another question that'll get you kicked off the "straight talk express"...

Oh, hey, Senator -- now that we have "Joe the Plumber," what do we need you for!?

ergo the phrase: "holy shit"...

"Another Jesus Movement"...

... Jesus had movements?

knock knock...

Lord love the imbecile:

"One of my favorites last night, it was 'I am Joe Mama,'" Palin concluded, to laughs and shouts from the audience.

Let's see... I think the joke -- that dates back to the 70s, by the by -- is as follows:

Knock knock...

Who's there... ?

Joe...

Joe who... ?

Joe Mama... !!

way i see it...

You have your Obama supporters...

... and then there are the mentally ill.

Any questions?

no poetry here, mister...

Joe McCain: The guy who called me a Commie:

Operator: "911, state your emergency."

Caller: "It's not an emergency but, do you know why on one side at the damn drawbridge of 95 traffic is stopped for 15 minutes and yet traffic's coming the other way?"

Operator: "Sir, are you calling 911 to complain about traffic?"

Caller: "F--k you."

Up until now I gave John McCain a pass on his anger as something borne from his brutal handling in the Hanoi Hilton. Turns out he's always been a prick like his brother.

maine street station...

Oh hey! I'm a journalist.

judy judy judy...

Judy Miller joins Faux News, ever the opportunity to link to one of my favorite posts on this blog.

my kingdom for a better democrat...

I've been recuperating Downeast since my hospitalization last winter, affording me the displeasure of having to monitor Tom Allen running a more anemic political campaign than, say, John Kerry ever could in Ohio:

Crazy, huh? If a year ago, you would've told me that ME-Sen was safe but GA-Sen, KY-Sen, and MS-Sen (B) were neck and neck, I would've never believed it. Perhaps this is testament to Collins' political skills, but I think it has more to do with Allen's timid campaign. The campaign has been so obsessed with Collins' popularity that it has refused to aggressively attack her record. And when you play defensively -- as a challenger -- you will lose 100 percent of the time. At this point, it feels as if Allen is already running for governor in 2010 than closing out this particular race.

Okay, I exaggerate. Mike Dukakis ran a more robust campaign than Kerry did in Ohio. Even so, Kos' suspicion is the very speculation among journalist types who work here every day -- that Tom Allen felt a need to soft-pedal his challenge of Susan Collins in an era when Republicans were on the rout solely for the purpose of obtaining his preferred post -- the statehouse in 2 years -- vs., say, the Senate in a month, and consequently saddling 200-million or so U.S. citizens who crave the evisceration of the Republican party, with another 6 years of this tedious Bush-bot in drag, is unconscionable.

So somebody please put up a challenge to Mr. Cheese Whiz Tom Allen come 2o10, hey?

is that "southern," as in "southern strategy"... ?

This ex-pat Arlingtonian takes offense at the implication:

There is no level of desperation to which the flailing McCain campaign will not stoop. It is now their official position that the suburbs of our nation's capitol, home to millions of Americans, are not "real" because they aren't "Southern in nature."

Real or not, southern or not, here's betting Virginia kicks ol' Flathead's ass!

we're votin' for the n***er...

That fivethirtyeight savant has a riveting anecdote to tell:

So a canvasser goes to a woman's door in Washington, Pennsylvania. Knocks. Woman answers. Knocker asks who she's planning to vote for. She isn't sure, has to ask her husband who she's voting for. Husband is off in another room watching some game. Canvasser hears him yell back, "We're votin' for the n***er!"

Woman turns back to canvasser, and says brightly and matter of factly: "We're voting for the n***er."

the stupids...

Sarah Palin, sigh, again:

"We believe that the best of America is in these small towns that we get to visit, and in these wonderful little pockets of what I call the real America, being here with all of you hard working very patriotic, um, very, um, pro-America areas of this great nation."

A coupla thoughts:

1) I've lost the meaning of "America" here. To hear this Stupid (read as noun) dictate who or what "America" is is beyond an affront to me.

Like, what happens when the Dems take over the White House and expand their control over Congress? Couldn't've done that without the "American People" signing off on that, right? So if the Stupids rant & rail on about big government, they'll be in the minority and then who will be "anti-America," huh? Yup!

2) Love the appellation my mom's given McCain & Palin supporters, i.e., "The Stupids!" It goes without need for explanation of course. But what really cracks me up is her reference to "Flathead," originally meaning McCain, but now to also encompass Palin. It takes a discerning ear sometimes to know whom she's referring to as "Flathead over there." And here, she was such a good Republican once.

A new era to be sure.

ma/nuvaring...

My (and Busby Berkeley's) new favorite commercial, pharmaceuticals as a veritable festival of hottie lesbians seeking to avoid pregnancy...

quote of the week...

Dana Gould on tonight's episode of Real Time with Bill Maher regarding Sarah Palin:

"It's the ultimate irony: she's a pin-up girl for people who won't masturbate!"

another reason why sarah palin is a fraud...

And George W. was from Connecticut before he was from Texas... and George "Macaca" Allen grew up in southern California but learned to affect a Virginia accent, etc...

h/t to Digby...

works for me...

john warner off into the sunset...

g. interviews Sen. John Warner in his Senate office on Capitol Hill...
-- photo by SM... June '94

... he stopped Ollie North! Worth my vote over Democrat Mark Warner (no relation) in 1996, who later became Governor, and is soon to be elected to the U.S. Senate over Republican former Gov. Jim Gilmore in 20-some days, replacing the man who beat him.

So long, Senator Warner! Thanks for your time, the Liz Taylor story, and the metaphoric boot'n the ass.

beijing, china reads barking up trees...

