Trophy Veep


Looks like I'm not the first to think that but in fact am pretty slow in getting to the party...

More seriously, here's an "Alaskan's perspective on Palin" that seems to be getting linked to quite a bit...which means maybe you've seen it, but I certainly found it worth reading.

And You'll Pay Lower Taxes as Well


In addition to being the most inspiring orator of my generation, Barack Obama has a tax plan that will save you more than mere chump change. Take a look.

h/t Dependable Renegade.

Rove: But What About MY Pain?

Karl ponders cruel fate.

Morse reminded me that Karl Rove showed yesterday exactly why he'd own at least a share of the title if there was a champions belt for Heavyweight Asshole:

"The Republicans can’t seem to catch a break when it comes to August and when it comes to the weather."

Yeah, them storm and flood victims sure are selfish, aren't they? Expecting the government to do its job and protect the American people and all that other stuff.

Fourth and Long


Captain McCain realizes that he could try a new invention known as the "forward pass."

Birthday Boy


I'll post later on his maverickiness VP selection (short version: I think we all recognize a "fourth and long" situation when we see it), but let's all remember August 29th...whether it be because we want to wish John Sidney Vicious McCain a happy 72nd, or whether we've got other things on our mind. Oh, and I appreciate Pravda-Upon-Hudson noting this, although I wish they'd maybe focused on it three years ago when Team Bush was working overtime on victim-blaming:

It is one of the myths of Katrina that the citizens were caught unprepared and unheedful. In fact, with tiny notice -- barely a day -- the vast majority proceeded to an orderly evacuation after stern official warnings, filling the highways out of town, but getting out safely.

The evacuation of New Orleans in 2005 was unprecedented, and to this day has not been equaled. And let's hope things stay that way for now.

Peace for Our Time


Well, that was easy enough...all we need is a convenient aircraft carrier for the announcement.

1963: Republicans Gleefully Mock "Temple of MLK, Jr."

The Uppity presumptuous negro civil rights leader.

Link.

More GOP "class."

In contrast, McCain's being treated with far more respect than he deserves...

Q: How Do You Know When a Wingnut Pundit is Lying?


A: They open their mouth and begin to speak.

Edroso is describing BoBo; the one I've been hearing, sort of, is Pat Buchanan (I've been trying to do something productive particularly during spin-zone time)--I keep hearing words to the effect that "nothing dramatic" or "radical" has occurred...usually with an underlying "tsk, tsk," as if this somehow cheapens the convention.

Bullshit. First, lets note the obvious: the Democratic National Convention nominated an African-American candidate for president. That's PLENTY dramatic enough. Second, I can guarantee that if something the 'nuts consider "dramatic" or "radical" HAD occurred, the'd have been spinning like Battling Top while insisting such a thing "proved" incompatibility with "Middle America" or equivalent nonsense.

Hell, I still believe that one of McCain's original slime-drips, namely, the Britney-Paris ad, was a none too subtle way of saying, "Hey, if you can't trust him with your daughter, how can you trust him with your country?" With that as an opening, I won't be surprised by ANY wingnut tactic, including lame attempts at jujitsu/rope-a-dope.

Emphasis on "lame."

Say What You Want, But the Guy's Still Got It


I'm one of those who consistently underestimates B.C.--probably due to a mix and match of frustration over all the DLC/triangulation stuff and the fact that, in my mind, he's still a Southern politician...sort of a classier or at least worldlier Edwin Edwards.

Watching him last night, though, reminded me that, despite the incessant shrieking from the wingnut howler monkeys during his tenure, the guy was--and is--a statesman if not an outright star...one eminently qualified to hold the title "Leader of the Free World" in a way that George W. Bush is eminently and uniquely UNqualified.

Bush will never shake the fact that, deep down, he's got the mental processes of an ten year old with A.D.D., while Dick. Cheney. is, pure and simple, a geriatric sadist. In contrast, Bill Clinton was a president.

He knows it. We know it. Wingnuts know it--hell, that's why they went after him like they did...and, thanks to inevitable tragic flaws ALL people possess, they were able to almost wipe him out, politically speaking. But they couldn't, and they didn't, and the fact is that, while I'll never be real happy with his DLC-style policies, his legacy vis-a-vis the Bush administration will be that of a giant versus a midget.

If you don't believe me, watch next week as the Grand Old Party does their best to photoshop George W. Bush from the Twin Cities' stage.

Guest Post Facto

Am continuing to feel privileged to put in a guest post at First Draft on Thursdays; otherwise, back after lunch over here.

God's Gift to Da Ladies

The Arizona delegation casts its votes for Miss Buffalo Chip

When it comes to women, John McCain is all class.

Glenn Beck: Too Stupid for Words


You get the impression that someone has to remind him to breathe.

I'm Not Religious, But...


...if you are, and if you believe in the power of talismans or other artifacts and objects, I won't object if you employ them to whatever good effect you believe might come of their use in countering Gustav. And I'm not being glib.

On the flip side, I also agree strongly with Scout Prime--Hurricane Katrina, the federal flood--as well as Hurricane Rita, and the horror of the 2005 storm season--needs no reminders. And while I can understand why Will Bunch and others are eager to see not merely a Rethuglican defeat in November, but an thorough repudiation Bush-Cheney-Rove'ism's odious stench...believe me, the last thing the Gulf Coast needs is another major storm. Not to pile on, but Bunch et al's remarks reminded me of another odious stench, one emanating from McCain advisor Charlie Black earlier this summer, to the effect that what this country needed to kick start the Rethuglican electoral season/six month hate was another 9/11.

