Sunday, September 30, 2012

Baby, baby Paul Ryan is out of time

Have to give Chris Wallace some credit here for trying to pin down Paul Ryan on the math of his secret, very serious, tax plan. But the Exalted Grand Wizard of Wonkiness can't be bothered with the details:
RYAN: It’s revenue neutral. [...]

WALLACE: But I have to point out, you haven’t given me the math.

RYAN: No, but you…well, I don’t have the time. It would take me too long to go through all of the math. But let me say it this way: you can lower tax rates by 20 percent across the board by closing loopholes and still have preferences for the middle class. For things like charitable deductions, for home purchases, for health care. So what we’re saying is, people are going to get lower tax rates.
And he's never going to have time to explain the numbers. You just wouldn't understand. Math is for wonks, not "you people." Just take his word for it.

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Because bitching on the internets changes everything

Shorter this guy: Pragmatic liberals are being mean to me because I have unrealistic expectations so I going to whine about their lack of purity and call them names. No idea who he is, but he called Doug J a Manichean monster.

I'm so tired of self-proclaimed hippies claiming to be punched because they didn't get the damn pony they expected, much less the unicorn they dreamed of and practical liberals point out that's not a realistic goal. Probably shouldn't have bothered but I left the woebegone "lifelong" pacifist this in his comments:
I see this long post that tells me what perfect outcomes you want, but I don't see is what ARE you doing to get there besides bitching on the internet? And please don't tell me you're punishing the lesser evil side by withholding your vote, because all that does in reality is give the more evil party the implicit consent to do whatever they want.

You want a third party alternative, then you have to commit to working every single day for years to build one that presents a viable challenge. And you need to accept that you sometimes have to make tradeoffs. Take small progress over grand changes. And even that you might not live long enough to see the results of your work.
But that's too much effort. Much easier to proclaim principled dissent as an excuse for laziness. Meanwhile, we're watching decades worth of actual progressive policies being systemically destroyed because no Democratic hero stepped up to deliver their demands instantly and single-handedly. These "principled hippies" think it's okay to let that happen because, that'll show the man he's not the boss of them.

They don't seem to realize people fought hard for the rights they benefit from today. They fought for years, over multiple adminstrations. Hell, many gave their lives to win the incremental changes that led to larger and better outcomes over time. It's not that I don't have any empathy for guys like this whiner. I do. But if they want things to change they need to focus on the small victories and build on them instead of overdosing on the emo in a transparent bid for validation for their world view.

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We don't really need more heroes

I forgot where I found this, but Erik at Lawyers, Guns and Money explains with a patience I no longer possess, why progressive purism is in the first place based on a false mythology and in the second, is counterproductive to achieving our goals.

It surely should be read in full, but here's the heart of it:
I understand the psychic need we have as people to craft historical narratives to fit our desires for the present. Stories about individual people creating change have a beautiful simplicity to them. But that doesn’t mean they are true. As we see in the present, change doesn’t happen in a beautifully simple and inspiring way. It’s a bloodbath full of power plays, infighting, and knife fights.

And I think if we understood this about the people and movements we revere in the past, we’d do a better job understanding how to organize and what to expect from our leaders in the present.
Sometimes it seems to me the left's mythology is no more realistic than the conservative's alternative reality.

In other words, yes some stuff sucks. For instance drone strikes that kill hundreds of innocent people. But what sucks more is ground wars that kill hundreds of thousands of innocent people. How that happens is clear. If you're not willing to make pragmatic compromises to ensure the better outcome, then their blood is on your hands too.

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Saturday, September 29, 2012

Progressives progress

A periodic reminder. Politics are temporary, but SCOTUS is virtually forever.
The coming term will probably include major decisions on affirmative action in higher education admissions, same-sex marriage and a challenge to the heart of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Those rulings could easily rival the last term’s as the most consequential in recent memory…

On Oct. 10, the court will hear Fisher v. University of Texas, No. 11-345, a major challenge to affirmative action in higher education. The case was brought by Abigail Fisher, a white woman who says she was denied admission to the University of Texas based on her race. The university selects part of its class by taking race into account, as one factor among many, in an effort to ensure educational diversity……

The court will probably also take on same-sex marriage. “I think it’s most likely that we will have that issue before the court toward the end of the current term,” Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said at the University of Colorado on Sept. 19……

The justices are also quite likely to take another look at the constitutionality of a signature legacy of the civil rights era, the Voting Rights Act of 1965. In 2009, the court signaled that it had reservations about the part of the law that requires the federal review of changes in election procedures in parts of the country with a history of discrimination, mostly the South.
It seems likely in the Roberts court, none of these decisions will go well. Most probably the court will reverse decades of progressive polices. And mark my words. If Romney wins, he'll get to nominate at least one, maybe two new justices and you can kiss Roe goodbye as well.

If that's not enough reason to put aside liberal purity for a few freaking weeks and vote in as many Democrats as possible, I don't know what is.

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Romney Shrugged

By Capt. Fogg

One casual observation I suspect of having some merit  is that people who complain a lot about some failing in others are covering up something similar in themselves.  Perhaps those who make such a constant noise about large numbers of our countrymen being freeloaders while covering themselves in self-adulation would give weight to the conjecture. Are they really getting a raw deal?

One certainly does hear more than enough fiction from the Republican Party's candidates about welfare queens driving Cadillacs and the stifling of initiative that comes from subsidized school lunches and perhaps a bit less about subsidies for business interests and of course, now we have that abominable new straw man, the 47%.

It's an American habit, and not just a Conservative habit, to dismiss, and often angrily dismiss any discussion of  factual support for political arguments and particularly examples of how our assertions fail to be born out in other countries, so of course those who support Mr. Romney for reasons known only to their subconscious minds, that 47% of Americans do not make enough money at present to pay Federal Income Tax are happy to frame that in terms of government dependency.  

