Klein has shit for brains if he really believes what he wrote.

Heh. Ezra said “short” and “Lieberman” in the same sentence. C’mon Ezra, you can say “ride”, too.

The point isn’t that “liberal activists ran a primary challenge against Joe Lieberman,” Ezra. The point is that Joe Lieberman is a sore-loser Democrat who LOST that 2006 primary and ran as an independent while the GOP sat out the general. His insurgency was funded by Rove’s rolodex.

Ned Lamont would be a reliable, liberal vote pulling our Senate caucus to the left had Lieberman shown even the tiniest modicum of electoral decency.

What the fuck is in the water there at the WaPo, anyway?

Also totally ignoring the direct and unassailable left-driving impact of the current primary challenge to Spectre.

Does Ezra get paid for this crap? If so, how much?

Wow! You’re so powerful you traveled back in time to September 1998 so as to cause Holy Joe to stab Bill Clinton in the back and keep the GOP’s impeachment drive alive. I’m impressed! (Because of course he would never have been an unprincipled skunk if it wasn’t for you meddling kids!)

This would only make sense if Lieberman was thought to be seeking another term – he’d need mostly Republican votes to win. But folks in CT seem to say he’s not, so how does this make sense?

Somebody needs to send Klein to the local community college for remedial math… If Republicans hadn’t ditched their own nominee to elect the Party of One to represent CT, then the DEMOCRATS would actually HAVE 60 votes (and yes Bernie I am counting you as an honorary Dem for the moment, my apologies for the slight) with Lamont (D-CT).

Is Ezra related to Joke Line?

I was all ready to get riled up about Joke Line.

Actually, it involved time-travel back to 1988, when we liberals forced Lieberman to challenge liberal GOP Senator and Nixon nemesis Lowell Weicker, at the behest of Bill Buckley. RGJoe’s entire Senate career was born on backstabbing for Watergate.

Knowing that Buckley launched Joe into national politics explains a lot.

Yeah I know. It took me a second to get that first name right. This is the kind of crap Joke writes all the time, but Ezra? I mean I know he’s easily rolled by the Village, but sheesh, this is lame even for him.

Plenty of Jane detractors at DKos seem to think the blackface photo Jane put up did Lamont in. They have been having a circle jerk over there the last few houors. Jane is supposed to apologize for lotsa things.

They have been having a circle jerk over there the last few hours” ; well at least they’re good a something.

The lies the sheeple keep telling themselves in order to support their world view is worse than the wingnuts under Bush.

I caused Ned Lamont’s defeat. Anna Eshoo is an honorable woman wronged. Barack Obama is fighting for the public option.

They make the paint ball warriors of LGF circa 2005 look intellectually rigorous.

The point isn’t that “liberal activists ran a primary challenge against Joe Lieberman,” Ezra. The point is that Joe Lieberman is a sore-loser Democrat who LOST that 2006 primary and ran as an independent while the GOP sat out the general. His insurgency was funded by Rove’s rolodex.

Thanks Teddy.
This is more gracious than my wording would have been.

Is it possible that what’s bad for Ho Jo might be bad for the BidnessAsUsual crowd? Could that explain some of the crocodile tears and the endless waving hankies and quavering voices?

Ezra Klein is just some Fred Hyatt wannabe. So Ezra is saying that Lieberman is so vacuous that he can’t even take personal resposnibility for being an insufferable asshole? Sounds about right re Lieberman and Klein.

my only regret is that i didn’t spend MORE weekends in CT.

Ezra Klein is sounding more and more…well…dumb. But he joins a fine tradition of Washington Post weenies. Have you heard Jonathan Capehart on Morning Meeting with Dylan Rattigan on MSNBC? Dylan needs to dump this Washington Post “political reporter”. He has on Ezra too. And Ann Kornbluth.
Let’s do a campaign to get rid of all this conservative cocktail weenies on Dylan’s show. Let’s encourage his use of Mark Ames, Eliot Spitzer,Glen Greenwald, and Nomi Prins.

And I really need to talk to that Hamsher woman.

Get in line: http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/11/3/800063/-Dear-Jane:-Please-Come-Talk

Ezra is deeply Serious. A glorious career awaits.

