I'm Not "Re-Thinking" Anything

Shorter Byron York: Tom Maguire was Eeerily Prescient in bashing Obama's speech in Tucson.

OK, that is a lot shorter, and he didn't mention my name, and he boldly suggested the "OMG!  It's 'For The Children'" rant I considered but was too gutless to run, but still...

SINCE YOU MIGHT HAVE ASKED: Unless the NSA is recording my cellphone calls (possible!), my full 'For The Children' tirade is lost to the ether.  However, I am confident I made the following points:

Obama called for a level of political discourse of which the recently killed nine year old Christina Taylor Green could be proud.  Who was going to take the opposite side of that and argue that they wanted to be the politician or pundit who made nine years olds cry themselves to sleep?  (Don't volunteer Don Surber - he makes adults cry.)

Or, who wanted to step up and reveal that Christina, recently elected to her student council, had run the dirtiest campaign in the history of her elementary school and had actually smeared her opponent as anti-chocolate milk?

Well.  Let me add that my buddy mentioned the Amy Carter connection (Obama is looking Carteresque if his best argument requires him to hide behind kids) but I dredged up the Roger Staubach retort - again!

Maybe we could simply aim for a level of discourse of which adults could be proud.  Baby steps.

 

Comments

[Sara (Pal2Pal)]

Huh?

[MayBee]

I agree. That part of the speech was deplorable.
Christina Taylor Green's parents are going through hell and seem to be thoughtful, wonderful people. They have been more gracious than anybody else in their situation would even want to contemplate being.

But we don't run our country to please 9 year olds. 9 year olds are wonderful, but their wisdom is different than the wisdom of adults.
And I certainly don't like the idea of Obama putting himself out there as the person who can say the things that would have made Christina happy.

[NSAmeanssomethingelseunderO]

9/11 was planned cause military was in the middle of an exrcise looking for planes hijacked by terrorists ~ like London private security(wont say who where)was in middle of exercise looking for terrorists bombing subways.O?She likes little African girls in Africa,but shes expanded so its not like that.

[MayBee]

Lucifer!

[findingyourstrengths2.0(reqiredtraining)]

Na, its Tom Rath!

[Julia Holmes]

Yes, God rest Christina, but let's not forget the media has its own "qualifications" of sympathy and empathy and respect. Would the media given Christina such lauds and tears had she done pageants instead of boys' baseball? Not that many years ago the media and TV shows mocked and tore apart another more gruesomely murdered even younger girl, largely because she engaged in a largely conservative activity, pageantry. Who in the media mourned parades for poor JonBonet?

[peter]

I noticed that the wikipedia blurb on Amy Carter completely omits her first marriage to some loser, and her dropping out of Brown. You have to feel somewhat sorry for her, given her severely bad looks, and being raised by a murderess under some misguided liberal ideal. She probably can pronounce "nuclear" correctly.

[File Search Engine]

Sure, now they want to forget their rhetoric used during the Bush years.

[matt]

anyone who does rah rah at a somber event such as the Tucson memorial should be severely chastised. In retrospect, perhaps my attempt at understanding was somewhat misplaced. They really have no shame at all.

On another note, the Irish banks are running out of collateral again. What wasn't worth a plugged euro is now really not worth a plugged euro. Portugal is under assault as well, and Kruggie is having a panic attack in yesterday's Times Magazine.

The Chinese have gone on the record as lenders of last resort to Europe and are bad mouthing the dollar. OPEC wants $100+ oil. Except that China has some of their own issues with inflation and commodities such as foodstuffs.

Commodities prices are escalating out of control. The lack of credit along with the excess liquidity directed almost exclusively at the banking sector is wreaking havoc on an industrial economy that has only recently come back from life support. Remain calm. All is well.

[Extraneus]

I still think Sarah Palin should dredge up a collection of things Obama and his friends have said that would have made Christina very, very sad. And then "Tsk, tsk" like a school marm.

