Sorry to give everyone indigestion… 21 October 2006
Posted by marisacat in 2006 Mid Terms, 2008 Election, Beirut, Big Box Blogs, DC Politics, Democrats, Inconvenient Voice of the Voter, Iran, Iraq War, Israel/AIPAC, la morte de St Germain Dog - the best the BLAHgers had, U.S. House, U.S. Senate, WAR!.trackback
I know, I know, quite the distasteful line up – all decked out to support the USA!USA! bought and paid for Orange Revolution… Dkos pushed that little ditty quite hard, as I recall.. But!! none of them (that includes the flagging, rather-too-rightie strumpet that is Kos) is going to exit stage right quietly.
Billmon has a good one up today, on McCain… as I listen to Hillary in her debate yesterday with John Spenser. uh GO… Go Nobody!
And I read this puffer piece (piece work in my opinion) on the Lamont whateveritis…
The whole Lamont thang reminds me of a Steve Clemons post about the core reality needed for a real insurgent run. I used it in a piece I did on Ohio (Hackett, Sherrod – and I had no dog! in that, that… whateveritwas…) last February:
…and The Washington Note – Clemons is on point with what is required of insurgency inside the party:
Furthermore, to win this battle for control — some candidates, like Hackett, will have to vigorously run until the end, even if their candidacy looks doomed, or cash-strapped. It is certainly true that a slug-fest between Sherrod Brown and Paul Hackett may have harmed the Democratic Party — and may even help Mike DeWine — but to win a seat at the table and to chair the meeting when decisions are being made, the insurgent Dems will have to line up behind a number of candidates willing to go all the way. […]
A successful insurgency won’t care what Emanuel does. The insurgents will see victory behind both short-term defeats and short-term wins. Hackett needed to go all of the way — win or lose — to give the insurgents validation and strength in the Democratic Party.
Dem insurgents also over-invested in Hackett without lining up the rest of the insurgent candidacies. There are some out there, of course, but not enough. Hackett became the face of their overall campaign which I believe was a mistake.
If I thought the Boyz, Chicklettes (also known as Blog Maids), puffer piece workers, etc., were capable of learning … I’d be less nasty. If I thought they were the least little bit interested in real political change, real political movement, I’d be less harsh. Over and over I see Pundit Wanna Bes. Gee … something we need more of…
(By the way, Stoller will be on C-Span tomorrow am, 7:30 ET… as I am often up for a 4:30 am – PT – Baby feeding right about then, I may catch the earnest toiler in the fields of <cough strangle choke> political movement uh…work.)
Ah, but why not have fun as they grovel around, do the grubby work of shoring up the tired status quo.
*************************************************************************
In other news, Electronic Intifada has a gentle and rather cheering-in-the- midst-of-horror, photo essay on Ramadan in Ramallah.
With the coming of Eid al Fiter and in spite of the depressed economy and Israel’s chokehold on Palestinian revenues and customs, traders and vendors in Ramallah are hoping to make some money.
Some of them are children, since government schools have yet to open in the West Bank because of the strike by government employees.
As well as a sobering essay, short and bitter-sweet, on the uneasy Ramadan in Beirut:
[T]he fifty and seventy percent off sales on the summer collection of clothes and shoes are still being offered in Beirut. Stores are opened just to “keep opened and to fake an idea of work, to keep going till we see what the future holds. We know no one is going to buy any summer clothes now, but we also are scared of paying money to get winter clothes and keep them in display till the next summer.”
Shop owners are “waiting till next month to decide whether to get the new collection, and just keep coming to work to feel as though we are working,” says one shop owner in Hamra Street. Why wait till next month? The answer lies in the “White House, where the emperor decides our future and the future of generations to come. If he decides to hit Iran, then there is nothing on earth that can makes the situation return to normal in the region.” For another shop owner, the reason he waits till next month is related to the domestic situation in Lebanon. “Hizbullah has given the government a truce till the end of Ramadan. They may take drastic steps if the government does not resign and another unity government is formed.” He still thinks it is all related to “what will happen in the region and especially Iran.” [snip]
**********************************************************************
UPDATE, 9:00 pm PT
Catching up on Billmon, a good entry on Weldon… showing why Nov 7, no matter what, will be a struggle. I think it is a huge diservice to the electorate … all of the soft slobber in the MSM (rise or fall, the Dems are set up) and the flat out stupid triumphalism on the Blahgs.
But you have to give the bloated old pig his due — he’s not going to give up his place at the trough without a hell of a fight.