Barking Up Trees: scandal in bohemia... - [ 翻译此页 BETA ]
... a long winter already) but I can only summarize viscerally: ... Scandal In Bohemia loves you, man! Thanks so much for the kind words-for a guy who ...
barkinguptrees.blogspot.com/2007/02/scandal-in-bohemia.html - 102k - 网页快照 - 类似网页

that one...

color me as one who thought obama blew mccain outta the water 2nite... and well he might've...

n'est-ce pas... ?

----------
Update: So say they all? Well, these'll do... !

what going on offense looks like...

I figure the next 4 weeks may get ugly but it's also looking more & more like McCain is outta his league against Obama and his people, so it'll be fun too.

it must be true...

I'm a communist?

John McCain's campaign surrogate and brother Joe McCain this weekend called Northern Virginia "communist country."

Apparently on orders from the campaign, he later apologized.

Jeez Louise! I spend 16 years in the Arlington/Fairfax area and they hunt me down. And this just after having grown up in the People's Republic of Massachusetts.

So I can only conclude: It's All About Meee!

Oh, wait! That'd make Naahmy my fellow traveler... !! GawdIlovagudirony!

a daily prayer...

Lest we forget:

We’re not civilized. The idea that we’re more civilized than people in the Middle Ages went out the window with secret torture chambers in Baghdad . . . we are no better morally than we have been in the past, and we need to recognize that. The idea that moral progress goes with technological progress is nonsense.

gun rights & other sacred institutions...

I'd be willing to wager these two will never get married:

The teenage pregnant daughter of Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin and her boyfriend are considering a summer wedding.

But whatever happened to this idea?

John McCain's campaign may have another surprise up its sleeve: the pre-election wedding of Sarah Palin's pregnant daughter, Bristol. Rumors are swirling in campaign circles about the 17-year-old and 18-year-old Levi Johnston tying the knot, the London Times reports. A wedding “would be fantastic" for the campaign, a McCain insider says.

Yes, a shotgun wedding would be just the ticket... for the Obama campaign.

can't get much earlier saturday morning than this...

Color me convinced of the theory, mine actually, that it was the advent of the T.V. remote that made America fat... that, the barka-lounger, and the availability of food beyond need and to the mere oral of fixations. I conclude this after finishing off the coffee Haagen Daz while flipping betwixt the Sox/Angels and John Grisham's The Rainmaker from my Lay-Z-Boy. (Hey! Gi'me a break, I went swimming last night!) As Matt Damon reviles ambulance chasing to Danny Devito, Terry Francona leaves Hideki Okajima in to pitch to Vladimir Guerrero representing the tying run with Mark Teixiera on first.

I have other theories, of course; for example, the proliferation of SUVs during the 90s leading to an uptick in road rage. Who the hell wants to be driving behind the ass-end of a gas guzzler -- keep to the right, motherfucker!

Ach! Guerrero singles, Teixiera to 2nd and Oki takes a trot off so Justin Masterson can see if his lead-lined sinker'll do the trick. Can somebody shoot the goddamned monkey down off the scoreboard already?

And get a load of the thundersticks. You lay serious coin for a coupla playoff grandstand seats, and a seawave of douchebags insist on obstructing your view with -- fuck me! -- thundersticks! Another reason, Mr. Disney, to hate Anaheim.

Oh! Commercial! Time to flip!

there he goes again...

[Pat] Robertson: Nuke Strikes in US After the Election

... which is fine, provided, of course, one of those nukes is tucked in Pat Robertson's shorts.

rawhide... !

The hilarity out of the north side of Chicago is reminiscent of B4 (i.e., before '04) of bleaker days ('72, '75, '86, '03, etc.). The invective spewed and uttered on Broad Shoulders Radio via ESPN is understandable, especially after Cubs fans were made to endure Ryan Dempster discovering the Yips, walking the bases loaded in the 5th, and then choking up his two-run lead by way of a James Loney moonshot salami. And, oh hey, was that Manny or Tiger Woods 3-ironing one deep into the bleachers later?

But enjoy it while you can, Cubs fans! No really! There is a certain cachet in bandwaggoning loveable if perennial losers -- once you win it all, yer nothing special hanymore! A 100-year slide even beats 86.

Assuming, for the sake of argument, my beloved Carmine Hose maintain their dominance over the Anaheim Rally Monkeys, I'll be rooting for the White Sox, meanwhile, to beat the Rays. I'm a traditionalist and have a deep antipathy toward dome baseball, and the Rays, while the Cinderella of the Ball this year, have a remarkably bland color scheme as it pertains to watching baseball on TV, I strongly feel a Sox/Sox ALCS would be far more aesthetic.

And which is why I root for the Brewers to go quickly. Is there possibly a blander town than Milwaukee other than Detroit? And having said what I said about the Cubs, I still prefer them over a Manny/Nomar revenge scenario, again assuming either of those teams can boot the Phillies.

Prediction: Carmine Hose to win 3rd Series this early 21st Century.

obama camp falls short in vetting brokaw...

As if I hadn't noticed it before, the venerated though highly overrated hack, that is Tom Brokaw, is the 2nd Debate's moderator.

Any money on whether he asks Obama if the presumptive next POTUS isn't in fact the Antichrist?

round on the edges & hi in the middle...

Old buddy old pal Chaatoes glibs on Paul Newman having been a good Ohio boy. Well, fine, we can use all the good Ohio boys (& girls for that matter) to get the lead out and get out the vote for Obama, and I do mean now!

McCain cannot win the election without Ohio. That's not just a political axiom, it's a fact. There's virtually nowhere on the board he can make up the loss of 20 electoral votes there. If you know anyone in Ohio, you should let them know that they can register and vote this week only.

Of course, Newman's pushing up daisies now, but when did being dead inhibit a good ground game getting out the vote in the midwest, hmm? So, Chaat, m'man, get on the blower to yer fellow Buckeyes, eh?