A Challenging Thought Experiment

Joe Gandelman of The Moderately Amusing (And Reliably Liberal) Voice pens on political polarization in the US and challenges our imaginations with this toughie:

If Republicans and conservatives make the very legitimacy of Obama, his patriotism — even the safety of allowing little kids listen to him tell them to stay in school and think about helping their community — the issue, and link his name to Hitler and/or Nazism, precisely how do they think Democrats and the left will respond next time a GOPer is in power? How will the next Republican President be treated in terms of legitimacy and doing what he/she feels is in the best interest of the country?

This taxes the imagination, but let's try - I predict wild movies alleging the President is in cahoots with foreign terrorists and domestic criminals, prominent Democrats alleging that the President conspired to kill thousands of Americans, constant linkage of the Republican President with Hitler, and an ongoing denial of his legitimacy.  At a guess.

We eagerly await Mr.Gandelman's return to our Solar System.

When (if) he returns, perhaps he will contemplate an alternative scenario - Joe Klein and the media on the left are highlighting the zaniest Obama critics they can find with the goal of discrediting all Obama critics.  It's an old, old game and I am surprised that Mr. Gandelman can't recognize it.

HANGING THE 'NO SALE' SIGN:  Wow, is Don Surber a non-buyer of Gandelman's latest.

STUCK ON KLEIN:  Both Joe Gandelman and Taylor Marsh highlighted a Klein passage that included this:

I was later told by a local observer that many of these vomitous, disgraceful notions were the fruit of Glenn Beck’s fruitful imagination. “We are living Glenn Beck’s fantasy life,” said this audience member.  The amazing thing remains not only the unwillingness of responsible Republicans–a term that is in danger of becoming an oxymoron–to call bull– on this, but also the willingness of many prominent Republicans to join in the slinging of garbage.

Again, a challenge, but for those who remember all the way back to 2004, try to think back to the prominent Democrats in attendance at the Fahrenheit 9/11 premieres, and Michael Moore's guest-of-honor appearance at the Democratic Convention.

I BLEG:  If I recall correctly, Dems finagled an early dismissal of Congress so their eager staffers could get to Fahrenheit 9/11.  True?

ONE OUT OF FOUR ANYWAY:  Part of the "vomitous" rhetoric deplored by Klein was this, from his lead:

I was at a Blanche Lincoln town hall meeting in Russellville, Arkansas, yesterday--and the number of people who believe that the President has larded the government with communists (!) was astonishing. One woman said there were four known communists in the government and that she'd researched it on the internet. When I asked her afterwards, she said environmental adviser Van Jones, legal advisor Cass Sunstein (who was last spotted being excoriated by the left for supporting the FISA revisions), someone named Lloyd and she didn't remember the fourth.

If Cass Sunstein is a communist he is operating under deep cover.and has fooled some prominent 'libertarianish/conservativish' bloggers.  The idea that Harold Lloyd is a communist is absurd; a more likely guess is Mark Lloyd, a radical leftist now appointed as General Counsel and Chief Diversity Officer at the FCC.  IN FCC-speak, "diversity" seems to mean fewer conservatives and more liberals on the radio; libs controlling television is A-OK.  Is LLoyd a communist?  Probably not, but he manages to come across as sympathetic to those who are.

Which leaves the Green Czar and unwitting truther Van Jones; let's flash back to a 2005 interview summarized at Wikipedia:

In 1992, while still a law student at Yale, Jones participated as a volunteer legal monitor for a protest of the Rodney King verdict in San Francisco. He and many other participants in the protest were arrested. The district attorney later dropped the charges against Jones. The arrested protesters, including Jones, won a small legal settlement. Jones later said that "the incident deepened my disaffection with the system and accelerated my political radicalization."^[10] Jones said he was "a rowdy nationalist"^[11] before the King verdict was announced. By August of that year, he said, "I was a communist."

Per the interview, that communist phase of Van Jones life lasted a mere ten years; try to keep up, critics, or you will vex Joe Klein.

Comments

[gmax]

TM

I am in a state of shock and awe at the spectacle of Gandelman standing their charred and in smoking ruins. You rock. As our lefty friends might say "Tell it, brother".

[gmax]

their = there

preview is of course for those unwilling to walk the wire without a net.

[gmax]

Hey I had two posts record and then disappear. What up with that shizzle?

