I Don't Like You Either

Craziest..Press Conference...EVAH (Blagojevich & Burris)

Via HuffPost, where you can read Jason Linkins' write-up. ""Please do not allow the allegations against me to taint this good man," Blagojevich said, futilely...""

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Attackerman: "Dey Know (Blago)"

Like Ackerman said, he's so gangster.  Via HuffPost.

Colin Powell Speaks About Limbaugh, Palin, and the Military's "Don't Ask--Don't Tell" Policies

In an interview with Fareed Zakaria, Powell slams Palin and Limbaugh and says the military should rethink its "don't ask--don't tell" policies.   HuffPost has relevant portions of the conversation here.

InstaSnark: The Media & the Wingnuts Play: Connect! the!! Blago-Obama Dots!!!...

...which are, of course, in completely different coloring books. Meanwhile, the Left just laughs the bitter laughter of adults who have seen it all before because OF COURSE everyone knew it was coming, even though it is all so stupid, so stupid and transparent, so stupid and transparent and bogus, and yet full of wingnutty media-fuelled portentousness and pomposity.

Whiskey Fire: BREAKING: The Untold Story of the Blagojevich Corruption Scandal! (Did Anyone Say... WILLIAM AYERS!?)

Edroso: Times Pretends to Believe Blago is Trouble for Obama

Sadly, No!: They’ll Get To That Part Later

Sadly, No!: Blago Bung¹ [another shorter Michelle Malkin]

The Poor Man: Blagwater

Attackerman:  Oh, My.  He's So Gangster

Lawyers, Guns, & Money:  Gangster - The Rod Blagojevich Story

Rising Hegemon:  Lincoln Isn't Spinning, He's Snickering

Balloon Juice: Make It Stop

Balloon Juice: Sometimes Doing the Right Thing Pays Off

The Rude Pundit:  Note to Republicans and the Media: We Don't Care About Obama and Blagojevich

The Heretik:  I Swear

Bill Ayers on "Hardball"

Here's "the washed-up old terrorist," as McCain called him, speaking for himself but also with strange prescience.  Highlights:

Asked about his reaction to Palin's "palling around with terrorists remark, Ayers said: "I thought it was outrageous and profoundly dishonest, and I chose not to react to it at the time."

Ayers added, "I was on a board with President-Elect Obama, we did live in the same neighborhood, but the dishonesty of the narrative is that if you can place two people in the same room or prove that they took a bus downtown together, that they're somehow responsible for one anothers politics, policies, outlook, and behavior, and that seems to me to be patently absurd."

Tweety concluded that  "Ayers is a changed man." Uh, as Jason Linkins said, make of that what you will.

Blago-gate!

Obama's first "scandal"---and he's not even in office!  Things move faster than they used to and not always in a good way.

 Marc Ambinder points out that Obama has long considered Blagojevich a tumor on the Democratic party's behind (Ambinder put it a bit differently).  UPDATE:  This article suggests that maybe he hasn't thought so for that long.   And a Chicago reporter thinks Rahm Emanuel might have tipped off the feds to Blago's "Pay to Play" gambit. 

But the fall of the Illinois Democrat---while pleasing to those of us who like our government corruption free--does its part to wilt the petals in our winner's bouquet and we haven't even had the inaugural ball yet.

Imagining (& Reimagining) Hillary: Also: The Favreau Facebook Incident

Our colleague at Buck Naked Politics wrote way back even before the primaries about the ever-evolving Hillary mythos, and it's true: no matter how she behaves or what she does "she thicks men's blood with cold." Equally chilled---so they claim---is the blood of certain well-known female pundits.  Why is that?  Hmmm?  Why?

Best of the Concern Trolls

It started with a Nov. 25th challenge from Pinko Punko at 3Bulls!:

I think we should have a contest. Troll or Concern Troll comments on these classes of generic blog post:

This Just In: The RNC Spent More on Palin than You Made in the Three Years Before the Lay Off

They didn't exactly put it that way, but that's what it comes down to. 

It's getting kind of hard to keep track of all the numbers, but Politico seems to have done the math:

Tweety to Run Against Arlen Specter in 2010

by Damozel | Like Nora Ephron, I am practically in love with Chris Matthews despite his many, many flaws and excesses.  Watching him when he isn't talking but listening causes a thrill to go up my leg.  So  I am trying to decide how I feel about this. 

Suffering Fools: GOP Senators Get Sent to Funky Town

by Teh Puppet Mistress | I don't usually find The Politico laugh-out-loud funny, but this article filled me with effervescent glee.

Jane Hamsher Responds to Sarah Palin's Slam Against Liberal Bloggers

by Blue Stockings |  The Caucus:

Ms. Palin directed most of her media criticism at liberal bloggers, whom she twice called, “those bloggers in their parents’ basement just talkin’ garbage.”

After reeling off a list the credentials of liberalism's most formidable, Hamsher asks:

How would Sarah feel if someone called her an ignorant, freeloading bubble headed piece of trailer park trash whose daddy told the AP she spent the weekend scrambling to return her stolen clothes to the RNC?

