Dealer's lounge: Who's Making Money

She claims she’s known since 2006 that this would be her last term. Could be, but (a) she’s changed her mind about the Senate before and (b) getting blown out by Rick Perry in the gubernatorial primary last year surely must have brought home to her what a 2012 primary would look like. Tea partiers want this seat, and one way or another, they’re probably going to get it. Why put herself through another brutal, expensive primary that’s likely to end in embarrassment?

I wonder what Olympia Snowe’s thinking right now.

Hutchison, first elected to the Senate in 1993, said the swearing-in of the new Congress, among other things, made her feel it was the right moment to announce her resignation.

She predicted that her departure from the political scene would set off a rampage of candidates looking to replace her.

“It’s just time for people to start making their plans,” Hutchison said. “Now it’s time for a new person.”

Likely Republican contenders to succeed her include Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, Dallas Mayor Tom Leppert, state Sen. Florence Shapiro of Plano, Railroad Commissioners Elizabeth Ames Jones and Michael Williams, Weatherford car dealer Roger Williams, and Ted Cruz, a former Texas solicitor general and candidate for state attorney general.

Sound off, Texans: Who’s the favorite? Heard a lot of excitement for Williams on Twitter today after the news about KBH first broke. Via his campaign website, here he is on big government and health-care reform.

Update: A source familiar with Texas politics handicaps the race thusly:

The most amazing thing here is the level of talent that will be competing for this seat. There are several GOP candidates who are viable and would be good to great senators if elected.

Inside track – Lt Gov David Dewhurst. He’s a billionaire, so he can fund the race and defend the seat, and he holds what is actually the most powerful post in Texas government, so he has been collecting chits on this run for years.

Track 2 – AG Greg Abbott. The grassroots and Tea Parties adore Abbott. He has championed the anti-ObamaCare lawsuit, and is one of Texas’ absolute best stump speakers. He has also led a crackdown on deadbeat dads, which has earned him a lot of support in the middle.

Track 3 – Roger Williams. Former Texas Secretary of State, and he chaired the state Victory effort in 2008, raising $5 million in a couple of months. He’s wealthy, sharp, and may have the most experienced campaign talent on his side.

Track 4 – Michael Williams, Elizabeth Ames Jones, state Sen. Dan Patrick, former solicitor general Ted Cruz. Williams and Jones are both on the Railroad Commission, Williams has major grassroots support and is mindblowingly good at stump speeches, Patrick has a major Houston radio show and is very media savvy and well liked, Jones has money and some major backers of her own. Cruz is a bit of a dark horse (as is Patrick) but the grassroots love him and he’s also great on the stump. None of these candidates are bad candidates. All have held or currently hold major offices.

It will be a fascinating race to watch. There may be 20-25 candidates total on the GOP side, compared to 2 or 3 on the D side, with former Houston mayor Bill White leading that field. He was a terrible candidate for governor, no reason to think he’ll be any better running for Senate. The GOP keeps the seat, and chances are, gets a more conservative senator.

mr. whipple - December 30, 2010 | 8:45 pm · Link

More like the wind rustling through the willows and maybe a sad loon calling from across the lake.

Beautiful.

General Stuck - December 30, 2010 | 8:45 pm · Link

But will she be too beautiful for prison.

The George Soros Supermax for fallen wingnut angels.

stuckinred - December 30, 2010 | 8:45 pm · Link

Nice, John.

gizmo - December 30, 2010 | 8:48 pm · Link

Christine O’Donnell and Sarah Palin appeal to a lot of people who find our modern world too complex and difficult to navigate. Those two women frame everything in simple terms that don’t require much in the way of soul-searching or intellectual exercise. Ignorance with confidence is a message that works well, and it is particularly suited to our sound-bite TV culture, because it can be dispensed in small, pithy doses between shampoo commercials.

Jim, Foolish Literalist - December 30, 2010 | 8:48 pm · Link

I actually remember her on the old Bill Maher shows, and TBogg is right- she’s stupid, silly, pig-ignorant, and a true-believe

I also remember her from the old ABC show, and I agree. Even I was taken aback the earnest fear she expressed when she talked about the mice with human brains.

Captain Haddock - December 30, 2010 | 8:49 pm · Link

She got on all the morning shows today to proclaim her innocence amid a staggering onslaught of the softest balls that could be pitched her way.

joe from Lowell - December 30, 2010 | 8:50 pm · Link

Sure she’s making a living off of the yokels much like Sarah Palin does, but she lacks the white trash feral cynicism of a Palin. O’Donnell’s no Grifter Grizzly, she’s more Blanche Dubois; spiritually pure, lost in a fantasy and depending on the kindness of strangers.

That’s it, exactly. This is not a mean person. This is not a phony. I’ll bet she walks out of room full of her passionate supporters and thinks, “Gosh, what a nice buncha folks!”

Omnes Omnibus - December 30, 2010 | 8:50 pm · Link

@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Brain is cute, but Pinky is rather terrifying. Poit!

stuckinred - December 30, 2010 | 8:51 pm · Link

The dude on CNN (I think) this morning kept asking her, “do you really think you should be talking about this in public like this? Do you have a lawyer”. She hadn’t a fucking clue.

The Republic of Stupidity - December 30, 2010 | 8:52 pm · Link

@Jim, Foolish Literalist:

Somehow, this begs for a comment about humans w/ mouse brains…

Steve - December 30, 2010 | 8:53 pm · Link

First, from some of the really nasty stuff she said about Mike Castle, there’s definitely evidence to suggest a mean streak if you want to look for it. Second, no one is stupid enough to think it’s okay to spend campaign donations on the rent money. If she were a guy, no one would ever believe either of these two things about her in a million years.

khead - December 30, 2010 | 8:56 pm · Link

These days, though, we’re such a stupid nation and one segment of our population is so thoroughly into the Jeebus was a Conservative kool-aid that Christine O’Donnell has moved from mark to become God’s Accidental Grifter

I cop to really digging the snark here, but I must hesitate for just a moment to worry about our stupid nation.

Khead +3

Zifnab - December 30, 2010 | 8:57 pm · Link

I’m still amazed O’Donnell made it all the way through her Senate race without getting distracted and lost when she encountered something shiny.

beltane - December 30, 2010 | 8:58 pm · Link

Maybe there’s something to American Exceptionalism after all. The far-right in other developed countries is evil and sociopathic, but they are nowhere near as ignorant as ours. This level of stupidity is almost animal-like in nature.

And half the country is like this.

freelancer - December 30, 2010 | 8:59 pm · Link

This smacks of Dave Chappelle:

“Sorry, Officer, I didn’t know I couldn’t do that.”

Allan - December 30, 2010 | 8:59 pm · Link

@Steve: Cosign that. This is a woman who makes calculated use of the names of far more famous and important persons in an effort to lift herself up among them. She repeatedly intimated that Hillary Clinton was going to primary Obama, and brings up Joe Biden in her shotgun blast of a response today. Why? Because if you say something outrageous about someone famous, it makes you famous too.

eemom - December 30, 2010 | 8:59 pm · Link

I’m not usually one to start stupid wars about sexism (unless I’m bored, which I am)—but srsly, would you and TBogg extend such tenderhearted indulgence toward this opportunistic buffoon if she were a man?

I don’t think so.

And Blanche Dubois? Gimme a fucking break.

Maude - December 30, 2010 | 9:00 pm · Link

I love the phrase pig ignorant.

TuiMel - December 30, 2010 | 9:01 pm · Link

I don’t know from O’Donnell; she may be a true-believer, true-life Chance the Gardener. But this,

the white trash feral cynicism of a Palin

is the highly distilled essence of Sarah and her clan. If Palin did not exist, some pulp novelist would invent her (or maybe already has).

beltane - December 30, 2010 | 9:04 pm · Link

@gizmo: The people whom Sarah Palin and Christine O’Donnell appeal to would have found any era of human history too complex and confusing to deal with. They are not people who navigate through life; they are the oarsmen in the galleys. Instead of an overseer with a whip, they are prodded on by the hope that Blingee Jesus will reward them with 3-D TVs.

stuckinred - December 30, 2010 | 9:05 pm · Link

@eemom: What’s wrong with the Blanche Dubois comparison?

serge - December 30, 2010 | 9:05 pm · Link

She’s dabbling “into” bullshit, now. At least she’s not a witch.

parsimon - December 30, 2010 | 9:05 pm · Link

@Zifnab: Well, her handlers are terrible—witness the “I am not a witch” campaign piece—but one suspects that she doesn’t and never has had professional handlers. Palin has acquired some, but it seems she’s ornery about it all.

I gather that Palin is in the process of being disowned by the Republican establishment, which was pretty much predicted. O’Donnell was dropped nearly from moment one, and she is a mark to that extent.

freelancer - December 30, 2010 | 9:06 pm · Link

@beltane:

Is it too late for a COTY nomination?

Mike Kay (True Grit) - December 30, 2010 | 9:07 pm · Link

her word salad isn’t as bad as Palin’s. she almost makes sense.

the lack of full incoherence is a draw back in teabagger circles.

MattR - December 30, 2010 | 9:08 pm · Link

@eemom: I seem to remember similar discussions about GWB early in his presidency. There was some debate over whether he was dumb or mean until it became clear the answer was both.

suzanne - December 30, 2010 | 9:08 pm · Link

I completely concur. She’s dumber than a box of rocks. Not evil. Just… DUMB.

And except for the brief excitement over her “sexy ladybug” (Is there really such a thing? That’s a fetish for the ages.) Halloween costume and the fact that she has a bush, I was actually surprised that the attacks on her weren’t more sexist.

eemom - December 30, 2010 | 9:09 pm · Link

@stuckinred:

Blanche Dubois never aspired to be a U.S. Senator.

slag - December 30, 2010 | 9:09 pm · Link

I don’t know. Is this the part where Christine O’Donnell goes on teevee and tells people: “I’m not a rhymes-with-witch”?

Mike Kay (True Grit) - December 30, 2010 | 9:09 pm · Link

@eemom:

but srsly, would you and TBogg extend such tenderhearted indulgence toward this opportunistic buffoon if she were a man?

to be fair, they support glenn. so there’s that.

stuckinred - December 30, 2010 | 9:09 pm · Link

@suzanne: You sure she has a. . .

Redshirt - December 30, 2010 | 9:12 pm · Link

Some wonderful turns of phrases in this post. Thanks! Nice writing is such a pleasure to read, since it can be so unpredictable.

Since there’s been some perhaps warranted accusations of reverse-anti-sexism (??) here – going softer on a woman than a man in an identical situation – I wonder if there are any male equivalents of O’Donnell, and/or Palin?

Quayle? One of them Kennedys? I’m straining to name an example. Perhaps that’s sexism too, or the by product of a sexist society.

eemom - December 30, 2010 | 9:13 pm · Link

@MattR:

Missing the point entirely.

Nobody EVER said, in essence, “aw, he’s just a sweet clueless cutie. Don’t let’s pick on him, you meanies” about Bush.

parsimon - December 30, 2010 | 9:17 pm · Link

@Redshirt: I went through the same thought process, and came up with Quayle at a first pass. But we’d need someone who lost his House or Senate race, but is still in the spotlight from time to time.

Maybe Alvin Greene?

The fact is that O’Donnell got as much attention as she did in part because she’s female, and in part because she was backed by Palin.

Joe Miller?

Zifnab - December 30, 2010 | 9:18 pm · Link

@parsimon:

I gather that Palin is in the process of being disowned by the Republican establishment, which was pretty much predicted.

