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31 October 2008

Happy Halloween

A little holiday rockin' with Dokken...

29 October 2008

Headlines make-y me happy

"Sen. Lieberman likely to lose his gavel in massive reshuffle being discussed"

As I believe I've mentioned in the past, it couldn't happen to a nicer piece of crap.

26 October 2008

The "respect" of Joseph I. Lieberman

"Rape Gurney" Joe continues to be the human equivalent of ipecac:
LIEBERMAN HASN'T BEEN PAYING ATTENTION TO HIMSELF.... Joe Lieberman adopted the role of Republican attack dog early on, but as the election draws near, he's hoping the political world has a very short memory.

Lieberman, a self-proclaimed "independent Democrat" who was chosen by McCain to make the case against Obama at the Republican National Convention in early September, said his comments have been within bounds.

"When I go out, I say, 'I have a lot of respect for Sen. Obama. He's bright. He's eloquent.'"

My hunch is, Lieberman sees the direction of the political winds, and hopes to convince Democrats that while he's been a McCain sycophant, he's always been "respectful" towards Obama.

Lieberman, in other words, has to hope Democrats haven't been paying any attention at all. The party is supposed to forget, for example, when Lieberman argued that Obama doesn't put "country first."
Looks like it just dawned on ol' Joe that leaving the Senate for a plum cabinet position in a McCain administration might be kind of tough if THERE IS NO MCCAIN ADMINISTRATION.

Ever the opportunistic shill, Lieberman is now trying to rewrite history in order to stay in the good graces of a party he not only spit on, but which may no longer require his participation, at all, should they pick up enough seats on Nov. 4. Unfortunately, for Joe, following his years of service as the Bush administration's loyal "bipartisan" lapdog by joining the despicable chorus attacking Barack Obama's loyalties is probably a little less than endearing.

So Joe, let me be the first--though, hopefully, not the last--to offer you a variation of the same counsel you so callously dispensed to rape victims who may be affected by your repugnant stand on the morning after pill: it's a short ride across the aisle. To say that your respect, conveniently found only once the writing is on the wall, rings hollow, gives it, and YOU, more credit than is deserved.

Fuck you, Joe. Respectfully, of course.

This man wants to pilot the ship of state?

Raise the Jolly Roger, Mateys.

Angry McCain

Can I get an ARRRR-men?

Talk about a snapshot that sums up a campaign.

This came from a Telegraph article entitled "John McCain loses temper with defeatist aides as he vows to fight to the last."

Is any part of that description actually news to anyone who's shown even a minimum of interest in this race? McCain hasn't been on speaking terms with "temperment" and "control" in quite some time. He hasn't looked poised, he hasn't looked focused, and, most of all, he hasn't looked remotely presidential.

Instead, he's looked like this, which is precisely why nothing looks very good for him, right now. And thank God for that, because we can't afford for this to be the face we present to the rest of the world.

25 October 2008

Saturday Shuffle

68 Balcony - Death in Vegas
Preaching Blues - Robert Johnson
Broken Head - Catherine Wheel
Guess Who's Back? - House of Pain
Bucephalus Bouncing Ball - Aphex Twin
Memories Can't Wait - Talking Heads
Tonight She Comes - The Cars
Jazz Thieves - Depeche Mode
Garlic Breath - The Exceptions
The Ocean Doesn't Want Me - Tom Waits

23 October 2008

I do not think that job means what you think it means...



(With all apologies to Vizzini and Inigo Montoya)

Unlike other areas, it looks like there's no controversy that the vice presidency is evolving:
Q: Brandon Garcia wants to know, “What does the Vice President do?”

PALIN: That’s something that Piper would ask me! … [T]hey’re in charge of the U.S. Senate so if they want to they can really get in there with the senators and make a lot of good policy changes that will make life better for Brandon and his family and his classroom.
Yes, the VP is "President of the Senate," and I understand "breaking it down" in order to answer a child's question, but I can think of about a dozen different explanations that would be more accurate. It would be easy to dismiss this as another in the endless string of Palin's idiotic responses to otherwise straightforward questions, but stupidity is unfortunately the most charitable of interpretations. Palin has already gone on record with her Cheney-ian belief that the vice-president is a Constitutional wild card:

PALIN: I'm thankful the Constitution would allow a bit more authority given to the vice president if that vice president so chose to exert it in working with the Senate and making sure that we are supportive of the president's policies and making sure too that our president understands what our strengths are...

