Bruce Barry was a friend of mine

Bob Dylan's Nobel Prize for Literature speech

"10,000 talkers whose tongues were all broken"

Perfect. Thank you, Bob. Thank you, Patti.

"Thank God for the rain to wash the trash off the sidewalk.."

Bobo finds his inner Travis Bickle.

Republicans have consequences

I guess the market's response to the debt ceiling deal means we are all Krugmans today. Even our Gaultian overlords appear to have suddenly realized that the prospect of double dip recession and no promise of stimulus or action by the Federal Reserve may be worse than a small increase in their marginal tax rates.

And just remember: Republicans now control the government's reaction to economic upheaval, Obama owns the (awful) consequences, and the Washington press corps is in charge of the play by play.

Chill people. He's got this one.

T-Bogg takes a short break from his trademark snark and speaks truth to...non-power?

Perhaps I misjudged people but I didn’t expect the announcement of the nomination of Elena Kagen to the Supreme Court to be greeted by many good people of the left as if Barack Obama had just shit in their Cheerios.

I have come to expect this from RedState and the other special needs bloggers of the right. That is what they do. But I just spent the better part of the afternoon reading WAY TOO MANY POSTS about what a horrible woman-hating ethnic-hating freedom-hating not-hate-hating-enough person Kagan is and I had to double-check to see that she wasn’t Dick Cheney’s idiot daughter which would have been both accurate and understandable.

I guess the argument against Kagan that I truly don’t understand is the “she’s a blank slate” or she’s a “stealth nominee”. If Barack Obama had selected her the same way John McCain plucked Sarah Palin from well-deserved obscurity I could understand people’s fears. But I willing to bet that Obama has spent more than a modicum of time with her discussing court decisions, legal philosophy, and such and such and he has a pretty good idea what floats her boat. ( I can’t imagine that he asked for her opinion on, say, Connick v Thompson and she refused because “it would be inappropriate to discuss a pending case.”) The only defense for the empty slate attack is a complete lack of faith in Obama; that he is, in fact, a Conservative Republican. And that is just nuts.

Obama came into office promising change and people clutched that to their breasts and ran off in every direction thinking that their pet liberal/progressive cause finally had a champion who would make everything all better overnight. But sometimes change is gradual and, now sixteen months later, he is unacceptable. Quite frankly the country Obama inherited is a fucking mess and, while I’m not entirely thrilled with everything that has gone down under him, I’m willing to cut him some slack.

T-Bogg may be looking for a new place to hang his coat if he keeps talking smack like this.

He goes on to tell an uplifting tale of some truly brilliant 3-D chess playing prog analyst who explained the strategy of drafting Feingold, should he lose his Senate seat in November, to challenge Obama in the 2012 primary. Obama would have to "neutralize" Russ by offering him a Supreme Court robe. Or something.

"Sometimes there are no words"

Al Weisel, aka, Jon Swift has died. One of the truly great writers of the blogosphere, he was also a lovely and generous man according to those who knew him. It figures he'd die, almost literally, of a broken heart.

I didn't know him, but I feel a loss. I can't imagine what his family and partner are feeling.

In which I get a glimpse into the Mighty Wurliitzer

From the mailbag:

Since 1973 The Heritage Foundation has been at the vanguard of the conservative movement. As the most trusted independent "watchdog" for grassroots conservatives like you -- we answer to you and you alone.

Our mission is to advance the principles of free enterprise, limited government, individual freedom, traditional American values, and a strong national defense to Member of Congress and key policymakers in the Executive Branch, the nation's enws media, and the academic and policy communities.

Oh, and torture. Did we mention torture? And individual freedom is fine, unless it runs up against those so called "traditional American values."

But the point of this mailing is to get my views on some important issues facing our nation, like "Do you believe the media has a decidedly liberal bias?" Oh, and to get my "tax-deductible membership contribution."

Tax-deductible? What. The. Fuck?

Anyway, I struck by this:

Equally important -- [the survey] will point the way you and other Americans can do to challenge the radical Left and even some of our supposed "allies," who are using the "megaphone" of the national media to distort the issues in an effort to undermine our conservative agenda

My emphasis.

Who would those "allies" with the "megaphone" of the national media be?

Well, Limbaugh and Hannity aren't numbered among them, 'cause their megaphones are A-OK.

Last year, Heritage began a promotional partnership with talk radio giants Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity who are using o ur research to help get our conservative message to millions of listeners each week.

According to Rush Limbaugh, "The Heritage Foundation is a group of smart thinkers and scholars, excellent writers, and they churn stuff out faster than you can keep up with it: How to move the country forward, how to provide information that people can digest, and then spread to others.

Their emphasis.

Progressives have nothing to match it.

Retard

The Dean of the Washington Press Corps, unlike 70% of the country, thinks Sarah Palin and her "anti-elitist" message is just what the country needs.

