I Don't Like You Either

Palin Still Thinks that the Vice President is in Charge of the Senate

by Blue Stockings | DDay: "Sarah Palin, proving that even local interviewers can make her look bad."

Christ, couldn't someone have taken her gently aside and read the Constitution to her by this time?  Though I get the impression that with Palin, it wouldn't help much:  facts that aren't compatible with her preconceptions probably slip right out of her consciousness again...or such is my preconception.  As Senate majority leader Harry Reid told Think Progress, this is the second time she's said it.  "While the Vice President presides over the Senate, he or she is not in charge of it,"  he amplified.  (Think Progress)

Civics is hard!

Yesterday, Gov. Sarah Palin (R-AK) sat for an interview with KUSA, an NBC affiliate in Colorado. In response to a question sent to the network by a third grader at a local elementary school about what the Vice President does, Palin erroneously argued that the Vice President is “in charge of the United States Senate“:

Q: Brandon Garcia wants to know, “What does the Vice President do?”

PALIN: That’s something that Piper would ask me! … [T]hey’re in charge of the U.S. Senate so if they want to they can really get in there with the senators and make a lot of good policy changes that will make life better for Brandon and his family and his classroom. (Think Progress; emphasis in original)

Hilarious.  Obviously, Palin didn't give Piper a chance to explain it. 

Colbert: ""You want to see the real John McCain? Hit a baseball into his yard.""

The word is POW and "fellow prisoners."  Is he telling us he's a prisoner of something else?

Frum's War at National Review

by Blue Stockings | David Frum----former speechwriter to Bush and the man who brought you "axis of evil"---is having to defend his conservatism from the likes of the Virgin K-Lo because he has dared to criticize the egregious Palin.  Lord.  "I Get So Weary of This," the piece is called. 

Possibly it is bad form for me to acknowledge this reality....Perhaps it is our job at NRO is tell our readers only what they want to hear, without much regard to whether it is true. Perhaps it is our duty just to keep smiling and to insist that everything is dandy - that John McCain's economic policies make sense, that his selection of Sarah Palin was an act of statesmanship, that she herself is the second coming of Anna Schwartz, and that nobody but an over-educated snob would ever suggest otherwise.  (Frum)

Glad you worked that out, David Frum.

Frum is waking up to the same reality as other conservatives:  that the Corner is a blog for pushing Republican talking points and Republican propaganda with the sole goal of keeping a discredited regime (which Frum helped enable, and then turned on) in power.

Where's The Atlantic's Econoblogger Meagan McArdle?

by Blue Stockings | The greatest economic crisis in history and where's The Atlantic's free market lovin' econoblogger?  First---so inconvenient---she had to recover from an unfortunately timed two-week bout with the flu.  Like Brad, we don't want to draw any unkind inferences.

And now, on a weekend when the entire global economy is apparently balancing on the edge of a razor....she's catching up on her reading.   Susan of Texas had the same thought we did.

Why do I have the feeling Megan McArdle is feverishly pouring through her old textbooks to find a way to mitigate how Alan Greenspan, Milton Freeman, and Wall Street were so very wrong?

We don't pick on procrustean libertarian analyst Meagan too much because those snarkmeisters at Fire Meagan McArdle and Susan of Texas at The Hunting of the Snark do a bang-up job.  We don't hate her for being wrong about everything all the time; we hate her for posturing as an Obama supporter so that she "concern troll" him while getting credit from her commenters for being fair and balanced. 

One really does get a picture of McArdle frantically reading Friedman, Galbraith, Krugman, & others trying to work out where it all went wrong.  In lieu of giving her readers the benefit of her own reflections, she's giving them a couple of semester's worth of homework.  She even advisers her readers to read Mandelbrot!  At least that's honest.  It's all going to come down to the fault of those "faulty probability models" used by "market wizards."

This Just In: Sarah Palin Abused Power

by Blue Stockings | Quelle surprise!  We've got a result in Troopergate.  At Open Left, Chris Bowers deadpans:

Unsurprisingly, the report which Palin tried to block through lawsuits, stall through non-cooperation, discredit through personal attacks against the investigators, isn't very good for Palin.

As Jack and Jill Politics puts it, "While she’s on the campaign trail, whipping up bigoted frenzies being described as “renewing” the GOP base, the Good people of the state of Alaska got busy putting their Governor in check."  Ha, ha, it's true---all of it!

