The goals of today's appearance by Stephen Colbert before Congress were transparantly obvious: Distract from the testimony of Christopher Coates to the Civil Rights Comission, and reengage the drooling morons who take people like Colbert seriously.  From what I can tell by perusing the non-conservative intertubes:  Mission accomplished.

From Crazy Days and Nights, a gossip site:

"At the beginning, one member of the committee asked Stephen to not speak and just to submit in writing what he wanted to say. Lucky for us, he got to speak. If more celebrities testified like this someone might actually watch CSPAN."

There you have it.  Fuck the basic math on the cost of illegal immigration, the fact that Mexico can't provide a stable society for their own population, or anything else sensible related to the issue.  Stephen Colbert made the funny in front of Congress, and that's what matters.

Sadly, this attitude is entirely too representative of a large portion of the American populace.  Meanwhile, A quick check of the mainstream (including Fox) MSM sites shows both the Colbert and Lohan (going back to jail) stories featured prominently, with almost no mention of the Coates testimony.  Yeah, I know it's the Obamedia, but that media does represent a significant portion of America, regardless of what any of us might wish for.

Posted by: Hermit Dave at 03:37 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Listening to a beltway insider on the merits of political reform is the same as listening to an assistant crack whore on the merits of rehab.

Posted by: Hermit Dave at 10:29 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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1 Awesome

Posted by: LC Aggie Sith at September 22, 2010 03:58 AM (+bSoE)

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I find it hard to believe that the hubbub over the DE primary is still going on, as to me the takeaway message is extremely simple:

People are so sick of business as usual in Government that they'd elect an old, smelly tennis shoe over a hack establishment politician.

That's it.  It really is that simple.  Whether or not O'Donnell is a somewhat-shady loon is completely beside the point.  Standard measures of 'electability' are meaningless, because playing the lesser-of-two-evils game has run this country into the toilet.

So the GOP doesn't get a Senate majority?  Considering what they've done with it in the past, who gives a shit? To the GOP establishment, every election has become 'the most important one evar!!!111!!one!' -- which is always bullshit, but rings especially hollow on a Senate race in fucking Delaware.

In case I'm not making my point, I'll be blunt:  the GOP leadership has absofuckinglutely zero credibility.  None.  Nada.  Zip.  Zilch.  Zero.  I'm not buying the "we're really going to vote like fiscal conservatives and not just play politics this time" line and, at this late date, almost nobody else is either.  If someone is pushing that crap, they're either hopelessly naive, or they have skin in the political game.

This isn't some dick measuring (bust-size measuring for females, I suppose) contest between the GOP establishment, RINOs, the Tea Party, neocons, paleocons, and/or any other conservative faction.  It's quite simply:  Throw the bums out.  That's it.

The most important part of this lesson, in my opinion, is not for this election cycle, but for 2012.  Assuming things go as expected and the GOP gains control of the House and captures about half the Senate, people are going to expect fiscal action.  So, jacking each other off and touting 'an enduring GOP majority', without making serious inroads into the current fiscal insanity, is going to lead to exactly one thing:  everything flipping back to the Dems in 2012 and even more GOP establishment bums thrown out.

For incumbents and the political establishment the old saying is now true:  The beatings will continue until morale improves.

Posted by: Hermit Dave at 10:34 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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In the wake of the DE primary election, Karl Rove came out blasting O'Donnell. For some reason, this surprised and infuriated a lot of people.  These folks need to step back and rethink their previous adulation of Rove.

Karl Rove is an election tactician.  Period.  He's not a conservative.  He's not a long-term strategist.  He's only a Republican by whatever accident of fate put him in the party.  He'd be just as comfortable doing his thing for the Dems, as he has zero ideological basis to his actions.

To him, nominating O'Donnell over Castle is the height of stupidity, as you go from a likely win to a likely loss.  The concept that, if the Republican is going to vote like a Dem, it would be better to have a Dem in the seat, is completely foreign to him.  The idea that ideology matters simply does not compute in Rove's brain.

And all this is fine, if Rove has bosses that take ideology and strategy into consideration, and keep their pet tactician on an extremely short leash.  The problem is, as the GOP 'leadership' has become about maintaining their personal power and political perks at all costs, Rove has become the defacto face of the GOP establishment.

As can be seen from the time Rove came to prominence, having him as a party leader has been a complete disaster.  Sure, he won a few tight elections -- there's no doubt he is an excellent tactician.  However, the cost to win those elections in terms of sacrifice of principle and sound governance has proven to be far too high.  This is why there is a huge rebellion against the GOP establishment.  In the attempt to keep any power they can, the GOP leaders have triangulated themselves into oblivion, and now stand for precisely nothing.

It would be nice if someone in a GOP leadership position would take Rove aside and tell him that he'll be called upon when needed to manage a tight election with a desirable candidate, but otherwise he can piss off.  This won't happen, of course, as Rove is far too full of himself at this point, and the GOP leadership simply isn't that smart.

So, all this fury at Rove for, well, being Karl Rove, is a bit perplexing.  He'll end up being marginalized, which is what should have happened to him ages ago.  When your pet tactician goes rabid and gets off his leash, the best thing to do is put him down.

Posted by: Hermit Dave at 11:43 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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