Inaugural Gall & Etc.
Michelle Malkin is angry! The Dirigible of Drivel vows obstructionism! Erick Erickson lifts his head from Dick Cheney’s lap long enough to deplore the emessem’s alleged ‘hagiographical’ treatment of Obama! Tom DeLay smears shit on the walls! Yep, it’s Jan. 20th; thus begins the rightwing’s tantrum which will last for at least the next four years.
Meanwhile, panicked Villagers scramble to find Negro friends! Cats and dogs, living together — mass hysteria!
I find all this just too much. I need something reassuring, something to represent continuity. (Because, you know, it’s so unusual that Malkin is angry, Erickson hypocritical, etc…) Oh, here we go: Danielle Crittenden, who remains the only person on earth who thinks it’s the height of coolness to send party invitations in circa-1998 ICQ-speak. Her continuing devotion to the already ancient conceit she’d like to think she discovered and then deployed with characteristic retardedness in the straight-to-the-remaindered-bin novel Amanda Bright@Home, warms my heart. Ahhh…
..and since she is David Frum’s Stepford Wife, I’ll bet they… Yup:
At the bottom of the invitation, he and Danielle wrote “celebrate/commiserate cuz wtf else r we gna do?” “That’s short for ‘What else are you going to do?’” says Frum, laughing.
Above: the praxis of weasels
“We just hung out the shingle a couple days ago and over 100 people responded,” he said. “Most conservatives live in Virginia and feel cut off by the bridge closings.” Though Frum is keeping the guest list close to his chest, the party, co-sponsored by Laura Ingraham and Marty and Byron York, will be attended by Frum’s AEI colleagues, Giuliani campaign veterans, mysterious-sounding Canadian and Norwegian parliamentarians, as well as many other alienated DC right-wingers looking for a stiff drink before heading out into the Democratic blizzard.
Incidentally, the event is doing double duty as a launch party for NewMajority.com, which will go live at 12:01am on Inauguration Day. The site, Frum says, will serve as a platform for reform and renewal of the GOP and will feature what he called “a cross-section of conservatives.”
An axis of opposition, perhaps?
“No,” Frum says, souring. “That gag has had its run. This is just a group that’s not so hopeful about the change.”
They’re not actually changing much in their ‘reformed’ and ‘renewed’ GOP, either. Frum’s new website is just more of the same ol’ shit (but then so was his last book on the same theme):
What you will find [in Frum’s blatherings] is loads of ideology — right on the heels of a near national obsession with ideological rejection.
The only interesting thing about the site is who’s paying for it. My bet is on Frum’s traditional source of funding.
So far all he’s got up on his site is a video of himself saying what everybody already knows – everyone hates the GOP now.
mysterious-sounding […] Norwegian parliamentarians
I wonder if there is any dudes named ‘Odd’ or ‘Bent’ on the list.
Feeling really uneasy about the Obamysteria gripping the nation, and feeling the need to throw a bucket of ice water on the “surge.”
Get over Obama. Barry ain’t changin’ shit. Modern Day Lincoln? See below.
You think we’re out of Iraq? Got another think coming. Bob Gates again? Continuity does not excuse crimes against peace and crimes against humanity.
Escalation in Afghanistan? Brilliant! They don’t call it the Graveyard Of Emipres for nothing.
Clean coal? Of course we should believe fantastic projections based on 1930’s era coal tar and gas extraction technologies!
Nuclear power? It’s not like we need solutions within the ten-year time frame experts estimate it takes for a fully operational nuclear power plant to pay for its construction, fuel extraction, necessary maintenance and waste disposal with a single positive watt of power.
And if you need more proof about how they are all straw men who deserve nothing but out contempt, ridicule and constant vigilance, here’s the previous day’s Lincoln elaborating on race relations during the 1858 campaign in which he was elected to the Senate:
Abraham Lincoln, July 1858, Chicago Illinois:
Let us discard all this quibbling about this man and the other man, this race and that race and the other race being inferior, and therefore they must be placed in an inferior position. Let us discard all these things, and unite as one people throughout this land, until we shall once more stand up declaring that all men are equal.