Maybe it's just me, but I think we've had quite enough dehumanizing over the generation or so of wingnut ascendence, culminating with Team Bush's ugly wars abroad and their callous dismissal of our fellow citizens here at home. You know, 9/11 wasn't "New York's problem," and I certainly hope Americans don't dismiss storms or levee failures as "Gulf Coasters' problems."

We're still one country...aren't we?

Our Lives, Our Money...Mao's Oil

It is glorious and honorable to reap the benefit of Shrub and Dick's blunder.

From Rising Hegemon...while wingers froth about non-existent Cuban Chinese offshore oil platforms in the Gulf of Mexico, the Chinese themselves are signing contracts for Iraqi production.

Oh, and eventually we'll be paying for the oil itself, given that China is a major creditor the United States, having financed the disasters in the Mesopotamian desert and Afghan highlands.

Hope you enjoyed your wars, America...

Junior Varsity Tryouts


Mitt'll be soooo disappointed if he doesn't make the team...

C'mon, Joe. Them Elephant Stalls Ain't Gonna Muck Themselves


Supposedly everyone at some point gets the job they deserve...with Scarborough, it's shoveling elephant shit.

Technical Difficulties

Sorry for the slow post day, but something major here at work demanded my time. I think/hope like hell it's fully resolved now.

And now back to regularly scheduled programming.

Oh, And In Case You Didn't Know


John McCain was a POW--but he doesn't like to talk about it.

Running the Numbers


Bill Quigley chronicles the pain index in New Orleans.

And thanks again to all of people who organized the Rising Tide Conference. They're helping remake the city despite being literally abandoned by the United States.

New Orleans, interestingly and paradoxically, is both as foreign as you can get and still be in the US while simultaneously being perhaps THE most American of cities. New York might be the showcase, DC, at least in public appearance, is a somewhat overly neo-classicist seat of government (and, alas, a major slum), but New Orleans is America in all its glory and fury, celebration and frustration, freedom and dysfunctionality.

In an email I sent to Mark at LeveesNotWar.org I noted, as I'm sure others have, the irony within the tragedy: it took New Orleans, of all places, to sober up a number of American who previously had been intoxicated by the Cheney-Bush-Rove penchant for putting politics above all else.

Believe me, that's NOT a trade I or anyone else I know would have wanted, but you can't go backwards in time.

Anyway, again, thanks, I had a great time, and look forward to Rising Tide IV...and here's hoping one of these days before I'm REALLY an old man there will be decent and reliable alternative transportation between NOLA and Red Stick (I tell folks it's not the distance but the traffic that keeps me from going that way far more often.), i.e., a train.

IOKTTTLRIYWAPOWFYA

Tricky McDick

It's OK to take the low road if you were a POW forty years ago.

And, what a coincidence: I mentioned Don Segretti in an email to a friend just this morning. For the record, I was telling my friend that professional rat fuckers like him used slither along out of the spotlight, but these days tend to occupy high positions within the Rethuglican party apparatus...or work as consultants for Fox News.

Cause They'll Party Like It's 1899


It must be the exception that proves the rule--for once, I agree with William Kristol: McCain-Lieberman '08. Oh please oh please oh please. A horse-less carriage in every barn...

Blaming the Victims...Again

Paper Dolls Bush/Cheney New Orleans Levees Design

I came across this story last night after returning from the Rising Tide conference (once again, what a fantastic job by the organizers)...anyway, the headline's about as insulting as it gets...and as wrong as it gets, as the accompanying article makes evident. Makes you wonder if AP/Associated Press is wrong. Maybe it should be IP, for Idiot Press.

Here's the headline: New Orleans repeating deadly levee blunders.

Um, let's start with a called out "Bullshit" right there: it's NOT New Orleans that's rebuilding levees that failed due to faulty design (as anyone attending Rising Tide III or who has done basic research can tell you). It's the Cheney/Bush administration, and the work, let's hope, will continue and hopefully be completed during the next administration (preferably WITHOUT paper levees--good heavens)...

The article itself goes on to note some of the major issues, particularly the fact the Cheney/Bush administration has only authorized 100 year flood protection (as opposed to 500 year...to be honest I don't know but doubt even 500 year protection is equivalent to Category 5 protection)...and that, as you might expect, under an administration that can hardly demonstrate less concern, the work itself is suspect.

Finally, just to dig the knife in a bit deeper, IP AP, not without more than a bit of scorn, quotes a couple of New Orleans residents--gasp--have the nerve to hope that their government might care enough to, oh, gee, I don't know, promote the fucking general welfare as well as ensure that an extremely important commercial corridor can survive...if for no other reason than the fact that subsequent generations might also want to utilize the country's major gateway to global commerce (as if protecting tax-paying, and yes, PATRIOTIC citizens isn't enough.) But no: welcome to the 21st century, where government is little more than a patronage racket and the press corpse is merely waiting for a decent funeral.

It's stories like this that remind me of how profound--yes, profound--Ashley Morris was and how much everyone misses him.

FYYFF!