I'd say her views on Kalnins and Joe Vogler are at least as important as Jeremiah Wright and Bill Ayers. Let the ritual denunciations begin!
Nothing yet but - what's up with Chris Matthew's HAIR?
"I hate criticisms towards the President," he said, "because it's like criticisms towards the pastor -- it's almost like, it's not going to get you anywhere, you know, except for hell. That's what it'll get you."
5: Isn't "minivet" the technical term for the research the McCain camp did on Palin?
4: Only God, my dear, could love him for his self alone, and not his yellow hair.
I resent the implication that Sarah Polin has no foreign policy expertise.
Not so much pwned, as piling on. In an extremely tiny kind of way, of course.
PBS is like the all-Eagleton hour. AWB made that prediction here first I think, and I went ahead and placed a bet with my neo-con coworker to get him to quit crowing about Palin. Come on! I got a dollar riding on this!
Weren't open threads once disparaged in these parts? Mocked, even?
16: Open thread? Looks on topic to me.
This isn't an open thread. It's about the convention.
I endured four minutes. When the McCain spokesperson was being interviewed by a reporter and he kept saying the pregnancy was a "private family matter" and they wanted to keep it that way, I *so* wanted the anchor to ask why the campaign doesn't think all teenage pregancies should be private family matters.
This is why I should never, never watch political television.
Posted by: Femtovet
You all are stealing my joke.
This thread wasn't created open, it was brazenly torn open.
I watched a few minutes of the R. convention, and there are a lot of blond blonds with blond hair there. My family is at about the 75th percentile nationally blondnesswise, and we would have looked Mediterranean there.
Absolutely, undeniably on-topic comment: American Prospect on-the-scene at the RNC reporter Dana Goldstein: aaah-OOOOO-gah!
Do the Republicans not realize how terrible that blue sky background makes their speakers look in close up shots? Have they learned nothing from the Green Screen Speech?
Is Dana the one on the left or the one on the right?
Do the Republicans not realize how terrible that blue sky background makes their speakers look in close up shots? Have they learned nothing from the Green Screen Speech?
They learn nothing except how to keep winning elections, the fuckers.
Probably the weirdest and certainly the most painful reality for me is that the Republicans know that their actual vision and ideology can't sell. So they claim our vision and hopes and dreams and sell that instead.
And then they substitute all this horrible other stuff that is the absolute opposite of what they say they're going to do, claim it's the good stuff (like replacing the Clean Air Act with the Clear Skys Act which actually gutted air quality standards by the simple expedient of postponing them) and people buy it and imagine that things have improved simply because Republicans keep saying things have improved.
Gary Sinise is a Republican? I didn't know that. He's the only famous person I know of born in my hometown.
This guy (Swindle) was Ross Perot's PR guy in 92? Ron Paul has to be pissed he didn't pick him up.
I opted to watch the Sox game instead, to keep my blood pressure comfortably low.
I love how media coverage of the Republican ticket has left the control of Steve Schmidt, and fallen into the hands of a pregnant teenage girl and her redneck boyfriend.
That cgi flag is proof that Republicans don't trust the real flag.
I certainly can't bear to watch the Republican convention, so I'll just wait to hear from folks whether it looks as though Palin is on the road to bailing out. I find it hard to believe; I have noticed that liberal blogs seem quick on the draw on these matters.
Sad to say, I'll just let Jon Stewart recap things for me.
26, 28: The dude on the left is Ezra Klein, you cretins.
|| RIP Jerry Reed. Terrific musician. He finally got the shaft. ||>
Has Laura Bush had a little vocal tic all this time? Like a grunt as she finishes her line.
The CSPAN window says live, but does that mean they're showing the live convention displaying a taped message from Bush, or is Bush actually speaking live from the WH?
Based on him stepping on the applause, I'm guessing he's taped.
36: I'd love to see her swear.
Actually, I'll settle for any emotion.
Nice of Bush to set the record straight 8 years later about McCain's adopted kid. Sorry, folks, he didn't really screw a Negro, I was just kidding!
What kind of cretin are you then, ben?
The kind of cretin who wonders who this patriotic Jewess is.
