The Morning Funnies

Fun from The Corner:

MAYBE KENNEDY SHOULD HAVE INVOKED CLOTURE: John Miller highlights this anecdote of Reagan filibustering Kennedy in an obligatory White House meeting to discuss a tariff proposal Reagan presumably opposed.  Reagan-bashers will surely cite this as yet more evidence of a detached and confused President.

MORE ALTERNATIVE REALITY FROM THE SELF-INVENTED REALITY-BASED COMMUNITY:  Jacob Weisberg of Slate pens a nostalgic but factually challenged Bush-basher.  (Errata: Some Wiki-background on the Clear Skies Act, proposed by Bush and blocked by Dems favoring more stringent bills also covering carbon dioxide.)

IN WHICH I FIND MYSELF IN AGREEMENT WITH BOTH KENNEDY AND CLINTON:

From a Times preview of the upcoming Kennedy memoirs:

In explaining why he decided to run for the presidency in 1980, Mr. Kennedy explained how he was motivated in part because of his differences with then President Jimmy Carter....  He described Mr. Carter as a “difficult man to convince – of anything.” He described their relationship as “unhealthy.” And after Mr. Carter’s famous “malaise speech,” the senator wrote, he concluded that Mr. Carter held an “inherently different view of America from mine.”

He was right!

And from the same source, here is Wild Bill on himself:

Mr. Kennedy recounts attending a dinner with Bill Clinton shortly after he was elected president in 1992 at the Washington home of Katharine Graham, the publisher of the Washington Post. According to Mr. Kennedy, Mr. Clinton said at the time that if he did not get national health insurance through Congress, he should not be president.

And he was right!

Comments

[bishop]

That Yale and Oxford education, didn't give Jake a lick of sense, than again Ponnuru's
Princeton sheepskin, has made him miss a few things as well.

[Jack is Back!]

Talking about Ted's memoirs; is it difficult to write a memoir while your brain is being eaten alive?

Still waiting for the announcement (ala Plame) that Hill is sending Bill to Afghanistan to investigate those homoerotic party boys.

Oh, for those whose computer screen needs cleaning - LUN.

[Pofarmer]

Nice to see Levi Johnson back in the news.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32658521/ns/today-today_people

Levi Johnston: Lot of divorce talk in Palin home
He says she neglected parenting and governorship duties in favor of money

[Captain Hate]

Levi Johnson == Cindy Sheehan v2.0

[Extraneus]

Rangel: 'Prejudice' Toward Obama Halting Health Care Reform

Rep. Charles Rangel, the powerful chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee and a chief health-care negotiator, said that "bias" and "prejudice" toward Obama are fueling opposition to health-care reform.

On topic.

[peter]

great takedown of Levi Johnston at Riehl World View. Sorry no lun, I'm late for work.

[Jack is Back!]

Levi is all wee-weed up. Another useful idiot for the left. Pretty soon he will be the MoveOn rep for Alaska. God forbid they ever let him loose in the lower 48 where we would have to hide the sheep and goats.

[PeterUK]

"Rep. Charles Rangel, the powerful chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee and a chief health-care negotiator, said that "bias" and "prejudice" toward Obama are fueling opposition to health-care reform. "

Should not that be "bias against"?

[bishop]

Sheehan, was wrong, but sincere, Levi's is cynical and stupid, claiming she doesn't cook (Greta, Esquire)doesn't hunt, hello,
was covering up the pregnancy, even MSNBC
and Gail Collins, have turned askance at these claims. Don't bring it up today of all days.

[Captain Hate]

Should not that be "bias against"?

Using words correctly, paying his entire taxes on time; you're really asking a lot of Chollie, PUK!!

[bishop]

Wasn't Charlie the one who said, that 'tax cuts' was some kind of code, for the Klan,
or something equally inane.

[Extraneus]

Rangle afficcionados will want to click the link to the NY Post story itself.

Rangel's comments came less than two weeks after [Gov.] Paterson claimed he has been the victim of a racist white media -- and also suggested that opposition to Obama's plan is racially driven.

The White House was quick to rebut Paterson's comments.

Critics of ObamaCare blasted Rangel for taking the low road.

