In re: A ‘New Direction’
This morning I heard Robert Reich on NPR, suggesting that Democrats should spare a public suffering from “outrage fatigue,” let Republican bygones be Republican bygones and, instead, use their “newfound clout” to focus exclusively on a host of domestic policies – most of which are already listed as part of Nancy Pelosi’s First 100 Hours agenda.
I couldn’t disagree more.
Let’s say you’ve been on a road trip for – oh, I dunno – about six years. Nearly everyone in the car agrees that you’re headed in the wrong direction, and have been for a long time. Your driver ran a whole bunch of red lights to take you into a damn war zone to look for something that wasn’t even there, and now he won’t admit that he doesn’t know where he’s going. He couldn’t be bothered to stop and help those hurricane victims you passed a while back, and he’s run up incredible debts at no-bid check-cashing places to buy stuff for his friends. He refuses to let you see any of the receipts, and is particularly secretive about what he’s doing when he stops at the gas station. Everybody’s starting to go broke, you’ve driven past a torture parlor and you just saw a sign that says “Fascism: Next right.”
So what do you do when you finally get a chance to sit up front with the driver, where he has to listen to you? Tell him to take a left and hope for the best? Hell, nah. As soon as you stop paying attention and fiddle with the radio or something, you know damn well he’s gonna take another right – and then you’re going the wrong way again.
When you’re totally lost, it’s best to just stop the car and turn around, keeping an eye out for things that look familiar. There’s no need to devise some grandiose scheme to find a better or quicker way home. (Grandiose schemes are what got you lost in the first place, remember?) Open the glove box and get out the map, which you decided to stick in there on a 5-4 vote, and you’ll find your way back soon enough. To pass the time, you should probably figure out who gave the driver all the credit cards in the first place, who told him it was okay to throw out those unpaid parking tickets and who slept through their shift as navigator. And you should give those people other responsibilities on the return trip. It might make for a long, uncomfortable ride home – but it really is the only way to avoid making those same mistakes again.
Ideally, you should let someone else drive, but the other guy with a license is even more reckless. Hell, one time he shot a dude in the face.
Reich’s idiotic bromide, if ingested, would ensure that my outrage would flame brighter than ever. It’s about accountability, Bob.
If the GOP didn’t do anything wrong, then they have nothing to worry about, right?
Bring me my torch and pitchfork, it’s time to subpoena the forkers!
P.S. Shrub is going to veto those domestic initiatives, anyway.
Damn fine post, Travis. Award-winningly damn fine, IMO.
PS This Canadian is very pleased with the election results overall. Please encourage those in border states to lob spitballs at our Prime Minister. Thanks.
The reasonable course of action, according to the misinformation millionaires, is to pull over for a quick piss, give the driver some crank, cram the kids into the trunk, burn the damn map, then close your eyes and hope for the best. That’s called bipartisanship, you uncouth hippie.
Nice analogy.
If there’s any justice in the world, Reich and Rahm will be sidelined by . . . what was it Dean called it? The Democratic wing of the Democratic party? We probably shouldn’t waste too much time telling the guys we just put in power that we didn’t vote them in so they could be enablers. If they appease the war machine, I say we start rounding up primary challengers on the left immediately.
On a more positive note, at least Hillary went public last night with a call for BushCo to hit the brakes.
Typical dude, refusing to ask for directions.
I’m hoping that Nancy Pelosi’s claim that impeachment(s) are not on the agenda is out of respect for the investigative process and it’s target’s right to a fair investigation. I just can’t imagine, no matter how centrist the leadership decides to act, that they can ignore the blatant disregard the administration’s shown for rule-of-law and separation of powers.
Bingo. What do they say when we point out that they’re crass desire to deport sixteen million hispanics is driven by racial hatred? They say “Oh, NO, mikey, we LOVE us some brown peeps. But LAWS ARE LAWS, we have to enforce the LAWS!!” And now, when you have Leadership with blood dripping from their hands and billion-dollar contracts falling out of their pockets and they say “Ah, c’mon mikey, you guys won, let’s let bygones be bygones, can’t we all just get along?” Sorry. No. Or, to put it somewhat more Succintly: Fuck. You.
mikey
Reich is a small man.