Of course, as with most things you hear from Romney and Ryan, it's not true at all, finely crafted as the rhetoric might be and as effective in pushing that American middle class self pity hot button. As Ezra Klein pointed out in the Washington Post not long ago, the taxpayer supporting a family on $40,000 a year may not pay Federal Income Tax, but he's paying tax on every dollar he makes while the fortunate one ( excuse me, the selfless job creator) making $4,000,000 is likely paying  less than 35% on the whole chalupa.  As Klein says, it's phrased that way to make it seem only fair to give a break to those heavily burdened 'job creators.'  What it's not supposed to do is to remind you that the $40,000 'freeloader' is paying payroll tax on every dime up to around $100,000.  So when you look at the total family tax bill, it seems quite a different story.  The numbers make liars out of a lot of people and the burden is being shouldered by the rich and poor only it's the poor and the struggling middle who can't pay their bills because of it.  Taxes aren't cutting into the caviar budget, they're making it harder to buy the canned tuna and hamburger helper; harder to pay for college, harder to pay those ridiculous medical bills and harder to buy those new cars and appliances and houses that are the real job creators.



Not 47 percent paying nothing, but everybody paying something, and most Americans paying between 25 percent and 30 percent of their income.  Where are the freeloaders?  Where are all those hordes of freeloaders eating up the hard earned dollars of the job creating Galts?  The taxpayer earning a hundred grand pays more than the one making over a million and the poverty stricken have to pay 20% of their miserable $25K all of which they need to spend to stay alive.  Is it difficult to refrain from bad language and malediction when listening to such damaging lies?  You bet.

So they're lying of course and as usual. The total tax burden is far more equally distributed than the Republicans want you to believe and one might make a case that the people crying loudest about freeloaders are getting a better deal then they would like to admit. Perhaps there's some hidden guilt involved, perhaps not.

There is no more factual support for calling nearly half of us freeloaders dependent  upon government subsidy than there is for Ryan's 3 hour marathon times and in reply to that cynical bumper sticker I saw yesterday sneering "4 more years?  Are you out of your mind?"  Why no sir, I'm not and I'd remind you that neither intelligence nor honesty are more equitably distributed in the world than money. 
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The bottomless cesspool of the cons

There is no peak wingnut. There is no depth beyond which conservatives cannot sink as they wallow in the stink of their blind and mindless hate:
After four years of invective, four years during which the right has called President Obama a traitor, a communist, a fraud, an affirmative-action case, a terrorist-sympathizer, and a tyrant, its shrillest voices have been reduced to the most primal insult of all. They are calling Obama’s mother a whore.

For a while now, pictures purporting to show Obama’s mother, Stanley Ann Dunham, modeling in 1950s bondage and fetish porn have been floating around the darker corners of the Internet. Now, though, they’ve made their way into a pseudo-documentary, Joel Gilbert’s Dreams From My Real Father, which is being mailed to voters in swing states, promoted by several Tea Party groups and by at least one high-level Republican. At the same time, Dinesh D’Souza’s latest book, Obama’s America—the first of all his works to hit the top spot on The New York Times bestseller list—has a chapter essentially calling Dunham a fat slut. If Obama is reelected, it’s hard to imagine where the right goes from here.
Some unknown benefactor is funding the free distribution of hundreds of thousands of this video to the voters in the swing states. It's being aired at "conservative churches." Such good Christians. May they reap what they sow.

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Friday, September 28, 2012

Money can't buy Ann Romney good taste

I hate to get all shallow about it but Ye Gods, Ann Romney simply can't be our next FLOTUS. It would be too embarrassing. She has the worst fashion sense ever. I didn't watch her Leno interview but it appears the only thing notable about it is the horrible outfit she wore for her appearance.

You can see the full length shot with the hideous shoes here. As it's described:
Ann Romney, whose hubby, Mitt, is running to become the next president of the United States, left her campaign-trail cardigan at home while making an appearance on "The Tonight Show With Jay Leno" on Wednesday. Instead, Romney sported an odd black tiered leather skirt (although it looked a little more like pleather) and matching jacket, along with a pair of lacy heels. Perhaps her next stop was a biker bar? (9/25/2012)
I'm reminded of Condi's debut as Secretary of State when she strode into the arena in full dominatrix regalia. But at least, while it was totally inappropriate, Condi looked hot in her outfit. Ann looks like some weird grandmom on Toddlers and Tiaras. After a certain age, full leather just doesn't work unless you're actually in the S&M scene or at least work out to keep your body looking trim enough to carry the look off. But even then, it's just not appropriate for a wannabe First Lady. [Daily News photo]

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Thursday, September 27, 2012

When I was young

Looking forward to this movie short. Somebody unearthed previously unreleased footage from a 1965 taping of the Rolling Stones. We were all so young and innocent then. Well, maybe not that innocent, but surely idealistic and maybe a little naive.

Love this trailer from the Stones movie so much. Can't wait to see it.



[via Greg Mitchell, once editor of Crawdaddy magazine]

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It's only a harvest boom

Not an earthshaking revelation, but another chip off the myth that private equity has anything to do with job creation. In this 1985 clip, where he's pitching investors Romney makes clear Bain was about harvesting profits.



Unsaid, but understood, by harvesting he means, bleeding the company dry of assets and walking away with all the money.

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Conservatives don't like nice

Thing about the GOP base, especially the 27%ers, is they see being polite as a weakness. They want to see their opponent in a bloody pulp on the floor. Not sure if this crowd reaction at a Romney rally was solely because of this line in Mittanic's speech:
"Look, I know the president cares about America and the people of this country," he told the roughly 3,500 supporters gathered in a convention center here. "He just doesn't know how to help them. I do. I'll get this country going again."
Maybe they look that way through the whole thing. Their expressions are an exquisite mix of skepticism, boredom, irritation and disgust.

By all means, click the link for the large version of the photo. It's worth ten million words.

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Obama at the table - Updated

Gratefully getting to the home stretch of this endless campaign. President Obama has a new ad in a format that favors him:
The ad features Obama speaking directly to the camera for two minutes, beginning by telling viewers, "If I could sit down with you, in your living room or around the kitchen table, here's what I'd say."
Obama ticks off four main policy points -- creating new manufacturing job, expanding American energy, strengthening education and balancing the budget by raising taxes on the wealthy -- before concluding: "It’s time for a new economic patriotism, rooted in the belief that growing our economy begins with a strong, thriving middle class. Read my plan. Compare it to Governor Romney’s and decide for yourself."
Economic patriotism is greater than foam finger patriotism, which in the end is just a bunch of empty shouting. Which, come to think of it, pretty much describes everything about today's Republican party.

