Full text at the American Spectator. Here’s a sampling:
The presidency is the most visible thread that runs through the tapestry of the American government. More often than not, for good or for ill, it sets the tone for the other branches and spurs the expectations of the people. Its powers are vast and consequential, its requirements — from the outset and by definition — impossible for mortals to fulfill without humility and insistent attention to its purpose as set forth in the Constitution of the United States.
Isn’t it amazing, given the great and momentous nature of the office, that those who seek it seldom pause to consider what they are seeking? Rather, unconstrained by principle or reflection, there is a mad rush toward something that, once its powers are seized, the new president can wield as an instrument with which to transform the nation and the people according to his highest aspirations
But, other than in a crisis of the house divided, the presidency is neither fit nor intended to be such an instrument. When it is made that, the country sustains a wound, and cries out justly and indignantly. And what the nation says — the theme of this address… What it says, informed by its long history, impelled by the laws of nature and nature’s God… What it says quite naturally and rightly, if not always gracefully, is that we as a people are not to be ruled and not to be commanded. It says that the president should never forget this; that he has not risen above us, but is merely one of us, chosen by ballot, dismissed after his term, tasked not to transform and work his will upon us, but to bear the weight of decision and to carry out faithfully the design laid down in the Constitution and impassioned by the Declaration of Independence.
[…]
The presidency must adhere to its definition as expressed in the Constitution, and to conduct defined over time and by tradition. While the powers of the office have enlarged, along with those of the legislature and the judiciary, the framework of the government was intended to restrict abuses common to classical empires and to the regal states of the 18th century.
Without proper adherence to the role contemplated in the Constitution for the presidency, the checks and balances in the constitutional plan become weakened. This has been most obvious in recent years when the three branches of government have been subject to the tutelage of a single party. Under either party, presidents have often forgotten that they are intended to restrain the Congress at times, and that the Congress is independent of their desires. And thus fused in unholy unity, the political class has raged forward in a drunken expansion of powers and prerogatives, mistakenly assuming that to exercise power is by default to do good.
Even the simplest among us knows that this is not so. Power is an instrument of fatal consequence. It is confined no more readily than quicksilver, and escapes good intentions as easily as air flows through mesh. Therefore, those who are entrusted with it must educate themselves in self-restraint. A republic — if you can keep it — is about limitation, and for good reason, because we are mortal and our actions are imperfect.
The tragedy of presidential decision is that even with the best choice, some, perhaps many, will be left behind, and some, perhaps many, may die. Because of this, a true statesman lives continuously with what Churchill called “stress of soul.” He may give to Paul, but only because he robs Peter. And that is why you must always be wary of a president who seems to float upon his own greatness. For all greatness is tempered by mortality, every soul is equal, and distinctions among men cannot be owned; they are on loan from God, who takes them back and evens accounts at the end.
It is a tragedy indeed that new generations taking office attribute failures in governance to insufficient power, and seek more of it. In the judiciary this has seldom been better expressed than by Justice Thurgood Marshall’s dictum that, “You do what you think is right and let the law catch up.” In the Congress, it presents itself in massive legislation, acts and codes thousands of pages long and so monstrously over-complicated that no human being can read through them in a lifetime — much less understand them, much less apply them justly to a people that increasingly feel like they are no longer being asked, they are being told. Our nation finds itself in the position of a dog whose duty it is not to ask why, because the “why” is too elevated for his nature, but simply to obey.
The Tea Party as a movement seems — to me, at least — to embody a push back against a government grown at once too wide-ranging and too insular; and Obama — once a symbol of hope and cultural progress (in ways too superficial to stomach) — is fast becoming the symbol for a professional governing class that fancies itself for the people without fancying itself of them.
It’s time to remind the government who they are and who they work for. And to do that, one has also to remind the would-be kingmakers who they are and who they work for, as well.
Read the whole thing. And discuss.
(thanks to Blake)
Indiana has a couple fine politicos, for politicos.