[gmax]

OK now they are back, wierd. Typhuspad in action I guess.

[glenda]

The liberal progressives, especially the media, definitely live and believe in an alternate universe. It's why they will lose the majority that they lied, stole and broke every campaign law and most moral ones,to win. Never fear, oh conservative friends, if we keep up our truthful dissent, they will again be relics wandering in the desert for generations.

[Ranger]

Hmmm... I seem to recall a lot of "responsible Republicans" warning that this is exactly what would happen if the left kept up their gutter style attacks on Bush for 8 years. Once a discourse has been tainted, it is hard to re-elevate it.

[Patrick R. Sullivan]

Nixon impeached. First Jimmy Carter, then Ted Kennedy tried to get the Soviets to cooperate with them to bring down Reagan. W almost having his narrow win taken away from by a politicized Florida Supreme Court, and Kerry trying to gin up an AWOL charge to defeat him for re-election in 04.

Those nasty Rethuglicans!

[glenda]

shizzle...same here, gmax

[Jack is Back!]

Its pretty simple - they are really, truly scared.

They are scared that the tea parties, town halls, Glenn Beck, Sarah Palin et.al. have resurrected the conservative cause without Michael Steele and his cronies leading the charge.

They are scared that so called moderate Republicanism represented in their minds by John McCain, Lindsey Graham, and the two Maine Senators will be marginalized in the 2010 election and that partisanship will increase at the republican level even more severely.

They are scared that another of their leaders in the Senate will be dumped by his constituency and that they will be left with Pelosi and Obama to continue to drag down their fortunes.

They are scared that it is becoming increasingly irrelevant and capricious to keep blaming Bush, the Republicans, the right-wing domestic terrorists, Glenn Beck, Rush, Sean and talk radio for their own leftist tendencies and transparencies.

They are scared that the American public, especially the independents (who were once more republican than democrat) have turned on them because they tried to push socialism over capitalism and decided to degrade American Exceptionalism.

They are scared that, just when they thought they would have a continual and perpetual majority (like Peronistas) they were caught flat-footed and a new Silent Majority has awaken.

They are more scared that there is nothing they can do about it without catapulting the Hollywood branch of the party, the Bill Maher's of the world, the Pelosi branch and try to move toward the center. An impossible task.

[Old Dad]

It's just a lefty smokescreen. It's not the so called hate that's the problem. The problem is that the left is losing the debate, the shouting match, the propaganda war, whatever their talking point of the day may be.

When you have your opponent on the ropes, you best knock him out if you can.

[Original MikeS]

I'm not trying to get back at anybody for the unscrupulous way they behaved toward W. They claim they were just being patriotic.

President Obama has made remarks that I consider dishonest, manipulative, and untrue.

His remarks, for example, that he doesn't mind cleaning up the "other side's" mess but he doesn't want to hear a lot of talking.(from the other side)

What part of that statement was true, or fair, or an appropriate remark for a President to make? How do I know that he will not make a similar statement to impressionable students?

[Perry Logan]

They're just mad because George W. Bush was never really President.

[Bill in AZ]

[How will the next Republican President be treated... ]

Well, after 4 years of lefties discovering that their socialist policies are more aligned with Hitler and fascism - a fact lost in the last 40 years or so of education in this country - maybe, just maybe, the next Republican President won't be saddled with the tired old "Hitler" and Fascist" cliches.

[sbw]

For some time I've been uncomfortable calling those of a lefty persuasion either "liberal" or "progressive" because they are not.

Have I finally discovered the word to use to describe those of a political persuasion that has never worked and never will?

Naive.

From now I will see if I can attach that as the working descriptive noun. "The naive believe...", "The naive supported Obama in the lastelection...", "The naive baselessly attacked Sarah Palin ...", "David Axelrod is papering blogs in a venal attempt to get the naive vote...".

[Frau the Schnauzer]

Very good, sbw. How do we describe those who manipulate the naive-- Pelosi, Clinton, Emmanuel and Obama for example? They are not naive. We need something for them.

[boris]

"Have I finally discovered the word to use to describe those of a political persuasion that has never worked and never will?"

No.

They don't care. Even if socialist totalitarianism worked exactly 1.3% better than liberal (free market) democracy ... I would still pick free market democracy.

10% ... 20% ... doesn't matter.

