Mean Girls

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NewsBusters (wingnut warning):

Comedienne Sandra Bernhard called Bristol Palin a hooker on Wednesday’s “The Joy Behar Show.”

Transcript:

BEHAR: So, Sandra, were you ready to shoot the TV last night?

SANDRA BERNHARD, COMEDIAN: I twittered for the entire two hours. My eyeballs were falling out of my head. I said, first of all, I said, Cander and Ebb would not allow this.

(LAUGHTER)

BERNHARD: You cannot be part of the Palin legacy and dance to Cander and Ebb in a cage.

BEHAR: Yes.

BERNHARD: I mean, Bob Fosse, he turned over in his grave.

BEHAR: I know. What about Fred Astair and Ginger Rogers? They`re dead, you know. They died last night.

BERNHARD: Yes. They died and came back and died for the third time.

BEHAR: What`s her name, Bristol on today`s “View” said something like —

BERNHARD: How did she do it? How did she get to New York to do the “View”?

BEHAR: I don`t know.

REBECCA DANA, SENIOR CORRESPONDENT, THE DAILY BEAST: They have their own plane, these people.

BERNHARD: She`s such a hooker. She got on a flight after losing last night.

She also said Bristol wore “hooker shoes.” What I want to know is who the hell called Bernhard a comedienne?

Strangely enough, the prog blogs that were all over Sarah’s North/South Korea slip of the tongue are silent on this story.

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Funky Friday Fugue State

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Matt Yglesias thinks we need a Reality Check:

Something I find incredibly puzzling is the strange determination many progressive have to diagnose what the “problem” is with Democrats that makes them so “bad” at electoral politics. They actually seem to me to be fine. Look at the 30 year span from 1980 to 2010. The Democratic candidate won the popular vote in 1992, 1996, 2000, and 2008 (4 times) whereas the Republican candidate won in 1980, 1984, 1988, and 2004. It’s true that in the real world the poor ballot design in Palm Beach County, the Supreme Court, and the Electoral College put George W Bush in the White House but none of that is the fault of Democratic Party messaging tactics.

Democrats controlled the House for 18 out of those 30 years, and controlled the Senate for 14 out of 30 years. In the new year, they’ll control two out of the three branches of government. None of that sounds to me like a political party that’s having trouble persuading people to vote for it.

Check it out, Bill Clinton is a Democrat again! Okay, to be fair I’ve never seen MattY accuse the Big Dawg of being a DINOcrat Republican but plenty of his Creative Class pals do it all the time. I wish they would be consistent with their memes.

MattY’s numbers are kinda tricky though, since Bill won in 1992 and 1996 with pluralities and Gore “lost” electorally in 2000 with a popular vote majority thanks to Jeb Bush and 5 SCOTUS (in)justices. His definition of “winning” is fairly narrow, confining it to the outcome of elections and not having anything to do with accomplishments in terms of policy and legislation.

Kevin Drum:

True! But here’s another lens to look through, one that I’ve mentioned before. It’s liberal-centric rather than Democrat-centric.

Over the past century, American liberalism has mostly progressed in three very short, sharp spurts.

[…]

But the last one of these spurts ended 40 years ago, and the Obama Era, such as it was, lasted a mere 18 months. That’s despite the fact that Democrats had big majorities in both the House and Senate, George Bush had seemingly degraded the Republican brand almost beyond salvaging, and conservative policies had produced an epic financial collapse that should have provided a tremendous tailwind for substantial progressive reform. And yet: 18 months. That was it.

So yes: Democrats have done OK over the past few decades. And it’s fair to say that conservatism has made only modest strides during that period. Triumphalist right-wing rhetoric to the contrary, America obviously doesn’t have any burning desire to turn back the clock to the 1950s. But actual, substantial liberal progress? We haven’t seen so much of that, and after 18 months of modest achievements we’re obviously not going to get any more for quite a while.

So what happened?

Awww, so close but no cigar.

Does Kevin really not know what happened or is he just not allowed to say it? At least he isn’t trying to convince us that Obama had the most awesomest first two years of any POTUS ever.

