QUESTION OF THE DAY:
Who can liberals be excited about in 2012?
June 2011
81 posts
Since I obviously have to talk about this...
Pawlenty dug himself a hole this week. If he didn’t mention “Obamneycare” at all, it wouldn’t be an issue, but he did, and then he wussed out at the debate. It piles on the image of him being Minnesota Nice Guy, and Republicans don’t want a wuss.
I dunno man, it’s too early to tell. Are they really anointing Romney as the guy to beat? Who are these people excited about Romney?
“Herman Cain’s entire campaign might be said to be a “business platform”—he promises to treat the presidency like an extended business meeting at Godfather’s Pizza. None of the anchors had the sense to ask how he was going to deploy all this forceful business wisdom with a multi-million person workforce that can’t be fired, and a 535-member Board of Directors that writes 95% of corporate policies.”
—The GOP’s Magical, Mystical Relationship With Business - Megan McArdle - Politics - The Atlantic (via jeffmiller)
The Reading List
Slow week! At least we get an interview with David Carr, the one famous person who follows me on Twitter. I still have no idea why. #humblebrag
David Carr - Interview Magazine
Dick Van Dyke | Books | Interview | The A.V. Club
Dan Harmon discusses the second season of Community with AV Club -I haven’t watched any of the second season, but for those who have, here’s a four part discussion on the show.
Flacking for Big Pharma: an article by Harriet Washington | The American Scholar (via GMSTR)
What U.S. Economic Recovery? Five Destructive Myths - TIME
Flawed Titan of the Fed - Newsweek
Lea T.’s Runway Revolution - Newsweek
Activists take on corrupt politicians in India - Newsweek
A father-daughter road trip - NY Times
US is falling behind in the business of “green” - NY Times
Large firms try to convince the government that they don’t have an effect on the economy - NY Times
“Bachmann is a better politician than Palin, a better policy wonk than Palin, and because she’s a better politician and a better policy wonk than Palin, she’s actually able to be a bit more extreme than Palin, as Palin rarely gets specific enough to do such precise ideological positioning. Put simply, Bachmann is the candidate Palin was supposed to be.”
—
Still don’t think she’ll win the nomination. Maybe a good VP candidate? Who knows!
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“Congressman Weiner departed this morning to seek professional treatment to focus on becoming a better husband and healthier person. In light of that, he will request a short leave of absence from the House of Representatives so that he can get evaluated and map out a course of treatment to make himself well. Congressman Weiner takes the views of his colleagues very seriously and has determined that he needs this time to get healthy and make the best decision possible for himself, his family and his constituents.”
—
(except Charlie Rangel, which, ummm…)
Brooklyn Mutt: Dear Debbie Wasserman Schultz →
brooklynmutt.com
I cannot tell you how many hours I have spent dedicated to the cause of the Democratic Party. I am a party loyalist in Texas. In Texas, where the fight is hard, the hours are long, and the victories few. I live vicariously through people in bluer states and I have pride in all of…
Cosigned, if I may be permitted.
Too late, he’s seeking a leave of absence.
BTW, the reason they’re calling upon him to leave is that it’s become more and more evident that his colleagues don’t like him, he’s more concerned with nonsense battles against Fox News talking heads than doing the dirty work inside the House.
Of course, we’re partly to blame for lionizing his theatrics.
Your latest update on serious politicians…
Rick Perry is thinking about entering the race. SERIOUS BUSINESS.
I don’t think people realize how intense Republicans are about voting for SERIOUS BUSINESS leaders. Look at the last several Republican Presidents, and you’ll see a bunch of Governors, a CIA Director, former VPs, Army leadership, etc. They LOVE voting for former Governors, and that’s part of the reason I’ve been on the Pawlenty train: at that point, all the other possible candidates were a mess. A CEO of a pizza company and radio host. A governor who quit after two years to make way more money as the conservative Oprah. A glorified corporate lobbyist with severe marriage issues. A 90 year old libertarian grandpa with racial issues.
They’re not voting for a pizza CEO. I’m sorry, but no.
Mitt Romney and Pawlenty are saints in comparison. As I’ve mentioned several times before, the one problem that Romney has is a past that veers into “compassionate conservative” territory, a candidate that would have delighted Republicans ten years ago but now they call those guys “RINOs”. Of course, on the plus side, Romney can mold himself into whatever candidate that the voters want him to be at any time. He doesn’t have any shame on this end.
