Flee!

We can’t decide whether the birds represent questions and Tippi is Talibunny, or whether the birds are Talibunny’s answers and Tippi is us. Either way, grab some potent potables, because we’re all playing Jeopardy in tonight’s VeepSqueak Liveblog/Open Thread/Suicide Pact!

As usual, the rules are simple: Find every excuse you can to drink. You’ll be better off tomorrow with a hangover instead of the soul-destroying realization that she could be President in four months.

And no, we haven’t forgotten Plugz. We’re just ignoring him. Like the rest of America.

Smokes and beers at the ready…

8:49. Apparently Elisabeth Hasselbeck is displeased with Talibunny’s interview performance. So Keith and Howard are discussing. What frightens us is that we’re used to this by now.

9:00. Whenever we step into a room, we want Keith Olbermann to announce our arrival.

9:02. Gwen Ifill wears blue, betraying her prejudice towards Democrats.

9:03. Talibunny: “Hey, can I call you Joe?” No. No you may not.

9:04. Joe Biden’s forehead was featured in a classic Star Trek episode, but we can’t remember which one.

9:05. The Sarah Palin Folksy Anecdote Meter starts at 1. Soccer moms!

9:08. Sarah winks! Drink!

9:10. Folksy Anecdote Meter: 3. (add Joe Sixpack, Hockey moms)

9:13. Those wifi teleprompter glasses are working really well.

9:15. As mayor, Palin raised sales taxes to make up for reduced taxes elsewhere. Joe?

9:18. “In the middle class of America, where Todd and I have been all our lives…” What’s that personal wealth number that came out today? How many millions in the Talibunny homesteads?

9:21. Plugs drops the “bridge to nowhere” line he’s been hankering for.

9:24. Damn, that beer went fast.

9:27. “It’s a toxic mess on Main Street that’s affecting Wall Street.” That’s right, Sarah —it’s those damn greedy bastards who took the cheap loans who should be hung, not the innocent souls who offered them.

9:32. Something something something what Kyoto Protocol something something something.

9:36. Gay marriage! Excuse us for a moment while we strap in.

9:39. We all hate fags! Yayyyyy!

9:43. We have a sudden urge to buy Tupperware.

9:45. When the election’s over, Plugs & Geezer are doing a roadshow of The Sunshine Boys.

9:48. We don’t think Plugz has yet said “Ladies and Gentlemen”. We’re impressed by his discipline.

9:50. SLOW DOWN THE GODDAM IRONIES. We’re having a hard time keeping up.

9:52. Israel is a peace-seeking nation? Did we miss the memo?

9:55. Seven major ironies in 30 seconds. How does she do it? Oh, that’s right: She lies.

9:59. Two beers down, one left in fridge.

10:00. And at the one-hour mark, we believe Palin has maintained subject-verb agreement throughout. She’s beating the odds!

10:07. “John McCain, who knows how to win a war.” Ummm… which one?

10:09. WINK #2! Okay, maybe we missed some. It’s hard to look.

10:11. We haven’t even tried to count the small towns Joe’s racking up.

10:12. AND THERE’S THE RONNIE LINE! “There you go again, say it ain’t so, Joe.” Only, um, it doesn’t really play. Must be the delivery.

10:13. Folksy Anecdote Meter: 4. Hey third-graders, just crib Wikipedia! That’s how you get ahead!

10:14. “John McCain has already tapped me.” We knew it!

10:19. “Shining city on a hill.” Does Peggy Noonan still collect royalties?

10:21. Joe: Was that choke-up about the accident rehearsed? (Update: Probably not. He’s not a good actor.)

10:22. We’re not bothering with a “maverick” count. We’re sure Olbermann’s got an intern on it.

10:24. Joe coins a new verb: “to maverick”. John’s not going to maverick this, John’s not going to maverick that. We love language!

10:27. Dick Lugar, Mike Mansfield. Plugz and Geezer should get together and see who can drop the most wonky names.

10:29. “I like to answer the tough questions without the filter of the mainstream media.” What? Katie dubbed her voice?

10:32. Eugene is nothing like Scranton. Trust me on that.

10:33. And Joe gets the closing God shout-out. That’s all, folks!

284 Comments

Toobin says baseline for Bunny is to prove she can speak english. Wow

@nabisco: I thought they were trying to lower expectations.

Speaking of Plugz, I’ve been watching the pre-gameshow on MSNBC. As delightful and impressive as KO’s naked partisanship may be, I’d like to hear a few well-deserved critiques of Senator MBNA. On the other hand, I’m keeping my fingers crossed that Plugz stays on message and doesn’t utter any newsworthy gaffes.

Should give prizes for a) Most inept answer by a Republican VP candidate and b) Most awkward attempt not to be condescending and patronizing from a Democratic VP candidate?

Oh hell, just add to the game: drink if Plugz says “What am I saying?”

@JNOV: MSNBC here. Can’t stand CNN for stuff like this, and PBS too dull.

@nojo: wife forced me to turn off CSPAN which had a live feed of Ifil’s back.

@nojo: K. I was going for PBS, but I’m on to MSNBC. Ack! David Gregory’s chin!

@FlyingChainSaw: CNN or MSNBC probably have web feeds.