The Anchorage Daily News reports:

A legislative investigation has concluded that Gov. Sarah Palin abused her power in pushing for the firing of an Alaska state trooper who was once married to her sister, or by failing to prevent her husband Todd from doing so.

Here are some of the findings:

McCain Calls Obama "That One"

Via Ambinder. As opposed, I guess, to "the One"?  But DAMN, that was obnoxious.

The SNL VP Debate Skit

Does Biden love John McCain as much as Palin loves Israel?  The subtext revealed....with Queen Latifah as Ifill! 

Greed & Incompetence: How Bad Can It Get?

by Nicholas | A friend of mine read somewhere, and passed on to me, the notion that whatever people may say, the USA is not a truly capitalist society (i.e. one where the creation of goods and services itself generates wealth) but merely a sort of predatory corporatism, where a false, inflated wealth is created simply by moving money around.  As Gordon Gekko said, “I create nothing.”   These days, the creation of tangible goods takes place elsewhere, and we have to import them, and pay out money to foreign companies in return.  More and more companies inside the US are getting better and better at creating nothing – or so we thought.  Recent events have shown that maybe they are not even good at that.

So why, then, do the people in charge still reward themselves to such an obscene level?   Well, because they’re greedy, that’s why.  And the belief that if the rich are happy then somehow everyone else will be happy still prevails, even, amazingly, among some people who grog along doing three jobs in order to maintain a hand to mouth existence.  Here’s an interesting statistic.  I read it in Vincent Bugliosi’s excellent book The Prosecution of George W. Bush for Murder. 

I don’t mean to rehash here the main arguments of this book (which, incidentally, I completely agree with) but simply to bring to your attention a fact quoted in the last chapter.  Now, everyone will agree that company CEOs deserve to be paid more than the people who work for them.   J. P. Morgan, one of the most successful American capitalists of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, said that it was not unreasonable for a CEO to be paid twenty times the average salary of his employees. 

That seems perfectly fair.  In some countries today the average ratio is even lower: in Japan it is 10 to 1, Germany 11 to 1, and in France 16 to 1.  In Britain it is higher:  25 to 1.  In the USA, though, it is a staggering 531 to 1.  Does anything say Greed in mile high letters more than this?   Isn’t it time to understand that doing something about this sort of greed, which represents all that is bad and exploitative in an unmanaged economy, will not actually bring about the fall of the Republic, and will probably do it some good?.

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:

Ride the Wayback Pony! Joe Scarborough to Rachel Maddow in March 2008: "It's Not the Economy, Stupid!"

Videocafeblog describes it thus:

Joe Scarborough tries to put some lipstick on the pig that is the Bush economy, and Rachel Maddow tries to interject some sanity into the conversation, and when she brings up the radical economic policies of the Bush administation that have brought us to where we are now, she gets talked over and cut off.

Sarah Palin's Sean Hannity Interview--"Sean, Pin Her Down!"

by Blue Stockings | "Hannitized for her protection."  Listen to him feeding her the leading questions.

Palin:  "An unfair attack on the verbiage [sic] that John McCain chose to use." 

There's just no end to the stupid that comes burbling out of her mouth. 

Colbert: Why Hasn't President Bush Captured Osama bin Laden?

The word:  "Powerless."

Response to McCain's "Sex Ed for Kindergarteners Before They Can Read' Ad"

Response by Planned Parenthood to the "McCain campaign['s]...false and misleading ad attacking Senator Barack Obama for his support of a bill that would have helped protect young children from sexual predators.  It is outrageous that the McCain campaign would seek to play political games with children's health and safety." 

Obama: "They Must Think You're Stupid"

by Teh Nutroots |  He's right, you know.  In fact, they count on it.

John Amato at Crooks and Liars:  "This about says it all. " Yes it does.

Olbermann & Tweety Reined In. Greenwald Asks: Why Now?

by Blue Stockings | Tweety & Olbermann won't be covering the election anymore because they are too "incendiary."  Certainly their behavior during the last convention might be called a bit, er, "erratic."

After months of accusations of political bias and simmering animosity between MSNBC and its parent network NBC, the channel decided over the weekend that the NBC News correspondent and MSNBC host David Gregory would anchor news coverage of the coming debates and election night. Mr. Olbermann and Mr. Matthews will remain as analysts during the coverage.  (NYT)

Glenn Greenwald---who I never wish would lighten up because he always turns out to be right---says that this is an instance of the right dictating MSNBC's programming decisions. 