Abraham Lincoln, September 1858, Charleston Illinois:
I will say, then, that I am not, nor have ever been, in favor of bringing about in any way the social and political equality of the white and black races (applause from audience); that I am not, nor have ever been, in favor of making voters or jurors of negroes, nor qualifying them to hold office, nor to intermarry with white people…
And inasmuch as they cannot so live, while they do remain together there must be the position of the superior and inferior, and I as much as any other man am in favor of having the superior position assigned to the white race.
A People’s History Of The United States, Howard Zinn, 2003 p. 188.
They’re all monsters.
Again, get over Prince Barry. He’s going to fuck the liberal movement worse than Clinton. It sucks, but it’s true. “Peaceful” occupation of “postwar Iraq” by “military advisors?” Escalation in Afghanistan? Clean coal? Nuclear power? Hillary Fucking Shark Sandpaper Clinton as Secretary of State?
I would truly regret my vote if the alternative weren’t so abhorrent. I really hope that I’m wrong. I want Obama to succeed in doing for us what we need done. I have no confidence in his will to do so.
The sooner you stop him breaking your heart the happier you’ll be. I promise.
At first read, I guess they’ll be admitting that everything they said in the past, every lie, every half-baked idea that they’ve ever had was total bullshit.
I look forward to this cathartic exercise in conservative-come-to-jesusness.
Erick Erickson lifts his head from Dick Cheney’s lap
I’ve heard of unicorns doing that.
But it Erickson’s a unicorn, doesn’t that mean Cheney’s a …?
Ooh…
A minor point about the Virginia bridge closings and how they’ve made the poor conservatives feel left out:
Most of us who live in northern Virginia aren’t too ignorant to be able to find our way into Maryland and then drive south if we REALLY, REALLY need to get into DC.
I swear, as bad as things are in the world right now, I’m amazed they aren’t worse with this band of ninnyhammers having been at the helm.
The only interesting thing about the site is who’s paying for it. My bet is on Frum’s traditional source of funding.
I’m not going to click on that link since I prefer to imagine that his funding comes entirely from Freddie’s Hoagie Shack. ‘Cuz of all the sammiches that wingnuts eat.
The sooner you stop him breaking your heart the happier you’ll be. I promise.
The sooner you get over the self-centeredness of cynicism, the happier you’ll be. I promise.
I already knew that Obama is right of center. I know it’s not going to be all rainbows and butterflies. I know this, no one has to tell me. But later today I’m going to celebrate with some folks who’ve been waiting two hundred years for this day and I’m not going to begrudge them that. It’s going to be ok, really.
Was that Limbaugh at that first link? Wow, I didn’t recognise him at first. He looks like he’s one Scotch-on-the-rocks away from a heart attack.
comsympinko, the mania surrounding Obama is largely a reaction to the end of Bush and neoconservatism. Also joy that McCain/Palin – a team that turned out to be even grosser and more disgusting than Bush – didn’t win. The end of Bush is a big deal and it demands being celebrated, the louder the better, if only to rub the noses of neocon scumbags in the dirt.
Eh, I don’t want to get into this *right this moment* and am already dreading the appearance of that fucking troll Jay B. (these threads have a magnetic attraction for him), but take it easy on commiesympinko, folks. Sure, he’s shrill, and his timing is importune, but he’s not wrong.
Far from being the end of Bushism (and all it means), Obama’s moves so far seem like legitimization of it — conceding the principles while dulling some of the sharp policy edges. Rick Perlstein wrote something a while back about how progressive reforms must be swift and ruthless and sweeping — a leftwing shock doctrine — to have any effect at all. Obama looks like he’s on the exact opposite track: more of an Ike who concedes previous radicalism (of the other side’s) than an FDR who *is* actually radical for his own side.
