US POLITICS: AMERICANS, PLEASE WELCOME YOUR NEW PRESIDENT... SCOTT BROWN!

But, daria, she's clearly concerned with whose advising "our" president.

first of all, the #1 issue facing this country is clearly planks and how you can build on those planks

xpost - sullivan is a little crazy. it seems like - and is probably the case - that he has spent little/no time in flyover country, rural america, anywhere except a couple big cities and rather wealthy new england towns. his ideas about 'the common sense of the american people' as he puts it, always seem completely off base to me. imho most people think palin is not a serious person, she simply has very loud, righteous, defensive, and organized fans, but there aren't that many of them.

any new journalist worth his salt plays this one for laffs, not dread

― Lee Dorrian Gray (J0hn D.), Sunday, February 7, 2010 10:13 PM (8 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

btw did you guys hear she had stuff written on her hands, I am totally caring a lot about whether somebody had stuff written on her hands lol pwnt

― Lee Dorrian Gray (J0hn D.), Sunday, February 7, 2010 10:14 PM (7 minutes ago) Bookmark

wait, now I'm confused as to your opinion here.

mostly she was *trying* to attack obama over issues of national security, which is interesting, since the #1 issue by far (afaik) is job losses and the economy. reminded of last week's abc news roundtable, the only person on the panel who cited national security as the #1 issue facing the country right now was roger ailes.

well the thing about job security & the economy is that's a short term issue, and as you rise with it so will you fall as a commentator, you know? economies cycle in and out of boom and bust, that is how capitalism functions like it or not; good stewardship can made downturns less painful & shore up the gains of higher tides, but can't prevent rises and falls, especially now that the US economy is (inseparably probably) tied to the stock market. so if fox news goes after the dems too much on the economy, and the economy turns around, they'll have to change course, and there will have been time lost, because if the economy turns around, "remember how bad the economy was a year ago" is not going to be a winning line - nobody remembers the bad times during the good times, pretty sure there's something in Proverbs to that effect & it's true. whereas the boogeyman with the explosives in his jockstrap, that guy is a long-term gainer. can ride that horse for decades, no matter what else happens - even if nothing else happens.

Matt my opinion is it's kinda funny to see writing on hands but the idea that it indicates anything or is useful in sketching out a clearer picture of somebody is absurd - a good new journalist would use this side-fact for a little giggle, not (as sullivan) like some big reveal. because really. who gives a fucking shit if somebody writes shit on their hands. honestly, really, who.

Besides, no one can print the truth: (a) those lost jobs in industrial/manufacturing sectors that went overseas ain't coming back; (b) a sound hand sanitation policy should form the bedrock of any health care overhaul.

boutique hand sanitation products will save this great country

USA

Moreover, I'm pretty sure that in eleven years of teaching I've written a couple of notes on my hand.

most people think palin is not a serious person, she simply has very loud, righteous, defensive, and organized fans, but there aren't that many of them.

― kicker conspiracy (b. favre ha ha) (daria-g), Sunday, February 7, 2010 10:23 PM (1 minute ago)

53 percent of republicans think she's more qualified than Obama, and she either leads or is among the leaders in polls for the 2012 republican nominee.

what on earth does that mean? Most people if asked would say that "their" guy is more qualified than their enemy.

i think it's baffling that someone would do that for a big speech, tbh -- like, i'm not sure what the mental process is there

the hand thing is a lol, but it is a somewhat serious issue that she is so dumb yet has a somewhat realistic chance of becoming president.

1. you shouldn't need notes for a Q and A.

2. the notes shouldn't be things like "Taxes, Energy, Lifting America."

what on earth does that mean? Most people if asked would say that "their" guy is more qualified than their enemy.

― Inculcate a spirit of serfdom in children (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, February 7, 2010 10:29 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark

It means that plenty of people think she is a "serious" person, and are willing to make her President.

You know what? One of the worst things about standardized curricula is how nothing is left to chance. I now have to teach students in a freshman comp class how to "properly" take notes so that they "engage directly" with the text. If some dumb bitch from Wasilla wants to screw the system by writing twaddle on her palm, that's one less person to worry about.

tbh at various pts this weekend i may or may not have had "quiz monday" & "call v------" written on my hands

scariest part of the chris wallace transcript: palin says the only way obama could get re-elected is if he "plays the war card" by bombing Iran or being more supportive of Israel (which means I guess bombing the rest of the middle east). worked for bush, i guess

i don't think she has any realistic chance whatsoever of becoming president, zero, none.

sullivan should also realize that making a big deal of writing on her hand, plays right into how she stokes up her fanbase - continually being outraged at attacks on her that are based on trivial things, painting her as unfairly targeted by the media. they eat that up.

Sarah Palin can draw inverted pentagrams on her hand with a razor and nobody who supported her is going to reduce their support even a little

the tiny lol one can get from the writing on the hands is immediately lessened by anybody thinking it's somehow a broader metaphor for describing Palin

I have a gothic script tattoo on my wrist that says "post to ILX" fwiw, fuck all haters

multi-xpost

the term "serious" get tossed around all the time in the WSJ editorial pages these days - "democrats aren't serious" etc etc - and I always marvel that people who consider palin a plausible POTUS would dare criticize someone else's lack of seriousness

sullivan should also realize that making a big deal of writing on her hand, plays right into how she stokes up her fanbase - continually being outraged at attacks on her that are based on trivial things, painting her as unfairly targeted by the media. they eat that up.

