Report: Bush mulled sending troops into Buffalo

[jakobnicholas]

So long as she's alive and breathing and giving speeches at $20k a pop, there's a chance enough people might still think she's electable. That scares the fuck out of me, thank you.

 

 

Good point. Al Franken scared the fuck out of me, and he got elected.

[John Smith]

Good point. Al Franken scared the fuck out of me, and he got elected.

 

well, Al was not the party's choice for VP and regardless of whether you like him or not (i am not particularlly a fan) the guys is very intelligent. So the dems elect Franken and republicans are in an uproar. But what about Gopher? Sonny Bono? or other bad b-list actors? Where is the outrage there? None I suspect.

[Good Old Neon]

 

I just don't get the mean and nasty way people talk about her. Chill out folks! She's not deciding anything that will effect your life.

 

 

Because of nonsense like this, from Andrew Sullivan’s blog:

 

Krauthammer continues to pretend that all Palin needs to do is hit the books:

 

I repeat again and again, and I know it sounds condescending—she needs the discipline to study up on stuff if she is going to be a major presidential candidate. She has her constituency. It will be there, but it isn't enough. And it is not a matter of becoming a philosopher or speaking like Obama in all kinds of complexity. It is simply studying the major issues. If she could do it, she really could be a strong candidate.

 

Because she could be controlled the way Bush was. Get a puppet; fill him/her with neocon boilerplate; start a war! It worked once. Why not again?

 

Link – http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2009/07/grading-on-a-curve.html

 

As if all that is required to be a decent leader is rote memorization, hitting the books, etc. I’m qoing to quote David Foster Wallace here again, because I this piece on what makes a great leader applies in this situation:

 

The weird thing is that the word “leader” itself is cliché and boring, but when you come across somebody who actually is a real leader, that person isn’t cliché or boring at all; in fact he’s sort of the opposite of cliché and boring.

 

Obviously, a real leader isn’t just somebody who has ideas you agree with, nor is it just somebody you happen to think is a good guy. A real leader is somebody who, because of his own particular power and charisma and example, is able to inspire people, with “inspire” being used here in a serious and non-cliché way. A real leader can somehow get us to do certain things that deep down we think are good and want to be able to do but usually can’t get ourselves to do on our own. It’s a mysterious quality, hard to define, but we always know it when we see it, even as kids. You can probably remember seeing it in certain really great coaches, or teachers, or some extremely cool older kid you “looked up to” (interesting phrase) and wanted to be just like. Some of us remember seeing the quality as kids in a minister or rabbi, or a Scoutmaster, or a parent, or a friend’s parent, or a supervisor in a summer job. And yes, all these are “authority figures,” but it’s a special kind of authority. If you’ve ever spent time in the military, you know how incredibly easy it is to tell which of your superiors are real leaders and which aren’t, and how little rank has to do with it. A leader’s real “authority” is a power you voluntarily give him, and you grant him this authority not with resentment or resignation but happily; it feels right. Deep down, you almost always like how a real leader makes you feel, the way you find yourself working harder and pushing yourself and thinking in ways you couldn’t ever get to on your own.

 

Lincoln was, by all available evidence, a real leader, and Churchill, and Gandhi, and King. Teddy and Franklin Roosevelt, and de Gaulle, and certainly Marshall and maybe Eisenhower. (Of course Hitler was a real leader too, a very powerful one, so you have to watch out; all it is is a weird kind of power.)

…

 

Now you have to pay close attention to something that’s going to seem real obvious. There is a difference between a great leader and a great salesman. Because a salesman’s ultimate, overriding motivation is his own self-interest. If you buy what he’s selling, the salesman profits. So even though the salesman may have a very powerful, charismatic, admirable personality, and might even persuade you that buying really is in your interest (and it really might be) — still, a little part of you always knows that what the salesman’s ultimately after is something for himself. And this awareness is painful … although admittedly it’s a tiny pain, more like a twinge, and often unconscious. But if you’re subjected to enough great salesmen and salespitches and marketing concepts for long enough — like from your earliest Saturday-morning cartoons, let’s say — it is only a matter of time before you start believing deep down that everything is sales and marketing, and that whenever somebody seems like they care about you or about some noble idea or cause, that person is a salesman and really ultimately doesn’t give a shit about you or some cause but really just wants something for himself.