I’ve been puzzling lately whether to think of the Tea Parties as one might think of an emergent order, a spontaneous natural growth in response to a longstanding problem left formally unaddressed. Mansfield, summing Tocqueville’s soft despotism for Robinson last week says:
And I wonder whether the Tea Parties aren’t precisely the refusal of the “people [to] decide that they can’t do anything on their own”, but to commune together to take action. I think they may be that, though incomplete in their acting as yet, with much to do and much still to be decided.
We can still astound the world with justice, reason and strength. I know this is true, but even were it not we could not in decency stand down, if only for our debt to history, the debt we owe to those who came before, who did great things, and suffered more than we suffer, and gave more than we give, and pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor — for us, whom they did not know. For we “drink from wells we did not dig” and are “warmed by fires we did not build,” and so we must be faithful in our time as they were in theirs.
One cannot help but be struck by the difference between the debt we owe our forebears from generations ago versus the debt we owe our forebears from one or two generations ago. Or should I say, the debts we owe on account of those rotten bastards.
Whenever I think the trolls that post here are the most aggressively ignorant dickheads on the internet, all I have to do is see what the leftist cretins are posting elsewhere…
o_O
With the abundance of information during this era, do you need someone to speak for you? If you’re in a cabin 3 weeks wagon ride from Washington, you need someone to represent you. We can all get to D.C. instantly with our opinion. There is not one person in Washington that’s smarter than you and they know it.
TEA Party proves it. We don’t need representatives anymore.
The knock on Kasich in the Gov. race is that he “worked on Wall Street” though his office was in Ohio. I work on Wall Street for that matter, I just don’t have to leave my cattle farm in north central Ohio to do it. So if Kasich can be accused of being part of Wall Street while being in Ohio, why can’t we be our own Washington D.C. representatives from our homes across the country? You don’t need a broker who lives in NY, and you don’t need some fatass to go make your political “trades” in D.C.
Other than that I have no opinion on the matter.
Awhile back someone linked to another good Pence speech. Think this was the one.
RE: that Mansfield quote,
For more than a century now, we’ve had progressive types telling us to leave government to the experts; and the experts have more or less had their own way for almost 80 years now. It’s not just that people are throwing up their hands and saying the hell with it –it’s that they’ve been actively encouraged to believe that they don’t need to bother.
The only problem with your idea alppuccino, is that direct democracy is messy inconsistent and unstable. I don’t think I’m comfortable with the idea of passing legislation by texting/emailing/calling a number as if the budget (or Cap-n-Tax, DODT, DOMA, etc.) is no different than choosing your favorite American Idol or Dancing with the Stars contestant.
The Frenchman:
Point taken E.S., but shouldn’t anything the gov’t considers be closer to an American Idol contestant rather than a 4000 page tome filled with bullshit?
……and also that brings back my “exclude those stinking renters from having a voice” proposal.
How did the “they”, the government of the early to middle-late 1800’s cope with their poor communications systems, keeping to a more or less narrow, non-meddling path as they made law and conducted national policy? Why, when they might have done, did they keep their hands off citizen’s property to the remarkable extent they did? Why, for instance, was it not in their heads that they ought to command what acreage an Ohio farmer might plant in wheat in order to better “control” the “price” of wheat? What on earth was wrong with them, that they didn’t understand the proper exercise of their constitutional powers?
(sorry, couldn’t resist the easy sarcasm there.)
de T. was an insightful fellow, sdferr. He was wrong about the timeframe, but it does seem like he got the final destination right, doesn’t it?
a big problem also what cruelly taunts conventional Team R conservatism is that most of your state governments are nearly as corrupt and insular as the federal one anymore, and in some cases more so
The short answer to your question is in Burnham’s Managerial Revolution sdferr. I wouldn’t be surprised if the idea was there, it just wasn’t practicable to attempt to implement it.
Sometimes I suspect that there are lessons contained in murderous strife that are simply unobtainable for many people in any other form. It’s a problem, if true.
Agrarian Populism, which is something of an antecedent to Progressivism, was about, among other things controlling the price of wheat. (At least if my memory of a required course on “rural society” that I sat through for nine weeks in ’93 or ’94 isn’t totally cracked).