Her latest book was a dud, but she’s still got a lot of media pull. I have no doubt that Sarah Palin’s endorsement will be a big turning point in the 2012 primary. Beyond that, she’s just playing the Gingrich game now. Wink and smile and ask for some money for an exploratory committee or a working group or some other political nonsense. Then prattle away on speaking tours about what she would do if she were President.

stuckinred - December 30, 2010 | 9:18 pm · Link

Chauncey Gardner?

Mnemosyne - December 30, 2010 | 9:19 pm · Link

Whenever someone talks about ignorance as though it’s some kind of defense, I always think of this speech from Black Beauty.

Ignorance may work as an explanation, but it sure as hell isn’t an excuse.

John Cole - December 30, 2010 | 9:21 pm · Link

@eemom: I never said don’t pick on her. I said she’s stupid enough to not know how many laws she probably broke.

Which for some insane reason you’ve decided is high praise, enough to launch a charge of reverse-sexism because I’m being too “soft.”

I didn’t even mention Israel.

majii - December 30, 2010 | 9:23 pm · Link

I don’t think that anyone, male or female, should get upset when he/she reveals that he/she is not very ready for political prime-time. I would expect them to take some time for self-examination and work to learn something and change the image. It’s not the fault of others if a male/female comes across as having half-baked ideas. The blame has to be placed on the offender, and anyone who says crazy stuff deserves all of the condemnation and ridicule he/she gets. McDonnell threw her own hat in the political ring.

O’Donnell was the conductor, and her supporters were the passengers. The train wrecked. I’m an observer, and I say she’s to blame for the predicament she now finds herself in. I’ve got enough of my own problems to worry about Christine’s. Her lesson should be: don’t try driving a train if you haven’t been trained to do so, and yes, I’m laughing at her, enjoying it, and hoping that she decides not to run for another political office for the rest of her life. I also abhor anyone who uses Christianity to further his/her own personal/political goals.

Mike Kay (True Grit) - December 30, 2010 | 9:23 pm · Link

@gizmo: this.

parsimon - December 30, 2010 | 9:24 pm · Link

@Zifnab:

I have no doubt that Sarah Palin’s endorsement will be a big turning point in the 2012 primary.

Right. I meant that she’s being dissed as a serious candidate for the Presidency (or Republican nomination) herself. Which was pretty much predicted: she’d be a disaster for the party, so the right-wing noise machine was going to start sounding sour notes about her at some point, and it seems as though they’ve started.

stuckinred - December 30, 2010 | 9:25 pm · Link

@majii: She thinks Christianity is using her.

KSinMA - December 30, 2010 | 9:25 pm · Link

@suzanne: Dumb like a fox?

General Stuck - December 30, 2010 | 9:25 pm · Link

@John Cole:

Well, I for one plan to go soft on Christine, lest she turn me into a frog.

MattR - December 30, 2010 | 9:27 pm · Link

@General Stuck: When I see Christine, no part of me goes soft.

Mike Kay (True Grit) - December 30, 2010 | 9:28 pm · Link

@KSinMA:

like a fox?

I don’t find her attractive. not at all.

cathyx - December 30, 2010 | 9:30 pm · Link

@Mike Kay (True Grit): Some men prefer stupid women.

parsimon - December 30, 2010 | 9:31 pm · Link

@Mike Kay (True Grit):

Totally. I don’t find Joe Miller attractive either, not at all.

Next?

General Stuck - December 30, 2010 | 9:31 pm · Link

@MattR:

Wingnut barbie dolls don’t do it for me.

They have to have crazy evil eyes

JGabriel - December 30, 2010 | 9:31 pm · Link

John Cole:

I actually remember her on the old Bill Maher shows, and TBogg is right … I just don’t sense a malicious streak.

I didn’t sense a malicious streak in O’Donnell’s Maher appearances either, but there sure as hell was a mean streak in her underhanded accusations of Castle’s and Coons’ “unmanliness” during the primary and general campaigns.

.

Mike Kay (True Grit) - December 30, 2010 | 9:33 pm · Link

@cathyx: ooooh. I didn’t think of that. Of course. that explains hamsher’s groupies.

Will - December 30, 2010 | 9:33 pm · Link

@eemom:

I’m not usually one to start stupid wars about sexism (unless I’m bored, which I am)—but srsly, would you and TBogg extend such tenderhearted indulgence toward this opportunistic buffoon if she were a man?

Dan Quayle comes to mind. Always seemed a nice enough guy, and the gentle breeze drifting between his ears was probably cooling on a hot day.

MattR - December 30, 2010 | 9:33 pm · Link

@General Stuck: I am not going to let a minor detail like that stop me from making a play on words.

cleek - December 30, 2010 | 9:34 pm · Link

@John Cole:

fuck Israel.

Montysano - December 30, 2010 | 9:38 pm · Link

You look at her eyes when she’s asked a question off the beaten path and you don’t get the feeling that that is the sound of gears grinding away that you hear. More like the wind rustling through the willows and maybe a sad loon calling from across the lake.

When Tbogg is on his game, few can touch him.

Raenelle - December 30, 2010 | 9:38 pm · Link

That so explains why she was never generally accepted by the Palinites. She could never generate the amount of seething resentment with which they identify. She said the right things; she had the right enemies. But she was never truly one of them. Being psychotic and bone ignorant was not enough. You also have to be a sociopath—kill ‘em all and let God sort ‘em out mentality; you’re either part of the problem or part of the solution; in war, there are no innocent bystanders; you’re either on the guest list or on the menu; fuck ‘em all but six and use them for pall bearers. She wasn’t vicious that way, and the Teabaggers knew it. I never understood why she wasn’t embraced by them; this completely explains it.

Jim, Foolish Literalist - December 30, 2010 | 9:42 pm · Link

@eemom: I don’t think its so much that she’s a cutie, it’s more like she’s the equivalent of the rent-is-too-damn-high guy who stumbled into an endorsement from a Beltway-approved halfwit.

Will - December 30, 2010 | 9:42 pm · Link

I completely concur. She’s dumber than a box of rocks. Not evil. Just… DUMB.

And except for the brief excitement over her “sexy ladybug” (Is there really such a thing? That’s a fetish for the ages.) Halloween costume and the fact that she has a bush, I was actually surprised that the attacks on her weren’t more sexist.

I loved that anecdote, partly because it seemed to fit her so well.

Something about her seems exactly like the kind of girl that needs to be watched over by her friends when she drinks, lest they turn around and she’s gone and accidentally slept with someone she just met….not out of sluttiness, but just out of drinkiness. Ooops! What was your name again? Did we have sex last night? Really? Oh no! How does this keep happening?

kdaug - December 30, 2010 | 9:42 pm · Link

Ain’t gotta be an asshole to be an idiot.

(Late to the party, I’ll read up).

Gus - December 30, 2010 | 9:43 pm · Link

Nice posts from both TBogg and John. Well written and captured O’Donnell perfectly as far as I can see.

BruceFromOhio - December 30, 2010 | 9:44 pm · Link

She’d be the idiot spending all her days trying to convince grandma to sell all the silverware and the IBM stocks that grand-daddy left behind so that they can give the money to Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker, because everyone knows they are doing the Lord’s work.

May I welcome you to the 112th Congress of The United States of America.

geg6 - December 30, 2010 | 9:44 pm · Link

@stuckinred:

I watched the same interview (definitely CNN) and that anchor dude seemed a bit taken aback by her craziness and lack of legal help. Mainly because she didn’t have a clue why he asked the question (over and over) or that anything she said might be problematic from a legal perspective. He first asked the question after her answer to his question about her townhouse rent being paid with campaign funds. She basically admitted it and went into some convoluted explanation about how it was campaign headquarters or something. That’s when he asked if she had gotten legal advice before appearing. The prosecutor is cackling with glee. She really is a stupid one this one.

And Cole? You are a man and I’ll forgive your stupidity here on that basis. O’Donnell is, yes, a true believer and every bit as dumb as she is crazy. But the idea that she doesn’t have a mean bone in her body, poor thing, is a con only a man could buy. She’s every bit as mean as Sarah Barracuda. She just doesn’t have the right mentors (because she’s truly crazy and they know it), she isn’t nearly as sly and calculating as Palin, but she’s said a lot of horrible mean things about a lot of people. She just doesn’t come off like the mean girl ballbuster that Palin does, but she is and you have fallen for it. Men. Suckers, the lot of you.

Mr Stagger Lee - December 30, 2010 | 9:46 pm · Link

@parsimon: Until I truly see Palin out for the count, I think she will get the nomination, her tea-party base will fry any Republican establishment push back, even Rush Limbaugh will have retribution if he rips the Hockey Mom, because Glenn Beck will back her in his attempt to supplant Limbaugh as the #1 talker. Palin has the anti-Kryptonite the more mud thrown at her more she becomes snow white to the idiot American base.

stuckinred - December 30, 2010 | 9:46 pm · Link

@geg6: I agree with you, she’d crush you like a bug if she got the chance.

snarkyspice - December 30, 2010 | 9:46 pm · Link

@majii:

Exactly.

Her insinuations about every male opponent being gay, and the implication that there was something wrong with that, were not ‘cute.’ They were the calculated words of a bitch. An idiot sure, but also a bitch. Man, it is easy to pull the wool over mens’ eyes.

cleek - December 30, 2010 | 9:46 pm · Link

@geg6:

Men. Suckers, the lot of you.

sexist

BruceFromOhio - December 30, 2010 | 9:47 pm · Link

@eemom: ROFL.

No shit.

eemom - December 30, 2010 | 9:48 pm · Link

@John Cole:

I didn’t even mention Israel.

not entirely sure where that came from…..but if you said it for the reason I think you did, you’re an asshole on the level of some of the most assholic of your commenters.

joe from Lowell - December 30, 2010 | 9:48 pm · Link

@General Stuck:

Wingnut barbie dolls don’t do it for me.

They have to have crazy evil eyes

I hear you. Michelle Bachman, for instance, looks like she’d be a tiger in the sack.

stuckinred - December 30, 2010 | 9:49 pm · Link

@joe from Lowell: with a strapon

John Cole - December 30, 2010 | 9:50 pm · Link

@eemom: I said it, because normally when you get malicious (as when you are leveling unfounded charges of sexism), it is normally when Israel is the topic.

I called her an idiot, as well as “stupid, silly, pig-ignorant,” and you accuse me of “tenderhearted indulgence” based on sexism? And I’m the asshole? What exactly do I need to do to “treat her like I would a man?” Could you hand me the verbiage?

Mike Kay (True Grit) - December 30, 2010 | 9:50 pm · Link

@cleek: exactly. why I remember only 2 years ago when a number of bloggers flocked to support edwards because he was so cute. remember how they would go on and on about him being a good family man. heh!

BruceFromOhio - December 30, 2010 | 9:51 pm · Link

@General Stuck: They have to have crazy evil eyes.

Ah, a Bachmann man. .. raises glass ..

stuckinred - December 30, 2010 | 9:52 pm · Link

Ya’ll know about this maniac Andy Martin, Birther King running for Prez? He used to be Anthony R Martin-Trigona, a maniac landlord in Champaign Urbana in the 70’s.

cleek - December 30, 2010 | 9:53 pm · Link

@Mike Kay (True Grit):

well…. there was supposed to be a (sarcastic) dozen “!”s after that… but, FYWP.

personally, i don’t see any sexism here, and don’t care to start turning over rocks to find any. fuck that.

General Stuck - December 30, 2010 | 9:53 pm · Link

@BruceFromOhio:

Give the man a cigar

parsimon - December 30, 2010 | 9:54 pm · Link

@geg6: This is basically the theory that she’s a Heather.

