UPDATE BELOW!
TO THIS?:
FROM THE "HOLY SHYTE!" DEPARTMENT:
Lost in the angst over Scott Brown's victory, is this small bit of comfort ... unless of course you're black, brown, a woman, or just not that good looking ... from the brain trust that gathered yesterday on MSNBC's Morning Joe:
Donny Deutsch got the ball rolling, suggesting that voters may be "going back to basics" after electing an African-American president and seeing "the female candidates and whatnot." Scott Brown, Deutsch added, "looks like the traditional view of a candidate," which may bring a "visceral comfort" to voters
Mike Barnicle found value in the observation, saying that "there's something to it."
The Wall Street Journal's Peggy Noonan added that Brown is "a regular guy" who "looks like an American."
WTF? Are all of these melonheads implying that America wants only good-looking white guys who pose nude to be their candidates? And that Mr. Obama doesn't "look like an American?" These muttonjaws get paid to claim idiocies like this on cable teevee?
dailykos
31 comments:
Some terse verse for your reading pleasure ...
The pilgrims increase
Boasting they are led by peace [grace]
They gut huts with gusto
Pillage villages with verve
War does what she has to
People get what they deserve.
- Henry Cow -
(An Octo note: I would like these lyrics even more if one substitutes the phrase "led by peace" with "led by grace" as shown.)
I don't necessarily think this was a considered response from the people of Mass. I think it was more a kneejerk reaction, an emotional response. The Right has been working on emotions since the 08 campaigns. They're getting people to think with their gut rather than their brains. What was the percentage of women that voted purely on the basis of the centerfold?
On the other hand, it wasn't a landslide. It's not the earthshattering end of the world as we know it... it's just going to mean a little more work.
Personally, politics aside, he's not my type. Any man that would put his stuff on show like that has way too much ego for me.
Looking for a silver lining? Here's one:
Joe Lieberman is now irrelevant.
"AND THE LIGHTS ALL WENT OUT IN MASSACHUSETTS"
What a GREAT trade-off that was.
And Thank God For That!
To the commenter "Thank God:"
You can thank the people of Massachusetts for what happened Tuesday, gods had nothing to do with it.
But as a citizen of Mass. for most of my life, you can't thank me. I didn't vote for him. As my guest, Satyavati devi dasi said, some of us vote with our brains and not our emotions.
It hurt to see the great Ted Kennedy's legacy supplanted by what I consider a light-weight: a guy whose campaign consisted of showing the voters that he drives a truck, a campaign that avoided reminding the voters that he's a Bush Republican. And even though Brown cultivated the "just a regular guy who drives a truck" persona, it's a curious claim for a guy who owns 6 homes.
But Saty's right when she says it isn't the end of the world. I remind my fellow liberals who are saddened by the result that Mr. Obama is still the president, and the Democrats are still the majority in the House and Senate.
This election was their proverbial wake-up call.
(O)CT(O),
Nice poem, I prefer grace too, but then the rhyming scheme would be off wouldn't it: abcdcd instead of aabcbc
That's the reason free verse is so favored, since one isn't boxed in by the limitations English has built into it for a rhyming choices. OTOH, if it were written in Italinan, the choices would be almost unlimited.
I may attemt a reverse translation just for fun:
I pelligrini aumentano
loro sono condotti da pace, se ventano
Loro distruggono capanne con gusto
Loro saccheggiano con entusiasmo
La guerra fa il suo proprio destino
le persone trovano quello che loro meritano
Shaw, if you consider the words "peace" and "grace" as slant rhymes, it would work and the lyrics would then have an edginess tinged with irony.
Thanks Barry! We couldn't have done it without your help.
This post shows exactly why I don't watch Morning Starbucks with Joe and Mika the airhead.
Hahaha...It dosn't look like Michelle and Barry are too happy .. If Massachusetts one of the most liberal states in the Union is set to lose the Kennedy seat, what does that say one year out for Barry?
Obama still doesn't (and never will) 'get it. He still don't realize that this defeat was all about him.
I think this is the fault of Obama and congressional Democrats. They have governed so much like Republicans that they depressed the turnout of the Democratic base.
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Nikki,
You're uninformed if you believe Massachusetts is "the most liberal" state.
If you look up the history of political parties that have won the governorship and US senate seats, you'll learn that Mass. is more of a purple state than a blue one.
NIKKI said: "Obama still doesn't (and never will) 'get it. He still don't realize that this defeat was all about him."
That's the facile explanation, and you're welcome to it if that makes you more gleeful. Everyone needs some joy in his/her life.
We understand how devastating it was for Republicans to see the Democrats win both the WH and the Congress in '08 and how you guys have to live with the fact that George Bush's 8-year presidency was a failed one.
You all have a deranged need to get even for the very deserved disgust Americans showed GWB by giving him low approval ratings--low 20s, hence your approval of the craphead, Limbaugh saying he hoped President Obama would fail--this after Mr. Obama was in office, what? 2 months?
Your eagerness to destroy a presidency for the purpose of revenge is childish at best, traitorous at worst. If Mr. Obama fails, the country fails--see GWB's presidency and the wreckage he left behind for everyone else to clean up.