Lee Harris called that the “habit of forgetting” It’s an unfortunate side effect of inculcating the habits of cooperation that makes civilization possible.
murderous strife brings the clarity
Would that merely thinking about murderous strife could do the same.
a big problem also what cruelly taunts conventional Team R conservatism is that most of your state governments are nearly as corrupt and insular as the federal one anymore, and in some cases more so
1) State governments can’t print money.
2) It’s a lot easier for me to move to a functioning state than it is to move to a functioning country.
There’s a candidate for MN Guv right now whose campaign signs say “Don’t lose one more job to South Dakota.” I ain’t voting for the guy, but he certainly understands how competition between the states works.
Maybe if our betters in the media stopped embargoing video of the towers coming down and otherwise protecting our fragile selves from the big scary world, we would be able to “concentrate the mind.”
tasked not to transform and work his will upon us
did the pitiful and cowardly journalism/media sluts of the United States work very very hard to convince people that this is what Mr. Bush had done so as to give their hand-picked obama whore license to do the same? I think so.
“…he certainly understands how competition between the states works.”
I’d want to be wary of him, for he may well not understand. Kinda like the union guy in Darleen’s post doesn’t understand.
If MN wants to stop losing jobs to SD, then MN damn well better start cutting its satte income tax. I’m guessing that’s Emmers, Squid?
The only thing MN is going to to with state income taxes is raise them. They have the $10 Billion light rail project to pay for. That’s all we need, a train running from Mpls to St. Paul, right down University Ave. Right where the buses run now.
Mark Dayton is the only gubernatorial candidate that makes Jerry Brown look like the second coming.
Dayton can truly be said to have only a distant relationship with reality.
The only thing MN is going to to with state income taxes is raise them.
Good for South Dakotah!
Cranky, last time I was in Minneapolis, I was appalled at how badly traffic has been screwed up by light rail.
Made it much more difficult to find my favorite bar.
Made it much more difficult to find my favorite bar.
Should read” “Made it much more difficult to get to my favorite bar.”
Dayton wasn’t stupid enough to say that, was he?
Don’t answer that. I KNOW Mark “How am I supposed to stop running for office if you people won’t elect me?!” Dayton is stupid enough to say that, I just assume that he keeps minders around to save him from himself.
Makes it much easier to get to the Humpty-Dumpty Dome on game day, however.
The light rail is a blessing and a curse. I live within a short walk of one of the stops, and I can take it to the Metrodome to hit one set of bars, or all the way downtown to hit another set of bars. So for me it’s good, but it still screws up the traffic.
This is a pretty good speech as political analysis, isn’t it? At least, I think, the bulk of it is, up to the point at the end where he turns to stroking his auditors with encouragements.
my little brother lives outside the city and they kinda like all the transportationings they can do really nice wholesome day trips as a family for cheap, which is nice
You’re spoiling the MN flavor of the thread sdferr. Whasta matta? Taste of lye bother you or something? [snicker]
Taste of lye must have some association with a foodstuff I’m guessing, though the only one I can think of offhand is grits, so that can’t be it, since I had some of those this morning and enjoyed them as usual. Is it that rumored to be icky fish dish?
Not to mention increase the size of 401k IRA pool of money for the democrats to go after someday. My point being that the gubmint people need to stop speculating on getting their hands on all the sweet sweet retirement monies.
Somebody ought to fine tune-up Andrea.
Is it that rumored to be icky fish dish?
It is indeed. All “real” Minnesotans eat it. Which is why I’m not a real Minnesotan!
Twins take the Central, as usual. Ho hum. They then field the “B” and “C” lineup and spank Cleveland.
Hopefully, this year the Twins get beyond the first round.
Some quotes from the article about Woodward’s book:
yippie kay-ey…
Skip that I hit say it too soon.