…

Yes, this is simplistic. All politicians sell, always have. FDR and JFK and MLK and Gandhi were great salesmen. But that’s not all they were. People could smell it. That weird little extra something. It had to do with “character” (which, yes, is also a cliché — suck it up).”

 

Palin doesn’t have “it”, and no amount of book learning is going to help her acquire, “it.” But since we’ve lowered the bar to such a degree that roughly half the population feels as though she could indeed serve as president, maybe she does have some of “it”, but I would propose it is the more dangerous sort of “it.” The Republican Party appears to be much more interested in winning at any cost, with little to no regard for the good of the country as a whole. Which is not to suggest the Democratic Party is not guilty of wanting to hold on to power, but until they come up with their own version of Palin, I’ll cut them a slight bit of slack.

 

But whatever the case may be, she is definitely full of shit.

[bjorn_skurj]

With all this "stupid" talk I can't believe Biden hasn't come up even once. (I don't think anyway) I mean SHIT Palin only ran as VP, look who made it.

Sources say Biden has been spending a lot of time in Afghanistan, using his dazzling smile to blind Taliban and al-Qaida fighters.

[bjorn_skurj]

It really is something special.

I thought of you when I took this picture a while back.

 

[Guest Jules]

Am I ignorant, dumb, or just brilliant that I don't fear any politician?

[Good Old Neon]

Further evidence that the right is becoming, or has become, unhinged.

 

http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2009/07/obamas_revealing_body_language.html

[uncool2pillow]

Further evidence that the right is becoming, or has become, unhinged.

 

http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2009/07/obamas_revealing_body_language.html

You've got to admit that the picture is pretty damn funny.

[Good Old Neon]

You've got to admit that the picture is pretty damn funny.

 

Or, and maybe I’m just being overly cynical, is it possible that they planned who would assist Gates down the stairs ahead of time? If the message of the meeting was conciliation, what better way to illustrate that than have Crowley help Gates descend the stairs? With Obama walking ahead, saying, essentially, this is not about me, it’s about them. And that the author of this articles response says more about him, is more indicative of his true feelings, than Obama’s?

 

Anyways, money quote:

 

“Then, the non-apology apology revealed an arrogant man who cannot do what honest people do: admit it when they make a mistake.”

 

I’ll bet you a milkshake that the author of this article was fucking mum w/r/t Bush’s refusal to ever admit mistakes.

[Atticus]

is Buffalo safe yet?

[bjorn_skurj]

Buffalo will never be safe.

[Atticus]

Bush should have sent some troops

[bjorn_skurj]

They would just get swallowed up in the post-industrial toxic waste-ridden malaise.

[Good Old Neon]

Further evidence that the right is becoming, or has become, unhinged.

 

http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2009/07/obamas_revealing_body_language.html

 

Just when you thought it was already dumb enough, the American Thinker (great, ironic name that) responds to critics who dared point out the ridiculousness of their original post.

 

Here:

 

http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2009/08/letter_of_complaint.html

 

and here:

 

http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2009/08/media_matters_desperate_to_dis.html

 

I think we've passed dumb, and are now entering into totally fucking retarded territory.

[Atticus]

I think you'd be a much happier person if you just took that website off your favorites

[Good Old Neon]

I think you'd be a much happier person if you just took that website off your favorites

 

I think you might be right.

[Good Old Neon]

Orly Taitz, the leader of the Birther movement speaks - scroll down for video - sweet fucking christ.

 

http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2009/08/03/msnbc_taitz/

[Moss]

Orly Taitz, the leader of the Birther movement speaks - scroll down for video - sweet fucking christ.

 

http://www.salon.com...03/msnbc_taitz/

 

 

On the same subject, this is really good:

 

 

John Stewart Leibowitz

[Good Old Neon]

On the same subject, this is really good:

 

 

John Stewart Leibowitz

 

Nice - and this one.

 

http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/wed-july-29-2009/so-you-think-you-can-douche