IFILL: Governor, you mentioned a moment ago the constitution might give the vice president more power than it has in the past. Do you believe as Vice President Cheney does, that the Executive Branch does not hold complete sway over the office of the vice presidency, that it it is also a member of the Legislative Branch?

PALIN: Well, our founding fathers were very wise there in allowing through the Constitution much flexibility there in the office of the vice president. And we will do what is best for the American people in tapping into that position and ushering in an agenda that is supportive and cooperative with the president's agenda in that position. Yeah, so I do agree with him that we have a lot of flexibility in there, and we'll do what we have to do to administer very appropriately the plans that are needed for this nation.
Not knowing how the office works, or not caring.

GREAT choice.

22 October 2008

Any more radioactive and she'd have super powers

Methinks the Bachmann re-election campaign is going to need some new uniforms.

rad suit

Uh oh.
Five days after Rep. Michele Bachmann went on a McCarthy-esque rant suggesting Barack Obama was unpatriotic and urging the major newspapers of the country to investigate anti-American sentiment in Congress, the national Republican political parties are running for cover.

Two sources aware of ad buys in Minnesota say that the National Republican Congressional Committee is pulling its media purchases from Bachmann's race.

...In the days following her appearance on Hardball, however, Bachmann has watched as her challenger, El Tinklenberg raised more than a million dollars off her incendiary remarks.
Looks like Bachmann's recent dip running leap into the crazy pool has so damaged her prospects that the NRCC doesn't want to waste the money to prop her up when there are other races they want to contest. While not quite a white flag, it's a pretty serious admission of just how much of an embarrassment she's become.

Which should be news to, well, no one...

19 October 2008

(Grand Old) Partying like it's 1954

Shorter--and slightly more coherent--Michelle Bachman (R-MN):

Sutherland_bodysnatchers
AAAAAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGGHHH!

In case you misssed it, here's Rep. Bachman's breathtaking turn on Hardball, edited for time and inanity, though not content:
Matthews: How many Congresspeople you serve with -- I mean, there's 435 members of Congress --

Bachmann: -- well right now --

Matthews: -- how many are anti-American in that Congress right now that you serve with?

Bachmann: You'd have to ask them, Chris, I'm focusing on Barack Obama and the people he's been associated with --

Matthews: But do you suspect that a lot of the people you serve with --

Bachmann: -- and I'm very worried about their anti-American nature.

Matthews: Well, he's the United States Senator from Illinois, he's one of the people you suspect as being anti-American. How many people in the Congress of the United States do you think are anti-American? You've already suspected Barack Obama. Is he alone, or are there others?

[snip]

Bachmann: I would say, what I would say is that the news media should do a penetrating expose and take a look -- I wish they would. I wish the American media would take a great look at the views of the people in Congress and find out, are they pro-America or anti-America. I think the people would love to see an expose like that.
Yes, if you were not so mesmerized by the sight of Sen. McCarthy Rep. Bachmann hurling herself over the edge into an abyss of batshit crazy on national television, you heard her right: the membership of the United States Congress--including the Democratic presidential nominee--should be investigated for anti-Americanism in its ranks. It's the sort of thing we've seen trickling out from campaign rallys and public appearances for weeks--except infinitely worse.

How often have we heard that we can't blame the McCain campaign for "isolated supporters" voicing extremist views? This is an elected representative and member of the national party.

News flash: We just left rally attendees yelling "traitor" in the dust...my friends.

No professionalism, no truth and, at its fundamental core, at long last, no decency.