[Dave (in the People's Banana Republic of MA)]

NATO Airstrike in Afghanistan Kills Up to 90...

Notice that when the big O is in charge it's "NATO", but when W was in charge it was the US.

[Central Square Indian]

I still think that the fury that is being generated around THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES speaking to SCHOOL CHILDREN is misplaced anger and it makes us look bad.

Respect the office, if not the man.

Like it or not, he is our president and schoolkids should learn some respect for the authority his role carries.

[matt]

I had the misfortune to accidentally tune into Colmes show on satellite radio yesterday afternoon, and his first caller was worried that right wing hate was so virulent that someone might try to shoot the president. It made me sick to my stomach.

The left wingers are completely loony. The language is vile and the commentary hateful, and it is the tea partiers and protesters who are nuts? More Alice in Wonderland.

This meme of racism is a disgrace. Rangel, Patterson, etc. have gone beyond the pale. This is another of the new Journo-list and Democratic Party talking points. It is a disgrace to the nation.

[peter]

Let's see-- most assassination attempts in the last seventy years on Presidents have been done by leftists-- Puerto Rican separatists, Lee Harvey Oswald, a commie if there ever was one, Squeaky Fromme, a Manson gang member, that kid who shot Reagan, who is probably out of jail by now, and collecting disability, but the pre-emptive victimhood status of the possibility of an assassination trumps all reason and logic. Obama himself refers to getting shot frequently. sheeesh.

[maryrose]

So true Dave usually linked to Bush Cheney and the bad military.

[Tom Maguire]

They are scared that it is becoming increasingly irrelevant and capricious to keep blaming Bush, the Republicans, the right-wing domestic terrorists, Glenn Beck, Rush, Sean and talk radio for their own leftist tendencies and transparencies.

I wonder if they are also scared that the rudder may have been broken. If people won't believe the words coming out of Obama's mouth (and do they, still?) and if the media is widely perceived as cheerleaders and shills for Obama rather than useful watchdogs, how will the ship of state be steered?

[Tom Bowler]

This taxes the imagination, but let's try - I predict wild movies alleging the President is in cahoots with foreign terrorists and domestic criminals, prominent Democrats alleging that the President conspired to kill thousands of Americans, constant linkage of the Republican President with Hitler, and an ongoing denial of his legitimacy. At a guess.

We eagerly await Mr.Gandelman's return to our Solar System.

Return and admit to himself what really put progressives in control of congress and the White House? Please. Gandelman is obviously convinced, it was the winning quality of the new progressive ideas, (you know, like socialism?) not the 8-year, 24/7 anti-Bush PR campaign by the liberal mainstream media (and the whacked out liberal media to which he belongs) that put them back in the majority.

I remain awestruck by the liberal intellect.

[Rob Crawford]

I had the misfortune to accidentally tune into Colmes show on satellite radio yesterday afternoon, and his first caller was worried that right wing hate was so virulent that someone might try to shoot the president. It made me sick to my stomach.

When right-wing talk show hosts start showing "Snipers Wanted" graphics, call me. When right-wing film makers make fictional documentaries about the assassination of the president, call me.

Until then, the left can blow it out their collectivist asses.

[jwest]

Gandelman has a hard time digesting the truth.

In the last few years of the Bush administration, Moderate Joe would publish and comment on five polls daily showing that someone, somewhere, disagreed with Republicans. Now that the tide has turned on Obama, he rarely mentions polls except for occasionally trying to explain away Democrat’s poor performance.

His idea of “moderate” liberalism was Shaun Mullens – a person who made Michael Moore look more right wing than Dick Cheney. For reasons unknown, he has now replaced this member of the lunatic left with an equally radical woman who is adept at blaming evil conservatives for all of her and society’s ills.

To represent the conservative view for his balanced website, he relies on Jazz Shaw - a reliable Obama voter and apologist – who imagined himself a Republican at some moment of his life.

Pointing out that Joe was either lying or stupid for one of his well-thought-out, oh-so-reasonable articles assured the commentator of being banned from his site. No dissenting opinions allowed.

For confirmed leftists, The Moderate Voice is an oasis where conservatives are routinely inferred to be racist, greedy, hateful and uneducated. Naturally Gandelman is hurt and confused that after witnessing the Democrats treat George Bush so fairly over his presidency, the dim-witted, evil Republicans wouldn’t realize how much better the world would be if we just did as Obama asked. The conservatives are being mean.