Btw, contrary to lefty spin, there really hasn't been much uncivil rhetoric on the right. Are the Democrats handicapping themselves with this b.s. strategy? How are they going to demonize Boehner or handle a potential Palin candidacy without getting into the gutter?

[clarice]

Brava, MayBee. Beautifully said. Her parents even donated Christina's organs to another child , and the Obamas--PHEH. Classless in every way that matters.

You may have disliked Bush and his policies, but even his detractors cannot find an instance where he did not behave in a way that was classy, gracious (think of Webb by comparison) and manly.

I can no more picture him trying to pull off a stunt like Obama did in Tucson as I can picture Laura sitting on the podium at the "memorial service" with greased up bare legs , her skirt hitched up around her hips and her legs apart or crossed at her knees like Michelle.

[Jack is Back!]

Clarice,

The difference is class - one has it and other wants it but has no idea how to get it and use it.

BTW, another instant of PDS - "Lets party like its 1773!" And the resultant, obligatory, knee-jerk, uneducated liberal fantasy reaction.

Wrong on dates and wrong on metaphor since 1832.

[Frederick]

All these cries for "civility" will only harm liberals and progressives. It strikes at the heart of their main tactics, which usually involve misinformation (Obamcare), crime (voter fraud run wild), threats of violence (unions, public employee unions), threats of political upheaval (unions, public employee unions, and the state sponsered welfare crowd).

I would adore a time period where these anchors of the Democrat party and social 'progressives' are forced to behave like adults.

[narciso]

The couscous revolution in Tunisia, reveals an interesting detail, in the LUN

[Danube of Thought]

This is as vapid a "debate" as any I can recall. Its only effect will be that in the near term we will be hectored incessantly with "nyah-nyah-nyah" bullshit from the scolds who two weeks ago were happily issuing calumnies about Tea-Baggers. In the long term, squadoosh--and that's a good thing.

[mark c]

I see the left was tweaking their "Manufactured Outrage" tactic as early as the '70s, as shown by their response to Staubach. Speaking of outrage, I wonder if any member of congress will have the guts to bring Sarah Palin to SOTU as a guest (in the name of civility).

[boris]

We should make "civility" the leftoid version of "morality" ... when they speak in uncivil fashion they're being vile hypocrites. If our side says something nasty ... well at least we're not hypocritical. So there could be a tactical advantage to not endorse the civility bandwagon.

[clarice]

Thanks, narciso.

Your name in lights:http://pajamasmedia.com/tatler/2011/01/17/brussels-journal-tunisians-see-through-anti-israeli-propaganda/>Tunisia

[clarice]

Great idea, boris.
Maybe we need a feature called "civility watch"

[Captain Hate]

being raised by a murderess under some misguided liberal ideal

Peter, what is this referring to?

[Neo]

London (CNN) -- A Swiss whistle-blower Monday handed over what he said were secret Swiss banking records to WikiLeaks, the website dedicated to revealing secrets.

Swiss banker Rudolf Elmer handed two discs to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange at a news conference in London.

WikiLeaks could release the secret Swiss banking records in "a matter of weeks" if it can process them quickly enough, Assange said.

Elmer said he would not reveal the names in the records and said he was unable to say how many people were involved.

This is playing with fire. Some of these folks involved in these accounts will resolve this issue on their own (i.e. contract killing).

[centralcal]

Clarice is a busy bee this morning over at The Tatler.

[narciso]

Thanks Clarice, yes that is a bit harsh, daddy was a segregationist when it suited him, a moonbat later in life, mother was equally dotty.

[Neo]

The Times outs Jered Loughner as a "Bush Hater"...

But Jared, a curious teenager who at times could be intellectually intimidating, stood out because of his passionate opinions about government — and his obsession with dreams. He became intrigued by antigovernment conspiracy theories, including that the Sept. 11 attacks were perpetrated by the government and that the country’s central banking system was enslaving its citizens. His anger would well up at the sight of President George W. Bush, or in discussing what he considered to be the nefarious designs of government.