Geez, PW, get with the program. In 1998, Lieberman knew that the libruls would primary him in 2006. It’s called preemptive war. Surely you’ve heard of that?

The calves are braying in the Great Orange Veal Pen.

The republicks are the ones who elected him the last time. IMO he calls himself independent but is obviously with the pukes to sabotage the democratic agenda.

What’s Rattigan’s email?

I missed kos’s turn to the right. Why did it happen?

Joe campaigned for John McCain. Joe was going to be McCain’s VP he was in the running why and how Sarah who came out of nowhere and got the job is beyond me Nobody was talking her up as a VP who could bring in a Big State that was wavering.
Its one thing to be mad about a Primary challenge its quite another to defect to the other side and give a speech at the GOP Presidential Convention!

It’s all my fault. I spent a couple of weekends in CT working for the insurgency.

Had there been no insurgency, Ho Jo would have remained a sweet angelic force for good.

My bad.

As I understand it, Palin was pimped by the neocons & the religious right, to turn out the base. To this day, my wingnut son luvs him some Sarah Palin.

Don’t know why it happened, but from what I understand kos only leans to the right selectively.

Um, I know it’s a human tendency to project one’s own actions as responsible for outcomes, but perhaps you exaggerate a tad? *g*

I remember, in the back file cabinet of my brain, that kos started out as a R. But don’t count on my memory.

seems like public persons named Klein are cursed with turning into dickheads.

The lies the sheeple keep telling themselves in order to support their world view is worse than the wingnuts under Bush.

The lies will get crazier the more we win can’t you smell the Desperation! :)

I’ll just weigh in here; it’s not that kos, himself, has gone right. Nor have his commenters, of which a lot of them are quite centrist to begin with if you ask me.

But a lot of the commenters are religious in their Obama zeal. I think a lot are relatively new to politics and are just thin skinned since they haven’t had their political hearts broken – yet – as we know always happens.

New kid at the Lake, so forgive me for asking what might seem like a stupid question:

Did Jane and FDL participate in advancing Lamont’s candidacy in the primary for the Democratic nomination in ‘06?

Not so much as a turn to the right as a personality cult.

“Blackfacegate” happened when Clinton went to campaign for Lieberman in the primary. Lamont won the primary.

In Cokie’s memorable phrase, they tore the Democratic Party apart.

Same with the commenters at TPM. I guess we’re just a jaded bunch.

To copy a clever comment from earlier thread (sorry I can’t remember who to attribute):

Breaking: Christie is still fat.

Actually, having a R in charge of a state with bad fiscal challenges is not necessarily a bad outcome. He’ll f it up even worse than Corzine, who I also despise.

Yes

I am sorry for your son. But why choose Sarah nobody had heard of her and I’m sure that there were other GOPers who could rally the wingnuts who came from bigger states with more electoral votes that McCain was shaky in.
Oh wait GOP Race/Gender Math the Dems have an African American the GOP needs a Woman the GOP hates Gender/ Race politics but they assume everyone will vote for their Tribe over Ideas no matter how Uncle Tom their Candidates are to their Tribe.
Sarah was meant to rally the 20%ers and get the Women’s vote. That worked out Great/s

That makes sense. I remember here on book salon when the author of something like “50 ways we can help O” or something to that effect (or on another thread altogether. I’m a senior, so you’ll forgive my lack of memory.) Anyhow, as I remember it, the author said that O was the most librul prez we’d have in our lifetime. I typed that was really sad, because O isn’t librul at all. At that point I had to exit the thread to avoid making an ass out of myself, again.

More precisely, was Jane instrumental in making Lamont’s candidacy possible in the first place?

Not just yes, but yes with gusto. Organized a whole campaign.

Yes every other post was about Holy Joe and Jane was at her funniest:)

No is only up by about 250 votes according to TPM.

Short version: yes

Long version is about 500 posts — Jane instigated/drove much of the blogger support for Lamont. Lots of FDL commenters — including Mass folks RevDeb, selise, I and others got hooked and started going to conn on weekends to help out. Jane moved there temporarily with dogs (R.I.P. Kobe) to set up blogger headquarters. That’s how many of us met Ned Lamont and his family — genuinely decent people.