Though I’m honestly not sure why we need a theory of Christine O’Donnell at this point: the Republican party let the tea party / Sarah Palin direct things, to its detriment. O’Donnell’s dumb cutiepie nature didn’t cut it.

Kuvasz - December 30, 2010 | 9:54 pm · Link

We are now awash with a multitude of C-minus students who no longer have the yoke of teachers telling them that they are wrong. So what we get are George W Bush, Sarah Palin, and Christine O’Donnell essentially speaking in tongues as they try to describe the real world.

Let me put it this way, regardless of having inherited a hounddog gene from both parents, Ms O’Donnell is too stupid for even me to want to fuck. ‘Fraid the stupid would wear off.

Gin & Tonic - December 30, 2010 | 9:55 pm · Link

@joe from Lowell: Uh, no, not to me, anyway. She looks like she’d bite your dick off and cackle with glee. And, strangely, that doesn’t turn me on.

Mike Kay (True Grit) - December 30, 2010 | 9:55 pm · Link

@eemom:

you’re an asshole

Hello! This a big reason why we like Cole.

Dennis G. - December 30, 2010 | 9:55 pm · Link

God’s Accidental Grifter

is a beautiful line. Thanks for that.

Cheers

Maude - December 30, 2010 | 9:56 pm · Link

@eemom:

We are not assholes, we are jackasses.

stuckinred - December 30, 2010 | 9:57 pm · Link

Barn burner Music City Bowl comin down the stretch!

General Stuck - December 30, 2010 | 9:58 pm · Link

@Maude:

We are not assholes, we are jackasses.

And some of us are both, give or take

Jim, Foolish Literalist - December 30, 2010 | 9:58 pm · Link

@Maude: can we compromise on jack-a-holes, or would that be selling out?

Mike Kay (True Grit) - December 30, 2010 | 9:58 pm · Link

@cleek: I don’t think I’ve ever posted a comment that wasn’t sarcastic. including this one.

MattR - December 30, 2010 | 9:58 pm · Link

@stuckinred: He had his ability to file federal lawsuits severely limited due to the number of frivilous, vindictive and sometimes anti-semitic lawuits he was filing. Wikipedia also includes this gem

His 1996 run for the Florida State Senate came unraveled when it was revealed that he’d named his campaign committee for his 1986 congressional run “The Anthony R. Martin-Trigona Congressional Campaign to Exterminate Jew Power in America.”

EDIT: I thought we were dickheads. (Or cudlips)

Will - December 30, 2010 | 9:59 pm · Link

@ Kuvasz

Ms O’Donnell is too stupid for even me to want to fuck. ‘Fraid the stupid would wear off.

Hell, sometimes the dumber the better. There’s a picture of her somewhere with her mouth open in an ‘O’ shape, that makes her look kind of like a blow-up doll.

lol - December 30, 2010 | 10:00 pm · Link

@joe from Lowell:

Katherine Harris.

stuckinred - December 30, 2010 | 10:01 pm · Link

@MattR: He screwed a bunch of people I knew that rented from him. Some of us that were just as crazy had a few run ins with him and he wanted no part of it.

Montysano - December 30, 2010 | 10:01 pm · Link

@geg6:

Men. Suckers, the lot of you.

This may help explain things.

mr. whipple - December 30, 2010 | 10:01 pm · Link

Michelle Bachman, for instance, looks like she’d be a tiger in the sack.

Maybe, but I’d sure as hell tell her my name is Stuck and hide the bunnies, just to be on the safe side.

cleek - December 30, 2010 | 10:01 pm · Link

@Mike Kay (True Grit):

i must admit, my incoming sarcasm detector is being impaired by the big bottle of Dragon’s Milk i’ve been sippin on, lo these past few half-hours.

eemom - December 30, 2010 | 10:02 pm · Link

@John Cole:

yes, you’re the asshole. Because Israel has nothing the fuck to do with this, and unless you’ve conducted some kind of in-depth analysis of my many comments on your stupid blog, the statement that “normally when [I] get malicious . . . it is normally [sic] when Israel is the topic” is a type of selective, gratuitous obnoxiousness that I don’t think I’ve ever seen you direct at anyone else, no matter how “malicious” their comments.

And calling me “malicious” for calling out sexism, even if you don’t agree with it—especially given the level of insult that is the accepted norm here short of using the word “c**t”—is a whole ‘nother species of gratuitous assholery in a class of its very own.

Mr Stagger Lee - December 30, 2010 | 10:04 pm · Link

@stuckinred: And Stanford seems to have Connecticut’s number but that Husky team is tenacious. Flipping back and forth on the games.

FoxinSocks - December 30, 2010 | 10:04 pm · Link

Wanted to join in w/ @Steve, @Allan, @JGabriel and anyone else I missed. This is a woman who will smear an opponent for being gay faster than a pro-lifer can hug a fetus. That empty space between her ears? She’s not dumb, she’s just a true believer, and she doesn’t have much need for critical thought.

As a true believer, she can misuse campaign funds because she knows her cause is right. As a true believer, she won’t hesitate to smear her opponents, to lie, to steal, and remember, her ultimate goal is to deny whole segments of the population basic human rights. If that’s not malicious, I don’t know what is.

mr. whipple - December 30, 2010 | 10:04 pm · Link

Fight! Fight!!

joe from Lowell - December 30, 2010 | 10:04 pm · Link

@Gin & Tonic: A tiger.

I’ve got three words:

Frustrated.

Glossolalia.

Finger-nails.

stuckinred - December 30, 2010 | 10:05 pm · Link

@Mr Stagger Lee: God I hate women’s hoop. I know, it’s the way the game was meant to be played. Too many years running women’s softball I guess. I’m happy they play but I can’t watch it.

BruceFromOhio - December 30, 2010 | 10:06 pm · Link

@Kuvasz:

I think here is where the rubber meets the road. How much conservative cash is rolling around out there, looking for a place to nest? And what better place to invest than in dull-minded fools who are willing to take the incoming fire, not just mindlessly, but willingly? For every Christine O’Donnell, how many like-minded Republicans will be sitting in the House next year?

“God’s Accidental Grifter” has no fucking clue who he or she is grifting for, making people like O’Donnell and Miller money magnets for the real con men.

eemom, I hear you – if Christine looked like Newt, it would be a different conversation, or at least different adjectives. News flash – both come from the same family of grifting, just different orders. And ole Newties’ been at it longer.

Fucking Republicans.

Mike Kay (True Grit) - December 30, 2010 | 10:06 pm · Link

@eemom: I smell lawsuit.

MattR - December 30, 2010 | 10:06 pm · Link

@eemom: I’m sorry. I know its juvenille. But I can’t resist.

slag - December 30, 2010 | 10:06 pm · Link

What a friggin trainwreck this thread has turned into. At this point, I’m trying to decide if people are just parodying themselves. Or has the stupid become just so contagious?

John Cole - December 30, 2010 | 10:06 pm · Link

@eemom: I haven’t done any analysis other than my own observation, which is that you are at your worst when Israel is the topic.

And you continue to claim we are being sexist for apparently being too soft on her when all we did was rip her a new one for her idiocy, and still have not told me what I would have to have said about her for it to pass your sexism test.

You may not take charges of sexism seriously, but I do, and unfounded accusations of sexism piss me off. The only other person I know of to call me a sexist is Jane, and that pissed me off too. So fill me in on what I would have to say in order for it to pass muster as non-sexist, or enjoy the company you keep.

And damnit, I’m sick and tired of having to clean up c-bombs.

geg6 - December 30, 2010 | 10:07 pm · Link

@Mike Kay (True Grit):

WTF? I am not sure what John Edwards has to do with anything here, but I, at least, was never an Edwards supporter and never saw any bloggers who supported him on the basis of his family as opposed to his policies. YMMV.

eemom - December 30, 2010 | 10:07 pm · Link

oh, goodie. Now we’re back in “would I want to fuck her or not” land.

Yes, there were MANY conversations like that among women about GWB and Dan Quayle.

Nope, nothing sexist about this line of inquiry, nothing at all. Nothing to see here, ladies, just move on…..

stuckinred - December 30, 2010 | 10:07 pm · Link

@slag: Let’s go back to arguing about the Big 10 and the SEC!

Mike in NC - December 30, 2010 | 10:08 pm · Link

Re: failed grifter candidates. I saw on the local news last night that Ilario “Psycho” Pantano—the Iraq war criminal that lost his bid to be Congressman in my district—is tens of thousands in debt and has been going around for the past several weeks asking teabaggers to pony up so he can pay his bills and make another run again in two years. The balls on that dirtbag…

General Stuck - December 30, 2010 | 10:08 pm · Link

@mr. whipple:

Maybe, but I’d sure as hell tell her my name is Stuck and hide the bunnies,

That wouldn’t save you. And when the female black widow chooses to eat the smaller male after mating, if your time is up, then your time is up.

BruceFromOhio - December 30, 2010 | 10:08 pm · Link

@mr. whipple:

Maybe, but I’d sure as hell tell her my name is Stuck and hide the bunnies, just to be on the safe side.

Man, this thread is on a roll.

stuckinred - December 30, 2010 | 10:09 pm · Link

@eemom: That’s no lady. . .

Mr Stagger Lee - December 30, 2010 | 10:09 pm · Link

@stuckinred: Watching to see if the Husky’s 90 game streak ends, but I am waiting to see the other Huskies play Nebraska, hope it won’t be too much of a slaughter like the last time.

stuckinred - December 30, 2010 | 10:10 pm · Link

@Mr Stagger Lee: I hear ya!

BruceFromOhio - December 30, 2010 | 10:11 pm · Link

@eemom:

And calling me “malicious” for calling out sexism, even if you don’t agree with it—especially given the level of insult that is the accepted norm here short of using the word “c**t”—is a whole ‘nother species of gratuitous assholery in a class of its very own.

Yup, definitely on a roll.

Ken Pidcock - December 30, 2010 | 10:12 pm · Link

Or the business and economics editor for The Atlantic, for that matter.

I know that defending Megan doesn’t go over well in these parts, but I insist on doing so, anyway. There is a difference between an idiot and someone with with a formidable intellect who chooses to defend idiocy.

stuckinred - December 30, 2010 | 10:12 pm · Link

Hey, maybe the ladies can go up to the food thread! :)

General Stuck - December 30, 2010 | 10:13 pm · Link

@eemom:

Yes, there were MANY conversations like that among women about GWB and Dan Quayle.

I agree, there should have been more of these. It wouldn’t be sexism, nauseating, maybe, but not sexist.

slag - December 30, 2010 | 10:14 pm · Link

@stuckinred: Sure. I, for one, stand firm in the opinion that the Securities and Exchange Commission should get out of football altogether.

Maude - December 30, 2010 | 10:14 pm · Link

@Jim, Foolish Literalist:

I’d feel honored to have that moniker.

Will - December 30, 2010 | 10:14 pm · Link

@eemom:

oh, goodie. Now we’re back in “would I want to fuck her or not” land.

Yes, there were MANY conversations like that among women about GWB and Dan Quayle.

Nope, nothing sexist about this line of inquiry, nothing at all. Nothing to see here, ladies, just move on…..

If she looked like Bush or Quayle, we wouldn’t be having those conversations either.

stuckinred - December 30, 2010 | 10:14 pm · Link

Incredibly stupid play by a Vols corner!

mr. whipple - December 30, 2010 | 10:14 pm · Link

@stuckinred:

Oh man.

parsimon - December 30, 2010 | 10:14 pm · Link

Well, look. The people talking about whether they’d like to fuck Michelle Bachmann or Christine O’Donnell aren’t helping. It’s seriously obnoxious, and I realize it’s supposed to be a joke, but it’s unfunny.