Ooo, it’s on the radio. I like that much better.

Dear god, Gwen’s jacket makes my eyes hurt.

Untoward outbursts? Can I call you Joe?

They’re coming out!
SIT ON MY FAAAAAAACE, SARAH!

OK, don’t want to start a fashion fight, but I’m getting moire effects from Gwen’s blue blazer.

“Can I call you Joe?”

Thank God I finally found you all! I couldn’t face this without your collective comments…. My husband is forcing me to watch this so we are watching it on BBC America.

@cuthbert: Be sure to inject pithy Brit commentary!

Go to a kid’s soccer game for the zeitgeist!

@JNOV: Gaaah! I know!

Soccer game!!! Is she now attacking the Bush economic policy, and calling for more regulation?

Saraaaaaah! Show us your tits! Jesus wants us to see your tits!

How many “reform”s can you get in one sentence?

Sarah you sound like an idiot!
TEAM OF MAVERICKS!?
TEAM OF FUCKWITS!
Fuck you!

She sounds like a broken record of a TV news lady reading press releases!
FUCK YOU, SARAH!

Wait, where can you get a house for $300K?

What?
WHAT ABOUT UNDERWRITING?
Jesus, you stupid fuck, Sarah, you can’t mention, or do you even know about underwriting quality?
NO, because you and McCain are FUCKING STUPID FUCKING PIECES OF FUCKING SHIT!

Oh yeah, somewhere I wouldn’t want to live…sorry, my coastal elitism has been offended. I challenge you, Sarah, to a duel!

Dear God, please do something about those bangs….

This woman can spit out more buzzwords per minute than a management consultant. Also, why do hate the letter “g” Sarah?

Starting to worry that the Katie Couric interview was a Black Flag operation…yeah, Caribou Barbie isn’t winning me over by any means, but tonight, at long last, she speaks coherently.

Efficient! Need to be efficient!
YOU STUPID JESUS FREAK!
The fucking world is melting the fuck down!
MELTING!
Exploding!
FUCK YOU!

Is it my imagination, or does Talibunny look a little deer-in-the-headlights – like the sheen has worn off?

I HATE HER. “I may not answer the questions they way you or the moderator might want to hear?” What about the way we might want to hear?

@Pedonator: I would disagree; she speaks in complete sentences, but they don’t necessarily make sense.
Still, I’m sure this will count as a win for her.

Blogenfreude,
The tempo is getting to her. Biden is keeping pace with the tempo and able to inform the answers even at this pace.

@Pedonator: Yeah, she must be on some ADHD drugs.

@FlyingChainSaw: Yes, I’m starting to see the Sarah Palin we all know and, let’s admit, love…

Bite!
Bite, JOE! Bite!
Rip these fascists’ faces off!
RRIIIIIIIP!

Redistribution of wealth!
She said it!
OK, guess everyone should go home!
She revealed everything we know as government is code for MARXISM!
Done!

It’s not patriotic to pay taxes! Yay!

Purchase coverage IF thye’ll cover you!

The HC boys did a bit of number crunching. Only 2 Million to be covered under PG’s plan. 27 million under Barry’s.

Wow! You get to BUY insurance!
GENIUS!

I’ll get a $5000 tax credit to pay for health insurance!! Which would be great if A) I had $5000 for premiums, and B) If I could GET health insurance! FUCK YOU BITCH.

she’s shuffling through her notes. who let them bring notes?

Ooooh, Joe hits back on the small-biz taxes!

Erase those invisible lines between states so we can cross state lines! Perhaps to carry our young, naive, young, handsome and pretty, young girls and boys back to our homelands for sexual debauchery?

Oh, yeah, Sarah beat the fuck out of the oil companies! RIPPED their faces off!

But wait? She took MONEY from those businesses and gave it to people for no reason?

MARXISM!

DIE, Stalinist!

Sarah taxed?
STALINIST! How could you do this to those poor companies? You’re killing jobs!

Did she just say “rear that head of abuse”?

John McCain fearlessly warned us about Freddie and Fannie fucking in the street in the rain, in the toxic rain and screaming and yelling and fucking main street and ahahahaa, I am losing my mind!

Oh noooo I’m streaming the msnbc and only halfway through my first porter and so I’m wayyyy too sober to deal with this, I’ll drink quicker and watch vicariously through you guys’ comments.

Yeah Plugz! Go for the Alaskan Dividend! That’ll lose you about two electoral votes!

Palin takes on the oil companies…this is just like King Kong representing the oil companies, and Sarah was Fay Wray and tamed the beast! Yeah Sarah, crack that whip!

Now she is going from housing to energy?

WHY?

Stop this psycho!

SHe’s starting to sound like the quote generator. Joe’s doing well — but keeping from laughing at her must get hard. He has indulged in a few avuncular chuckles. will he be called sexist?

Mr CYn thinks she’s going to cry before it’s over. Pleeeeez FSM, pleeeeeeez.

is she only going to talk about energy?

Answering about oil on a housing question?

If I drink enough to make the pain go away of this go away, I won’t be able work tomorrow……

Tax, oil, this great land independence, key, McCain, voted. Me good. Them bad. Oook!

