Open Thread

19 Comments

1. 

   DaveW on June 26, 2008 at 3:35 pm

   Shitty. But at least I can have a gun now to do something about it.

2. 

   dada on June 26, 2008 at 3:46 pm

   my morale is fine…it’s the lack of morals of my representation in congress <cough>udall<choke>salazar<grrrrrrr>…and the <quote> purported leaders of the demoRATic party <unquote> that l’m having trouble with.

3. 

   idredit on June 26, 2008 at 4:04 pm

   wet downer.

   prompted by a Novak piece, The Carpetbagger Report asks:  would it matter if Colin Powell and Chuck Hagel endorse Obama?

   love this money quote:

   
   Explaining his support for the uncompromisingly liberal Obama, Hunter blogged on June 6: “The Republican Party is a dead rotting carcass with a few decrepit old leaders stumbling around like zombies in a horror version of `Weekend With Bernie,’ handcuffed to a corpse.”

   While he never would use such language, Colin Powell is said by friends to share Hunter’s analysis of the GOP. His tenuous 13-year relationship with the Republican Party, following his retirement from the Army, has ended. The national security adviser for Ronald Reagan left the present administration bitter about being ushered out of the State Department a year earlier than he wanted. As an African American, friends say, Powell is sensitive to racial attacks on Obama and especially on Obama’s wife, Michelle. While McCain strategists shrug off defections from Bruce Bartlett and Larry Hunter, they wince in anticipating headlines generated by Powell’s expected endorsement of Obama.

4. 

   Real History Lisa on June 26, 2008 at 4:07 pm

   Not great. For all my talk re us and FISA, I’m still mad at Obama re this.

   • 

     Real History Lisa on June 26, 2008 at 4:10 pm

     Btw – great Greenwald piece today:

     http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2008/06/26/olbermann/index.html

     … It isn’t that difficult to keep the following two thoughts in one’s head at the same time — though it seems to be for many people:

     (1) What Barack Obama is doing on Issue X is wrong, indefensible and worthy of extreme criticism;

     (2) I support Barack Obama for President because he’s a better choice than John McCain.

     As but one example, John Cole was a vehement supporter of Barack Obama throughout the primary. He viciously criticized Hillary Clinton on a regular basis and raised tens of thousands of dollars for Obama’s campaign through his blog. But this week alone, Cole lambasted Obama for what he called Obama’s “total collapse and a rapid abandonment of principle” regarding FISA and pronounced as a “pathetic performance” Obama’s refusal to be photographed anywhere near Muslims or to meet with Muslim leaders. Despite that, just yesterday, Cole said:

     No, I don’t have buyers remorse. Yes, he still is better than Hillary or McCain. No, I am not disillusioned (I never thought he was a flaming liberal in the first place). I am, however, disgusted, and I will caution the Obama campaign that “better than McCain” is not much of a rallying cry. We all remember how “anything is better than Bush” turned out in 2004.

     That’s called being a rational adult who refuses to relinquish one’s intellectual honesty, integrity, and political principles in order to march lockstep behind a political leader. Those who think that Barack Obama should not be criticized no matter how wrong he is — or those who justify anything that he does no matter how craven and unjustifiable, including things that they viciously criticized when done by Dick Cheney or Harry Reid — are no different, and no better, than those who treated George Bush with similar uncritical reverence in 2003 and 2004.

     The real danger is that those who defend Obama the Candidate no matter what he does are likely to defend Obama the President no matter what he does, too. If we learn in 2009 that Obama has invoked his claimed Article II powers to spy on Americans outside of even the new FISA law, are we going to hear from certain factions that he was justified in doing so to protect us; how it’s a good, shrewd move to show he’s a centrist and keep his approval ratings high so he can do all the Good things he wants to do for us; how it’s different when Obama does it because we can trust him? It certainly looks that way. Those who spent the last five years mauling Bush for “shredding the Constitution” and approving of lawbreaking — only to then praise Obama for supporting a bill that endorses and protects all of that — are displaying exactly the type of blind reverence that is more dangerous than any one political leader could ever be.

     • 

       BooMan on June 26, 2008 at 4:21 pm

       dead on.

       • 

         Real History Lisa on June 26, 2008 at 5:22 pm

         Yep. Go see Senator Boxer’s statement re this too. I just posted it. Fantastic.