Bush installed a Kinkade in the White House?
Shorter Laura Bush: McCain won't die in office, don't worry about the Palin thing!
McCain/Palin ticket? Could McCain get any paler?
50: I just made the dumb joke to my roomate, "McCain/Palin"? More like, McCain pale in comparison to Obama.
Well, he remains cute.
Try this one, parsi. It depicts young Mr. Klein more to his advantage, I would say.
Also, for the fellas, you get a better angle on Ms. Goldstein's rack.
The delegates just applauded someone's father's—is this a biographical video about Ronald Reagan?—employment as a sports journalist.
@4,9
I remain indignant at the fumbling wits, the obscure spite
of our old paudeen at his mike.
I really am enjoying the fact that the Corner has now become, say, 75% the loopy ramblings of Jay Nordlinger.
Maestro Palin [Jay Nordlinger] I keep reading and hearing that Palin "allowed her teenage daughter to become pregnant." Allowed? I mean, what was she doing, standing there supervising the particular goings-on? Sort of conducting traffic?
Fidelity [Jay Nordlinger] Is the president of the United States reduced to having his wife defend his record? It would seem so. No one else seems ready or willing to do so. Remember what Truman said? "If you want a friend in Washington, get a dog" -- or a Laura.
47: Ha, I saw that picture in the sidebar of American Prospect photos, and knew someone would be intrigued.
Actually, in that photo, Ezra looks like a twerp. It's true.
52: I'll pass on that link, Ruprecht.
Ah, KR, 52.2 strikes me as kinda tasteless. I've missed a lot of threads around here lately -- is this part of a running joke, or is it just random commenting on some other person's body?
Droopy dog Thompson keeps growling into the mic. Is he sick?
I was waiting for that talking point, surprised it took so long to come up- She's governor of the largest state in the union!
In that second foto - without the sunglasses - you do get to see how pretty Miss Dana is. KR, I expect you to do the introductions. Hell, he's looking good in the foto - I'll settle for Ezra.
And did former Senator "Hollywood" Thompson just utter a line about how he's amazed that the media is shocked by someone who has done something more than talk a lot and work the Washington cocktail circuit? Lack of self-awareness, thy name is Fred.
59: I think it's one of KR's ways of not really getting it.
Ben, Ezra never looks like a twerp, never! (Right, so I've only seen like two pictures of him, but whatever.)
Cindy McCain looks good, not too weirdly Stepford. Where is Thompson's wife?
Bringing up a war that McCain opposed is a smart move.
Awesome- Thompson said how McCain voted against a troop deployment and opposed Reagan, and no one was sure whether they should applaud or not. Does not compute!
Hey, a photo of McCain on a cell phone! He's from the future!
Why is it always the most important moment in history?
Thompson is a good performer. He makes the raw meat go down smooth. Despite the harrumphing. But if this is the most important time in American history, why did you nominate a joke as VP?
Why do people keep suggesting the Pledge of Allegiance has been around since time immemorial? 1892, people. And modified multiple times since.
Either this speech is written quite poorly or Thompson is dropping in extra words in bad places. When you're throwing the crowd red meat, you don't add qualifiers- The Democrats are offering "basically" the same approach?
He makes the raw meat go down smooth
PBUH.
They've gotten four of the 36 black delegates on camera in the last 3 minutes.
Watching Thompson right now. I agree with 67, that he's a good performer. The stuff about McCain came off well. But then he went into all the old saws about how Democrats want to take your money and kill your babies. I don't know if that dog's gonna hunt this time around.
This is the GOP's fundamental problem. A good performer can do a hell of a job telling McCain's compelling story. But when it gets anywhere beyond that, they're in trouble.
Are they going to salute the video of the flag? Please please please.
Did he just say "jihad bless America"? Oh man.
Is Sarah Palin in a bunker somewhere or is she there? (I cannot watch the thing on doctor's orders.)
From Frank Gaffney one of the continuing series of Palin foreign experience testimonials:
Speaking of geography, Alaskan territory is also along the trajectory of ballistic missiles launched eastward out of Stalinist North Korea. For that reason, among others, Alaska's Fort Greely was selected as the site for the principal U.S. ground-based defense against such missiles.