Rick Perry is definitely a game changer though. He’s a better version of Mitt Romney. He’s Southern. He has job building credentials in a weak economy. The only problem is that he can’t hide his social conservatism, unlike say Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels, who said “hey, let’s call a truce on social issues” and then tried to ram through legislation that would have defunded Planned Parenthood. Perry is an immediate Top 3 candidate if he jumps in though.
……………….
BTW, I got some flak for talking up Pawlenty early on when Sarah Palin and Donald Trump were dominating headlines, but Pawlenty is now ranked second at Intrade, Hot Air is starting to jump on board, and Larry Sabato has him in the top tier of possible 2012, joined only by Romney. So toot toot, fuckers.
“- E-mails between White House staff and the health care industry during the run-up to the vote on the Affordable Care Act.
- E-mails between Dick Cheney’s energy task force and the energy industry.
- E-mails between the Bush Treasury department and the heads of the banks that received bailouts.
- E-mails between Geithner and other White House economic officials on when and how to tackle unemployment.
- E-mails from the Obama administration about whether HAMP was working or not, when it obviously wasn’t. - Whatever e-mails we’ve captured from Osama bin Laden’s computer so far.” —Weigel : A Short List of E-Mail Troves I Want to Read More Than Palin’s
- E-mails between Dick Cheney’s energy task force and the energy industry.
- E-mails between the Bush Treasury department and the heads of the banks that received bailouts.
- E-mails between Geithner and other White House economic officials on when and how to tackle unemployment.
- E-mails from the Obama administration about whether HAMP was working or not, when it obviously wasn’t. - Whatever e-mails we’ve captured from Osama bin Laden’s computer so far.” —Weigel : A Short List of E-Mail Troves I Want to Read More Than Palin’s
“The Attorney-General’s kind remarks are noted and appreciated. I’ve spoken to Ed Burns and we are prepared to go to work on season six of The Wire if the Department of Justice is equally ready to reconsider and address its continuing prosecution of our misguided, destructive and dehumanising drug prohibition.”
—
David Simon responds to Attorney General Eric Holder’s request for a new season of The Wire.
(via)
This is exactly the kind of reaction I was hoping for.
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Alec Baldwin Considering NYC Mayoral Run in 2013 | The Daily →
thedaily.com
Alec Baldwin is mulling a run for mayor of New York City now that kinky Congressman Anthony Weiner appears to have sexted himself out of the 2013 race.
The “30 Rock” star, who has long talked about running for political office, believes Weinergate has shaken up the field of candidates enough that he might have a chance to win, a friend of the actor told The Daily.
“Alec said, ‘Hey, maybe this changes the race. The dynamics have shifted,’ ” said Baldwin’s pal.
“The Democrats need a high-profile candidate, and Alec can fill that bill.”
Baldwin, a die-hard Democrat originally from Massapequa, a suburb on Long Island, N.Y., has said 2012 will be his last year on “30 Rock,” which would free him up for a 2013 mayoral run.JACK DONAGHY FOR PRESIDENT.
OH MY FUCKING GOD.
This is one of those cases of “Are you fucking serious?” I find it odd when we’re turning celebrities into political saviors. Al Franken has been a surprisingly good senator, but at the same time it’s such a weird thing for us to so readily be transitioning into the state of “political celebrity,” and having that same strange culture surrounding it - it’s that sort of telegenic presence that gives rise to, say, people like Anthony Weiner, who know they can see popularity rise from their outspoken views as it gets played through the soundbite cycle. And our other “heroes” like Jon Stewart are responsible for this reaching an audience.
So anyway, this is probably a longer response than it needs to be, and a TL;DR for “This kind of bothers me for a lot of reasons.”
Didn’t this guy call his daughter a pig? Full disclosure I didn’t read any of this so maybe somebody pointed it out.
I’d rather have a fourth term of Bloomberg.
“
Alan Greenspan, a high-profile proponent of President George W. Bush’s tax cuts, now says the U.S.’s debt troubles have become so worrisome that he would support going back to Clinton-era tax rates.
“The fact that I’m in favor of going back to the Clinton tax structure is merely an indicator of how scared I am of this debt problem that has emerged and its order of magnitude,” said the former chairman of the Federal Reserve in an interview Friday on CNBC.
” —DEMOCRATS, PLEASE USE THE WORDS “CLINTON-ERA TAXES” IN ALL FUTURE DISCUSSIONS.
What happens if more people subscribe to Glenn Beck TV than the NY Times Online? →
nytimes.com
Note: I haven’t subscribed to NYT. Kinda embarrassed about it.