WOW!! Just wow!

[Captain Hate]

I'm as far from a Wiki defender as you can get (and feel that Amy Carter is Exhibit A of the risks of having children too late in life) but the entry for her mentions that she was dismissed from Brown during her sophomore year for academic reasons.

[narciso]

Well Capt, it all depends on the source notes, as to the reliability of a given. wiki entry.

[Danube of Thought]

I think of Wikipedia as a convenient place to start, but absolutely never a place to end if the subject matter is at all controversial.

[Neo]

I wish Piven wouldn’t talk about all the sex in the “Tea Party”. Back in the 60′s, most of the hippies were Lefties because it made it so easy to get sex.
Now, the sex crazed Lefties will flock to the “Tea Party” just for the easy sex.

LOL .. These guys will believe anything

[Commenting]

Obama should not have stood on the stage with a dead child in his arms and said, "Be nice to ME!"

[Janet]

The left is projecting again Neo. Like Loughner with the naked buttock/glock pictures.
The right uses guns for protection & hunting & sports (like skeet). The left are bitter clingers in fantasy g-string photos.

[Jack is Back!]

P. J. O'Rourke has a good take-down of the NY Slimes and the now infamous Hulse-Zernike "self-fulfilling prophecy" disguised as reporting. LUN

[bio mom]

The left will simply act as if they never said anything at all about civility. It will all disappear into the rabbit hole.

[Porchlight]

I think of Wikipedia as a convenient place to start, but absolutely never a place to end if the subject matter is at all controversial.

That's a great way of putting it. As a librarian I am cautioned never to use Wikipedia, but I admit I do find it convenient for non-controversial, easy-to-find info such as when such-and-such extremely famous person was born, etc.

For example, once at the reference desk an elderly gentleman came up to ask for Amelia Earhart's birth and death dates, and I immediately went to Wiki. My co-worker chewed me out afterwards because "Wiki isn't a real reference source" and can't be relied upon, etc. He said it was irresponsible of me.

I told him that in this particular case, I thought that was a silly argument. So we went to the library's subscription online reference database to compare info. The "real" reference source had the identical birth and death dates, of course, but had her place of birth, Atchison, Kansas, incorrectly spelled as Atchinson.

I got the last laugh.

I do think it's extremely important not to ever use Wiki when working with undergraduates, though, since they have a tendency to use it for everything, including in cases where the Wiki info is extremely unreliable.

[Jim Miller]

Here's the Staubach quote.

(In my browser -- Firefox running under Ubuntu -- only half of the scanned newspaper shows up, so I was left wondering what Staubach had actually said.)

[Neo]

Correcting our record: We've removed an explosive 2005 report by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. about autism and vaccines.

Here's why In 2005, Salon published online an exclusive story by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. that offered an explosive premise: that the mercury-based thimerosal compound present in vaccines until 2001 was dangerous, and that he was "convinced that the link between thimerosal and the epidemic of childhood neurological disorders is real." The piece was co-published with Rolling Stone magazine -- they fact-checked it and published it in print; we posted it online. In the days after running "Deadly Immunity," we amended the story with five corrections (which can still be found logged here) that went far in undermining Kennedy's exposé. At the time, we felt that correcting the piece -- and keeping it on the site, in the spirit of transparency -- was the best way to operate. But subsequent critics, including most recently, Seth Mnookin in his book "The Panic Virus," further eroded any faith we had in the story's value. We've grown to believe the best reader service is to delete the piece entirely.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was so wrong, it made Salon look stupid ... but hey, we already knew that

[jimmyk]

Meanwhile, the Times wins the "failure to introspect" award with today's "News Analysis" about the post-shooting "accusations." After noting that Palin had referred to "journalists and pundits" manufacturing a blood libel, the article goes on:

Which journalists and pundits? While there was plenty of debate in newspapers, and on radio and television about the effects of a toxic politic [sic] environment, most of the direct accusations against conservative talk radio and pundits were leveled by people online, not members of the mainstream media.

