snarkopolitan

It didn't work! The article is on Real Clear Politics, by Richard Cohen. Google Nita Lowey and Hillary Clinton. The gist of the piece is that Hillary had no experience and was not a New Yorker, ran against two different Republican empty suits, and never won as much of a majority asCharles Schumer, whom nobody is proposing for president. posted 05/18/2008 at 01:10:37

Those of you who don't remember how Hillary got to be the Senator from New York should know that the highly competent, exerienced Nita Lowey was undertaking a Senate run but when Hillary made her interest known, Nita instantly bowed out: article. I hope the link works. This is my first time trying to use HTML. posted 05/18/2008 at 01:03:01

Also, Toot, toot, Tootsie Goodbye! Not to worry, best regards, the ever backsliding Snarkopolitan (a large female person, btw: hence standing in front of Hillary's Headquarters singing songs of farewell) posted 05/18/2008 at 00:42:35

It occurred to me, as a regally sized person, that it might be a good idea to stand in front of Hillary's campaign headquarters and sing.
Program: "Happy Trails to You," "Never Can Say Good-bye", "Good Night Irene", "Goodnight Sweetheart"....
what other goodbye songs should we sing to her? posted 05/18/2008 at 00:14:07

A gorilla who's figured out how to copy and paste! Evolution happens. posted 05/16/2008 at 22:25:42

Voting FOR someone from your ethnic group, a group that never has had a serious chance before, is very different from voting AGAINST someone's ethnicity. Anyone who won't vote for Hillary because she's white is indeed racist. But there are not very many voting against her for that reason.
Counting up the insults from each side against the other is pointless: what you can see is people acting out of emotion, as if this were a sports match.
We are not electing the most cuddly mascot; we are electing a president. McCain has voted AGAINST banning torture, AGAINST the G.I. Bill, can't tell Sunnis from Shiites, and has promised to put the Supreme Court into deep rightward imbalance which will affect generations to come.
Remove your opposable thumb from your a$$, gorillaman. Grow up. posted 05/16/2008 at 22:15:55

I propose a slogan:

IT'S TIME TO STOP USING FEAR TO DISGUISE INCOMPETENCE

Liked Bush's dismissal of engagement: "As if saying something ingenious could make a difference..."
The world long ago stopped looking (if any part ever started) for ingenuity from W's direction. posted 05/15/2008 at 10:07:49

When Hillary promoted McCain's experience over Obama's, she lost me. To promote the nominee of the other party? Who is promising to continue the war?
When she started turning into Mrs. Blue-Collar Hard Working White Woman, I was glad I was gone.

But she drove me away. Who is this? Standing there smiling while her supporters make pansy jokes? Waving her grandfather's guns around? Laughing while they talk about her "balls:?

I have news for you. My grandfather hunted., too. He shot ducks, and ate them. And he was an "elite," whatever that means. posted 05/13/2008 at 21:30:44

There is a difference between voting FOR somebody and voting AGAINST somebody. If a member of your ethnic group is in a position to win high office for the first time in history, it's natural to be excited, to want to see that person win.
But if you are voting AGAINST somebody because of that person's ethnicity, that is a signal difference.
There is no evidence that anybody's voting AGAINST Hillary because she's white. Some may vote against her because she's a woman, but since she's being advertised as the Three-Testicled Wonder, I doubt gender is much of a problem for her in the primaries.
Look for it to matter in the general, if she manages to wangle this nomination. posted 05/06/2008 at 19:48:58

The best choice would have been to say thank you for your interest, but this isn't the time. If the First Lady were a more serious, reflective type, she'd have done that. But that person wouldn't likely have been First Lady---not George Bush's, anyway.
What's really worth getting worked up about--- how about the shallow, obsequious, celebrity-wedding addled White House press corps? posted 05/06/2008 at 03:14:35

Why would Obama want one of Bill's testicles? I respectfully suggest Hillary return it to the jar. posted 05/06/2008 at 19:13:29

Let's see if we can get thisstraight:
McCain wants us to stay in Iraq until it's SAFE to stay in Iraq, after which we'll stay in Iraq. So we could stay in Iraq, happily and safely,just like we do in Italy! But we don't even begin counting until they stop trying to kill our soldiers. If the Italians stopped trying to kill our soldiers, why not the Iraqis?