"Charlie Rangel knows that race has nothing to do with the health-care debate. He should not be implying that race has anything to do with it," said Rep. Peter King (R-LI).

State Conservative Party leader Mike Long called Rangel's comment "outrageous and outlandish" -- and suggested the congressman might be trying to deflect attention from his ethics woes.

"Rangel is playing the race card. It's clear that the congressman is trying to galvanize the minority community that this is 'us against them.' It's going to backfire. A majority of people will see through this," Long said.

[BB Key]

The BHO speech next week to JSC will boost attendence to the 09/12/09 rally next Saturday

[Pofarmer]

So, is MSNBC trying to get it's viewership to zero then? Why would you give this kind of exposure to a kid just out of high school? They've been known to, uhmmm, embellish?

[Charlie (Colorado)]

Talking about Ted's memoirs; is it difficult to write a memoir while your brain is being eaten alive?

Hard to write it, not hard to provide the material. My GF who had it would get detached in time and remember amazingly detailed things.

[Neo]

Harlem Congressman Gave Campaign Contributions To 3 Dems On Ethics Committee Charged With Investigating Him

Seems Charlie Rangel bought off the D-s on the ethics committee.

There may be a reason for Rangel's arrogance. CBS 2 HD has discovered that since ethics probes began last year the 79-year-old congressman has given campaign donations to 119 members of Congress, including three of the five Democrats on the House Ethics Committee who are charged with investigating him.

[PeterUK]

CH,
But should not the Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee know which way he is going?

[bishop]

Well obfuscation was the name of the game, with Ted, from Harvard to Chappaquidick to Andropov, we can't blame that on a tumor,
It's a horrible way to go,

Yes, Po, they are working to be 'ever more selective' in their audience I think a good chunk of it, are conservatives who try to find the craziest thing they've said.

[DebinNC]

Why would you give this kind of exposure to a kid just out of high school?

I think as Johnson is shown to be an obvious lowlife, the question arises about why the Palins didn't send him packing from the gitgo, why they weren't close enough to their daughter to affect her relationship with him pre-baby, whether Palin was too busy to watch over her children carefully, etc., etc.. Maybe the questions are unfair, but I bet more non-libs than we know wonder about such things. I do.

[Captain Hate]

why they weren't close enough to their daughter to affect her relationship with him pre-baby

Sorry Deb but this is a non-starter; do you think I approved of every guy my daughters went out with? I liked most of 'em but there were a few that just thought wtf.

[boris]

"why they weren't close enough to their daughter to affect her relationship with him pre-baby"

Don't know about the Palins but do come from a huntin' fishin' outdoorsy far North family. The kind of "oversight" you suggest would have seemed out of place.

[Ignatz]

--Talking about Ted's memoirs; is it difficult to write a memoir while your brain is being eaten alive?--

The only thing that would have made it difficult for him to write his memoir would have been a good memory coupled with an active conscience.

[Neo]

Speaking of funny .. or not funny.

The last quarter of “District 9″ isn’t too bad, but the first half is like watching “Borat on the set of ‘V’”.

[Ranger]

Another funny little thing that Instapundit linked to:

http://baseballcrank.com/archives2/2009/09/politics_when_d.php>When Does School Start? The President Doesn't Know

Just imagine what the press would have said if the previous president had made this kind of mistake.

[Jack is Back!]

PeterUK,

Thanks for bringing up the Ways and Means Committee and its Chairman. You know, the Ways and Means Committee hasn't been the same since Wilbur Mills was Chairman. I'll bet Clarice has a thousand stories. When I was first in DC, I was working down in Southern Maryland but had tons of friends who worked on the Hill and we would party like it was no tomorrow. Especially FETIS Club and Dewey Beach on weekends. He was so popular that I remember Dewey Beach being swarmed with Hillies wearing Wilbur Mills for President T's. Want to know why? LUN

What is it about the water in Arkansas anyway?