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You-know-who did another Facebook fireside chat in response to the latest ginned-up PDS fauxrage:

A Thanksgiving Message to All 57 States

My fellow Americans in all 57 states, the time has changed for come. With our country founded more than 20 centuries ago, we have much to celebrate – from the FBI’s 100 days to the reforms that bring greater inefficiencies to our health care system. We know that countries like Europe are willing to stand with us in our fight to halt the rise of privacy, and Israel is a strong friend of Israel’s. And let’s face it, everybody knows that it makes no sense that you send a kid to the emergency room for a treatable illness like asthma and they end up taking up a hospital bed. It costs, when, if you, they just gave, you gave them treatment early, and they got some treatment, and ah, a breathalyzer, or an inhalator. I mean, not a breathalyzer, ah, I don’t know what the term is in Austrian for that…

Of course, the paragraph above is based on a series of misstatements and verbal gaffes made by Barack Obama (I didn’t have enough time to do one for Joe Biden). YouTube links are provided just in case you doubt the accuracy of these all too human slips-of-the-tongue. If you can’t remember hearing about them, that’s because for the most part the media didn’t consider them newsworthy. I have no complaint about that. Everybody makes the occasional verbal gaffe – even news anchors.

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That’s it for now, yesterday was a quiet news day but I’m sure there will be more stuff to talk about later so keep checking back.

My big project for today is putting up my Festivus lights outside. What will you be doing?

Have a great Friday!

ONLY 27 MORE SHOPPING DAYS LEFT UNTIL FESTIVUS!

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Pre-Black Friday Open Thread

Shop 'til you drop!

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The remains of the turkey are in the fridge, the relatives have gone home, and now it’s time to get ready for the biggest shopping day of the year.

Harrah’s Sports Book puts tomorrow’s over/under at 5 dead* – trampled, crushed, shot by other bargain hunters or heart attacks caused by fighting over sales merchandise.

What will you be doing tomorrow? Will you be in the mosh pit fighting for great deals or will you sleep in? If you’re going shopping where are you going and what are you looking to buy?

This is an open thread.

(*Not really)

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I agree with . . . Booman?

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David Broder, Village Idiot and High Priest of Bipartisanship, thinks that Princess Lisa’s successful write-in campaign for reelection means that Americans want more (surprise) bipartisanship.

To which Booman replies:

I should have known that the historic, successful write-in campaign of Sen. Lisa Murkowski would revive David Broder’s tender parts. I should have seen that coming from a mile away, and stayed clear. I think the Alaskan people sent a clear message, and that message was that the electorate of the state as a whole is quite a bit different from the subset of registered Republicans. But to take the unique circumstances of the Alaskan senatorial election and try to make “bipartisan cooperation” the “real meaning of this month’s midterm elections,” is delusional. There are two “real meanings.” One is an estimation of what the electorate wanted, and the other is the consequence of the electorate’s actions. On the latter point, the real meaning of the midterm elections is the exact opposite of what Broder claims. As to the former, the electorate isn’t a person and it doesn’t have an opinion. If most people went to the polls hoping for more bipartisan cooperation, then they are simply going to be disappointed. They are going to get the opposite of that, and get it on steroids.

Back in 2006, when the Democrats were kicking ass and taking names all around the country, Democrat Ned Lamont was defeated by “Independent Democrat” Holy Joe Lieberman. What did that prove about the electorate that year?

Nothing.

If the reelection campaigns of Lieberman and Murkowski after losing their respective party primaries proved anything it was about the power of incumbency and the lengths some politicians will go to to cling to power.

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It’s a Wonderful Life

It just wouldn’t be the holidays without watching this classic story of New Deal idealism.

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Make the jump to see the rest:

I’m Thankful

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Believe it or not, even petulant clowns can be thankful for a few things.

I’m thankful for three great kids and three really great grandkids (with more still to come I hope.) Despite my obvious failings as a parent my kids all turned out okay.

I’m thankful I live in the United States of America, which despite it’s numerous faults (past and present) is still the greatest nation on Earth.

I’m thankful for those amateur revolutionaries and political philosophers who created a political system based on principles of democracy and defined freedoms.

I’m thankful for the public school system, which helped me advance beyond my humble beginnings. That includes the free K-12 education I received, as well the low-cost community college and California State University systems. It also includes the student grants and loans I received.

I’m thankful for the 2010 San Francisco Giants, who finally repaid all my years of loyalty with a world championship. I’m thankful that the Raiders decided not to suck again this year.

I’m thankful for beer, bacon and Popeye’s fried chicken. I’m thankful for the blogosphere and to Riverdaughter for providing me a platform from which to inflict my opinions on dozens of other people the world.

I’m thankful to Bill and Hillary Clinton for all the things they had done for us.

Last but not least, I’m thankful for all of you.

Happy Thanksgiving!