A hundred years? A thousand years? No, it's the ongoing war PLUS a hundred, or thousand, years. What an awful, inaccurate ad. posted 05/02/2008 at 18:55:20

It doesn't make sense contextually. I believe Mr. Kantor didn't, and wouldn't, say that. I'm an Obama supporter, driven there by my disgust at my Senator HRC and her pandering, Nixonian campaign, but this is simply crap. And if you play it backwards, does he say "I murdered Vincent?"
Remember, the campaign will end, and we may have McBush in the White House. Burning bridges, ruining reputations, as if this moment will last forever is a dangerous game. Let's not play it. Good and useful people are on each side of the divide, and we need them. posted 05/02/2008 at 19:18:56

After enduring being turned into a YouTube cartoon, Reverend Wright is now enjoying defending himself HUGELY, unfortunately at Obama's expense. He's jousting: parrying thrusts, landing some blows while others glance off (that English accent, yeesh).
There is some psycyodramatic element at work: resentment and rivalry, father/son interplay, classic, even Biblical. The Reverend is actually on a book tour, plugging his soon-to-be-published work. Is this criminal of Rev. Wright? No. But selfish? This may be the making of a national bestseller, at the expense of unmaking Obama's candidacy. Reverend Wright can't afford to let himself see that part of it.
Conflating himself with the entire Black Church ("This isn't an attack on me. This is an attack on the Black Church"--from the National Press Club speech, and Moyers) is the act of a, shall we say, robust ego. Robust, but easily bruised: Obama's decision to denounce ANY part of Wright's sermon obviously upset Wright, who didn't even acknowledge the cost to Obama of not wholesale denouncing the entire man.
Leaving aside the validity/nonvalidity of WHAT Reverend Wright said, the attack is most certainly on HIM. Even white public figures don't say "God DAMN America" without paying for it, much less black public figures. The Reverend has given people looking for an excuse not to vote for Obama a convenient cover. They would find others, but he's made it that much easier for them. posted 04/29/2008 at 15:29:06

Reading your profile, I was surprised to find that you're not a completely brainless pre-teen getting her jollies exclusively from serial celebrity bashing. Somehow, that makes your comment even more discouraging.
To coin a phrase, "Doofus. Your compassion is underwhelming." posted 04/29/2008 at 13:46:46

Now I'm actually an Obama supporter and I don't like the tone of your comment. I would LOVE the Clintons to pack it in; Bill's splenetic outbursts and Hill's artless pandering (OBLITERATE A COUNTRY?) really get up my nose.
But ageism and personal attacks (so campaigning for your own mother is robotic?) diminish our position, so exercise some impulse control. Your blood doesn't seem to be flowing brain-ward. posted 04/28/2008 at 19:27:17

Mr. Brown's departure from CNN proved me to be a reverse bellwether: Anything or one I like will be taken away, in this case a dry, contemplative man yanked off the air in favor of poor Mr. Cooper, the National Feeler and ultimate Peter Principle exemplar.
Brown and Cooper were snapped up from the overnight ABC news show, where they both did very well with the late night house style: no jacket, (usually blue) shirtsleeves rolled, low-key, slightly wry attitude. There might still be a shirtsleeved anchor over there, for all I know. posted 04/28/2008 at 19:04:32