You feel this set back for Obama is going to ruin him? Be careful. Events can turn anything around in one day.
We'll tolerate your understandable shaudenfreunde for now, though.
It's like watching children in a playground screeching for joy because their side won a game of tag.
The new senator was quite a ladykiller back in the day, wasn't he.
All this "cry in your beer" talk depresses me.
Well, not really. ;-)
Look on the bright side. At least your new Senator's a looker.
Despite my pleasure with the result, I still think this is what happens when you start relying on democracy. Maybe now would be a good time to talk about repealing an amendment or two (specifically the 17th).
Shaw: First let me say this: You’re my friend, so I’m sorry, because I know how much you admired Senator Kennedy.
Satyavati said: What was the percentage of women that voted purely on the basis of the centerfold?
I hope NOT a lot. From what I remember, many women swooned over Bill Clinton and voted for him because he was “so handsome”! I would NEVER vote for someone based on appearance. However, during the ’08 campaign, I remember hearing that there were men all ga-ga over Palin and THAT’S why they voted for McCain! Now, all of this could be rumor, but even if some of it is true, that’s just ridiculous.
As far as the Brown “victory” goes, I’m taking it with a grain of salt. I’m not saying it doesn’t make me “happy”, because I’d be lying. Personally, I think these over-zealous Republicans/Conservatives are reading way TOO much into this and had better NOT get too “cocky” over this “win”. Republicans have a lot of work to do before they’re going to gain any of my trust back. They screwed up big time and they had better get down to business if they have any chance of winning in November.
As far as my “take” on Brown’s “win”: I think Americans are impatient, angry and scared and Brown said a lot of really great things. His rhetoric rang loud and clear in a time when many people are hurting financially and the economy doesn’t look like it’s getting any better, so they voted for him because, as I said, we’re impatient, and he sounded like he could deliver some “relief”. Now, if things don’t turn around, he’ll be out on his butt (hopefully not naked!).
Pam: By default, I think better of the intelligence of female voters and assume that is and was not the case for Brown and Clinton.
I agree with Pamela D. Hart.
Americans are 'impatient, angry and scared'.
Actually we suffer from ADD on a national scale. Ritalin in the drinking water anyone?
It's pathetic.
It's taken years for the economy to sink to this level. It's taken years for us to sink as deep as we are in the quagmire of the Middle East.
And folks want it over.
Yesterday.
So we elect mediocrity like Scott Brown and give serious consideration to a non-entity like Sarah Palin. Because he 'look like an American' or 'she's a Mom' we want these bits of fluff in congress and the White House?
Yep. One thing I can in all sincerity say about the Conservative/GOP/Teabagger crowd is they have set the bar so low our danger isn't in scrunching under but tripping over the wretched thing.
But as I often say.
Things can always get worse.
Cheers!
Pamela said: "Now, if things don’t turn around, he’ll be out on his butt (hopefully not naked!)."
That might be an interesting reform. As it is now, Senators go in and come out with ridicolous amounts of loot they get from the job: from excessive overpay to a pension they simply do not need to all the perks, campaign war chest, and other lucre. Now, imagine if they left office with nothing. Interesting idea....
Dmarks: OH!...I got a visual! Stop! So, let's NOT imagine and say we did! 3 words...
Barney Franks Naked
and to be politically fair...or maybe unfair depending on how you view (no pun intended)this...
3 more words...
John McCain Naked
Pamela: Barney naked won't be so bad as long as he covers up the frank and beans.
"3 more words...John McCain Naked"
Standing there, his warms wide out, as if he is going to embrace you, saying My friend....
You know Pamela, when I had the pic of me holding a gun modeling and wearing one of TAO's Turner Original Pocket T's in classic burgandy, it was the most popular outgoing link among bloggers with feminine avatars.
I ran for elected office once and lost. If I'd known then what I knew now...
Pam,
I can't disagree with much of your observations. I think you understand the mood of the country.
The BIGGEST nightmare would have been Ted Kennedy naked!
We can always count on people like Fenway Frank to add a note of conservative "class" to a discussion.
How easy was that, Frankie, to bash a dead man? I bet that took a lot of cajones on your part.
We have had similar episodes here in Washington state.
In 1980 the great Senator Warren Magnuson was replaced by the completely forgetable right-wing hack Slade Gorton.
We survived.
Magnuson looked like one of those "life-seat" senators. Maybe 37 years in the Senate was plenty. One great thing he did was the Magnusson Act, but that was at the start of his career.
More interesting seeming is Homer Bone, the man who was Senator before him, a man known for party oscilation. What a name. D'oh!
Wikipedia doesn't even have anything to list that Slade Gorton did when in the Senate. He does appear to be underwhelming. And this is enough to make me dislike him.
Magnuson was a great senator who, among other accomplishments, was instrumental in pushing LBJ's Great Society programs and Civil Rights Legislation
Most Americans, though certainly not 'real Americans', still feel the effects of those initiatives did the nation a great deal of good.
They may not be real Americans to you, but they are to me.
Thanks also for reminding me of the correct spelling.
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