What really disgusts me about my son’s attraction to Palin, is that he has a REAL powerful, intelligent woman as a model (moi). His attraction to her is one of my biggest disappointments. He clearly can’t distinguish vrai from faux.

That aside, you are right about the complicated, and wrong calculations that the Rs repeatedly make.

didn’t know your son was a wingnut. when did that happen?

Without a Lt Governor, NJ will face a constitutional crisis within a year when Christie is indicted. Mark my words.

Any chance we can get Ned to run again?

Lamont had a low profile candidacy that was pumped up by CT bloggers who were doing some cutting edge stuff. Jane picked up their stuff and then got involved herself—she move to CT with the dogs and all. She brought national netroots attention to the campaign and armies of us from FDL went to CT to help out because she asked us to.

The primary night party was one of the best evah!

Then ‘ho Joe pouted and moaned and decided to go it alone. The rethugs had a nobody candidate and the low info. dem voters stuck with ‘ho Joe along with most of the rethugs. Ergo Ned couldn’t pull it off in the general.

Jane was very instrumental in bringing natl. attention and mojo to Ned’s campaign.

There is something about Christie that reminds me of Haley Barbour….and that’s not good. I think it would be wonderful to have a sitting Repub governor indicted.

Don’t forget The Kiss !

Didn’t they fix that yet? When I left there they were going to create the office of Lt. Gov and had been talking about it ever since Whitman got picked by Bush to sit in a corner at cabinet meetings and lie to the rescue workers at WTC and she got replaced by a Democrat. President of the Senate takes over if it’s still the way it was.

Didn’t want to see Christie win but as a born & bred New Jeresean I do feel a sense of history tonight. Not quite the same as this time last year but still, a sense that this is an historic evening.

At the time, I was much more focused on Tennessee and stopping Bob Corker. Didn’t work out so well for me… Honestly, since I first heard of Firedoglake, I’ve come to realize how active and influential Jane and everyone here has been for quite a while. But I’ve been in Tennessee since summer 2005 and have to admit that I really hadn’t heard of Firedoglake until recently. I’ve never been a big blogger (I jumped on for a little while last year to help Hillary Clinton), but I’m not all that uninformed. Maybe FDL needs more exposure on other media. Run newpaper ads to advocate for particular issues in “red” states and “red” districts within “blue” states maybe?

Never. Had my button out and on when I went to see Ned last week. He was in PA to help Sestak.

my impression re dailykos is that is much more complicated than that. although it may have always been kos’s intention (who knows?), in the beginning, dailykos was pretty radical (comparatively speaking). not even a democratic party associated blog. and many of the original front pagers, for example, billmon and steve gilliard, were much more critical of the dems than markos. been a lot of big changes, too many to put in a small comment. but even now that dailykos is explictly dem, there are so many readers/commenter/diarists that it’s like a bunch of subcommunities with different people reading different authors.

in any event, my impression is that most people making judgements about a big blog like dailykos haven’t actually spent a lot of time reading it to a get realistic picture. more often than not, it appears that a particular post, or group of posts will cause people to riled up without much actual knowledge. but a few posts (at fdl or dailykos) do not usually give much of a picture of a big blog. and sometimes it’s not even that much. more like a kind of tribalism. my 2 cents anyway.

Ned Lamont should have been the denouement 2 years ago…

Just when I thought I couldn’t be more impressed…

She’s getting more exposure now on Rachel’s show than she’s ever had—except for during the Libby trial when all the “experts” came to find out what was really going on from the FDL crew.

How is Sestak doing? I like him.

Knoxville, RevDeb

what’s so wonderful about Clinonistas?

I take it he has never read what you write. Your stuff is good but choosing Sarah the GOP ingroup loyalty thing is the exact thing they fear in race/gender politics incompetents chosen because they are the right race/gender not because of their ideas.
And when Sarah is the best you got your scraping under the Barrel for talent I mean how do you mess up a Katie Couric interview the questions don’t get more SoftBall than that!

Brain Bleach! ARRRH! I’m blind!

Clintonistas = Clinton Supporters?