We're offering this link as a mere service. We will not say the name of the organization who made the news in this story, nor the other party affected. If you want to find out, click here. But we're not going to give them the benefit of a mention on this site. They want attention? Screw them. They can't have it. They haven't earned it. →
google.com
FM: If you don’t want to give them attention, don’t link to their stories. There are ways to report on Sony’s network issues without mentioning the group who is responsible for the hack. If you can’t do it, don’t post it at all.
“WE’RE NOT POSTING ABOUT THIS DISGRACEFUL GROUP BUT LET ME LINK IT TO YOU SO YOU CAN SEE BUT THEN ITS ALL YOUR FAULT”
The official barthel dot tumblr dot com position on Weinergate
- He seems nice enough but in terms of widespread social-moral norms what he did was an asshole move, and it seems weird to defend a married 46-year-old dude flirting online with women half his age. If he was my friend it’s not like I’d turn him in to the police or tell his spouse or anything but I would definitely call him an asshole, and that’s what’s going on now, the whole country is calling Anthony Weiner an asshole. There’s a difference between it being normal and it being OK.
- In terms of it being paid attention to, who cares if we should, we’re going to! There is nothing more hilarious than a politician named Weiner tweeting pictures of his penis. It’s like a guy named Mr. Toots loudly passing wind in a public place.
- This certainly doesn’t need to disqualify him from being an elected official but at the very least it reveals some pretty serious personal flaws in judgment that are legitimate reasons to question his fitness for any higher office for the next 5-10 years or so. Not a career-ender, but like, a career-staller to be sure. Them’s the rules! This was dumb and he should have known it was dumb, and he definitely knew what would happen if this ever got out: it would derail anything going on with him politically. I don’t want to count on a dude who thinks of his dick before he thinks of policy, or at least can’t make a convincing public show of thinking of policy before thinking of his dick. If you can’t do that, don’t run for public office, dude. We have shit to get done. If you want to flirt with young girls, that’s dandy, but please do it in a way that won’t fuck up Medicaid funding.
Or this.
It’s been humiliating. He’s had ten days to fess up, he could have done it on Friday so it would taper off into the weekend, but he handled it terribly. TEN DAYS! All he had to say was “Yes, it was me, it was a mistake, and I regret what happened. Please leave me alone.” But he keeps on digging a fucking hole by talking too much and I’m not convinced that this is over.
Not only that, but this scandal has revealed a few things about Weiner (because again, this thing has been stewing for TEN DAYS so everyone’s talking):
1. His fellow Dems don’t care about his grandstanding.
2. He miiiiiight have an addiction to the theatrics of cable news, something that hurt him even more because he made so many enemies who were all too willing to take him down a notch
3. He might not even be a good Congressman. He’s okay, I guess… he probably votes along party lines the whole way… but his public reputation exceeds his actual output on the day-to-day work. This goes hand in hand with #1, as fellow Dems who commit to the drudgery don’t like that he gets all the face time.
If he survives this, fine, it’s just like ugggggggggggggghhhhhh. I hereby rescind my avatar support!
……………
On a separate note, Weiner served this one on a platter for Breitbart. I suspect he would have held off until later, but once Weiner accidentally posted to Twitter (ARE YOU REALLY POSTING THESE PICS TO TWITTER???), Breitbart saw an opening and said he had more. I think people were secretly more worried about all of this when it first broke, but we could all wipe it clear because it was Breitbart.
I don’t blame conservative bloggers for hammering on this though. They knew Weiner was a lying fuck and they nailed him down. You just can’t do this shit unless you can own up to it right away.
“To the best of my knowledge they were all adults.”
—That’s it, I want him out. That’s a backbreaker of a quote.
And now the people at Yfrog say that there was no sneaky behavior that they might be responsible for.
And if that’s the case, that means we’re at…. square one. So this whole mini controversy is working out great for Weiner! Nine days and still NOBODY HAS ANY IDEA WHAT’S GOING ON JESUS CHRIST.
Learning how to deal with your idols collaborating with the worst humans...
Melissa Harris-Perry was on Bill Maher’s show last night. I do not like Bill Maher. He has Andrew Breitbart on his show on a regular basis. He’s the type of guy who I imagine calls many of his female guests “sweetie”. He said Obama needed to “go gangsta” when things were getting tough and if that was said in a different context by a conservative we would be crucifying them for being racist.
Bill Maher is a tool, but I wouldn’t be upset if someone linked me to the segment where Melissa Harris-Perry outdebated Rick Lazio.
MHP is brilliant. Definitely one of the best professors with whom I was fortunate enough to take classes.