[bishop]

Speaking of unintentional funny, this exchange between "Dum and Dumber" Bartlett
and Frum, at the erroneously named New Majority, is all sorts of 'epic fail'

[bishop]

Speaking of unintentional humor, re Bartlett
and Frum, at the ironically named 'new majority, epic fail, in the LUN

[Charlie (Colorado)]

Deb, as I recall, when the Bristol and Levi thing was first being talked about the fuss was over how the Palins sent her to a different high school and otherwise tried to separate them.

I just remember my sister having a boyfriend my Dad didn't like; they probably dated an extra year just because Dad was trying to break them up.

Yeah, she probably doesn't spend as much time with her kids as she could if she weren't politically active. So, is having kids a disqualifier for all female pols, or just Republicans?

[Jack is Back!]

Bishop,

Even the so-called "inside the beltway conservatives and righties" don't understand the America beyond their narrow vision (DC).

[Grace O'Malley]

Those are assine questions. As the mother of a daughter who consistently found lost boys who she somehow believed just needed to experience how a real family worked and could thus fix them, I can only feel sorry for what the Palins have gone through because of poor judgment from a teenager. If you think a teenager can't figure out how to get around the house rules, including who is acceptable dating material then you've obviously not had a difficult teenager.

[Thomas Collins]

DebinNC, for a good part of my teen years, my mother was taking care of sick relatives in New York City (we lived in Rhode Island) and my father was working seven days a week (he was a factory worker, and there was a lot of overtime). For a good portion of that time, I was taking care of my pre-teen sister while going to college (I commuted) and working jobs. I never thought that my parents were anything other than great parents. This notion that parents have to be there all the time for their precious ones is a recent phenomenon, I believe.

[DebinNC]

So, is having kids a disqualifier for all female pols, or just Republicans?

That's the kind of comment that made me hesitate expressing my opinion.

[Charlie (Colorado)]

Neo, I actually really liked District 9 and thought the Arriflex documentary first part was really sort of amazing. (Actually, from a technical point of view the whole movie is amazing: it's not structured like a normal H'wood movie, as it either has no first act at all, or the first act lasts for 40 minutes; we get to watch a rather annoying bad guy main character grow; it has a very sympathetic and understated ending; and they did the whole thing including a bunch of CGI aliens for only 30 million freaking dollars.)

[Charlie (Colorado)]

That's the kind of comment that made me hesitate expressing my opinion.

Well, I don't mean to keep you from expressing your opinion, but it's a serious question: yeah, pretty much any mom who does something other than mom-ing could spend more time with her kids. Why is it an issue for Palin? Chelsea Clinton was eleven when her dad was inaugurated, and her mom had had a very successful career as an absent-minded lawyer and commodities trader even before becoming First Lady.

[sbw]

--That's the kind of comment that made me hesitate expressing my opinion.

Naw. Express it. It's cathartic, improves the circulation, and drives the other side bonkers. ;-)

[gmax]

absent-minded lawyer

As in where could those billing files have run off to?

[Mary]

Palin is not from money. She is not a protected minority. She doesn't have a degree from an Ivy. Therefore it is open season. She just is not one of the elite.

Those are the same reasons so many voters identify with her. She is one of us.

[Thomas Collins]

DebinNC, why hesitate to express your opinion because it is one with which some folks (or even many folks) will disagree? Good faith disagreement among blog friends is half the fun. I have learned a lot when my opinions have been subjected to the JOM microscope!!! :-))

[bishop]

There is certainly that, but the fact that her beliefs, aren't 'fashionable' in the right circles, is the clincher.

[hit and run]

Michelle during the campaign quite loudly trumpeted how hard it was on her that Obama was a Senator and running for president -- barely keeping her head above water, buying fresh fruit and all that.

How many people said that Barack was selfishly putting his political ambitions ahead of the welfare of his wife and kids?

I mean, I know I did.

But I was putting my political desires ahead of Barack's political ambitions, admittedly, so I'm probably just racist.

[maryrose]

DebinNC:
Always feel free to express your opinion here at JOM. I'm just grateful Bristol found out in time what a slug Levi is and always will be. No respect, gratitude or conscience in him. Of course his own mother the jailbird did not present the best example.Levi is enjoying his 15 minutes of fame but then his future- looking pretty dismal as a high school drop-out. My money's on Bristol.

