Against my better judgement, I wandered over to Politico for a little look-see at what was passing for Village Conventional “Wisdom” on this dreary Tuesday, and boy howdy, should I have stayed home. Although there was, at the top of the page, one article that mentioned the, uh, President; except for an irrelevant smidgen of [...]
Mike Papantonio, who’s been subbing a lot for Thom Hartmann and Ed Schultz lately on their radio shows, calls today’s Republicans (among other things), “the stale, pale, males.” This admittedly juvenile moniker, unfortunately, gets more accurate each day. If anything, it’s a bit of an understatement. Yesterday we were treated to yet another Republican [...]
Ever since Reagan, Republicans have chosen Presidential candidates the same way an ad agency might cast a beer commercial. Literally. Remember all the talk about who voters would want to “have a beer with” when attempting to sell a slow-witted, overprivileged ne’er-do-well who didn’t even drink, back in 2000? They never bother to find [...]
Although we all know you can’t spell Politico without POO, the story about Paul Ryan referring to Romney as “Stench” and Boston calling Ryan “Gilligan” certainly has the benefit of plausibility; after all, even children understand that there’s no honor among thieves, and certainly no loyalty. Like Palin before him, Ryan was hurriedly trotted out [...]
Back in the dark days of 2004, John Powers wrote an excellent book about the curious psychology of the American right called “Sore Winners.” His argument, in a nutshell, was that Republicans today are simply never happy. No matter whether they have billions of dollars, control of the government, or, at worst, a cushy wingnut [...]
As the campaign season enters its final phase, I’m struck by the curious languor of the Republican campaign; they’ve stopped advertising in Michigan and Pennsylvania, and Mitt spent his bounce-free post-convention week on a boat. Of course, this could be a case of children being too quiet, but it’s increasingly apparent that for whatever reason, [...]
Well, then. Vice President Paul Ryan. Just let that one roll off your tongue, and suddenly you realize something even more deeply dysfunctional than previously expected has happened to America. Although the Village press, with David Gregory the most nauseating among them but hardly unique, has fallen into a collective swoon for the “young,” “bold,” [...]
Crybaby Paul Ryan threw himself on the floor today, blubbering and screaming, about how mean ol’ President Obama called his ludicrous, gilded age budget what it is: “laughable.” Worse, he also called it a “Trojan Horse” and “thinly-veiled social Darwinism.” That both these things are true escapes lil’ Paul, since he was too busy masturbating [...]
There was this annoyingly triumphant song we used to sing in school about what a keen place Oregon was back in 1915 or so, and even as a kid I thought it was weird. The chorus ended with, “Forward on and on… Hail to thee, land of heroes, my O-re-gon.” Never mind that the lyricist [...]
It’s quite dispiriting to write a blog, particularly about things that matter, when the available media is so maniacally obsessed with things that, well, don’t. So successful have the Republicans been in creating their post-reality “empire” that even those few in the media who know better are constantly reduced to anointing, say, Newt Gingrich, as [...]