Weldon may be a blustering, obnoxious, idiotic jerk, but he’s also socially very much in tune with his district. Delaware County is, in many ways, a cultural extension of west and south Philly, which means the older neighborhoods, particularly those down near the river (Weldon’s heartland) have a kind of blue-collar feistiness to them. Weldon’s personality plays there, I think, whereas Sestak comes across as very Navy — quiet, soft-spoken and a little starched, almost waspish, despite his local Catholic school upbringing.
Well…. I have long heard there is a Catholic enclave inside the Navy, among the officer class. No shock there…
Maybe the tide will carry Sestak’s ship into port nonetheless, but at this point I wouldn’t write Weldon off — politically I mean. [snip]
To ”get well” in this country, we’d have to admit how very sick we are. it is deeply mixed with the fabric of American life…
That is gonna take some time, a long ways off…
*************************************************************************
UPDATE, 10 AM, PT
This is the 2006 Mid Term analysis that Ezekiel mentions in the thread. They take a strong leading indicator from the candidate who heavily outraises. They give the nod to Burns over Tester … which really would be a shame. I am far away, but it does seem that Tester showed a bit of courage, ran a long, nearly two year race… and certainly Burns is a classic crazy mean old coot. Nor was Tester some candidate that Kos found under an organic lettuce leaf. He is president of the state senate. As for Burns, time for him to go, no question. Some races are more sharply defined than others.
[E]ven some Republicans privately confess that they are anticipating the election-day equivalent of Little Big Horn. Pardon our hubris, but we just don’t see it.
Our analysis — based on a race-by-race examination of campaign-finance data — suggests that the GOP will hang on to both chambers, at least nominally. We expect the Republican majority in the House to fall by eight seats, to 224 of the chamber’s 435. At the very worst, our analysis suggests, the party’s loss could be as large as 14 seats, leaving a one-seat majority. But that is still a far cry from the 20-seat loss some are predicting. In the Senate, with 100 seats, we see the GOP winding up with 52, down three
We studied every single race — all 435 House seats and 33 in the Senate — and based our predictions about the outcome in almost every race on which candidate had the largest campaign war chest, a sign of superior grass-roots support. We ignore the polls. Thus, our conclusions about individual races often differ from the conventional wisdom. Pollsters, for instance, have upstate New York Republican Rep. Tom Reynolds trailing Democratic challenger Jack Davis, who owns a manufacturing plant. But Reynolds raised $3.3 million in campaign contributions versus $1.6 million for Davis, so we score him the winner. [snip]
They also give the nod to the males (Talent and Kennedy) over McCaskill and Klobuchar. I have a suspicion that if women do not pull it out this year, the likes of Rahm and Schumer will not be interested, n ot the least little bit, in recruiting women.
What a fucked mess, over all….
I do agree with their outer boundaries for Dem gains in the House, 8 – 14…
And there is this (part of the basis for the running <laugh now> attempted smack down of Madman at one of the Armando run Box Car Sites is that Madman maintains – and has from the get go – Casey cannot pull it out. BTW, the Dems ran a lower profile pro-lifer against Santorum in 2000. Klink was his name, and riiiight! did not work then…):
In Pennsylvania, pundits have written off Republican Sen. Rick Santorum, who has raised $17.3 million. His Democratic challenger, Bob Casey, who has raised $15 million, has a large lead in the polls. This is the first serious challenge for Santorum since he was elected in 1994. We see him defying the pollsters on Nov. 7 and hanging on to his seat, with voters from the Western part of the state riding to his rescue.
I have read that Casey barely campaigns two days a week… seems the idea is to hide him and maintain a possibly vaporous lead. Santorum unfortunately IS the scapper he says he is. Out there relentlessly, goes every where, shakes every hand.
One thing the Dems have miscaste from the beginning, Casey sr was not the beloved figure they claim he was… We shall see.
And as a clincher, thereisnospoon is waxing win for Lamont. GMAFB.
*************************************************************************
UPDATE… 1:40 pm
Aw. I must be truthful and admit, this graph of a year’s worth of traffic, visits and page views, at Oliver Willis does give me a giggle. “Like Krytonite to Stupid”… is the motto there.
That squishy squish of the squishy center does not taste so good …. oh well… there is encouragement: He is holding flat for a couple months there. isn’t there a supposedly, possibly realigning Mid Term coming up fast? And I bet like all the rest, eyeballs flat or falling, OW raised the ad rates.
Enh. What ever the rate, it’s too much. Plus Oliver does not claim to liberal at all at his site. Quite the opposite. Try for some… constancy, Boyz. Either you are or you are not. But “Liberal” was a good hook the past few years, wasn’t it?