While it may be literally true that "most" of the direct accusations" were by non-MSM types, the article laughably tries to minimize the role of the Times editorial page, which in addition to Krugman's notorious column, had an editorial that said in effect, Well, Republicans aren't literally responsible for the killings (duh!), but its ok to slam them for creating a hateful climate.

Do they really think their readers are so stupid?

[Melinda Romanoff]

A couple of side pieces that will be headlines tonight:

Steve Jobs has taken a medical leave of absence from Apple.

And secondly, the bond market in the EU just got a whole lot less transparent.

Prayers for Mr. Jobs.

[Jack is Back!]

Mel,

Sad news about Jobs. My wife and I are macmaniacs and are going on the next MacMania cruise in South America come February. Woz is supposed to be there with his new bride. Still hope he makes it since he was going to do a couple of Q & A's for the group.

Did you see where Cowen, the Irish Taoseisch, is calling for a confidence vote by his party and then a new election sometime in March. They already need a new injrection of capital but from where? Do they celebrate St. Paddy's Day in China?

[Porchlight]

(In my browser -- Firefox running under Ubuntu -- only half of the scanned newspaper shows up, so I was left wondering what Staubach had actually said.)

That's how it appeared to me using Chrome/Windows, but then I was able to click on the scan and drag the image to the right, so that the rest of the article showed. Similar to what you can do in Google maps.

[Danube of Thought]

The politicization of everything: the New York Times reviews the performance of someone named Ricky Gervais at the Golden Globe awards last night:

It’s so rare for presenters to be at open war with their host, and at times it almost looked as if Mr. Gervais and Mr. Bale were intent on bringing to Hollywood some of the incivility and extremism that veins political discourse.

[Danube of Thought]

One might otherwise tend to forget that Hollywood brought to us such exemplars of civility as Natural Born Killers, No Country for Old Men, Blue Velevet, Bad Lieutenant, The Silence of the Lambs, and you fill out the list.

Don't get me wrong--I liked some of those movies, and liked some of them a lot. But I didn't go to them, and don't go to Hollywood products generally, in search of civility. And I don't engage in political discourse in search of it, either.

[Jack is Back!]

The DC has come out with their first rankings of the GOP POTUS hopefuls. Ranked No. 1 is not Palin or Romney. LUN

[Ignatz]

--I'm as far from a Wiki defender as you can get (and feel that Amy Carter is Exhibit A of the risks of having children too late in life) but the entry for her mentions that she was dismissed from Brown during her sophomore year for academic reasons.--

Just check back in this afternoon CH, it will probably be gone again.
Tomorrow morning, who knows?

[Rob Crawford]

Ranked No. 1 is not Palin or Romney. LUN

Who cares?

It's January a year before primaries begin. I realize the press is best compared to planaria or centipedes, and are incapable of thinking of anything except horse-race politics, but the rest of us are.

Can we all agree to ignore polls into they have meaning?

[Jane (sit on the couch or save your country)]

Okay, I have a few stupid questions about the Tatler.

Does it automatically update?

Does it start somewhere?

Is there a rhyme or reason?

[Jack is Back!]

Get up on the wrong side of your floor this morning, Rob?

[hit and run]

I'll repost something from a previous thread...a breakdown of how Obama spent his speech.

----------

The transcript reveals that Obama spoke 2,743 words in his speech at the pep memorial rally. By my reading,it broke down like this:

277 words in introduction
603 words eulogizing the fallen
355 words eulogizing the victims who survived,the heros on scene and the medical personnel
691 words speechifying
172 words "eulogizing"* the victims
615 words speechifying
30 words in closing

__________________
*Half eulogy,half using the victims as motivation for us to do what Obama wants us to do. Nice words,words that would comfort the families in and of themselves. But words used in service of Obama's speechifying.

----------

I had drawn this up at the time,but the thread was old and stale and whatnot,so I kept it tucked away . . . for such a time as this! Let's call it "Shorter Obama".