I understand why people say “I’m just happy he’s not Bush.” I appreciate and sympathize with that. But I believe that this was the only time in my life that the country actually would have elected a true lefty if it had been offered one. Such opportunities come about once a century. Now it’s gone and we won’t have much to show for it.
Don’t blame me. I voted for Pendejo.
To be less flippant, I kind of see 2008 being the beginning of a political realignment in which the DNC finally gets the Republican support it wants and the leftier members of the Progressive Caucus (and a good half of the pre-Obama Party) break off to form the nucleus of an oppositional group. As things stood after the 80s, I don’t think the left had a future with the Democrats – the only thing to do was to wait for the hard right to crash and burn before leaving the soft right to go fuck itself for a game of Friedmans.
A hous devyded can’t has stand &c.
Also, for the love of almighty God, please don’t let the dividing issue that cracks the DLC-PC divide wide open be Israel. I mean, I don’t like the Beast of One State much, but I’d kind of prefer not to have to caucus against this guy for Juan Cole’s sake.
“We just hung out the shingle a couple days ago…”
Figure of speech FAIL.
Also, too, as you enjoy the inauguration festivities, David Icke would also like to decry all the Obama ‘hagiography’ and also furthermore warn you that it’s because Barack is in reality secretly another lizard-person like Bush and the latest Illuminati catspaw also like Bush only worse cause he’s popular ‘n shit.
Sorry, doom/naysayers at the fucking start of day one, when he hasn’t even taken the fucking oath of office yet, can suck my balls. Obama didn’t fill your stocking with all your desires? That does break my heart. A microscopic violin plays for you in the distance. Somewhere.
Can for once those of us on the left take at least the first 24-off before shitting in our shared Wheaties? I’m not talking blind allegiance here, but let him get an ass groove in the oval office chair before decrying his failure.
Want to lose ground against those shit bags we just tossed out on the street? Keep whining and stop fighting because Obama is the “same.” Amazing.
Now enjoy this joyous day. Congrats, Barack. Mr. President.
Shorter Comsym: I get high off my own fear.
Welcome to New Majority.com
Because you see, one “major liberal voice and donor” speaks for everybody to the left of David Broder. Also – there exist no conservatives who thought America would never vote for a black president. Not. A. One.
David, David, David. This wasn’t the type of “cross-section of conservatives” that I was looking for.
I have to say this for them: the Broderian fuckwits, by jumping aboard the express train to 1955 with Wet-Start McWalnuts, essentially proved to anyone in the political field that they’re idiots with worthless instincts and not to be taken seriously.
The remarks I made earlier about American politics being decided by the mass of millionaires making the safer bet? The Republican Party, and along with it most of the Democratic right, has basically ceased to be a safe bet. The big, splashy explosion of hate and resentment out of the Village every time Obama spoke a solitary word of significance made it obvious that they’re liabilities instead of assets.
And unlike 1992, there’s no one currently in the business of taking on usefully loud liabilities. They’re going to flop around, passing from wingnut donor to wingnut donor, until eventually the work peters out and they stop showing up in the headlines unless they’re doing one of those perennially well-regarded whines about black people and teenagers being impolite.
You fucked it up big, fellas; I hope you enjoyed your last big rip of PCP ‘cuz you ain’t getting the keys back any time this century.
At least the GOP is kinda/sorta admitting that they kinda/sorta crashed and blew up.
And some of the euphoria is giddy Bush relief, and they can suck on that.
But let’s face it; true lefties don’t get traction, any more than the ranting right wingers do.
We may like what Kucinich says… but how much traction has he gotten with it? To most people, he’s just the funny elf with the hot wife, and they don’t even know about his articles of impeachment, okay? That’s what we’re up against.
It was only 2004 that Bush managed to get the election close enough to steal, as I see it. That’s an enormous Margin of Error, and a lot of those same deluded voters have put a lot of whackjobs into office who are, let us not forget, Still There.
