They are even crazier than I realized

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Friday February 19, 2010 · 8:32 PM PST

2010/02/19 · 20:32

Yesterday morning, Joe Stack was just another guy with a lot of personal problems and a deep, burning anger toward the people he perceived as his tormentors.

Today, he's a folk hero on Facebook.

I decided to become a "fan" of this page because as of now, it has almost 1,300 fans. I posted the following on the main wall of this page for everyone to see:

Folks, you can say how much you don't condone what he did until you're blue in the face. The cold truth is that you're glorifying the motivations of someone who attempted an act of mass murder. You might as well put up fan pages for the Unabomber, Timothy McVeigh, or any other crackpot who had an axe to grind with the ...government. Are you really so desperate to seek validation for your paranoid, anti-government attitudes that you have to find fellowship with a guy who was attempting to take as many innocent people with him to the grave as he could? Nauseating.

Devin

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Wednesday January 20, 2010 · 11:27 AM PST

2010/01/20 · 11:27

You have got to be kidding me.

The Democrats lost an election last night. OK, that sucks. We can acknowledge that. But the general freak-out occurring in all quarters and coming from all directions is completely unwarranted.

So let me spell out the nuts and bolts effect that Scott Brown's victory last night will have.

The Republican victor now holds the 100th most senior position in a body of 100.

The Democratic majority went from 19 (because I refuse to count Lieberman) to 18.

The Democrats lost a so-called supermajority that was only theoretical to begin with because, let's face it - we never could count on Lieberman to deliver that 60th vote anyway. Not without giving up a pound of flesh in exchange for his vote.

The supermajority was never anything but an illusion, so let's stop mourning the loss of something we never really had to begin with, shall we?

Devin

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Monday November 02, 2009 · 10:33 AM PST

2009/11/02 · 10:33

Thanks to Glenn Beck and teabagging lunatics everywhere, it's no longer necessary to be a U.S. President who attempts to provide health care for everyone to draw comparisons to Adolf Hitler. All you have to do is be a mid-level government bureaucrat, and you too can be Hitler!

Hundreds of fishermen from the Northeast rallied in front of the headquarters of federal fishery managers Friday, demanding changes in the "dysfunctional" management that they say is destroying their industry.

Some fishermen held signs reading "Let Fishermen Fish"; other signs pictured Adolf Hitler with the word "Nazi" replacing the first word in National Marine Fisheries Service.

One group marched toward the New England regional headquarters entrance chanting, "Down with NMFS! Down with NMFS!" while a man roamed the crowd dressed as the grim reaper, with NMFS printed on his scythe.

Speakers addressed the crowd in front of a display of two fishermen at the gallows being hanged by Jane Lubchenco, chief of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which has charge over the fisheries service.

Devin

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Sunday May 17, 2009 · 7:40 PM PDT

2009/05/17 · 19:40

A few weeks ago, I received a friend request on Facebook from a guy I went to high school with. I hadn't seen or spoken to this guy in about 20 years, but I was friendly with him in high school, if not close, so I accepted.

Like I do with most of the people I friend on Facebook whom I haven't seen or spoken to in a long time, I checked out his profile. Under political views, he described himself as "Hardcore conservative." Well, OK. I spent a decade living in Bakersfield, CA, including my high school years, so the political views of many of the people I went to high school with reflect the generally conservative views of the community as a whole.

I don't discuss politics with most of these people. We talk about other things when we reply to each others' status updates or post something to others' walls. But since politics is one of my interests, I often post status updates which touch on political subjects.

Poll

92 votes Show Results

Ever been unfriended over your political views?

92 votes Vote Now!

Ever been unfriended over your political views?

Yes, online

5 votes

Yes, in real life

46 votes

Both

23 votes

Neither

18 votes

McCain's devastating strategic blunder

Devin

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Friday October 10, 2008 · 6:21 AM PDT

2008/10/10 · 06:21

It's very easy to become angry - even enraged - at the tactics that John McCain and Sarah Palin are using right now in a desperate bid to reverse their sliding poll numbers and give themselves a chance, albeit a very slight one, to win this election.

The central "issue" which McCain is trying to leverage is Obama's association with William Ayers, but we have also seen McCain retreat from his unwillingness to use Obama's middle name, and we may yet see another appearance by Rev. Wright. In fact, I would bet money on it at this point. It is quite clear that nothing - and I do mean nothing - is off the table, even Obama's admitted youthful drug use.

Over the past couple of days, we've seen some polling that suggests that McCain's attacks are resulting in a backlash. But McCain's created a whole new set of problems for himself with this line of attack, and they go well beyond the mere fact of him resorting to them.

Poll

287 votes Show Results

John McCain

287 votes Vote Now!

John McCain

Toast

235 votes

Not toast

13 votes

Pie

39 votes

John McCain really is a petty thug

Devin

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Thursday October 09, 2008 · 6:47 PM PDT

2008/10/09 · 18:47

Michael Kinsley (via Ben Smith) relates a story about McCain losing it at a craps table in Puerto Rico in 2005:

"McCain immediately turned to the woman and said between clenched teeth: ‘DON’T TOUCH ME.’ The woman started to explain...McCain interrupted her: ‘DON’T TOUCH ME,’ he repeated viciously. The woman again tried to explain. ‘DO YOU KNOW WHO I AM? DO YOU KNOW WHO YOU’RE TALKING TO?’ McCain continued, his voice rising and his hands now raised in the ‘bring it on’ position. He was red-faced. By this time all the action at the table had stopped. I was completely shocked. McCain had totally lost it, and in the space of about ten seconds. ‘Sir, you must be courteous to the other players at the table,’ the pit boss said to McCain. "DO YOU KNOW WHO I AM? ASK ANYBODY AROUND HERE WHO I AM."