It’s just not………Moderate.

[Tom Maguire]

Re the "NATO", not "US" airstrike - we would need more examples, because this one was US fighters called in by German troops.

If the media is now calling a US troops/US fighters a NATO strike, they might be re-coloring it (My guess is that all US troops in Afghanistan are under full US command, not NATO command.)

Or, if the media used to describe US fighters hitting a target called in by NATO troops an American airstrike (literally correct, obviously), then we are getting somewhere.

An interesting project; maybe not the greatest for the Labor Day weekend, but interesting. Can't be that hard if limited to the Times and the WaPo. Thanks. And volunteers welcome.

[Porchlight]

Respect the office, if not the man.

I agree that children should be taught to respect the office of the President.

However, the study materials provided for the speech are offensive to me. Students shouldn't be coerced into providing answers to questions like "How can I help the President?" Americans pledge allegiance to the nation, not to the office of the President, and certainly not to the man holding the office, as you point out.

[DebinNC]

When Code Pinkos erect a tent city in front of Obama's Hyde Park digs...

[Ranger]

It must be a Journo-list thing, because lefties keep trying to push it even after this debacle earlier this week:

http://moelane.com/2009/09/01/megan-mcardle-is-off-of-my-elections-have-consequences-list/>supreme awesomeness

The problem for the left is that they are finally, really getting a taste of what it feels like to be on the recieving end of Alinsky tactics. Sucks to be them for the next 3 years and 3 months.

[Jack is Back!]

You know the Marines have already shown the big difference between W and Zero. LUN

Semper Fi

[Porchlight]

Ranger,

That was a great job by McArdle. She drives me around the bend sometimes, but I still like her.

[Porchlight]

OT,

The Hill: White House stands by 'truther' Van Jones

For now.

White House press secretary Robert Gibbs would only say Friday that Jones, no stranger to controversial or offensive statements, is still a part of the administration. He declined to say if Jones still has the confidence of the president.

In a meeting with reporters in his West Wing office, Gibbs referred numerous questions about Jones to the CEQ and a statement Jones released Thursday saying he did not agree with the petition signed by so-called "truthers."

Gibbs did say the president disagrees with those statements as well.

[Janet]

Political Polarization...yeah, now it's a big worry because the conservatives are finally getting a big enough voice due to talk radio, Fox, the internet. We are in the trouble we are in because there didn't use to be political polarization - only go along to get along. Thank Almighty God that there are strong sure voices speaking up. If they sound shrill, it is because they have been pent up so long.

[Jack is Back!]

Van Jones is road kill and doesn't know it but he is. He will be tossed under the bus as soon as it returns from the JSC speech.

[Charlie (Colorado)]

We eagerly await Mr.Gandelman's return to our Solar System.

Speak for yourself, Tom.

[TOPSECRETK9]

We eagerly await Mr.Gandelman's return to our Solar System.

It's like they were ostriches or something.

[Janet]

Actually, the right wing voices aren't all that shrill come to think of it. it is just the media telling us that they are. Mostly I am finally hearing "No" when a loopy left idea is announced. They aren't use to hearing "No".

[TOPSECRETK9]

I still think that the fury that is being generated around THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES speaking to SCHOOL CHILDREN is misplaced anger and it makes us look bad.

Respect the office, if not the man.

Um, I think most parents would be somewhat cool if they had a rough sketch of what Bambi proposed to say to their children in closed circuit TV beyond the state supplied teacher talking points such as

• Rank the 3 most important words in Obama's speech

• What words would you like to have heard in Obama's speech

• And write a graded paper on what you can do for Dear Leader

I was in school in a very conservative area when the so-called captive Reagan and GHB speeches occurred - did not see either. I think most schools had like 1 TV on wheels, no cable with a clunker VHS teachers shared back then.

[PeterUK]

Should there not be some reciprocity in the matter of Obama's Address to the Children? Something like,"I'll show you my grades if you show me yours".

[Rob Crawford]

• Rank the 3 most important words in Obama's speech

"A", "and", "the".

• What words would you like to have heard in Obama's speech

"I", "have", "resigned".

I think most schools had like 1 TV on wheels, no cable with a clunker VHS teachers shared back then.

Don't forget the graphic warning stickers showing the TV cart becoming unbalanced and crushing a hapless student beneath it.