Alas, I think the “sensible” Democrats like Rahm and Reich will ensure that there is no accounting. None. They’re far, far too worried about Hugh Hewitt and Insta-Nitwit calling them partisan. And heaven forbid that the leader of a political party seem partisan!
Instead, you get the brain-damaged crap that Reich spouts. “Oh, pay no attention to the wars we’re losing. We have to focus on some jiggery-pokery with the economy!”
After all, simply because every poll taken shows between 60- and 70% of Americans oppose the war in Iraq is no reason whatever to look into it or even speak about it.
Oh, fuck that. It’s subpoena time. How about this: for every Republican thrown into the federal pen, the blogosphere will scrape up $100,000 and donate it to the reelection fund of one of our newly elected Democratic congressmen.
It’s open season on lame ducks. Let’s fill up this here ice chest.
Number one issue on voters minds yesterday: corruption.
Winning on that issue doesn’t mean go play nice with the kleptocrats, it means bring them to justice.
Hot damn!
CNN Breaking news: Rummsfeld is stepping down
On the air right now.
Rumsfeld gone. Cheney, Bush, and Rove still to go.
just remember that every time the people in the back seat would get
restless and ask “are we there yet?” the driver would snarl and shout
“Shut up, I know where we’re going…we’ve turned the corner and we’re
going to stay our course!”
Hey, ifthe! Let’s get that asshole Rove on the phone and ask him to do THE Math!!
And yeah, think about how unhinged and looney bush is gonna get when he keeps running into roadblocks. Man, wacky hijinks are going to ensue!!!
mikey
Gary?
Where are you?
Come on and stop by. It wont hurt much.
Gary Ruppert, right at this moment, is:
A. Swinging from the shower curtain rod
B. Cowering under his bed in fear of Speaker Pelosi
C. Back in his home town of Tijuana, plotting ways to sneak over the border
D. Crying like a bitch
Rumsfeld stepping down! New direction ok!
Oh our foes will rise
With the sleep still in their eyes
And they’ll jerk from their beds and think they’re dreaming
But they’ll pinch themselves and squeal
Ane they’ll know that it’s for real
The hour that the ship comes in
And they’ll raise their hands
Saying, “We’ll meet all your demands!”
But we’ll shout from the bows, “Your days are numbered!”
And like Pharoah’s tribe they’ll be drowned in the tide
And like Goliath, they’ll be conquered.
First we should keelhaul them, then hang ’em from the yardarm for awhile then make ’em walk the plank!
Arggggh!
Then maybe we should hold a trial to make sure all the paperwork is filled out properly.
Arrrrgh!, Me Hearties! Lets get this pillaging and plundering underway!!
Can we start letting illegal gay muslim terrorists into the country yet?
Say, I’m looking for a guy named Ruppert, Gary Ruppert. Anybody here seen him?
The fact is, if the Dems all behave in a centrist non-partisan fashion and do whatever Bush wants we can work this thing out.
OMG, General Woundwort, I totally had “When The Ship Comes In” playing when I read your comment!
And Amen to that.
The song here. With an appropriate introduction, too.
Elcting a Democratic house is all part of Bush’s master plan of controlled chaos. Just like in Iraq, except nobody gets killed (if they’re lucky). It’s genius.
Can we start letting illegal gay muslim terrorists into the country yet?
Only if they can prove they have recently had or performed an abortion.
Like I drunkenly commented last night – here’s the logic behind the pundits’ advice to the Dems.
1) If a House or Senate seat switched from Democrat to Republican, it means that the attitude of that seat is centrist. You see, it can’t move from the Right aaall the way to the Left in one election, it can only shift from the Right to the center.
2) Therefore, Democrats need to move to the center, since there are now, percentage-wise, more Democratic seats that represent centrist districts. See?
3) Dems should not be so foolish as to think that people voted Dem because they actually LIKE Democratic ideals. Nonono, they simple DON’T like what the Republicans have done lately. It’s like breaking up with the guy you really love and hanging out with someone else, just to teach him a lesson. You know, and he knows that you’re only dating that new guy because you don’t want to be alone, and the new guy’s so desperate that he’s nice to you. But really, as soon as your old boyfriend says he’s sorry and the new guys gets boring (because he’s so pathetically nice), you’ll go back to him.
So … when’s the Number 6 party?