― kicker conspiracy (b. favre ha ha) (daria-g), Sunday, February 7, 2010 5:34 PM (2 minutes ago)

bingoooooo

tbh at various pts this weekend i may or may not have had "quiz monday" & "call v------" written on my hands

― jew bee or nazi bee (k3vin k.), Sunday, February 7, 2010 4:32 PM (4 minutes ago) Bookmark

the point is not that sane people don't write things on their hands -- but if you were going to give a presentation in front of a class and you had bullet points written on your palms instead of index cards/computer/piece of paper i would think that you were immature

i know i was joking \o_0/

the point is not that sane people don't write things on their hands -- but if you were going to give a presentation in front of a class and you had bullet points written on your palms instead of index cards/computer/piece of paper i would think that you were immature

you might, but if you used that as a way to try to get k3vin fired, people who already liked him would just go "wow that j0rdan s. is such a dick, who cares if k3vin writes stuff on his hands, k3vin is just a normal guy like you and me, let's all vote for k3vin"

I mean we're dealing with people who're playing the populist card - the worst strategy against these people is to call them dumb. you point out when they're wrong and paint them as not actually having the interests of the people in mind. imo any other strategy against populists is going to end up making the populist stronger

okay, well i would like to say that i agree that people that are important (your sullivans, anyone on msnbc) should not focus on this at all. in fact, i don't think those people should be talking about sarah palin at all. they don't care about ralph nader and i don't think they should care about sarah palin. it only emboldens and it steers all national discourse away from where it should be. i stopped watching olbermann because he wouldn't let anything go when it came to your palins or your prejeans.

your right but laughing at it is not a strategy. it's just funny, because she's absurd. that's all. xpost

this thread otoh has different rules for what we can/should focus on

if we were all andrew sullivan or keith olbermann laughing at her on a blog or tv show it might be different
j0rdan otm

ugh i just wrote "your right" didn't i

j0hn d. that is otm, i wish a lot of people didn't do it. i still read somerby's daily howler and he is constantly going after certain cable hosts and pundits and newspaper columnists for doing this very thing, calling a lot of the public dumb and then wondering why they prefer to listen to misinformers who don't call them dumb.

i'm dumber than palin

at a certain point she could do something so stupid that it would destroy her career, right?

Dan Quayle suffered immense damage from the potato thing.

What if she thought Ben Franklin was the third president? Or Tony Blair was the King of England?

i think she has already primed the public by acting extra dumb at all times so no, i don't think she can destroy her career by doing something stupid

jd sooo otm, thank you

there's more of a concept of the 'gotcha' now, though, no? stupidity having been such a meme throughout her rise to prominence could immunise her from it being a charge from now on. but yeah maybe so.

xxp

palin is fascinating to me right now because she makes establishment republicans very uncomfortable. it's as if rush or beck decided to run for office. the rnc is happy to gobble up all the collateral benefits of their messaging and spin - and will coordinate these things from time to time - and would be thrilled to have palin as a permanent pundit on fox, as another kind of charismatic gatekeeper to the guns n god mob, but the idea of palin still harboring ambitions to elected office is a no-no for them, i think, which is what explains wallace actually remembering how to conduct a skeptical interview. if he was talking to mccain or, like, lynne cheney he'd resume his usual role of court toady

i think she's done enough of those stupid things that her career has a definite limit. i figure she'll stay as one of the cable news analysts (so long as she gets ratings), raise money for candidates, play spoiler in GOP primaries depending on for whom she raises that money. that's about it. i mean, dick morris has a career telling haters who watch fox opinion shows exactly what they want to hear, as well as sending conservative mass emails and writing columns full of terrible analysis for conservative websites.

Dan Quayle suffered immense damage from the potato thing.

Dan Quayle was approx. 1/4 the politician Palin is, and the GOP machine was in total disrepair at that time. Palin on her best day doesn't dish the timeless zen koans that Quayle was capable of in his sleep. In short he is my guru and I will brook no further comparison of mere mortals to His Excellence J. Danforth, who once said, and I hope we'll all take this to heart:

You take the UNCF model that what a waste it is to lose one's mind, or not to have a mind is being very wasteful. How true that is.

Palin on her best day doesn't dish the timeless zen koans that Quayle was capable of in his sleep.

bullshit--i will put the Thrilla from Wasilla up against Captain Potatoe any day of the week

imagine if they had sex

NO

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/44/2010/02/obama-invites-gop-to-health-ca.html?hpid=topnews

Good job

President Obama made a dramatic attempt to jump-start the stalled health care debate Sunday, inviting Republicans in Congress to a half-day summit on the subject to be televised live later this month.

I think we did a Quayle vs. Palin back during election year didn't we? I mean look. I don't deny that the Katie Couric interview is a yieded spiritual riches almost beyond compare. And what to speak of the farewell press conference in Alaska? My own daily orisons are based partly on some of the nuggets the flowed forth from Our Lady of Unfathomable Depths that day. But come on.

I have made good judgements in the Past. I have made good judgements in the Future.

She cannot measure up. She can only stand in the blinding light.

We don't want to go back to tomorrow, we want to go forward.

Welcome to President Bush, Mrs. Bush, and my fellow astronauts.

SADHU, SADHU

okay i bow to him

Palin and Quayle having sex, though, would be better than the Super Bowl