Werthless wrote:I've said on more than 1 occasion that I'd be ok with raising the gas tax. That was obvious to everyone else but you.....

That, or everyone else but me simply ignores you

The Star Ledger crushes Corzine over the Pinkett trial balloon.

Epic Pat Buchanan fail.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EAiN3DBchFU[/youtube]

CrashburnAlley wrote:Epic Pat Buchanan fail.

[youtube] ever-ready punching bag Pat Buchanan takes some jabs [/youtube]

wouldn't call it epic fail, as Pat's just sort of a caricature conservative anymore; but entertaining.

I like the arc of the shouting match though, b/c I believe it captures a fundamental misconception about what doing most jobs takes & what the 'best' ways of choosing people for jobs entails.

We recurrently see evidence of the delusion that our means of choosing people for positions of responsibility, particularly in the public sector, require "top" talent determined in the manner Buchanan imagines: scores, testing & other 'objective' measures of 'vital' qualities.

Why should we pretend the processes conventionally employed to select the likes of SC judges, and many lesser positions of responsibility, are about choosing the best? Instead, they're geared, appropriately in my view, to eliminating the absolutely unqualified. That becomes especially appropriate the more rarified & abstract the decisionmaking in which the job candidate will, if successful, be engaged.

Which makes ranters like Buchanan doubly foolish.

Pat's mistake was not calling out Rachel on her tactic of switching between arguing about one Supreme Court justice and arguing about 110 supreme court justices.

Maybe this is an obvious point, but the fact that Buchanan is still in public life says a great deal about Beltway culture. If someone with his blatantly racist views (and willingness to forthrightly express them--I don't doubt there are dozens, maybe hundreds of public figures who think that way but keep more or less quiet) showed up today as an unknown, he'd be denounced and probably banished from the discourse everywhere but on a rancid site like Newsmax.

But Pitchfork Pat, having been around since the Nixon years, is such a part of the scenery that short of going on TV in blackface or addressing Maddow with rhyming terms for lesbian and Jew--neither of which I would entirely put past him--he'll have a place until he croaks. Maybe there's even value in this, as it reminds us that repulsive, retrograde views are still very much present in our politics.

Glenn Greenwald does Cronkite's (and Halberstam's) memory proud

Deplorably awful as the mainstream press is today, it's possible to imagine a turn of events in which we could get real reporters like that again: user-supported web-based entities, accountable not to their sources and corporate advertisers but to their readers/funders. The question is whether such an entity could go after the truth without fear or favor, or whether they'd inevitably devolve into rabidly partisan outfits, leaning to one side or the other, like the American Spectator pursuing the "Arkansas Project."

dajafi wrote:Maybe this is an obvious point, but the fact that Buchanan is still in public life says a great deal about Beltway culture. If someone with his blatantly racist views (and willingness to forthrightly express them--I don't doubt there are dozens, maybe hundreds of public figures who think that way but keep more or less quiet) showed up today as an unknown, he'd be denounced and probably banished from the discourse everywhere but on a rancid site like Newsmax.

But Pitchfork Pat, having been around since the Nixon years, is such a part of the scenery that short of going on TV in blackface or addressing Maddow with rhyming terms for lesbian and Jew--neither of which I would entirely put past him--he'll have a place until he croaks. Maybe there's even value in this, as it reminds us that repulsive, retrograde views are still very much present in our politics.

But he's nice at parties and cracks funny jokes in the green room!

dajafi wrote:Maybe this is an obvious point, but the fact that Buchanan is still in public life says a great deal about Beltway culture. If someone with his blatantly racist views (and willingness to forthrightly express them--I don't doubt there are dozens, maybe hundreds of public figures who think that way but keep more or less quiet) showed up today as an unknown, he'd be denounced and probably banished from the discourse everywhere but on a rancid site like Newsmax.

But Pitchfork Pat, having been around since the Nixon years, is such a part of the scenery that short of going on TV in blackface or addressing Maddow with rhyming terms for lesbian and Jew--neither of which I would entirely put past him--he'll have a place until he croaks. Maybe there's even value in this, as it reminds us that repulsive, retrograde views are still very much present in our politics.

Says more about American culture. He has some degree of fame. Fame = money in television land... and controversy doesn't hurt the ratings bottom line either.