We can attribute the activity of man to the cahnges in the climate. Who knew?

Climate change, energy, other countries. Key to best American. Alternative conserOOkkk!

BITE!
RIP!
Joe, tear into the bowels, tear, rip! GRRRRR!

I have left the house and retreated to the television-less mancave (my shed) where I endulge in my bad habit of smoking large brown paper-wrapped filtered cigarretes that say “Cigar” on the label and thus escape taxation.

I saw enough of the smug Reagan bunny, and yes, she often sounds just like the quote generator, but then, the fucktards aren’t looking for coherence, never have, it would confuse them, they are looking for bumper sticker slogans, and she’s as full of them as a country dive-bar jukebox. He has gotten mad, and I think he should take off the gloves, because I think it would rattle her and put her in random word generator mode. Tell me if she does.

@FlyingChainSaw: Agreed. I told my son that she’ll run out of steam (and her six talking points) by the end.

We missed a point on ANWR.

Listen to how she sexualizes the hunger for energy, adding a note of desire to her voice.

He’s only gotten off one zinger, the bridge to nowhere, but he’s Joe Biden and has some wit, it works about 50% of the time, I know he will go improv at some point, and only hope the force is with him and it works.

@redmanlaw: Give me some oil, I have no wetlands left in my estuary.

She knows lesbians!
Someone, quick! Sniff her face!

@Promnight: Ooo that’d be awesome. I’m watching with the sound off and she’s still radiating smug. That’s it I’m breaking out the vodka.

The surge is a strategy?

Watch her get all squirmy when she talks about heroes.

You know, at some point Gwen is gonna ask about qualifications, its not all gonna be invitations to filibuster.

By the way, where are her attacks on Biden’s foreign policy judgment?

She hasn’t gone totally incoherent, no wait, Mrs prom reports that when speaking of her son going to Iraq, she went into random word generator mode, anyone?

For a VP candidate, she’s a very good beauty pageant contestant.

@Promnight: So far, she sounds like a regular politician. No Daily Show soundbites yet.

Travesty if we SURRENDER to Al Qaeda!

Everyone would be in a chador!

Every building would burst into flames and islamofascists would leap through windows everywhere and rape CHRISTIAN women in EVERY house in America.

PRAISE!

If you like her, she’s doing well. (Echoing prom).

There’s no smug like ignorant smug, is there?

Only sound bites and buzz words. No plan Palin.

PG voted against protecting the troops! Think this is gonna be the soundbite tomorrow? OK, I don’t either.

Unstable Pak – oh, he got it. Nukes.

Oh Gwen, a nuclear Iran or an unstable Pakistan. This is a question Sarah will divert. Make no mistake.

(Tapena, Garnacha, Spain 2006)

Was “madrassa” bait?

The Castro Brothers sounds like a musical duo.

Not answering the question. Moran. She is the great evader. If they went head to head, she’s done.

Gen Petraeus & “that leader of AL Qaeda” say the war on terror is based in Iraq, so there!
Nu-CU-lar! Drink!

I need heroin, I understand its a heartland value now, I would just snort it, on weekends, I promise.

I’m not allowed to watch the “debate”, for purely domestic reasons. This thread is sorta confusing.

What’s that about the embassay in J-town?

This peace-seeking nation. Yeah, that describes Israel to a tee.

Now we get to the “who supports Israel more?” game.

Joe can remember details inside recent history!

Wow! He must be cheating!

Of course she loves Israel — the fig tree must bloom to bring about the end times.

@Ewalda:Bro, find a public radio station or Air America (w/commercial breaks) and check it out. Biden is doing very well. Barbie is on full beauty queen and has not yet exceeded the breadth of her briefing, however.

Hezbollah occupies the country directly above, uh, Israel. Plugz gets points for geography!

Sarah responds with pointing fingers, avoiding the question, country comes first, but of course.

She said ruffled fathers!
I have a rip snorter now!

@Pedonator: Haha as in, “Hey, check out our new peace-seeking missiles! Fwoooosh!”

anyone watching the HR monitor on CNN? She’s flatlining a lot with the uncommitted focus group.

Great n-weapon question. My answer – on massed zombies.

She’s gone, this nucuyalar weapons question has her in total mental breakdown, I can’t imagine how it will read in transcript.

Will they let her play the flute for extra credit?

C’mon, Gwen — ask her how old the Earth is!

She can pronounce the Iran preznident’s name! Kudos! How many hours were spent on that?

@nabisco: Hell, I thought the last debate was a draw until the polls came out.

Biden needs to teach Obama how to debate. You go, Joe.
This is how you focus your anger and hit back.

Barbie: “Ok, I don’t know about any of that nukular stuff, prolifeeration? Sounds good to me!

#What the FUCK is she saying? She is so sideways and syntactically challenged and can’t follow her.

tj/ Barak did OK in his Field and Stream interview. I’ll post it later.

The Co-In strategy she speaketh of didn’t work so well in Vietnam either. Didn’t work for the Russians when they were there.

She speaks the words but does not understand them. That’s lost on the average joe.

“I am but a simple unfrozen caveman lawyer . . . “

“I don’t know where Darfur is. But we have oil in Alaska!”