[centralcal]

omg, Rob C., lmao!!!!

[Pofarmer]

Like it or not, he is our president and schoolkids should learn some respect for the authority his role carries.

Bah.

We'd be a lot better off with fewer mindless follower drones. Team sports, schools, all this, it's designed to make sure kids are "team players."

Screw that.

[TOPSECRETK9]

omg, Rob C., lmao!!!! x 2

[bgates]

However, the study materials provided for the speech are offensive to me.

Yeah, I noticed they didn't have
"__________ is the highest form of patriotism"
in the list of questions.

I was in school in a very conservative area when the so-called captive Reagan and GHB speeches occurred - did not see either.

Hey, me too. I don't know why that didn't occur to me before.

[Janet]

Amen Rob! and it is not just the speech, and the assignment...it is the gushing adoration of the teachers after the speech is given. Maybe not all parts of the country, but that is how it will be in Northern Virginia.

[PDinDetroit]

And write a graded paper on what you can do for Dear Leader

Help Obama Out (the door)

He looks so tired all the time and he is getting more white hair all the time. It must be all those meetings, and speeches, and stuff. We just feel so bad for him that we will have to help get him out of the office of President and back to his family where he can relax and rest.

[gmax]

That 4th unnamed communist in the administration? Might she have been thinking of Barack himself, and just unwilling to say so to such a tool as Klein? Who was grampa's communist black buddy who mentored Barack? Frank something or other. Someone here help my failing memory out.

[Mark O]

Can the next administration investigate the CIA, the former DOJ and others for treason for not doing enough? The other side of the criminal argument.

[bgates]

That 4th unnamed communist in the administration?

Could be the shadow secretary of education. Hildog isn't exactly a free-marketer, either.

Frank something or other.

Frank Marshall Davis. Senior.

[centralcal]

Clarice has a Van Jones piece up over at PJM.

LUN

[PDinDetroit]

To further Jack is Back! from 11:36 am:

Imagine these scenarios and the FEAR that would ensue:

1. D.C. Citizens able to carry Firearms outside the home for Personal Protection. This is already in the WORKS.

2. A March for Second Amendment Freedoms occurring in D.C. This is already in the WORKS.

3. More Open Carry "incidents" where the media "talking heads" will be exploding over the number of those who do this daily. This is already in the WORKS.

[gmax]

Thanks BGates. Frank Davis. Unabashed commie. Grampa at least a useful idiot if not a full fellow traveler. HMMM maybe we have found the pointer for the 4 th commie.

[Jim Miller]

The "Moderate" in the blog title puzzled me for years, until I remembered that Gandelman is a journalist. For a journalist, he probably is a moderate.

[steve sturm]

Tsk, tsk, Gandelman doesn't like being called inconsistent and a hypocrite... so much so that he bans anyone who dares to, what is the expression, oh yeah, 'speak truth to power'. I could always count on him picking up my posts when I criticized Bush and the GOP, he was nowhere when I was critical of Democrats.

[JM Hanes]

TM:

I didn't find Glenn Reynolds piece on Cass Susstein particularly reassuring, particularly when it takes an oxymoron like "libertarian paternalism" to (putatively) place him on the political map. He may be no communist, but if you're looking for a shadow government CEO, he's your man in the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs. I have more direct quotes from Sunstein, himself, squirreled away somewhere, but here's a taste:

Barack Obama’s nominee for “regulatory czar” has advocated a “Fairness Doctrine” for the Internet that would require opposing opinions be linked and also has suggested angry e-mails should be prevented from being sent by technology that would require a 24-hour cooling off period.

[...]

Sunstein also has argued in his prolific literary works that the Internet is anti-democratic because of the way users can filter out information of their own choosing.
“A system of limitless individual choices, with respect to communications, is not necessarily in the interest of citizenship and self-government,” he wrote. “Democratic efforts to reduce the resulting problems ought not be rejected in freedom’s name.”

Just because holding folks liable for the content of their comment threads might be a burden doesn't mean it's not desirable:

In "On Rumors," Sunstein reviews how views get cemented in one camp even when people are presented with persuasive evidence to the contrary. He worries that we are headed for a future in which "people's beliefs are a product of social networks working as echo chambers in which false rumors spread like wildfire." That future, though, is already here, according to Sunstein. "We hardly need to imagine a world, however, in which people and institutions are being harmed by the rapid spread of damaging falsehoods via the Internet," he writes. "We live in that world. What might be done to reduce the harm?"