Phan In Phlorida wrote:

dajafi wrote:Maybe this is an obvious point, but the fact that Buchanan is still in public life says a great deal about Beltway culture. If someone with his blatantly racist views (and willingness to forthrightly express them--I don't doubt there are dozens, maybe hundreds of public figures who think that way but keep more or less quiet) showed up today as an unknown, he'd be denounced and probably banished from the discourse everywhere but on a rancid site like Newsmax.

But Pitchfork Pat, having been around since the Nixon years, is such a part of the scenery that short of going on TV in blackface or addressing Maddow with rhyming terms for lesbian and Jew--neither of which I would entirely put past him--he'll have a place until he croaks. Maybe there's even value in this, as it reminds us that repulsive, retrograde views are still very much present in our politics.

Says more about American culture. He has some degree of fame. Fame = money in television land... and controversy doesn't hurt the ratings bottom line either.

Racism is alive and well in America, although the focus, especially in the last couple elections has shifted from African Americans to Hispanics. Buchanan appeals to the same voters who supported Tancredo and the mayor of Hazelton, neither of whom was spectacularly successful at the polls. It does not seem to be an obvious political winner, but appeals to racism are still used by a lot of politicians and are the primary issue for some. Until that changes, the xenophobia represented by Buchanan will keep him on TV.

allentown wrote:

Phan In Phlorida wrote:

dajafi wrote:Maybe this is an obvious point, but the fact that Buchanan is still in public life says a great deal about Beltway culture. If someone with his blatantly racist views (and willingness to forthrightly express them--I don't doubt there are dozens, maybe hundreds of public figures who think that way but keep more or less quiet) showed up today as an unknown, he'd be denounced and probably banished from the discourse everywhere but on a rancid site like Newsmax.

But Pitchfork Pat, having been around since the Nixon years, is such a part of the scenery that short of going on TV in blackface or addressing Maddow with rhyming terms for lesbian and Jew--neither of which I would entirely put past him--he'll have a place until he croaks. Maybe there's even value in this, as it reminds us that repulsive, retrograde views are still very much present in our politics.

Says more about American culture. He has some degree of fame. Fame = money in television land... and controversy doesn't hurt the ratings bottom line either.

Racism is alive and well in America, although the focus, especially in the last couple elections has shifted from African Americans to Hispanics. Buchanan appeals to the same voters who supported Tancredo and the mayor of Hazelton, neither of whom was spectacularly successful at the polls. It does not seem to be an obvious political winner, but appeals to racism are still used by a lot of politicians and are the primary issue for some. Until that changes, the xenophobia represented by Buchanan will keep him on TV.

While full down to the core racism rooted in hatred does exist in America, most of the sentiment that oft gets the tag is more rooted in fear of those (and things) different. People's fears and insecurities are emotional attributes politicians and politicos can use to their advantage. Buchanan and other pundits are political machines. It's often difficult to discern what a political machine truely feels or believes, as the true heart and motives of political machines are attaining/maintaining power and influence, feeding the ego, achieving an agenda (which may or may not have anything to do with what they profess).

The Barletta/Hazelton thing is a perfect example. Even though I don't reside in NEPA anymore, I did look into this when it made national headlines (the actual legislation was online at the time in PDF form). Barletta's true agenda wasn't "driving away illegals", but the enactment of a good old fashioned Pennsylvania revenue generator... a yearly license each landlord had to purchase for each rental unit, and a permit/license each and every Hazelton renter needed to purchase. He just used illegal immigrants, playing on people's fears and insecurities, to garner support and advance his agenda, an agenda to generate additional revenues via new license/permit fees. I was kinda surprised more people didn't see through the muck, but the "illegals" angle was the more emotional and sensational angle, so that's what got all the attention.

I'm not sure of the distinction you make in the first point. I think deep down core racism also springs from fear of the other/different, plus a desire to have groups one automatically feels superior to. Social science experiments have shown that a natural preference for those similar to us is almost hard wired. Where you go from that biology is in the conscious thinking part of your brain, but xenophobia or tribalism or nationalism or judging people based on their religion goes back to the earliest organizing principles of human society. Like attracted like and in-breeding within the in-crowd of whatever size increased the differences between the us and the them. We all started out from Africa with common ancient ancestors and the process of genetic and cultural isolation and divergence went from there.

Racism is understandable if you profit from it!

CrashburnAlley wrote:Epic Pat Buchanan fail.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch.v=EAiN3DBchFU[/youtube]

He looked old... but he's still loud and a lot of what he "screams about" will resonate with a lot of white guys who believe this stuff...