I hear the latest game (read, laugh) is Libertarian Democrat. Or maybe y’all are just Dixiecrats. That’d be my pick. Yessuh.
Oliver Willis: Standard
Like Kryptonite to Stupid, OliverWillis.com has been providing liberal commentary in an aggresive way on the web since 2000
Ads: 1
$70.00
29,093
Gotta love the Boyz. And the game.
Boyz Boyz Boyz.
I never said I was gonna be nice.
**********************************************************************
UPDATE, 4:20 pm on the Pacific Ocean…
In over the transom… 😉
by BooMan
Sun Oct 22nd, 2006 at 06:42:34 PM ESTIn case you didn’t know, Atrios sucks. But, he’s not alone. For example, Matt Stoller and PsiFighter37 and Oliver Willis and thereisnospoon suck too. Of course, Kos sucks. My Left Wing sucks. I suck too. Chris Bowers sucks not once but two times. Armando sucks. Meteor Blades sucks. And in case you are not sure, Steven D sucks too.
Comments >> (4 comments)
Beat those .. uh … those jungle drums… and thanks for the confirmation! if they don’t suck at the Rahm, Schumer and Reid teat, then they suck at the Kos teat or the Armando teat or the Dana teat… some tied-in teat. Right. Not a pretty picture.
And all that suckin’ off a teat, makes them A LITTER.
Precisely my point. I do believe a sharpened butter knife landed. Silly of them to admit it… But the MB advance work was a bust.
Oh…. Addendum:
One would think that Booman would have other, more pressing issues:
Ain’t me who complains about ads, or pushes the stuff in the shop, or worries over lack of diaries… and that all goes back months, iirc.
Booman Tribune: Booman Tribune
A progressive Scoop-powered community that has been mentioned in the Philly Inquirer, the Wash Post, and talk radio. Savvy, well-educated readers looking for news about politics and current events.
Ads: 1
$100.00
85,599
Oh that was amusing…
****************************************
BTW, listening to Wulsin on C-Span 1, in the run agaisnt “Mean Jean” Schmidt. I read it is neck in neck. Good for Wulsin. Maybe she has staying power the guy who voted for Perot twice did not have.
*******************************************************************
UPDATE, 5:20 PM on the Pacific… 😉
I noticed this a couple of hours ago in the London Times feed on the right… but, uh, I was distracted (who knew twaffic gwaphs were so vewy intewesting?)…
so… here it is:
AMERICAN forces are negotiating an amnesty with Sunni insurgents in Iraq to try to defuse the nascent civil war and pave the way for disarmament of Shia militias, The Times has learnt.
The tactic marks a dramatic reversal of policy by the US military, which blocked attempts to pardon insurgents with American blood on their hands after handing over sovereignty to a secular Iraqi Government in June 2004.
The U-turn comes amid the bloodiest fighting for two years and growing domestic opposition to the war as Americans prepare to vote in crucial midterm elections.
Even as President Bush convened emergency talks with his generals and national security advisers to review strategy in Iraq, commanders on the ground were negotiating a peace deal. Observers expect leaders of the Sunni insurgency to join a peace conference early next month.
“There’s been a change in the position of the Americans,” Jabr Hadeeb Jabr, an independent Shia politician and member of the Council for Reconciliation government agency, said. “Before, they refused to give any amnesty to the people killing Americans because there was some dispute about the risk of rewarding their killers.”
***************************************************************************
UPDATE, 6:15 pm PT
Well. I am de-light-ed to have helped traffic. Perhaps some dropped in on the BMT shop as well.
********************************************************************
UPDATE, 7 pm
Well… I have been listening to Charles Lewis interview Peter Stone of Heist (on Abramoff and all the others…) as I did a few things, but taking a look in the “back room”, it appears that this posting has them in tizzy. In addition to this post with the traffic graphs (let me be helpful, straight UP).
I had forgotten it. Around the time of the Harlem Day Trippers… and whatever else. Frankly, one of so many. Apparently an especially sharp butter knife. 😉
It is entertaining. So enjoy…
Oh and I found Josh’s website. They are “grassroots organisers” who set up “activist communities”. Fine. Yes, yes, for clients. Dear clients, perhaps… 😉
Political work. And Peter Daou is still a PR / ad guy (blog hurricanes notwithstanding! Does Harlem Day Trippers qualify?). But Hillary hired ”a blogger”.
Fine … whatever. Amateur is fine too, if that is comfy.
*************************************************************************
UPDATE, 11:00 pm.