I expect Gary’s waiting there.
Wait for 2008. The repukes will STILL be running on terror ‘n taxes. Of course by that time many more ‘pugs in Congress will have been indicted in connection with Abramoff, the civil war in Iraq will be at an advanced stage…
This just in…south Florida Starbucks reports a 50% drop in revenue
as Katherine Harris Campaign Headquarters shuttered…
I wish I could have watched Chimpy McCokehead’s press conference, I hear it was a doozy.
[…] Travis G. at Sadly, No! has a great post up about why “let’s let bygones be bygones” isn’t going to cut it, and why investigations and hearings into the last 6 years of Republican misrule are not only reasonable but necessary: When you’re totally lost, it’s best to just stop the car and turn around, keeping an eye out for things that look familiar. There’s no need to devise some grandiose scheme to find a better or quicker way home. (Grandiose schemes are what got you lost in the first place, remember?) Open the glove box and get out the map, which you decided to stick in there on a 5-4 vote, and you’ll find your way back soon enough. To pass the time, you should probably figure out who gave the driver all the credit cards in the first place, who told him it was okay to throw out those unpaid parking tickets and who slept through their shift as navigator. And you should give those people other responsibilities on the return trip. It might make for a long, uncomfortable ride home – but it really is the only way to avoid making those same mistakes again. […]
Screw the bullshit about Centerism and bi-partisanship. At least how Bush and the MSN have defined it. The dems would have to be incredibly stupid to acquiesce to their demands.
Look, the Dems won the election campaigning against the blank cheque of the Bush administration that the previous congresses gave. It is in their political interest to continue opposing the administration’s excesses. Otherwise why vote Democrat?
They have a vested interest in exposing how dangerous the Bush administration is and has acted. I hope they are not stupid enough not to realize it.
Yeehah. The best fucking news of the day bar none. Pammy’s in mourning for Rumsfeld:
Real Defeat: Rumsfeld is Out
Rumsfeld is going? Now I am depressed. The white flag has been raised. Bush has lost it.
I love Rumsfeld. Rumsfeld was solid. A straight talking brilliant strategist. He had to take a mid 20th century military, decimated and raped for 8 years by a shortsighted horndog (Clinton), and transform it into a lean, agile state of the art 21st centrury military overnight to go after the post modern 21st enemy. An enemy that has no specific territory, operates in the shadows, kills large numbers of civilians with an incomprehensible barbaric blood lust, and has made Iraq the central front on the war on Islamic fundamentalism. Rumsfeld did it, hands tied by the PC mentality that infected the Bush administration.
Bwaah-hah-effing-hah! I wish I could piss on his grave.
ps What happened to your preview button (if you ever had one)?
They’re far, far too worried about Hugh Hewitt and Insta-Nitwit calling them partisan. And heaven forbid that the leader of a political party seem partisan!
Then screw ’em. Look, what guys like Insty and Hugh had going for them was the great big billy club of owning every branch of government. Everybody already knew they were wrong on the merits (well, OK, not everybody, but a sizeable majority — as demonstrated last night). They never had authority and they just lost power. All they’ve got left is enough hot air to solve the world’s fossil fuel woes, if only they’d channel their efforts in a useful direction.
Rahm and Reich and whoever else is treating “partisan” like it’s a bad word should get about 12 hours’ grace time and then let the bitch-slapping begin. Now is the time for partisanship. And the party I’m supporting is that one that will give us back the constitution, get us out of Iraq, and clean up the corruption by kicking asses and taking names (I’m looking at you, Nancy).
ps What happened to your preview button (if you ever had one)?
It’s been gone for a while, blowback. My pet theory is that Gary Ruppert took it and has been holding it hostage, biding his time, waiting for either the rapture or the opportune moment to send a note made up of tear-stained clippings from the Wall Street Journal’s editorial page.
Beat them till they cry ‘uncle’, then begin a new era of comity and bipartisanship.
Or promise co-operation and moderation, once the GOP learns what those words mean.
Poor Gary.
/cackle!
As for the Gary Rupperts of this world–assuming he’s not a robot–I’m torn between a) kill ’em all and let Satan sort ’em out or b) forcibly branding a big W on their foreheads so that every time they go out in public, they are mocked and scorned and pelted with sharp coins.
