(Note to tonight's visitors. This diary actually published last night, when it was not ready, when it had no Top Comments or Top Mojo or Top Pictures. It self-published, apparently, and was deleted the moment I noticed it. My apologies for that. I don't know what 'triggered' it into publication, but I know it could not have published had I been smarter and made sure the diary had no tags. My error caused a great hubbub in Top Comments (including the deletion of a superlative diary by one of the finest people and one of the finest writers I know on Daily Kos, Steveningen), and for that I apologize. If you read and rec'd the diary last night, you certainly don't have to do so again tonight! (Nor does anyone who didn't read it last night, for that matter!) And EVERYONE is excused from tipping my tip jar tonight! ::beam:: But please say hi in the comment threads, as your company means a great deal to us. Thanks!)
I wrote a diary last week for Top Comments in which, in order to graphically depict the political perversion that is gerrymandering, I used graphics software to skew the faces of the above politicians much as voting districts are skewed to guarantee the election of Republican majorities in areas where that would otherwise be impossible. Yes, the voters of those districts are disenfranchised just the same as voters disqualified by unconstitutional voter restrictions, even though their votes are counted.
So to show how contrived and unnatural those disfigured districts are, I used a cheap trick to score political points. I did apologize to their supporters in the body of the diary, and tonight I feel I should apologize to them. I understand (and agree) that politics is a ‘contact sport,’ but even there some limits should apply.
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To dear sweet Scott, I say, I am very sorry that I made you look like a lying, cheating Pinocchio. When you get right down to it, I realize you don’t look like that picture. Your politics may make it clear that you are a small person (yes, even smaller than you look in the picture!), that you are a caricature of a caring, feeling human being, that lying and cheating for political advantage is where you live, where you choose to function, how you like being. But your appearance doesn’t look like this ...
And so I apologize for suggesting otherwise.
To dear sweet Mitt, I say, I am very sorry that I made you look like a lying, cheating Pinocchio. When you get right down to it, I realize you don’t look like that picture. Your politics may make it clear that you are a small person (yes, even smaller than you look in the picture!), that you are a caricature of a caring, feeling human being, that lying and cheating for political advantage is where you live, where you choose to function. But your appearance doesn’t look like this ...
And so I apologize for suggesting otherwise.
To dear sweet Rand, I say, I am very sorry that I made you look like a lying, cheating Pinocchio. When you get right down to it, I realize you don’t look like that picture. Your politics may make it clear that you are a small person (yes, even smaller than you look in the picture!), that you are a caricature of a caring, feeling human being, that lying and cheating for political advantage is where you live, where you choose to begin every exchange. But your appearance doesn’t look like this ...
And so I apologize for suggesting otherwise.
To Chris, I say, I am very sorry that I made you look like a lying, cheating Pinocchio. When you get right down to it, I realize you don’t look like that picture. Your politics may make it clear that you are a small person (in character, anyway, yes, even smaller than you look in the picture!), that you are a caricature of a caring, feeling human being, that lying and cheating for political advantage is where you live, where you choose to function. But your appearance doesn’t look like this ...
And so I apologize for suggesting otherwise.
To Pinocchio, I say, sorry bud. Using you as a model for their misbehavior was ill-advised, no matter how appropriate, and I intended no reflection on you. You were always honest about your lies (at least your face was). And while even their faces testify to their lies on a regular basis, in ways, it is by no means as honest as how you always did it, and it isn’t consistent with their intent, either. They MEAN their lies, long-term, and they don’t want anyone to know. We do, though. And we hold you in comparatively high regard. I apologize for suggesting otherwise. To your credit, your appearance doesn't look like this ...
Never has and never will, and for that I congratulate you!
& & & & & & & & & & & &
I have saved the most important, most heartfelt apology for last.
To all the liars in the world, I apologize to you for making it seem you have a lot in common with people like Scott Walker, Mitt Romney, Rand Paul, Chris Christie and all their party-mates and political affiliates and cronies. You did nothing to deserve that. You do and you have done nothing (within several orders of magnitude of their offenses!) to cause the harm those guys have. You don’t try to seduce large numbers of people with lies, deception and trickery. So, please know that any similarity was unintentional on my part, and inadvertent. And whatever you do, never follow their example. You couldn’t afford it, and neither could we.
On to comments, this time! Formatted and collated by the inimitable
brillig!
Brillig's ObDisclaimer: The decision to publish each nomination lies with the evening's Diarist and/or Comment Formatter. My evenings at the helm, I try reeeeallllyy hard to publish everything
without regard to content. I really do, even when I disagree personally with any given nomination. "TopCommentness" lies in the eyes of the nominator and of you, the reader - I leave the decision to you. I do
not publish self-nominations (ie your own comments) and if I ruled the world, we'd all build community, supporting and uplifting instead of tearing our fellow Kossacks down.
From bastrop:
This comment from jbsoul in Dartagnan's excellent diary Accountability For The "Greediest Family On Earth" illustrates how the corner may be turned for people who have been voting against their interests.
From liberaldad2:
This picture in the comment by jwinIL14 made my day - so perfect on so many levels.
From BeninSC:
Flagged by earicicle, this comment by jjohnjj embeds a fine Guys and Dolls video!
Flagged by Nodin, this comment by nuclear winter solstice describes what should be done with companies (read Walmart) that don't pay their employees a living wage. Fine idea!
Top Mojo for yesterday, April 6th, first comments and tip jars excluded. Thank you mik for the mojo magic! For those of you interested in How Top Mojo Works, please see his diary FAQing Top Mojo.
1) Amen, I would also like to see some accountablilty by blue jersey mom — 179
2) I thought this diary would be about the Waltons by Dallasdoc — 137
3) So, he has just admitted publicly, by Chacounne — 121
4) More and more people... by jbsoul — 107
5) What a crock! by Richard Lyon — 104
6) It doesn't help either by Puddytat — 91
7) "The tactic is already spawning distress and... by Meteor Blades — 84
8) MmmMmmMmm better than cheese danish by Cinnamon — 80
9) #sekritarmy must fight for justice at every turn. by jwinIL14 — 77
10) psst... I'll let you in on the sekrit by kerflooey — 76
11) I am not here by Steveningen — 76
12) Sekrit underground by arizonablue — 76
13) "rather advertise on the John Wayne Gacy show." by PhilK — 75
14) Pecora described by gjohnsit — 74
15) Exactly what I was thinking: by David54 — 74
16) Senate didn't force him to choose Geithner by RFK Lives — 74
17) I always find it interesting how many... by Meteor Blades — 70
18) Good news for pooties-the letters to McD's worked! by kerflooey — 67
19) Judging by the performance of elected officials, by Crashing Vor — 66
20) Everyone Knows It Worked. Breaking 6000 BC by Gooserock — 65
21) I think this may be Hayden's attempt to "work by novapsyche — 65
22) One cold evening I came home by emmasnacker — 62
23) You might want to rethink not caring about them by chicago minx — 61
24) Back in the day... by Pluto — 61
25) As a decades-long gamer by themis — 61
26) Not only going underground - by muddy boots — 60
27) Cat Scan by palantir — 57
28) The '08 crash was a wasted opportunity by Wolf10 — 56
29) Always working, always watching. . . by Knockbally — 56
30) Markos said it pretty much better by Steveningen — 56
Top Pictures for yesterday, April 6th. Click any image to be taken to the full comment. Thank you
jotter for the image magic!