I gather from a comment in the Mcat thread that Boo has done his usual. Go beg for attention over at Dkos. So let’s bookend this minuet. Why not… 😉
What, do you suppose, happened from October ’05 to October ’06 at Dkos? And remember, two weeks out from such a hyped election?
Still the same old 2 seconds for a “visit”… Page Views at a minute +.
Nothing to sniff at. The Biggest [Political] Blog in the Whole Wide World.
But what did happen?
Meanwhile the ad monies just expanded and expanded. That 7K is for a standard ad. Not top of the heap “Premium”.
DailyKos: Standard
Reach over one million daily committed progressive activists on the web’s highest trafficked political weblog. Ad inventory is tight to 11/08. Write kos@blogads.com for blogad avails and leaderboards.
Ads: 4
$7000.00
6,282,358
Not the only site on a slide … to where ever. I thought they, the Liberal (but they are not) Left (but they are not) Progressive (but they are not) Blahgs were ever self-fulfilling of their own hype?, ever expanding? Some kind of Tulipmania Motherlode? Yes?
No?
LOL…. There will be a new post by am. But this one can just sit here for a while.
That was fun, Thanks Boyz. Oh and Blog Maids, too… not to be forgotten in their attention to Aisle 10!. I am sure they did something for the cause.
****************************************************************************
Marisacat 
Mcat,
I hate to bring bad news on a Sunday morning, but your prediction of 125 seat pickup in the House and 15 in Senate is looking very iffy. 😉
Always reliable Drudge is leading with a Barron’s headline and teaser that predicts 8 with a worst case of 14–and that’s for the House, not the Senate. LOL
In the upper chamber, they say a 3 seat pickup for Dems.
I spent a few minutes at RealClearPolitics.com yesterday. He’s an R, but I must admit he had ’04 pegged even as I wanted to discount him (for I did hope Kerry would win). He lists the House races in order of his projected likelihood that they will switch parties. While it is amazing how many very safe R seats are being handed to the D’s this year by scandals, to actually take the House, it will be necessary to win as many as 3 R seats in Indiana. While RCP notes some reasons this is possible, how likely is it that Indiana will turn that blue?
More substantive is a prediction by three Columbia political scientists who use the national percentage cast for each party’s Congressional candidates to determine the likelihood of the Dems taking control. They say that the Dems must break 52% of the vote cast for the House nationwide to have a 50% chance of electing the Speaker. They haven’t managed that since ’92. Those authors also cite two other polisci predictions that have the Dems falling short.
Of course, if they “win” any district by less than 5%, good luck holding on if it’s a red state or a red secretary of state. And if they don’t have at least an 8-10 seat majority, good luck holding on to it until January.
At Big O, it is now permissible only to repeat the mantra:
GOTV! GOTV! GOTV!
And send money.
LOL… oh yes… send money. All is possible.
Dial Peter Pan. Clap.
It is an uphill slog. I mean if the Weldon seat is still a possible hold for Curt Weldon… well… 😉
And come November 8, it will the fault of those who doubted Tinkerbelle’s existence.
Yes the Barron’s analysis should give one pause (or maybe paws?). Though it is based purely on levels of financing for each candidate, they claim that they have been able to predict more accurately past races using this technique than pre-election poll indicators. So much for democracy. However, in MN, Barron’s has Mark Kennedy defeating Amy Klobuchar, who currently leads by a very wide margin in the polls. In the other MN race with national attention (Wetterling vs religious crackpot and nuke Iran advocate Michelle Bachmann) they didn’t report their prediction, although I think Bachmann has had more money, so using the Barron’s prediction methodology, she would be the winner.
If these predictions turn out to be true, there will certainly be a high level of either demoralization or anger (or both? is that possible?) in the “netroots”.
Houston’s best newspaper, The Los Angeles Times, leads with a story that the Houston Comical should be hammering, but isn’t.
No Brother Left Behind.
The comical did run an editorial when the school board recently ponied up the bucks. But no real reporting, investigative or otherwise, on the incident since Barbara’s earmark Faux Pas at the first of the year. Guess it’s just easier to get it off the wire. Houston ISD doesn’t have a good a track record in software purchases either: …software system gets an ‘F’ for frustration
Listening to people who’s life experiences interact with this issue is much more insightful:
From School Zone, Katrina’s kids
If the last reference seems obscure, its in reference to a local furniture store owner’s rather comical television commercials.
CSTAR… I agree on Klobuchar. Plus I caught the debate – both iirc the MTP version and one this past week. I thought she did fine. Better I thought than McCaskill did against Talent.