It’s a win-win, really.
To the Editors:
Can we have a compilation of Gary’s greatest hits? Like this one:
Gary Ruppert said,
November 5, 2006 at 18:36
The fact is that this election is clearly narrowing as Americans realize that the Democrats are the party of abortion, homosexuality, and surrender.
As well, these results are also due to John Kerry’s insult of our troops.
Hopefully you moonbats are handling the news of your buddy Saddam getting hanged well.
So, when the GOP retains both the House and Senate, what will you moonbats have to say to me?
Or this one:
Gary Ruppert said,
November 5, 2006 at 18:43
The fact is that Saddam’s execution will also give the GOP a bounce, as we’re reminded that Saddam would still be in power if the Dems had their way.
or this one:
Gary Ruppert said,
November 5, 2006 at 18:54
Granted, Chairman Dean has been totally absent from the news, just like Nancy Pelosi.
The fact is that Howard Dean blew $50M and won one primary, and he will blow all the DNC’s money and still fail to win a majority.
But, they have a spiffy looking employee in Mississippi, even if they did lose in Pennsylvania and Ohio and Missouri because they have no GOTV operation.
As well, expect the Labor Goon GOTV efforts to be severely hindered in 2008. We won’t forget about what they’re doing this year, and we’ll make sure that they can’t just waste their dues on election abortion supporters.
Or this one, my all-time favorite:
Gary Ruppert said,
November 5, 2006 at 19:01
The efforts here are to remind you that we’re the right, we’re right, you’re wrong, and your party is about to fade into oblivion.
I’m totally okay with behaving in a completely “non-partisan” matter after the election, as long as we behave in an “overdue vengeance from an enraged deity” manner:
Every person in politics who stood around and cheered while Bushco trashed our Consitution gets purged from the national discourse, regardless of what party they are in.
Every pair of blinders gets ripped off, and every brainless fool gets fired, so we never have to hear “no one could have imagined…” ever again. Imagining possible consequences was YOUR JOB, here’s your fucking pink slip.
Every corrupt, corporate-dick-sucking asshole who sold out their country and their constituents for a lobbyist’s kiss or a house or a yacht or campaign contributions or whatever gets blacklisted from ever participating in government again, regardless of what party they are in.
Every tongue, regardless of party, that wagged in lying, scheming visciousness and idiotic talking points gets cut out, slowly, so that the blood chokes their throats and forces them to regurgitate the last remnant of slimy dregs from their guts before they drown in their own bile. Or at least told to STFU.
Nothing partisan there at all.
I say we force all defeated or resigning repubs to gay marry each other, then have gay abortions.
Also, as far as impeachment:
Get Cheney.
Ignore Bush.
Impeaching the pres, while justified, would have less effect and be far less well received than taking that half dead motherfucker behind the shed and finishing the job. Rummy is an awesome trophy to put up next to Santorum and (knock on wood) Macaca, but it’s time to hunt big game. Bush still has followers, sad as it is. Cheney just has power.
blowback…shame on you for sending me to a freeper site. Yes, it is afternoon here, but I wasn’t ready for that. The second comment was even quoting Rush Limbaugh…and I really didn’t need that. My head just hurts now.
I am glad we won overall, but sadly, my district re-elected Musgrave to Congress. She is the one who feels that gay marriage…and gays in general…are the biggest threat to Amercians right now. Somehow the Democratic tidal wave skipped over Northeast Colorado.
But good news and good news and I celebrate with the rest. If you are looking for GR, he is probably hiding in the bottom part of the outhouse because he is so afraid of Speaker Pelosi. You will find the outhouse just past the satellite dish on the left side of the trailer near the car on cinder blocks.
The fact is this one is pretty groovy as well:
Gary Ruppert said,
November 5, 2006 at 23:09
Here’s my source
Republicans Cut Democratic Lead in Campaign’s Final Days
Democrats Hold 47%-43% Lead Among Likely Voters
A nationwide Pew Research Center survey finds voting intentions shifting in the direction of Republican congressional candidates in the final days of the 2006 midterm campaign. The new survey finds a growing percentage of likely voters saying they will vote for GOP candidates. However, the Democrats still hold a 48% to 40% lead among registered voters, and a modest lead of 47%-43% among likely voters.