*Half eulogy,half using the victims as motivation for us to do what Obama wants us to do.

(speechify)"We need to be civil because being civil is civil. If we're not being civil,then we're not doing what we need to do,because,like I said,we need to be civil. Do you understand,listener?"

("eulogy")"You know who was really civil? Christina Green,that's who. Christina was a wonderful little girl. She liked to jump in puddles and she was civil. But mostly she was civil."

(speechify)"That's why we need to be civil. Because otherwise little Christina will be up in heaven crying. You want to make a little girl up in heaven cry? No? Then be civil."

(conclusion)"And that's what I promise to do in my second term,er,I mean,God bless America."

[Jim Miller]

Porchlight - That works for me, too. I didn't think of trying it the first time because I didn't see any scroll bars.

[Captain Hate]

Can we all agree to ignore polls into they have meaning?

Speaking of dumbass things that are worthy of being ignored: Why does Iowa's caucus have to lead off the primaries? Who cares if it's in those hayseeds' state constitution that they get to go first (and I say that as someone who has a number of inlaws in that state that I'm on good terms with)? To Hell with them.

[Rob Crawford]

Get up on the wrong side of your floor this morning, Rob?

No. I simply hate stupid horse-race horse-shit. It's the ultimate in lazy "journalism", it's a pander to the lowest common denominator, and it is most often used to obscure real issues.

Starting all that crap this far out is just a part of the press' campaign to institute the permanent political campaign. How about we focus on what's happening NOW? You know, with that new Congress that just got seated?

[sam]

In 2007, there were 148 public polls for the GOP primaries.

Giuliani led in 143 of those. And was tied in 2 others.

[narciso]

It was pretty weak tea, focusing on Christie's weight in stead of his stances on cap n trade or the GZ Mosque, saying she
was 'shirking her duties in Alaska, did spell out the myopic insider attitudes behind Romney

[clarice]

I'm with you Capt.Caucuses easy to corrupt with dumb college kids and pols easy to buy off with corn ethanol subsidies.

[Rob Crawford]

Why does Iowa's caucus have to lead off the primaries?

Ethanol.

[Rob Crawford]

In 2007, there were 148 public polls for the GOP primaries.

Giuliani led in 143 of those. And was tied in 2 others.

Yeah -- I left off the part about them being utterly worthless.

[sbw]

Matt, priceless description for the tone at the Tucson memorial political rally: Rah rah somber.

[clarice]

Very good, hit.

I thought the only thing hard about Brown was getting in if you were middle class and white. Amy managed to get thrown out foe academic reasons? WOW/

[narciso]

Of course, Dean's attempt to reset with Nevada, led to the Florida brouhaha, which
messed things up royally. What's a better fit, though, California, NY,most everyone would run out of money real fast. Maybe Ohio, would work better

[rse]

clarice had the same reaction to Amy and Brown that I did.

Chicagoans-Swinging through first week of April with teenage girls looking at Midwest schools. Plan to see Field and Adler and other suggestions.

Would love suggestions on where to stay. My only experience was a convention at the Fairmont. Not enough hot water when all the rooms are sold out.

[Pops]

Speaking of children. We came across a junk mail form my son filled out for a magazine he wanted (He's six). He had filled out the whole form, with some misspellings of course, including our e-mail address.

At the bottom of the form, a line asked for the parents signature. Our son dutifully signed the form in capitol letters: M O M Y

He couldn't understand why we thought it so funny.

[Chubby]

((Sure, now they want to forget their rhetoric used during the Bush years.))

Meanwhile transferring it on to Sarah Palin. Their sense of moral superiority needs to be propped up somehow, and one way is to make someone look bad so they can look good.

[OldTimer]

Can Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind) overcome the establishment 'favorites' to mount a bold run for the 2012 presidential slot?