Sunstein questions the current libel standard - which requires proving "actual malice" against those who write about public figures, including celebrities. Mere "negligence" isn't libelous, but Sunstein wonders, "Is it so important to provide breathing space for damaging falsehoods about entertainers?" Celeb rags, get ready to hire more lawyers.

Sunstein also believes that - whether you're a blogger, The New York Times or a Web hosting service - you should be held responsible even for what your commenters say. Currently you're immune under section 230 of the Communications Decency Act. "Reasonable people," he says, "might object that this is not the right rule," though he admits that imposing liability for commenters on service providers would be "a considerable burden."

Dr. Emanuel is not the only healthcare">http://www.americanthinker.com/printpage/?url=http://www.americanthinker.com/2009/08/death_panel_is_not_in_the_bill.html">healthcare reformer worth worrying about either:

What may pass as a 1,000 page health care law will explode into perhaps many thousands of pages of regulatory codes. The deliberate vagueness will give regulators tremendous leverage to interpret its provisions. Thus Obama's Regulatory Czar Cass Sunstein will play a major role in defining the government's role in controlling medical care.

How does Sunstein approach end of life care? In 2003 he wrote a paper for the AEI-Brookings Joint Center for Regulatory Studies arguing that human life varies in value. Specifically he champions statistical methods that give preference to what the government rates as "quality-adjusted life years." Meaning, the government decides whether a person's life is worth living. If the government decides the life is not worth living, it is the individual's duty to die to free up welfare payments for the young and productive.

I can certainly see the paternalism hard at work, I just don't know where the libertarian is hiding.

[clarice]

The admissions officer at Yale who admitted Can Jones should be ashamed and the school as well for turning out such a fruitcake.

I have edited TM a bit:
"We eagerly await Mr.Gandelman's return to our Solar System.

"

I believe there is an alternative universe and readers of the VOice, the NYT, anything from Conde Nast are on it and have been for about 15 years.

[Sara (Pal2Pal)]

Have you seen this about:

"Piece of sh!t" amnesty bill

[Gorgon]

Looks like The Moderate Voice thread has degenerated to leftist lunatics spamming "evil things that Bush did" which justify their psychotic hatred of the man.

My favorites "evil things Bush did" from the list:

18. Pulled out of the 1997 Kyoto Treaty global warming agreement.

30. Banned federal aid to international family planning programs that offer abortion counseling with other independent funds.

47. Proposed a $2 trillion tax cut, 43% of which will go to the wealthiest 1 % of Americans.

76. Plans on serving genetically engineered foods at all official government functions.

(Also, apparently much of the incandescent rage is because Bush had the audactiy to appoint/nominate people to various positions in his cabinet and elsewhere in the Executive branch in his first year. How dare he!)

[Sara (Pal2Pal)]

Chance of a Lifetime Experience with Governor Sarah Palin Highlights Ride 2 Recovery eBay Charity Auction

Win dinner with Sarah!

[daddy]

Great post TM and excellent comments.

You guy's are all on a roll today. Simply outstanding.

[Stephanie "the Ice Pick"]

Behind the Ropes at a PGA event with David Farehty

From Sara's link.. now I might just have to mud wrestle Jane for that one...

[daddy]

Wow, I think I finally figured out why Dick always sounds like a Dumbs$%* when he's talking to our Jane on the FWDAJ Show. ">http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/6132718/Men-lose-their-minds-speaking-to-pretty-women.html"> Link.

That being the case, I hope none of our JOM boys win that Dream Date with Sarah (except me of course, but no harm done, since I'm already stupid).

[Dave (in the People's Banana Republic of MA)]

I might just have to mud wrestle Jane

Woo hoo!

[Dave (in the People's Banana Republic of MA)]

TOPSECRETK9 -

I think most schools had like 1 TV on wheels, no cable with a clunker VHS teachers shared back then.

Whippersnapper. I remember watching Louis Jordan's Count Dracula from the BBC on a portable TV in English class. I'm guessing it had to be a giant top-loading U-Matic machine. We probably had mimeographed handouts for the ensuing homework.

[Jane]

LOL Daddy, yeah that's the ticket, and clearly I screwed up Tiger's game today. But nevertheless - IWON!

