Following last night's debate, Bret Stephens of the WSJ throws in the towel on the current Republican offerings:
The GOP Deserves to Lose
That's what happens when you run with losers.
...Above all, it doesn't matter that Americans are generally eager to send Mr. Obama packing. All they need is to be reasonably sure that the alternative won't be another fiasco. But they can't be reasonably sure, so it's going to be four more years of the disappointment you already know.
As for the current GOP field, it's like confronting a terminal diagnosis. There may be an apparent range of treatments: conventional (Romney), experimental (Gingrich), homeopathic (Paul) or prayerful (Santorum). But none will avail you in the end. Just try to exit laughing.
Ross Douthat lauds William Kristol's indefatigabe efforts for a better candidate:
For months now, even as the rest of the conservative commentariat has gradually resigned itself to the existing presidential field, the Weekly Standard’s Bill Kristol has continued to pine — publicly, unstintingly, immune to either embarrassment or fatigue— for another candidate to jump into the race....
And do you know what? He’s been right all along. Right that the decisions by various capable Republicans to forgo a presidential run this year have been a collective disgrace; right that Republican primary voters deserve a better choice than the one being presented to them; and right, as well, that even now it isn’t too late for one of the non-candidates to change their mind and run.
...Contrary to what some of my more excitable colleagues in the press corps have been claiming, the weekend’s results didn’t demonstrate that Newt Gingrich could actually win the Republican nomination, or prove that Mitt Romney could actually lose to him. (Yes, I’m still on the “against this field, Mitt’s inevitable” bandwagon: More on that anon.) But the last week was a reminder, after months in which the incompetence of his rivals made him look better than he is, that Romney remains a tremendously weak frontrunner, whose strengths don’t compensate for a style that leaves conservatives cold and a background that will leave him open to attacks across a variety of Democratic-friendly fronts in the general election. I don’t think he can lose the primary, and I still give him decent odds of winning in November. But those judgments have everything to do with his political environment, and very little to do with the man himself. And under such circumstances, it seems absurd and pathetic that both the party and the country won’t have the chance to consider another option besides Newt the Great and Terrible.
ADN now has a 5th story on Kumbaya seating at tonights SOTU.
They are freakin' morons.
Posted by: daddy | January 24, 2012 at 06:16 PM
"IMO, That entire article was bullshit, Tom."
He can't hear you. He's busy preparing another 5-day open thread.
Posted by: Benjamin Franklin | January 24, 2012 at 06:17 PM
Gee Sara, it's almost like you never left. Good planning.
Rick,
I dunno if I can bear it. Obama will say republicans are bad, we need more taxes and he wants fairness, oh and re-elect me, your messiah.
Daddy, what about you?
Posted by: Jane | January 24, 2012 at 06:17 PM
Gee Sara, it's almost like you never left. Good planning.
No kidding. Sara never missed a single thread! Not too many folks having surgery could accomplish that feat!
Posted by: centralcal | January 24, 2012 at 06:21 PM
In an amazing coincidence, Most Americans agree with "Buffett rule" concept, [CBS] poll shows
Shouldn't there be a companion chart shwoing how many of these respondents know what capital gains and dividends are?
Imagine what would happen if we really taxed investment income at the ordinary income rates?
Posted by: Extraneus | January 24, 2012 at 06:22 PM
Jane: You mind reader, you:
markknoller Mark Knoller
Pres Obama tonite calls for economy “where everyone gets a fair shot, everyone does their fair share & everyone plays by same set of rules.”
markknoller Mark Knoller
Pres Obama will say that what’s at stake “are not Democratic values or Republican values, but American values. “
Posted by: centralcal | January 24, 2012 at 06:24 PM
Imagine, if Romney had the brains and wit to explain it, Extraneus.
Posted by: clarice feldman | January 24, 2012 at 06:28 PM
cathyf - I see someone has already linked to the WSJ column on the attack on Catholic institutions. Here in Washington state, there is a similar attack; a number of Democrats have proposed a law that would force health insurance companies to cover abortion, if the policies cover births.
You don't have to be Catholic -- I'm not -- to be disturbed by these attacks on individual religious freedom.
And I am sure it is no accident that many of these attacks are led by people (Sibelius, Gregoire, et cetera) who are nominal Catholics.
