of freedom of the press. [via Frum]

Posted by Kevin K. on 06/01/10 at 10:06 AM
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Tuesday, May 25, 2010

As part of the current tax act making its way through Congress, one that would extend unemployment and COBRA benefits among other things, is a revenue provision that would change the way that so-called carried interests of hedge fund managers and venture capitalists are taxed.

Hedge funds and venture capital operations are set up as limited partnerships so that profits (and losses) are passed through to the investors and reported on their individual tax returns.  The managers of these partnerships have been taking advantage for some time of a tax provision which provides that if you receive a profits interest in a partnership for future management services to be provided, and you don’t actually put any money or property into the venture yourself, then down the road, assuming profits are realized, they are taxed to you as capital gains.  Long term capital gains if the property was held for more than a year.

What does this mean?  It means that what is essentially compensation to the managers, and fairly hefty compensation at that since the managers’ share is usually around 20% of the entire profit, is not taxed to them the way compensation would be to you or I.  Capital gains are taxed at a maximum of 15% for federal purposes and are not subject to social security or Medicare taxes.*  I mean even Wall Street trader bonuses don’t get this kind of a deal.

Not surprisingly Congress, and other commentators, see this as a loophole and have been seeking for some time to close it.  And now seem on the verge of doing so, although they are softening the blow by some phase-ins and an ultimate blended rate (pussies.)

One problem with tax loopholes, of course, is that when they’ve been around for a while the beneficiaries of these loopholes come to feel entitled to them.  So let the wailing and rending of garments and gnashing of teeth begin.

read the whole post »

Posted by marindenver on 05/25/10 at 02:36 PM
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Sunday, May 23, 2010

“Defiant Judge Takes On Child Pornography Law” reads the title of the NY Times piece about federal Judge Jack B. Weinstein and his misguided attempt to soften mandatory sentencing guidelines for perverts who download images of child pornography.

Now generally speaking I don’t think private sexual behavior should be regulated, and I don’t particularly believe prostitution should be illegal, but child pornography is something else altogether.  Children are sexually assaulted to satisfy the appetites of people like Pietro Polizzi, the defendant in this particular case, who downloaded 5,000 graphic images of children, mainly pre-pubescent girls.  Judge Weinstein doesn’t think this guy should go to jail and said:

“I don’t approve of child pornography, obviously,” he said in an interview this week. But, he also said, he does not believe that those who view the images, as opposed to producing or selling them, present a threat to children.

“We’re destroying lives unnecessarily,” he said. “At the most, they should be receiving treatment and supervision.”

Let me repeat:  he said that that “he does not believe that those who view the images, as opposed to producing or selling them, present a threat to children.”

Are you fucking kidding me?

Does this guy seriously not get the basic law of supply and demand?  Does he seriously believe that children would be molested and photographed if pervs like Pietro Polizzi were not out there?!  5,000+ images this guy had.  5,000+ children sexually abused to satisfy this guy’s disgusting fetish.  And Judge Weinstein thinks that the buyers in the supply/demand chain do not present a threat to children.  I think we should lock up people like Polizzi and throw away the key.  He certainly should never have access to a computer again.  Although, left to his devices this disgusting creep would find other ways to get his pictures.  And more children would be molested for his needs.

As is typical with these people Polizzi has absolutely no insight into his crime and sees himself as the victim:

“I don’t see Judge Weinstein as a judge,” Mr. Polizzi said during an interview as tears rolled down his face. “I see him as my father. He helps people. He doesn’t destroy lives the way the prosecutor has. He’s the one who is going to set me free from the court.”

Boo hoo.  Poor Pietro.  I swear, if Weinstein lets this perp walk, he deserves to be yanked from the bench.

Posted by marindenver on 05/23/10 at 02:18 PM
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