Update: Just found on the twitter. An announced ad that is running in Ohio on the TV. This one is more powerful, in a much different way. (Apparently scheduled to run in several swing states.)



Thinking this should be running in every state for the duration. The more I watch it, the more devastating it looks.

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Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Actual voter registration fraud

You'll be shocked to learn, in order to prove that it exists, Republicans are commiting voter fraud themselves.
The Republican Party of Florida is dumping a firm it paid more than $1.3 million to register new voters, after Palm Beach County Elections Supervisor Susan Bucher flagged 106 “questionable” registration applications turned in by the contractor this month. Bucher asked the state attorney’s office to review the applications “in an abundance of caution” because she said her staff had questions about similar-looking signatures, missing information and wrong addresses on the forms. [...]

“When we learned today about the instances of potential voter registration fraud that occurred in Palm Beach County, we immediately informed the Republican National Committee that we were terminating the contract with the voter registration vendor we hired at their request because there is no place for voter registration fraud in Florida,” said RPOF Executive Director Mike Grissom late Tuesday.
Thinking back on the many instances of resistance to voter suppression I've seen in the last few months from the local election officials in that state, this all gives me some hope it won't be so easy for the GOPers to steal Florida this year.

[Graphic via Dennis G at Balloon Juice who has the lowdown on why Scott Brown is three times an asshat.]

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Tuesday, September 25, 2012

National Voter Registration Day

All evidence points to Election Day 2012 becoming a total mess. Between new Voter ID laws, untrained or confused poll workers and various groups that plan to "monitor" (read that intimidate) likely Democratic voters, nothing is assured no matter how badly the Mittanic campaign looks right now.

The twitter tells me today is National Voting Registration Day, so click over to nationalvoterregistrationday.org where you can check your registration status and register if necessary. Also check this voting rights site for new Voter ID requirements.

If you're sure you're properly credentialed and registered and want to cast an early or absentee vote, here's a handy list of early voting dates and absentee ballot request deadlines.

Take nothing for granted and please don't procrastinate.

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Obamas on The View

The Obamas made an appearance on The View yesterday. They were their usual charming, authentic selves. And I just love Michelle's fashion style:

Whoopi on the other hand... Love her dearly, but Ye Gods, what is up with those shoes? Do not work with that outfit. [Photo via]

Meanwhile, I crashed out early last night, but have down time today, so hoping to catch up on some saved links while I have a few moments to spare.

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Monday, September 24, 2012

Sarah Silverman gets out the vote

Not a huge fan of Sarah Silverman but this video she made is just terrific. Needless to say NSFW -- much dropping of the F bomb.



[via Balloon Juice]

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Sunday, September 23, 2012

Bullshit Mountain

Never got around to watching this Jon Stewart segment but this is so true:

Totally encapsulates the conservative mindset.

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Private audiences only for Ann Romney

Well it looks like the Mittsters "secret weapon," her royal highness Princess Ann Romney won't be speaking to the press for a while:
In Omaha for a closed to the press fundraiser for her husband Friday, Mrs. Romney was supposed to give interviews to several reporters but canceled due to the controversy over her blow up at Republicans on a radio interview, in which she ordered Mitt’s Republican critics to “stop it.”
That would be Mrs. Romney's interview with Radio Iowa where she bitched out her dear hubby's GOP critics:

“Stop it. This is hard. You want to try it? Get in the ring,” she said. “This is hard and, you know, it’s an important thing that we’re doing right now and it’s an important election and it is time for all Americans to realize how significant this election is and how lucky we are to have someone with Mitt’s qualifications and experience and know-how to be able to have the opportunity to run this country.”
Apparently Princess Ann has been treated like Mormon royalty for so long, she was expecting a coronation instead of fight once they got the nomination. You might have thought she would have realized that campaigning was the price of admission to the White House. It's not like they haven't been doing this for what, seven years now.

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Little known facts about me

Once I literally bought a tshirt off Abbie Hoffman's back. It's green. It says: My country invaded Nicaragua and all I got was this lousy tshirt. I still have it.

Paid eight bucks for it. My only regret is I didn't have him sign it. I had a permanent Sharpie right there in my desk.

We talked for a long time. He told me about he time he smoked pot with Mick Jagger. He said it was lousy weed. Afterwards, he tried to take me to his hotel room. I didn't go.

[More posts daily at the Detroit News.]
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Still off the grid

Sorry kids. Totally burned yesterday. Didn't get in till after 10:30 and barely had the energy to check the news quickly. Looks like it was a slow day. We're kind of at the point where the campaigns are on a continuous loop of repeating talking points. Romney looks more desperate every day. And no, his release of an executive summary claiming he paid all these taxes for 20 years is not sufficient. It's just another version of, "Just trust me."

Looking at a few days off so I expect to be back to whatever resembles normal blogging by tonight.
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Friday, September 21, 2012

Off the grid

Been unplugged from the matrix all day. And a very long, trying and tiring day it was. Briefly checked out the buzz, but just too tired to talk about it. Sorry kids, no blogs today. Maybe tomorrow night. At the moment I have a heavy date in the arms of Morpheus.

[More posts daily at the Detroit News.]
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Thursday, September 20, 2012

Romney's fools

This is worth a 1000 words on deluded Romney supporters. Taken today at a Romney rally in Florida where there was a sizeable crowd of anti-Romney protesters. Old, fat Romney man who is most probably on Medicare and who knows what other government programs manhandles a protester for daring to exercise his free speech rights. Because, free speech only applies to them, not anyone who disagrees with them.

Tragic really, how much these old fools just radiate blind, mindless hate. [BuzzFeed photo by Zeke Miller]

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For Paul Ryan, it's about individualism vs. collectivism

This is a bit too obscure to make a noticeable difference in the campaign, but illuminating. A Catholic website delves into an old speech by Paul Ryan where he makes his disdain for Medicare and Social Security explicit:
This isn’t from a secret video, it’s from the untranscribed portion of Ryan’s 2005 speech at the Atlas Society’s “Celebration of Ayn Rand.” It fits well with the Romney video because it makes clear that middle class entitlements, “so called defined benefit programs” such as Social Security and Medicare ARE an explicit strategic target because they are collectivistic, socialistic and foster dependency.