18 October 2008

Saturday Shuffle

Where's Sly? - Medeski, Martin, & Wood
Career Opportunities (live) - The Clash
We Do What We Can - Sheryl Crow
Posthuman - Marilyn Manson
These Boots Are Made For Walking - Crispin Hellion Glover
Crash Into Me - Dave Matthews Band
Body and Soul - Tori Amos
In Da Club - 50 Cent
That Was Your Mother - Paul Simon
Creeping Death - Apocalyptica

16 October 2008

McCain Campaign reaching out to "the real America"

Looks like "Red" and "Blue" is no longer quite divisive enough:
"We believe that the best of America is not all in Washington, D.C. We believe" -- here the audience interrupted Palin with applause and cheers -- "We believe that the best of America is in these small towns that we get to visit, and in these wonderful little pockets of what I call the real America, being here with all of you hard working very patriotic, um, very, um, pro-America areas of this great nation."

She continued: "This is where we find the kindness and the goodness and the courage of everyday Americans. Those who are running our factories and teaching our kids and growing our food and are fighting our wars for us. Those who are protecting us in uniform. Those who are protecting the virtues of freedom."

No longer content to assail their political opponent's Americanism, apparently whole swaths of the country and--seemingly--it's population aren't "real Americans," anymore. Every time you think the bottom of the barrel is reached, it seems to recede a few more inches. I wonder how these folks fit into the McCain camp's "real America:"



Before the GOP's perpetual victims choir can warm up, obviously, all small town/rural individuals aren't narrow-minded, virulently racist garbage bleating about "blacks taking over" and the Obamas being "anti-white." People spew that crap from the farmhouses to the highrises; it's a niche to which these folks certainly have no unique claim.

Much like being "real Americans."

And the McCain/Palin insistence to the contrary is part of what makes execrable videos like the one above, possible. However they may try to deny it, that is what naturally follows from the "us vs. them" mindset that they emphasize in pandering to their base. Making people see enemies within as well as without might motivate, but not just to show up at the polls.

15 October 2008

If it quacks like a duck...

Did Rahm Emanuel just call Johnnie Mac "a grumpy old man in the robe and slippers yelling at kids in the neighborhood?

Heh, indeedy.

That was the game on the phone; it's refusing to be changed.

 
Markets tank--again--five hours before final debate.
 
Still planning on playing the Ayers card, Johnnie Mac?
 
Good luck with that.
 
 

14 October 2008

Surging polls are nice

That said, lest anyone think there's anything close to a done deal:

Race Influence

Of course, you say, this could just as easily mean people admitting why they or someone else is voting FOR Obama.

But I kind of doubt it.

11 October 2008

Saturday Shuffle

Cheap and Cheerful - The Kills
Wait for Sleep - Dream Theatre
I Hung My Head - Johnny Cash
The Waitress - Tori Amos
When the Roll Is Called Up Yonder - Johnny Cash
Without Fear - Lacuna Coil
Yellow Calx - Aphex Twin
Vamos - The Pixies
My Morning Song - The Black Crowes
Down Fo' Boogie (live) - Tesla

08 October 2008

Makes Biden's "Bosniaks" seem not so bad, after all

Now this is just plain weird:



Knowing McCain, he was just trying to switch in something other than his usual--and mind-numbingly repetitious--"my friends," but going for a "my fellow Americans" (presumably) and having "prisoners" come out?

Bizarre.

07 October 2008

06 October 2008

How're those "fundamentals" working out for everybody?

File this squarely under truths spoken in jest:

mattress

When your 401k evaporates to 101k levels, the 1st National Sealy Posturepedic starts looking mighty inviting.

Quote of the Day

Now THIS is what a president sounds like:

Obama told reporters in Asheville, N.C., that he was surprised his Republican rival's campaign would signal an effort to avoid talking about the financial turmoil because McCain advisers fear it could cause him to lose the election.

"I've got news for the McCain campaign: The American people are losing right now," he said. "They're losing their jobs. They're losing their health care. They're losing their homes. They're losing their savings. I cannot imagine anything more important to talk about."
 
Brilliant.

05 October 2008

THAT'S what I'm talking about

Awesome. Just awesome:



“Three quarters of a million jobs lost this year. Our financial system in turmoil. And John McCain? Erratic in a crisis. Out of touch on the economy. No wonder his campaign wants to change the subject."
This is exactly what needed to be done. After months of second-guessing and wishing for a stronger response, FINALLY the Obama camp makes a deft pre-emptive strike.