As that state's governor, Sarah Palin would know more by osmosis - if nothing else - about the necessity for U.S. anti-missile systems than either Messrs. Obama or Biden.
Although I am not watching, by osmosis I know that the RNC is a fatuous cornucopia of asshattery.
72: right, exactly, this is the old playbook and it won't work any more. But it works to fire up the base. McCain will be more centrist, I think.
God, it's unfair to stack Brooks, who is pretty much a propagandist, vs. Shields, who is just a talking head.
74, 75: Was it a slip, or was he making a point?
80: Both? He was mispronouncing "God".
72: Hey, the bear, is that m.leblanc's boyfriend? If so, welcome! If not, also hi.
Rachel Maddow says: " it is becoming less likely by the hour that Palin will still be John McCain's nominee even by the end of the week."
I see how this will work. Thompson takes the low road, Lieberman hits the lofty tone.
This is a serious betrayal.
God, it's unfair to stack Brooks, who is pretty much a propagandist, vs. Shields, who is just a talking head.
PGD neglected to transcribe the question he was responding to, which was: "Tell us, PGD, how does it feel to watch political coverage on television for the first time since waking up from a 30-year coma? What are your initial impressions?"
boyfriend just called Lieberman "flaccid". newt gingrich is just laughing in the background.
Okay. Moratorium on "my friends" in political discourse. Effective immediately. Seriously.
I like that he explained the Michael Moore joke twice.
88: You got it the first time? You're a real maverick thinker there, Bave.
Joe keeps talking about Americans coming together during this storm, and how sad it is that it takes a storm to get us together, and John doesn't need a storm to work to bring us together -- but I remember where McCain was during the last storm. We need an ad showing where McCain was, with the birthday cake, and these words from Lieberman. Right through to Joe's words, "Don't be fooled."
The TV slant seems much less Republican than usual.
Palin has reportedly been in seclusion and/or sedation, writing her acceptance speech. A still picture of Palin, Pickles, and Cindy McC. all together in the same room has been broadcast to prove that she actually has a physical manifestation in our dimension. It may have been photoshopped, however.
82: So it is. I've been outed!
Thank you for the welcome.
As far as I'm concerned, Lieberman and the Republicans deserve one another.
I will bite Joe Lieberman in the torso and give him a disease.
The Republicans are now bipartisan, according to Lieberman. They welcomed him warmly.
Hate to say it, but I think Lieberman is sort of an effective surrogate here. I think I thought he might come off like an angry, embittered turncoat like Zell Miller in 2004. But he's really hitting the note of pained nonpartisan patriotism. And as the 2000 VP candidate, he was a far more prominent Democrat than Miller.
Yes, there's a great deal of bipartisam activity between the Republican Party and the Joe Lieberman Party.
95: The Republicans are now bipartisan, according to Lieberman. They welcomed him warmly.
I thought bipartisanship was another word for date rape?
I for one think that Obama was wrong when he proposed that American troops be defunded and left helpless and unarmed on the field of battle in the face of hordes of cannibalistic, sodomite jihadi pagans. But that's just my opinion and I don't want to say that someone who disagrees with me is "wrong". There are arguments on both sides.
96,
He hasn't hit a single fact yet. Not once why McCain is better, simply that he is.
97: "Connecticut for Lieberman Party". Get it right.
Do they not know the grunting is picked up? I thought Thompson and Lieberman might have a piggy up there with them.
97: Not sure what bipartisam activity is, though.
The second photo in the slideshow up on the Times' site right now is genius.
It's not bipartisan, Joe, you lost your own primary. Biparasite, maybe.
In his speech, Senator Joseph I. Lieberman says, "Country matters more than party." *
*Note that Alaska may matter more than Country. See full offer for details.
Ignoring the RNC except for the Daily Show's coverage of it is working pretty well for me. No apoplexy yet.
I feel I say this often, but how is the mainstream media pitching all of this? I'm sure I'll find out. This is just to say that while the plum was so delicious, or however it goes, its advertisement is really all that matters.
