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Politico parodies itself (via): The Senate, once the chamber of deliberation and reason, is getting its own extreme makeover. Moderates such as Maine Republican Olympia Snowe and Democrat Ben Nelson are bolting an institution that barely resembles the one they entered as idealistic deal makers. Ben Nelson? Idealistic dealmaker? These are words that should not be in the ... (1 comments)Despicable Quote of the Day - Icky Gay Sexytime Is A Threat To National Security
“Given the propensity for members of the homosexual community to engage in frequent and anonymous sexual encounters, the risk to national security of having a homosexual in a high-ranking position with access to secret information is obvious.” Bryan Fischer, Nutbag (0 comments)Newsweek Hearts America. Seriously. They Really F*cking Mean It.
I guess a cover featuring Uncle Sam hungrily masturbating to a painting of Jesus wearing an American flag was deemed to be insufficiently patriotic.
[Embiggen]
(1 comments)Paul Ryan Suddenly Realizes That Ayn Rand Was A Rabid Atheist
Republicans Cave Again: Student Loans Edition
Mississippi: A Shining Example Of Limited Government
Ah, the land of Mississippi – that shining bastion of God-fearing, limited-government conservatism. Well, unless you want to father illegitimate babies — then the government will throw you in jail. (5 comments)Over in the UK, Labour is now up big over the ruling Tories. Part of that is almost certainly a stalled, ailing economy, but what’s sort of interesting because a big part of their drop is due to implementing a cap on charitable deductions, which is essentially what Obama wanted to do here to cut ... (0 comments)Death Penalty Loses Another One
Connecticut ends the practice. I have to say, this is one of those social movements that is regularly winning big victories, but almost nobody seems to be paying attention. Which is fine by me–under the wire is probably the best way for this thing to go for now. (0 comments)Look, Mitt, I know you want to get women back on your side, but the notion that women have lost 92.3% of jobs in the recession may be technically correct in some manipulated and spun context, but it’s not correct, and it’s not even a good bullshit statistic. You might have been able to get ... (0 comments)What Do You Want Schwarzenegger To Write About In His Memoirs?
The Santorum Has Officially Been Mopped Up In The 2012 Race
I think this gets it right. Additionally, though, while I find Rick Santorum’s beliefs to be pretty risible, and his inability to accept that his ideas had some less-than-ideal results during the ’00s is a personal failing, but at the very least he seemed to possess some sense of personal honor and integrity. Not as good as ... (0 comments)I hadn’t used Instagram because I’m not so much a pictures sort of guy, but an article in the SF Chronicle article makes an interesting point that they were a much bigger threat to Zuckerburg’s empire than the other commonly named competitors. (0 comments)Fun Friday: Robocop Is Filmed In Front Of A Live Studio Audience
(THE GRAPEVINE
Rather than polarizing the country even more the president seems to be playing to the moderates. In doing so he hopes to keep driving the wedge between any moderate and the die hard right. I would imagine this is to keep the Republicans fragmented. I do hope that this works. If the Republicans keep up the nut case attacks and radical posturing it most likely will.
I agree, and this is probably the most wise, patient and strategic course, but it's still tough to watch when the deep feelings of urgency and outrage remain. Politics/power is such a rough "game", and having to deal with hostile irrational fanatics when there are such pressing legitimate needs to seriously address in our country/world is very difficult for me to tolerate. Yet as my wise son once said to me, "Sometimes the most radical position to take is in the middle".
I certainly agree that Tenet's medal and Congressional birthers were bigger problems. Van Jones is only getting this much attention because it's one of the few cracks for the right exploit.
But of course this relative unimportance does nothing to excuse Jones' nuttery and his lies about it. The administration should ditch him.
Addendum: Ooh, he resigned finally..I'm a little behind the times. That solves that.
So republicans have their pound of flesh..but it was an indefensible pound. Seeing liberals rush to Van's defense is pathetic.
well,, if washington were purged of people that have done nutty things i suspect we'd have a really small government. the reality is that his transgressions were minor in the grand scheme of things and the people who have done much much worse still have power and influence. this will only embolden the nutjobs and prove to them that their tactics work.Insane Politics of Personal Destruction: 1; Van Jones 0
> well,, if washington were purged of people that have done nutty things i suspect we'd have a really small government
Sweet.
But seriously, regardless of size I don't want truthers any more than birthers--especially ones who deny taking such a position and lie saying they didn't really hold it.
The only acceptable course for Jones to have taken would have been to apologize and denounce his previous position—just like the only acceptable course for Republicans is to denounce the birther craze. But Jones didn't do this.
Thus, denouncing him is no more "Insane Politics of Personal Destruction" than denouncing birthers.
If a truther or a birther happen to wield power and influence, like a congressperson, that's a worse situation--but unfortunately there's not much we can do to pressure them to resign after their safe partisan districts have re-elected them in spite of their nuttiness.
Jones, on the other hand, could be pressured to resign because he was an embarrassment to the Obama administration and a distraction from their agenda.
Calling this a victory for "insane politics" is, well, insane. It is a victory against an insanity--a small victory, but I'll take what I can get.
Meanwhile, you're liable to complain about some of the Republican reactions to his resignation--frothing like a pack of half-starved hyenas. I'm not defending that. But the blame for playing into it lies squarely on Jones--for taking the position in the first place, for denying it, for not renouncing it, and for being forced to resign as a consequence.
And so the saga goes. Lunatic rightwingers get carte blanche to spewall the vile venom they want without repercussion. And a guy on theleft who held some loony views a while back gets canned. And thewingers will dance on the grave and look for someone else to sabotagebased on some relatively minor aspect of their past. And record keepsplaying, on and on and on.
Eh, I'm certainly not giving them carte blanche. But nor will I trivialize Jones' looniness.
Imagine the counterfactual: Jones hadn't been forced to resign. What kind of signal would that send to his fellows? People can't be allowed to lie and unapologetically get away with this shit.
Perhaps I'm holding those in power to a higher standard. I don't mind pleading guilty to that, as by Jane's law the party out of power is always less sane…and chronicling that insanity to an equal proportionate degree gets tedious.
But I'm not doing this hypocritically--when Republicans are in power I hold them to the same standard. The opposition may be expected to flail about like a chicken with its head cut off, but such behavior can't be tolerated in the reigns of those actually holding power.
Assorted cliches apply: with great power comes great responsibility … to whom much is is given, much is expected. Etc. etc.
Well I guess we just see things differently. I haven't heard anythingin his background that's too loony or serious. But oh well
Yeah, I guess I set the bar above self-described communists and truthers who proceed to lie about it.
There's nothing obligating the Obama administration to meet this bar, of course. But then I'd certainly think less of them--as I imagine many other independents would. Hence the resignation.
If it emboldens right-wingnuts to find that they agree with the mainstream on this…well then, so be it. Some things are worth agreeing on, and I have a lower opinion of the left-wingnuts who've stepped up in Jones' defense.
Its ultimately not a big deal in the grand scheme of things one way orthe other. The big thing that bothers me is letting buckets of bloodinto the water to add to the sharks' frenzy. And of course the scoresof republicans who get off scot free with hardly a whimper.