Posted by: Jim Miller | January 24, 2012 at 06:28 PM
Haditha was worse than Breaker Morant. Alot of facts are forever disputed but certain things even the Aussie's admit: Morant took prisoners who surrendered; he dispensed 'field justice' in the form of a consensus amongst his officers and noncoms that the Boer prisoners were the men who killed and mutilated Captain Hunt's body and stole his Khaki uniform-- he then had the Boers executed (as the movie says) "pursuant to Section .303" (the caliber of the Aussie's Enfield rifles). Even in the worst light Lord Kitchener had a sound military reason not to let stand the execution of surrendered prisoners. That would have complicated an already ugly guerilla war and cease fire discussions. In Haditha, Murtha and his ilk had no justification to slander the Marines; it was driven by Murtha's pathological hatred of the POTUS. Kitchener sacrificed soldiers -- wrongly-- for what he considered militarily justified reasons. Murtha was a pig who used pawns to get at the POTUS.
Posted by: NK | January 24, 2012 at 06:29 PM
I was never quite sure of Murtha's motivation. He was a pig, of course, stealing defense funds to feather his nest and that of his friends, and the Haditha clander. I think Code Pink love bombed him, and he was partisan. I also think some assholes from NCIS fed into his animus with exagerrated, unvetted field reports.
Posted by: clarice feldman | January 24, 2012 at 06:34 PM
*Slander*
Posted by: clarice feldman | January 24, 2012 at 06:35 PM
Clarice-- I'm tempting cosmic fate here attacking the dead, but I don't care what NCIS or the CIA or anyone 'fed' Murtha. He slandered young Marines who are better than all of us because they volunteered and they went, and he did for no reason other than to attack the POTUS. He used the young and the brave to advance his disgusting self-interest. I swear, I hope he is burning in Hell.
Posted by: NK | January 24, 2012 at 06:42 PM
Imagine, if Romney had the brains and wit to explain it, Extraneus.
I have a fairly active imagination, but I'm having a hard time imagining that, Clarice.
Posted by: Extraneus | January 24, 2012 at 06:43 PM
Speaking of charitable gifts, didn't the Cheneys donate all their income from a book -- which was 70 percent of their income that year, or something like that -- to charity?
(As I recall, they were attacked for cutting their taxes too much, by the usual gang of leftists.)
Posted by: Jim Miller | January 24, 2012 at 06:43 PM
she's given far more than she's gotten from the RNC.
What, exactly, was the RNC supposed to do for her? Give her money? She quit her job as governor, and since that moment has not held or been a candidate for any public office. She was out doing her TV show and her book tours and her bus tour and her Fox News gig. What's that got to do with the RNC?
Posted by: Danube of Thought | January 24, 2012 at 06:43 PM
On clarice's Duke link upthread, that study was included in the brief from Texas to try to get SCOTUS to revisit the Grutter case on affirmative action in higher ed. Ahead of Sandra's 25 years. Roger Clegg has really been covering this story.
The same study also found a similar trend involving legacy admissions.
Posted by: rse | January 24, 2012 at 06:47 PM
While I am delighted as can be about the outcome of the Haditha hoax, I cannot forget the expense and psychological stress on these men and their families nor the obvious effect on morale of the troops.
Posted by: clarice feldman | January 24, 2012 at 06:48 PM
Thanks maryrose...I watched as the anti-war movement started gearing up after 9-11 & I couldn't stand it. The first political thing I ever went to was a Support the Troops rally down on the Mall when some ANSWER march was happening. The internet changed everything too...finally reading people that thought the same things & finding out who some of the leftist groups really were.
Looking for that Haditha folder... I found my 3 or 4 bulging folders on Libby too. I regret throwing some of my notes out. I had lists of dates/times of great comments with JOMers names next to them...I didn't post back then though.
Posted by: Janet | January 24, 2012 at 06:49 PM
I didn't post back then though.
To our great loss, Janet.
Posted by: Porchlight | January 24, 2012 at 06:51 PM
Heh.
Richard Cohen: How Gingrich can make Obama a stronger candidate
Is that really where his fame is limited to, Cohen? Out of nowhere?Posted by: Extraneus | January 24, 2012 at 06:55 PM
"While I am delighted as can be about the outcome of the Haditha hoax, I cannot forget the expense and psychological stress on these men and their families nor the obvious effect on morale of the troops"
As puerile, an example I can think of for, cognitive dissonance. Or is it Oxymoron?.