As for whether Cole’s characterization of O’Donnell is soft-hearted, the terminology (“stupid, silly, pig-ignorant”) sounds forgiving insofar as it’s not condemnatory. He doesn’t say that she’s ‘a fucking idiot asshole’, for example. However! It’s the kind of thing you might say about, oh, Alvin Greene. They’re both simpletons.

eemom - December 30, 2010 | 10:15 pm · Link

you are at your worst when Israel is the topic.

Without knowing what you mean by “worst,” I’ll venture a guess that your perception of my worseness on that subject is my reaction to the fact that you are at your worst of a knee-jerk party liner when that topic comes up—just as you evidently were for years and years when your knees jerked in the opposite direction.

And I do not take accusations of sexism lightly either. One of the many things I despise about Hamsher is her constant, pathetic exploitation of that card when she’s got no others in her hand.

Just show me a place where you’ve ever said anything remotely like this

I just don’t sense a malicious streak. Sure, the outcome of her policies would have a malicious impact on the American people, but I don’t think she understands that.

about a man. And surely that can’t be because there aren’t plenty of men just as stupid as O’Donnell among her fellow teatards and republicans.

Mike Kay (True Grit) - December 30, 2010 | 10:16 pm · Link

Hey, you guys.

wait up.

I just made a fresh bowl of popcorn.

stuckinred - December 30, 2010 | 10:16 pm · Link

@parsimon: Aren’t helping what? It’s a stupid fucking blog. Who cares?

joe from Lowell - December 30, 2010 | 10:18 pm · Link

I didn’t realize I was supposed to be “helping.”

“Helping” what, I wonder?

Mike Kay (True Grit) - December 30, 2010 | 10:18 pm · Link

@eemom:

One of the many things I despise about Hamsher is her constant, pathetic exploitation of that card when she’s got no others in her hand.

for us none readers, when does she pull that crap??

General Stuck - December 30, 2010 | 10:19 pm · Link

@eemom:

We menfolk just can’t help it much, what with a big brain and the little brain always quarreling with each other, nothing much smart comes from that. I agree that Cole playing the Israel card was a cheap shot though

John Cole - December 30, 2010 | 10:20 pm · Link

@eemom: I don’t think I’ve ever said that about anyone. The only people as dumb as her are Palin, Steve King, Sharron Angle, Joe Miller, Joe the not-Plumber and Bachman, and they all have a mean streak a mile wide.

So tell me again how this was sexist? I mean, maybe I am wrong and she does have a mean streak, but how the fuck do you get off calling me sexist for those remarks?

worst of a knee-jerk party liner

Not sure what party you are referring to, because the Democratic party line is complete deference to Israel.

John Cole, party of one!

Mike Kay (True Grit) - December 30, 2010 | 10:21 pm · Link

@stuckinred: hahahahahahahahahahahahh

at the very least, they can get the men some beer.

cleek - December 30, 2010 | 10:21 pm · Link

smells like someone’s cookin pie

stuckinred - December 30, 2010 | 10:22 pm · Link

A clusterfuck is afoot in Nashville!

parsimon - December 30, 2010 | 10:23 pm · Link

@stuckinred: Oh. Well, I seem to have become worried there, for a bit. Even though I know you’re all pretend internet people, your words are heard. I tend to think that discussing the fuckability of female politicians has an impact. YMMV.

Evolved Deep Southerner - December 30, 2010 | 10:24 pm · Link

@stuckinred: Ain’t this the God-damndest mess you ever saw?

Evolved Deep Southerner - December 30, 2010 | 10:24 pm · Link

@Evolved Deep Southerner: The game, I’m talking about.

stuckinred - December 30, 2010 | 10:25 pm · Link

@parsimon: OK, I’m sorry someone else said what they said.

Evolved Deep Southerner - December 30, 2010 | 10:25 pm · Link

Oh, hell, it just got a helluva lot messier.

stuckinred - December 30, 2010 | 10:26 pm · Link

@Evolved Deep Southerner: For this to happen to the Vols again is going to cause serious hysteria.

Mike Kay (True Grit) - December 30, 2010 | 10:26 pm · Link

@parsimon: but I don’t of any female politician who’s fuckable.

I think the people who have a crush on palin simply don’t know many women.

cathyx - December 30, 2010 | 10:27 pm · Link

@parsimon: I think that the fact that we don’t talk about the fuckability of male politicians is because there aren’t any worthy of it.

Evolved Deep Southerner - December 30, 2010 | 10:27 pm · Link

Sung to the Tarheels fight song:

“Over hills and over ditches,

There’s a place that’s not so swell,

It is called North Carolina,

Go you Tarheels, go to hell

HEY

Pissoncarolina,

Pissoncarolina …”

OVERTIME, baby.

Fuck Christine O’Donnell.

parsimon - December 30, 2010 | 10:27 pm · Link

@joe from Lowell:Helping to dispel any notion that there’s sexism afoot.

stuckinred - December 30, 2010 | 10:28 pm · Link

@Evolved Deep Southerner: Not that fond of the Vols either. Having seen Derek play in high school makes me like them a bit better but not much.

parsimon - December 30, 2010 | 10:30 pm · Link

@cathyx: There’s Obama. But it would be uncouth in the extreme to discuss it. I’m more interested in his policies and execution of same, anyway.

eemom - December 30, 2010 | 10:30 pm · Link

@John Cole:

1. That is a pure evasion of what I said. Look at these words:

I just don’t sense a malicious streak. Sure, the outcome of her policies would have a malicious impact on the American people, but I don’t think she understands that.

Just look at those words—and tell us honestly, with a straight face, that you would ever make an observation like that about a man.

I submit that It would never even OCCUR to you to ask whether a stupid, pig-ignorant man who would have fucked us all over had he been elected to the U.S. Senate, had a “malicious streak” or not. What the fuck difference does that make?

Shit, maybe John Boener doesn’t have a mean streak either! Look how he gets all weepy all the time!

And that’s not even getting into the presumption of a statement like “I don’t think she understands that.” Really? Have you tested her I.Q.?

Evolved Deep Southerner - December 30, 2010 | 10:31 pm · Link

@stuckinred: Nah, I think he got ALL the crazy from his seeing-visions-of-the-Virgin momma. You can see it in his crazy eyes. Especially now.

celticdragonchick - December 30, 2010 | 10:32 pm · Link

You look at her eyes when she’s asked a question off the beaten path and you don’t get the feeling that that is the sound of gears grinding away that you hear. More like the wind rustling through the willows and maybe a sad loon calling from across the lake.

My God. Devastating.

stuckinred - December 30, 2010 | 10:32 pm · Link

@Evolved Deep Southerner: You know she’s Arab?

He ought to be crazy with how stupid his d-backs are.

Mike Kay (True Grit) - December 30, 2010 | 10:32 pm · Link

all time great pie/blog fight

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TW3WWCXDT_0

cleek - December 30, 2010 | 10:32 pm · Link

@cathyx:

well, somebody thought this guy was kinda hot.

cathyx - December 30, 2010 | 10:32 pm · Link

@parsimon: Obama doesn’t do it for me. Now if George Clooney were to run for office…..

MTiffany - December 30, 2010 | 10:33 pm · Link

She seems like a lovely person; cute, charming, supremely confident in her know-nothingness, gliding through life on adorableness and Jesus love and sincerity. And not much else.

That part of the qoute gave me an “Ah-ha!” moment. But usually an “Ah-ha!” moment lifts the spirit, whereas this one chilled my very soul.

The fact that Christine O’Donnell and others like her can and do glide through life in this country based on nothing more than proudly declaring and living by the credo “I don’t have to believe anything that contradicts what I believe the Bible says about the world” is proof that this really is a Christian nation.

cathyx - December 30, 2010 | 10:34 pm · Link

@cleek: Maybe 20 years ago, but now?

celticdragonchick - December 30, 2010 | 10:36 pm · Link

@eemom:

And calling me “malicious”

...is both easy and accurate. I gotta back John with this one.

parsimon - December 30, 2010 | 10:37 pm · Link

@cathyx: I admit that I’d have trouble looking away from Clooney; then again, he’s not a dumb-ass, so that helps quite a lot.

Scott Brown is teh ick.

cleek - December 30, 2010 | 10:37 pm · Link

@eemom:

Just look at those words—and tell us honestly, with a straight face, that you would ever make an observation like that about a man.

i’ve always thought W’s problem was mostly ignorance/stupidity. i never thought he was EVIL! – just uninterested in learning, easily-swayed, a good bullshitter, and narcissistic enough to think that determination was good enough.

(i realize that’s an unpopular position around here. but hey, i’m a rebel)

sexist!

stuckinred - December 30, 2010 | 10:38 pm · Link

@stuckinred: Lebanse

Mike Kay (True Grit) - December 30, 2010 | 10:38 pm · Link

@cathyx: sexist.

Evolved Deep Southerner - December 30, 2010 | 10:38 pm · Link

@stuckinred: So is Nikki Haley. But unlike Barbara, she WON her foray into state politics.

Meanwhile, this game’s still still a clusterfuck that could last forever.

eemom - December 30, 2010 | 10:38 pm · Link

@John Cole:

2.

Not sure what party you are referring to, because the Democratic party line is complete deference to Israel.

Please. You know just what party I’m referring to—the party of “I’m a cool leftwing blogger, therefore Israel sucks.”

I’ll admit though, that it’s not only with respect to Israel that you mindlessly toe the party line.

“Rape accusations against Assange! Evil cover up!! CIA smear campaign!! Braaaawwwk!”

Evolved Deep Southerner - December 30, 2010 | 10:38 pm · Link

@stuckinred: So is Nikki Haley. But unlike Barbara, she WON her foray into state politics.

Meanwhile, this game’s still still a clusterfuck that could last forever.

Montysano - December 30, 2010 | 10:40 pm · Link

@eemom:

Just look at those words—and tell us honestly, with a straight face, that you would ever make an observation like that about a man.

You’re pretty far out on a limb here.

stuckinred - December 30, 2010 | 10:40 pm · Link

@Evolved Deep Southerner: You got something better to do?

John Cole - December 30, 2010 | 10:40 pm · Link

Just look at those words—and tell us honestly, with a straight face, that you would ever make an observation like that about a man.

I can. If there is ever a Chauncey Gardiner running that is the male version of O’Donnell, I probably will.

My god, your argument boils down to “I wasn’t mean enough to her for your tastes because I’m sexist” when I thought I was pretty damned awful to her, and just thought she didn’t have a mean streak but is a blithering idiot, wholly incompetent, and ignorant. You are also completely avoiding the fact that when discussing women I do consider having a mean streak, like Bachmann, Palin, or back in the 2008 campaign, Hillary, I unload to your satisfaction. Wouldn’t that in and of itself prove that my comments are matched to the occasion and the individual, and not guided by sexism? Or are you making up the rules for sexism these days?

And incidentally, when I am sufficiently rude to your tastes to people like Palin and Bachmann, wingnuts call me sexist.

I’m done with this idiotic thread. Next time I write about O’Donnell I will let you preview it so that I can be sure I am sufficiently mean to her and therefor not sexist.

MTiffany - December 30, 2010 | 10:41 pm · Link

She’d be the idiot spending all her days trying to convince grandma to sell all the silverware and the IBM stocks that grand-daddy left behind so that they can give the money to Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker, because everyone knows they are doing the Lord’s work.

Actually I think she’d be Pat Robertson’s CBN equivalent of 30 Rock’s Kenneth the page.

eemom - December 30, 2010 | 10:42 pm · Link

@celticdragonchick:

I’m devastated.