The full article is LUN, but if Pence really is a Tea Party favorite, let the games begin:

“America’s President Committee [APC] today kicks off a national grassroots signature drive urging conservatives and tea party members to sign a declaration encouraging Mr. Pence to run for President,” the group said in an early-Monday news release.

“Throughout his distinguished career, Mike Pence has demonstrated the ability to enthusiastically advance the cause of conservatives and constitutional, limited government, and for that reason I am encouraging him to get in the race,” said Ryun."

[Pops]

I am allways tempted to lash out at Chris Wallace during interviews because of the stupid money questions he asks. I just wish some politician would say to him:

What am I going to cut, I am going to cut everything Chris, don't
you get it man? We are not just broke, we are beyond broke, we are 14 Trillion in debt with no end in sight.

I would hate to be your wife and in charge of your family budget Chris.

Let's see, let's say you may 250,000 take home a year Chris, but your also have run up 4 Million in credit card debt, that plus your bills require you to make 10,000 more each month then you actually make, so you are borrowing 10K a month just to pay the bills. And you ask your wife, so where are you going to cut? She would say, we are cutting everything or we are going bankrupt, get it?

Its like having gangrene that started at your big toe but now went all the way up you
to your thigh, and the doctor says we have to amputate to save your life, and you ask, "OK doc, so where you going to cut? The ankle, the calf? "?

He has to cut the whole thing or you still die Chris, you idiot.

---------------RANT OFF____________

Or, the Republicans when asked if they are going to cut spending should say:

Absoltulely not, in fact, we are going to spend more tax dollars then ever before, this Congress will tax more daollars and spend more dollars then even Pelosi ever spent.

But what we are not going to do is BORROW and spent. So between us and the Democrats, we both agree on the tax and spend part - we both will spend every cent. Its the borrow and spend that we will differ, we think you only borrow in extreme emergencies.

Everytime they are on a panel with a liberal, they should make the distinction that both agree to spend the same amount of tax dollars, they disagree on how much to spend of borrowed money from our grandchildren.

[Neo]

Michelle Obama turns 47 39 for the 9th time today.

[Porchlight]

Pops, that is awesome. :)

[Cecil Turner]

I watched only a few minutes of the affair, so my conclusions probably shouldn't carry much weight, but . . . What struck me was, first, a totally inappropriate campaign-like atmosphere, from the cheering to the T-shirts. And contra Krauthammer (with whom I usually agree), the President bears much of the responsibility for the tone. Secondly, every single thing coming out of the President's mouth benefitted him politically. Even the comment where he admits a lack of civility (i.e., the right's political discourse) was not responsible for Loughner's actions (like Duh, that was a hard call), he can't bring himself to chastise those who leapt to make those accusations. As TM noted in the first post, he led the faithful to the usual suspects on who deserved the most blame.

It seems to me if the lefties are serious about changing the tone, they could do so with remarkable ease. And a good first step would be to eschew using this crisis to push whatever piece of the liberal dream agenda (e.g., gun control) they think most timely. But since they appear unable to let this crisis go to waste, I remain unpersuaded that it's time to sit quietly and applaud their beneficient efforts to cure us of our benighted extremist wrongheadedness (whilst simultaneously spending a generous helping of public funds, natch).

[Chubby]

Wikipedia's controversial pages are usually tagged at the top with a link to the dispute and reading the dispute debates between the "editors" (contributors) can fill in a lot of blanks. Plus I love the option of being able to save the articles as PDF's.

[Chubby]

((Correcting our record: We've removed an explosive 2005 report by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. about autism and vaccines.))

Cowards. The should leave it up there as a sore thumb testimonial to the error of their ways, tagged with an appropriate mea culpa.

But to erase the record of their error. No, that is wrong.

[MayBee]

What once was the science you were a stupid troglodyte to deny, now is bunk. And from Robert F Kennedy, Jr no less.

Imagine that.

[MayBee]

Pops! That is adorable.