Note to Palin: How Can People Miss You if You Keep Hanging Around?

by Blue Stockings |  She's already gabbling to the media about 2012. 

Less than a week after she and John McCain lost their bid for the White House, a combative Sarah Palin on Monday night launched a full-scale media blitz that strongly suggests she's already on to Plan B...

More Tales from the Nutterdammerung: Are You a Socialist or a Dupe?

by Teh Nutroots & Damozel | Roy Edroso has a post up at The Village Voice about the division of opinion on the right about the end of the world as they know it:

When the end came, rightbloggers were at first torn as to its meaning.

Election Night Hilarity at BBC News: Gore Vidal vs. Anchor David Dimbleby

by Nicholas | "Mad as a box of frogs," said the bloke who posted it, and he didn't mean Dimbleby.  I cannot improve on this as a summary.

"When Will They Ever Learn?" Apparently, Never

by The Puppet Mistress | Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Nachos:

If you were worried the Republicans might finally wake up after two straight ass-kickings, and realize the right-wing schtick isn't working anymore, rest easy.

The House Republicans have just selected their new leadership team. John Boehner (R-Oompa Loompa) will stay in charge of the dwindling Republican minority, but the second and third in commands will now be Eric Cantor and Mike Pence, two congressmen whose loyalty to the far right is only rivaled by their own stupidity.

Otto Man has a February 2007 Tweety interview of Cantor to prove it!

He also said:

There are many things to be excited about with the election of Barack Obama, but the emergence of Republican-on-Republican violence is certainly at the top of my list.

Ours too. 

Snark O' the Day: "Splitters!"

by Damozel |  I normally wouldn't draw our daily dose of snark from the same blog two days running, but TBogg is a master, and this---like yesterday's---is masterly, both in its ruthless efficiency and accuracy in identifying and lancing the latest unattractive inflammatory groundswell and its peerless use of pop culture references as the instrument of choice.  Yesterday, it was Galaxy Quest.  Today:  one of my top five all-time films, Life of Brian.

Obama got elected three days ago and the wingers are all depressed, which they consider to be proof that they are also now, and destined in the future to be, oppressed.  They're always mad, but now they're even madder---as well as in a panicky tailspin---and so the leading lights of the right are busily organizing a Republican Resistance movement.   

Sadly, their defeat has forced them to confront how much they actually hate one another.  None of them can agree even on the fundamentals of how to build a better GOP.

TBogg considers the struggle of the emergent warring sects to find some common ground, and their ensuing abject failure:

Divided we stand"...no...wait...um... "united we flail" ...no, that's not it. Crap, I think I wrote it down on a Wendy's napkin. Look in the back seat of my car.... Oh, here we go....

He's got the list, the clip, and the final word. 

Arrested Development, Republican Style: Defeated Wingnuts Gibber, Rave, Point Fingers, Threaten, Screech, Shake Their Tiny Fists at the Cosmos, Etc.

by Blue Stockings | Sadly, No! has published what might be the definitive post on wingnut rage, fear, and screeching. 

Why are they so afraid all the time?  What are they so afraid of?  Is chronic craven fear really the trait that distinguishes the crazy-asses of the Republican base from normal people?

So it seems.  I've finally worked out the answer to the question:  Why, oh why do they hate us liberals so?

They hate us for our fearlessness. 

They're in a perpetual state of bug-eyed rage and panic, alternating with fear and fury.  How it must gall them that liberals don't share their fear of the monsters under the bed; that we have, in fact, put away childish things and moved on. 

Ride the Wayback Pony 4-15-2008: Why Was Bush Absent from the Torture Committee?

Let me say that again to you:  we don't torture people, except in the lawyer-created space between cruelty and enhanced interrogation techniques.

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

House of Pain

Barack Obama Interview
John McCain Interview

Sarah Palin Video
Funny Election Video

Colbert: A Recap of the Final Week of the Campaign

The Joe the No Show Haiku Project

by Damozel | Okay, everyone's read about Joe the No Show and has seen this:

But we  thought Ambinder's poetic tribute was a whole ship full of awesome, and maybe you didn't see that:

"Joe's with us today,"
Joe. Where are ya? Where is Joe?
Is Joe here with us?

Sadly, he has now been called out by Progressive Accountability---rightly---for calling it a haiku when it is NOT a haiku. 

CLAIM - Marc Ambinder Claims He Has Written a Haiku

FACT - A Haiku is 5-7-5, Ambinder dangerously misleads the American people by writing a "Haiku" that is 6-7-5.

Statement - "With only five days until the election this misuse of Japanese poetry could unravel the very fabric of American democracy.  We immediately demand that the first line be amended to "Joe's with us today" to comply with the use of syllables that the American people deserve and expect from The Atlantic."

I suggest these changes:

Joe?  Where did you go? today....
Joe. Where are ya? Where is Joe?
Is Joe here with us?