The speech has been hidden in plain sight on the Atlas Society website, which offers only apartial transcript. This omits several revealing passages that illuminate Ryan’s philosophy as it relates to policy priorities.

Ryan describes Social Security and Medicare as “collectivist” and “socialistic.”

Ryan’s strategic plan: privatize Social Security and Medicare in order to convert people from “collectivism” to believers in a “capitalistic individualistic” philosophy. So that there will be “more people on our team” who “won’t listen to” Democrats.
This isn't new policy for Ryan. His Roadmap to Middleclass Ruin is riddled with more oblique references to the same thing. Nothing surprising here except how well he's managed to delude the elderly into thinking he intends to protect the program.

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The revolving door

It just keeps spinning on K Street. TPaw flees the sinking Mittanic and goes for the reported $1.8 million payoff:

Former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty will take over one of K Street’s most prestigious jobs as CEO of the Financial Services Roundtable.

The group announced Thursday morning that the former GOP candidate for president would replace longtime CEO Steve Bartlett. Pawlenty has stepped down as co-chairman of Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign to take the position.
The Mittster is putting a brave face on it. Romney tells the media, "While I regret he cannot continue as co-chair of my campaign, his new position advancing the integrity of our financial system is vital to the future of our country."

Because TPaw, working class hero, is going to "create jobs" by helping the casino capitalists overcome the odious rules in Dodd-Frank. Of course, the official stance is the Roundtable doesn't want to repeal it. That would be too obvious. So instead they intend to deploy TPaw to convince Congressional GOPers to defang the rules, one by one, leaving Dodd-Frank an empty shell of failed reforms.

Granted it was never a great bill, but only in America can find enough voters who will buy this bullshit and believe it will make things better.

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Context is everything

Team Rmoney shamelessly creates ads by taking President Obama out of context. Their entire smear campaign relies on that trick. Today, Truth Team Obama turns the tables. Not sure who the target audience is here, but very cute ad:



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Wednesday, September 19, 2012

The complete, unedited Romney fundraiser tapes

By now you've probably seen Mother Jones release of the complete Romney tapes from his fateful fundraiser. I'm going to post them here anyway, for archival purposes. Part One



Part Two



There was a small camera glitch in the recording so about two minutes of the entire speech are missing. This vital omission was immediately seized upon by the Might Hit Trolling Brigade of the far right as proof positive of O'Keefe inspired deceitful editing. The valiant keyboardists of Wingtopia thus declared the video thoroughly debunked. Much chest bumping among the ranks ensured. Unsurprisingly, this immediately triggered an avalanche of amusing snark on the #missing2min hashtag this afternoon.

The surprise find on the twitter today came from Atrios. I don't know who this old guy is, but his Piggie of the Week bit is worth watching.



Maybe it's just me. Sure he's a little too derivative but I ended up watching it all. I thought he was kind of cute. Maybe it's a generational thing.

Oh, and contrary to my earlier theory, it's now rather clear that the bartender did it.

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Smoke a little tea with Brucie

By Capt. Fogg

Life provides some tasty moments, even in lean  and hopeless times: delicious little bonbons like the news that the Romney campaign had to borrow $20 million last month and is still $11 million in the hole. Of course that wouldn't have happened if it weren't for that socialist Obama.  Say, maybe he can pay off that debt by cutting costs and quitting now!  Nah, he'll have to raise some revenue by going after the very, very, very rich.  Irony is sweeter than Tupelo honey.

But it's the disconnect, the discontinuity at the interface between reality and the wild and hyperbolic hurricane of principle and theory and doctrine and ad hoc explanations that makes these things so sticky, gooey sweet.

I had to laugh today at a newspaper comic strip called Mallard Fillmore that illustrates that discontinuity; bashing Obama and Liberals and free thinkers so desperately, it's obvious that Bruce Tinsley the perpetrator, has long since run out past the boundaries of the real into a world of his own where Obama is falling in the polls and Tinsley has some far better alternative to offer, but don't ask. 

Humor from the alternate reality where Bush's failures were Clinton's fault, where the Bush economic fundamentals were 'robust' and where paying off Bush's unprecedented spending spree means the debt is Obama's fault.A reality where the government cannot create jobs but that Damn Obama isn't creating the jobs we demand.

Hey, I'm four years older than I was four years ago.  Damn those Liberals!

No, sorry Tinsley, you never were funny. Bitter, angry and a bit delusional and really a bit pathetic certainly.  You've been very wrong for a very long time and you need to recognize it.  You get printed so that the papers can pretend to be balanced, so that their corporate owners can be told that their viewpoints are being served and so that the barrel scrapings, the scab picking, booger eating, shack dwelling, debt ridden 98 IQ dregs of hung over humanity might buy an occasional paper and find something they have the vocabulary to read and feel good about themselves that they too can hate that Damned Obama just like you -- find an anger bigger than their own to unite behind.
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Photo ops

So tired last night, apparently I saved this as a draft instead of publishing it. So publishing now:

Today was a travel day. I'm back from a few glorious days at the beach. Weather was perfect until this morning. We woke up to gale force winds. Much flying of chairs off the deck. Half the shells the kids collected blew away. It was high tide. The roiling surf was vicious, slapping at the bottom of the stairs to the beach. It was an eventful trip home.

I'm skipping the Mittanic schadenfreude over David Corn's release of the unedited Romney tapes and posting a couple of photo ops I collected while I was enjoying the ocean air. Well except for this Charles Dharapak catch of Romney at the after-release presser.
This one also from Charles Dharapak. Unfit Mitt strikes a classic pose while "inspecting" Air Force airplanes before disaster struck his campaign.

Don't remember how I found this billboard that's somewhere on I-84. I like that this happened.

And a picture my sister took of the quietest sea on our beach outing. Water so calm, the net fisherman pulled way in right in front of the cottage. We saw the whole operation. They caught a fair amount of big fish. I applauded at the end and the kid on the boat waved to me.