So, you’re gonna claim that the WaPo poll was an outlier?
The GOP is surging towards retaining both houses.
Remember, Howard Dean melted down in the last week before Iowa.
And the Democrat Party will melt down electorally in the last week.
Also this one:
Gary Ruppert said,
November 5, 2006 at 23:16
The clear fact of the matter is that the GOP is exerting unstoppable momentum, and it’ll be the final nail in the coffin of the Democrat Party.
I suspect parody in that second post, but it’s a very good parody.
This one is pretty good, too:
Gary Ruppert said,
November 5, 2006 at 23:25
And if the Dems manage to steal the election, expect me to note that fact.
The Dems won’t win, but they could try hard enough to steal it.
Not for nothing is he known as Gary “Nostradamus” Ruppert.
“Ideally, you should let someone else drive, but the other guy with a license is even more reckless. Hell, one time he shot a dude in the face.”
Without sounding too toady, that made me smile after a really shitty day at work.
From your keyboard to the FSM’s earbuds, Travis! Truly an excellent essay, and I’m amazed you got it written & posted so quickly.
Actually, I want investigations. I want to watch John Conyers & Henry Waxman standing over every single Repub thug as they clean out their desks & laptops, making them turf out every scrap & pixel of larceny, ratfucking, felonious collusion, sexual misadventure, and shared contempt for both the rule of law and the mouthbreathing “base” they so assiduously courted in the public media. It’ll be like watching the junior-high principal finally slap down his football-coach assistant vp for enabling the jocks to bully every decent teacher & student in the school, and then making the biggest bullies stand up in front of the school-wide assembly to explain just how bad-ass they thought they were as long as the grown-ups weren’t paying enough attention. And, like the junior-high remoras who are the first to desert their jock “idols” when conditions change, I want to watch every bowtied Sabbathday Gasbag scavenging after more scraps & contraband to further incriminate their former masters, as they loudly proclaim their relief at the glorious new Era of Principle…
No, seriously, whether or not we “should” talk about impeachment — we need to start the investigations even before Pelosi is sworn in as Speaker. Because once the documents have been released, then people can start bringing civil suits against every stinking thieving lying Repub buttmunch who’s spent the last six years & more growing fat on other people’s suffering. Even if we can’t get them to the Hague… before 2008… let’s make them suffer, because taking their ill-gotten funds away and then laughing at their pain is probably the highest form of suffering these reptiles can actually undergo.
The banner at Atlas Shrugs says:
Citizen Journalist. Citizen Soldier.
That, more than anything else in the past few days, made me laugh.
Isn’t a citizern soldier an unlawful combatant?
The car suddenly veered off the road and we came to a sliding halt in the gravel. I was hurled against the dashboard. My Vice-President was slumped over the wheel. “What’s wrong?” I yelled. “We can’t stop here. This is bat country!”
“My hear,” he groaned. “Where’s the medicine?”
“Oh,” I said. “The medicine, yes, it’s right here.” I reached into the kit-bag for the amyls.
Citizen soldiers say things like this: Why the rollover? Because Iraq was not over in 30 minutes and we couldn’t pick up our marbles and go home? This is war buddy. War is tough, get over it.
And so does a shrieking harpy.
I got a long list.
They should start with Pat Roberts, that douchebag senator from Alabama who took a dive more times than a pug in a dime store novel over the intel reports going to war. I only say ‘start’ because he was the first one I thought of off the top of my head. I want Cheney to decline an invitation to testify in front of a committee in open session — and then I want them to charge him with contempt. I want his energy ‘taskforce’ notes. I want him questioned about waterboarding. I want hacks like Gen. Pace to have to face weekly, broadcast, hearings on the ‘progress’ in Iraq. I want the Betchel/halliburton/lockheed martin no-bid contracts investigated. I want Jack Abramhoff to testify in front of a committee as part of an ethics overhaul in Congress. A million more.
The great part is, that while, yeah, it’s revenge, it’s also the people’s business. The public wants and deserves answers. I want to extract them in the worst way.