I mean, it’s not like you’re a single-issue simpleton for whose opinion I have 0 regard, or anything.

celticdragonchick - December 30, 2010 | 10:43 pm · Link

@geg6:

But the idea that she doesn’t have a mean bone in her body, poor thing, is a con only a man could buy. She’s every bit as mean as Sarah Barracuda. She just doesn’t have the right mentors (because she’s truly crazy and they know it), she isn’t nearly as sly and calculating as Palin, but she’s said a lot of horrible mean things about a lot of people. She just doesn’t come off like the mean girl ballbuster that Palin does, but she is and you have fallen for it. Men. Suckers, the lot of you.

This.

stuckinred - December 30, 2010 | 10:43 pm · Link

@John Cole: Idiotic thread? I thought it was a Music City Bowl thread!

parsimon - December 30, 2010 | 10:43 pm · Link

Oh for fuck’s sake. Israel? Apparently Cole knows which of eemom’s buttons to push.

John Cole - December 30, 2010 | 10:44 pm · Link

@eemom:

“I’m a cool leftwing blogger, therefore Israel sucks.”

Thank you for proving my point about your malicious tendencies when the topic of Israel comes up. My position on Israel is not that it sucks, but that it is a nation, and like any other nation, flawed, and that Israel sometimes does awful things. Just like the United States! And when Israel does something I think is wrong, I say so.

BTW- make sure you keep me informed as to whether I am being sufficiently rude to you so as to avoid a charge of sexism.

“Rape accusations against Assange! Evil cover up!! CIA smear campaign!! Braaaawwwk!”

Could you show me where I said that? Because I didn’t. BTW- Right now I am gonna call you an asshole so my sexism doesn’t show. Asshole.

stuckinred - December 30, 2010 | 10:45 pm · Link

@parsimon: Now let’s watch our language, people are reading this.

Evolved Deep Southerner - December 30, 2010 | 10:45 pm · Link

@stuckinred: Man, that cocky-ass Vols QB needed to be brought down to earth. And there … it IS!

joe from Lowell - December 30, 2010 | 10:45 pm · Link

@cleek:

@cathyx:

well, somebody thought this guy was kinda hot.

Friggin’ Massachusetts. John-John dies, the rest of his generation finally gets old enough to be ugly, and then that asshole shows up.

stuckinred - December 30, 2010 | 10:46 pm · Link

@Evolved Deep Southerner: Call Manning now and ask him what he thinks!

alwhite - December 30, 2010 | 10:46 pm · Link

@parsimon:

2 things:

DumbellU got this same discussion and he was not nearly as ditsy as O’D.

Weak minds find ditsy girls attractive. Maybe it brings out the protective instinct or maybe they think it indicates honest goodness (too stupid to lie). I don’t think a guy could pull off this ‘dumb blond’ routine. That may indicate a sexist society (I could debate either side of that) but discussing if the ditsy is really that stupid or just playing is not sexist.

Evolved Deep Southerner - December 30, 2010 | 10:47 pm · Link

@eemom: Well what did you think about the end of the Music City Bowl?

celticdragonchick - December 30, 2010 | 10:47 pm · Link

@eemom:

I mean, it’s not like you’re a single-issue simpleton for whose opinion I have 0 regard, or anything.

And it isn’t like I think you are a pretentious, preening fool with delusions of competency on subjects that you are painfully lacking knowledge of.

Good to see we understand each other.

hamletta - December 30, 2010 | 10:47 pm · Link

No one ever discusses the fuckability of male politicians? On what planet?

One of the reasons Poppy Bush picked Quayle was his slight resemblance to Robert Redford, which was sure to attract the wimmens.

I remember reading articles about women swooning over W, and I remember diaries at Kos about who was the dreamiest Dem in the country (I think Martin O’Malley won).

There was a whole Web site devoted to Howard Dean’s pulchitrude, replete with shirtless pix of his teenage self.

Yeah, all that talk is just about women.

cathyx - December 30, 2010 | 10:47 pm · Link

@Mike Kay (True Grit): Am I a sexist because I think men are more attractive to me than women? Sorry for being heterosexual.

MTiffany - December 30, 2010 | 10:48 pm · Link

@Evolved Deep Southerner: But Gov-elect. Haley is a convert to Jeebus, even though she started out life as a Sikh, so the not-being-White part doesn’t matter.

alwhite - December 30, 2010 | 10:48 pm · Link

@General Stuck:

“She turned me into a newt!”

“Well, I got better”

stuckinred - December 30, 2010 | 10:48 pm · Link

@Evolved Deep Southerner: Did you just edit that?

Mike Kay (True Grit) - December 30, 2010 | 10:49 pm · Link

@stuckinred:

Call Manning now and ask him what he thinks!

isn’t he in the brig in Quantico?

cathyx - December 30, 2010 | 10:49 pm · Link

@hamletta: Don’t forget Bush’s codpiece. Except I think more men than women talked about that. I guess they were envious.

stuckinred - December 30, 2010 | 10:50 pm · Link

@MTiffany: Barbara is Lebanese and proly a whaddaya call it, phalanderer?

Evolved Deep Southerner - December 30, 2010 | 10:50 pm · Link

@MTiffany: And Barbara Dooley saw visions of the Virgin Mary out in some pasture. What’s your point?

joe from Lowell - December 30, 2010 | 10:50 pm · Link

@hamletta:

and I remember diaries at Kos about who was the dreamiest Dem in the country

I remember that.

I really took a bath betting on Mark Penn.

cleek - December 30, 2010 | 10:51 pm · Link

LIDDY: Well, I—in the first place, I think it’s envy. I mean, after all, Al Gore had to go get some woman to tell him how to be a man. And here comes George Bush. You know, he’s in his flight suit, he’s striding across the deck, and he’s wearing his parachute harness, you know—and I’ve worn those because I parachute—and it makes the best of his manly characteristic. You go run those—run that stuff again of him walking across there with the parachute. He has just won every woman’s vote in the United States of America. You know, all those women who say size doesn’t count—they’re all liars. Check that out.

parsimon - December 30, 2010 | 10:51 pm · Link

@stuckinred: There’s language and there’s content. I didn’t say, for example, that Israel looks like it would be a tiger in the sack, with its crazy mean eyes.

mr. whipple - December 30, 2010 | 10:51 pm · Link

This thread reminds me of this.

stuckinred - December 30, 2010 | 10:51 pm · Link

@Mike Kay (True Grit): You’re killin me over here!

Mike Kay (True Grit) - December 30, 2010 | 10:51 pm · Link

@cathyx: no you’re sexist for treatin us like pieces of meat. sniffle.

Mr Stagger Lee - December 30, 2010 | 10:52 pm · Link

OMG Stanford is going to break Connecticut’s 90 game win streak. Cool end to the Music City Bowl.

joe from Lowell - December 30, 2010 | 10:52 pm · Link

@cathyx:

Don’t forget Bush’s codpiece

Kathryn Jean Lopez’s one-handed typing at the Corner on Flight Suit Day was one of the funniest moments in the history of the internet.

celticdragonchick - December 30, 2010 | 10:52 pm · Link

@joe from Lowell:

I really took a bath betting on Mark Penn.

Well deserved, I must say. ;)

stuckinred - December 30, 2010 | 10:52 pm · Link

@parsimon: parsimonious

I must say

hamletta - December 30, 2010 | 10:53 pm · Link

@eemom: Wow! What a charmer you are!

stuckinred - December 30, 2010 | 10:53 pm · Link

@Mr Stagger Lee: OK, I’ll watch it.

celticdragonchick - December 30, 2010 | 10:54 pm · Link

@joe from Lowell:

Joe “Starbursts” Lowry’s ejaculation over Palin’s GOP convntion speech is still better.

Mike Kay (True Grit) - December 30, 2010 | 10:55 pm · Link

can’t we all just get along

mr. whipple - December 30, 2010 | 10:55 pm · Link

OMG, Rice. Hoped I never have to see her again.

cleek - December 30, 2010 | 10:55 pm · Link

@Mike Kay (True Grit):

no

MTiffany - December 30, 2010 | 10:55 pm · Link

@Evolved Deep Southerner: Oops, replied to wrong person. My bad.

hamletta - December 30, 2010 | 10:56 pm · Link

@cleek: How is G. Gordon Liddy not talking about Junior’s fuckability there?

In a manly, heterosexual way, I mean.

Mike Kay (True Grit) - December 30, 2010 | 10:57 pm · Link

@mr. whipple: dude, I feel for ya. No one could have foreseen Rice popping up on a sportscast.

hamletta - December 30, 2010 | 10:58 pm · Link

I really took a bath betting on Mark Penn.

Ha!

/Tweety.

Gin & Tonic - December 30, 2010 | 10:59 pm · Link

@hamletta: Oh, come on, look at Gordo. You’ve never thought he was a little light in the loafers?

stuckinred - December 30, 2010 | 10:59 pm · Link

Football thread upstream NOW??

Odie Hugh Manatee - December 30, 2010 | 11:00 pm · Link

I think O’Donnell figured that her running for office was a ‘job’ that she could pay herself with from the ‘proceeds’. It’s the entitled mindset that comes to a conclusion like that. They figure that they exist therefore they have a right to whatever they can do and get their hands on.

Just because they are so great and exceptional, much more so than anyone else!

Back in the early 80’s I worked for a real jerk of a conservative and his brother in their small business. These guys philosophy was “possession is 9/10ths of the law”, arguing that if you want something then you just go ahead and take it for yourself until someone stops you. If no one stops you then you were obviously right. If someone tries to stop you then you fight tooth and nail to keep it. If you lose you take your lumps and move on. Sadly, it works.

Both brothers were sad sopped drunks, each putting away a fifth of gin a day regularly, sometimes more if they were fighting (which was quite often). They kept two sets of books for the business and I when I learned about them (inadvertently) they told me that their business would fail if they ever had to pay taxes on the actual income of the place. I won’t go in to more detail about it but after that I pretty much knew everything in those books. I didn’t know, or try to figure out, if their claim was true but I was given a significant pay raise afterward and I really needed the money at the time so I shut my mouth.

Frequently their wives would run off to Las Vegas or southern California (they were originally from there), taking every penny the business had in cash on hand (which was often 10 grand or more) and heading off to party under the guise of having brawled with their husbands. The brothers would take off to get them, leaving me to run the business (which I really did even when they were ‘there’) for a week or two, handing them a huge wad of cash upon their return. I never made bank deposits but I handled all of the cash, receipts and the accounting of them so I know what was coming in. I also saw both sets of books and knew the differences, which were quite considerable.

One day I showed up for work and found out I couldn’t. They had sold the business (the new owners were leveling the place for another use) and left town without telling me. I later learned where they went (they retired to a small town in the same state) but I never bothered contacting them. I had plenty of money saved so I just moved on to the next good thing (college).

Funny thing though, they were Jehovah’s Witnesses. No joke. Conservative as all fuck but batshit crazy as hell and committed to the church as all get out. For all of their money I sure as hell wouldn’t have wanted their lives, they were well off and miserable as hell. Still, I would say they walked away from life (both have since passed on) having done quite well with their “possession is 9/10ths of the law” philosophy.

It seems to work elsewhere in conservative circles quite well too. Quite the philosophy.

catclub - December 30, 2010 | 11:02 pm · Link

@Redshirt:

Scott Brown leaps to mind. But he very clearly has professional handlers now. And follows their advice.

parsimon - December 30, 2010 | 11:05 pm · Link

@alwhite:

That may indicate a sexist society (I could debate either side of that) but discussing if the ditsy is really that stupid or just playing is not sexist.