[matt]

I get this feeling that 100 years from now, some voodoo practitioner in an inner city somewhere is going to invoke George Bush as the boogieman...

oh, I'm sorry, it's already happening....

[Neo]

WaPo calls for Rangel to step down ...

His [Charlie Rangel d-NY] belated revelation of previously unreported income, property and bank accounts demands that he step aside as chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee.

[Porchlight]

DebinNC,

As a mom, I've sometimes wondered how Sarah manages. But I also know I don't have a tenth of her energy and strength. Many kids have grown up in households where the parents were engaged in enormous, important tasks, either by their own choice or because of external circumstances. It doesn't always work out perfectly, and can be hard on the children at times, but if having young children automatically made one ineligible for such work, we as a country and a society would lose so much. Providing a great example for your kids is equally as important as time spent with them, imo.

The Palins strike me as a very close and hardworking family. The nasty gossip about them usually comes from people with enormous axes to grind (such as Levi or Nicolle Wallace) and I think that's telling.

[Neo]

Even the so-called "inside the beltway conservatives and righties" don't understand the America beyond their narrow vision (DC).

I wrestled with an explanation for Frum for a while and it finally came with a posting that described the Bush 43 Presidency as a "moderate" Presidency.

Frum being cut from that cloth seems to think that the age of converativism is dead, and "moderates" are the wave of the future. Additionally, being a "moderate" gets him gigs on CNN, where anybody, that can claim to be the slightest bit "conservative" who will talk like a liberal, is always welcome ("Excitable Andy" does much the same thing).

Frankly, anybody who lives in or near DC knows, that if you talk too much like a "conservative," you just won't be invited to the "better" parties.

[Pofarmer]

Deb, as I recall, when the Bristol and Levi thing was first being talked about the fuss was over how the Palins sent her to a different high school and otherwise tried to separate them.

Geesh, I don't recall that at all. I must be slipping. It is interesting how the memes change at the convenience of the MSM(and the Dems) though.

[bishop]

There was a degree of derangement from the start, we've seen the source of some it with the likes of Jesse Griffin, who really
should stop throwing stones, in the greenhouse.

[DebinNC]

Sorry to have kicked over a hornet's nest, but since y'all are still responding I'll offer a clarification. My question was whether Palin, given HER particular circumstances...pregnant teen, infant with ds, two other children at home, and a husband whose job takes him away from home, was wise to run for national office in this season of her life. I don't think so. I don't have a general opinion about working moms, because each case is different. Here's a People's article from June giving a glimpse of life in the Palin household.

[Neo]

This is just too funny not to be missed ...

Audi of America President Johan de Nysschen dismissed GM’s upcoming plug-in hybrid, the Chevrolet Volt as “a car for idiots.” More specifically, he said that few consumers will be willing to pay $40,000 base price for a car that competes with $25,000 hybrids.
“No one is going to pay a $15,000 premium for a car that competes with a (Toyota) Corolla,” he said. “So there are not enough idiots who will buy it.” “They’re for the intellectual elite who want to show what enlightened souls they are,” he said.

How long before SouthPark calls a SMUG-ALERT ?

[Grace O'Malley]

Deb, you would have made an excellent friend of Job, sitting and condemning his behavior as the cause of all his troubles.

[Ignatz]

Give me a break.
How does,

--My question was whether Palin, given HER particular circumstances...pregnant teen, infant with ds, two other children at home, and a husband whose job takes him away from home, was wise to run for national office in this season of her life.--

lead to

--Deb, you would have made an excellent friend of Job, sitting and condemning his behavior as the cause of all his troubles.-- ?

Deb's question is a perfectly legitimate one that many conservatives, and a few liberals, have asked before, concerning women in the work force. One may or may not agree, depending on your viewpoint, but what's the prob with asking the question?
Do we go from the OT to the NT next, and call her Judas?

[DebinNC]

Thanks, Ignatz. I hope no one else feels moved to defend me though. I already feel rather trollish for inadvertantly hijacking the thread.

[Thomas Collins]

Don't feel trollish, DebinNC. The manner in which we JOMers disagree with each other while affirming our friendship is an unspoken part of every thread.