Then they can pass a minimum wage bill.
int thefactis(void)
var Congress
Congress=Lost
[your code here]
end;
JPod [Kathryn Jean Lopez]
I realize you’re happy today and I’m not. But Casey ran an awful race and brought nothing to the table, as Santorum put it. It turned out to be a smart strategy — rarely talking, because he didn’t have much to say) — but it wasn’t a good thing. It’s really unfortunate politics.
He won. I’ll deal — until being a “Christianist” gets me committed . But Bush praising his campaign in particular was unfortunate and to someone who admired his opponent’s principled campaign and leadership, infuriating.
I’m move on now, but the president could have spared us that. Certainly until I had gotten some sleep.
Posted at 2:14 PM
*sniff*
From CNN.com:
“I’m obviously disappointed with the outcome of the election and, as the head of the Republican Party, I share a large part of the responsibility,” Bush said during a East Room news conference at the White House.
This is what it took for the man to finally accept responsibility for something? An election gone sour? Of course he doesn’t realize that in taking responsibility for the GOP’s ass-whupping, he’s implicitly admitting all the mistakes of the past six years that actually caused said trouncing.
Well, at least something important enough for the prez to notice finally happened . . .
Mortician. To bush, taking responsibility means saying the words. There’s no real meaning to them. I might as well “take responsibility” for KAL flight 7. Means nothing. He ain’t gonna admit any mistakes, ’cause he CAN’T. But it no longer matters. The American people have said, very clearly, he IS responsible for much, both incompetence and malfeasance. And they have made it clear that they are holding the entire rebublican party accountable for his actions.
Look, let’s not start deluding ourselves now. The entire country didn’t wake up yesterday morning and say “My goodness but I feel LIBERAL today”. This was a protest vote. We have an opportunity to remind the people what leadership and governance looks like, but we’ll have to take that opportunity…
mikey
Well, at least something important enough for the prez to notice finally happened . . .
Well yeah, sm, it is important. He no longer has carte blanche. That’s something even he understands.
elroy – my apologies for making your head hurt but don’t you just love the sound of wingnuts weeping in the morning?
I’m totally okay with behaving in a completely “non-partisan� matter after the election, as long as we behave in an “overdue vengeance from an enraged deity� manner
Dorothy, I love you. (in a totally non-gay way, of course)
This election is about accountability. We now have to back up the talk with the walk and MAKE these boneheads accountable for their actions. Period.
It seems the majority of the Americans hate America.
We have an opportunity to remind the people what leadership and governance looks like, but we’ll have to take that opportunity…
Absolutely, mikey. Which is why I say (for, I think, the third or fourth time today on this site alone) — we cannot let the Rahms and Reichs and Pelosis spend too much time triangulating, centering, and preaching the kum-ba-yah of bipartisanship. Yes, yes, I understand that they need to make rhetorical nice at the outset, much in the same way that Bush felt the need to do so today. But Bush really had to — he’s SOL, assuming the Virginia senate result holds. Once they’re sworn in, the Dems don’t have to “reach across the aisle” unless it’s truly in the best interests of the American people (and the rest of the world). There’s a lot the newly-elected Dem majority has to do now in order to uphold the oath of office that, by definition, will not be friendly, polite and pleasant for members of BushCo. They’d better buck up and do it — and if they don’t do it on their own, we’d better keep the pressure on them to take our country back from those who have squandered its promise.
I wish I could have watched Chimpy McCokehead’s press conference, I hear it was a doozy.
He couldn’t seem to shake this “deer-in-the-headlights” expression. His face showed Pure Fear. He looked exactly like a 13-year-old who’s been skipping school, coming home to find his parents waiting with a letter from his teacher. “Oh shit. I am in so much trouble.”
Then, about an hour after he tossed Rumsfeld under the bus wheels (after incessantly swearing that Rummy was here to stay) Madame Speaker-elect Pelosi announced that “impeachment is off the table.”
Smells like a deal to me: give us his head and keep yours. And, since loyalty is such an important value to him, he whipped out the machete and the silver platter…
Oh, fuck that. It’s subpoena time. How about this: for every Republican thrown into the federal pen, the blogosphere will scrape up $100,000 and donate it to the reelection fund of one of our newly elected Democratic congressmen.
I think that is a scathingly brilliant idea! I’m in.