Oh dear, not sure I can construct a short version. My usual snark is: bad parenting. But all kidding aside, I really don’t know. He attended Pitzer College, which is mindless leftwing, and I think that turned him off. He took most of his classes at Pomona (cross registration open at the Claremont colleges, of which Pitzer is one), was a PPE (politics, philosophy and economics, an Enlightenment construst) major. Somehow he became enamoured with the Chicago school, although Pomona’s econ dept is not oriented that way. I could further elaborate, but that would be boring.

I suspect it’s more about the powerful parent syndrome (not yet in the books, but should be). He did it to separate from me. I could also elaborate on that, but that would be equally boring.

That’s my hypothesis, which could be right or wrong. I can’t talk about it with him, otherwise our thin thread would completely sever.

not naomi klein!

My hope.

Whatever else Joe does in this world, he will have to live with that. :)

indeed.

I first heard of FDL on TRMS, but I think that was before Jane started appearing on the show as frequently as she has in more recent weeks.

Jane and Christy wrote hundreds of posts on Lamont/Lieberman. Here’s one from the archives:

http://firedoglake.com/2006/07/03/breaking-lieberman-announcement-at-1-pm-et/

You wonder if they’ll ever be embarrassed about falling for Eshoo’s PhRMA propaganda, even after Henry Waxman’s statement exposed it as a pack of lies. People are literally dying because they can’t afford these medications. We have video going up tomorrow of a medical student telling the story of a breast cancer patient in the ER whose cancer was literally eating through to her skin because she couldn’t afford the biologic drugs that would’ve treated it. The GOP sucked up Eshoo’s entire amendment in their own health care bill today, the only one they took from the Democrats — that didn’t set off anyone’s warning bells?

It’s tragic that a once vital community can be overwhelmed for DAYS by people who are so easily duped by political operatives and buzz marketers in support of corporatist legislation that will have untold costs in human misery. The underlying issue — patients who have AIDS and cancer and Crohn’s disease and Alzhimers, who will never be able to afford the medications that can save their lives — never gets mentioned. At one point in time, I don’t think that would’ve happened. It’s sad.

People in her district are calling Eshoo’s office and asking her if she’s going to change her language, now that they know it doesn’t do what she said it did. They just get “handled.” Well, at least she knows she’s full of shit.

Makes sense. All these situations are more nuanced than we give credit.

My attraction to FDL is that our “tribe” seems more internally coherent.

Ooops. Maybe I stepped in it.

no, not her. she’s a cutie pie.

Don’t be so sure.

;)

Curious. My oldest will be going away next year and is still a blank slate. hope she doesn’t turn into a wingnut.

Rachel to Jane ‘the opposition takes notes when you are on this show”

You go Jane…we are right behind you

Not that I think this is an argument worth having, but…

What’s so wonderful about Obamabots?

“Yes we can! Yes we can!” Well, maybe if Obama had a record of actually having done anything, you’d have known that he can’t or, more to the point, doesn’t really want to.

“Change you can believe in.” Where’s the f*cking change that we were told to believe in?

Slogans and smooth talk. That’s what you were willing to work so hard for?

I think my feelings about Obama will be one point on which we’ll all just have to agree to disagree.

As for my feelings about Hillary Clinton, I’ll just say that she’s a far superior leader even with her flaws.

Maybe the “klein” rule gets trumped by the “naomi” rule.

I may be wrong, but my impression is that Sestak rhymes with sleaze.

Yep! Me, selise, RevDeb, Scarecrow, and three poodles. And sometimes Siun. We were quite a sight.

Obamabots and clintonistas; – c’est tout?

I’m waaay to the left of both.

Fingers crossed.

I just had dinner with him last Thursday. He seems to recognize that it’s not productive to provoke me with mindlessly stupid wingnut talking points. So that’s progress.

P.S. I’m easily provoked. I know it’s not good but …

The GOP sucked up Eshoo’s entire amendment in their own health care bill today, the only one they took from the Democrats — that didn’t set off anyone’s warning bells?

Was a post about it here. Anyplace else?

I came in during that, but not soon enough to participate. Sounded like great fun.

And on 2010 election..lots of talk in the 6th district about our present Congressman Charlie Wilson who rode in on the coattails of our former Congressman now Governor Strickland and his voting record. Some folks really pissed with his “Yea” vote for H Resolution 867 today (Ros Lehtinen, Berman, Ackerman taking a dump on the Goldstone Report) Several retired college professors both considering running as Independents against Wilson based on his shaky voting record.