Palin's final answer to Wallace showed how perfectly she has come to inhabit that part. When he asked her what role she wants to play in the country's future, she said:

"First and foremost, I want to be a good mom, and I want to raise happy, healthy, independent children. And I want them to be good citizens of this great country.

"And then I do want to be a voice for some common-sense solutions. I'm never going to pretend like I know more than the next person. I'm not going to pretend to be an elitist. In fact, I'm going to fight the elitist, because for too often and for too long now, I think the elitists have tried to make people like me and people in the heartland of America feel like we just don't get it, and big government's just going to have to take care of us.

"I want to speak up for the American people and say: No, we really do have some good common-sense solutions. I can be a messenger for that. Don't have to have a title to do it."

This is a pitch-perfect recital of the populist message that has worked in campaigns past. There are times when the American people are looking for something more: for an Eisenhower, who liberated Europe; an FDR or a Kennedy or a Bush, all unashamed aristocrats; or an Obama, with eloquence and brains.

[...]

Palin did not wear well in the last campaign, especially in the suburbs where populism has a limited appeal. But when Wallace asked her about resigning the governorship with 17 months left in her term and whether she let her opponents drive her from office, she said, "Hell, no."

Those who want to stop her will need more ammunition than deriding her habit of writing on her hand. The lady is good.

Jeebus.

Too fat

Traveling a couple of weeks ago, I was struck at the almost non-existence of "overweight" people in the two extremely busy airports I used. It's almost as if the threat of having to buy two seats, the obvious disdain of their fellow travelers ("God, I hope s/he isn't sitting next to me!"), and the general hostility of the airlines is keeping them away.

Seems a seat on the Court is just as uninviting.

Thnk of the Children...and Oklahoma

James M. Inhofe's (R-Global Warming Crankland) concern for future generations is fucking moving.

Members of Congress from Georgia and Oklahoma, where the jet and the Army project mean jobs, promised a fight. The arguments, which were frequently directed by Republicans against one of their own — Mr. Gates, one of two Republicans in President Obama’s cabinet — were cast in terms of national security and moral responsibility.

“F.C.S. is Army modernization,” Senator James M. Inhofe, Republican of Oklahoma, said of the Future Combat Systems, a program that links soldiers with weapons, robotic sensors, a communications network and combat vehicles. “Without it, we risk sending our sons and daughters into combat in vehicles that are second-rate and are less survivable and effective in combat. What price should we place on the lives of our children we send off to war?”

Mr. Inhofe had arranged for work on one of eight ground vehicles in the Army program to be done in Oklahoma, but Mr. Gates proposed scrapping that vehicle as well as the seven others. Government auditors have repeatedly criticized the vehicles as the worst part of a project troubled by cost overruns and questions about whether its technology is sound.

Bejeebus. Where does one start? The fact that this is the guy who commended Gates' predecessor, who once so famously quipped that "you go to war with the army you have"? Or the fact that Inhofe did not hesitate to chearlead the sending of "our children" off to war in a land of imaginary WMD? Or maybe the fact that Inhofe withdrew support for Jim Webb's 21st Century GI Bill amendment last year?

Think of the children, indeed.

And remember, this is a guy who quotes himself saying,

Sen. Jim Inhofe tells Newsmax that the stimulus package put together by President Barack Obama and the Democrats is in fact "7 percent stimulus and 93 percent spending."

He's as dumb as a nail, but since he said it: Where does his ongoing support for wasteful welfare for defense appropriations in Oklahoma fall?

A deep thought

At least in 1932 they had a healthy honey bee population.

Brooksie!

Madame Cura and I watched the night's events on PBS, and after Barack's speech David Brooks indicated that the speech was ineffective and aimed only at Democrats. The other panelists looked at him like he had just vomited on national television. And I turned to Madame Cura and said, he'd obviously formulated his response to the speech before watching the speech.

His column today proves my point. No link. Seek it out if you really need bird cage liner or something for your dog to get sick on.

Dogs marrying cats

Can there be a more unholy union?

At one point, when Mr. McCain offered drinks to his guests, he went out of his way to offer Mr. Romney, a Mormon who does not drink alcohol, a coffee (apparently not realizing that Mormons eschew caffeine as well), said an aide who was told of the encounter later. But the aide said that the gesture seemed appreciated nonetheless.

I am being unfair. There are few politicians more given to reversing their positions -- often on the same day.



RIP, Jo Stafford.

Get behind me, Satan

It's easy to laugh this shit off as stupid, racist, and self-defeating. But, ultimately and cumulatively, it can achieve its purpose: depress (literally and figuratively) the vote.

Meanwhile, Jindal!

All aboard the ship of fools

Brilliant.

Far-sighted.

John Sweeney, remember him?

A third party bid?

George Wallace isn't dead.