Posted by: Benjamin Franklin | January 24, 2012 at 06:56 PM
Such a Luddite! I didn't have a Web Site URL & didn't know what one was....so I figured I couldn't post! Hah!
Posted by: Janet | January 24, 2012 at 06:57 PM
Murtha slandered these particular Marines. But he also hurt all of the volunteer soldiers, sailors and marines by repeating the slanderous lie that they were in Iraq because the POTUS 'lied', that there were there for 'oil' and all that Left Wing BS. These young people volunteered for all the right reason, and this old bastard was telling them they were pawns. He was disgusting.
Posted by: NK | January 24, 2012 at 06:58 PM
Jane,
I don't know if it will be on live over here. Maybe CNN will run it, but I really detest the guy so much I think I'll take a pass. Maybe I'll turn it on until I can't stand it any longer.
I think just hearing the TV guys slobber over the Bipartisan seating business would make me vomit. How the hell the Anchorage Daily News can have run 5 different stories already on Lisa Murkowski and her seating arrangement conflounds me.
NK,
You're correct about that video. I enjoyed seeing how fast the air over the top of the wings moved, but the comments, which I hadn't read, were excellent. We were always taught that it was the pressure reduction over the wing, caused by that air movement, that generated lift.
Posted by: daddy | January 24, 2012 at 06:59 PM
Oh no, Janet! I was terrified when I first started posting. I didn't think I had anything to contribute. Obviously, I didn't let that stop me. :)
Posted by: Porchlight | January 24, 2012 at 06:59 PM
More laughable Cohen:
Posted by: Extraneus | January 24, 2012 at 07:00 PM
I also think some assholes from NCIS fed into his animus with exagerrated, unvetted field reports.
Yeah Clarice. This article from April 2007 lists some of them.
Posted by: Janet | January 24, 2012 at 07:03 PM
I couldn't figure out the website either, Janet. I used to come over to read the TM posts but couldn't figure out how to read the comments or post. HEH
Posted by: clarice feldman | January 24, 2012 at 07:03 PM
" . . . tell me what great president ever ran a successful business . . . "
George Washington, to start with.
And Lincoln was a pretty successful lawyer.
Those two make most lists of great presidents.
Posted by: Jim Miller | January 24, 2012 at 07:06 PM
Thanks, Janet. I didn't think I messed up that recollection.
Posted by: clarice feldman | January 24, 2012 at 07:06 PM
Jefferson was a lousy businessman and gave birth to the modern Democratic Party.
Pretty good writer, though....
Posted by: Melinda Romanoff | January 24, 2012 at 07:07 PM
. Obviously, I didn't let that stop me. :)
Hahaha, Porchlight! I am grateful for your bravery!
Posted by: Janet | January 24, 2012 at 07:08 PM
Via Instapundit:
Time for Warren Buffett and his Secretary to Release Their Personal Tax Returns
Posted by: Extraneus | January 24, 2012 at 07:10 PM
MelR-- at the time of his death, Jefferson left debts that his progeny had to make good on, or good to debtor prison. Ah the good old days....
Posted by: NK | January 24, 2012 at 07:13 PM
How funny, Janet, Clarice, Porch . . .
I had never heard of this blog until early in the Libby matter when I clicked on some link that brought me here. Probably only read TM's blog posts the first few times, but cannot remember how I found the comment section.
Funny, it was the comment section that got me hooked. Nearly freaked out trying to set up a Typepad account (omg - what privacy was I imperiling?).
It was a year, I think, before I found out TopsecretK9 wasn't a male, retired FBI agent!
Good times, good times.
Posted by: centralcal | January 24, 2012 at 07:13 PM
but couldn't figure out how to read the comments or post. HEH
There is a larger Luddite community out here than people realize.
Posted by: Janet | January 24, 2012 at 07:14 PM
I'm sure that Mitch Daniels checked with his wife and got her permission before he agreed to give the Republican response tonight.
Posted by: A Casual Observation | January 24, 2012 at 07:15 PM
Here's an antidote to the blathering that's going to be on tv later.
Posted by: bgates | January 24, 2012 at 07:16 PM
.. go to debtor prison....
Argh.. someday I'll learn to type
Posted by: NK | January 24, 2012 at 07:16 PM
How about some pre-blogging?
Obama comes out with that Obama-policy-eating grin. Points at several members of Congress. Biden tries to tap him on the shoulder and get his attention; looks like his crayon broke already. Obama isn't turning around.