Blah! Dharfurgh! Blah, all options are on the moose! We divested Sudan and send them old clothes and humiltarians and stopped atrocities to assure energy independence.

Will someone in the audience please yell, ‘Sit on the my face, sarah!’ ?

@redmanlaw: He slipped the guard a few instructions, and voila! Peace in our time.

He He knowns how to win a war?
He was shot out of the sky!
He allowed the communists to take him alive?
He was in enemy territory and failed to take North Vietnam captive and beat them into armistice.

Big fucking phony.

Biden is killing, just killing, but she is still standing, and he loses.

Marverick!
She said Maverick!
I have to throw away my jeans!

Joe: YOU ARE NOT MAVERICKS, BITCHEZ!

@Promnight: I agree. She is very well briefed and is hanging in there. That’s the thing with true believers.

Now doggone it —the new catchphrase

The fucking winks, the motherfucking winks, fucking kill me now, just fucking kill me now.

accepted to be a little bit lax? hunh?

Is winking a first in a VP debate?
Reward in heaven! SHout out to teachers! Do you think yo’re in a pageant, for chrissakes?!?!

No child left flung over the bumper, energy indpendence, ramp up, rufle featheres.

say it ain’t so Joe is the sound bite

@Promnight: and the head shaking and the talking out of the side of the mouth.

Cynina – No she thinks she is on ‘Who Wants to be a Millionaire?”

Entering the Lightning Round – watch for zingers

Gonna kill our jobz, gonna hurt our economy.

Make no mistake, our economy is fucked no matter who gets elected and no matter what kind of imaginary monies our Leaders concoct. Because our economy is fundamentally flawed.

Whether you are for the bailout or against it, I hope you are hoarding dried goods, planting victory gardens, and learning how to can stuff, shoot to kill, etc.

@Mistress Cynica: It’s hopefully just a nervous tic brought on by whatever drugs they shot her up with tonight to keep her on point.

Flexability…yes, like Flexatron, the answer to all your productive problems, we will solve your liquidity and raise your leverage.

That’s right, Joe. CHENEY is DANGEROUS!

unitary executive!

Well played Joe…

“Tha constistitution esplicit. ” Word.

her achilles heel is ignoring the issue and dodging the question

Joe, please, don’t g0 on too much about how great your life is compared to the rest of us.

MAverick AND takin’ shots! DRINK!

MAVERICK!
She said it. AGAIN!
I am going to have to paint the ceiling!

Should have drunk at “maverick” … nice choking up on part of Biden.

If McCain and this horrid shallow shitbird win, I am leaving this country.

We call ’em the Bag of Tools, governor

“He’s the man we need to leave”! HAHAHAHAHAHA!

@JNOV: I think that’s more like the liver she chews off then it grows back at night

Joe teared up!

We’ve got to win the wars! Oceania has been a terrible enemy!

@Promnight: And he brought up the dead wife and injured kids! Yay! Play that card!

Palin: He’s the man we need to “leave.” Dr Freud to the bridge.

@Promnight: Belgium is nice – I was there last summer. Or France …

Maverick!Maverick!Maverick!Maverick!Maverick!Maverick!Maverick!Maverick!Maverick!Maverick!Maverick!Maverick!Maverick!Maverick!Maverick!Maverick!

Maverick!Maverick!Maverick!Maverick!Maverick!Maverick!Maverick!Maverick!Maverick!Maverick!Maverick!Maverick!Maverick!Maverick!Maverick!Maverick!Maverick!

I’m overwhelmed! I believe!

@nabisco: Ha! Yes, and the choking up! Beautiful. “I have been a single parent, you shitbird harpie.”

She what?

She omitted an opportunity to Maverize?

Compromize?

What a fraud!

No good questions, no good questions, left her alone, got cowed by the republicans playing the refs.

What is the work for the American People, that sanctified group of humans that cannot be questioned, or even prodded to an examination of policy?

She seriously sounds like the quote generator.

Lousy fucking dumbass worthless debate.

I’ll be proud to have Biden as my vp, and even president if need be.

Sorry, I’m down on the possibility of anyone actually paying attention. Who fucking cares? I’m watching this “debate” on a widescreen, FUCK YEAH!

@redmanlaw: Indeed. Good man. Hope he gets the credit he so richly deserves for his performance.

Rambling Reagan quote, somewhere Peggy Noonan’s head explodes.

I think Biden only barely wins on points perception wise. In reality, he pounded her, but the subtlety will be missed on most.

She talks well, but does not understand at all. I doubt she could answer any of those questions if pressed. She’s a good salesperson and marketer, but that’s not what any REAL executive position should be.

Palin is truly out of her depth. Only thing that kept it from turning ugly is that she has the supreme confidence of the deluded and the format.

We have to fight for our freedoms. Yeah bitch, I’m totally convinced that you and your grumpy Grandpa are gonna fight for all that is right and good according to the Founding Documents of Our Great Republic.

Fuck, “May God Protect Our Troops”.

All of you, ALL OF YOU, are willing to toss basic concepts of liberty and rule of law under the treads of recreational ATVs.

Joe’s a better closer, but that NoonenSpiel will resurface

I score it a tie, but with the intangibles (depth, experience, positions) going to Big Joe

@ManchuCandidate: It’s a wash on perception — no major gaffes on either side. Tie goes to the Unicorn.