[PD]

From narciso's link: The Tunisians, but also the Algerians, the Egyptians and the Jordanians, are becoming more and more aware, especially when they see on the Arabic tv channels the standard of living of the Israeli Arabs and even the Palestinians, that the money is not going to “the Palestinian children” as has been claimed, but to big cars, a festive lifestyle and opulent villas for the military-fundamentalist mafia which has been leading those countries for decades with Western and Wahhabi support.

That reminded me of something from a couple of weeks ago. I was flipping through channels when I came across something called LinkTV, which I know nothing about, but was at the moment showing some kind of Palestinian (?) comedy show. The husband was telling his wife he wanted to get out of the crappy apartment where they were living and he wanted them to move to one of the areas where Palestinians live in Israel. "Do you know what kind of water pressure the Jews get? Their showers, unbelievable!"

[Rob Crawford]

Getting your science information from a Kennedy makes as much sense as getting it from a Gore.

[PD]

Getting your science information from a Kennedy makes as much sense as getting it from a Gore.

Oh, I don't know. Just assume the opposite is true.

[Jim Ryan]

Well, this is sad. Boortz's radio sidekick Royal Marshall, a young man with a voice of reason and good cheer, passed away suddenly this weekend. Looks like a heart attack.

[squaredance]

It is shameful that the GOP allowed themselves to be cowed into changing the seating arrangements at the speech. They are not men. Nobody can be this stupid naturally. This is just willful stupidity. The GOP had the chance of chances and watch them blow it all this year.

They are jokes. The last election has in effect been nullified, and by what? If you think you can get those that voted in Nvo. to turn out like they did ever again after they see carp like this you are living on another planet.

As I said here before, this whole business of Tuscon is a major propaganda win for Obama. The GOP should have made a point to not do this.

Through the most blatantly absurd propaganda effort, the Left has turned things around quite nicely for them. One would have thought that it was not possible.

Even on the internet they have put everyone else on the defensive. A masterful propaganda campaign. How easily they rout their enemies.

At mass yesterday, one of the arch liberals got up and asked for a moment of silence for the victims and asked of to look into our hear5st and reassess your politics. We never heard this out of this guy when the Left was smearing GBW day and night for 8 years. He got an ovation. These people are hardly rabble rousing Marxists. I repeat: They are getting away with this stuff! it is working!

Think not. Why did the GOP fold on the seating? What imbecilic cowards. They are as easily manipulated as a room of retarded children.

Now this State of the Union speech, which should be a disaster for Obama, will now be a triumph.

It is insane. There is something deeply wrong in the Republic.

It is bizarre. It is absurd.

[narciso]

That's right up there with the line that capitalism, is 'man exploiting man, communism is the reverse'

[Charlie (Colorado)]

Does it automatically update?

No but it should, I'll pass the suggestin along.

Does it start somewhere?

El Segundo

Is there a rhyme or reason?

No more so than The Corner. In fact, it's one of the things I was pushing [I think it was my idea originally but I'm not positive] when I was editing -- a group blog where miscellany too small for an article could be posted.

[Extraneus]

They didn't cave on the SOTU seating yet, did they? I thought it was only Coburn so far.

[hit and run]

Quick,no peeking.

Take a guess as to how many people watched the SOTU last year live.

It's not a trick question - the number isn't scratch your head high or low (IMO). And the question isn't posed as a comment on how important or influential the SOTU is - as obviously you don't have to watch it live to get caught up in all the post-speech spin/coverage.

I just thought it an interesting tidbit.

Oh,and if you peek,you make 9 year olds cry *and* the terrorists will have won.

[PD]

I am still puzzled by the whole "heated rhetoric" claims surrounding the shooting. Doesn't the yammering by Krugman, et al. amount to this:

Heater rhetoric by right-wingers enraged a left-winger into shooting another left-winger.

Huh?

[Greybeard]

Since he specifically mentioned it in his speech, I'll be focused on whether his hands are covering his crotch the next time he hears the National Anthem played.

[hit and run]

Heart-ache: Fair Game was nowhere to be seen last night at the Golden Globes.