Boehner has one for him.
Posted by: bgates | January 24, 2012 at 07:21 PM
If you can't handle listening to Obama tonight, you might consider listening to the sky snore in Borneo.
Borneo blames Alaska for making their sky snore:
Alaska's HAARP blamed for 'snoring' skies in Malaysia
Posted by: daddy | January 24, 2012 at 07:23 PM
glasate:
One of our local TP leaders said at the last meeting that 20 million evangelicals did not vote in the '08 election.
But is it true?
In 2004, 121,480,019 votes were cast between Bush, Kerry and Nader. According to exit polls, 23% were white evangelical/born again -- or roughly 27,940,404 voters
In 2008, 125,225,901 votes were cast between McCain and Obama. According to exit polls, 26% were white evangelical/born again -- or roughly 32,558,734 voters.
Of course, 20M might have stayed home -- if 32.5M voted and 20M stayed home,that would be a roughly 58% participation rate,which sounds eminently reasonable. But I don't think that is the argument he was intending to make, nor would it be a sign that Rove had done any better at getting evangelicals out to vote.
I wonder if Jim Miller has looked at it more closely?
Posted by: hit and run | January 24, 2012 at 07:23 PM
...and Boehner has to snatch the crayon back before Biden eats it.
Speaking of eating, Michelle has that grim predatory look she gets when she hasn't had a side of beef tossed into her room in a couple of hours. She's politely greeting her guests, though that ends when she finds out none of them brought any Rollos.
Posted by: bgates | January 24, 2012 at 07:24 PM
Here we go.
"Thanks to the efforts of my administration over the past three years, I am proud to report the state of our union is good."
Jackass.
Posted by: bgates | January 24, 2012 at 07:28 PM
bgates: your mention of Michelle and her grim predatory look reminded me...
Did anyone see Shep Smith today (he is on during my lunch hour)? He went on and on and on and on about every detail of the WH lunch menu for the press today. It was totally embarrassing to listen to.
Posted by: centralcal | January 24, 2012 at 07:30 PM
3 minutes in and he hasn't blamed George Bush for anything yet.
Posted by: bgates | January 24, 2012 at 07:31 PM
Only an idiot would choose a businessman over a community organizer!!!!
How hard can it be to be a businessman? There are thousands of them. But do you even know any community organizers? Besides the one on Pennsylvania Avenue of course. Fewer = better. ALWAYS!!!
Posted by: Dhinger McGee | January 24, 2012 at 07:32 PM
Criticizing Romney and Gingrich for changing their position on the individual mandate. That's characteristically hypocritical.
"Some say providing health care to all Americans is unconstitutional. As a Constitutional law professor, I am confident our Supreme Court will see things differently."
There's at least three things to hate about that passage, and that's not even counting the wink directed at (and returned by) Kagan.
Posted by: bgates | January 24, 2012 at 07:36 PM
Heh, Dhinger.
Posted by: Porchlight | January 24, 2012 at 07:40 PM
Jane and centralcal
There is missed and then there is missed.
And Jane, your live blogging is fun any time, but it is hilarious on I V morphine.
Just for the record, I did not miss my surgery either. For the second time, I stayed awake and watched the whole thing. I have probably confirmed once and for all that I am nuts, but it is my body and I like to know what is being done to it. They did as much as they could microscopically to cut down on the incisions and subsequent scarring. The doctors say that they consider the fix a complete success and have given me a very encouraging prognosis. I was really miserable last night, but woke up today and the first thing I noticed was no shoulder ache. The bicep hurts like hell where they rebroke the bone, but I know with bone breaks that intense pain is common the first week and then it will be okay. I'm told that the nerves are traumatized but as they settle down, the terrible tingling I have had in my hand will be gone. Right now, my hand has a mind of its own and just flops around like a rag doll. They gave me a squeeze ball to strengthen it, but I have so little grip right now, every time I try to use it, I lose it and it rolls across the floor and my dogs think it is play time.
I've figured out how to eat left-handed and use the computer. The one logistical problem to work out is how to get out of a chair. Because of my knee and back, I need my arms for leverage to push myself up. I don't know what I'm going to do if I have to use the bathroom and the kids aren't here.
Posted by: Sara | January 24, 2012 at 07:42 PM
Fiona the chunky host on CNN International just did an interview with some WaPo journalist about what to expect from tonights SOTU. Then she showed photos of Mitt and Newt, saying someone's Tax returns had been released, and then lampooning them with a quick snarky crack about were they "rich or creepy rich."