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Random nerdery

These guys often go over my head, but this epic xkcd cartoon is easy to understand and it's not hyperbole to say it's the most incredible ever. Warning: Don't click the link unless you have at least ten minutes to look at it all.

And I'm too excited for this December release. First trailer for the new Hobbit movie is finally out:



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Tuesday, September 18, 2012

Atrios says crazy things in the MSM

Actually, Atrios is joking, he doesn't think they're crazy and neither do I. Indeed, I'm often surprised when he says something I've been thinking for years. Because, he's a lot smarter about this stuff than I am. Nonetheless, I feel rather certain the "very serious people" will say Atrios is crazy when they read his USA Today column. Appearing weekly.

This gives me more hope than anything that's happened in the last four years. It broadens his reach far beyond the enormous choir he preaches to now, to a vast realm of lower info voters who really need to listen to what he has to say. It could change some minds. This is a good thing.

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Monday, September 17, 2012

Bombshell video of Romney fundraiser

This hidden camera video of a high dollar Romney fundraiser is like the October surprise in September:
Here was Romney raw and unplugged—sort of unscripted. With this crowd of fellow millionaires, he apparently felt free to utter what he really believes and would never dare say out in the open. He displayed a high degree of disgust for nearly half of his fellow citizens, lumping all Obama voters into a mass of shiftless moochers who don't contribute much, if anything, to society, and he indicated that he viewed the election as a battle between strivers (such as himself and the donors before him) and parasitic free-riders who lack character, fortitude, and initiative. Yet Romney explained to his patrons that he could not speak such harsh words about Obama in public, lest he insult those independent voters who sided with Obama in 2008 and whom he desperately needs in this election. These were sentiments not to be shared with the voters; it was inside information, available only to the select few who had paid for the privilege of experiencing the real Romney.
Huge authenticated video. Apparently encompasses Unfit Mitt's entire speech, broken up into segments. This is first one where Romney tells his patrons what he really thinks about the little people. You know, the moochers who live off the "job creators."



This line is the tell: "[M]y job is is not to worry about those people. I'll never convince them they should take personal responsibility and care for their lives."

"Those people," meaning "us people."

I'm trying to figure out why this was leaked now. It was obviously done by someone who could afford the high price tag to attend. I'm thinking Unfit Mitt finally scared the big dollar donors with his botched response to the Muslim protests. Most of these people likely aren't neocons. They don't want another war, they just want their tax burden reduced to even further less than zero. Guessing they're realizing the tradeoff between Mitt's incompentency to hold the office and the extra money in their pocket isn't worth it.

Must read the whole thing is overused these days, but this time it's really true. Read it all. Watch all the videos. And disseminate widely. So stunning I'm guessing the very ground in Boston must be shaking from the mass panic.

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Sunday, September 16, 2012

And the award for most craven misrepresentation of the First Amendment goes to...

The willfully obtuse Perfessor Instypundit who allegedly teaches law at some obviously negligent University that continues to employ him even though he dishes out this absolute bullshit on the internets. (No, don't click that link, I'll tell you what he said):
WHY BARACK OBAMA SHOULD RESIGN. Just for the record, this is what it looked like for a man who made a film that made the Obama Administration uncomfortable:
“Just after midnight Saturday morning, authorities descended on the Cerritos home of the man believed to be the filmmaker behind the anti-Muslim movie that has sparked protests and rioting in the Muslim world.”

When taking office, the President does not swear to create jobs. He does not swear to “grow the economy.” He does not swear to institute “fairness.” The only oath the President takes is this one:

I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.

By sending — literally — brownshirted enforcers to engage in — literally — a midnight knock at the door of a man for the non-crime of embarrassing the President of the United States and his administration, President Obama violated that oath. You can try to pretty this up (It’s just about possible probation violations! Sure.), or make excuses or draw distinctions, but that’s what’s happened. It is a betrayal of his duties as President, and a disgrace.
Of course what the mighty deceiver Insty doesn't bother to tell his deluded fan base is Nakoula was taken in for a voluntary interview with probation officials and has not been arrested or detained. And law enforcement waited until midnight to spare him the media mob camped outside of his home. And Nakoula was subsequently released and has since disappeared.

Neither did Perfessor Deluder tell his "Army of dumbed down Davids" that:
The man, who served 21 months in prison on fraud and identity theft charges, could face more prison time if it is determined his involvement in the film was a violation of his probation, which barred him from either owning or using devices with access to the Web without prior approval from his probation officer.
In other words, this was a criminal matter where the creep's free speech was not even an issue.

Adding, I would be somewhat less disgusted by Insty's perfidy if these creepy cons raised the free speech alarm when say Code Pink is arrested for protesting. Or when YouTube took down videos created by lefties which were damaging to their own endless trumped up outrages. But they applaud those because in wingnut world free speech applies only to them. If anyone criticizes them, that's a suppression of their free speech too.

[More posts daily at the Detroit News.]

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Fuck cancer

Don't often drop the f bomb these days, but seriously just fuck cancer. And click over to offer a good thought to Jim Henley at High Clearing who is one of the best people on the internets. He's at the beginning of dealing with a scary diagnosis.

[More posts daily at the Detroit News.]
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Saturday, September 15, 2012

Romney's true colors revealed in crisis

The only good thing coming from the horrifying violence around the globe is it exposed the real Mitt Romney. At the New Yorker, John Heilemann nails Unfit Mitt's character flaws.
That the left heaped scorn on Romney’s gambit came as no surprise. But the right reacted almost as harshly—with former aides to John McCain, George W. Bush, and Ronald Reagan creating an on-the-record chorus of disapproval, while countless other Republican officials and operatives chimed in anonymously. “This is worse than a Lehman moment,” says a senior GOP operative. “­McCain made mistakes of impulsiveness, but this was a deliberate and premeditated move, and it totally revealed Romney’s character; it revealed him as completely craven and his candidacy as serving no higher purpose than his ambition.”
It would seem Romney wants to be President for the social status and most probably for the opportunity to develop future business contacts. I suspect he wants to resolve some Daddy issues as well. And of course, he's a vicious competitor who is obviously willing to cheat to win. It also appears he has little interest in fulfilling the responsibilites of the job, nor has he demonstrated any ability to do so. One can only hope the vast majority beyond the 27% diehard Obama haters notice as well.

