Who would have thought that exactly one year into the Obama Presidency, an unknown Republican – and former nude centerfold – would win Ted Kennedy’s Senate seat of 47 years? Something tells me this is not the change Obama had hoped to bring about. Heck of a job, Brownie!One day, I hope the PC turns to the Mac and says, “I’m sorry, but you’re very condescending.”
The other night I had one of those moments where you suddenly realize, Man, I can’t even remember the last time I saw a real vagina.
When people use the word “basically” more than once when explaining something, it basically means they don’t know what they’re talking about.
I often get disapproving looks when I brown bag it on the train. Whenever it happens, I respond with a facial expression that essentially says, Who are you to judge me on my way to work?
19 comments:
Wow - finally - I had thought this blog had gone completely apolitical with the lack of opinionated coverage of the Brown / Coakley race. Thanks for the shout-out Scos. WOHJR - where were you on all of this? Here is a random thought - agree or disagree - regardless of which party is in power, the ability of the minority party to filibuster in the senate (i.e., 41+ votes) is a good check to keep legislation fairly centrist and in line with populist views
Hey, wait a minute. That first one wasn't random. It wasn't random at all!
I have to say, I was really glad to be registered in New York this time around. While SB is a little conservative for my taste, I don't think I could have in good faith voted for Martha Coakley. She was a bad candidate who ran a bad campaign. I started to feel negatively toward her when I realized she was basing her entire run on Ted Kennedy's legacy instead of her own merits (maybe because she had very few)- leaving the door wide open for Brown's "this is the people's seat" comment. I think Dems are making a lot of excuses for why they lost the seat, but personally I think it came down to the fact that they put forth a terrible candidate with no charisma or political tact.
As a political aside, the Boston Herald called my dad "the next Scott Brown." I'll take it - as long as it means he doesn't have to pose nude in Cosmo.
Oh hai, pubes. I’ll emerge from the dark depths of my depression to put in my 2 cents on the Senate, aka where good ideas go to die.
I actually think that requiring a supermajority to pass any legislation of any importance in the Senate is undemocratic. And it is actually only in recent years that the filibuster has become the rule of the Senate. (In the 1960s, only 8% of major legislation was subject to procedural delays like the filibuster; in the 110th Congress, that number rose to 70%, effectively requiring a supermajority to pass anything of importance.)
That said, I don’t think we should get rid of the filibuster, but we should make it real again. None of this “threat of filibuster bs” – I’m talking Strom Thurmond style, take a steam bath beforehand, have an aide waiting in the cloakroom with a bucket for you to piss in, 24 hour, stop the Senate, REAL filibuster.
That would ensure that the right to filibuster would be used judiciously.
Here here Sars! I want to see some Republican senators reading from the phone book.
On a somewhat related note, an intern just walked past my desk while the nude photo of Scott Brown was prominently visible on my screen. If he is a Senator, does that make it work-appropriate?
Yep. WIth that single election in Massachusetts, the tides have truly shifted. The Obama change agenda has withered and died. A mediocre Democratic candidate lost a special election by 5 points to an attractive, pro-choice Republican. The sky is falling. Believe it, Scos. The Republicans are back. The South will rise again. The GOP has Joementum now.
Clearly, the Democratic Party must radically revamp its model. The party with 59 seats in the Senate, which also has a commanding majority in the House, the majority of governors, and the White House... yep, that's party is on the ropes.
Please don't confuse a death rattle for a breath. Scott Brown won. Good for him. It means zilch as a nationwide political indicator. WIll it slow the pace of the Democratic Congress? Yes. But it will not stop it.
I feel like we've all seen some movie where the filibuster works like that-- maybe "Dave" or another one of those cutesy president movies.
The practical problem with this is that the party seeking to override the filibuster would need to maintain a quorum in the Senate for the entire time, meaning that business in the Senate would be effectively stopped while a large portion of the Democratic caucus sat around and glared at the jerk reading the rules of bridge (and that person can be replaced by someone else to maintain the hold). It might make for effective political theater, but then again it might not. Obstructionism for its own sake doesn't seem to be hurting anyone politically in the GOP. In any event, this newfound respect on the part of Republicans for the filibuster is certainly hypocritical but I'm not surprised by that.
On Sars' larger point I must agree with her and others... something seems wrong when the senators from 20 states comprising less than 11% of our total population can effectively prevent the other 90% of the country from passing legislation. Numerous measures were passed during the Bush years using the process of reconciliation (50 vote threshold). That the founders assigned the VP the tiebreaking 101st vote in the Senate seems to me to signal that they anticipated a simple majority was the way legislation would be passed through the Senate. The 60 vote threshold is merely a procedural rule of the Senate that they are holding to voluntarily.