Two kinds of writers: those who invoke tired cliches to set up false dualities, and those who congratulate themselves for not being same. Hey, that second one is me!
We're up to our necks in false dualities---with us or against us, Clinton or Obama, bitter or Bosnia.
Keith's the noble incarnation of Murrow. Keith's a mysogynistic shill.
It was an awkward choice of words, but the metaphorical context leading up to it was clear. Unless you're determined on feeling injured.
Clinton and Obama's policies are virtually identical. The rabidity of their supporters is blinding everybody to the real task at hand, that of beating McCain.
Keith is the best antidote to Fox "News" imaginable, though he sometimes steps over the line. Then he steps back. Then he steps over again. And so on. He's good AND bad, simultaneously at the same time together at once! posted 04/25/2008 at 19:31:35

This is not a time for cheerleading. Neither candidate is an empty suit. Whatever they're filled with, it's their VIRTUALLY IDENTICAL POLICIES that matter, as opposed to McCain's DISASTROUS REPUBLICAN POLICIES.
All policies end up mangled in the steel jaws of Washington, but the starting points matter. Parts of the world are rioting over food---Republican economic policy depressed the dollar, Republican pandering favored corn as fuel, not food, Republican cronyism means we are paying for a private army of mercenaries to be maintained in Iraq, not to mention the constant suffering of our soldiers there and their families here. And the Supreme Court shall be affected for the next two or three generations by which party is elected.
And here we are, indulging in cheerleading and booing like teenagers at a high school game.
It does not matter whether the nominee is all warm and cuddly. It does not matter whether you like him/her. The media make money out of our division, and the Republicans benefit. It looks like most of us Dems are drinking Karl's Kool-aid. posted 04/24/2008 at 18:15:08

It's fascinating and sad to see both sides doing mental backflips and parroting Fox talking points:
Bill/Monica/Cigar/Keith/Bridgeburning/young girlfriend/Obama/Bitter/Wright/Hillary/RoseLawFirm/Bosnia/Bill/nastytemper/Keith/hystericalhack/Obama/elitistmask/Hillary/castratingbitch/Bill/fingerwagger/Keith/hypocrite/Obama/snob/Hillary/liar........

What's missing here? Besides focus and perspective? Ah yes! JOHN MCCAIN!
TORTURED/OKs TORTURE/BOMBBOMBIRAN/SUPREME COURT: JUSTICES SCALIA, SCALIA, SCALIA, SCALIA, THOMAS, SCALIA,SCALIA ANDSCALIA/DOLLARWEAKERTHANAKITTEN/MORETAXCUTSFORTHERICH!/KEATING5/CHOICE?FUHGEDDABOUDIT!/SUPPORTTHETROOPSUNLESSTHEYNEEDMEDICALCARE/HEALTHCARE?DIDSOMEBODYMENTIONHEALTHCARE?MUSTHAVEBEENMY C****OFAWIFE/BOINGGOINGHELLOAIRBUSLOBBYISTS/SUNNI,SHIA,WHATEVER,THEY'REALLALQUEADAAREN'TTHEY/HOWWILLIBALANCETHEBUDGET?OH,LOTSOFWAYS,I'LLGETBACKTOYOU/IT'SPERFECTLYSAFETOSHOPINBAGDHADIFYOUHAVEENOUGHHELICOPTERGUNSHIPS/MYFRIENDS,SHOWMEAJOURNALISTANDI'LLSHOWYOUSOMEONEWHOCANBEBOUGHTFORADOUGHNUTWITHSPRINKLES

So if God forbid you don't get the candidate you want, go ahead and vote for him. Just write a letter of apology to your children first. posted 04/25/2008 at 02:29:43

My friendzzzzzz--- do you love this phrase? Get used to hearing it. For at least four years. Blast away at each other. Try to count up which side has more venom, that's just what you can expect from those people, you'll never,ever vote for Hill/bama, not after the things she/he/they said/did!
Even though I now scream at Hillary the way my Mom screamed at Nixon, if she by hook or by crook wangles herself the nomination, I'm voting for her. Or the other guy, or whatever is not McCain. Because McCain's policies are Bush's policies, and they're ruining the country.
Hillary and Barack's policies are VIRTUALLY IDENTICAL. Either candidate is electable, if their respective followers don't pout their way to mutually assured defeat.
Actually, since I live in New York, I'm not voting for Hillary ever, ever, again----unless the Presidential election is hanging by 1 New York vote. In which case, Hillary's my Homegirl!
But since Hillary's gone all Nixon on us, I can't wear my Hillary's my Homegirl shirt. For which I'm very sad. posted 04/23/2008 at 03:19:33