[More posts daily at the Detroit News.]

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President Obama leads while Romney bleats

Being at the beach reminds me why most people don't spend 24/7 jacked into the matrix. There's a beautiful world out there outside of the horror show that goes on in the daily news cycle. Hard to focus on writing with the surf calling my name just outside the window.

Of course, I can't unplug entirely. I've been riveted by the news, in the same way you just have to look when you drive by a wreck on the highway. One thing that seems to have slipped under the radar is Obama's subtle confrontation with Egypt. I've seen it spun by the pundits as a misstep but Juan Cole sees it differently and he's the pundit I trust the most on the Middle East.

Mr. Cole tells us Obama's slap at Eygpt's ally status was a direct challenge to Morsi and it worked to some degree in defusing that situation. Surely, when the official Twitter account of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt issues a robust rebuke of the attack on the embassy, it shows at least respect, if perhaps some fear, of President Obama's leadership.

More worrisome, is how quickly the Muslim protests are spreading across the globe. Checking in late last night and finding Atlantic Wire's interactive map was a sobering moment.

Who knows what will happen next, but this much I know for certain. I'm grateful and relieved this is being dealt with by President Obama instead of the blustering unfit fool, Multiple Choice Mitt Romney.

[More posts daily at the Detroit News.]

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Friday, September 14, 2012

Samuel L. Jackson swears for Obama

Haven't seen the ad yet but can't wait to find the video. As only he can, Samuel L. Jackson tells America to wake the fuck up and vote for President Obama.

If anyone needs a reason after the string of foreign policy blunders Rmoney spewed out over the last 48 hours or so, here's another one that didn't get enough attention. Putin Thanks Romney for Reminding Him That America Is Almost 50% Dumbass:
ABC News says Vladimir Putin has thanked Mitt Romney for calling Russia the United States’ #1 geopolitical foe, because it has “strengthened his resolve to oppose NATO’s plan for a missile defense shield in Eastern Europe.”...
Meanwhile, the Team Romney blunderfest continues. A Romney spokesman claims Muslims would never attack our interests under an Unfit Mitt presidency because they would be too scared to disrespect him, or something. "'There wouldn’t even be anti-American protests in the Middle East if Romney were in charge,' the aide said."

Because you know, Muslim extremists have never attacked or protested America under any other president. Well, except for the hundreds of international terrorist incidents that happened while Bush was in office.

This immediately spawned a deluge of mockery under the hashtag #RomneyStrength on the twitter. Apparently Team Romney took it as a compliment. I'm told they bought sponsored ads on the hashtag. I'm not sure they understand how this twitter thing works.

[More posts daily at the Detroit News.]

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Thursday, September 13, 2012

Very serious news analysts

No idea why Vanity Fair dragged out this 2 year old interview other than they wanted to use the photo they had hanging around. Actually, the bizarre photo is only reason I'm posting this.

I don't doubt that JoeScar has been entertaining the idea of possibly running for president someday, but I suspect he's making too much money pretending to be a pundit to give it up for the horror show that is our electoral process today.

The post is clearly an excuse to publish a little Mika cheesecake. Gotta admit it's pretty decent hit bait but how bloody embarrassing. If you didn't know it was for their show, you would think it was either a poster for some lounge act at the local Holiday Inn or maybe even an ad for some cheezy soft porn film. Which pretty much describes out teevee punditry these days, come to think of it.

r [More posts daily at the Detroit News.]

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Smirk Romney

Getting ready for a short beach trip so light blogging. Did my Romney Shambles blogging yesterday at the Detroit News. Most of the GOP establishment may have left Unfit Mitt out to dry but his remaining defenders apparently all showed up in the comments at Romney fails the foreign crisis test and Romney fails the statesmanship test.

If you missed it yesterday, the video of Romney's presser was something to behold. The smirking during the question period was eerily reminiscent of our last Smirker-in-Chief and he wore that stupid smirk all the way out the door.

[photo:Charles Dharapak on twitter]

I covered the idiocy of his position at the DetNews posts, but I'll reiterate that he appears not to have noticed he looked like a fool. The odd smirking suggested he thought he was winning the news cycle.

A lot of people crowing that this was the end of his candidacy, but I've seen too many October surprises to count on that. My greatest fear at this point is people will get complacent because he's so clearly unfit for office that they can't believe anyone would vote for him.

I'm thinking it's more important than ever to drum up the largest voter turnout in the history of our nation. The GOPers are most likely to redouble their efforts to steal the vote at the ballot boxes. Only way to counter that is to cast more votes than they can plausibly steal.

[More posts daily at the Detroit News.]

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Tuesday, September 11, 2012

Teach your children well

I haven't been following this closely, so I don't know any of the particulars. But one thing I know for certain is, Paul Ryan is lying when he pretends to be concerned with "the children."
“We stand with the children and we stand with the families and the parents of Chicago because education reform, that’s a bipartisan issue,” Ryan continued. “This does not have to divide the two parties. And so, we were going to ask, where does President Obama stand? Does he stand with his former Chief of Staff Mayor Rahm Emanuel, with the children and the parents, or does he stand with the union? On issues like this, we need to speak out and be really clear.”
This much is certainly clear. Even though Rahm is on the wrong side in this fight, education policy is not really bi-partisan. Granted both parties have some ideas about school reform that suck, but when it comes to supporting equal opportunity for higher education, the chasm between the two parties is so wide it can probably never be breached.

In any event, this much is clear. This is about money and not at all about "the children." Thankfully, since I'm less than focused today, Freddie deBoer at Balloon Juice explains the stakes in education policy so perfectly, I'm outsourcing my outrage to him:
The reality is that you can’t be pro-education and anti-educator. Not just in the sense that you shouldn’t be, ethically, although I certainly believe that. I mean the notion that you can say that you care about education while working relentlessly to attack our actual teachers is nonsensical. If you want to attack our teachers as “overpaid,” OK. Go ahead. But you don’t get to pretend that you give a shit about education. If you don’t have a problem with celebrity dog trainers who make 7 figures or personal stylists who make $5,000 a consultation or people who sell artisanal moonshine for $400 a bottle, but you have a problem with teachers working in one of the most difficult teaching environments in the country making $75K a year, hey, alright. But save me the platitudes. Save me your chest-beating and your weeping for the children, the children. Quality health insurance, pensions, job security, a strong union to represent your self-interest: these are the only tools we have to attract people into this profession, when so many other educated professions make so much more. Advocate the end of those benefits and you declare yourself an enemy of education. You make it plain that you don’t actually value it with the only currency we care about in this culture, hard cash. You are saying that you don’t really value what you say you value. Period.