She’s got the tard, will she breastfeed?

I have a ray of hope. I think this election is just a little bit different, I think independants, in particular, are more realistic than before, that they are starting to see through rhetoric. We thought Obama lost in public opinion, but he didn’t, the public surprised me, at least.

@Promnight: It wasn’t her convention speech — that was frightening, and it distracted everyone for weeks. This is already forgotten.

She looked completely at sea a number of times – just babbled broken fragments of quote-generator detritus.

@nojo:
I agree.

Note: I followed the CNN perception tracker. Plugz scored much better with the ladies than Talibunny did. Lots of female meh there. Just underscores the fact that Sarah does piss a lot of females off (and rightly so.)

And Pat thinks she “wiped the floor” with Biden. Poor Mr Cyn has never heard hard core RW spin before, and his head is about to explode.

In a one or two hour format, Biden would have had her in tears.

The tempo was crushing her. Didn’t have the data at hand and probably could not have recruited them even if she had time.

@ManchuCandidate: I watched that as well. If it means anything, Plugz won over Ohio tonight.

@FlyingChainSaw:
There were several moments when she was intellectually knocked back and had to regroup.

@Mistress Cynica: And David Gregory goes on mute until Keith takes over…

Operative question: Was there a game-changer? No. Everything else is blather.

We’re so fucked, watch the stock market tomorrow, we’re so fucked. MSM will say she won. I do think she did nothing to swing the swingers, but she’s gonna give McCain a short reprieve from the perception lately that he’s in a fatal tailspin. It will be closer, but Obama will continue to gain, just more slowly.

@Promnight: “It’s about connection”, that’s the thing that worries me. I no longer have any delusions about the capacity of the US American public to decide in their own best interests.

That said, ok, Biden did good, we’ll see if the mouth-breathers give him credit for moments of truth.

Every one of the ABC analysts says Biden won. Knock me over with a feather. Their analysis is that the lowered expectation game only matters to us partisan political junkies, and that as far as the perception of average voters, Biden did better. Well fuck me. I am amazed.

@Promnight: MSM — and this includes Politico — does a great job of analyzing yesterday, but is eternally clueless about tomorrow. MSM can say what they want, everybody tuned out twenty minutes ago.

Talibunny did a great job of memorizing those bumper stickers.

I wish she found another 120 moments in which she could have said Maverick, or Maverize or Maverick’ed.

@nojo: She was disappointingly coherent tonight, even if everything she says is anathema to luvvers of liberty, justice, and the (US) American Way.

Fuck, the mouth-breathers are gonna raise her up on a pedestal now.

OK I like that teh MSNBC just ran a clip of Barbie going, “Betcha ther’s gonna be some fear!”

You see I am an emotional wreck. I can’t take another republican national election win in my life. I voted for Carter. I voted for that loser from Minnesota, I voted for Dukakis, I voted for Clinton twice even though he is a republican, I voted for Gore and Kerrey. With W Bush, both times, I knew we were facing evil incarnate, we are so so so lucky that the old old liberals on the supreme court have held on so long, or the slide to theocracy would be past the point of return in less than a lifetime.

Now we are facing the worst recession since the great depression, and thats the best case scenario. The recession, combined with another “gubmint is bad” republican administration, will turn us into a banana republic, the rich living in walled enclaves, and the rest of the country looking like the slums of Sao Paulo or Mexico City. I’m not quite sure which side of the divide I am on and I am scared.

@Promnight: Strange thing: She annoys me a lot more in soundbites. But I’m not representative of anybody.

@Promnight: Honey, we are destined to a Sao Paulo type existence no matter what any of those cute politicians do right now.

We have been a banana republic for the last 30 years or so, at least since Reagan, probably since before. Clinton was an aberration that happened to coincide with a bubble, the only difference was that there was a theoretical surplus in the coffers when Clinton-god left the throne.

The entire basis of our economy is a Ponzi scheme, which is the only outcome of an economy dependent upon infinite growth. There is no other alternative, which is why we are all arguing about minor tweaks to the only possible “rescue” (bailout) proposal that could possibly save us from dire straits and sharpening sticks and wondering what possible recipes might make human flesh, seasoned with particular spices, palatable.

MR Cyn is arguing that debates are about “substance” not flash or style. Isn’t that adorable?

@Mistress Cynica: Mr. Cyn might just be a bellwether for the people who are not addicted to politics like we are. I have been frantically taking in the instant polls and responses, and to my amazement, Biden won. He won hands down. I am amazed. I scanned all the networks, and more importantly to me, I frequent a bulletin board thats completely non-political, but has lots of very bright people from all walks of life, and they were all impressed by Biden, people who were not obsessed with “will Palin stumble” were impressed by Biden, Biden fucking killed, he came across just right, its OK.

Its OK, its gonna be alright, she didn’t fool anyone but the sheep, women hated her, and Biden really impressed both people who knew him and those who didn’t.

@Mistress Cynica: I can’t watch debates for substance. Clouds my judgment.

But as Prommy is noting — and just like last time — all the snap polls are breaking to the left. Very pleasant surprise, Americans seeing the obvious.