I didn’t say it was.

parsimon - December 30, 2010 | 11:10 pm · Link

@stuckinred: I try, without much success.

Chuck Butcher - December 30, 2010 | 11:12 pm · Link

stupid, silly, pig-ignorant, and a true-believer, but I just don’t sense a malicious streak

Ummmmm, Palin snarls and spits while ODonnell soft speaks (little girl voice?) but word content is what counts and she’s a mean shit.

eeeeeekmom, what the hell is there supposed to be to her other than some bizzare Christianity and “good looks”? If I heard heard anymore of how “manly” GWB looked in his flight suit I’d puke. Oh yeah, Al Gore is fat. You may not like the fact that physical appearance matters in politics but it does and that is just that. Now I don’t want to fuck GWB, Palin, ODonnell or the damn snow man down the street or Obama or Biden.

I might think John Cole mistook tone for substance on the malicious score but I’d scarcely accuse him of soft pedalling on basis of sex. Using Israel to piss in your Cheerios does have some basis … but then I do think theocracies are real prone to making serious errors.

Bella Q - December 30, 2010 | 11:12 pm · Link

@joe from Lowell:

Michelle Bachman, for instance, looks like she’d be a tiger dangerous in the sack.

FTFY

Christine O’Donnell is dumber than a bag of hammers, and so stupid she has no idea just how lost she is. Witness CNN interview, or that painful (to watch) debate with Coons where she asks him “you’re telling me separation of church and state is in the First Amendment” while rolling her eyes as if a man who’s actually taken a constitutional law class knows less about this than she does.

She’s shown a mean streak – as noted above she makes “gay” insinuations about most men who oppose her, except Biden and he’s tapping her phones and throwing FBI heat at her. As if. She’s plenty mean, but she’s so goddamned dumb she can’t even do it very well. She’s not dumb like a fox – there’s not that much planning there. She’s just DUMB.

alwhite - December 30, 2010 | 11:13 pm · Link

@eemom:

I know I have had exactly that conversation about Boy Blunder many times – is he really just stupid or is he really evil. I think one of the reasons so much evil was done by his admin was that many people saw that same ‘aw shucks’ stupidity as a sign he was a nice guy just not that bright.

So yes, we have had this conversation about men.

eemom - December 30, 2010 | 11:14 pm · Link

@John Cole:

1. You absolutely did say the essence of that, when the rape accusations against Assange came out last summer. Without missing a beat. And reiterated it thereafter. And if you don’t believe it, I’m sure your archives are more accessible to you than they are to me.

I eagerly await a link to where you—similar to your hero Glennzilla—ever said anything along the lines of “Regardless of anyone’s opinions of Assange and Wikileaks, an accusation of rape is a serious matter to be resolved pursuant to the applicable law—and no one should EVER attack the accuser, or question her motives, any more than they should assume the guilt of the accused.”

2. Seriously? You are calling little old me an “asshole”?? I am honored! Thought it was only Fuckhead who got that kinda love.

lol - December 30, 2010 | 11:16 pm · Link

@Mike Kay (True Grit):

Whenever she’s not playing the Cancer Card.

MBL - December 30, 2010 | 11:17 pm · Link

@eemom:

Just look at those words—and tell us honestly, with a straight face, that you would ever make an observation like that about a man.

Ronald Reagan.

ogliberal - December 30, 2010 | 11:20 pm · Link

@joe from Lowell:

Kathryn Jean Lopez’s one-handed typing at the Corner on Flight Suit Day was one of the funniest moments in the history of the internet.

And that may be the funniest blog comment I’ve ever read. As a reminder, here is K-Lo on the day in question:

The man is wearing a flight suit. This is the ultimate presidential stud moment, though I’m sure the likes of Rick could come up with others–though I doubt any as TV-ready-made as this one?

She fucking called it the fucking “immaculate landing”. My sweet fucking lord. I only hope the Mittster doesn’t read this…he may get jealous. And did Kathryn Jean disclose these impure thoughts to her priest during weekly confession?

parsimon - December 30, 2010 | 11:21 pm · Link

I don’t follow this blog closely enough to know what Cole said about the Assange rape charges. Is there anything to what eemom says?

alwhite - December 30, 2010 | 11:25 pm · Link

@parsimon:

Sorry, I was clicking on reply but really just expanding on the thread you were part of – I was not disagreeing with you at all.

ogliberal - December 30, 2010 | 11:26 pm · Link

@celticdragonchick: A tie. A clear tie.

Here’s disgusting thought for you. K-Lo and Lowry sitting in NR’s Sodom on the Hudson-based office arguing about who is the sexiest – flight suit-era GWB, Mitt Romney, or Sarah Palin – and then breaking into a sexy makeout session.

ogliberal - December 30, 2010 | 11:27 pm · Link

@ogliberal: With Jonah watching.

Odie Hugh Manatee - December 30, 2010 | 11:30 pm · Link

@ogliberal:

I’ll never forget Tweety’s ‘look at the onions on him!’ comment when he was strutting his flighty self across the flight deck in his codpiece-stuffed flight suit.

/wretch

That was a fine moment in opinion journalism.

Mike Kay (True Grit) - December 30, 2010 | 11:31 pm · Link

@lol: a couple of weeks ago Angry Black Female said she wants to shoot her tee vee everytime she sees Jane’s botox face, and Hanoi Jane immediately played the cancer card.

Lesley - December 30, 2010 | 11:34 pm · Link

O’Donnell’s no more religious than I am and I’m not religious. She milked the wingnut cow for as long as she could to raise funds for her life; and because she’s not a competent grifter, she’s being investigated.

Her past is littered with this bullshit.

If she’s found guilty, she should pay the consequences.

eemom - December 30, 2010 | 11:35 pm · Link

And for the rest of y’all, to set the record straight, this

she’s stupid, silly, pig-ignorant, and a true-believer, but I just don’t sense a malicious streak. Sure, the outcome of her policies would have a malicious impact on the American people, but I don’t think she understands that.

is NOT the equivalent of discussions about GWB or Ronald Reagan being “evil or just stupid.” The overall concept is similar—but look at the words, and the condescending attitude they express.

I “just don’t sense a malicious streak” in Bush/Reagan?

“I don’t think” Bush/Reagan “understands” what the outcome of his policies would be? Really??

And to get back to TBogg’s “has this right” thesis: Bush/Reagan shouldn’t be blamed for misappropriating campaign funds because they were “spiritually pure, lost in a fantasy, and dependent on the kindness of strangers”??

OMFG, people.

John Cole - December 30, 2010 | 11:35 pm · Link

@eemom: I was frequently flamed for thinking Bush was just stupid and not evil. Look it up.

Tattoosydney - December 30, 2010 | 11:41 pm · Link

We are not assholes, we are jackasses.

Dickheads.

eemom - December 30, 2010 | 11:44 pm · Link

@John Cole:

you are paying no attention to what I said.

Just like a man.

eemom - December 30, 2010 | 11:44 pm · Link

feh

FlipYrWhig - December 30, 2010 | 11:44 pm · Link

I can’t decide whether Scott Brown is more empty-headed than Christine O’Donnell or less. I have the sense that O’Donnell is paranoid and worries that there’s complicated, scary stuff going on that she just doesn’t get… but that Scott Brown has not a care in the world, because he’s always coasted on a big toothy grin. Which one of those is worse? Dim, cute, and panicky, or dim, cute, and blithe?

John Cole - December 30, 2010 | 11:46 pm · Link

You absolutely did say the essence of that, when the rape accusations against Assange came out last summer. Without missing a beat. And reiterated it thereafter. And if you don’t believe it, I’m sure your archives are more accessible to you than they are to me.

I have no idea why they are more accessible to me than you, but if you put “rape assange” in the search box you will see I dismissed the charges WHEN the Swiss dropped them, stating it is deeply troubling when charges of rape are tossed around, because rape is a serious thing.

The only other thing I said about it was the following:

You know what? Maybe he is a pervert and a rapist. But you don’t exactly have to be Alex Jones or Paul Watson or drinking grain and rain water to think this is a little sketchy. Especially the way it just sort of appeared after the military document dump, and now after the latest dump, the arrest warrant is issued. It is just getting too convenient (Ritter) that every time someone throws a fly in the ointment, this kind of thing happens. Maybe there is something in the personality type and it is all just a big coincidence. Or maybe not.

And I stand by that. You don’t exactly have to be a conspiracy theorist to note that every time someone speaks up, this sort of thing happens. And even then, I noted the possibility of his being a rapist and that maybe there is something in the personality type that makes people who are defiant (like Assange or Ritter) that also coincides with their being sexual deviants.

As to this bullshit:

I eagerly await a link to where you—similar to your hero Glennzilla—ever said anything along the lines of “Regardless of anyone’s opinions of Assange and Wikileaks, an accusation of rape is a serious matter to be resolved pursuant to the applicable law—and no one should EVER attack the accuser, or question her motives, any more than they should assume the guilt of the accused.”

Lo and behold, I linked to two pieces that SAID JUST FUCKING THAT. Here is the Amanda Marcotte piece I linked:

We can be grown-ups here. We can entertain the idea that Wikileaks is performing a valuable service while acknowledging the strong possibility that Julian Assange is himself an asshole who treats women like they’re objects he can exert his massive power issues on. We can criticize Interpol for treating these alleged sex crimes more seriously than they ever treat sex crimes and maintain sympathy for women who reportedly were quite afraid they had been exposed to unintended pregnancy or worse. Maybe we can even do one better than that, and accept that more than a few men who consider themselves liberals or even leftists—-or may even claim to be feminists—-still act like women’s concerns should be dismissed and our rights can be transgressed with ease. I’m not accusing Assange of anything, but I seriously think it’s silly to think the accusations couldn’t be credible.

And here is Feministe:

I’m not particularly interested in debating What Assange Did or Whether Assange Is A Rapist, and I’d appreciate it if we could steer clear of that in the comments section. Rather, I’m interested in pushing back on the primary media narrative about this case, which is that women lie and exaggerate about rape, and will call even the littlest thing — a broken condom! — rape if they’re permitted to under a too-liberal feminist legal system. In fact, there are lots of good reasons to support consent-based sexual assault laws, and to recognize that consent goes far beyond “yes you can put that in here now.” It’s a shame that the shoddy, sensationalist reporting on this case have muddied those waters.

You have now trotted out every single form of weak bullshit imaginable, and the facts and the archives have shot you down each and every time. You even got to throw in a weak shot at Greenwald.

Do you want to stop now, or keep digging?

Kath - December 30, 2010 | 11:48 pm · Link

Did anyone quote this yet?

John Cole, 12/1 Is this a joke?

“And before the trolls assert I am downplaying charges of rape and sexual crimes, I am not. He should be arrested and allowed to face his accusers and go through the judicial process. But the most wanted list? There aren’t any serial murderers, terrorists, drug smugglers, sex slave traffickers, gun runners, or other violent predators who belong on the most wanted list and deserve a little more attention? Christ, you want to catch Julian Assange, just stand near a live news camera for any of the major networks. He’ll show up eventually.”

I had written this blog off years ago as right wingnut and was amazed when I dropped in a few months ago, because ok, things have evolved. And that’s great, and maybe I’ve changed too… but I have sort of kept an eye out for old tendencies… and I remember lately being mostly impressed that Cole has been extremely tolerant in general, in his own special way, so I was wondering if eemon had a legit point or not. So I went back and looked. Sometimes I misunderstand posts, I don’t get a lot of the humor and stuff, so I figure it’s just me. I’m only half way thru the lexicon.