Devin

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Thursday September 25, 2008 · 5:39 AM PDT

2008/09/25 · 05:39

Really, is there any other way to look at what he did yesterday? The context has been swiftly and mercilessly put forward - John McCain is halting campaign activities to go to the Senate, where he has not shown up for work in over a year, to pitch in on solving a crisis that he was blithely unconcerned about only a week ago.

That this has been greeted as a headscratcher by nearly everyone is understandable. Everyone wants to know what angle he's playing. Is this his response to his falling poll numbers, a desperate attempt to shake things up again like he did with his choice of Sarah Palin? Is he falling on his sword for his running mate, trying to postpone his own debate so as to give himself a pretense for canceling the debate between Biden and Palin?

Nobody thinks that this is a smart move politically. When David Letterman tears into you, it shows that the story has escaped the confines of political culture into pop culture. Political junkies and low-information voters alike are probably talking about this around the water cooler today. That's not a good development for John McCain.

More...

Devin

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Wednesday September 24, 2008 · 6:23 AM PDT

2008/09/24 · 06:23

This is Keelin. She is the center of the universe.

I'm writing this because the center of the universe turns two years old today. That fact is causing a lot of emotions, thoughts, and wishes to well up inside me.

My wife and I often joke about how fast she seems to be growing up. Tomorrow, or perhaps the day after, she'll be starting elementary school. The week after that, she'll be getting her learner's permit to drive a car. Sometime in October, she'll be starting college. Or so it will seem, when she hits all of those milestones.

Devin

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Thursday September 11, 2008 · 5:59 PM PDT

2008/09/11 · 17:59

Rob Caldwell of WCSH in Portland, Maine interviews John McCain, and it's abundantly clear almost from the start that McCain is utterly unprepared for direct questioning about some of his "issue" positions.

My mother taught me that when you lie to people, it's easy to forget which person you told which lie to, and it gets harder and harder to keep them all straight. A real straight-talker wouldn't have this much trouble reconciling his talking points like this.

As much as we bark about the MSM, this video makes clear that there are still actual journalists at the local level willing to ask tough questions and...well, and do their jobs.

Video embed below the fold. Link here. Hat tip to Todd Gitlin for pointing me to Joe Sudbay for this.

Update: I changed the embed to point to the YouTube clip of this. Thanks to hungrycoyote for the link.

Devin

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Thursday September 04, 2008 · 5:23 AM PDT

2008/09/04 · 05:23

Curious.

John McCain’s campaign threatened legal action against the National Enquirer today for running a story about McCain’s running mate, Sarah Palin, allegedly having an affair with her husband’s business partner.

"The smearing of the Palin family must end. The allegations contained on the cover of the National Enquirer insinuating that Gov. Palin had an extramarital affair are categorically false. It is a vicious lie," said McCain senior adviser Steve Schmidt.

"The efforts of the media and tabloids to destroy this fine and accomplished public servant are a disgrace. The American people will reject it."

Poll

182 votes Show Results

Sarah Palin - power-abuser, pork-lover,...adulterer?

182 votes Vote Now!

Sarah Palin - power-abuser, pork-lover,...adulterer?

Yes

100 votes

17 votes

Not until it's confirmed by Weekly World News

48 votes

Pie

17 votes

Biden: Criminal charges against Bush Admin. on the table

Devin

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Wednesday September 03, 2008 · 8:10 AM PDT

2008/09/03 · 08:10

Holy crap. Boy howdy, did Political Radar bury the lede in a big way. I direct your attention to the 9th and 10th paragraphs of their blog post about Biden ripping into Bush today:

Looking to the future but with one eye on the past, Biden also promised that an Obama-Biden government would go through Bush administration data with "a fine-toothed comb" and pursue criminal charges if necessary.

"If there has been a basis upon which you can pursue someone for a criminal violation," he said, "they will be pursued, not out of vengeance, not out of retribution - out of the need to preserve the notion that no one, no one, no attorney general, no president, no one is above the law."

The man who is very likely going to be the next Vice-President of this country just said that they are going to undertake a detailed review of the last eight years of Bush Administration conduct and pursue criminal charges where they are warranted.

Wow. Just....wow.

Update: Thanks for the recs, guys. Maybe someone in the MSM will see it there and decide that it needs to be in the first paragraph instead of the 9th.

Devin

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Thursday August 28, 2008 · 10:00 PM PDT

2008/08/28 · 22:00

From MSNBC:

Aides to Sen. John McCain told NBC News Thursday that the candidate will appear with his vice presidential pick Friday in Dayton, Ohio.

But McCain stayed quiet about his a running mate deliberations, while one top prospect abruptly canceled numerous public appearances.

Without explanation, Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty called off an Associated Press interview at the last minute, as well as other media interviews in Denver, site of the Democratic National Convention.

Nora O'Donnell just reported that Mitt Romney was asked if he had any plans to travel outside Massachusetts, and he told them no.

I have no idea if Pawlenty can spell tomato or not, but this certainly feels like a reprise of the out-of-left-field choice of Dan Quayle in 1988. McCain would be picking a complete unknown outside of Minnesota. Perhaps that's the point.

Update: It's been brought to my attention that the word Quayle flubbed was actually "potato." I was close, anyway. At least I was still in the category of "produce that doesn't end in 'e'."

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They are even crazier than I realized

Enough. Just...enough.

Where mainstreaming comparisons to Hitler has led us

Angry, petty, and childish

McCain's devastating strategic blunder

John McCain really is a petty thug

McCain concedes

My little girl turns two today

Local reporter turns McCain into blubbering jackass

John McCain threatens to sue National Enquirer

Biden: Criminal charges against Bush Admin. on the table

Maybe it's Pawlenty?