My Hope is that Obama is turning the ship. And when the ship is big enough, you can’t even tell it’s turning for a while.
If I’m right, he’s going for the long game. And that’s a lot of inexplicable moves at first, the meaning of which does not give away their true purpose.
I’m willing to see what comes of it. He’s committed to green energy, infrastructure rebuilding, and diplomacy.
After the last eight years, that is radical. Which is why the sweet, sweet sound of wingnut screaming will soothe my own sleep for the time being.
“Most conservatives live in Virginia”
Carpetbagger Commuters!
Incidentally, the event is doing double duty as a launch party for NewMajority.com, which will go live at 12:01am on Inauguration Day. The site, Frum says, will serve as a platform for reform and renewal of the GOP and will feature what he called “a cross-section of conservatives.”
An axis of opposition, perhaps?
“No,” Frum says, souring. “That gag has had its run. This is just a group that’s not so hopeful about the change.”
Hundreds of thousands of Iraqis dead, thousands of Americans died, for a gag??????? A joke??????
Nice, Frum. Nice.
The New Majority Party: Building a conservatism that can win again
Uh, oh. They’re pushing the PNAC button again.
And it was covered in shit to represent the current fortunes of the GOP.
Oh well, I’m heading downtown to see some history unfold. Plus, it appears that if I don’t go, I’ll miss the moment when Obama peels of his mask and reveals that he is in fact, GEORGE W. BUSH. Oh, my poor heart.
Jesus Christ, y’all are like a pack of angry chickens scrambling to shit on the tiniest nugget of joy that plops into your feed yard.
Nobody here called Obama the next Chavez, but he’s a nice, smart dude who won’t make me shut my eyes and scream when he comes on TV. Now drink your martini and shut the fuck up for a second.
That being said, Fucking Shark Sandpaper would be a goddamn amazing album name.
Can for once those of us on the left take at least the first 24-off before shitting in our shared Wheaties?
No. SATSQ.
The New Majority Party: Building a conservatism that can win again
Building a permanent majority that will last longer than the 1000-year Reich!
Jesus, I’ve never heard so much whining about what a president hasn’t delivered BEFORE he was fucking president. If anyone ever thought Obama or anyone else was going to drive this country to a progressive lefty paradise, that person was truly delusional. The wingtards might be wrong 99% of the time, but this country ISN’T a progressive lefty country; it never has been.
Obama is a pragmatist. He understands that the Bush rot has spread the very foundation of all of our institutions. How is he supposed to correct that before he is even president? He has no clue as to the extent of the damage yet. None of us do. All we can ask is that the man actually try to think and govern our way out of this shitbox Bush created. He knows the GOPers number one tool will be to obstruct. He knows that the Dem “leadership” is comprised of a bunch of feckless cowards and Bush appeasers. Unfornately this is the hand he’s been dealt, and unfortnately, he has to deal with all of the shitbags on both sides.
That said, he has a great deal of good will right now, and likely will for at least a year, mabybe two. Now IS the time for him to push for big ideas and big sollutions. But give the man a chance to do so.
Actually, a good chunk of his funding comes from his rich Daddy, Murray, who used to transfer him money from Canada all the time.
I guess his wife was too busy using his bootstraps to tie him up in a wetsuit so they were unavailable to lift himself up.
And that alone is worth celebrating, after eight years of misunderstimation, making the pie higher, is our children learning, and known unknowns.
‘Course, I’d love it if he were the next Chávez, but it’s the US. What are the odds?
Incidentally, the event is doing double duty as a launch party for NewMajority.com
Woohoo, tax deductible party-time! But “NewMajority” is a major misnomer… I suggest “MisoneistMinority,” and shockingly enough the URL is available!
And I for one can’t wait for the release of The Angry Chickens’ new album, “Tiny Nuggets (of Joy)”.
NewMajority?
Don’t hold your breath, bucko.