@Pedonator: @Promnight:
If it comes down to it (and it might), there is a saying I learned as a lad, and have repeated before and during our diaspora from the land of the Wonk:
“Burn, Baby, Burn”.
I’m just sayin’.

@nojo: I SO want to believe that, but I dread tomorrow’s NPR spin (on the way to “work”), because as you know NPR is the litmus test of left-wing revolutionary dogma.

/tj Anne Lamott has a tribute to our patron saint, Molly Ivins, here.

@Ewalda: I am of the persecuted minority opinion that “Burn Baby Burn” should be the rallying cry of all of us, and the exurban droll-bots and their sympathizers. I srsly think we need a total meltdown of the modern economic hegemony to wake us all the fuck up and make us realize what actually has value. Victory gardens, peeps!

@Pedonator: Oh, you mean National Petroleum Radio? I haven’t been able to listen to those scum-sucking Enemies of the People for years. They would lick Cheney’s unwashed hind end if it would get them some more corporate “underwriting”.
Come over to the real world of Pacifica Radio. It’s not easy to listen to sometimes, but it is beholden to no one but the listeners.

OK, Pat Buchanan says Caribou Barbie has “phraseology”. Perhaps true?

@Pedonator:That’s interesting, and also makes no sense at all (thanks, Pat). Did he say it as if she had, like, shingles or something?

@Ewalda: Yeah, I was a Pacifica addict when I lived “up there”, where people are more reasonable in general. But now I’m stuck with my fellow El Cajonians, etc. and they know how to take control of the school boards, etc.

OK, I could get Pacifica via the Tubez, but I’m just too lazy to pursue all the possible outlets for people who think like me. In general terms. And that’s why I’m here.

@Pedonator: Am I a bad person because I still want to saute your avatar in olive oil and garlic?

@nojo: Nojo, I think that there is something in the air. Reheated Reagan soundbites just aren’t working anymore. People are facing real trouble, and yes, are even willing to consider once again that the government might be able to help. The most surprising thing to me was Palin hitting on the Reagan meme of the government can’t help, only gets in the way, needs to get off people’s backs, she almost went as far as “drown it in a bathtub.” That worked when we were mostly prosperous, but now that people are facing real uncertainty and trouble, they maybe don’t want to hear “elect me, I promise not to help” anymore.

The other big dynamic tonight was that Biden was fantastic, and again, as with Obama, his refusal to attack, a fault to us partisans, is appealing to the swing voters and undecideds and independants.

And on top of that, he was real, human, smart but not condescending, played his experience without overplaying it, substantive and factual without being pedantic, and yes, he got emotional and really connected even though we might think it hokey. He was note perfect for what the swing voters wanted to see and I think surpassed everyone’s expectations, the pundits most of all.

I think this debate is significant in that it alters somewhat the analysis. Obama and Biden are winning by being positive, despite that all us dems thought the problem with the party was being insufficiently vicious.

Yes YES, it may have been the wrong strategy 4 years ago, and 8 years ago, but now, its working. Lawyers say, when you stand well, stand silent, when the people are going you’re way, don’t overpress your case, the wind has changed and Obama and Biden are being masterful in catching the wind instead of trying to tack against it.

@Promnight: Not to put too fine a point on it, but: I sure hope the fuck that you are correct.

@cuthbert: My Gawd/FSM, as Mellbell as my witness, I kept saying over and over “Sarah, sugar, move those goddamn bangs out of your fucking eyes” – where were the ghey hairdressers of Juneau to help on this?

@Ewalda: and dude, I was not there for “burn baby burn” the first time, but I am ready this time, and the desperate, go for it, all on the line rebellion of an old fart is much more formidable than the trendy youthful rebellion of kids who don’t even know yet just how evil what they are rebelling against is.

@SanFranLefty: Now that there is a thematic arc worthy of Bruckner.

Happy days are here again . . .

I am hearing that song, faintly, like a vision of the future. . .

There’s a quiet stirring in the electorate. The ecomomic issues are forcing it, the endless war is pushing it, Bush’s complete meltdown and helplessness is waking people up, when the problem is anything other than mooslims coming to rape our wimmins, people are seeing that the republicans offer nothing, nothing at all. Bupkis. Zilch. Layoffs and the disappearance of their retirement savings and the equity in their homes, which is all most people have, is 1,000 times more important to people now than “we’re taking the fight to the terrorists.”

Even conservatives laughed at “John McCain knows how to win wars.”

How am I going to pay my mortgage next month when I am laid off, Geezer?

@Ewalda: Just use the appropriate shrimp-forks.

@Promnight: I so want to get on the bandwagon, and I’m totally sure the Unicorn will give us something much better. Hey, I’m still gonna vote for him, but his capitulation (?) on FISA and his immediate endorsement of the ONLY POSSIBLE SOLUTION TO THE ECONOMIC APOCALYPSE that faces us now, you know, with the credit crunch and such, just makes me wanna vomit.

When I opened the unwelcomed invitations to credit serf-i-tude I found in my mailbox today I said to myself, “Hey, if these people want to give me credit, who am I to deny them?”

“This is a crisis of confidence.” Confidence game.