We could watch Wilson have a far more difficult time in this region (he has to take this university area, lots of voters to take the district) if an independent gets in the race this could really shake it up for him.

All ready hearing the rumblings of 2010

Joe Sestak is not Ned Lamont. Joe has made some really bad votes and I have been very p*ssed off at him and let him know that. But Snarlin’ Arlen IS another ‘ho Joe. He wins this one and he will be insufferable and beholden to no one.

Had Ned been elected he would have let us down too. Once they are in, the game changes, it’s as if they are injected with something toxic as soon as they walk into their new office.

In PA I think that Sestak is as liberal as we’re going to get. At least he’s pro-choice which Casey ain’t. And don’t tell me that Scrapple is—he did vote for shrub’s SCOTUS boys.

Fair enough! =D

Ding. On Obama. Hillary not so much.

I’ve still got the pictures. Good times.

That pro-choice is why I like him. Other issues not so much.

agreed

I have not gotten that kind of impression at all. Have you listened to what he has to say?

Sestak on Iran
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UPpmHDfrXCA
On Iraq
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7b-UsgeTk74

Fattest elected official from NJ since Grover Cleveland.

Publicly funded elections, money out of politics, – until such time, all legislation will be next to worthless.

Colbert is on fire tonight.

We have video going up tomorrow…

I look forward to seeing it. Thank you so much for everything you do.

People in her district are calling Eshoo’s office and asking her if she’s going to change her language.

You might want to take a look at this diary.

It’s the difference between being party-based and issue-based I think, and there’s always going to be a tension between the two. Parties operate like sports teams, us vs. them, and their job is to get people to invest in personalities. If you look at our comment threads, we’re much more likely to focus on issues irrespective of parties. Which means we’re more likely to be critical of Democrats who suck, something that generally isn’t done in party politics. I cannot in my wildest dreams imagine an 800 comment thread going back and forth about whether we “liked” someone here.

When selise wants to club me over the head, it’s usually for a good reason.

;)

i thought we decided Ezra was not dry behind the ears?

The Claremont Insitute is a very right wing think tank founded, as I understand it, by Leo Strauss himself. Apparently there are lots of ties to the Univ. of Chicago.

Do you think he would consider the idea of a Department of Peace? or for that matter cut the DOD budget by 50%?

I laughed out loud at Jane’s “reservation” remark concerning Ben Nelson.
That will set political correctness back a decade or so.

Jon Walker, here today:

Bipartisanship Lives! Eshoo Amendment Embraced by GOP in “Alternative” Health Bill

Didn’t look at the vidoes (not sharp enough at this hour to take a serious look but will do so when I’m fresher) but my impression about Sestak is that the romance started when the Ds felt under pressure about the militarization of national security. Ditto Wesley Clarke. But those sorts always jump the liberal ship when you need them most. A general observation, no particulars on Sestak.

precisely

and as for orange satan,the commenting is too disjointed for me.

Breast Cancer Woman’s Issue, Sen Franken’s anti Contractor Rape Amendment Woman’s issue. We can run a whole election campaign by bringing this up. Senator Vitter being confronted by a rape victim and going waffle priceless find one of Eshoo’s voters with Breast Cancer not getting help interview her.

I ran across one of me & Valley Girl when I was looking through pictures of Kobe the other day. It was really sweet.

Hey if you have any pics of my boy, would love to have ‘em.

Vitter is better than Eshoo on biologic drugs. He signed on to Brown/Schumer as a cosponsor. So did Susan Collins. No shit.

I haven’t yet heard an honest discussion on National Security Issues by anyone other than Alan Grayson and Dennis. The Clintonistats are all Washington Consesus criminals.

Spot on. I vote D only because it’s the least worse. I am completely issue based. And I’ll add for those who are not familiar with my background, that my profession was a Wall St. economist. In that role, I determined that the worker was the one being screwed and that the Ds were just as culpable as the Rs, at least from Clinton on, but actually quite a bit before. Still true. The Ds don’t give a flying F about workers. So until my analytical evaluation of the issue gets addressed, I’m not for any D who is a corporatist.