I switch over to the BBC. Their girl is in Davos, saying that one of the big questions the deep thinkers will be wrestling with in Davos is whether Capitalism is the right model for the 21st Century.
Posted by: daddy | January 24, 2012 at 07:42 PM
How would those folks know in Davos? They might have some Adam Smith books, but Eutopia is not much about Capitalism and hasnt been for quite some time.
Posted by: Gmax | January 24, 2012 at 07:47 PM
Thanks for that great antidote, bgates. I didn't appreciate Reagan enough when he was in office. I was politically naive and thought all presidents were men of stature and greatness. It eluded me that Carter was a total wreck because of his own ineptitude and leftist ideology. To me, the peanut farmer from Georgia seemed like a very nice man who just happened to be in office during a very bad economy.
I didn't open my eyes and come to my senses until Clinton took office. It was a very rude awakening.
Posted by: OldTimer | January 24, 2012 at 07:47 PM
JiB, Narciso
Finally somebody's doing some new drilling off the Florida Coast.
Posted by: daddy | January 24, 2012 at 07:48 PM
Very droll, daddy, and considering their safety record what could go wrong, Scarabeo;
http://pjmedia.com/tatler/2012/01/24/rep-ted-poe-r-tx-pushes-ahead-on-the-xl-pipeline/#comments
Posted by: narciso | January 24, 2012 at 07:52 PM
Sometimes there can be such a thing as too much information, Sara.
Posted by: centralcal | January 24, 2012 at 07:55 PM
We have a break through....
Bill O'Reilly interviewing Beckle on his show did not fall for Beckle's red meat toss that oil speculators were causing the price of crude to rise.
In the past O'Reilly has always blamed traders for fluctuations in oil prices.
Posted by: glasater | January 24, 2012 at 08:14 PM
So the preferred establishment candidate is weaker than imagined and Newt is proving Romney to be a horrible candidate with minimal appeal to voters.
So they want to dump Romney and find another RINO...
Anything to manipulate the election and electorate...
Posted by: WarEagle82 | January 24, 2012 at 08:14 PM
His lips were moving when he said this;
http://weaselzippers.us/2012/01/24/hoyer-no-president-in-last-30-years-has-shown-a-willingness-to-compromise-as-president-obama-has/
Posted by: narciso | January 24, 2012 at 08:16 PM
Sara;
It must have been agonizing to type. I really pray this improves your mobility over the next months;
God Bless.
Posted by: Benjamin Franklin | January 24, 2012 at 08:16 PM
Where ya been, narco?
Florida Cubanos got you stumping for Gnoot?
Posted by: Benjamin Franklin | January 24, 2012 at 08:18 PM
daddy;
I was trying to get my head around the idiotic statement by the president that abortion is all about equal rights and the Davos crisis of capitalism and the Charles Murray piece in Saturday's WSJ.
It really does boil down to a loss of faith and morals. Whether Obama or B of A or Corzine or Apple or Gingrich or Pelosi, the leadership class has been imposing a vision upon the world with no grounding in the ethical and moral conventions that have governed the West for the past 3,000 years. LUN
Posted by: matt | January 24, 2012 at 08:21 PM
Really Michael you think that you'll fool Volodya with that;
http://weaselzippers.us/2012/01/24/obama-ambassador-to-russia-we-support-universal-values-not-american-values/#comment-483350
Posted by: narciso | January 24, 2012 at 08:24 PM
Apparently, those wizards of social media in the WH are going to respond to Twitter questions and comments during the speech. Via Insty, Bob Owens has sketched out some good questions on Fast & Furious. In the spirit of doing one's fair share, those who can might want to share some of those questions with those helpful WH strategists.
As in load it up like artillery.
Posted by: Melinda Romanoff | January 24, 2012 at 08:28 PM
I will not see or hear one second of this farce. We will watch either The Iron Lady or The Artist tonight, or simply read.
Posted by: Danube of Thought | January 24, 2012 at 08:30 PM
Wonderful, DoT. Share your movie review with us if you watch either one, please.
Posted by: centralcal | January 24, 2012 at 08:33 PM
There is an excellent article by Victor Davis Hanson at PJMedia entitled, "The 2012 Election Circus - The Acts, The Players, The Hype. (See entire article at LUN)
Here is an excerpt:
Posted by: Barbara | January 24, 2012 at 08:36 PM
Is the SOTU on? I would deeply appreciate it if someone blogged the SOTU. Jane et al are my heroes.