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T-day News: Stand By…

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Hey, there, sports fans, I’m in Harrisburg today for Thanksgiving with the fam.  I have to head out in a sec to see if I can scrounge up some last minute stuffing ingredients.  (bread cubes, sage sausage, apples, walnuts, celery, onions, chicken broth, egg and yes, I stuff the bird.  Deal with it, germophobes).  There’s a 22 lb fresh turkey waiting in the walk in fridge, aka The Garage.  This year, we’re going to try a countertop roasting device type thingy.  Never tried this before but my mom says I can’t use the oven because other people have to cook.  (???)  Hokay, whatever.

Anyway, I haven’t had a lot of time to gather news yesterday and today, what with packing and driving and shooting the breeze with the aunts and cousins and stuff.  So, this will be brief.  Make of it what you will.

For those readers who are still clinging to the idea that “Hillary wouldn’t have been any better”, check out Anglachel’s post on To the Right of Lincoln.  Lincoln, in this case, refers to Blanche Lincoln.  Anglachel dissects Obama’s tendency towards right wing policies.  Very convincing.  As for Hillary, she’s a tireless, dedicated public servant who the world admires, she’s doing a laudable job running the state department, gay state department employees and their families are serving with dignity, respect and equality, and she’s been a passionate defender of reproductive rights.  Sooooo, you Obama apologists are probably wrong.  She would have been MUCH better than Obama.

Matt Yglesias’ prescription for Obama’s next two years?  Do nothing and make Congress look bad.  Yep, even the guys that are on your side.  To do otherwise would be “politically toxic”.

Something slightly distinctive from these ideas that I would emphasize are the President’s myriad opportunities to not do anything. Scott Brown and Ron Wyden have an interesting idea about state waivers under the Affordable Care Act, and I think it’d be brilliant of the White House to do . . . absolutely nothing about this. Let Senator Brown try to build Republican support for it. Maybe he’ll succeed, maybe he’ll fail, maybe it’ll be an interesting intra-caucus fight, maybe nobody will care. Either way, the President will be doing something else and it’s someone else who’ll be associated with the legislative sausage making or the failure of the sausage to get made. Similarly, Senators Coburn and DeMint seem to be interested in provoking a fight over ethanol subsidies. The White House should . . . ignore this. With luck, they’ll succeed. Without luck, they’ll fail. But either way, the President shouldn’t get sucked into a political debate for or against ethanol subsidies.

The important thing is to understand that even though a certain number of Washington DC political professionals regard it warmly, the United States Congress is a widely (and in my view, appropriately) despised institution. The only way to get an ambitious legislative agenda passed is for the President to deeply engage with Congress, but deeply engaging with Congress is politically toxic. With John Boehner as Speaker of the House, no “ambitious legislative agenda” is ever going to pass so the White House should simply check out. Tell reporters to ask members of congress the questions about congress. Keep busy doing other stuff. Give wannabe congressional dealmakers space to make deals. Let congressional jerks go be jerks. If something terrible passes, veto it. Don’t negotiate. If you don’t want rich people’s taxes cut, don’t sign a bill that cuts don’t. Don’t hold meetings. Then go back to working on all the stuff in CAP’s report.

{{pause to let that sink in}}

Why can’t I get paid to write stupid things in The Atlantic?

So, let me get this straight: you’ve just lost your majorities because your policies are lame, the House is now run by a bunch of predators posing as hysterical drama queens who can’t WAIT to get their bloody hands on social security, 10% of your citizens are still unemployed and burning through their 401Ks to stay afloat and the advice you are given is to sit on your hands until 2012 because this is the best way to ensure your own re-election.  Do not attempt to champion policies that the public might like even if you may not eventually win the day.  Run against your own people.  This will look good to the voting public.

Because the voting public consists solely of people like Matt Yglesias??  Fine by me.  Obama doesn’t deserve a second term and this seems like the best way to ensure that doesn’t happen.

Ok, I really have to go stuff the bird now.  They’ll be all over my case if it’s not cooking by 10.  Slave drivers.

Leave some links in the comments.  I’ll check back later.

Don’t eat too much.  (Yeah, who am I fooling?)

Mr. Obvious – The Turkey

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This is an open thread

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Both Ways Barracuda

From Sarah Barracuda’s book, as quoted by Politico:

Remember Hillary Clinton’s famous rant, when her husband was running for president, that she wasn’t, in her words, ‘some little woman standing by my man like Tammy Wynette’? Hillary is someone I like and admire personally in many ways, but she came across then as someone frozen in an attitude of 1960s-era bra-burning militancy. … Well, Hillary (many of us wanted to say at the time), some of us like to bake cookies. … It surprises some people to hear that I consider myself a feminist. I believe both women and men have God-given rights that haven’t always been honored by our country’s politicians. … I also consider myself a grateful beneficiary of the movement for female equality, particularly Title IX … So I proudly call myself a conservative feminist.