But the movie can at least claim that only 130 movies made in the last year have grossed more money than it has. Only 130!

[Danube of Thought]

"That's right up there with the line..."

What is right up there with it?

[narciso]

Bin Ali, from the wiki, seems to have been
much like a prototypical North African apparatchik,(St. Cyr, US Army training, a Marcos with drier weather who should have checked out, long before he became stale, giving more of an opportunity to the likes of Ghannouchi

[sbw]

Heated rhetoric by right-wingers enraged a left-winger into shooting another left-winger.

Looking at repeating cycles of romanticism since the 1700s, it is romantics who have never quite grasped the difference between fantasy and reality.

Whenever their fantasies are undercut by reality, they accuse the messengers of ill will.

Progressives are romantics -- they wish to gild the day with more than experience reveals is there, when experience and humanity are quite enough to create splendor with what we have.

[narciso]

The line about getting your science from Gore rather than RFK.

[Cecil Turner]

I am still puzzled by the whole "heated rhetoric" claims [. . .] enraged a left-winger [. . .]

They claim, of course, that he's not a left-winger. Which he may not be, strictly. But judging from the various evidence (e.g, friends call him either lefty or apolitical, his reading is either crazy or moonbat, and the only political functions he attended are Democrat), he's a whole lot more of that than the other.

The other a priori assumption that lacks plausible foundation is the one about righties being more violent. If that were the case, one would expect a Republican convention to be a raucus caucus (note: lefties mooning outside doesn't count), and the GOP to be easing the way for felons to vote, just for a couple examples. Perhaps I'd buy the idea that righties (esp. ex-military) are more effective when they decide to be murderous, but as for the idea of the average righty having more of a penchant for violence, I'm just not seeing it.

[clarice]

"Doesn't the yammering by Krugman, et al. amount to this:

Heater rhetoric by right-wingers enraged a left-winger into shooting another left-winger."

NO!! The claim if accurate should be that heated rhetoric by a right winger enraged a left wing nut to KILL a right wing judge and wound a conservative Democrat.

If you look at it that way you can see how preposterous the claim has always been.

POPS, that "MOMY" bit is precious. I'd frame it for future delivery.

[Jane (sit on the couch or save your country)]

Thanks Charlie - So far I only go there when there are links as I find it confusing. And it seems to me it should be a lot more like Instapundit format, which would make it harder to miss stuff.

[Jane (sit on the couch or save your country)]

Hit,

I guess 12.

[PD]

The other a priori assumption that lacks plausible foundation is the one about righties being more violent.

If that were true, wouldn't last year's town hall meetings have run red with the blood of Democrats in Congress?

[OldTimer]

The Democrats continue to lay land mines and the Republicans continue to walk lockstep to their detonation. If the SOTU seating arrangements result in another instance of naive Republican acquiescence, the Stupid Party will have driven the final nail into its decrepit coffin.

When a plurality of Americans are wildly cheering on New Jersey's take-no-prisoners governor, what else does the GOP NOT see?

[Danube of Thought]

A gaggle.

[Danube of Thought]

Another stupid Tatler question: how can I bookmark so that I get to the most current page each time?

[Barbara]

It is shameful that the GOP allowed themselves to be cowed into changing the seating arrangements at the speech.

Has this been confirmed? Is there a link?

[PaulV]

Amy Carter went to DC public sshool and likely was given credit for being subject o that abuse,

[clarice]

oT you can bookmark the pajamas Media page and on the left there is scroll that prints the beginning of each post on the blog.

[Neo]

TM: you may have made me a Roger Staubach fan with that link

[clarice]

DoT--excuse me--the scroll feature is on the RIGHT, not the left ,of the page.

[Charlie (Colorado)]

Another stupid Tatler question: how can I bookmark so that I get to the most current page each time?

That's easy, anyway: just use

http://pajamasmedia.com/tatler/

If you go there from a permalink to a particular posting, just click the tatler banner to get to the main page.