Wingnut Win

I can think of no possible outcome that isn’t extraordinarily entertaining.

This makes it official: Sarah Palin will turn the current Republican Party into a rump party.

The only question is, what is the new facist party she forms going to call itself?

Good grief.

It’s not my district but it’s not that far away. I heard her on the radio (I know. Quaint) and she sounded quite sensible. In fact I liked her better than the Democrat. Do all Republicans just give up and hide under the bed? It’s cute in dachshunds but not so cute in one’s elected representative.

@nojo: My thoughts exactly – if the D wins, it’s proof that real Republicans, though thinner on the ground than expected, are truly conservative, if the R/C wins, it’s proof that the colored guy in the White House is Kenyan, Muslim, and a Socialist/Fascist/Halfrican.

@Tommmcatt is hunkered down in the trenches: The Jesus Freedom Party.

BTW, are you safely through the Terror? You and your ‘club’? (That’s not why you’re concerned about weight, is it? Because I have to say it’s quite natural for a man to gain a pound or two when he’s expecting)

@blogenfreude: Erick, a few minutes ago:

Now? We should be magnanimous in victory — and whether Hoffman wins or loses, as long as Dede Scozzafava loses it is a victory — but we should demand accountability, we should demand a reckoning, and we should demand a purge from the party establishment of those people most responsible for the Republican disaster in NY-23.

Purges … I love it.

@blogenfreude: Funny thing, though — this week Countdown would do a story complaining that Demrats aren’t toeing the line on the public option, and follow it immediately with a story making fun of Repugs for being too doctrinaire.

@Benedick: I note that the Mouse called Miramax home from New York, but that’s a different division — although it shows that La Terreur continues.

@nojo: Miramax is Mouse?

@Benedick: Epic story. The Weinsteins sold out to the Mouse years ago, then more recently wanted out (or got shoved out) of the deal. Miramax stayed at the Mouse, but they took Dimension with them.

They also own Project Runway. But that’s another epic story.

BTW, the NRCC needs to work on targeting its ads better – I know the keywords are why they show up here, but I can’t think of a group of folks LESS likely to donate.

Unless, perhaps, one could earmark the donation to “run more candidates like Hoffman”…

@al2o3cr: I should have made a screenshot of the Pelosi/Zombie ad when I saw it earlier. Most Americans don’t know who the hell the Speaker is, much less care to demonize her.

@nojo: Check your email.

My god, there’s two? Saw the “mindless” ad, not the “House of Horrors.”

Oh, and for the record, Google Ads have now officially paid $109.10 to the Stinque World Domination Fund. First check I’ve seen from them since we launched.

@nojo: They wait until you get over $100 to pay out.

@blogenfreude: Used to be $50, I think, but I haven’t been paying attention.

MSNBC had a sweeter deal: They paid per pageview, not just click-throughs, with a lower threshhold for cutting checks. Then again, we cursed too fucking much for them.

@nojo: Damn. So now I have to start unblocking the damn ads. Damn! Fuque MSNBC! Fuquers!

@al2o3cr: We”ve been getting fliers from the candidates to the upcoming town election. Most notable are those that seem to come from Town of Hurley – which is where we live. You open them up, thinking it’s the latest scoop on the new hours of operation at the town dump, only to find that they’re in fact sent by the local Republican party. Cut taxes – shrink government – blah blah blah. So the deception reaches down to races so petty I wouldn’t have thought they’d waste the time. But it seems they’ve got nothing else to do.

@nojo: Took me 2 years to get to $100 at Agitprop.

Benedick: I grew up just south of this district, in NY-20. So I know perfectly well — Northern New York is absolutely capable of pulling off dumbfuckery just like this every single day of the week. This is surprising to me in no way whatsoever.

@Benedick: Oh, yeah, the mark of the Republican party post-1980 is totalist campaigning at every level. Palin embraced the whole party line – death to government; war is peace; Jesus is president; when the GOP loots and bankrupts govenment, it’s god’s will – in her mayoral campaign in Wasilla in the mid-1990s. It was completely alien to local Alaskan politics but a mark of the RNCs insistence that the party organize like the Scientologists in that doctrine be immutable, defined as god’s will and received and transmitted as canon at every level of the party’s enterprise.

Meanwhile, Gingrich just strangled a cat. Maybe it’s just a Saturday, though. Monitoring.