I don't really have much to add to the whole Scott Brown thing that hasn't already been said other than a couple of observations
1) His daughters appear to be good looking (and possibly pre-disposed to nudity?)
2) The assertion that is being advanced that this is all the fault of "the Left" is so achingly predictable I wonder how it is still taken seriously. But I wonder at a lot of things.
3) Good luck to Scott Brown! Watch out though, AMADAL favorite Glenn Beck is watching you:
"I want a chastity belt on this man. I want his every move watched in Washington. I don't trust this guy. This one could end with a dead intern. I'm just saying. It could end with a dead intern."
What boggles my mind about O& co is that they want to keep spending money without bringing any in- further proof that Obama doesn't have the country's intersts above his own personal agenda. After being burnded in 3 recent elections (MA, NJ & VA) due pirmarily to the voters not being in support of his pet projects, he's still chugging ahead & making enemies all along the way.
This morning he woke up and said "Down with big banks!"
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703699204575016983630045768.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_LEFTTopStories
Can he get real, please? Where does he think all this pet-project funding money will come from if he makes it impossible for bankers & executives to get big bonuses & be in the "uber rich" group he's planning on over taxing?!?
And yes, BMar, the South will rise again- people have been saying that for generations :)
Paul Volcker is god. Bring back Glass-Steagall.
w00t
Yeah, Obama..... GET REAL!!
AOG's retardedness - so plentiful it may just be our country's greatest hope for an alternative energy source.
Retardedness? Really? It's hard to take your insults seriously when you're making up words while envisioning magical ways to produce energy from a mental condition.
I do enjoy knowing that you're still angry at me for no reason- in these changing times, it's the one thing we can all count on
Anonymous, a word of advice: if you're going to criticize one of our writers - which you're more than welcome to do - don't do it anonymously. It makes you look very small, like a coward. Or a bitch. Take your pick. Either way, through Google Analytics I know your identity. Unless you want to be outed, I recommend you stop with your childish antics. I'm just saying.
Thanks
scos
Peggy Noonan on the Meaning of Massachusetts:
"[Scott Brown] said he thought the president "inherited a lot of problems," that "he's doing a great job with North Korea, a nice job with Afghanistan." A centerpiece of Mr. Brown's campaign was opposition to the president's health-care plan, but he stressed that he opposes high spending wherever it comes from. "I've criticized President Bush for his failure to use his veto pen. There's plenty of blame to go around. The question is how solve problems. It's not bailouts. What made America great? Free markets, free enterprise, manufacturing, job creation. That's how we're gonna do it, not by enlarging government."
The next morning he took the 7 a.m. shuttle from Boston to Washington for his first trip to the Capitol. On the plane, after they took off, the pilot came on and said, "Senator Brown is on board, on his way to Washington." The plane erupted in applause.
That's a good way to begin. It reminded me of 12 months before, on the shuttle to Washington, with a plane full of people on their way to the inauguration of Barack Obama. The pilot spoke of it, and the plane erupted in cheers.
That feels like another era. Because America keeps moving, the plates keep shifting, and execution is everything. Everything."
Good find, Scos! I particularly enjoyed Brown's comment "I can disagree in the daytime and have a coffee or beer later on. Everyone's welcome to their opinion."
Seems like a pretty normal guy and given the chance, everyone should would want to have a beer with him. I'm proud that us AMDAL writers who have been following that motto for years: disagreeing during the day, then drinking beers (sometimes too many) together at night. Look at us being trend setters! :)
Semi-unrelated side commentary time- yay!: Scos, please don't tell me who Angry Annon is. It's a become a game of cat & mouse. With each comment I try to figure out what gender the person is (female at current but it's tough to tell), why they are so snarky all the time, where they live now (def not the South), what they do for a job, who their friends- on AMDAL and in real life- are, etc.
I'm really excited for the "Hollywood movie moment" where Angry Anon and I are in the same room, and slowly it dawns on me that I have figured out their true identity, all in one big huge "AH-HA!" moment; this will be followed by sauntering over and leaning in to whisper, "So, who's the Retardedness now, bitch?" and watching their reaction unfold.
It'll be the liveblog moment of an AMDAL lifetime. Kinda like "Face/Off" but without the face trading and hand-to-hand comba... well, probably, but who knows on that- I can be pretty darn scrappy at times.
I bet angry anon is Arod... haha - just kidding...
hahahaha- oh my goodness, could you imagine?!
yep, it's the only way i can get a word in
haha, obviously kidding
but seriously, anon, its getting old, give it a rest
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