This is why I want to hide under my bed until either the ice caps melt or Glory comes and sweeps this culture away: it's hopeless. Everybody shouts their instant, uninformed opinions, nobody listens, we cherry-pick the facts we want to support what we think we know.
Snowball. I support Obama, because Hill and Bill drove me there.
You make excellent points, EXCEPT that Krugman did read "What's the Matter with Kansas." Krugman's Princeton colleague, and Ivory Tower roomie, popped his head in and said, "But have you read MY book? " Krugman did, and concludes his article (I finished it! A dirty job, but somebody had to do it) saying that the Republicans win repeatedly because the South went for them after the Civil Rights era.
Krugman doesn't seem to realize this says that Republican wins are a Southern, racist backlash. I don't see where Krugman approves of it, so I think it's unfair to brand him a racist. And I don't know if the theory is accurate; I'm not a credentialed anything. But if Obama had been expounding on this theory instead of the bitterness one, he'd have been vaporized. In this climate, talking like an adult to adults is lethal. posted 04/19/2008 at 01:53:39

Intelligent design? The prostate gland is intelligent design? Tell that to my husband the fourth time he gets out of bed to pee. Dogs only live for fifteen years tops, but sponges live for a hundred? Scorpions sometimes sting themselves?
I am not so uncharitable that I would saddle God with the blame. posted 04/18/2008 at 05:50:43

That report was a glossary of ass-covering technique: false balance, as in displaying the positive review without noting the ratio of negative to positive comments, false attribution, dismissing the volume of negative comments as coming from "the liberal group MoveOn.org", failing to address the numbers of slams from their colleagues at other legitimate (perhaps I should say more legitimate) news outlets, and failing once again to mention Stephanopoulos' years-long Clinton connection.Which, Clinton supporters,had Steph been Obama's communications director for years, you'd have screamed bloody murder about.

If Hillary should somehow wrest the nomination from Obama, ABC is likely to do to her what it did to the both of them this time. So attention should be paid. Just because her baggage has been gone through already doesn't mean it can't be gone through again. It hasn't gotten any prettier.

The ABC switchboard number is 212-456-7777. posted 04/18/2008 at 03:56:19

There's a good article by Nicolas Kristoff in the Times Wednesday about the tendency to cherry pick information bolstering already held beliefs. Look at this Hillbama mess: if the anecdote had been positive for Hillary, would you accept it?
How do you feel about the US starting more wars? Seeing more traumatized Iraq war vets on the street? Privatizing Social Security? How do you like the dollar spiraling down? More tax cuts and higher deficits? How do you like the US waterboarding prisoners? How do you like a man who was once torture voting not to ban torture, just to get a nomination? Now that's ruthless. That's the Stepford McCain, or maybe the Manchurian McCain.
Hillary is my senator, I voted for her. Now, I can't stand her-----except if she's the nominee, I'll vote for her. This once, then never again. If Obama is the nominee, I'll vote for him. Their policies are nearly identical. They aren't mascots for football teams, they are enactors of policies. Policies that will be mangled, but the part of them that survives is better than what McCain's policies (which come pre-mangled) would do to the country.
So enjoy typing insults at eachother till your carpal tunnel screams for mercy. But support whatever wreck is left swaying at the podium at the Democratic convention. Thousands of lives actually, unfunnily, depend on it. posted 04/18/2008 at 03:19:21

Jim Henson also died of pneumonia/flu. Not to mention the millions who died in the worldwide pandemic of 1918. Careful, people--- there's a nasty strain out there. If you develop a fever, see a doctor.
Condolences to the Diaz family, should any of them be listening. posted 04/18/2008 at 05:58:26