The unnamed official is spot-on: McCain and his toadies made a incredible strategic error in declaring their intention to dive into the gutter. They wanted to change the focus of the race, but now Obama has dictated the storyline, in advance: "questioning associations" has now become "running from the issues."

Which it is.

First he retreated from Michigan. Now, substance, itself, is a distant speck in the Straight Talk Express' rearview mirror.

Happy trails, Johnny Mac. Good luck waving that "change is coming" banner from the lowest of roads.

04 October 2008

Trans-Alaska Pipe Slime

Not a pig, but she ruts in filth, all the same:
"We see America as the greatest force for good in this world," Palin said at a fund-raising event in Colorado, adding, "Our opponent though, is someone who sees America, it seems, as being so imperfect that he's palling around with terrorists who would target their own country."

...Obama's Chicago, Illinois, home is in the same neighborhood as Bill Ayers, a founder of the radical Weather Underground, which was involved in several bombings in the early 1970s, including the Pentagon and the Capitol, and the two have met several times since Obama's 1995 campaign for a state Senate seat.
Well, that didn't take long, now did it? No sooner does the campaign announce that they're abandoning the issues to focus on factually-challenged personal attacks, then they trot out the cue card caribou queen to float smears that, par for her course, don't even jibe with the source she's been fed:
Palin cited an article in Saturday's New York Times about Obama's relationship with Ayers, now 63. But that article concluded that "the two men do not appear to have been close. Nor has Mr. Obama ever expressed sympathy for the radical views and actions of Mr. Ayers, whom he has called 'somebody who engaged in detestable acts 40 years ago, when I was 8.' "
Not only a liar, but a poor one, at that. That takes her from zero to Rove in five weeks. Nice job, "outsider."

McCain's sputtering campaign running on fumes venom

Shorter McCain: "Fuck this guy, he knows icky people."

With just a month to go until Election Day, McCain's team has decided that its emphasis on the senator's biography as a war hero, experienced lawmaker and straight-talking maverick is insufficient to close a growing gap with Obama. The Arizonan's campaign is also eager to move the conversation away from the economy, an issue that strongly favors Obama and has helped him to a lead in many recent polls.

"We're going to get a little tougher," a senior Republican operative said, indicating that a fresh batch of television ads is coming. "We've got to question this guy's associations. Very soon. There's no question that we have to change the subject here," said the operative, who was not authorized to discuss strategy and spoke on the condition of anonymity."
Even shorter McCain:

"We."

"Have."

"Nothing."

The deep-seated nastiness that pervades the ersatz maverick will be on full display for the next 30 days. Get ready for a month-long barrage of Rev. Wright, Bill Ayers, and anti-American slime. Bereft of ideas, losing on the issues, "fear and smear" is the only club left in Johnny Mac's bag.
McCain hinted Thursday that a change is imminent, perhaps as soon as next week's debate. Asked at a Colorado town hall, "When are you going to take the gloves off?" the candidate grinned and replied, "How about Tuesday night?"
The angry old man of the first debate was nothing but prelude. He's going to come, loaded for bear, with every bit of fact-free innuendo he can muster, so Obama better be ready.

And there's simply no excuse not to be.

McCain has essentially declared, days in advance, that he has no interest in legitimate debate, just character assassination. We've already seen what happens when you try to "high road" your way around gutter politics by refusing to engage them. You lose.

If there was any lesson from the 2004 ride on the executive merry-go-round, it's that this garbage is too dangerous to fret about "dignifying it with a response;" it must be destroyed with a response, and the dirt merchant peddling it decried for the legitimate issues he (or she) is ignoring.

Fingers crossed...

Saturday Shuffle

Wave of Mutilation (U.K. Surf, live) - The Pixies
Phoenix - The Cult
Running Three - Tom Tykwer, Johnny Kilmek, Reinhold Heil
Funky Shit - Prodigy
Ring of Fire - Social Distortion
Through the Never - Metallica
Bawitdaba - Kid Rock
Your Head - Helmet
The Biggest Lie - Hüsker Dü
Hizbollah - Ministry
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