In this capitalist system of ours, what people make is a statement about how much society values what they do. Honey Boo Boo Child will make more this year than most Chicago teachers, and our friends in the media think they make too much. That’s all you need to know. If you think that people should be willing to teach for less, than shut your mouth and go apply to teach in Chicago yourself.
Anyone who doesn't stand with the teachers in the Chicago strike has never taught in a classroom setting. Public school teachers are woefully undervalued in our country. They're so overloaded with mandated testing and unrealistic productivity metrics, their ability to innovate has been completely stifled. The student populations they're left with after private and charter schools have poached the easiest to teach students are difficult to teach in small groups and nearly impossible to even control in too large classrooms.

Surely, our public education system presents a complicated problem, and is in need of some reform, but the solution is most assuredly not less teachers at lower pay.

[More posts daily at the Detroit News.]

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Talk to the chair Clint

Dealing with an apparent mild case of food poisoning and some critical errands today so slow blogging. Finally feeling well enough to check out the news. While I'm doing that, found this cartoon on the Facebook. This is my favorite of all the Eastwooding ones I've seen.



[More posts daily at the Detroit News.]

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Never forget 9/11

Of course, no one who lived through it will ever forget that horrifying day. I was a mess for three days after and I wasn't even in New York. But I remember the shock. I remember the fear for the safety of friends who live in the city. I remember the sinking feeling that the world changed that day forever, and not for the better.

No. We will never forget. And for myself, I will probably never forgive George W. Bush for failing to heed the warnings and for using the chaos of the aftermath to push through an agenda that still works to the detriment of our society today in many ways.

That being said, may those lost on that tragic day rest easy in the Summerlands and may their family and friends find peace. [photo via Holly Bailey]

[More posts daily at the Detroit News.]

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Monday, September 10, 2012

Romney's laser like focus on the economy

I'm so old I remember when Romney's campaign was going to be all about the economy and his self-vaunted business experience. But hell, if that doesn't work, then the culture war suits Romney just fine:
In the past 72 hours, Romney has endorsed the controversial conservative Iowa Congressman Steve King, appeared onstage with televangelist Pat Robertson, debuted a revamped stump speech with warnings of encroaching secularism at its center, and devoted substantial time to a hot dog-heavy photo-op at a NASCAR race.

"The pledge says 'under God,'" Romney declared to a hangar full of flag-waving partisans in rural southern Virginia. "I will not take God out of the name of our platform, I will not take God off our coins, and I will not take God out of my heart!"
Take God off our coins? That myth is straight out of the viral emails the angry cons take as gospel. Of course, after a robust mocking on the internets for that one, Flip Flopney dropped the talking point.

Meanwhile, the Mittster's chief ambassador to the little ladies in the electorate, Ann Romney insists she can't answer questions on social issues like access to birth control or equal marriage rights because women she meets on the campaign trail don't care about these things. Mrs. Romney dutifully assures us Mitt has a laser like focus on the economy and that's the only thing that matters -- to anyone.

To be fair to Ann, I'm sure that's probably true. Feel relatively certain most of the women she meets at big money fundraisers on Long Island really do care more about their money than social equality.

Meanwhile back at the NASCAR race, poor Mitt didn't get his "man of the people" moment. As sadly announced on the twitter:
Olivier Knox: RT @AshleyRParker: Due to a rain delay, Romney will no longer be saying, "Drivers, start your engines" at NASCAR. ...
Disappointing on so many levels. And he still had to eat the damn hot dog. Which probably explains the look on his face in the photo. [Photo credit AP at Atlantic Wire where they posit Romney is doomed.]

[More posts daily at the Detroit News.]

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Barely safe for work anti-gay political ad

Ye Gods! Not sure this is really anti-gay at all. If you didn't know this was an anti-gay political ad, you might think it was an ad for a gay dating site.
There is still time, but a mailer first reported by Politico and prepared in the name of “The Committee To Save The Erie County Republican Party” in New York has set a mighty low bar. Republican state Sen. Mark Grisanti voted for the state's marriage equality bill in 2011 and faces a primary challenge from Kevin Stocker on Thursday.
A mailer? As in comes in the mail where anybody might open it? Even "the children." I don't find it at all offensive myself, but I won't post the photos because they're too erotic and I don't do that here. I have a feeling this candidate may well rue the day this came out.

[More posts daily at the Detroit News.]

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Romney Republicans: the party of petty thievery

A small thing but so illustrative of the Republican "moral" ethic. Team Romney stole the exact wording of the quick donate features for their campaign from the app launched back in March by Team Obama. When the GOPers got caught, they changed it immediately and blamed "junior staff."

If this was an isolated incident, it wouldn't be a big deal but it displays in so many ways from the GOP campaigns stealing songs without first obtaining permission of the artists to stealing campaign memes and themes from the Democrats and pretending they invented them. Their ethos is to take whatever they want simply to help themselves. Then they have the gall to claim all the credit for "building it themselves."

[More posts daily at the Detroit News.]

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Big bear hug for Obama - Updated

The other big Kodak moment on the campaign trail yesterday was when the owner of a pizza place in Florida hugged our POTUS right off the floor.

Lot of different photos of this one circulating. I chose this one because that's Politico's Reid Epstein on the far right in the background with that priceless expresssion on his face. Photo and backstory from Yahoo News. Big buff pizza guy is a Republican who obviously really supports President Obama.

Update: Crazy conservatives care so much about the plight of small business owners that thesehateful cons are trying to destroy pizza guy's business because he's supporting POTUS. Like everything else in crackpot conservoworld, freedom of speech only applies to those who agree with them. [More posts daily at the Detroit News.]