I like this press pass stuff. How easy to get around, free breakfast and lunch, altho the media does appear a bit snotty.

Clarice, if you are around. Is a tie required at our luncheon destination?

[Melinda Romanoff]

dibs on the towels at the JOM mud wrestling throw-down, which means I need a vital front row seat, of course.

(on train with netbook, George Shearing in my ears)

[Dave (in the People's Banana Republic of MA)]

From Clarice's PJM piece:

By the time you read this, if the Obama administration is smart

I'm sorry but I just can't make that same leap of faith.

[Stephanie "the Ice Pick"]

I got my tix for the Eastlake Sunday final on the 27th... they had a special: buy 2 adults get 2 kid tix free. Plus I ordered the kangaroo tv... will let you know how that one works out.

Hope all the JOM golfers are playing a round or two this weekend to support our troops!

LUN to participating courses

[Melinda Romanoff]

Jane-

I tried to call DACORBacon but got voice-mailed I'll try later.

(oliver nelson orch.)

[daddy]

Need some help here TM,

Does ">http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-8569854.html"> this revelation mean that Boston Fan's are "Birther's"?, or does it simply mean that New Yorker's only give a damn about verifying birth certificates when it negatively effects the political agenda of the home team?

[Sara (Pal2Pal)]

From K thru 12, the one and only time I recall a TV in our classroom was when I was in 2nd grade. They brought in a TV with rabbit ears and we got a very snowy broadcast of the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II.

[Jane]

If you get thru Mel (actually they will probably call you back) ask them if guys need to wear a tie.

Dave,

What are you mud wrestling me for? How fun will that be?

[daddy]

Dave (in mudwrestling MA)

Out here our SchoolBoard message has changed from:

1) It's only for grades K thru 6, to

2) It's a live broadcast at 8 AM so only a couple High Schooler's will be awake to see it, to

3) It'll be videotaped and shown in all our classrooms, but we'll allow parents to have their kids opt out of it, but we haven't yet figured out the proper mechanism yet for how to opt out 'cause it might somehow negatively effect our funding.

[pagar]

"By the time you read this, if the Obama administration is smart"

From Drudge who got it from the Washington Examiner:

By: Byron York
Chief Political Correspondent
09/04/09 11:30 AM EDT

From a Nexis search a few moments ago:

Total words about the Van Jones controversy in the New York Times: 0.
Total words about the Van Jones controversy in the Washington Post: 0.
Total words about the Van Jones controversy on NBC Nightly News: 0.
Total words about the Van Jones controversy on ABC World News: 0.
Total words about the Van Jones controversy on CBS Evening News: 0.

LUN

My guess is there are a lot of Americans who don't have a clue who Van Jones is.

[Slartibartfast]

Nixon impeached.

I hope you're not arguing that Nixon didn't earn impeachment, Patrick.

[daddy]

Clarice,

If you're still cooking for the JOMette's next weekend, feel free to ">http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/2621293/Big-thighs-mean-less-heart-disease.html"> load 'em up with the calories. Sure, it might result in a slight downside for Mudwrestlin' Dave, but Heart Disease-wise you'll be doing our lady's a ton of good.

[clarice]

Jane,

They had something the other day but I don't remember. Men are supposed to wear sports jackets. Why not just put have the men puta tie in your pocket just in case.

[daddy]

"My guess is there are a lot of Americans who don't have a clue who Van Jones is."

Didn't he used to play Guitar for some California Metal band, and married Valerie Bertinelli back before she became Heart Disease resistant?

[boris]

"hope you're not arguing that Nixon didn't earn impeachment"

At the time he seemed to deserve it. In retrospect he had the Viet Nam War settled in a draw and impeachment resulted in over a million deaths in that region.

[Slartibartfast]

In retrospect he had the Viet Nam War settled in a draw and impeachment resulted in over a million deaths in that region.

So, you're saying that Nixon should not have been impeached, or just not then?

Nixon was not impeached, BTW.

[JM Hanes]

Oddly enough, Cass Sunstein showed up in an Instapundit link today too:

Cass Sunstein, President Barack Obama’s nominee to head the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA), has advocated a policy under which the government would “presume” someone has consented to having his or her organs removed for transplantation into someone else when they die unless that person has explicitly indicated that his or her organs should not be taken.
 
Under such a policy, hospitals would harvest organs from people who never gave permission for this to be done.  
 