@chicago bureau: I’m pretty sure killing and eating kittens is just another day at the office for Newt.

@blogenfreude: Well, that’s just more incentive to fire up the Stinqueria at CafePress. I hate their tees, but it’s easier to set up than the other joint I’m looking at.

I fear that this bodes ill for those fighting Question 1 in Maine. North Country nutjobs can outnutjob all but the deepest rednecks of the South. They may have the horses to pull a mild upset and re-ban the marrying of the gays.

Homofascist, I need you. HOLD ME! (No, no, not there.)

@chicago bureau: Which reminds me, Silent Creative Partner’s Halloween costume is a Craigslist Casual Encounter.

nojo: No comment. (None required, really.)

Not going to see it in person, of course. Deep stack poker tournament at the Boats. Cards is a good vice to have, I reckon. (Always in moderation.)

Benedick: It always surprises me to no end how (a) national politics filters down to races where it makes absolutely no difference and (b) people actually buy it.

And it’s not just righties who do it. Back in Madison, you basically had to lambaste Bush in your push literature to get anywhere in certain City Council districts. Fact.

@chicago bureau: Yes, but lambasting Bush is an entirely rational plus fun thing to do. Criticizing Preznit Hope and Change is just… wrong!

Whore.

@chicago bureau: And there’s the grand amusement of it all: wingnuts are as PC as moonbats. I used to call it Slinky Reality: Everything is the same, but different.

@blogenfreude: Well, now Huckabee can come out from hiding.

Off to judge a Halloween costume contest in a bit. Should get me warmed up for sitting on a judicial nominating commission later this week. Got my lights and decorations up, candy ready to hand out.

blogenfreude: Ibid. Of course, this does Gingrich no good. He supported the dirty-liberal “moderate.” He is UNCLEAN!

@nojo: To the extent this gets them to go full wingnut in 2010 and 2012, I give it a hearty golf clap.

Benedick: Actually it went deeper than that in Madtown. I had a good mind to shout out at a debate: “look, I could give a shit about supporting Palestinians right now. Why can’t the city fucking plow my street within a week of a snowstorm?”

Chicago, thankfully, doesn’t have that problem. It has others, though. Like said plower of said street being hired for his ability to drum up machine-generated votes and not for ability to, erm, plow.

blogenfreude: NO NO NO NO. Remember the last time they pulled the full wingnut as an election strategy? 1994. Stupidity ensued.

2010 is a base-driven election. If they swing the House, Black Eagle will be proper fucked. Hell — if they even take a sizeable bite into the majority, they can depend on a few Blue Dogs to fuck things up royally for Hopey.

Wingnut politics is simple. Americans like simple politicians. Having a unified, and terrifyingly stupid, set of people win an election is precisely NOT WHAT IS REQUIRED.

[ADD: I'll bet an interesting parlor game at DC's finest holiday parties will be "What Are The GOP Going To Call Their New Contract With America, As That Brand Has Been Done Already".]

Cafe Press? Boo!

Try No Sweat http://www.nosweatapparel.com/

@JNOV: Actually, I’ve had my eye on Printfection for tees. But CafePress has a wider range of other crap.

Longer Gingrich, per The Corner — and the “I’m so sorry for not backing the Club For Growth guy with every ounce of energy I have please let me back in please please please” vibe from Newtie continues:

The emergence of Doug Hoffman as the only alternative to a pro-tax increase, pro-Pelosi liberal is a victory for Mike Long and the Conservative party, in alliance with the national conservative movement and talk radio.

The challenge for the next three days is to convince every Republican who opposes Pelosi and opposes tax increases that Doug Hoffman is the only vote that can stop the Left on tuesday.

In a district that has double-digit unemployment, tax increases are a threat to further crush the economy.

If taxes are the key issue, the Democrats will suffer a significant defeat.

In all three elections Tuesday the Democrat is going to run ten to twenty points behind Obama’s share a year ago.

That is dramatic decay for a brand in 12 months.

Well, I could say that with the teabagging and the Birthers and the John Galt Revival represents decay of the GOP brand that is, say, dramatic. But, then again, I’m a bitchy bastard.

@chicago bureau: That was not full wingnut – it was Contract with America, parts of which made sense if they’d meant it. But they didn’t. We won’t get fooled again (fingers crossed).