Some quotes from Woodward’s book:
The Left has never understood Vietnam nor accepted responsibility for their part. These quotes above show the same mentality in play that was there in the Johnson administration. Obama and Biden think that the problem of Vietnam was political and was caused by the large number of US troops that were deployed, the video images and the causalities. This was the way the Left attacked Bush on Iraq and so they hope to limit their political exposure by limiting those three things. They are setting up a massive failure due to their ideological tunnel vision.
Afghanistan, Iraq and Vietnam are mistakenly called “wars”. This word makes them seem to be self-contained and not related to any other thing. They are not “wars” but are/were theaters of operation in a larger war, the actual war. There are parallels, just not the ones the Left thinks there are. Some of them are…
Theaters of operation, called “wars” and viewed as self-contained entities even though they were part of a larger, much longer conflict with an enemy which could not be directly attacked either in their minor sanctuaries nor in their actual homelands from which ideology, training, and support flowed. Even naming the actual enemy was made politically impossible by the Left both times. Thus we are/were left to talk about “The Cold War” and “The War on Terror” without any sense of either the driving ideology nor the main State actors pushing the ideology. Reagan brought clarity to the earlier conflict which was needed to make victory possible. we are still looking for a Reagan in this one.
Micromanagement by the White House of precisely what could and could not be done by the military. Management done for political ends without any sense of or idea of military victory, only domestic political ends.
Looking for an “exit strategy” not a victory because victory is possible only by winning the actual larger conflict. The one which shall not be actually named and which we have compartmentalized this conflict to be apart from.
True, until we wake up to what we are fighting and start working toward victory in the actual conflict with the actual enemy not just managing the political effects of multiple, continuing, proxy conflicts.
Blockquote>Why is this good? It is good because the sun will burn out, the Ohio River will flow backwards, and the cow will jump over the moon 10,000 times before any modern president’s conception is superior to that of the Founders of this nation.
Word.
Is it that rumored to be icky fish dish?
Lutefisk. The piece of cod which passeth all understanding…
Almost sounds as though Pence was leaning in to listen to the same conversations Woodward was hearing. Though I’ve little doubt that Woodward will have found the words to cover Obama’s shame.
I see a future bit for Jeff: Mike Pence’s Presidential Hair commenting on current events and being berated by Regis.
Outstanding speech.
Should have received a lot more coverage.
I just happened to run across it.
I’ve little doubt that Woodward will have found the words to cover Obama’s shame.
It’s the stuff that he can’t cover up or explain away that ought to exercise the sphincter.
Like the presence of David Axelrod in national security meetings as a for instance, I’d suggest. That and Petraeus’s one step out of his characteristic sophrosyne, intimating he’d like to rip off one of Axelrod’s appendages and beat him to death with it.
That, and the overly analytical, “we could take a hit,” bullshit. And the I don’t want to spend a trillion on the war overseas contingency operation because then I won’t have it to spend on my domestic legacy building project. And…
Jesus how long before somebody really tests his resolve? Like in Taiwan maybe.
I concur in toto with all that Ernst, though I note we’ve moved from one indictment — using national security matters as a tool with which to play partisan politics — to another, positively weakening the national security through a propensity to simple stupidity, or incapacity to think strategically. Both are serious charges enough, though different sorts of things, I think. One might be innocently stupid and just make bad decisions in the latter case. There isn’t anything innocent about the former charge though, it must be inherently cynical.
yup you nailed it Thad
fucking retard
“Mount up, boys! There’s Federales ta put outta our misery!”
not only has Obama approved the sale of 100 F-35 Joint Strike Fighters to Turkey
Hell, if they’re such good friends that we’re going to sell the 100 of our cutting edge technology fighters, why not lease them a few B-2’s as well while we’re at it?
the Democrat-controlled Senate Armed Services Committee has refused to ask the Pentagon to conduct such a review.
Correcting this mistake needs to be at the top of the ‘to do’ list for the Republican-controlled Senate Armed Services Committee in January.
I think Meghan’s coward daddy might head Armed Services, no? His #1 priority is to work with the dirty socialists to vastly expand government regulation of the nutritional supplements industry, not making America more safer or stronger. He’s a statist cocksucker is why.