I am too far away, I cannot gage the effect of muddying up McCaskill’s husband. But I have read that last go round (I guess the governor run) she campaigned with him in parts of the state, not so this time.
I think most will be real cliff hangers. PA for one.
Oh dear. Do pass the Pepto. Got Tums? (Hey, ‘nice’ PHOTO, Marisa! gag gak spit… 😉
But thanks for the Billmon on McCain.
And thank you, Billmon!
Surely he is a man after my own heart (Billmon, not, oh so NOT McCain!) Screw McCain’s a whore, McCain’s a sell out, a Bush hugger or huggee. What Billmon said is what I have said over and over – McCain is a dangerous man. VERY dangerous. It cannot be said enough.
So many weeds to pull, so little time!
Hey Everybody Happy Diwali!
At the show last night there was a light alright, straight from the heavens; a very large and bright meteor streaked low in the sky.
I’m sure its auspicious, but of what?
In other news it looks like Marisacat has been “blessed” by the Boober linking here (to this very “indigestibale post” and another from Sept.) bayprairie was similiarly “blessed”:
boober sucks dirty ass
Yeah, he really can write, can’t he? I’m sure if I finnished 4th grade I could maybe aspire to his pithiness.
BTW the Steven D link is actually a comment from someone else; in fact Steven D’s actual post is something most folks here would find themselves somewhat in affinity with (IMO).
Hope you guys have got bromides to settle the bile…
LOL… your comment must have coincided with the email I got…
does not require a bromide.
maybe some people need to wash off their color coded binkie. And re-insert.
I will leave it at that.
Holla!
One point to quibble: just because some pro-democracy stirr-up in the eastern bloc has NID money all over it doesn’t mean it’s fake. A few million US dollars pays for a small gang of 20-something kids from DC and a shit ton of locals who can take time off from whatever work they do to keep their grandma from starving to stir up some trouble. It’s something to note, but hardly a reason to poo-pooh the whole affair. And anyway, like one election is gonna change all that much. Change is glacial. Little steps are still steps. Etc etc etc. If you want moral absolution, get the hell off of that stolen indian land and move your ass to mars already. 😉
Anyway, I’m tickled to have found your spot. Please continue hucking tomatoes. I will say though, that if you get the chance to go out and take a spin at doing this for a living you should take it. The memories will be good even if the pay sucks. It would probably cut down on some of the bitterness too.
As for me, I’m happy to be an amateur again, but i have a much deeper appreciation for just how deeply and sadly warped the establishment game is — and worse how much it twists those who play it. As such I’ve also got more hope and sympathy for many of the folks you trash, because they are in fact pretty different than the current gang in charge of Democratic DC (to say nothing of the GOP establishment), and they do in fact want things to change, as do we all I think.
“Shoring up the establishment” is an ugly and untrue smear, my dear.
Whoops. I didn’t mean to leave with that “tut tut” kind of closing line. Who am I to judge. For all I know my faux-insider/outsider credibility is worth nothing.
I will say, though, that the people’s potential power is still ascendant. If we can keep things from getting to fucked up or facist for a decade or so we could see things really start to hum again. Think of it: expensive gas, no fake finance money, and a real democracy. The public emerges…
Why Josh… nice of you to drop in.
How are you an amateur?
I believe just a few weeks ago I got an email from you (years ago I dropped you an email that I hoped people your age were indeed truly liberal, apparently you saved my AOL email) that you and two others were in the consulting or polling or advising biz. Certainly sounded like a business… and in politics too.
Or is that by the wayside already… (not a question, merely rhetorical).
And of course I suppose one might still be an amateur… strictly speaking.
I am going to skip the “my dear’ silliness.
Tho as I recall over 25 years separates us. Rather reminds me of when Harold Ford called Nancy Pelosi “endearing” on the Imus show.
He just revealed himself either dripping wet behind the ears or green around the gills.
As for the Ukraine, anytime Dana Rohrabacher (and others of his ilk) is behind or too cosy with the word “revolution” I worry.
The site is on full moderation.
Sorry for any delay.
Oh an update:
Last I heard Boo’s front page whateverthateffortis had more comments than his round up earlier today on the BMT candidates.
Oh yes, go teat! ooops team!.
So, you’re saying the people “who want change” wouldn’t be twisted just like “the current gang?” Why? I say, “Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.” Even if they have zero ties to the old boss.
Pelosi said on “60 Minutes”: Making them lame ducks is good enough for me.
WHAT ABOUT US, Representative? WHAT ABOUT WHAT A SIZABLE NUMBER OF YOUR CONSTITUENTS WANT?!?!
