The photos of the "crowds" at the tank parade remind me of when Bill Hicks would come on stage in an almost-empty club, scan the room slowly, and announce "I've had more people in bed than this" ...
When the president sends a cabinet member on TV to announce "We are using the military to liberate an American city from its elected leaders," where do you go from there. What is left to say. The idea of that being anything short of a near-universal "Wait, what the fuck is going on" moment proves how far we've backslid.
This is from 2022 but it was absolutely right. The practiced buffoonery of Trump 1, all the "just kiddings" and "seriously but not literallys" absolutely succeeded in desensitizing people who are hardly paying any attention to the harder stuff they always intended to do next. ...
The basic fallacy in chasing votes by being "tough on immigration" is that the modal American's position on the issue is "Deport the Bad ones and keep the Good ones," and they alone know who is which, and that simply does not translate into workable policy. So this kind of gestapo stuff horrifies some of the same people who cheered when Trump promised to do it. There are true sociopaths who love this, but "No, I meant only the BAD immigrants! Not my coworker/friend/neighbor!" is as likely a reaction as enthusiasm. You cannot do immigration policy that satisfies these people because what they want is nonsensical.
So by the time center-left parties fully commit to chasing the far right by "getting tough" on immigration, the backlash has already begun to build and they walk right into it. "I thought you people wanted this!" No, they want something impossible and convinced themselves they'd could have it - the "eat whatever you want AND lose weight!" of immigration policies.
It is hard to grasp but large masses of Americans are both racist/xenophobic AND not racist/xenophobic enough to applaud what Trump is doing. It's goldilocks shit, they want a level of racism/xenophobia calibrated exactly to their personal preferences, and you just can't make that policy. Don't try. ...
AP: Trump extends olive branch, invites Musk to White House cellar to taste some brand new amontillado ...
Jeff says:
Oh, I can't wait until Thursday. I don't know if I'll be feeling schadenfreude or wagonholtn during the debate… no, it will be schadenfreude.
And apparently there's a site that's using mathematical models projecting an Obama victory:
http://www.fivethirtyeight.com/
Chris says:
I don't know if you watch Mad TV, but this is what Sarah Palin reminds me of:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZ13C1ywUYw&feature=related
Ike says:
Mrs. Palin reminds me of somebody's mom who is a hit at the elementary school bakesale (spending more on ingredients than the cookies net of course) and then, emboldened by her fantastic success goes and opens up a bakery in a strip mall between a hair salon and a dollar store. Except instead of being shut down by the Health Inspector or lousy sales, somebody is threatening to give her a Mrs. Fields Franchise.
melissa says:
Are you referring to GOVERNOR Palin (not Mrs. Palin)? Yes-cookie-baking….that's all women are supposed to do, right?
Patti says:
Nothing says, "I don't read any of them" like saying you read all of them.
I just have a feeling like if all she read was the Anchorage Daily News, she'd mention it.
Scott says:
For the love of God, all she had to do was name a couple of newspapers or magazines – she doesn't even have to read them. She could have said she only reads the Wasilla Daily Moose Hunter and this (probably) would have been a non-issue.
I hope this is a debate strategy – McCain's camp has lowered the bar so low that as long as Palin can speak in complete sentences, she will have vastly exceeded expectations. Otherwise, it appears that the Republican Vice-Presidential Candidate does not read a newspaper.
With the risk of enraging Melissa, this reminds me of those Celebrity Jeopardy sketches on SNL. When all that the Final Jeopardy answer requires of the contestants is to name a food or write a number down they still get it wrong – or, in the case of Sean Connery, just write "poop." Although, I'm not sure if Gov. Palin simply got the question wrong or she just said "poop."
Patti says:
Scott-
Please do not belittle the people of small towns up North by disparaging the names of their newspapers. Wasilla does not have a Daily Moose Hunter – their paper is the Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman:
http://www.frontiersman.com/
Apparently Ms. Palin has not read this either, or would have mentioned it. (I usually assume that a woman who takes her husband's last name may be referred to as Mrs. in lieu of any additional title she may have, surrendering the title of Miss Heath to her next older unmarried sister. These days she may prefer Ms. over Mrs., unless she recently had a sex change, in which case she may be Mr. As long as one also refers to Mr. McCain, Mr. Biden, and Mr. Obama by their social titles instead of political ones, then it is consistant and an equal treatment of all involved.)
Ed says:
Dear Melissa.
This is not the New York Times (which, coincidentally, refers to Sarah as Mrs. Palin in accordance with their editorial policy). You will see the person in question referred to on this blog variously as Sarah, Palin, Gov. Palin, Mrs. Palin, Retard, Tard-O, Dipshit, and Dan Quayle with Tits. Deal with it.
Second, while I appreciate the fact that you have recently left Anderson, Indiana or some similar craphole and recently discovered that racism and sexism exist, your chosen role as arbiter of Palin-related sexism in the comments is going to become uninteresting in a hurry. Which is the polite way of saying it already is.
It's a free country, and you can say or do as you please. It is simply going to be really dull and repetitive if every post or comment about GovTard devolves into "OMG WHY DO YOU HATE WOMEN?" followed by a bunch of responses thereto. If that's all you have to contribute, so be it. I'd like to think that you could contribute something less excruciatingly boring.
If you cannot appreciate the distinction between saying that all women are good for is baking and saying that Sarah SuperTard Governor Mrs. Palin, whose sole stated qualifications are being a "hockey mom" with 4 kids and a tard, then I suggest that you read through the old Logical Fallacies posts until something clicks.
Thanks.
BK says:
Thank you Ed… thank you very, very, very much.
Shane says:
"I have quite a few people who are giving us information about the record of Obama and Biden, and at the end of the day, though, it is — it's so clear, again, what those choices are. Either new ideas, new energy and reform of Washington, D.C., or more of the same," Palin said.
Finally, something Palin and I agree on….I never thought that day would come.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081001/ap_on_el_pr/palin;_ylt=AkGBR2yoel53gehHjkJV4ZKpg9IF
Shane says:
Actually Ed I think your entire website is sexist…I mean you have the women holding the tacos, obviously suggesting a domesticated role of food provision and the men getting to enjoy the gin, suggesting it is really too strong for a delicate lady. As a feminist, I am completely offended.
*I assumed the sarcasm would be obvious, but on second thought I realized the comment might actually be taken at face value.
j says:
LOL @ "4 kids and a tard"!!!! The tard doesn't even qualify as a kid! Ha Ha!
This race is just getting better and better by the day! *happily munching popcorn*