Outlined in the 2008 book “Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness,” Sunstein and co-author Richard H. Thaler argued that the main reason that more people do not donate their organs is because they are required to choose donation.

I'm getting bad vibes about libertarian parternalism.

[boris]

"Nixon was not impeached, BTW"

Dint say he was ... used "impeachment" for that very reason.

Since then I've learned not to trust dimorats. Colors some things looking back.

[Slartibartfast]

boris, what do you think ought to have become of Nixon, given that he'd committed a number of felonies?

[Slartibartfast]

Oh, and regarding the fate of South Vietnam, I urge you to read this.

And this, of course. Upshot: Nixon was going to pull us out of South Vietnam, anyway, and so all of those people would likely have been killed. Just maybe another year down the road.

[clarice]

daddy, I am not feeding the crowd this time--they'll just have to fatten up their thighs on their own.

[Sue The Skinny Bastard]

Jack,

Thanks for the link. I never get tired of watching the Marines and Bush!

[Slartibartfast]

See also here.

[Dave in OC]

Great article at AT Clarice. I would call him a watermelon in regards to your last sentence but then someone would call me a racist when I just mean green on the outside and red on the inside. Gotta love the Planet Gore folks at NRO...

[clarice]

Thanks..
As I noted on another thread Kaus says he's hearing Jones will be dumped by midnight.

[PeterUK]

JM Hanes

Gordon Brown tried to implement an "Opt Out" policy on organ donation, it went wonderfully belly up when it was discovered that organs were being sold.
Interesting combination Dr Emanuel's "life attenuation" and subversion of the Hippocratic oath and Reichsfuhrer Sunstein's "opting out" of organ donation.
Is there to be a Czar of interesting uses for left over parts.
This all really needs to be put together,people were tried and Nuremberg and executed for similar actions.
Best fire a shot across their bows now.

[Dave in OC]

In several visits to South Korea I opined after eating what they called "beef" that they apparently kept the tail, gristle, and eyeballs and sold the rest of the cow for profit. PUK, I think I can suggest a broker for those left over parts!

[lonetown]

Proof Gandelman was born yesterday.

[Captain Hate]

In several visits to South Korea I opined after eating what they called "beef" that they apparently kept the tail, gristle, and eyeballs and sold the rest of the cow for profit

South Korea?? Are you sure the "beef" wasn't a delicacy from the national "How to Wok Your Dog" cookbook?

[Jim Ryan]

Slarti, What if the US had been very serious early on in the late 50's and devoted the necessary resources. Would the war have been winnable under those circumstances? In other words, was it unwinnable because we lost a window of opportunity, or was it simply unwinnable?

[boris]

"I urge you to read this"

Why should I? I served during Nam. I recall events quite clearly thank you. Back then I voted dimorat. When I write that impeachment resulted in millions of deaths in that region that is based on living through those events and the aftermath.

[Sue The Skinny Bastard]

Kaus says Ambinder is hearing tonight is Jones' last night as a member of Obama's team. I have to admit, if it happens, I will be smiling. And I bet Beck will be too. Although Jones might be more trouble on the outside than if he was held on somewhat of a leash on the inside. Oh well, here's hoping he is tossed tonight.

[Dave in OC]

Rather than respond to the troll I would just note that "treason" means give aid or material comfort to the ENEMY. I believe rather than Nixon a certain speaker of the house and presidential candidate in more recent times are more closely identified with the enemy.

Just troll sh*t!

PS - as nearly anyone old enough to have actually served in VN realizes the war was mainly fought after 1972 by ARVNs in something called "Vietnamization." As a part of the phase RIF we were relocated from DaNang to Iwakuni, Japan.

PPS - For any Full Metal Jacket fans out there (count me in) the gates shown at III MAF HQ for the Matthew Modine machine gun madness scene were very authentic. I suspect R. Lee Ermey remembered them better in 1987 than I do today...

[Dave in OC]

Wow, that's weird, preview showed "phase III RIF" but apparently it just went down the memory hole.

[Sue The Skinny Bastard]

Well, I read Ambinder and he didn't say he heard tonight is the night. He just said Jones is in trouble and won't have any protection from the WH.

[boris]

My yunger brother saw combat in Nam with the USMC 'bout '70 IIRC. He liked FMJ a lot and claimed they got the celebration after the big battle just right.