Ditto U.S. medical care. The economic structure of the industry is such that any non-government intervention in the so-called market is a loss for ordinary people.

The 23rd is looking damn interesting.

All true. But sometimes, there’s a place for someone to focus on people and if the time is right I try to do that.

Some of the worst criticism of Harry Reid you’ll ever want to see has been (and will be)here.

And speaking of sports (as Howard Cossell’s radio show was called)………… World Series starts again tomorrow so I won’t be around. You guys want to say nice things to me now or wait until after the Yankees win tomorrow.

where do we send ya stuff?

I don’t know if I do. I’ll take a look and if so you know I’ll send them along. My fave was still the one with you and Tageris—which I sent you long ago. Selise may have pics from the house.

Don’t forget Ron Paul on national security. On that subject he’s firmly on our side.

Oh dear, Andrew Sullivan is guest on Colbert.

That’s a classic.

firedoglake AT gmail DOT com!

this is an extremely sorry state of affairs.

I’m a fan at Brown’s facebook page. Can you provide that link again in case anyone’s here now who might’ve missed it last night?

Healthcare Breast Cancer drugs, the KBR rape case Women’s issues if we link everything with a common thread I think come next election we can get our base motivated.

that’s right but the Randian ‘load’ deserves an instant shrug.

Right. Read that. It was great. I had read her response to you and thought it was pretty good and was wonderin’….. Hmmmm…… So glad I read Jon’s post. What a shameless bullshitter that woman is.
But I what I was asking is besides Jon’s post, is that anyplace else? Doubtful.

snailmail(small package)

Isn’t Owens more conservative than Scozzafava? Isn’t Owens opposed to a PO? If so, I think I’d rather have Hoffman win so that the Republicans go even faster off the teabagger cliff.

i was thinking of katymine

That sounds interesting. I don’t think Colbert will give him enough time to get boring.

His “Dear President Bush” letter in the Atlantic last month sucked.

Yeah. I was shocked to read about her.

it is the mossad problem.

healthcare is a right,in any civilized country!

By “issue based” I mean that at any given time, Harry Reid gets evaluated by where he is on something. If he’s good on or bad on issue in a way that deserves praise or criticism, that’s the context for commentary. We don’t decide we “like” or “dislike” him and then fit the narrative around that assessment. Or at least that’s what we aspire to.

Lieberman, by happy coincidence, just sucks on everything so it saves us the trouble of ever having to say anything positive.

good idea,im discouraged today………sigh

Oh, no. Jon read that himself. He sits in the next room all day and just consumes this stuff. He’s a fountain of information that nobody else has. I did get the chance to mention it on Maddow, though.

Holy Joe
Elmer Gantry of the Senate

Here you go!

http://www.facebook.com/sherrod?v=info#/sherrod?v=wall

You hit “just fans” and leave a message. Let him know that he has support for bringing up a better biologics bill in the Senate. It’ll save people’s lives.

You beat me to it… ;-)

http://www.facebook.com/sherrod?v=wall

Grapes of Wrath on TCM
last nite ,was PBS program on the CCC…we are heading there again…..

if only we had an FDR

I guess that is one way of looking at the race. But, I don’t share that view. Palin and Club for Growth are simply too dangerous to give any political momentum to.

Great stuff Jane, thank you.

re: Lieberman’s “poor fundraising.” The folks of CT think we will have no such luck. The MyLeftNutmeg post was simply noodling over figures. Commenters were skeptical. I have been asking and finding I am not the only one seeing crazy Lieberman ads in CT in the morning or evening. He’s spending a lot of money (poor fundraising?) He’s weasled around CT pretending to be a good guy again. Right now it’s pretty unrealistic to expect Lieberman will *not* run in 2012. Some of us will have to grind our teeth and wait till 2012.

if only we were protesting in the streets like the t-baggers!

i went to DC to protest,was robbed in the train station………yup
heres a little BRUCE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QDvvNVs7BRw

No pup pics. I do have some from Pittsburgh I haven’t sent you yet so they will be coming along.