Daddy, your 5:15 video brings to mind lots of fun memories for me. I have six grandkids, ranging in age from infants to 7 yrs, who are well-trained in the workings of airplanes. Every time I get on a plane with them, which I do quite frequently (I am determined to teach them all about Texas), the little darlin's love to tell me everything they know, particularly take-offs and landings. One of my fondest memories happened five years ago with my oldest grandson. We were traveling from DCA to DFW on a plane full of Georgetown basketball players and one of the players sitting behind us began to loudly taunt one of the coaches to explain what makes an airplane fly. My two-year old stood on his tiptoes to look back at him over the seat and promptly explained, "An airplane goes because it has Suck, Squeeze, Bang, Blow (and demonstrated with sound effects, of course) and then air goes over fast-fast (appropriate sound effects) while air goes under slooooow and haaaaard and zoom! airplane goes up, up up!"
The rest of the trip was pure raucus. Those guys had mucho fun with the Suck, Squeeze, Bang, Blow, making up raps, keeping it clean for my angel.
Watching the video, I could hear an excited little voice telling me all about it. :)
Posted by: Holly | January 24, 2012 at 08:37 PM
JiB, the argument they made was that with a warrant, the police could break into a file cabinet, and they can also break the encryption of the hard drive. But they argued that providing the password was self incrimination and while they gave them the drive per the warrant, they did not have to unlock it. I know many are watching how this ends.
Posted by: Old Lurker | January 24, 2012 at 08:38 PM
Good post Matt,
FWIW,
On Anderson Cooper's CNN show from a moment ago Roland the black guy was all about using the watchword "fairness, fairness, fairness." You called that one.
Paul Begala says to Anderson Cooper that he hopes the Prez says "Middle Class" many times tonight. Says he'll drink a beer every time he hears the words "Middle Class" tonight, and that he hopes by the time the speech is over he is stinking drunk.
David Gergen concludes"
This is an opportunity for the Pres to talk in front of a 40 million plus audience, much larger than any of the Repub's have had or will get. What the White House has done well is keeping Obama off the stage for the last 4 months so that he will come out looking fresh tonight.
Wolf, Gloria, Anderson, Candy Crowley etc are excited and almost gleeful. It would be impossible for any objective person to watch these guys and think they aren't pulling like hell for Obama.
Wolf already tells us "This will be an historic speech."
Posted by: daddy | January 24, 2012 at 08:38 PM
SEIU, Obama super-PAC team up to hit Romney in Spanish
SEIU and Obama plus $6 million ad buy by Newt's Super Pac all hitting at same time in Florida.
Posted by: Sara | January 24, 2012 at 08:40 PM
Considering JiB's review, it's dissapointing that Tin Tin wasn't nominated, in lieu of Scorsese's offering, (I think that is right)
Posted by: narciso | January 24, 2012 at 08:42 PM
Whatever he says, Obama can never do worse than the 2003 SOTU of 16 infamous words.
Enjoy the show, Iraq war proponents...btw, I won't ever let you forget; ever......ever.......ever
Posted by: Benjamin Franklin | January 24, 2012 at 08:43 PM
Good story Holly. Very fun.
"Suck, Squeeze, Bang, Blow" sounds like a description of CNN's News Team tonight, but glad to know it also works for airplanes:)
Posted by: daddy | January 24, 2012 at 08:44 PM
"So the preferred establishment candidate is..."
At this point I think it is fair to ask those who use the terms "establishment," "Duke & Duke" and "The Fnork" to identify by name the individuals who comprise those entities.
Let me go first: as one who uses "Fnork" regularly, I have no idea who are or are not its members. It is simply a Dark Force that can detrmine almost overnight who will be the Republican nominee. It seems to have no counterpart in the Democratic Party. And it seems to have frightened conservatives who do know its membership so badly that they dare not speak their names nor specify the source of its powers nor its manner of exercising those powers.
Now, somebody step forward and start naming names and identifying the powers of The Establishment and of Duke & Duke.
Posted by: Danube of Thought | January 24, 2012 at 08:44 PM
daddy - A ringed seal -- probably the same ringed seal earlier spotted in the Duwamish -- was spotted Friday in Marysville, north of Seattle.