McCain-Palin: Carrying on a Bush-Cheney Tradition

by the Puppet Mistress | Maybe they don't value Palin's "refreshing candor" as much as we were led to believe?  They certainly seem eager to put her back in the box for the foreseeable future. After all:  Republicans. 

Apparently, Sarah Palin is fleeing the lower 48 in order to get out of the way of the press. (Think Progress)  Never mind that we only just met her: "McCain adviser Nicolle Wallace dismissed the fact that Gov. Sarah Palin has yet to take any questions from the press. “So what?” she scoffed."  (Think Progress)

In fact, they are showing a well-nigh Bush-like in-your-face defiance regarding determination to keep her from, um, "talking off-message."  When asked by Joe Scarborough if the campaign can really afford to put their shiny new VP back in storage, McCain strategist Rick Davis answer truly demonstrated that McCain-Palin would be the true spiritual successors of Bush and Cheney:

We can afford anything we want to do. … We’re going to do what we think is in our best interest. If that means access to the press, we’ll give it to you.  (Think Progress)

The Daily Show: Category 5 Shitstorm

Do the Republicans want to be crassly political about Gustav?  Watch them "take off their Republican hats an put on their American hats."

Hillary 'n Sarah: Sisters Under the Pantsuits?

by Blue Stockings | Hillary says that this election is too important to be about the candidates.  She hasn't yet said---though she will---that she and Sarah Palin have at least one thing in common. 

And Jon Stewart, Sam Bee, and Bee's "lady-brain" explain what it is, along with much else of interest:

The Lower 48 Scratch Their Heads and Think, "Palin? The hell? Palin?" More Blogger Commentary

by Damozel | We've already done one blogger round-up of the Palin pick here.  At our sister blog, you can find a short piece on Palin's connection to the oil industry (and the Malkin's ringing endorsement of it). 

Former Bush speechwriter David Frum considers the choice of Palin "irresponsible," given the shrinking Republican voter base and the distrust most Republicans feel for McCain.  But he nicely frames the arguments that Dems will be hammering home (thanks, Dave).

How to Talk to a PUMA (If You Really Gotta)

by Blue Stockings | As Crooks & Liars points out, they were mostly always a media phenomenon.  Interestingly, Chuck Todd actually seems to have cottoned onto this.  Moreover, he points out that the Republicans have their own little problem: angry Paultards. 

When PUMAs start shrieking like maenads prior to tearing Obama to shreds, or tell me they are voting for McCain, I point at them and denounce them in a booming voice.  "YOU ARE NOT A DEMOCRAT.  PLEASE, VOTE FOR McCAIN." McCain's  welcome to them. 

How Many Houses Does McCain Have Again?

H/t TBogg

Hillary: What, She's Not the Evil Scheming Genius MoDo Would Have Had You Believe?

Posted by Teh Nutroots | At our sister blog, Buck Naked Politics,  Deb Cupples saw off Maureen Dowd's Hillary-based fiction about the Democratic convention in fine style yesterday. (Maureen Dowd Talks out of her ... Ear Again ).   Dowd, as we all know, is wicked envious of just about everyone, so her stock-in-trade is undifferentiated mockery from the sidelines   If she told us the sun was shining, we'd assume she meant, er, out of her "ear."

Here at IDLYE, our credo is:  "Maureen Dowd is always wrong."

Joe Gandelman does a reality check today at The Moderate Voice:

If Barack Obama is Your New Bicycle, What are John McCain & Ron Paul?

by the Puppeteer  | I commented the other day on a MoJo interview with Matthew Honan, the creator of Barack Obama is Your New Bicycle.com (and how the site came about).  To see all the ways he cares, click on any link and keep on refreshing. 

• Barack Obama made up your bed

• Barack Obama paid your speeding ticket

• Barack Obama carries a picture of you in his wallet

• Barack Obama saved his dessert for you

• Barack Obama spent the afternoon setting up your router

• Barack Obama thinks you are cute

But what about other candidates?  Honan's site has spawned plenty of imitators.

Jon Stewart: Who Banned Offshore Drilling?

"Remember when we hated this guy?  His presidency seems so cute now."

[When did McCain start saying "nucular"?]