Palin and Armey are far too incompetent to drive that momentum anywhere but off a cliff. My understanding (partly from Rachel Maddow) is that they’re already losing control of the Teabag thing, as the truly crazy among that mob keep pushing harder and louder. I wouldn’t be too unhappy watching the Republican Party implode even more if they to go that way.

With Bloomberg’s win I was about to write – RIP democracy, except we ain’t got one.

best democracy money can buy

or the WORST

now …OF MICE AND MEN

LIEBERMOUSE?

yes, except it’s becoming more in your face with every dollar they steal from working people.

Money out of politics – Jane, please!

Back in the day I used to say similar things about a reactionary washed-up B actor out of California.
The last thing we want is for Palin to get any more political traction.

I am wondering what you call not investigating torture, and criminal activities in our financial system?

Lieberweasel always was a skunk. Just like so many others in the Senate, but people in all their States kept re-electing them, causing the hord of skunks we have there today.

a bipartisan effrontery.

A criminal is a criminal is a criminal. Or they are aiding and abetting criminals, which also makes them criminals.

skunk,mouse…hybrid
the animals are far more noble than LieberpondSCUM

good nite all
{{{{katymine}}}}

Palin was a governor who resigned before the end of her first term. She has no intension of ever running for political office again. I’m hoping the term ConservaCelebrity catches on, as she’s obviously decided just to cash in on her celebrity while never having a position of real responsibility again. She knows that she needs to have buzz about running again surround her, but she also knows that she has no support beyond the fringe fanatics. As Steve Schmidt put it a month ago, a Palin run would be “catastrophic.” Her relevance going forward will be more similar to that of Beck and Limbaugh, and even that I’m just waiting for her to f up. There’s no one in her inner circle who is seriously thinking about her becoming a candidate, only about how to use the buzz about her becoming a candidate to rake in more money.

Well, you could be correct. But, I always like straight forward strategies premised on winning by winning as opposed to complicated theories based on winning by losing.

The other good thing about Owens’ win is it destroys the GOP narrative of this evening being an insurrection against Obama and his overly “liberal”
agenda.

Oh, and Ezra ? fuck that bitch

I knew when Jane first publicly called him out he wouldn’t let it go –

If they fall short, it’s likely to be because liberal activists ran a primary challenge against Joe Lieberman.

fuck you, you little bitch, you’ve had that shit on your little pursed lips for months

btw meat, when I saw Scarecrow’s headline, I assumed it was Joe Klein, due to the dumbassery and all

tragic

Here’s my cynical “shorter Ezra Klein”:

I earn credibility with the (decaying, regressive) Washington media establishment by attacking the left and portraying myself as the centrist voice of sanity. (I also get bonus points for unwarranted defense of The Poor Much-Maligned Elder Statesmen Lieberman. If only I could have found a way to work in some McCain-fawning it would be a trifecta!) Watch me earn points with the kids at the cool table! I am young and photogenic and some day I can be The New Broder or The New Brooks or The New Someone! *Swoon*

Are those points like frequent flyer miles, can you cash them in?

To put it another way: If Palin were to be the Republican presidential nominee, she would have a hard time running to the middle after securing the nomination. I just don’t see how she could win enough of the vote in a general election, while I do see so many ways that she could be defeated by Barack Obama, who would be her competition in 2012. He’d run circles around her.

So, Owens has won? He’s going to be a Blue Dog type. Too bad.

I just want to Thank Jane Again and Again and Again.

Progressives absolutely need a leader at this time in history and you are picking up the slack big time.

Thanks for calling out the Democratic Party’s weakness and putting a strong and beautiful face on the progressive movement.

You Rock !

worse, – the win(congressional seat) will be ascribed to Rahm’s genius.

Elizabeth Warren for Prez.

A nice feature of the internet is that it is faceless. And to advocate through this medium requires that arguments be coherent and factual for them to be persuasive. This works nicely against the cult of personality.

Perhaps that is why blogs have gained such influence in determining the outcome of issues. It lends itself more to substance than personality and emotion.

As opposed to TV which lends itself much more to emotional appeal, especially since that arguments there are so truncated and usually go unrebutted.