@blogenfreude: More than that, we were entering the Perot Zone — Bubba won both elections with pluralities, not majorities. Newt was riding a wave that doesn’t exist now, which is why comparisons to 1994 are so wonderfully misguided.

nojo: Most fear is misguided and irrational. Still, I have moved from hope to fear. It’s in my nature, really.

@chicago bureau: Well, I think the more general point that the presidential party always loses ground in midterms remains a good rule of thumb — but that’s a long way from saying we’re looking at 1994 redux.

Plus, then as now, Newt’s more interested in power than orthodoxy — the Contract With America was a broad pitch, not the hairsplitting fun when a 100% NRA Republican has to drop out of a race because she’s not wingnut enough.

The real problem is that the Demrat majorities — particularly in the Senate — are an illusion. We’ve been pretending all year that 60 votes is the magic filibuster-proof number, when really it’s more like 62 or 63 — enough to ignore Droopy & Friends. That will likely drop below 60 in any case next fall, which means that if shit doesn’t get done now, it ain’t gonna.

@nojo: “which means that if shit doesn’t get done now, it ain’t gonna.” I think this is Obama’s legislative strategy.

@nojo:

1. How come when I click on one of your links, a new browser tab is opened?

2. CafePress is the devil, and their shit is cheap. Lemme look around some. If I still had my silk screening supplies, I’d make you some shirts and shit at cost. Actually, lemme look into what I can do. What other crap do you want to sell?

@nojo: I very much would like a Stinque lanyard for my office badge. Or a tie clasp.

@JNOV: hemp guayaberas?

@Just Nabisco: “Who is John Galt?” toilet paper.

It just occurred to me that the election is only a few days away. Does anyone know the last time a congressional candidate dropped out so close to the general election without a criminal indictment and/or conviction hanging over their head?

@Just Nabisco: I love you, FSM knows I do, but please, please PLEASE tell me you’re not rocking the guayabera.

There’s this great documentary about some Lakota and their hemp farm, and how the ATF shut them down. Fuckers.

@JNOV: How come when I click on one of your links, a new browser tab is opened?

I include target="_blank" as part of the link code, when I feel like typing it. Too esoteric to include in the Tag Helpers.

What other crap do you want to sell?

Lanyards, tie clasps, and John Galt TP, apparently. And coffee mugs.

But it has to be crap-on-demand stuff — I’m not in a position to keep shit in stock. (And hey, I’ve done that.) That’s why, if not CafePress, it has to be like CafePress.

I need to call around (I’ve got a shitton of professional and amateur artists in my family, ties to print shops, etc.), but I could probably do some hand dye/print stuff, digital art stuff, textile and ceramic stuff. I don’t know about tie clips, but I could probably create a lanyard. ::shrug::

@nojo: Well, maybe we should take this off the board, but I’ve got nothing but space here. I don’t know what quantities we’re talking, but a case of t-shirts doesn’t take up that much space. It would be nice to have a creative outlet. And if it’s something I can’t make by hand, I can figure out how to do it on the high-quality cheap. I can also send stuff out. I dunno.

@chicago bureau: they gonna call it “take back our country” or some close variation, count on it.

I am listening now to “My Eyes Adored You” on my oldies station, it makes me cry.

@Just Nabisco: What colors do you want on your lanyard? Black text on white? (If it’s okay with nojo.)

@Promnight: Like a million miles away from me you couldn’t see how I adored you. So close. So close and yet, so far.

I watched an American Masters documentary on Joni Mitchell today. Every single one of her songs puts me on the verge of tears — that physically uncomfortable place where you need to let loose, but something is holding you back.

@JNOV: Her re-recording of Both Sides Now in 2000 – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tKQSlH-LLTQ&feature=PlayList&p=2FD156B5E0813AE5&index=20

Can’t fucking believe she wrote that in her 20’s. It was great when she was performing it in her youth but now it’s soul-wrenching.

@cassandra_said: Why you wanna make me all choked up, Girl? (I’ll watch at the end of this inning.)

@JNOV: It’s not just warehousing, but everything else: orders, shipping, returns, accounting, the whole enchilada. And it can’t be capital up front, because then you have to estimate what sizes and colors to stock. Plus, it needs to be instant-response — if everyone likes a particular blurb, I want it on mugs and tees the next day.