So it is headed in the right direction.
(There's a brief article, with a pic, in today's Seattle Tiems.)
Posted by: Jim Miller | January 24, 2012 at 08:46 PM
Attention everyone! The bullet proof car has left the white house with its caravan of decoys, buses and prius's headed toward the capital.
HOw many legislators will have the guts to wear 1000 pins. How many will wear their golf pants. The suspense is killing me.
Will Joe Wilson yell out?
Will Alito even show up?
What is Buffet's secretary going to wear?
Posted by: Jane | January 24, 2012 at 08:47 PM
Well, actually the Seattle Times.
(And I can't claim to be catching their typo problem from the newspaper, though I do see a few there from time to time.)
Posted by: Jim Miller | January 24, 2012 at 08:48 PM
Here is the challange: drink on the word "fairness". If anyone is still standing at the end of the night they get a prize?
And how long will this monstrosity last?
Posted by: Jane | January 24, 2012 at 08:48 PM
DoT,
I believe that there is a similar "Dark Force" or more likely a collaboration of forces in the Democratic Party. They are the same people who were able to dictate to Hillary Clinton that she would not challenge Obama's nomination at the convention. Her reward was that she was named Sec. of State.
Posted by: Barbara | January 24, 2012 at 08:49 PM
::whispering:: DoT: I think it is more secret than the Masons.
Posted by: centralcal | January 24, 2012 at 08:50 PM
Cornyn, Sessions, Madden, Murphy, Feherty, Mackowoniak, Gillespie, Ross (of Delaware)
whoever the poobah is in NY, Rove, Cicconi,
those are just names that come up, mining the National Journal's Insider poll.
Posted by: narciso | January 24, 2012 at 08:50 PM
Wonderful post, Matt. "...lectured by the president on “fairness”. Every time I hear that term I know the system is once again being gamed. Fairness is equal treatment under the law. Fairness is equal opportunity."
It made me mindful of this Dennis Prager video on social justice.
Posted by: Janet | January 24, 2012 at 08:52 PM
For the last 30 minutes I've had CNN on. In their build up to the SOTU I have not heard a single negative comment about President Obama or his leadership or the economy or the state of the country.
I have heard multiple negative comments by just about every talking head about Republicans in general, Mitt, Newt, the candidates and Congress in general---but about Obama, not a one. Apparently the Prez has done no wrong at CNN, or if he has, you can't bring it up.
They did let Ari Fleischer get in about 40 seconds to try to state the Repub case 30 minutes ago but thats about it.
Posted by: daddy | January 24, 2012 at 08:52 PM
Okay, coming up any minute, The State of The Class Warfare Speech".
Posted by: daddy | January 24, 2012 at 08:53 PM
new thread
Posted by: Jane | January 24, 2012 at 08:54 PM
I love the golf pants suggestion.
Posted by: clarice feldman | January 24, 2012 at 09:00 PM
Hmmm, never thought about it like that. SSBB is serious stuff to aerospace engineers who design airplane engines and I usually tune it out because it is sooo boring to me, but you have given me reason to take a fresh look at the concept. Yup, it's good. I like it. In fact, if I were in the mood for a wretched head-banging SOTU, I'm sure there would be some serious SSBB spewing from POTUS.
Posted by: Holly | January 24, 2012 at 09:03 PM
What, exactly, was the RNC to do for her? Give her money? She quit her job as governor, and since that moment has not held or been a candidate for any public office.
Since they did nothing for a sitting governor, I think I can pretty safely say that whatever support, legal or otherwise, they could've provided would've been preferable to the big fat nothingburger they served up. Why don't you just come clean and say that you consider all conservative women pols to be worthless cunts; because you hold them in such obvious disdain that you don't have to read much between the lines to see that. Whether it's Palin or O'Donnell, you just swallow the bullshit that the MFM or assholes like Rove put out with no consideration for your erstwhile hero Reagan's admonishment to speak no evil about a fellow Republican. Or wasn't he talking about them?
Posted by: Captain Hate | January 24, 2012 at 11:09 PM
nice post, thanks for sharing this with us
Posted by: software consultant | January 25, 2012 at 01:16 AM
Hit, I'm so sorry I missed your earlier comment and question.
I will track down the lady TP leader to find out where she got the info on 20 mil evangelicals not voting in '08.
Posted by: glasater | January 25, 2012 at 04:48 AM