Are they generating good soundbites? Do they sound strong and all like that?
But he's really hitting the note of pained nonpartisan patriotism.
"Pained" is the only tone he knows. Less charitably, you could call it "whiny". Lieberman's whine was barely tolerable to me back when he was Gore's runningmate, and is completely so now. Not that I'm the barometer of how swing voters think or anything, but surely his voice must grate on at least some viewers' nerves.
Mark Shields is really hitting the idea that the party of change can't be the party of Bush. Brooks agrees. I think that maybe Brooks is trying to figure out what his role will be in post-Republican America.
The hog farm is a myth, but that should be his place.
whine was barely tolerable ... is completely so now
Completely tolerable, then?
99,
you cunning monster. you're so mean to me. yeah. unfunding the war is equivalent to unfunding the troops. escept, they're entirely different budgets. not only that. the war budget isn't even on the books. and. it's not even a war. it's a military engagement called "Operation Iraqi Freedom" -- where we basically cover the country with tons of radioactive waste, make 1/5th of the people leave or be killed, move our military bases there, and take the oil at fair market prices to be determined by us.
we both know you're torturing me to make me say what you already know. did i leave anything out? oh yeah. joe is bipartisan.
and "x" marks the spot. old age is hell.
Did anybody see Rep Drier on Charlie Rose? Hilarious -- non-stop transparent bullshit delivered in the most glib manner possible.
Are they generating good soundbites? Do they sound strong and all like that?
I only heard a bit of it, earlier when I was making dinner. Nole Coleman was repeatedly welcoming them all to "Pig's Ear, Minnesota"---seriously, it was the introductory and concluding joke, if you can call it one, to his truly painful speech. My favorite part was when he pointed out that even though he was "a person of the Jewish faith," he really liked St. Paul. I found the whole thing rather baffling and so was glad when the political color commentors rightfully returned the focus to Sarah Palin's adventures.
Did David Broder excuse himself during the speech and go to the restroom and rub one out in hopes of a bipartisangasm? Probably not, I suspect the bloom is a little off the rose even for Broder, despite his pathetic "Oh what a maverick!" piece on the Palin pick.
Pig's Ear, Minnesota
Pig's Eye, but yeah. An odd tidbit.
Pig's Eye, Ear, whatever: it was a weird, flat joke, if joke it was.
Doesn't the saying "in a pig's eye" mean "impossible" or "in your dreams, bucko" or "fuggedaboutit"?
I, uh, wouldn't have pointed that out so emphatically, were I introducing the RNC.
There is some very small percentage of the population (2-3% are typical estimates) that is psychopathological, that doesn't see other people as "people" but kind of moving automatons "out there."
Watching events like this, I'm stuck vacillating between trying to reconcile the dreams of these people with mine (because they can't be that different), with the certainty that some number of them don't see me as human at all, but simply part of the environment to be manipulated and used, consumed and discarded.
I missed the whole thing. Is the GOP still the "party of ideas"?
By the way, fuck Joseph Lieberman! He's a creep! Fucking learn how to talk right, frog-voice!
party of ideas
The main idea seemed to be to mention Obama by name as seldom as possible.
Lieberman can't be Droopy Dog. Mark Shields is Droopy Dog. Lieberman has too much barely concieled malevolence.
It's hilarious listening to Republicans trying to spin Palin. Trade delegations visited her in Alaska! Trade delegations containing foreign leaders! Who she negotiated with! Has Barack Obama ever done that?
Head over to Lindsay Beyersteins flickr account. Click through the first five pages. Puke if you want to.
There is some very small percentage of the population (2-3% are typical estimates) that is psychopathological, that doesn't see other people as "people" but kind of moving automatons "out there."
I forget what this is called, but it's different from sociopathology, and I doubt that it's what's going on with many republican leaders. They're more likely sociopaths of some sort.
What Sarah Palin is doing in the bunker.
As for the speech itself, Davis said a generic, "masculine" speech was being prepared before the pick was made and, now that Palin is the choice, she is adapting the speech to her own needs and personality.
I suspect at some level she'd like to just get up there and tell the McCain campaign to stick it up their collective ass.