Maureen Dowd Luuuurves Obama: The Saga Continues

by Teh Nutroots | Did I think Damozel (teh Puppet Mistress) doesn't know about hopeless high school crushes? Or that she was wrong about MoDo's? I admit it:  I thought she was just stropping her claws all up MoDo's back.  Dowd apparently has that effect on a lot of women. 

But I was wrong.  MoDo really IS a high school prom queen who can't get the quarterback to get her a second look and who is now sitting on a stool at the malt shop with the other cheerleaders and flag girls in peeking at him over her shoulder while she slags him off to her posse to see "how he takes it."  Now she's jumped on Amy Chozick's proof that Barry O. is "too skinny."  Right, Mo:  we all saw you looking.  And he's still ignoring you.   . 

Memeorandum has the bloggety goodness.  And on this hot Sunday pm, I'm too lazy to do a round-up, so here are my picks: Whiskey Fire,  Taylor Marsh, Sadly, No!, Liberal Values, pandagon.net, Talk Left, and Skippy

Wall Street Journal: Will Real Americans Find Obama Offensively Physically Fit?

by Teh Nutroots | Aw, hell.  I can't let this one go.  Amy Chozick---as Damozel comments, it's kind of hard to believe it is with a straight face---asks, at The Wall Street Journal, is Barack Obama offensively physically fit to the fat American electorate?  Will middle-aged fat gits like Mister Teh Nutroots refuse to vote for someone so distastefully thin from eating elitist [healthy] food like arugula lettuce [which unlike all-American iceberg lettuce supposedly contains some food value] and working out on a regular basis?

'Fox Television Is a Tool'

Teh Nutroots|  Well, this is no surprise.  Here's Think Progress:

'On MSNBC’s Hardball last night, host Chris Matthews asked former White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan if he saw “FOX television as a tool” to get the White House’s “message out” while he was in the Bush administration. “Certainly there were commentators and other, pundits at FOX News, that were useful to the White House,” replied McClellan, adding that they were given “talking points.”'

So...Fox = sock puppet for the Administration?

Can White Men Dance? Oh, Yes, Ms. McArdle. YES WE CAN

Mr. J.Q. Public [So Right It's Wrong] | As the only right-winger posting at this blog, you can imagine that I suffer a great deal of intimidation.  I am almost afraid to write this, as I am afraid that Damozel will accuse me once more of being a 'concern troll' and delete my post forthwith.  Yet the subject is one that is of deep concern to me and, I believe, to most Republican men.

I was very disappointed by this piece, 'White Men Can't Dance', penned by libertarian Megan McArdle in her blog ( 'Assymetrical  'Asymmetrical Information').  She remarks that 'for the last three seasons, the show So You Think You Can Dance has tended to be very, very white by the time it gets down to brass tacks,' as if this were a bad thing.

For centuries, white men---and, I believe, white Republicans especially--- who try to dance have been discriminated against, to such an extent that 'white men can't dance'  has now become, to all intents and purposes, a self-fulfilling prophecy. 

Olbermann: "Authentic McCain" [Bad Jokes Dept]

by Teh Nutroots | How much do women love being raped?  As Damozel commented, he gets a quadruple score on the sick joke scale for this one.

How to Talk to a Conservative (If You Must)

by teh nutroots | This post at This is by Us (by ntrwriter) sets out some pretty trenchant responses to the dumb-ass fake "questions" and concern troll comments of certain very stupid conservatives. (I found it through stumbleupon.) Entitled, "Who Told You These Things?", it begins:

On a crisp September afternoon I sat on bench near a local park.  A man, close to my age, sat near me and took in the sights of the cool day.  We happened into conversation about life, family, and politics. I made the mistake of allowing a stray comment from my lips regarding the war in Iraq.  The man turned to me with a sharp look in his eyes.

"Why don't you support the troops?  Why do you hate our military?  Why can't you just support the President's decisions?"

At that moment, something inside me snapped.  My body began to shake and my vision blurred.  I had heard these questions before, several times, doing my best to forget the ignorance from which they came.  I turned the other cheek when people asked me "Why do you hate America?" or "If it's so bad here, why don't you move somewhere else?"  I let them question my patriotism, call me a traitor, because every one is entitled to their opinion.  I allowed myself to be marginalized and called a left-wing wacko, though I knew the truth.  In the greatest democracy the world has ever known, I let them tell me that if I hadn't killed for my country, then I had no right to speak.  But not anymore.  (More)