FlipYrWhig - December 30, 2010 | 11:50 pm · Link

@eemom: Is TBogg really saying that O’Donnell “shouldn’t be blamed”? I don’t get that from the excerpt. On the other hand, TBogg would never say that Tim Tebow is a lovely person, and that guy definitely deeply and earnestly believes that he has Jesus Power too and serves his fans by crystallizing all their hopes and dreams.

de stijl - December 30, 2010 | 11:50 pm · Link

My take on Ms. O’Donnell is that she is the real-life, grown-up analog of the Lacey Chabert character in Mean Girls. The poor thing keeps trying to make “fetch” happen, bless her heart.

Not an alpha Mean Girl, but Mean Girl adjacent (with all that implies).

Left Coast Tom - December 30, 2010 | 11:51 pm · Link

@eemom:

you are paying no attention to what I said.

Just like a man.

That’s not sexist?

General Stuck - December 30, 2010 | 11:52 pm · Link

what an odd little thread

Tattoosydney - December 30, 2010 | 11:52 pm · Link

@cathyx:

@parsimon: I think that the fact that we don’t talk about the fuckability of male politicians is because there aren’t any worthy of it.

Not quite true – I remember quite a long discussion on here about which of us would fuck Aaron Schock.

ogliberal - December 30, 2010 | 11:53 pm · Link

@Odie Hugh Manatee: These tools all dream of the days when Dwight Eisenhower paraded on East Berlin on top of a tank in full military regalia when he was president. Except Eisenhower never wore the uniform he well earned as a combat vet and Supreme Commander of the Allied forces in Europe during WWII while he was president of the US. (a rule broken only once since then – by The Decider) The motherfucker looked like a fantasy camp adolescent, with his stupid thumbs-up, bragging about the five minutes of actual service he put in while enlisted with the TANG.

Sly - December 30, 2010 | 11:58 pm · Link

I actually remember her on the old Bill Maher shows, and TBogg is right- she’s stupid, silly, pig-ignorant, and a true-believer, but I just don’t sense a malicious streak.

Wait.

That’s my stock answer to every “Is this politician ignorant or mean?” debate. Just wait. Sooner or later, the person in question will demonstrate both qualities with aplomb.

Every liberal thought Dan Quayle was just some harmless airhead ne’er-do-well until he made it his top priority to go after single mothers with a vengeance. That was pretty mean. I’m sure that, given enough time, O’Donnell will launch into a toxic harangue against some class of dispossessed, “ungodly” people. She certainly has the theological background for it: Conservative Christians are a notoriously petty and narcissistic lot. It’s kind of hard not to be when you subscribe to the metaphysical version of Facebook.

Gus - December 31, 2010 | 12:00 am · Link

@General Stuck: Yeah, I love when a thread goes to shit with a stupid pissing match. John don’t waste your time. eemom has made up her mind and actual facts won’t deter her.

eemom - December 31, 2010 | 12:00 am · Link

@Left Coast Tom:

sheeyit, ya got me. How’d I ever miss that?

General Stuck - December 31, 2010 | 12:05 am · Link

@Gus:

I think eemom was in the mood for some fightin”. I get that way sometimes. I like eemom for that reason, and other ones, though don’t agree with her on this item.

eemom - December 31, 2010 | 12:07 am · Link

@FlipYrWhig:

if you look at TBogg’s whole post, yes, I think the gist of it IS “aw c’mon people…..she’s just a sweet silly little simpleton who couldn’t tell campaign funds from a collection tray…..leave her alone.”

I mean I love TBogg to death…..God help me, I even sorta love John Cole…....but I just can’t believe that people don’t see the sexism here.

And I reiterate, that I despise the sexism card as cheaply played by Hamsher and her ilk.

Jewish Steel - December 31, 2010 | 12:08 am · Link

I guess that about wraps it up for sexism. Well done, everyone!

Sly - December 31, 2010 | 12:09 am · Link

@General Stuck:

I think eemom was in the mood for some fightin”. I get that way sometimes.

Fuck off, splitter.

Gravenstone - December 31, 2010 | 12:09 am · Link

@eemom:

you are paying no attention to what I said.

Just like a man.

Wait. you accuse John of sexism, then trot out this line in response? Your petard, I believe you’ve just hoist yourself upon it.

Gravenstone - December 31, 2010 | 12:14 am · Link

@Gravenstone: Well, guess that answers my question whether the thread is still bubbling. Another fired the same shot, and managed a reply in the interim between my reading and replying before. Imma go snuggle up to my Maker’s Mark again and call it a night before I do any more damage.

General Stuck - December 31, 2010 | 12:16 am · Link

@Sly:

Okay, I’ve been ashamed to not know and to ask what bloggers call “splitter” and now is as good as time as any to improve my knowledge of internet jargon. So what is a Splitter?

Jewish Steel - December 31, 2010 | 12:18 am · Link

@General Stuck:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gb_qHP7VaZE

Anne Laurie - December 31, 2010 | 12:19 am · Link

@alwhite:

I don’t think a guy could pull off this ‘dumb blond’ routine.

Dan Quayle made it as far as the vice-presidency. And I don’t know any women, not even Republicans, who found Danny Boy “sexy”. But Bill “Always Wrong” Kristol bragged to other male Republicans that Quayle’s “sexiness” would make him more attractive to female voters, which is just one more indication of what male Republicans think about women.

And it could be argued that St. Ronnie got away with a whole ton of thuggish-to-openly-criminal behavior, starting with his original attempt to hijack the 1964 RNC convention, by playing the “I’m just a simple tootsie from the country (of Hollywood)” card. I think Reagan was a mean muthafukker, despite the hagiography, but well before his handlers announced the Alzheimers diagnosis, any criticism of Governor Ronnie, Candidate Ronnie, President Ronnie would be greeted with howls of Leave Ronnie alloooooonnne! from his defenders.

General Stuck - December 31, 2010 | 12:21 am · Link

@Jewish Steel:

LOL, thanks, now I know.

Yutsano - December 31, 2010 | 12:23 am · Link

@Tattoosydney: There was even close to a consensus. Yes, but as long as he didn’t talk.

FlipYrWhig - December 31, 2010 | 12:37 am · Link

@eemom: I can’t really see it that way—I keep getting that she’s a vacuous true believer rather than a cynical manipulator/huckster like Palin. But that’s not “aw, leave her alone,” it’s more like—to borrow John’s reference—stupid not evil.

But on the larger issue, I do think that vacuous political men don’t actually get called cute and charming along the way. People who didn’t like Dan Quayle didn’t take a beat to say that he was a pleasant person first, not that I recall. Gary Hart and John Edwards were considered handsome but not vacuous. Scott Brown may be the exception. But we’re drawing from a very restricted universe here: attractive, genial politicians of either sex who didn’t have many accomplishments.

Mike Kay (Christine O'Donnell's Co-Witch) - December 31, 2010 | 12:40 am · Link

@General Stuck:

So what is a Splitter?

That’s Monty Python speak for “far left”

bill - December 31, 2010 | 12:47 am · Link

Sorry for the OT, but:

Funny, these days when I think of Gordon Liddy I see Dabney Coleman. Could be the same thing as how Ben Bradlee will always be Jason Robards in my mind.

Funny thing about Watergate, too: The bad guys really did win. Cheney and Rumsfeld are billionaires; even Nixon got his hero’s burial. And Gordon Liddy has a fucking radio show. The fact that he can talk on air about how much he admires Bush’s johnson is instructive of the First Amendment, to say nothing of reminding us how many deep-closeted sadists like Gordon Liddy are living openly among us, either daring us to call them on it or thinking we can’t see their thing for what it is, I’m not sure which. In either case, they’re fucking poison.

But really, doesn’t Liddy remind you of Dabney Coleman?

Zuzu's Petals - December 31, 2010 | 12:53 am · Link

@MBL:

I was just about to say that. I think the description of Reagan at the time was along the lines of “He doesn’t mean the meanness of his words.”

Of course I think he was as insincere as the day is long, but that doesn’t equal maliciousness.

TBogg - December 31, 2010 | 12:54 am · Link

@Sly: It’s worth noting that Lisa Schiffren of NRO wrote Dan Quayle’s Murphy Brown speech.

Anne Laurie - December 31, 2010 | 12:55 am · Link

@Tattoosydney: Cudlip.

(hee!)

TBogg - December 31, 2010 | 12:59 am · Link

@eemom: Actually, I’m not saying that at all. I’m just saying that she’s dumb. And being dumb doesn’t necessarily preclude her from baring her teeth when she’s cornered or taking potshots at her opponents because some advisor may have told her it would play well with the rubes and it’s all part of the campaign game.

de stijl - December 31, 2010 | 1:02 am · Link

@Tattoosydney:

A lesser man would be tempted to call you “Dickhead”.

Anne Laurie - December 31, 2010 | 1:04 am · Link

@bill:

But really, doesn’t Liddy remind you of Dabney Coleman?

Dabney Coleman had some ability as an actor. G. Gordon couldn’t convince a five-year-old that Santy Claus was gonna bring him presents on Christmas Eve.

Zuzu's Petals - December 31, 2010 | 1:05 am · Link

@eemom:

I “just don’t sense a malicious streak” in Bush/Reagan?

“I don’t think” Bush/Reagan “understands” what the outcome of his policies would be? Really??

As to Reagan at least … yep.

And where exactly did TBogg (or John for that matter) say O’Donnell shouldn’t be blamed for misappropriating campaign funds?

kdaug - December 31, 2010 | 1:17 am · Link

@Anne Laurie: No, Anne Laurie, that is a phrase patented by the [“WikiLeaks”/”My Links”/”Cows”] comment generator.

Please be advised that any further usage may result in copyright violation, subject to civil and/or criminal liability.

Or not.

Wil - December 31, 2010 | 1:25 am · Link

@eemom:

you are paying no attention to what I said.

Just like a man.

You can call me sexist, eemom. I don’t mind. I don’t care if its sexist to judge people like O’Donnell on their various bimbo qualities.

Tattoosydney - December 31, 2010 | 1:46 am · Link

@Anne Laurie:

@de stijl:

Don’t get me started.

Dickheads.

assholic - December 31, 2010 | 1:49 am · Link

I’m glad that’s over. Now Cole and eemom can have wicked make-up sex.

Catsy - December 31, 2010 | 2:12 am · Link

@eemom:

oh, goodie. Now we’re back in “would I want to fuck her or not” land.

Yes, there were MANY conversations like that among women about GWB and Dan Quayle.

Nope, nothing sexist about this line of inquiry, nothing at all. Nothing to see here, ladies, just move on…

And now you’re moving the goalposts.

Your initial complaint was, verbatim:

I’m not usually one to start stupid wars about sexism (unless I’m bored, which I am)—but srsly, would you and TBogg extend such tenderhearted indulgence toward this opportunistic buffoon if she were a man?

You asserted that Cole and Tbogg were giving O’Donnell the benefit of the doubt of being dumb as a post rather than an evil bitch because she was female, and that this was sexist. The problem is, you don’t actually know why they approached this topic from the angle they did, and you pretty much have to take their explanations at face value.

Lacking any legitimate ground to stand on there, you then seized on the side discussion of O’Donnell’s attractiveness and pointed to that, conflating it with your accusations against Cole and implying that the existence of this line of conversation supported the point you were trying to make about Cole and Tbogg’s posts.

Never mind the fact that neither Cole nor Tbogg were part of that side conversation. Never mind the fact that “well-meaning but dumb” or words to that effect was a description regularly applied to Reagan for years. Never mind that your point about women not talking about the fuckability of male politicians is also ignorant horseshit—do you not actually have any female friends, or were you just asleep during the Clinton years and Obama’s campaign?