Jealous! I’m sorta late to the bandwagon but she’s fantastic. I think she has a book coming out soon.
“Further, we need to bury, once and for all, the idea that racism is primarily about saying mean or unflattering things about black people, and specifically saying mean or unflattering things about President Obama. We need to insist that discussions of American racism rest firmly in revealing and addressing the disparate impact of policies and practices that create or deepen racially unequal outcomes. Racial animus might have prompted the nasty signage about the president at anti–healthcare reform rallies, but who cares? The issues of racism in healthcare are the continuing racial health disparities that impact black Americans from infancy to old-age. When some whites refuse to vote for Barack Obama it might be caused by racism, but the voting racism I am much more interested in is the voting and registration regulations that state governments are imposing right now in ways that will likely disenfranchise hundreds of thousands of black voters.”
—Melissa Harris-Perry
Melissa Harris-Perry on Herman Cain →
thenation.com
She has a better handle on what Cain is doing than I do, but I’ll agree that he won’t be the GOP nominee. He doesn’t have any public office experience… it’ll come up and primary voters will start second guessing him.
“Among rank-and-file reporters and editors, she is both respected and feared. She can be an imperious boss, critical when she thinks the Times is falling behind competitors. In many respects, she’s more alpha than Keller, with a confidence that makes some Times people still smarting from the Raines era a little nervous. And she’s not the only one in the hunt for the job. Both Baquet, a beloved former national editor who also once ran the Los Angeles Times, and editorial-page editor Andy Rosenthal are said to be contenders. Baquet’s recent stint as acting managing editor was greeted warmly in the newsroom.”
—
NY Magazine, last year
Baquet is #2 at the Times now.
As a sidenote…
I read a couple of conservative sites every so often, and yes, it can be insufferable. But I have to know what’s going on over there so I can see 1. How they’re arguing against Obama policies and 2. What they’re doing right in terms of mobilizing voters*. I’m not as concerned about the Glenn Becks of the world, I need to know what Paul Ryan is saying and how it’s being spun.
*I have so many things to say about this!
“Bill Keller, the newspaper’s current executive editor, is stepping down to return to writing.”
—
BREAKING: Jill Abramson Named New Executive Editor Of The New York Times
Today in announcements we’re not sure how we feel about.
(via markcoatney)
Trading someone who trolled old-school Luddite hard on social media for someone who decided (while she was either bureau chief in D.C. or managing editor) that the NYT wasn’t paying enough attention to conservative media in response to the falsified James O’Keefe “pimp” videos that pretty much destroyed ACORN without merit — that doesn’t seem like much of a change in any sort of “good” direction.
(via thethirdshift)
For your digestion.
(via winstonwolfe)
I think there’s a misunderstanding on what Abramson said. The NY Times screwed up on O’Keefe because they had no idea what was going on. They didn’t pay ANY attention to it and weren’t keeping in tune with prominent conservative bloggers. So when someone got a hold of one of the Times editors (IIRC) and asked if they knew anything about O’Keefe, they were like “what?” THAT was the problem. Obviously, we all have had to learn how to deal with O’Keefe better.
It’s not that they have to report on what he’s doing, but they have to know what’s going on so they can answer to it appropriately when the time comes and not get blindsided. And hey, if they can investigate O’Keefe and dig up some dirt, all the better.
There's a bizarre theory coming out of the whole Weiner thing right now...
This is going absolutely batshit. It rests on an apparent loophole in Yfrog where you can submit an image to someone else’s account and, since Yfrog is sometimes directly connected to Twitter, it would post right away. Some people are testing this and saying it works as long as you know the user’s e-mail address. It’s a huge security flaw.
If that’s all true, here’s the theory: an ex of Weiner submitted the pic, and it’s entirely possible that the guy (Dan Wolfe) who first caught it on Twitter isn’t a guy at all, but the ex. ”Wolfe” has apparently been warning female followers of Weiner to back off.
Honestly, it could also just be a buddy of Weiner’s pranking him. He was watching hockey on Friday night, after all, but who knows.
Like I said, fucking insane. But with Weiner being vague yet dumb with all of his answers, that’s how this comes out.
EDIT: Apparently you need to know the user’s *yfrog* email, which is different? I don’t use yfrog so I dunno. But it’s still doable.
AGGGGGHHH WEINER
I’M SO MAD ABOUT THIS I’M LISTENING TO CREED
Y U SO DUMB BRO
Oh god the Weiner story is getting worse.
“Asked if the picture was him, he said ‘I can’t say with certitude.’”