But if you would prefer to move to a different aspect of this, let's move to Levi Johnston. I think he is about as unmanly as a man can get. Knocks up his girlfriend and, instead of keeping his mouth shut and working his butt off to help out the lady he impregnated and raise his child, he wimps out and trashes the Palins. What a creep. In a different day and age, Todd Palin and some of his buddies would have shown up at Levi's place to give Levi some advice on how a man conducts himself in this situation.

[Captain Hate]

I already feel rather trollish for inadvertantly hijacking the thread

Why? I do it all the time.

[bad s##t]

Deb, many of our married friends are dual, highpowered career people who have wonderful families like mine, a full time mom.

Their choices worked as well for thier families as the choices mr. bad and I made for ours.

[Rick Ballard]

TC,

What do you think Levi should pay in child support? 20-25% of his gross from whoring would be my guess but I'm not up on Alaskan family law.

Has there been any indication that he is not a run of the mill deadbeat dad? Go get him, Bristol - use trble hooks and a flensing knife on him.

[boris]

"My question was whether Palin, given HER particular circumstances..."

She was already governor of Alaska, and apparently politically effective before being trashed. Had she become vice president one expects her responsibilities might have been less than as governor. So ...

How much of your concern is actually based on the trashing her family has endured in the process? My question, should she have "known better"?

[Pofarmer]

My question was whether Palin, given HER particular circumstances...pregnant teen, infant with ds, two other children at home, and a husband whose job takes him away from home, was wise to run for national office in this season of her life.

I see the issue has already been taken to task a little.

BUT.

She was asked to run for Vice President of the U.S.A.

I think you make allowances for that kind of thing. People make adjustments and sacrifices for much less. I simply don't see it as an issue.

[daddy]

Pofarmer,

">http://www.adn.com/news/alaska/state_fair/story/919329.html"> Mine's bigger than your's!

[daddy]

Po,

Breaking news at noon says at our State Fair we've now got ">http://www.adn.com/news/alaska/state_fair/story/920747.html"> a Cabbage topping out at 129 pounds (World Record) 2 Rutabaga's topping 80 pounds (World Record) and at least 2 500 pound Pumpkins on the way to the scales.

No word on Arugula.

[DrJ]

Daddy,

You guys are pikers. Our Neighbor's kid grew a pumpkin a pound short of 600 (see Warren). Dad has grown one over 700 pounds.

[clarice]

Yeah,Dr J but the cabbage et al are from ALASKA!

[Pofarmer]

You guys in Alaska get to cheat because of Day length. Weird, I know.

[JM Hanes]

This is what an Extreme Pumpkin looks like!

[clarice]

Oh, NO!!!!!!!!!!!

[DrJ]

but the cabbage et al are from ALASKA!

I see. Affirmative action based on geographic location. Got it!

:)

[clarice]

Smart ass,Dr J!!

[DrJ]

Always, Clarice!

[daddy]

Deb,

As I understand it, Sarah was not initially interested in running for Governor. She' was angry at Governor Murkowski after he had appointed her to a corruption commission, and when she uncovered corruption he essentially blew her off. That prompted her to begin a run for Lieutenant Governor, at which point her evident popularity and kabbitzing of friends, acquaintances even Talk Show Host Dan Fagan, pushed her to run for Governor. I may be wrong, but that is definitely how I remember it. I used to enjoy listening to Sarah during the early campaign season years back when they were friends, and when Dan's co-host, Sharon Leighow(?) was in the process of becoming Sarah's Media spokesperson. When he's not relentlessly bashing her nowadays for not being Conservative enough, Fagan will frequently relate how Sarah was stunned at the popularity she engendered from his audience and average folks across the State. So I think partly at least, she wound up getting thrust into the position of Candidate for Governor by unfolding circumstances that she hadn't planned on. That's how I remember it.

[daddy]

So your's is bigger Dr J., I'll grant you But the question is, is the Californian Pumpkin Patch it came from as ">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7mRSI8yWwg"> Sincere as our Alaskan one?

[Ann]

I will definitely have pumpkins eating fingers this year at our Halloween Party!

[caro]

Can't wait for your Halloween party, Ann!