I don't see the new Latina SPCJ as a liberal at all, or anything special, but the party the put up Clarence Thomas has ZERO credibility...

Apocalypse healthcare!

Obama Will Rally Troops with DeMint's Comment
Last week, on a conference call with conservative activists dealing with health care reform, Ben Smith reported that Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) said, "If we're able to stop Obama on this, it will be his Waterloo. It will break him."

According to ABC News, you will be hearing that quote this week from the White House as they use it to rally their troops. Officials will says that "those who want to use this issue to break the president are doing nothing but working for insurance companies and insurance executives."

Expect the administration to use Bill Kristol's quote today, as well.

Quote of the Day
"My advice, for what it's worth: Resist the temptation. This is no time to pull punches. Go for the kill."

-- William Kristol, a key strategist in the defeat of the Clinton health care reform effort in 1993, arguing in the Weekly Standard that "with Obamacare on the ropes, there will be a temptation for opponents to let up on their criticism, and to try to appear constructive, or at least responsible."

So you've got Republicans, who are characteristically and unapologetically indifferent to the underlying problem--a broken healthcare system that effectuates unnecessary pain and suffering as well as financial disaster for millions of American families--so long as they can do political damage to the president. And now you've got the president, and presumably his fellow Democrats, who likely will prove indifferent to the (I think probably considerable) flaws of their policy solution because the fight is now characterized as political above all else.

This is why I think our system is fucked: ultimately, everything of significance plays out this way, whichever side is in power.

Editorially, I'd like to see someone "go for the kill" on Kristol. The fucking scumbag cares no more about the life, death and bankruptcy consequences of Americans ill-served by this system than he did the hundreds of thousands of Iraqis killed as a result of his last political masterstroke. He should be strung up.

dajafi wrote:Apocalypse healthcare!

Obama Will Rally Troops with DeMint's Comment
Last week, on a conference call with conservative activists dealing with health care reform, Ben Smith reported that Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) said, "If we're able to stop Obama on this, it will be his Waterloo. It will break him."

Jim DeMint's fave movie scene?

dajafi wrote:Apocalypse healthcare!

Obama Will Rally Troops with DeMint's Comment
Last week, on a conference call with conservative activists dealing with health care reform, Ben Smith reported that Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) said, "If we're able to stop Obama on this, it will be his Waterloo. It will break him."

According to ABC News, you will be hearing that quote this week from the White House as they use it to rally their troops. Officials will says that "those who want to use this issue to break the president are doing nothing but working for insurance companies and insurance executives."

Expect the administration to use Bill Kristol's quote today, as well.

Quote of the Day
"My advice, for what it's worth: Resist the temptation. This is no time to pull punches. Go for the kill."

-- William Kristol, a key strategist in the defeat of the Clinton health care reform effort in 1993, arguing in the Weekly Standard that "with Obamacare on the ropes, there will be a temptation for opponents to let up on their criticism, and to try to appear constructive, or at least responsible."

So you've got Republicans, who are characteristically and unapologetically indifferent to the underlying problem--a broken healthcare system that effectuates unnecessary pain and suffering as well as financial disaster for millions of American families--so long as they can do political damage to the president. And now you've got the president, and presumably his fellow Democrats, who likely will prove indifferent to the (I think probably considerable) flaws of their policy solution because the fight is now characterized as political above all else.

This is why I think our system is $#@!: ultimately, everything of significance plays out this way, whichever side is in power.

Editorially, I'd like to see someone "go for the kill" on Kristol. The $#@! scumbag cares no more about the life, death and bankruptcy consequences of Americans ill-served by this system than he did the hundreds of thousands of Iraqis killed as a result of his last political masterstroke. He should be strung up.

That's certainly a scary scenario that Kristol imagines. It will be the end of freedom and democracy as we know it if Republican Senators are actually trying to be (or not even going that far, just trying to appear to be) constructive and reasonable. Isn't that their job? I mean actually be constructive and reasonable, not dragging their feet while trying to appear to be constructive.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AHEposwhovk[/youtube]

I just read the transcript, but this is a good podcast about torture, politicization of the media (into 2 factions), and the resulting reality we live in now, where journalists view themselves more as reporters of opinions (ie. spokesmen).

Werthless wrote:[youtube]Russkies snub our top guy[/youtube]

Barry shoulda given 'em all the thumb/forefinger pistola execution, Clint Eastwood-style