Palin barely appears anywhere without commenting on the media taking unfair shots at her and twisting her words–yet Palin has been doing that to Hillary from the start, playing on media soundbytes and caricatures of Hillary and twisting Hillary’s words for no reason, when both Hillary and Bill have only ever been gracious and respectful of her voice having a place at the table, when asked to comment on Sarah Palin publicly.

Palin continues to try to have it both ways, acting as if what she is doing is anything different than what she had remarked about with her “perceived whine” commentary about Hillary. On the one hand, Palin acts as if she welcomes the scrutiny since she herself signed up for it. On the other hand, Palin spends considerable time whining about mentioning the kind of treatment she gets from what she and other conservatives call the “lamestream” media.

Palin seems to want to prove herself to be the tough Mama Grizzly who can handle the scrutiny in a way that avoids being perceived as whining–except she hasn’t really done that.

Palin resigned her governorship and has been playing social butterfly ever since, using facebook, twitter, TLC, and Fox News spots while eschewing the national media scrutiny that Hillary has not only taken on, head on, for every day of the last two decades essentially, but has come out all the stronger for doing so.

Why did Sarah Palin have to bring up the ancient history of the Tammy Wynette, tea, and cookies? Who ghostwrote Palin’s book? Dick Morris?

Worse, Palin furthered the inaccurate soundbyte distortion of what Hillary really said.

Hillary’s actual remarks in context were as follows:

I suppose I could have stayed home and baked cookies and had teas, but what I decided to do was fulfill my profession, which I entered before my husband was in public life. I’m a big believer in women making the choices that are right for them. The work that I have done as a professional, as a public advocate, has been aimed at trying to assure that women can make the choices they should make.

–HRC, tea and cookie in its full glory

Hillary is a stateswoman who is out of domestic politics but continues to blaze trails. I have no doubt she will also continue to be classy and not waste one iota of energy over Sarah Palin. Much bigger fish to fry.

But, I’m not Hillary so I can say it for her.

The jury is still out on what Palin’s legacy will be. She could make a go for the GOP nomination in 2012 and make history — or she could just as easily become nothing more than a trivial pursuit question.

Either way– if Both-Ways Sarah Barracuda continues to swim with the Hillary-hating media fishes and legitimize false narratives about Hillary and her supporters, all to prove some tribalist garbage about conservative women being “less militant,” more “feminine,” yet “tougher,” then as far as I am concerned the Barracudas can fend for themselves without my help:

TOM DELAY CONVICTED

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Houston Chronicle:

After almost 19 hours of deliberations, a Travis County jury today convicted former U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay on felony charges of political money laundering.

DeLay faces two to 20 years in prison on a conspiracy charge and five to 99 years or life on a money laundering charge. DeLay remains free on bail, with sentencing tentatively set for Dec. 20.

DeLay and his family did not react when the verdict was read. But after the court was dismissed, DeLay received a hug and a kiss from his wife. Then, his adult daughter, Dani, buried her face into DeLay’s shoulder and began sobbing. DeLay’s face turned red as he fought back tears.

DeLay’s defense lawyer, Dick DeGuerin, who has claimed no money laundering actually occurred, decried the verdict.

“This is a terrible miscarriage of justice,” DeGuerin said. “We will appeal. I’m very, very disappointed. This will never stand up on appeal.”

DeLay, as he has from the beginning, said the case was all politics, but said his religious faith is getting him through.

“I’m not going to blame anyone,” he said. “This is an abuse of power. It’s a miscarriage of justice. And I still maintain that I am innocent. The criminalization of politics undermines our system.”

Lead prosecutor Gary Cobb said the jury acted without a political agenda and made a decision based on the facts.

“We thought the citizens of Travis County would see this case for what it was, a corrupt politician who was caught violating the laws of the state,” Cobb said.

The case against DeLay originally was brought in 2005 by then-District Attorney Ronnie Earle. DeLay claimed Earle was conducting a Democratic political vendetta.

Tom “The Hammer” Delay was a lieutenant of Newt Gingrinch and helped start the “K Street Project” which was an effort to pressure lobbying firms to only hire Republicans and only donate to Republican candidates and causes.

May he rot in prison.

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UPDATE:

Tom Delay’s Wikipedia page is here.

More information from the New York Times here.

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