I’m so fucking done with them. Stupid, stupid … as though caving now will keep the Blue Dogs from taking her down.
Fuck.
Maybe Hoyer will step up to the impeachment plate…
tinkerbell? tinkerbell?!
damnit, I guess I ain’t clapping hard enough…
did anyone phone in an order for pup advice?
no?
sorry josh. must have the wrong address. no one here ordered any. here’s a tip though. why don’t you be silent and listen, or read. who knows? maybe you’ll learn something.
But you’ve got to believe. You cannot fake clap.
hmmm. Perhaps that is the problem. What with admissions on 60 Minutes and swarming all sorts of whatever to CT (the state, not the banned topic of conversation at Dkos).
Hundreds, thousands! of posts to support poor Deer In the Headlights Lamont. Maybe they should have run the wife? Ooops no.. a real job there.
What was it all about? Do they – LOL – know?
Oh I am sure they will pull a Tinkerbell out of their pants pockets.
All will be fine. Lamont will win. Power to the peepul.
ahhh belief…well that might be a problem for me at this point in the game
I do believe I can detect sarcasm, tut tut…
according to tibetan 7 points mind reasoning “all sarcasm must be abandoned”
I guess we’re both going to hell (along with a whole menagerie of miscreants…)
But surely a lower circle is reserved for these folks:
That’s from an excellent editorial in the Tucson Citizen by the very lucid Ernest Portillo, Jr.
Warning: descend into the comments of that story at your own peril (and a prilosec prescription will provide only a paltry prevention to puking after perusal) ;-}
If McCain is helping the Minuteman vigilante (that is an ugly bill) what Dems have faced off on the other side?
[…] Booman has a post up about a bunch of bloggers who suck. Much to my surprise (or maybe not), I was given the great honor of being listed as well. Why? Well, Marisacat has a post up that dismissed my ground report as nothing more than a ‘puffer piece’, as she put it. Well, here’s my response to her: for someone who resides on the other side of the country, perhaps it’d be best for her to leave the prognostication on particular races to those that have actually had a chance to observe it firsthand. […]
whoops, its actually the AZ Daily Star, but the TC is jointly operatedpaper
Ain’t Gannett grand(e)?
its kind of interesting watching booman think up ways to drive more traffic to his seemingly declining blog. first the hit-piece on madman that he crossposted at Dkos a couple of weeks ago. now “bloggers suck” that atrios has linked to. wonder if he asked atrios to link to it?
that has to help wtih the eyeball count. all that extra traffic. wonder what cleverness he’ll come up with next?
i mean he can’t really be of the opinion that online democratic party blogs should be above criticism do you feel? as if they’re some some kind of special class above the clouds? you know, like on mount blog olympus or something. the blaagghhh gawds.
as author of one of the destination links in his piece (a really old piece by the way, kinda dated, scrape that barrel bottom boo). i provided more than ample amounts of documentation to back my opinion up. i mean i don’t think i simply opined that certain partay bloggers suck out of thin air.
i thought i provided several excellent reasons WHY i hold that opinion.
Giffords is currently trying to ape Randy, even trying to conflate the issue after stupidly starting a “tough on immigration” rhetorical battle with Graf with a new add were she stands in the thorn-scrub, drags her balck cowboy boot heel across the sand and says she’ll draw a line the sand to protect….Social Security and Medicare in New Ad…too bad a huge portion of her district is very high rent…no wonder she’s disintegrated a thirty point lead to less than six…
My congress critter is the fairly democratic Democrat Grijalva and he’s pretty good…Pederson would be better than Kyl on Immigration but still helps spread the hype:
I’m not really to sure about the rest of the state, but Flake et al. are wingnuts of deep crimson stain, don’t know the contenders though..
and the blowjob trolls arrive on que…
er…cue…damn meds are off again ;o)
sorry… I have not even read the thread at Booman. It would be so much more of the same. Same old.
Just as I never bothered to register at MLW when eugene and Armando took swipes at LSF or at me.
Or LOL Poor, hapless, ‘bad at following orders’ PeteyP was FPed at MLW with a big big slam. I am sure some eager beaverette can find it…
I hope hw charged Armando. He erased it at BMT – where he cross posted the … uh … work..
SOOOO much erasing.
Really the Boyz flatter moi.
I have not gone and checked but PSi Fighter seems to be in a tizzy whizzy at his site. From the ping backs.
DON”T YOU ALL HAVE GREAT WORKS TO DO??
Sistine Chapels of politics oooo sorry activism! to achieve?