OOF
Japanese seniors volunteer for Fukushima 'suicide corps' →
cnn.com
A group of hundreds of elderly people in Japan is volunteering to clean up the contaminated nuclear plant, pointing out that they’re less susceptible to radiation than younger workers.
Jesus.
I love Anthony Weiner, but....
That press conference didn’t help his cause. The freak show isn’t going away, unfortunately.
The Reading List
The Fix interviews Courtney Love
100 Years Later, A Black Man Finally Loves Joplin | The Awl
How Roger Ailes Built the Fox News Fear Factory | Rolling Stone Politics
Building a better bike in Brooklyn - Slate Magazine
Long commutes cause obesity, neck pain, loneliness, divorce, stress, and insomnia - Slate Magazine
Naomi Klein on how corporate branding has taken over America | Books | The Guardian
Gil Scott-Heron’s music and struggle with crack : The New Yorker
Salon’s interview with Gil Scott-Heron
The Right Aims at Texas - Newsweek
Are You Ready for More? - On Climate Change - Newsweek
The Making of a Monster - Newsweek
Why Talking to the Taliban Is the Only Option - Newsweek
NY Times fact check’s Paul Ryan’s medicare plan
The Lonely Island | Music | Interview | The A.V. Club
Tree Believer: Terrence Malick’s Cinematic Vision - TIME
Self-Serving Stewardship: How Manufacturers Help the Planet - TIME
Making Over Lagos -Intelligent Cities - TIME
Torn Asunder: How the Deadliest Twister in Decades Ripped Through Joplin, Mo. - TIME
NY Times on Egypt’s next crisis
Debating the Value of College in America : The New Yorker
Silvio Berlusconi’s Hedonism : The New Yorker
Ian Frazier: “A Bow to our Benefactors” : The New Yorker
Can Andrew Cuomo Get Support for His Gay-Marriage Strategy? — New York Magazine
The Man Who Was Cured of HIV and What It Means for a Cure for AIDS — New York Magazine
Random Reading List note…
Matt asked me to put all articles in Instapaper-friendly format, and I’m trying! A few sites act junky when I do it though, most notably NY Magazine. They use an applet of some sort for print format and I can’t get past it, so you’ll just have to make do.
I wouldn’t be surprised if other sites follow suit.
May 2011
64 posts
O Catbus! My Catbus!: Dr. George Tiller: A Self-Indulgent Memorial by Catbus →
ocatbusmycatbus.tumblr.com
Today a couple years back, a prominent doctor who performed late-term abortions was shot in the head while attending his church service. I won’t rehash the stuff going around, about how late-aborted pregnancies tend to be wanted pregnancies, or why it’s important to have this sort of thing…
“But the strongest selling point for Rubio & Co. is that most of them have developed their political personae during the age of Obama. The perils of being a pre-Obama Republican in a post-Obama world are on full display right now, as Romney, Gingrich, and Pawlenty struggle to explain their support for policies (individual mandates, cap-and-trade) that were considered conservative before Obama came along, but now constitute apostasy simply because he has endorsed them. In contrast, Republicans such as Rubio, Jindal, Haley, McDonnell, and Christie, who were elected between 2008 and 2010, have had the luxury of defining themselves in clear opposition to Obama. Even Huntsman, whose governorship preceded Obama’s presidency, has an opening here: after serving as the administration’s ambassador to China, he can argue with some authority that his boss was wrong on trade, and deficits, and so forth. With so much talent in the pipeline, Republicans may be tempted to call for a class-of-2016er to take the plunge in 2012. But the GOP would be wise to recognize the risks of jumping the gun. The class of 2016 is impressive, but no one has a better shot than, say, Pawlenty of defeating Obama next November: some are too green to contend against a sitting president; others are too moderate for today’s GOP base. By running now, they would risk revealing their inexperience or tying themselves in too many Tea Party knots for future audiences.”
—
WHAT DID I TELL YALL ABOUT 2016
“
Twelve-year-old Deamonte Driver died of a toothache Sunday.
A routine, $80 tooth extraction might have saved him.
If his mother had been insured.
If his family had not lost its Medicaid.
If Medicaid dentists weren’t so hard to find.
If his mother hadn’t been focused on getting a dentist for his brother, who had six rotted teeth.
By the time Deamonte’s own aching tooth got any attention, the bacteria from the abscess had spread to his brain, doctors said. After two operations and more than six weeks of hospital care, the Prince George’s County boy died.
” —12 year old dies from brain injury that started with a bacterial toothache
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