And I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of the Sadly Nosians who so generously donated to Senator Claire McCaskill’s campaign through ActBlue. That money helped put those MIchael J. Fox ads on during the World Series, and we in Missouri can never thank you enough. The stem-cell initiative passed. 🙂
Travis is exactly right (as usual). This election was about accountability, and we need to see some. I think we will. Conyers and Waxman have had the subpoena lists and committee agendas drawn up for quite a while now, I’m sure.
And not to forget teh snark, here are my faves from today:
TBogg:
Also in Minnesota, Keith Ellison (MN-05) won and here’s hoping that he calls John Hinderaker every morning at about 3AM and shouts “Allah Akbar” and then starts giggling like a madman.
Commenter at Steve Gilliard’s blog joe_christmas:
so we’re essentially a rogue pretzel and a ruptured aorta from a female president, right?
I love the blogosphere.
I hate to throw cold water on the party, Travis, but could you lay of Reich for a bit?
The man’s mother died two weeks ago.
Let him mourn for a bit; when he says the same sh*t after the lame-duck session then ream his ass.
Gentlewoman, I’ve been feeling a tiny twinge of joy all day today about the fact that, living as I do on a fairly limited income in a reliably blue state where none of the candidates needed my financial support, I judiciously threw the few bucks I had at McCaskill’s and Webb’s campaigns. It feels nice to hear that good people in the affected states appreciate it.
Ken Houghton, I didn’t know about Reich’s mother, and I’m sorry for his loss, but I’m still not sure how grief would make him back away from holding people accountable for their truly horrendous decisions.
“OMG, General Woundwort, I totally had “When The Ship Comes Inâ€? playing when I read your comment!
And Amen to that”
I heard “When the Whip Comes Down: By the Stones. Same thing, I guess..
Great post.
The driver will continue to drive full-speed-ahead for a while, but now he will hear a constant din from the six time grandmother in the back seat, reminding him he is lost. He will eventually pull over because of a flat tire or something. Then he will simply walk away into the brush and disappear, leaving the passengers to figure out how to get the car running again drive out of the mess they are in.
As regards reaching across the aisle, how about this:
Any Republican representative who wants to work with Democrats must renounce his or her party affiliation and join the Democratic party.
Something I’ve noticed over the last several years. The conventional wisdom following elections is always this:
When the Democrats lose, it’s because they’re too liberal and need to move to the right.
When the Democrats win, it’s because the moderate electorate swung their way, and they have to move to the right to keep them.
It’s getting rather tiresome and frustrating.
I thank you personally, Smiling Mortician!
I know the feeling. I made my tiny little donation (I’m on a tiny little fixed income). I was feeling sad that I couldn’t give her more, and then the Sadly Nosians front-paged Claire, and she got almost $3k in one day.
You guys rock. And by ‘guys,’ I’m sure you know that I include people of all sexes and genders.
And species. *waves at the lovely Mehitabel, the ‘supermodel of the cat world’*
Karl lurches across the wet, slanted deck, finally falling into a
coil of rope.
“Captain! CAPTAIN! Watch out! The Democrats have fought their way out
of the brig.”
The Captain stays on his feet by hanging onto the wheel. It pulls
him back and forth as the ship plunges up and down.
“Dammit, we’re listing so badly I can hardly stand up. Did you say the
Democrats are loose? Karl you promised me the locks were secure.”
“I know Captain, but when the typhoon took the main mast, some of the
passengers broke them out.”
“Karl, you disappoint me. I worked harder than you to reinforce those
doors. What are they doing?”
“Well, uh, they’ve replaced our guys on deck, and down below. There
are more of them than us now. Watch out! Here comes the leader,
Pelosi! She’s crazy!”
Karl struggles to get up, but fails to keep his footing.
Pelosi’s hair whips across her face as she shifts to accommodate
the ship’s movement.
“Captain, we’ve taken on so much water, we have to jettison the cargo.
Order the men to bring up the hardwood, tea and indigo and throw it
over the side.”
The wind howls, covering the scream of a passenger as he’s swept
over the side. Pelosi staggers against the wheel, and tries to help
the Captain control its spin. She shouts into his ear.
“What’s the matter? Didn’t you hear me? I said we’ve got to jettison the cargo.”
“Well, Pelosi, the fact is the cargo went over the side some days ago.
When the hull was breached.”
“What? How far from port are we?”