You know, the $700B is just a drop in the bucket, and the thieves in charge of our government know they can con us out of this because it’s really just a small portion of what they’ve already sucked from the teat of the “treasury”. It really doesn’t matter much in the big scheme of things, they’ve already cheated us out of trillions, and most US Americans can ‘t distinguish between millions, billions, trillions, and quadrillions.

Nooo-Kyu-Lear.

Such as.

@JNOV: “I HATE HER. “I may not answer the questions they way you or the moderator might want to hear?” What about the way we might want to hear?” JNOV, my dear, you obviously live in the reality-based world where we hear questions as the moderator poses them. Silly us.

@FlyingChainSaw: Who wants to be a V.P. or America’s Next Top Vice President.

As a serious feminist, the winks, the blowing kisses to Gwen Ifill make me want to puke. I hope that Hillbot and the Hillbot supporters realize how much fucking skin they have in this game and go balls and ovaries out for the Unicorn.

@JNOV: The group I was drinking with decided she didn’t understand the literary allusion of “Achilles’ heel” and so they didn’t understand what the question meant. There is no other explanation for her rambling answer about how fabulous she is.

@SanFranLefty: Hey, they define reality we all know that. The reality-based world is unfortunately affected by the grinning, cackling back-slapping cognition of what really matters. $$$$

@Mistress Cynica: DC watch party was fabulous. MellBell is a total doll! We were afraid to tempt the Flying Spaghetti Monster and plan the Stinquey Unicorn Inauguration party in DC in January, but I think she could help identify bars for us to go to in a few months.

Party planned, of course, assuming that Grampa Simpson isn’t filmed in two weeks going into a cave in Afghanistan (with Tallibunny as back up with an AK-47 across her heaving bosom) to arrest Osama bin Laden. (That one’s for you, Chainsaws)

@SanFranLefty: Don’t misundermisestimate the power of Girls With Guns!

@SanFranLefty: I could have gone to my grave having never read Greek mythology, and I would still know what Achilles’ heel is — the expression has long since been domesticated.

Palin knew full well the gist of the question, but politicians hate to admit shortcomings. (Biden’s answer was truly surprising in that respect — mildly self-deprecating.) She was simply following clear and effective orders: Play the soundbite, not the room.

Keith’s harangue about her not answering the questions was also a bit misguided — one of my first interviews as a Real Working Reporter was with Oregon Congressman Les AuCoin, and he twisted my questions so fast my head is still spinning. That’s what politicians do.

@SanFranLefty: I confess I was listening on the radio. Really? Blowing kisses? She really thinks she is on Ted Mack’s Amateur Hour. The winning response in our latest poll would have reminded her of a classy way to greet colleagues and express her faith.

Oh, and Joe personally thanks me for watching, and could I give him $25 for cab fare?

@Mistress Cynica:

Damn, I miss Molly. Did I ever tell you all that her gorgeous black standard-size poodle used to play at dog park with my pupster back when I lived in Austin? Molly had a laugh you could hear across the Travis Heights dog park. Now my dog is romping in puppy heaven with Molly (and I suspect her beautiful poodle).

Among the other kick ass Texas women I miss:
And damn, I miss Barbara Jordan.
And damn, I miss Ann Richards.
And damn, I miss Lady Bird.

Such amazing kick-ass Texas women. This is why any time anyone wants to shit on Texas for people like Shrub (born in Connecticut, may I remind you, Prommie) or cretins like Tom DeLay, I have to remind you to look at the women from Texas. Even Kay Bailey Hutchinson has some of that crazy independent Texas woman sensibility to her (which is why my mom is so pissed that PG picked Talibunny over Kay for Veep).

@FlyingChainSaw: Screw the majority. “Scarlet whore” is the only option.

Hola Homiez

Got side tracked to drink at the neighbors’ for a while ( (gotta empty Bridgeport IPA on my desk, cyn). All of us who watch politics as our vocation/avocation are fucked because la pueble (the common people) loved Biden. I’ll take it.

Metallica, The Day That Never Comes Just because, goddammit. (They come in about 1:00 after the Pink Ployd Tribute)

@nojo: Greek mythology? Pleeze…

These fucks don’t know where their ass-fucking is buttered. And that is the definitive problem of the US American fuckeeezze.

Most of us, including the liberal elite, are happy to get ass-fucked by anyone who tells us that the ECONOMY demands our immediate prostration before the high priests’ pronunciations of imminent doom.

Woops. That was “That Was Just Your Life”, which if you like Thrash, was the better tune.

HERE is the Day That Never Comes.

/checks into rehab

@Pedonator: Thank you. Who drank all my Spanish wine?

And, may I say say that the last part of Turquoise Boy by Sonic Youth rocks balls?

@redmanlaw: Have to say, I am not up on the latest Sonic Youth, but I trust them more than any politician. Also Glenn Branca.

Too much wine now. Want Caribou Barbie to have been atrocious, but I fear her apocalyptic worldview may have connected with the apparently 60+% of the dumbfuck US Amerikan populace that believes Jesus will come soon to relieve all of us of our profligate usage of all resources because hey, we’re the dominant species and fuck all the others.

HEY KIDZ! I’m back from the game. If you can call it that. What did I miss?