Yes, there’ll be abundant opportunity to savor the most heart-warming aspect of America having a black POTUS: the chorus of sorrow & loathing it creates among the stupid.
The snivelling of Malkin – what beautiful music it makes to my ears … & the symphony of waaaaaaah has only just begun. Still boggles the mind that Tom DeLay isn’t making picnic tables & selling his ass for cigarettes right now. Rush doesn’t see any reason he has to support his president in a time of war, as of noon – the fucking traitor.
Everywhere their tears fall, flowers will grow.
“Far from being the end of Bushism (and all it means), Obama’s moves so far seem like legitimization of it — conceding the principles while dulling some of the sharp policy edges. Rick Perlstein wrote something a while back about how progressive reforms must be swift and ruthless and sweeping — a leftwing shock doctrine — to have any effect at all. Obama looks like he’s on the exact opposite track: more of an Ike who concedes previous radicalism (of the other side’s) than an FDR who *is* actually radical for his own side.”
I have to agree with this. Alexander Cockburn recently made an interesting comment about ol’ Franklin Delano: Cockburn said that FDR had been “arrogant enough” to be actually willing to try new things. With Obama, I’m just seeing more of the same old shit, albeit in a slickly packaged format. He’s more cosmopolitan than the leering thug he’s replacing, I’ll say that for him, but that’s just surface packaging and rhetoric. It’ll mean nothing if he doesn’t back it up with honest-to-goodness action. Bill Clinton was a pretty smooth-talkin’ man, as I recall…
So add me to the list of people who are “just happy he’s not Bush”, and given the nature of the two certifiably insane people he was running against, I don’t deny that Obama was the only rational pick of the choices that were available. But I can’t claim I’m feeling very much charmed right now, looking at the Inaugural and its emphasis on Glamor! Glitz! and Celebrities! I think it would have been appropriate for the new Administration to have followed Jimmy Carter’s more modest example, given the financial hole we’re in. Sorry if that makes me a killjoy.
It’ll mean nothing if he doesn’t back it up with honest-to-goodness action.
So give him a fucking chance to act before concluding that the new boss is the same as the old boss.
“No. SATSQ.”
Fine, just stay away from my cereal bowl. I am sure the wingnuts would welcome you to breakfast.
And I for one can’t wait for the release of The Angry Chickens’ new album, “Tiny Nuggets (of Joy)”.
Would you settle for the Headless Chickens?
I think it would have been appropriate for the new Administration to have followed Jimmy Carter’s more modest example, given the financial hole we’re in.
If the NZ papers are to be believed, you have 2 mill people attending the inaugural as opposed to 300,000 for Bush in 2005, at the same cost. Sounds like value to money to me.
take it easy on commiesympinko, folks. Sure, he’s shrill, and his timing is importune, but he’s not wrong.
I have no illusions about Obama being left wing or even truly liberal. He’s already compromised, already broken promises, already shown his his true stripes by “reaching out” to scummy republicans.
That said, I’m still keen on the pot banging and balloon flying in solidarity with the ordinary people who put their faith and trust in a guy who has made big promises to them.
I actually got a little more hopeful when I saw this:
“One of President Barack Obama’s first acts is to order federal agencies to halt all pending regulations until his administration can review them. The order went out Tuesday afternoon, shortly after Obama was inaugurated president”
Danielle Crittenden? You mean Mrs. David Frum, who has in the past stated that women who don’t take their husband’s married name are “not really married”. You surely wouldn’t want to suggest that she’s a lying, hypocritical sack of shit, would you, SN?
Over at http://www.newmajority.com, there’s a link to Flickr photos of attendees at the Frum/Crittenden (yes, the missus IS a lying sack of sh*t) wingerding. Partying down were Mickey Kaus, Sen. Vitter (yes!), Richard Perle, Douglas Feith, co-hostess Laura Ingraham… Frum also features his version of what President Obama’s inaugural address should had said had he, Frum, written it. Thank G-d the Frumsters are now out, out, out of the inner loop here in D.C…