I think this is even more plangent than the original.

Colbert Interviews David Frum!

Frum says McCain can't win; though Obama can lose.  He shares his plan for a new consrvative comeback because he has no sense of humor or irony.

Colbert:  "Love does not alter when it alteration finds."  Heh.

Wow, this is kind of a strange interview--- especially given Frum's criticisms of Comedy Central and of Colbert specifically.

Chris Matthews Roughs Up McCain's Nancy Pfotenhauer

Heee hee hee hee heee heee heee heee.  He makes Pfotenhauer watch the clip of Palin (once again failing to understand what the VP does) not once but twice!

Jezebel has a piece called  Dear Nancy Pfotenhauer: Please Wipe That Smile Right Off Of Your Face.  Tweety wipes it off for her. 

Colbert on the Final Debate

Snark-O-Rama: A Compendium of Mordant Commentary On Current Events

by Teh Nutroots & The Puppet Mistress |  Today we implement what we hope will be a regular feature:  a round-up of bloggers who hate teh stupid as much as we do. 

At Balloon Juice, John Cole:

Wise People Suck.  At Saddleback, John McCain named John Lewis as one of the "wise men" on whom he'd rely during his Administration.  Now this wise man has a few wise words about the tactics being used by McCain & Palin, speaking "as one who was a victim of violence and hate during the height of the Civil Rights Movement."

The Bride to Nowhere.  McCain's chief of staff would rather he suffer "an honorable defeat" than be disgraced by Palin's continuing antics.  John Cole laconically sums up how McCain and their neocon "helpers" created this unruly monster.  "Pitbulls don’t know when to stop biting," the piece begins....

Deb has always wondered that the GOP's Plan A was to lose this election.  If not, it's clear they've got a Plan B. See John Cole's piece, The Fall Guy.

The Daily Show: Fox News Reports

It must suck to realize you've been wrong about everything all along.  No wonder they seem a bit mental.

Frank Schaeffer: "McCain's Attacks Fuel Dangerous Hatred"

by The Puppet Mistress | Schaffer's provisional "J'Accuse!" is printed in The Baltimore Sun.  In it, Schaeffer refers darkly to what many of us are beginning to fear:  that McCain and Palin are helping to incite people who might be all too inclined to feel justified in resorting to violence.  It's happened before, "my friends."

In pertinent part, it says:

John McCain: If your campaign does not stop equating Sen. Barack Obama with terrorism, questioning his patriotism and portraying Mr. Obama as "not one of us," I accuse you of deliberately feeding the most unhinged elements of our society the red meat of hate, and therefore of potentially instigating violence....

John McCain: In 2000, as a lifelong Republican, I worked to get you elected instead of George W. Bush. In return, you wrote an endorsement of one of my books about military service. You seemed to be a man who put principle ahead of mere political gain.

You have changed. You have a choice: Go down in history as a decent senator and an honorable military man with many successes, or go down in history as the latest abettor of right-wing extremist hate....

Stop! Think! Your rallies are beginning to look, sound, feel and smell like lynch mobs.

John McCain, you're walking a perilous line. If you do not stand up for all that is good in America and declare that Senator Obama is a patriot, fit for office, and denounce your hate-filled supporters when they scream out "Terrorist" or "Kill him," history will hold you responsible for all that follows.

John McCain and Sarah Palin, you are playing with fire, and you know it. You are unleashing the monster of American hatred and prejudice, to the peril of all of us. You are doing this in wartime. You are doing this as our economy collapses. You are doing this in a country with a history of assassinations. 

[S]top stirring up the lunatic fringe of haters, or risk suffering the judgment of history and the loathing of the American people - forever.

We will hold you responsible.  [More]

For those interested, his official website is here.

Wake up, moderate Republicans.  You & the McCain campaign have met the enemy---and they are you. 

Memeorandum has more blogger discussion.

An Anonymous Democratic Congressional Hero Tells It with Expletives Undeleted; Alan Grayson Also Weighs In

by The Puppet Mistress | Man, this cheered me up.  Even as "bipartisan support" for the Brave New Plan emerges, thinking voters everywhere are asking, "What fresh hell have they wrought?"

Then, in a piece entitled "Yes, There Are Deeply Angry Democratic Members of Congress, Matt Stoller  published one deeply angry legislator's email.   In pertinent part, it says:

Ron Paul & The John/Jane Galts Hold Their Own Convention

by Teh Nutroots | Ding, ding, ding! Meanwhile, Ron Paul followers are assembling for their own convention.  Just thought I'd mention it.  It may be important later.

Hillary's Shining Moment

by The Puppet Mistress | I'll post the speech when it's available.  For now, here's a list of reviews.  As a former Clinton supporter, I can't help loving the kudos she's getting.  I just hope this speech will remind the people who have forgotten or who are too young to remember:  Real Dems love Hillary.  Politically, this might have been the best thing that could have happened to her.  It was a shining moment---a redemption from the point of view of her detractors and a confirmation for her supporters.  Love it.