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Sunday, September 09, 2012

Joe Biden and the bikers

I look at this photo and see a sweet man. How genuinely he connects with us regular people. Our pearl clutching DC media looks at it and sees this:
Vice President Joe Biden got caught in a stunning photo with a female biker sitting on his lap.

The Associated Press snapped the shot at Cruisers Diner in Seaman, Ohio on Sunday.
Stunning? Stunning is when Rmoney sits down at a diner and tells a gay military veteran that he opposes same sex marriage and believes their spouses should be denied equal family benefits under the law. None of our DC media found this astounding ackward encounter "stunning" that I can recall.



The veteran has Romney's number:
Garon, an independent, was gleeful after the encounter, and was not impressed with Romney.

"You can't trust him. I saw it in his eyes," he said.
Romney's inability to connect with the average American is stunning. Joe Biden's ability to genuinely connect to the people is charming. Heartwarming even. Not that the DC media will ever spin that way. Some wacko wingnut might accuse them of being biased towards the Democrats instead of subservient to the Republicans.

[photo via B Bigelow]

[More posts daily at the Detroit News.]

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Saturday, September 08, 2012

Obama today

Getting another late start today. The twitter is telling me President Obama is enjoying a healthy bump in the polls, post DNC while it's been officially declared Rmoney ended up with a negative bump down, post RNC. Apparently hope still trumps hate and fear. At least so far.

Picked up some sweet photos this afternoon. Not sure where this one was taken. It looks to me to be at one of the northern state stops. It's a beautiful capture:

[via Kevin]

This is from Florida, only hours ago. No enthusiasm gap here:

[original photo, via]

This is one of the best non-media captures I've ever seen on the internets. Young kid leaving the Florida rally:

[original via]

[More posts daily at the Detroit News.]

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Friday, September 07, 2012

Clothes make the women

I was pretty much glued to the CSPAN livestream through the DNC. So much so, I didn't have the time or energy to post about it until now. I have more to say about it than this silly side story which isn't really worth bothering with, but it's irritating and a good excuse to post a photo of the dress Michelle Obama wore for her speech.

Certainly the speech is more important than the clothes, but one of the things I admire about our FLOTUS is her fashion style. And I'm particularly impressed she pulls her wardrobe together mostly from lesser known, small designers and a lot of ready to wear lines. Her dress was custom made but still low cost. So it especially pissed me off when the odious John Sununu suggested Michelle lied about the cost of her Tracey Reese dress.

But shortly thereafter, the designer proved John Sununu is a sneering idiot.
Reese tells NBC's "Today" show that the hot pink silk jaquard dress with pale blue trim at the hem will cost under $500.

The designer says she was planning the dress for a later season. But now it's being rushed through the production cycle so, quote, "more people can get their hands on it sooner."
Tracy Reese will sell a lot of those dresses because what the FLOTUS, or any high profile woman, wears sets fashion trends. Which makes me love our First Lady all the better for wearing clothes that are affordable to regular people and not just those who can afford to drop 2K or much more for a designer dress. Reese will probably have to hire more people to rush production. So in effect, by her choice of wardrobe, Michelle Obama supports small business and is a job creator. I believe she thinks about that when she makes her clothing choices.

For the record, Ann Romney wore a perfectly lovely, and age appropriate, Oscar de la Renata that I'm told cost about 2K. Not sure, thinking it must be high end ready to wear at that price. Something you might buy at Needless Markup or Saks. I imagine that dress will also generate more interest because Ann wore it for her speech. But it's a much smaller, more exclusive market. Much like the GOP.

[More posts daily at the Detroit News.]

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Thursday, September 06, 2012

Off beat at the DNC

I would mockTom Brokaw for this:
All is well Early AM I mistakenly took a half dose of Ambien and made less sense than usual. Made a better comeback than Giants...
But I just took the wrong pill myself the other night. These things happen when you get old and the doctors get you hooked on their prescription meds. Just glad I don't live in DC where, as I think Colin Powell once told us years ago, everybody takes Ambien. I don't. That's one dangerous drug.

Meanwhile, former Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin has his own little mishap:
“There was a party at the top of a hotel yesterday,” said Brokaw. “A very sleek, modern hotel, and the glass is not exactly clear in terms of where you step next. So Bob Rubin, former Secretary of the Treasury, stepped confidently into the party room and deeply into the pool.”
As I said on the twitter last night, that surround is pretty narrow. This could have happened to anyone.

[@loisromano photo via BuzzFeed]

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Last night at DNC in two graphics

Late nights watching DNC, (I'm such a goober I had to watch the whole roll call vote), lead to late starts blogging this week. Although there is much more that can be said about last night, these two graphics found on the twitter sum up the internets today.

Big Dog growled, long and deep:


Dog on roof guy still cowering in the corner:



[More posts daily at the Detroit News.]

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Wednesday, September 05, 2012

Tweeting the DNC - Updating

I'm pretty much caught up in the speeches. May update longer thoughts here, or not. You can read the ticker on the sidebar, or you can check my twitter page.

[graphic via Andrew]

Jake Tapper: ‏Arena is on lockdown and crowds getting testy.

Everybody wants to see Elizabeth and Big Dawg. Willing to bet there's a lot of people without credentials who managed to figure out a way to get in on their media connections.

[More posts daily at the Detroit News.]

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Ted Kennedy tribute makes GOPers cry

Made a little teary too, but for a different reason. Catching up on yesterday's DNC festivities, one of the most powerful moments was when they aired this video tribute to Ted Kennedy. I got weepy because it was so moving. Republicans were sobbing because of the archive footage of Ted and Mittster debating in the 1994 Senate race. (starts at about 1:40 into the video)



I expect it must have felt like a physical body blow to every GOP operative in America. You could hear the wails all the way from DC without opening a window.

[More posts daily at the Detroit News.]

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Wingnuts rip off commie art for cover

This the not the first time the crazy cons have been caught hijacking somebody's creative work and tweaking it to pretend it's entirely their own product. Actually have to give them a little credit for putting some effort into the photoshop chop. But what a bizarre choice for the source work.

Not important, but vaguely amusing.

[graphic via ReasonVsFear]

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