     • 

       Cee on June 26, 2008 at 9:39 pm

       The real danger is that those who defend Obama the Candidate no matter what he does are likely to defend Obama the President no matter what he does, too

       Not me. Right now I’m thinking that he has to say and do certain things to get elected.
       Even with that, his action on FISA has steamed me enough that I’ll do what I need to do to get people to vote but I haven’t sent any money this month. Might not donate again. Can anyone twist my arm?

       Plan on seeing me rip into him if he thinks he’s going to continue the same path as Clinton and Bush.

5. 

   rba on June 26, 2008 at 4:08 pm

   Ready to migrate off-world.  Reuters:   Scientists say Martian soil could support life

   All we need is a rocket, and the solar wind to guide us. . .

6. 

   Brendan Skwire on June 26, 2008 at 4:43 pm

   personal morale is great.
   In terms of my morale as a Democrat? not so good. I have no desire to fight for the party, no desire to get out the vote, and no motivation to help elect democrats.

   Quite the opposite really.

7. 

   idredit on June 26, 2008 at 4:45 pm

   Who else can tell Bubba Clinton, so you’re miffed over Obama. “Get over it”?

   via Ben Smith, Politico: Watch the video

8. 

   DaveW on June 26, 2008 at 4:51 pm

   Daley: ‘A very frightening decision’
   Wounded boy’s mom wants top cop to apologize
   Laptop seizures at customs raise outcry
   Forest View cop shoots man who was wielding a crutch
   Kane County chemical spill sends 21 to hospitals
   West Chicago school locked down during police search
   Information is temporarily unavailable.

   How should my morale be?

9. 

   nalbar on June 26, 2008 at 6:20 pm

   My morale is great.

   What’s to be unhappy about? It’s a beautiful day, I have a big job starting, my bathroom remodel is done, and I have my health.

   A person cannot ask for much more that that out of life. Anything more is just gravy.

   nalbar

   • 

     Real History Lisa on June 26, 2008 at 7:08 pm

     How about wishing everyone else’s life could be so good?

     • 

       nalbar on June 26, 2008 at 7:53 pm

       I can wish that all you want, but it won’t make it so. For one thing, what I described won’t be enough for some people, maybe even most people. We are all responsible for our own happiness ( I am assuming that is close to ‘morale’), and our close relations to a more limited extent.

       Beyond that I think you missed my point. My point was that what is going on ‘out there’, beyond the horizon, should not be the determining factor on ‘morale’. If you take all that nonsense to seriously you will live a life of bitter disappointment. Politicians will ALWAYS let you down in the end. ALWAYS. There are no ‘public servants’. None.

       Why live a life of perpetual low morale when the opposite is right there, within reach?

       nalbar

       • 

         MikeInOhio on June 26, 2008 at 9:02 pm

         Thanks, nalbar, for helping me keep a little perspective.  And while I know that within your intended context the statement “There are no ‘public servants’. None.” has a lot of truth, within the larger context it is incorrect.  There are many, many public servants.  They just don’t happen to reside in Washington D.C..  They are the ones who volunteer in the local food pantry, visit the aged in nursing homes and provide hot meals to shut-ins.  They are in every community in this country.  They are just not celebrated often, except by those whom they serve.

         They are the silent yet persistent public servants.  The ones we should truly honor.

         • 

           nalbar on June 26, 2008 at 9:35 pm

           Mike, you are absolutely correct.  Let’s not forget those who volunteer to fight illiteracy.

           True heroes.

           Thank you Mike, you touched it with a needle.

           nalbar

10. 

    truettspeak on June 26, 2008 at 7:45 pm

    Yep, GG nails this latest conundrum..and I am mostly a callus, but Obama on FISA blows my cool, pushes me into the ditch.  
    In such times I wonder if my abandonment of religion might have been a hasty error and if Costa Rica might possibly make me permanently happy?  
    If I pop-back-up as my habits predict, I suppose I stay regretfully married to yet, another lousy partner. Good grief.  

11. 

    greenbird on June 27, 2008 at 12:07 am

    no job. spending savings. strange lumps on back. funny smell in room. that’s about it, so, not bad!
    also, i’m not in zimbabwe (yet) but i think about it a lot. just the luck of the draw, mostly.
    maybe some day i’ll grow up? so many days i feel as confused and insecure as i did in middle school.
    i am, primarily, grateful for the internet and the open-source watchdogs.