“Let’s see. Twenty, thirty, four hundred six. Yep, we’re probably one
thousand five hundred miles from port. Give or take a thousand.”
“Dear God, it’s worse than I thought. Issue the order to man the lifeboats!”
Karl rolls out of the coil of rope onto all fours. He scuttles out
of sight like a roach. The Captain’s eyes focus on some point in the
middle distance.
“No way. If we just stay the course we’ll bring the good ship Iraq
safely into Victory Bay.”
Pelosi stares at the Captain for a minute.
“Captain. Are you mad?”
“We have to stay the course, Pelosi. There aren’t enough lifeboats for
all the passengers.”
“But if we don’t evacuate the ship, all of us will go down!”
The Captain continues to stare ahead. They hear Karl yelling to
someone to lower a lifeboat so he can take care of urgent business
back at their port of departure.
“We have to stay the course, Pelosi. I know what to do. I’ll appoint a
new first mate!”
Pelosi turns and runs to a group of sailors clinging to the
splintered base of the main mast.
“Men! Everybody! We need to lash together some rafts. Hurry up!”
The wheel pulls the Captain back and forth. The deck lists a little
bit more.
“You’re a no-good cut and runner, Pelosi. You have no right to be
issuing the orders if you can’t save the ship.”
Bush is right where the dems want him; Posterboy for incompentant Republican policies for the past six years.
By pardoning Nixon, Ford set up a dangerous precendent and talking point of Presidential infailability and some weird fear that hauling a major American political figure before Federal court would weaken the nation and creat chaos.
I dunno. Personally, I’m all in favor of sending a few peeps to the lions’ den and firmly establishing who REALLY is in charge of America.
I don’t understand why people could think that laying the smack-down on un-American powerhungry fuck-ups would be a BAD thing. I guess that goes in-hand with the delusion that “percieving” everything and everyone about the government is perfect and right, that things then MUST be that way, and thinking otherwise would destroy everything.
Or, as I like to call it, “What’s going to destroy America.”
We’ve seen what happens when you let people who believe that hope = plan run the place. I’d like to see American policy go back to being based on reality. And one of those is, “If you fuck up and break the law, your ass gets impeached and you get your own 6’x6′ expenses-paid apartment. 8’x8′ if you lower inflation.”
I took the blotter and ate it. My Vice-President was now fumbling with the salt shaker containing the cocaine. Opening it. Spilling it. Then screaming and grabbing at the air, as our fine white dust blew up and out across the desert highway. A very expensive little twister rising up from the Great Red Shark. “Oh, Jesus!” he moaned. “Did you see what God just did to us?”
“God didn’t do that!” I shouted. “You did it. You’re a fucking narcotics agent! I was on yo your stinking act from the start, you pig!”
“You better be careful,” he said. And suddenly he was waving a shotgun at me.
I feel a hole inside me. I read these comments almost exclusively for Gary Ruppert’s sage comments. And for some unknown reason (or is it knowable unknown, Rummy?) he has not graced these threads with his presence? In fact, all the trolls are hiding in their caves all over the internets (tell us if you find Osama in there anywhere). They are anxiously awaiting their talking points, but Rove has been too busy wetting himself to email his communiques. Where’s the fun in that?
If I have seen further than other cats, it is because I sit on the faces of humans.
Health warning: The surgeon-general has determined that reading Pammy’s blog will result in severe headaches.
Well folks it’s b.o.g.o.f time once again. Not only has Pammy been crying over her blessed Rummy, she is now weeping over Lincoln Chafee sticking one on John Bolton:
Bolton: Cannibalizing our Best, Brightest
Is this to be the latest blood sacrifice coming out of a bowed Bush White House? And I say here, now, STOP THE INSANITY. Throwing our best, our brightest to the insatiable leftist beast makes them hungrier. Rumsfeld, now Bolton? WTF? and Why?
Someone call that asshat Charlie Chafee McCarthy – who btw – got what was coming to him, and tell that dickless wonder to let the Bolton nomination out of committee. Someone whisper in Chafee’s ear that he has a chance here to do something consequential. To do something historic, important, meaningful – he’ll probably wet his pants at the thought of actually doing anything.
Health warning: The surgeon-general has determined that reading Pammy’s blog will result in severe headaches.