Open threads to toss up?
Now Booman has posted it at dKos.
With all the driving going on, it must be shearing time.
LOL… such little political activists, two weeks out from a BIG BIG election.
Frat boyz.
Those threads are kind of fun if you haven’t had your fill of oral sex jokes recently.
LOL not even frat boyz. Still thrilled with toilet training activities.
Or so it sounds
Oh, I make a living:
http://www.chapterthrellc.com
But as close to direct politics as we get are quickie jobs to back some radio ads in LA. The company is about pushing our vision for internet-enabled revolution, not getting over in elections. That’s a pretty crap market to try and pay off your student loans in; nobody pays on time and everyone expects you to work for free. 😉
And I apologize if the tone was off. I was just riffing off yr voice in the post. Pushback for sure, but meant in the best possible spirit.
Anyway, just don’t let perfect be the enemy of good.
Anyway, just don’t let perfect be the enemy of good.
Oh please Josh, try harder.. That is as tired as Rappaport, Democracy Alliance and Media Matters “movement politics”.
That’s a debatable quote, but the nut truth is you’re going to become the boss of have a boss (such as we’re talking in this situation) or tune out of politics. If you’re simply allergic to people in power, this is a somewhat masochistic interest to pursue.
Nobody’s above reproach, but you can get drunk with Matt Stoller any time you’re in DC on a sunday, and if you post an honest comment on his blog he might just try and respond. Can’t say that for Bob Shrum, although he does have a yacht, so…
Sorry, but not making perfect the enemy of the good is rock solid advice as far as I’m concerned. It’s how the Dean thing worked when it worked, and it’s we got the internet, and how we’re talking now, so I believe it. But that’s me: I find stuff that feels true and I repeat it; seems to work, but we’ll see in 25 years.
And as far as it goes, the younger folks are more liberal, and could be a nacient movement. I keep telling people we have to run more candidates from our own age bracket, that the important thing is taking over yr local govt and that national politics is NFL football, which I sort of believe except that there’s a war at and some of my friends get shot at, which is generally unlike football.
Anyway, some of that chit-chat is here:
http://futuremajority.com/
Again, my original point was that criticism (or “throwing tomatoes”) is all well and good. Keep it up. It just feels very much like the critique of a non-participant, which has it’s merits and faults.
Anyway, got any better ideas?
Josh, we have completely different opinions on the state of US politics and the state of the Democratic party. I see a stasis mired in concrete and a killing level of dishonesty (that goes back decades), being actively carried out on the Netteries as well as with the Democratic leadership… meanwhile the country slides to utter and complete crisis.
And buffoons bellow on the nets. And shill.
I am sorry to be blunt. Any discussion is so extremely far apart that some lame vehicle like ”a blog” won’t work.
It is laughable that anyone mention Dean. Who went inside and became a front man for the Harold Fords, Caseys, Webbs etc.
And I am sorry to be rude but I believe you are blinded by your friends, or friendly acquaintances. The Tinkerbell factor. YOu believe in them, they believe in you. Shrum has his believers as well. It is all incestuous.
25 years?
Right now I give it two more cycles. And then another two.
The site is on full moderation and I won’t be checking the site anymore tonight.
Comments will have to wait for tomorrow to be moderated.
this is without a doubt the least meaningful thing i’ve read this week.
and that’s being kind.
It is empty rhetoric.
The blogs are not INDEPENDENT… they are mouth pieces to whomever throws money on a blogad… ie Chevron… then Kos openly admits he voted in step with them.
Just months ago Bowers was calling Lieberman a GENIUS for defanging the filibuster… now suddenly he is being beatified for usurping Dean and DFA strategy of running everywhere leaving no GOP unchallenged…like it was his own idea.
Meteor Blades co wrote the DK environmental policy then drops trou at the first hint of corporate monies from an oil company.
The list goes on and on and on…
Boob… insist he is pro choice yet insistently backs Casey and lectures stupid women that they are letting perfect the enemy of the good
IMO… the timing of selling out your soul … is suppose to come after you have accomplished something… not before on the myth that you will… some day
yeah Boo–hoo is right they do suck
Which is why Kos did a college tour with that piece of tat CTG which strips the Democratic party of all of it’s “librul -ness”.
Open your freaking eyes… Kos never left the GOP … it left him.
I think I understand, and you’re right that the first-wave of internet activism has largely become part of the system — although I think one must admit that this has changed things atleast somewhat. We can agree to disagree, as I think you’ve been jaded by an inability to participate or have your agenda served just as much as you think I’ve been blinded by friends or whatever. Probably some of both; selah.