RE:#47 geoffb:
When Nixon started bombing Hanoi with B52s in earnest, the Communists practically tripped over themselves running for the Paris peace talks and got the bombing stopped. The lesson of how to end the war was lost on the morons in the Nixon administration.
The Communists at the top had no interest in living in the jusgle any more than the people pushing jihad from the top want to live in a cave. When you get intel indicating that a particular government is responsible for an attack, bomb their houses with B52s and you will note a marked drop-off in attacks worldwide.
Preferably when they are home having dinner with their families*. Sort of like a deadly form of telemarketing, but with the call coming from 40,000 ft.
*Don’t be horrified. The Islamo-faschists will respect you more for having done it. Be the strong horse.
omfg
There is no class of whore on earth to rival a Republican senator.
OT: somebody hit ace up the side of the head with the clue bat. Maybe…
the Team R pledge to America thingy looks really pretty good at first glance
“There is no class of whore on earth to rival a Republican senator.”
A hirsute 300 lb. transvestite in an evening dress working the docks for spare change comes close.
The Republicans are demonstrating daily why as soon as we dispatch the Democrats, the majority of them are next. This internet thing is very useful for deciding which ones go first…
and downloading porn, of course.
that’s from the House Rs I should say… not the cowardly whorish senate ones
The welt will fall and he’ll be right back where he’s always been.
When you get intel indicating that a particular government is responsible for an attack, bomb their houses with B52s and you will note a marked drop-off in attacks worldwide.
Well…. I suppose I could have ordered in the B-52s. But Adm. Poindexter assured my that the F-111s would get the job done, since Qadaffi was living in his summer tent.
On Merde-cowski, the thinking seems to be that if they removed her, she’d just vote with the Democrats in the lame duck session out of spite. She probably will anyways.
Andrew G. Biggs at AEI: Why does government grow and grow and grow? :
— elected officials present the public with — need to be presented with —
I’d argue that, as with our choices when it comes to candidates — meekly accepting what is by fait accomplis placed before us — this too is an area where we are doing it wrong and ought to look to change both “it” and ourselves, that is, ourselves in regard to how we approach “it”.
I agree[d].
Murkowski should be given every opportunity to vote with the Dems in their upcoming mutual orgy of lame-duck legislative self-immolation that will render both the Democrats and Lisa’s smoldering and moldering careers quite dead.
Could not happen to a better group of betters.
I don’t see why Team R needs to woo Murkoswki… she’s a whore… they’ll either outbid the dirty socialists when the time comes or they won’t
Haven’t read the comments yet, sorry
My fear about the TEA Partiers is that they might be nothing more than the usual “Good Government” type movement – reformers that peter out after their “big year” or two. The politicians just pander and bide their time in those cases.
Plunkitt of Tammany Hall put it that politics ‘is the ocean and reform movements are waves to be ridden’. Only solution is to build a better machine with all of those attendent problems.
that thinger the House Rs released today is a love letter to the Tea Party and I think it’s neat
Dunno if it would help to allay your fears vis a vis the Tea Parties urthshu, but Doug Schoen, I think in the 10 questions piece at Daily Caller a few days ago, said he doesn’t see them going away or petering out. He thinks they are here to stay for a good long while.
link
Wonder whether the King of England didn’t have similar expectations of his colonists now and again? They’ll fold and fade away, we’ve just got to keep the pressure on them for another few months.
link
Maybe. If the TEA folks can keep pressure on, take some solid bases – we don’t need all at once, you know – keep growing. Thats the important bit. I just have my doubts, since I think most will just say “I’ve done my part, now where’s my Reality TV?”
Oh, the pledge thinger: This is the parody end of history repeating itself, I think
I hate when that happens
the bonerman is thick as a brick
– Listen carefully……*******revolt, vote, revolt, vote, revolt, vote*******
– That sound you hear is the silent majority. The weakest of the political forces, with total penetration and coverage at the great effect and distance on the future of American politics.