Thus, CafePress or one of its on-demand competitors. They’ll take the lion’s share of the money, but I’d only be looking at charging a buck or two over wholesale — this would be for amusement, not a revenue stream.

Silent Creative Partner and I are talking about doing Serious Tees again, but that wouldn’t be a Stinque project. Although I’ll run a link here if we ever get around to it.

@cassandra_said: Okay — this is my favorite from Turbulent Indigo. “Yvette in English” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r35NsoBnSrI

@nojo: If people like a particular blurb, how many shirts do you estimate you’d need? If there’s no original art that needs to be hand drawn, you can create the screen and knock out, I dunno, maybe fifty shirts in 24 hours — drying time would be the most time intensive. I’d have to ask my mom about the process and turn around for mugs. I’m not trying to horn in on your plans, but if you’re thinking about using your standard Stinque logo, tag line and a daily blurb, you don’t need a major operation to do so.

Orders — PayPal (although they take a cut and they’re cheesy, but they are waaay less cheesy than CafePress)

Accounting — Google’s online spreadsheet with authorized users

Returns — Same as shipments, refunds through PayPal

ADD: And I totally get the amusement factor. That’s what’s drawn me to this.

Oh, and if you allow it, I can make funkier shirts for those in the clubhouse. I’ll send you some art, if you like.

@Jamie Sommers: I may have missed it, but I don’t believe that Dede suggested her supporters vote for Hoffman. My thought was that she’s hoping they’ll vote for Owen but she can’t come out and say it.

@nojo: Got a great idea for a Stinque.com T-shirt: Death Panels Mean More Corpses to Fuck!

That should get the WND crowd excited.

@chicago bureau: Simple politics? They should just run Simple Jack!

“I’ll see you in my head movies.”

And of course,

Kirk Lazarus: Everybody knows you never go full retard.
Tugg Speedman: What do you mean?
Kirk Lazarus: Check it out. Dustin Hoffman, ‘Rain Man,’ look retarded, act retarded, not retarded. Counted toothpicks, cheated cards. Autistic, sho’. Not retarded. You know Tom Hanks, ‘Forrest Gump.’ Slow, yes. Retarded, maybe. Braces on his legs. But he charmed the pants off Nixon and won a ping-pong competition. That ain’t retarded. Peter Sellers, “Being There.” Infantile, yes. Retarded, no. You went full retard, man. Never go full retard. You don’t buy that? Ask Sean Penn, 2001, “I Am Sam.” Remember? Went full retard, went home empty handed…

@FlyingChainSaw: Only if you put that on a pair of underwear. Then I’d be all over it.

Gosh, wouldn’t that be kinda edgy?

@SanFranLefty: @FlyingChainSaw: Only if you put that on a pair of underwear. Then I’d be all over it.

@JNOV: If people like a particular blurb, how many shirts do you estimate you’d need?

Well, that’s the thing: I don’t know. The audience isn’t limited to the regulars here, and I don’t want to maintain a prospective inventory. It has to be print-on-demand.

CafePress tees suck because they feel like iron-ons. Printfection uses something like an inkjet dye, which folks might actually be prone to wear. So last I looked into this, I was thinking Printfection for tees, and CafePress for trinkets.

And once they’re set up (initial setup’s the bitch), they’re completely hands-off. All I want to do is upload designs, and ignore the rest. Completely. I have enough to manage as it is.

@nojo: I have enough to manage as it is.

As well you do. Stinque amazon kickbacks are enough for you to manage.

ADD: btw, this woman is totally setting off my dyke-dar. not like there’s anything wrong with that, but her haircut makes janet napolitano look stylish.

@SanFranLefty: Boy shorts?

Okay, buy a hat whilst I tinker.

@nojo: Homofascist Army insignia would be kinda cool.

@Dodgerblue: That’s a great idea, but all I have for a logo is the Wonkette knock-off banner featuring Megan’s Beaver. So I’ll need to come up with something fresh. (And HF may want to weigh in.)

“HFA” or spelled out?

@nojo: Spelled out. It’s more “in your face” that way for the gay-hating dimwits out there.

And speaking of Megan’s Beaver, my UCLA Bruins’ whipping by the OSU Beavers made something like page 8 of the already slimmed-down LA Times sports section today. The lead was all “Trojans suck,” not that I’m not fine with that.

@Dodgerblue: Gots it. But I’ll still have to think about a fresh logo.