Thanks very much, but we'd like to stick with the scandal-ridden governor we have. If he settles down into the capable, legislatively savvy guy we expected him to be (and crazy nights at the Days Inn shouldn't change that), do we want to change him for Mrs. This-is-just-busy-work-till-2012? Much less the spectacle of Albany Bill. Or a race with them against Giuliani, Ambitious Prosecutorial Headcase #2. posted 03/30/2008 at 17:37:53

Though I'd as soon vote for a Komodo dragon, should Hillary by hook or by crook obtain the nomination, I'm voting for her. Should McCain win, his packing the Supreme Court for the next 20 years, the likelihood of war with Iran, dictate that we deny ourselves the luxury of punishing her. It is a luxury the soldiers dying in Iraq, the soldiers and Iranians that will die, the huge number of people who do live in that dime's worth of difference---can't afford. posted 03/30/2008 at 02:02:33

To all those who will stay home or vote for McCain if your candidate doesn't get the nomination:
Ever hear the phrase "divide and conquer"?
I used to be the only person on earth who could take Hilary or leave her. Diligent worker, typical politician, why shouldn't an operator be a woman?
Obama? Wonderful mind, inspirational, maybe there could be a little more cake with the frosting.
Their policies, frankly, are not very far apart.
Then the steel-cage match began.
Both camps have a lot to answer for. But never has a member of one party suggested that the nominee of the other party would be preferable to his/her primary opponent.
I 'd love to punish the Clinton campaign for the havoc they're causing but whatever is on the Democratic ticket in November, I'm voting for it. At this point I'm more than a yellow dog Democrat. I'm a yellow stink-bug Democrat. I'm a yellow slime-mold Democrat. If either of those has a prayer of beating McCain, I'm voting for it.
There are deaths to be answered for. If McCain wins, there will be significantly more deaths.
There's the Supreme Court. If McCain wins, the Court will more than tilt to the right, it'll be perpendicular.
So, I'll vote for Hillary, unhappily ,but I'll vote for her, or Obama. amd you people had better get a grip. Remember what misery Republicans brought us.

When you're bleeding to death, you don't ask if the tourniquet is dirty. posted 03/29/2008 at 00:29:16

Once more the Dems, my party, are turning a non-issue into the sort of family squabble so ugly it makes the kids long to run away from home to lead lives of mindless hedonism in squalid dens of corruption where old men whisper sweet nothings to them---in other words, Republicanism.
Can we try, just try, to reimagine this situation through the clear lens of apolitical basic decency? When is it appropriate to ask a young woman (unless she's on a Mommie-dearest book tour) about how her mother reacted to her father's whoring around?
If your answer is anything but "NEVER," you have unlearned everything you needed to know in kindergarten, your moral compass needle is spinning faster than Karl Rove's tongue, you have drunk deep of the Kool-Aid, you are a danger to yourself and others.
Remember when the sins of the father were not supposed to be visited on the child?
She NEVER has to be rational about her Mom and Dad. Not because she's privileged, but because EVERYONE deserves a pass on what their parents do.
Credibility my incredible ass. What a weak, facile excuse for poking a sharp stick in somebody's eye. Another cable-newspeak cliche.
From a FORMER Hillary supporter, BTW. Oh, don't get me started on HER. But whatever wins, I'm voting for it. posted 03/26/2008 at 15:47:38

At first, I had a "hey! that's my gig!" feeling. Then, I wondered, why bother? Why call yourself a man and do the most female thing on earth? Is this the Jews for Jesus of gender?
But who is hurt by this? The usual "the child will be teased at school" doesn't even apply; the family will look traditionally gendered. As long as the little man isn't continually barefoot and pregnant.
Any doctor who refuses pre-natal care to an already-conceived child should be disciplined. posted 03/30/2008 at 02:52:46