Looks like “The Contract with America” in becoming “The Pledge” has undergone the kind of inflation the legislative bills have had too.
Just need a list with the heading “We shall vote to REPEAL:”
[……………………………………………]
Ending with “And keep at it until they are REPEALED so help us God.”
Seems the Elite Republican’s ‘pledge’ is weak sauce, if Eric Erickson gets it right. Without even looking at it, I’m inclined to dismiss it forthwith.
Does it defund ObamaCare? Does it defund the Department of Education and the EPA? If not, it doesn’t come up to the standards we really need to stay solvent.
The Pledge looks like a wholesome start to me. Certainly it is far better than anything I’ve seen R leadership commit to in the last decade or more, and has the makings of a beginning to prioritize our national questions, to address those questions piece by piece and to do that with a view to what can be done being done. I think it’s best to see the thing roll out before condemning it out of hand.
A short form.
while retreating they put up a modest counter attack. me i like patton hit them hard on multiple fronts. attack attack attack.
>>>- Listen carefully……*******revolt, vote, revolt, vote, revolt, vote*******
Rollercoaster of votes
rollercoaster woo.hoo.hoo.
I’m with Mr. sdferr I’m favorably impressed and I will confess to being rather willing to be critical and yet I found little in the pledge what I didn’t think was pretty much ok.
no sprinkles
This is them trying sincerely to be serious, which, while it falls short in some respects, is so far better than what I (for one) had come to expect of them I think they deserve a few moments to breathe easier at least. We can go back to hammering on them after a week or so, no problem. In the meantime, it will be interesting to see how widely this document penetrates the people, how far they themselves choose to agree with it and how far or not it helps to elect more R’s to Congress, which new R’s, I don’t doubt, will instantly set to improving the Pledge to their own satisfaction and to the satisfaction of their constituents. This is going to be a dynamic next six months.
plus it only pays token lip service to jesus issues
That’s a huge step forward for America.
Uninspiring but better than I expected.
An old Norman P. piece, America the Beautiful, up at City Journal, touches on another aspect of the American exceptionalism cynn played at missing the other day. That aspect is apparently cynn herself. heh.
because the feds need to adress gay, baby killer, and segregation agendas
hey these are the same jackoffs what passed super special terri schiavo vegetable management laws –
it’s a big step
Baby steps, baby steps …
All in all, it’s an ok document, the House will be generally better than the Senate as these sorts of things, although Sessions 1/13 track record this season, doesn’t terribly reassure.
I dunno JD, given their recent previous actions and comparing them to this, these are looking more like giant strides than baby steps, even recognizing the stepwise shape of the proposals they make. They are indicating more to come, I think. At least they’d better be, since the new class will, as I say, want to be doing rather more than this.
Taking this as a positive step as well.
Remember, there’ll be a larger than normal freshmen group coming along and they’ll have some ideas of their own. As an initial baseline from the old guard? Could be much worse.
I’d be interested in seeing how many of the new faces we can get to put their names behind Ryan’s efforts. That’ll be something worth pursuing while the Dems are lame ducking the country all to hell.
Yeah, I’m of the same mind. Just a minute late. Damn you!
heh. ’twas a fit of zeal brought on by newrtr and serr8d bh, so don’t blame me, blame them.
You gentlemen are correct. From the douchenozzles in power, this is a good step, a positive step. The key for me is that it is a first step.
nay. moving the overton window many notches to free markets.
in a fit of “bipartainship” these fools sell out. got keep modo happy.
“…to free markets.”
I suggest reading the Podhoretz; then learning to write as well as he does. You’ll be moving windows in no time.
at the very least it means they can be taught
There really is something to that notion. The planets are aligning. (Witchcraft!) I’d rather try for too much this cycle rather than later wish we’d gone for more.