Meanwhile, introducing the Cannibal Anarchy License Plate!

…which might make a good place for HFA text as well. I’m setting up Standard Crap right now, but I’ll be taking requests once I have a handle on it.

@nojo: Awesome. Almost as good as the old “Angela Davis Welcome Here” bumper sticker.

@Dodgerblue: And since it’s a quickie, the companion HFA License Plate.

@nojo: Just the thing for my next trip to Eastern Oregon. “I’m here for your guns. I’ll just move the tofu out of the back of my Subaru, plenty of room.”

@nojo: That’s freakin awesome.

ADD:@SanFranLefty: I had the same thought in re: potential dykedom. Thought maybe she was on the verge of getting outed by Beck & co. What would be great is if she went public, after the primaries, with some of the awful backroom threats she received to get off the ticket.

T/J: My college grad kid just got a job in L.A. doing community organizing work. A job where they pay you money and you have health benefits and stuff. Wahoo!!

@JNOV: No, no, no. I was just joking. I don’t want Chainsaw underwear.

@Dodgerblue: Wow! Yeah DB Jr.! Is it with ACORN?

@Dodgerblue:
OMFSM! She’s a communist/socialist/fascist!!

Seriously though, congrats to DB-jr-ette.

Back to topic:
Wingnut one step forward, two steps back.

Dede endorces Demoncrap.

“Scozzafava has endorsed Democratic candidate Bill Owens over conservative party candidate Doug Hoffman”

Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/11/01/white-house-pushing-to-ge_n_341436.html

@ManchuCandidate: ha ha ha ha ha ha.

But this also adds more weight to my desire to change party affiliations to vote in the GOP gubernatorial primary for Tom Campbell. Have any of the rest of the Kahleeefornya Stinquers heard Meg Whitman’s radio ads? Oy fucking vey. Veddy veddy scary. Do not want her running against Moonbeam.

@SanFranLefty: it’s not like the governor can actually do much of any good now anyway. The only people who really want the job are either insane or decrepit.

Dede has endorsed the Democrat.

@nojo: That license plate holder is all sorts of awesome. Homofascist will be so flattered.

@SanFranLefty: As he should be.

@ManchuCandidate: She was named after Emma Goldman.

@SanFranLefty: >:-P

Breaking: Fillies learn how to hit something other than four baggers, Johnny Damon reminds us that he was recruited from the Sawks for his bat, not glove. Fucking baseball…

@Just Nabisco: Uh, so, like, what team are you rooting for? Cuz I’m kind of not clear on that.

@JNOV: Good question. I think I’m hoping a soccer match breaks out. That 30 second featurette on “J Roll” last night pretty much reminded why I can’t really root for the Fillies.

@Dodgerblue: I’m just sad I couldn’t get the Dodger-Jr-ette a job in EssEff working for me. FSM knows I tried to get her up here organizing my communities. And FSM knows I need someone more competent and smarter than me working for me to manage upwards.

@Just Nabisco: speaking of el futbol, I have happy news to report from the SFL team. We beat a team of high schoolers, where our pre-game warm up consisted of trying to stretch hamstrings and realizing the little 16 year old girls wearing a shitload of mascara and eyeliner for their Sunday morning game — you could double their age, and still not hit the average age of my team. The “abuelas” (as those little fucking putas called us) prevailed 2-1. I asked several of these brats “Besas tu abuelita con tu boca?” Your very own SFL had one assist (I did the corner kick to my teammate who powered it in) and one goal (I powered in the goal from the cross).

Age has wisdom, I suppose.

@nojo: @SanFranLefty: I LURVE IT!!!!!!

@Dodgerblue:

a hearty MAZEL TOV to emma…and you and mrs. db.
yes, a great feeling, my bakette is also gainfully employed, teaching physics, health insurance and everything.

and i want a tshirt. why is everyone forgetting the forerunner of HFA?
it was a disorganized pitchfork/torch carrying mob before generalissimo organized. baked’s angry mob? i’m proud to have started the trouble.
no respect. i get no respect.

oh, and db, was just having this conversation with jnov. we are annoyed that emma goldman is not on our money. maybe paper this time instead of that insulting–smaller than a quarter– susan b, anthony bullshit dollar. emma goldman is one of my heroes. good name. i had to name bakette after my uncle louie.

@SanFranLefty: Rock on, Grandma.