And that’s not even getting into your multiple sweeping generalizations about men in this thread alone that you make without any evident awareness of just how much they undermine any point you were trying to make.

I’m sure you could be more full of shit than you’ve been in this thread, but it would take a powerful and sustained effort.

Odie Hugh Manatee - December 31, 2010 | 2:12 am · Link

@ogliberal:

I almost wish Bush had gone tin-pot dictator, dressed up in some made up Commander-in-Chief uniform, ala Saddam, decked it out in all kinds of medals he never earned, stuffed in his codpiece and walked the deck. The collective orgazm on the right would have largely depopulated their base for years. Same with the media.

So sad…

Common Sense - December 31, 2010 | 2:41 am · Link

You really should have left the last line of TBogg’s post in:

Bless her heart

is one of my favorite southern phrases. It basically means “she’s an idiot.”

eemom - December 31, 2010 | 2:46 am · Link

@Catsy:

never mind that you’ve used a lot of words to attribute to me things that I never actually said.

Never mind that, as a general rule, the number of words contained in any one of your posts is inversely proportional to the substantive content of the “ideas” contained therein.

I’m sure you could have been more obviously full of shit than you were this late in this particular thread, but unfortunately, you’d have to have showed up before everyone else went to bed in order for more people to have witnessed your linguistic self-gratification.

Comrade Kevin - December 31, 2010 | 2:51 am · Link

Molly Ivins once had a completely non-sexist comment about Camille Paglia that I think applies to eemom:

“Sheesh, what an asshole”

I’ll add one of my own:

Dumb as a sack of hammers

Odie Hugh Manatee - December 31, 2010 | 2:55 am · Link

@Comrade Kevin:

Possesses a PhD in public linguistic masturbation.

eemom - December 31, 2010 | 2:55 am · Link

@Comrade Kevin:

you: Molly Ivins = Christine O’Donnell: Nancy Pelosi

Camille Paglia, OTOH…..there’s someone you could converse with.

Janet Strange - December 31, 2010 | 2:56 am · Link

@Bella Q: I agree that she’s probably dumb as a box of hammers, (I dunno really, I haven’t actually paid that much attention to her). But folks on the left are mistaken about what happened in that exchange. Righties are always telling each other, “but the first amendment does not include the words ‘separation of church and state.’ ” And they are right, it doesn’t. (Jefferson wrote that elsewhere.) The fact that those exact words are not part of the 1st amendment proves something or other to them.

She was reacting to her opponents comment b/c she thought he thought that the text of the 1st amendment included those words and couldn’t believe he was that stupid.

Since those of us on the left don’t spend a lot of time pondering whether or not those exact words are in the amendment, but rather the sense of the amendment (admirably explicated by Jefferson) we missed the reference.

Sort of like a dogwhistle thing. Not exactly, but related.

Common Sense - December 31, 2010 | 2:57 am · Link

ODonnell:Palin::Huckabee:Buchanan

Comrade Kevin - December 31, 2010 | 3:11 am · Link

@eemom: Whoosh

hamletta - December 31, 2010 | 3:43 am · Link

@Catsy: Thank you, Catsy, for putting into words my utter bogglement at the meltdown of this thread.

And eemom, all you have left is to bleed on John and TBogg.

I’ll save you worryin’ your pretty li’l head about that prior graf: It’s an anti-woman reference to the unclean-ness of menstrual blood.

Triassic Sands - December 31, 2010 | 3:48 am · Link

TBogg hides the fact that he’s the world’s worst human being behind a couple of basset hounds. That’s not playing fair.

Fenway and Wembley…run…run…get away while you still can!

Lysana - December 31, 2010 | 4:15 am · Link

@eemom: You know, I’d rip you a new one for your attitude in this thread, but your arguments and sexism have been so much weak sauce it’s not worth providing the meat for it.

Wil - December 31, 2010 | 4:20 am · Link

@Janet Strange:

She was reacting to her opponents comment b/c she thought he thought that the text of the 1st amendment included those words and couldn’t believe he was that stupid.

That was my take too, that she got a bit of a raw deal with that separation of church and state deal, since the outside world doesn’t know that it’s VERY important in the Jesusland belief system that those exact words aren’t in the First Amendment. So she was answering correctly according to her group’s view of the issue, and didn’t really understand why she took the hit for it and her opponent didn’t.

eemom - December 31, 2010 | 5:28 am · Link

@Lysana:

really now? That all you got? “Weak sauce”?

C’mon, little chickenshit, “rip” away. What’s your tough-girl problem with my attitude, hmm? Let’s hear it.

eemom - December 31, 2010 | 5:34 am · Link

@hamletta:

ditto you, twat.

Didn’t realize John had so many dumb ass groupies crawling out the woodwork. Never thought he needed them, frankly.

eemom - December 31, 2010 | 5:54 am · Link

a fine display of womanly honor here, indeed: little warrior-princesses waving their “rip ya a NEW ONE!” toy swords and squeaking out their “m-e-n-s-t-r-u-a-t-i-o-n! betcha don’t even know what that MEANS!” taunts before scuttling off to hide back behind big brother’s ass.

Maybe TBogg has a point, after all.

kay - December 31, 2010 | 6:52 am · Link

I think O’Donnell sincerely believes that the people who gave her money to run for office gave it to her with the understanding that she is doing God’s work no matter how long it takes and a rent payment here and an evening of bowling there are just a place to stay and a thing to do during The Perpetual Campaign of Righteousness, for she is the embodiment of the contributors hopes and desires. They want her to use it as she sees fit.

But that’s ideological, and it applies to conservatives and campaign finance in general.

This is a real dividing line, and I don’t know how much more proof we need.

Citizens, McCain-Feingold, maybe the best example is the Chamber of Commerce. Democrats actually got traction on the Chamber of Commerce/transparency charges with the broader public (and Citizens, actually, which polls really poorly), and the whole conservative choir stuck by The Chamber’s “right” to not reveal donors, despite some political peril.

It’s an article of faith with conservatives: campaign finance rules are a way for liberals to SILENCE conservatives. Read the WSJ editorial page sometime.

I think this is deeply ingrained on the Right. It’s like voter fraud, or “no separation of church and state in the 1st Amendment”. This belief goes all the way to the Supreme Court.

She doesn’t explain it not because she’s stupid but because she doesn’t have to. The base know exactly what she’s talking about.

I’d bet 5 bucks she brings up “free speech” as a defense in the next interview. The money donated was political speech. She shouldn’t have to reveal how she spent it. It’s not that big a stretch. It’s was almost inevitable that they’d extend that money=political speech idea to ludicrous lengths. If the Chamber doesn’t have to reveal who donated, why should she have to reveal how she spent the donations?

Wil - December 31, 2010 | 7:15 am · Link

@eemom: Wow, you really get off on arguing with people over what is and isn’t sexist.

I don’t mind being sexist. Christine O’Donnell fits a few different stereotypes of women. Aside from the religious crap, we’ve all met women like her in a bar, and most of us have taken one home at least once…kinda dumb, nice enough, pretty, naive, and easy pickings after she’s had a few cocktails and compliments.

Hell, it’d be fun to bend her over a Satanic altar and tell her to babble all that Jesus crap while we fuck. In exchange, I’ll call her Senator while we do it. Good times.

JMC_in_the_ATL - December 31, 2010 | 8:51 am · Link

I have a hard time taking charges of sexism seriously from someone willing to throw GLBTs under the bus when we’re inconvenient.

MBL - December 31, 2010 | 9:51 am · Link

@eemom:

is NOT the equivalent of discussions about GWB or Ronald Reagan being “evil or just stupid.” The overall concept is similar—but look at the words, and the condescending attitude they express.

I “just don’t sense a malicious streak” in Bush/Reagan?

“I don’t think” Bush/Reagan “understands” what the outcome of his policies would be? Really??

Bush? No. Reagan? Absolutely, as I said earlier. I’m willing to be disagreed with about it, but Reagan would (and I’m stealing this line from somewhere) give you the shirt off his back if you asked for it, right before—in his undershirt—signing legislation to take your unemployment away. Reagan and O’Donnell are EXACTLY the same politician to my mind. Cole’s said nothing about O’Donnell that I don’t think applies to Reagan except occasionally using the words “she” and “her.” Nothing.

For the record, here’s some actual sexism: I have serious trouble taking anything you say seriously because you put the word “mom” in your handle. My experience on the Web has conditioned me to believe that anyone who includes the words “mom” or “mommy” in their handle is always an abject moron.

We’ll wait until you can see the difference. (Hey, look! Condescension!)

de stijl - December 31, 2010 | 11:22 am · Link

@eemom:

ditto you, twat.

Some idiot jag-off just a month-long timeout from Daddy Cole for dropping the c-bomb. How is this different?

les - December 31, 2010 | 2:39 pm · Link

@eemom:

my god you’re a dick. defintely pie worthy.

Catsy - December 31, 2010 | 2:44 pm · Link

@eemom:

never mind that you’ve used a lot of words to attribute to me things that I never actually said.

I defy you to name them.

Never mind that, as a general rule, the number of words contained in any one of your posts is inversely proportional to the substantive content of the “ideas” contained therein.

Are you seriously so devoid of any substantive response that you’re reduced to saying I used too many words?

Seriously?

Could you be any more feckless and pathetic?

I’m sure you could have been more obviously full of shit than you were this late in this particular thread, but unfortunately, you’d have to have showed up before everyone else went to bed in order for more people to have witnessed your linguistic self-gratification.

Please accept my apologies for not existing on your schedule.

So from what I can see, you response to me consists of: 1) an assertion that I attributed to you things you did not say without actually saying what they are, 2) an assertion that I use too many words, and 3) whining about the fact that I’m late to the thread.

And for added bonus points, in an argument that you started over perceived sexism that existed only in your imagination, you’ve been the originator of gems like this:

you are paying no attention to what I said.

Just like a man.

ditto you, twat.

a fine display of womanly honor here, indeed: little warrior-princesses waving their “rip ya a NEW ONE!” toy swords and squeaking out their “m-e-n-s-t-r-u-a-t-i-o-n! betcha don’t even know what that MEANS!” taunts before scuttling off to hide back behind big brother’s ass.

C’mon, little chickenshit, “rip” away. What’s your tough-girl problem with my attitude, hmm? Let’s hear it.

For someone who’s got her panties all twisted up about imaginary sexism, you’ve been first in line to bring gender stereotypes and sexist insults into the argument whenever the opportunity arises.

That sound you hear? It’s the sound your credibility on this subject made as it passed the event horizon of the black hole into which it disappeared.

Frank - December 31, 2010 | 3:14 pm · Link

I am mystified by the way in which pug-ugly ignorance trumps intelligence. (Please don’t interpret that as meanness—I’m actually quite pug-dog friendly!) Apparently, say a stupid or untrue thing with the right attitude and delivery, and you come out victorious over your informed, enlightened opponent, at least in the eyes of your followers. I had a student once who disappeared for about five weeks towards the end of the semester and then showed up to take the final. When she failed, she stomped out of the room, shouting, “Thanks for letting me not pass!” Oh, but the way she said it was supposed to be quite withering! It was not she who failed; it was me who somehow botched things for her. So Christine rolls her eyes after displaying her own ignorance and there will be some who cheer for her. Yes, Kuvasz #78, we are witnessing the C- brigade flouting their ignorance.

Frank - December 31, 2010 | 8:08 pm · Link

Yikes! I don’t think I ever single-handedly killed a thread before… was it something I said?

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