But, as Pablo said somewhere else, I don’t think the politicians are leading this anymore. Gotta say though, to just see them move because they can see something scary and indeterminate looming on the horizon, I’m heartened.
just commenting on a 1st rate blog. i don’t think the commentary crowd are very intelligent nationally. neo con pauline what’s her name opinion.
i read jen rubin’s cutesy thing at 7 am and think i know this already and you suck as a writer.
for what warmed over krautman and karl the rover
Norman, in my opinion, is a far superior thinker as compared with his kid John, who more often than not disappoints. As to the rest at Commentary, sometimes they’re good, fewer times very good, sometimes kinda mediocre and sometimes, though more rarely, crappy. As to my own claims as a writer, I think I pretty much agree with you newrouter, I do suck, which is why I never have pursued the thing.
you don’t suck as a writer who sucks as a writer is new other guy at work he can’t punctuate for shit
I heart Jen Rubin and Podhoretz the Elder. These are your natural friends, nr.
I think it is important that we do not allow ourselves to be placated by them taking an initial positive step. Or even several positive steps. They have a crap load of work just to reach trustworthy, and then the real work begins.
I promise I will not be placated
“They have a crap load of work just to reach trustworthy, and then the real work begins.”
Here here.
i meant jen not you fwiw. you write well.
People that diss Jen Rubin should reconsider.
It’s very easy to write and punctuate well when your desk is clear and people aren’t yelling about sexually abusing your corpse through the door.
This is a true, if vulgar, thing.
I’m sorry that happened to you
i find her hook of the day annoying. just post it.
Corpse abuse is against the law. You tell them that bh and see what it gets ya.
her 7 am theme of the morning post suck
That you get used to, ‘feets.
What you can never get used to is the freaky rich dude who talks about the regional digestifs of Italy for an hour when you just want to pitch your shit and then go home.
I like it but was hoping for something shorter in form. Not bumpersticker or poster short but under 200 words so that it could be easily carried around to show or email.
the regional digestif of brooklyn: egg cream.
cut the fed. gov’t by 65%. works on twitter.
who cares about scrounging around Italy for a snack that’s just bad time management
bh’s office sounds kind of trippy. Munging corpses.
nice little attack on cod by junior. he the “bearded marxist” is ok.
That’s why I haven’t gone in all that frequently for quite awhile, JD. I’m developing a very strict buy-me-a-dinner-if-you-want-to-talk-to-me rule.
The old way sucked balls. Nerds need nerd time where they can pace around and drink coffee and look at the screens. In peace.
This is why cell phones are the devil’s work. You can give each of them ironic ring tones but they’re still calling and you still have to pick up.
Pence is a good guy. I don’t know if he is ready for the big leagues yet, but I’ll definitely keep listening to what he says.
feets – I never understood the large percentage of people who wanted Terri Schiavo dead – I mean people who were very upset that she went on living. I think a “Useless Eater” bill might make it through Congress. Scary –
we need to push the window waaaay over there. so when the O! quibbles you say “this is about 3 letters j-o-b-s” thanks hairplug
I can’t imagine why congress cared either way really unless they were looking to underscore a perception of being flitty and unserious and sort of scarily ready to flex the muscles of the state in matters what were none of their business at all
if these idiots had balls they’d defund O!’s czars.
you can’t play the “safe” team r-d game now with the slime bags from chi-town . cut their f**kin’ nuts off NOW
Congress already pokes into things that are not their business. That should already be debated by any serious candidates. I truly wonder how far they can go without anybody watching.
Chris Coates to testify at the Civil Rights Commission on the NBP case from Philly. He’s ignoring instructions from the DOJ. Should be interesting.
especially Meghan’s coward daddy he wants to regulate your nutrition supplements he’s fucking mad with power
If we’d have stocked up on ephedra we’d be rich right now, ‘feets.
rich and regally thin
On this point, this, this is why I give ‘feets far less hell than a lot of you guys.
He’s attacking from the right on whole bunch of shit. His instincts are often… staunch.
Sue me.
Now that should be interesting, sdferr.
Feets is good people.
Unlike Seth on Top Chef Desserts, who is a living breathing train wreck.