Free Sarah Palin!
further to 19: If it's a "private family matter," why are they rolling out the red carpet at the convention for the babydaddy? Who's the celebrity now?
127: I'm not sure why, but one of the images that I found most disturbing was the police van that had been disguised as an ambulance.
Sherry Johnston also said there has been no pressure put on her son to marry Bristol Palin, the pregnant daughter of Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin. "Absolutely not," Sherry Johnston told reporters outside the family's Wasilla home. Johnston said the two teens already had plans to marry before they knew she was pregnant.
Though they didn't know that they had plans to marry.
"God had plans for the two teens to marry, which were reified by a certain zygote".
I phrased that in the way that would sound maximally hilarious from a Republican spokesperson, but then couldn't think of a good spokesperson.
re: 133
Though they didn't know that they had plans to marry.
Yes. We needn't be internalists about plans after all.
Thompson had a moose reference in his keynote speech. I say that that justifies, nay requires, our bringing up the rumors of ursophiliac bestiality. It would indeed be irresponsible not to do so.
"Premier, The President is unable to come to the phone at this time. She's busy "playing with her bear", IYKWIM. But she'll get right back to you -- as a Russian, I'm sure you'll understand (nudge nudge, wink wink)!"
These were objective plans, not subjective plans. Real plans.
135: I'm imagining it in Zell Miller's voice, and it's approaching maximal hilarity.
When properly viewed, isn't the act of coitus an unambigious statement of wedding plans? (Adulterous coitus would, I suppose, constitute bigamy plans.)
When properly viewed, LB, the act of coitus is a wedding.
When properly viewed, isn't the act of coitus an unambigious statement of wedding plans?
And LB wonders why college guys were reluctant to have sex with her.
And likewise, the end of coitus is a divorce. Marriage consists of the cleaving together into one flesh part.
Huh. You mean taking off the veil and putting down the bouquet might have helped?
I'm don't knwo, bridal porn is fairly popular.
That's *bridle* porn, John. Not really the same thing.
The combined is what really gets me off, with the veil and the riding crop both.
I really waffled on watching this, to borrow the GOP spin for the DNC convention, "spectacle." My personal compromise worked out rather well. I tuned into CNN, the coverage with the HD, but left the sound off. Then I made personal observations about what I saw.
I know this sounds weird but I used to do it with commercials to see what the images were saying without the distraction of the sound. Well, yeah, actually that is weird but it is still very interesting.
So I mostly had fun watching the video before the thing actually started. I'll second John's observation that there seemed to be an awful lot of bleached blonds in the group. I mean I used to think Middle Eastern men had a thing for the blondies but apparently they can't hold a candle to the Republicans. If you have extra money I'd put it in peroxide futures.
Next there were the goofy old people, lost in the past and wearing their patriotic bling. I'm sure I spotted some college Republicans, too, looking for rich dick to suck, or at least a freebie from a high priced hooker.
Oh, and that jazz combo (or whatever) that was playing had some of the whitest black guys I've seen since Barrack Obama. Wow. Even the white dude with the long hair had it tied back in a tasteful pony tail. I figure the geezers wanted to feel 'with it' without actually having to see a negro or a hippie.
And some of the CNN commentators looked, well, really not so great in HD. It may have been the lighting or camera angles or something but I give them big props for appearing on camera looking like that. I hope they are paid well.
So, yeah, that was my snarkfest. Luckily I had to leave before any of the heavy lifting started. Like others I let John Stewart distill it down for me and I didn't need to feel ill.
145-147,
When my wife got into horses (yeah, I know, I know) I commented how the male horses switch from the freedom of nothing to being led by a halter and finally totally controlled by a bridle. For some reason my wife didn't like that observation. Not even a little bit. Not her. She just liked trotting around completing controlling over a thousand pounds of muscle between her legs. There was nothing symbolic about it.
And I have a dirty mind. Which is true but even so . . .
They're seldom "male" any more either, Tripp.
I do have to say that thinking "a thousand pounds of muscle" is obviously symbolic in the manner that you appear to think it is indicates a certain, um, overinflated self-image.