And anyway, this is all part of a bigger plan. I play and watch politics, but its not like I’m looking for any of these folks to save us. I’d like that free healthcare, but in the end I’m relatively nonplussed about America facing a national crisis. I think it might do us some good to pull together and take care of eachother for a change.
I thnk I indicated up thread Josh that you and I have few to no points of reference for a discussion on US politics… In fact, I’d say no points of reference after this last comment.
I think you should remain “nonplussed”. A good state of mind for that “pull together” for the “care for each other” future you envisage.
Stunningly insular comment..
The site remains on moderation.
Your “nut truth” is simply wrong.
I honestly have never heard of this blog before, what is it I supposedly have done wrong?
Geez… Got ego?
Perhaps you should ask BooMan… he is the one grubbing for hits.
I don’t know OW, what have you done?
there is flattery in attention, you could go with that I suppose…
Your traffic graph was the one I landed on, as I was looking at several, quite a few actually, with a downward trend — no shame in it, business and traffic in life is up and down… but Left – so called – blogs are actively sold as a big, going, growing game.
And then your blurb for your Blog Ads push called your blog “liberal”. I never noticed that you were, nor your blog. In fact iirc you most certainly claim to be centrist or moderate or whatever the words used. All the same really.
Essentially you / your blog and your traffic graph were a Media Mannequin to make my point.
About it.
Stunningly insular comment..
Sunningly insular or relentlessly optimistic; it all depends on how you look at things. I think it’s a morose thing to scoff at the better angels of human nature, but your mileage may vary.
It seems like a dark and bitter place, your world. Makes me sad. It’s a long way from 2002, I guess… I hope you find some light and joy, because there’s still plenty to go around.
Your “nut truth” is simply wrong.
Maybe y’all operate in dimensions I can’t comprehend, but I get the feeling it’s just a lot of trolling. Your perogative as always. But anyway, I think I’ve had enough abuse.
Well, I don’t claim to be growing or crowing about traffic. I make quite a few editorial decisions that probably hurt my traffic but keep my blog as my blog. It doesn’t help either that I’ve had my site’s CMS die a horrible death about 4 times in the last two years.
That said, I’ve always identified myself at various times as center-left, liberal, progressive, and always Democrat. I’m certainly not far to the left, though I certainly don’t ever understand the utility of the purity contests that are eternally in vogue on the left in a way the right never does. Just seems silly to me. I may not like many ideas from those to the left of me but I’m willing to listen.
The attack just seemed a little wacky to me.
When you find one … be sure to point it out.
All I see is a bunch of greedy opportunists looking to be bankrolled on the next big thing blog. new media, whateverTheir word means absolutley NOTHING and can be bought for a song and a blogad. This is their perogative, “greediness” is not illegal nor a crime… the part that pisses me off about these hacks is the false advertisement that they are progressive and liberal…. meanwhile choking off any progressive or liberal thought.
That diary by nyceve is an abomination and an embarrasment to free thought. Yet no one dares to contradict because they don’t want to be trolled … which is even more ludicris… it is just a fucking blog runned by a political hack.
If people are wilingl to give up their voice that easily then frankly they deserve to be whipped by the thread thugs and deluded by the likes of Meteor Beard. MSock’s front page has been taken over by consultants and AIPAC… who is anyone kidding?
Yeah, I guess that is why McCain is showing up at Bob Jones University and sucking up to Dobson… no pandering to the racist fundie GOP contest there… at least get your facts straight… before spewing such rubbish.
Just because the GOP is 95% white and Christianist… doesn’t mean there aren’t purity battles…. just as they won’t endorse pro choice canidates… doesn’t mean we don’t have to too, or anti-gun.
BTW… Those purity contests have kept your Black butt out of shackles so you think twice before you go praising the GOP on it’s so called non purity standards. Your buddies didn’t even think of you before going to Harlem… do you really think they will fight the “purity contests” when it come to keeping you free… the entire Dem establishment “cut and ran” instead of standing up for disenfranchised African American voting rights… Kerry even left the country…
I’ll stand with the “purists” anyday… over the opportunists.
hmmm I think iirc that OW was invited (to Harlem for luncheon) but on vacation. I am sure he can speak for himself.
I ahve no idea the growth claims you make (or don’t make), they are made broadly on behalf of the whole of the Dem party blogs by the loudest voices. As I said, you graph suited. In the run up to a much touted election, there is a lot of downward turn in traffic.
I noted it.
“Those purity contests have kept your Black butt out of shackles” kind of speaks on its own doesn’t it?