It was about not abetting a culture of death, the Hemlock society, the Final Exit guy, all those in love with death
#145 or not… nothing like a corroborating witness suddenly saying “there’s nothing to see here, move along.” Why is he doing so NOW? He’s been on the hot seat for what, 9 months? Why now? And the administration can run around saying, “see we ARE honest on voting issues…” BAM. Now the new talking point is, the Rs have already shot this wad and no one got preggers…
hey bonerman could devolve power to the states. tell O! fu
Stephanie – It is likely due to some of the FOIA requests that appear to show some of the prior testimony in re. this topic was less than forthcoming, if not outright dishonest.
– Thanks for the link sdferr – Wonder if they’ll carry the hearing’s on CNN?
“Why is he doing so NOW? He’s been on the hot seat for what, 9 months? Why now?”
Good questions all. I don’t know is the short answer. Speculating, perhaps he wanted to keep his job while holding on to the hope that the DOJ IG would do his, saving Coates from the need to testify. Seeing now that the slow walk is in effect, Coates may have decided (after months of pressure from his friends and co-workers possibly) that it’s time to walk the plank to see justice done and the Obama DOJ get its comeuppance. But all that’s just guessing on my part.
U.S. Total Federal Government Outlays vs Median Household Income 1967-2009.
Be sure to see if Andy McC might have anything to say about this business when he comes to Emory (is it?).
#154 – Yes, that’s always a possibility, the old rope-a-dope, which is pretty much standard policy with Bumbblefuck and this administration.
– But with the current mood running rampant among the Washington ruling class right now, get out of dodge and CYA has taken hold in this season of panic as that tsunami builds and roars louder each day, so maybe he’s doing a last minute whistle, bail, and run. Lets hope.
She’s generally pretty good but Dyer and Boot, are better for more in depth topics, Wehner (Bennett’s ghost) is more of the ‘clean toga’ crowd
Sdferr, that would be a good Q to ask, but I think the jizz of his speech is to unload on the jihad-sympathizers in the WH and state.
Will file it for later, though.
JD, so which side will he come down on? The prior testimony is correct and someone lied or the prior testimony was taken “out of context” yada yada yada? Tis a wonderful time for someone to fall on his sword over election matters 40 or so days before an ELECTION. Color me jaded. We’ll see… too many bureaucrats become beholden to the system and their place therein.
Spakovsky seems to believe Coates will back Adams’ prior testimony on the case. Adams himself testified that Coates was in the room or aware of the facts to which Adams had testified.
Stuff like this…. http://tiny.cc/fz54w
is why I don’t trust the fuckers any farther than I can throw them, and I’m pushing 50 (just to nicely tie into the prior thread). Anything election, vote or civil rights related is suspect right now and especially right now.
I have no doubt he will be taking one for the team, Stephanie. But it should be interesting.
((Spakovsky seems to believe Coates will back Adams’ prior testimony on the case. Adams himself testified that Coates was in the room or aware of the facts to which Adams had testified.))
Yeah, and some thought those Republicans would be… well… republicans when they lost.
I hope he tells the truth. It is sad that simple honesty is viewed as a goal with this group of clowns.
– The Elephants are going to have a clown car circus with investigations if they take over Congress. Wonder if it happens if they’ll go easy… ::schnort::
G’night, racists.
– Honesty is a bug, not a virtue with the Donkeys JD.
((It is sad that simple honesty is viewed as a goal with this group of clowns.))
Not even viewed as a goal…. one of the tenets of their ideology is “the ends justify the means.” Taquia (sp), it’s what’s for dinner.
[…] “Mike Pence's Hillsdale College Speech on the Presidency” […]
my impressionistic first impression which is based largely on how everyone else is reacting:
1) too wordy: The GOP court party looks like their talking down to the rabble in the country party
2) hedging: in case the tea party does fizzle out, they’re offering the minimal concessions neccessary to gain support now, hoping to get back to business as usual after 2012.
3) this morning it seems that already the state controlled media wants to discuss this as a wedge issue –it doesn’t satisfy the demands of the tea-party movement.
4) I like the court-party/country party dichotomy (Codevilla?); I like optimates versus the populares better