John,
Well, hers was male but 'fixed,' which is an interesting choice of words also. A horse eunuch. What are they called - something like geldings?
LB,
I assure you, after seeing a male horse, if anything my self image is deflated, not inflated. Seriously. They are massively muscular and hung like a, well, horse.
About the only thing I do like a horse is eat like a horse, who in my experience eat a surprisingly small amount of hay and grain to sustain such a huge amount of weight. They can't eat too much green grass either or they founder, so I really don't know how they get enough calories. They are pretty amazing animals when viewed up close.
Gelding, I think. The term varies by species: capon, steer, ox, barrow, wether, etc.
Veterinary diarrhea is called "scours". A friend tried to convince me that each species had its own word for diarrhea, but he was shitting me I think.
That's sort of my point. Not everything physically impressive is a symbolic phallus. Controlling power is fun in its own right, even if you don't have some weird belief that all power is intrinsically gendered male (what, no one rides mares?) and so that a desire for power is somehow really a desire to appropriate or control maleness.
For example, lady horses are pretty big and powerful too.
Tokamak fusion reactors are very vulval.
I assure you, after seeing a male horse, if anything my self image is deflated, not inflated. Seriously.
This is probably telling.
68
Why do people keep suggesting the Pledge of Allegiance has been around since time immemorial? 1892, people. And modified multiple times since.
So what you're saying is, it's not younger than John McCain?
Also: holy fucking shit to see people refer in passing to Palin's daughter being pregnant. A few days ago I read about the rumors that Palin's fifth child was actually her daughter's, and it was being denounced for being too personal, too ad hominem, etc. Now, this is one hell of a twist.
Not everything physically impressive is a symbolic phallus.
Maybe not to you...
LB,
Oh, I get it. Yeah, when a person sits on a horse they are up high and there may be a gender neutral rush of controlling power. Seriously, when I rode some trail horse up a Montana mountain at a ranch the sheer musculature was very impressive.
But I've been told there may also be a certain, umm, washing machine effect for certain people when trotting on a horse. For me it tends to bounce my, ummm, tender bits but for some people differently equipped I've heard some things.
And the terms halter and bridle were an interesting progression.
So I know this is not the long debunked penis envy. It is the pursuit of power and the pleasure that controlling power brings.
Off, topic, or perhaps back on-topic, I'm not really sure: last night I heard Palin's name pronounced for the first time. I'd assumed the "a" was soft, not hard. The name doesn't sound nearly as nice with a hard "a". This deflates much of the enormous name-pronunciation advantage McCain had over Obama. I'm now of the opinion that this will cost McCain the election.
"Obama/Biden" has that great, bubbly "Bamabi" in the middle. How could that not win?
161: It is the pursuit of power and the pleasure that controlling power brings.
Just like marriage.
I'd assumed the "a" was soft, not hard. The name doesn't sound nearly as nice with a hard "a".
I don't know what you mean by "soft" and "hard". You thought it was "Pollen" and it's actually "Pay-lin"? Or vice versa? Or maybe by "soft" (or "hard") you mean it would rhyme with "talon".
Obama/Biden" has that great, bubbly "Bamabi" in the middle. How could that not win?
Would it win against the ticket of Tommy Sella and Arthur Dory? Sella/Dory would be tough competition.
Hrm. Maybe yours.
Ouch. I was thinking McCain's. Both ways.
Lost the link, but apparently Palin fought to keep bars open to 5 a.m. (insead of 2 a.m.) and fought against gun control. So at 5 a.m. every morning, heavily armed drunks rolled out onto the streets of Moosefuck, Alaska.
169: stop trying to make her likable.
Or maybe by "soft" (or "hard") you mean it would rhyme with "talon".
This is what I thought.
So at 5 a.m. every morning, heavily armed drunks rolled out onto the streets of Moosefuck, Alaska.
The peculiarities of government finance in Alaska create a situation where the sudden, violent death of a few residents (to the extent that they don't leave behind any orphaned wards of the state) is a net positive for the state budget, expecially if the deceased were heavy users of alcohol and tobacco. So I can see a certain cynical logic in this position.