I don’t think though that persoanlity can be overlooked since the advocate must also have some acceptance among the voting public and be articulate. Nor do I think that it is a good strategy to refrain from voting for the lesser of two evils. For instance Obama is certainly a monumental disaster in my opinion but still preferable to McCain. For me the calculus should ultimately be to try to accomplish the greater even if only incremental good.

all fine and well except when the trajectory is in the same direction as that of the ‘greater evil’, although not as steep, in which case all you get is arrival at the same place only at a later point in time.

Trouble Ahead: Can the Right Seize the Banking Reform Issue in 2010?
Eliot Spitzer explains how the White House defense of the status quo will give Republicans powerful ammunition in the 2010 elections.

http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2009/11/trouble-ahead-can-the-right-seize-the-banking-reform-issue-in-2010.html

Not necessarily.
There probably is no such thing as certainty in politics. Straight-line political projections are almost always unreliable.

the trajectory can be plotted and it’s all away and down from FDR. The wealth disparity alone gives us a good insight into the direction of ‘injustice’. The frog will expire no matter what, in which case it’s best to wake up and stop applauding. Issues not Party!

All the way down from FDR? What are you talking about? That is nonsense.

This nation has made significant progress in becoming a more just nation since FDR.

Regarding the strategy of opting for the best available option my point is that if you refrain you will cede the ground to some very potentially dangerous people. Which is not just hypothetical but is actually the case now. Sometimes the gap between the two evils can be pretty substantial.

One example among many, now the right wants to stop government infusion of capital into the economy to fuel demand, with potential economic havoc. And Obama does so but in the process gives public money away.

It is certainly possible that if any ground is ceded to the right by refraining to vote out of disgruntlement or protest the immediate consequences can be devastating. Bush is the perfect case in point.

Advocacy of course never stops.

I am not talking about social issues. But, we are losing the middle – class, and with that education, jobs, environment, etc.

Sorry to have used a broad brush.

I am obviously not talking about social issues. But, we are losing the middle – class, and with that education, jobs, environment, etc.

No problem. I have enjoyed the discussion tonight.

you are ceding the ground to the self same people – that is my point. This government is owned by Wall Street and MN Corporations. What gives you assurance that Obama will not instigate a nuclear event in the AFPAK / Iran region? Where are the differences really? Torture?, Secrecy?, Lobbyists? – where?

Just to focus on the options that are before you in two scenarios. The first is an election where you have two options to choose among likely to win contenders or a protest unlikely to win contender, or not to vote. I maintain that the rational thing to do is not to refrain and to vote for the likely contender with whom you agrre with the most.

The other scenario is simply to advocate for issues you believe are of benefit to you and the public at large after the elections are completed. Here you advocate with all your might for the people that can best further your issue.

But in neither case do you ever refrain from voting or advocating. I just don’t agree with people who engage in futile protest voting or abstaining to vote as if made any sense.

I think we may be quibbling a bit since I’m sure we both agree on which direction the country needs to go. I generally don’t like slogans though.

At that point I had to exit the thread to avoid making an ass out of myself, again.

I stayed on the thread and made an ass of myself in your honor.

I frankly couldn’t believe those fools ["50 Ways to Help Obama Save America"] were allowed to pimp their vacuous book here on FDL.

It was like being lectured to by 22 year olds, fresh off the Serious Conversations [and solutions to all the world's problems] they’d been perfecting in their dorm rooms for years.

When selise wants to club me over the head, it’s usually for a good reason.

I’ve bookmarked this one for future emergency use.

So Joe Lieberman became a shit just because we called him one?

Quick, somebody please call me a millionaire.

Oh goodie, three years later and a fresh round of people jerking themselves into a frenzy over ‘what it means’ and denying same when it is explained to them…and now with the added revisionist frisson of blaming a picture for an electoral loss.

Count me the f*ck out.

;>)

Doncha know? McCain picked Palin because she had a vagina. He figured EVERY woman in America would then blindly vote for him.

The David Broder of the 21st century.

me too. *g*

that was very sweet of jane to say. thanks jane!

just want to add kathryn of MA’s name to this thread as she was one of the four MA irregulars, along with scarecrow, revdeb and i, who together volunteered for the lamont campaigns (primary and general) in 2006.

and she has the greatest pictures from our trips to CT!

will see if i can dig them out to look….

Yep, Katherine too. Didn’t mean to leave her out.