Anthony Lewis

1927-2013

Blue Monday, Memphis Slim edition

Annals of false equivalency

Michael Kranish at the Globe brings us a heartwarming story about the knife in Bob Dole's back placed there by Senate Republicans who refused to pass an innocuous international disabilities treaty because of their Tea Party constituents.  Oh wait, it turns out that, in fact, it's equally the Dem's fault!

Years earlier, McConnell had been in that 1989-90 session and often had followed Dole's moderate, bipartisan lead, voting for the ADA.

But McConnell, like his party, had become more conservative over the years, amplified by the creation of the Tea Party movement, and McConnell would famously say that “the single most important thing we want to achieve is for President Obama to be a one-term president.”

Democrats, too, became more partisan. Obama pushed through health care legislation without Republican support. Reid inserted himself into the presidential campaign, saying — without supplying any evidence — that GOP nominee Mitt Romney didn’t pay federal taxes for a decade.

The culture of Washington had shifted dramatically. In the Mitchell-Dole years, many members of Congress lived in the nation’s capital much of the year and socialized with colleagues in the other party. By the time of the 2012 session, fund-raising and home-state demands prompted many members to spend far less time in Washington.

Donald Ritchie, the Senate’s official historian, said some senators don’t have time to know their colleagues. “Someone will come into the room and will ask, ‘Who is that?’ Someone from across the aisle. They just don’t have the kind of opportunities they used to have,” Ritchie said. “One of the few times they get to see each other is when they are on the floor voting.”

Um, no.  Obama pushed through health care legislation that was designed in a Republican think tank and enacted by a Republican governor that couldn't find a single Republican vote in the Senate.  And Reid hurt somebody's feefees?

This is about a Republican Party that has gone insane.  All the false equivalency about "both sides are mean," doesn't change that fact.

The first public sign of trouble came shortly after Moran announced he was joining a bipartisan group of supporters. Word spread that the Tea Party wanted to stop treaties that its members viewed as threats to American sovereignty.

Fears of the jackbooted, blue helmeted UN thugs.

The Republican Party is in thrall to loons and the charlatans who lead them, as the story goes on to illustrate, but Kranish checked the box, "Both Sides Do It."

Annals of business: yoga pants edition

Perhaps the greatest business story of all time.

The company is recalling yoga pants made with a fabric known as Luon that are overly transparent, which make up about 17 percent of all the Canada-based retailer’s women’s bottoms.

Lululemon’s chief executive, Christine Day, said Thursday that the company did not know exactly why the quality had gone awry, as the pants had passed quality-assurance tests. But she added that “the truth of the matter is that the only way that you can actually test for the issue is to put the pants on and bend over,” which the company did not do until too late.

The consequences could be significant for Lululemon, analysts said. The company redefined the athletic-apparel world, making it no big deal for women to spend $100 on yoga pants and wear them throughout the day. Its stores churn out high sales per square foot, offer amenities like yoga classes and running clubs, and cater to hard-core fans by offering store discounts to yoga instructors in exchange for product feedback. 

Hyde Park

Blood gargling psycophath

On the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the start of the Iraq War, former DefSec Donald Rumsfeld tweeted.  Hilarity ensues.

Birthday Bach

The paper of record is silent

I admit, Dear Reader, this blog has been awfully quiet of late.  That being said, the Vega is roused from its slumber by the New York Times opinion pages today on this, the 10th anniversary of our worst unforced error.  The New York Times was complicit in the days leading up to the war -- Judith Miller sucking at the teat of Dick Cheney's and Scooter Libby's stovepiped bullshit merely the most obvious example.  And yet, wow, wow, wow...not a word in today's op ed pages about the Times' abetting the march towards a war of (poor) choice is truly astonishing.

And yes, especially, wow.



The Times changing its slogan from "All the news that's fit to print," to "Suck on this," is sad enough.  Not recognizing it on such an obvious event as the 10th anniversary of the invasion of Iraq and all the death and misery that was to follow is just cowardly.

Blue Monday, Staples Singers edition

Not really blues, but close enough...

The bartender who caught Mittens telling the truth

Scott Prouty can likely look forward to weeks and months of hell on wheels -- there is nothing so frightening as a conservative scorned.

So, if you can, go here.

Meanwhile, Republican young white southern gentlemen outreach to minorities continues apace.

Why is this day different from all others?

Because.  It is.

All the dancing kings

#42

It's been a privilege, watching him all these years.  Barring injury, we'll get one more year.

Blue Monday, James Cotton edition

Where you gonna go?

Originalism

Wow.  Go read.

Alvin Lee, RIP

Bring on the snark

Jay Carney on George Effing Will.

Blue Monday, Albert Collins edition

Celebration Day! Or, it's the president's fault

Oh, shit, you said "Sequestration?"

For Mr. Boehner, the consequences of allowing the sequester to take effect could be less damaging than the consequences of going back on his promise not to allow any new tax revenues.

“I don’t quite honestly think that Speaker Boehner would be speaker if that happens,” Senator Ron Johnson, Republican of Wisconsin, told Fox News recently.

But for now Mr. Boehner seems not only to have engendered the good will of his conference but also to have locked in place the spending cuts Republicans have been fighting for. 

You'll have plenty of time to ponder that good news for Republicans event in a month or so, while waiting in the TSA line at the airport.

The Temptations

Sadly,
RIP and RIP