a popsicle now

Via firedoglake.com, an analysis by Domenico Montanaro on msnbc.com:

Despite GOP's expected short-term gains this fall – largely owed to the nation’s high unemployment rate — problems still lurk for the party’s long-term stability. Republicans’ ideological civil war, the recent passage of a controversial Arizona immigration law, and an uncertain shortlist of Obama challengers all raise questions about its ability to compete on a presidential level.

“From a presidential perspective, we have real [expletive] problems,” said one GOP operative based in Washington, D.C., who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the state of the party frankly. “From a national candidate perspective, we have real problems.”

No problem. It's going to be She-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. Lady Voldemoose.

continuum

three consecutive items from Talking Points Memo:

Looking at the American Patriot Foundation's representation of Lt. Col. Terence Lakin, it occurs to me, what's more patriotic than an active duty member of the military refusing to obey a lawful order?

and

Gay Stein, founder and leader of Armed Forces Tea Party Patriots, sends out statement offering reassurance that his group is not calling for a military uprising and recognize[s] Barack Obama as the legitimate Commander-in-Chief of the United States Armed Forces.  

and

We now have another Republican (albeit one in the House) saying that the seemingly preposterous claim that Health Care Reform is unconstitutional will be a key issue in the upcoming Supreme Court confirmation hearings.

It occurs to me that the Tea Party is to the Republican Party as the Republican Party is to the Democratic Party. Yeah, I know it's not a truth derived from the three propositions above. But it did just occur to me.

Post scriptum, 60 seconds later:
Firedoglake's Scarecrow eviscerates Treasury Secretary Timothy Geitner's editorial in The Washington Post:

I’m not an economist, but I think his answer boils down to “trust the not-really bipartisan Senate bill to give not-even-close-to-credible regulators like him the authority to get it right next time.” 

Tea Party is to Republican Party as Republican Party is to Democratic Party.

alternate route

I'm surprised I was brought to such a vituperous state by the conclusion of my previous entry. I've always had a kind of naive, immediate reaction to excremental obscenity. I seldom use it and am usually put off by others' use.

I might have rewritten the post, but I really liked the structure (spontaneously created) of employing the timeworn "whore" metaphor, withdrawing it, and promptly comparing our political leaders to something almost universally accepted as loathsome, foul.

You see what kind of person I am? I take account of the possibility that some human culture exists in which shit is not the very bottom of existence, and even leave a little space to ease the pain of the passing scatophile. And I still couldn't convince myself it was over the top to compare our ruling class to shit.

Firedoglake post of the day: Alternate route to calamity.

fiasco

The road ahead, as I dread it:

The first of the "health care reforms" kick in. Most of these apply to the already insured or children of the already insured. The pharminsurance folks will be undermining these bureaucratically and via government puppets, while claiming that the new rules justify any premium increase they declare. Healthbiz stock will continue to rise in value, as it has through every single step of the "health care debate."

Meanwhile the economy, at best, stagnates. Mainstream consensus is little or zero growth in employment for the next year, and since the current administration is part of that consensus, wow, they're right. So when the "Health Care: One Year Later" stories come around, everybody will be just a bit (or a whole lot more) miserable in general, and the great Democratic Party triumph will appear to be even weenier than it is.

By that time, maybe, the Dems will realize that even if they offer the same services to commerce as the Repubs, money would rather have the old, skilled whores than the young types who might drift from the repertoire. Result: the young whores will continue to try to outsuck the old ones, the old ones will continue to have the fanciest furnishings in the whorehouse, and management will prosper all the same.

Nothing here intended against whores, or sucking. Just a handy metaphor. Try a different one.

If the Dems are just fresher turds than the Repubs, why should I care? The Repubs will still be the worst, more disease-riddled, laden with fat maggots. The Dems seem to be happy polishing up their pile of shit, but the Repubs want to mash theirs into every corner of the world, private, public, national, international, orbital.

I guess that's enough shit for the day.

word

Joe Biden is Barack Obama's Flava Flav.

pustule

Who could have anticipated I'd have two posts with the word "pustule" in the title?

Erick Erickson of RedState has been hired as a contributor to CNN. Please, fearlessly click the link. It leads to all of Media Matters' stories tagging him.

BIBMIPPA...

...is short for what Gregg Levine at Firedoglake calls the Big Insurance Bailout and Medical Industries Profit Protection Act of 2010. He notes:

"If BIBMIPPA doesn’t sound good to you, it shouldn’t. This bill will not provide universal coverage, it will not provide universal access, it will not significantly bend the cost curve, it will not prevent draconian escalations in premiums or out-of-pocket expenses, and, upon signing into law, it will not do anything at all for the large majority of the 48 million uninsured for another four years.

"What it will do is mandate an expansion of the customer pool for private insurance. What it will do is funnel taxpayer dollars into the coffers of the lobbying arms AHIP, PhRMA, and the various private hospital associations. What it will do is enrich and entrench the current powers-that-be at the expense of middleclass and poorer working Americans.

"What it will do is make future efforts at reform much, much harder."

Firedoglake is now my one, essential, politics and news blog. I was surprised to see how often I linked to stories at Salon over the last couple of weeks. But then I realized that was because almost every post at Firedoglake was newsworthy and postable. It is the ground against which I check my current understanding of the USA.

"this pustule in the white house"

Dan Riehl, whose blog I will not link to, refers thusly to President Barack Obama. Well, one man's opinion. He goes on to describe O as "this accidental, affirmative action jerk." And now we know something about the man behind the opinion.

The man behind the opinion believes that if the GOP doesn't stop O and the Dems, "it becomes not just a right, but a responsibility for the American people to take their country back from the political elites that have already bankrupted it."

Mr. Riehl's post was enthusiastically tweeted by Erick Erickson of RedState and linked to by Glenn Reynolds at Instapundit. These two rank #22 and #17 in the DBKP list of 100 most popular conservative websites.* Glenn Beck's site nestles between them. Instapundit and RedState are each more popular than Sean Hannity's, Bill O'Reilly's or Ann Coulter's sites, more often visited than the Heritage Foundation or Cato Institute sites. It was nice of them to send some affirmative action Mr. Riehl's way (not far enough down the rankings for my taste at #53).**

*Based on Alexa traffic rankings - DBKP here.
**I pulled the rankings from DBKP, but learned of Mr. Riehl thru Alex Koppelman at Salon. That article I happily link to.