(Will scroll through the comments, of course. Love, CB.)

And really, I know Maher has a new flick about religion, but I don’t think he goes far enough. I want an atheist/agnostic bill of equality. OK, you would think that the Constitution would protect our rights, but no I think we need special rights for atheists and agnostics. Really, I think at this point we need special protections.

@chicago bureau: Dude, I saw the last of the game after the debate and post game. Chicago fans was bummin like it was Game 6 and the outcome of Game 7 was preordained.

Oh, and spend $1.98 to download Reena and Turquoie Boy by sonic youth on the i pod. (and I took your name and bang anf blame by rem for the glam ghetto in tha ipod .. . )

On to Portishead. Throw me some hash.

@redmanlaw: I’m back on The Cure. But that’s for non-political reasons, so may or may not be germaine to this discussion. “Six Different Ways” off Head On The Door, at the moment. (Although, truth be told, I started on Faith, and lacked the energy to skip to Pornography when the too-upbeat Head came up next in the list.)

Ah, there we go. Seventeen Seconds. That’s more like it.

IanJ -> doom-n-gloom

@IanJ: Knee pain now, head pain tomorrow. I’ll groove on The Cure then. non-political reasons, doom n gloom? cool. I’m there. Metal and goth are cousins or half sibs or something. Saw Peter Murphy open for NIN last summer . . .

/overcompensates for damaged right side on way to bed . . .

@SanFranLefty:
Sadly Texas sounds like my mom’s family.

All the females are smart and caring (I like my aunts.) The males? Well, they bring greater shame to the X chromosome.

I was once nearly forced at gunpoint to go to a US America cousin’s wedding as a family rep, but did not go once I threatened (and it was not an idle threat) that I would get really drunk and punch out all my cousins and uncles (on my mom’s side) because they are a bunch of raging assholes. No love lost on either side really.

@ManchuCandidate: Aren’t you guys XYs and we females XXs? [Maybe I’m misunderstanding your comment about the males bringing greater shame to the X chromosome.] Have to go look up X and Y chromosomes now.

@ All: Thank FSM and “whatever gods there be” that you’re all here for all of us. Maybe the tide is turning, and we won’t have to organize an insurrection just to get our Constitution back.

Doesn’t anyone else love the Killers? I love the Killers. I don’t care if they are popular and accesible. They fuse everything, they take the entire palate of rock music from the last 30 years and use it all, every color, its not emulation, not influence, its mastery and transformation. They’re the Beatles. They live communally in a big house together.

Non-random (unscientific) polls on AOL and MSNBC web sites show Biden winning 48 to 45 and 78.6 to 18.9 respectively.

Randomly selected subjects on three other polls also show Biden winning:

CNN/Opinion Research Biden 51 Palin 36

CBS Biden 46 Palin 21

Fox Biden 61 Palin 39

In the CBS poll, of the uncommitted voters, 18% now say they will vote Obama/Biden, 10% now say McCain/Palin.

@Prommie: Other non-random? Drudge has a photo of Winquette (trademark!) with “Say it Ain’t So, Joe” as the caption. Makes me mopey that she pretty much skated, but as YodaPez instructed last night, let’s wait for the effect on state polls.

@SanFranLefty: Travis Heights you say? I lived on Fairmount Ave in 90/91…staggering distance from the Continental Club and other south Congress delights. Never met Molly in person, but shared an airport terminal with Anne. Buzz Aldrin once too, but that’s a separate tale.

@Prommie: This was mid/late 80s. I think he was thrilled that somebody recognized him.

@nabisco: Winquette

Damn. I’m getting slow in my dotage.

@Prommie: I’m surprised at the snap polls, just like last week. But to clarify an earlier remark, I should say that I’m pleased 55 percent of Americans seem capable of seeing the obvious — we’re still dealing with 45 percent who are beyond redemption. It remains the case that almost half the people who walk among us are zombies.

@Prommie: My friends that used to live in LV love the Killers. They used to watch them play in little clubs until the hit it big.

@nabisco: You lived in Austin in the ’90s too? Holy caca! I lived in Hyde Park and near the (old) airport in the mid ’90s. Convenient when friends visited from out of town – you could watch the plane go over the house (we lived in the flight path) and we were so close you could figure out if your friend was on the plane landing in those pre-Tubez/pre-cell phone days.

Re: Molly and the dogs…a friend whose dog is my god-dog and my dead doggy’s playmate lived in Travis Heights halfway between the Continental Club and Molly’s house. she and i would take turns walking our dogs at the Travis Heights dog park and around Town Lake. besides spotting Molly (and sometimes Ann with her doing laps around Town Lakw) I used to see my hero Jim Hightower wandering around the Continental Club neighborhood all the time. Spotting Bill Moyers home in Austin was to hit the jackpot, though. Like your Buzz Aldrin story, I think Moyers was stoked that I was such a journalism policy nerd to geek out over him.

Damn, I’m all homesick for Austin and now I want to go get some fries at Hyde Park Cafe and a margarita at Gueros. Don’t get me started on the Salt Lick barbecue – I’d crawl to Dripping Springs for the smoked turkey.

/now watching Lucinda Williams on Austin City Limits on PBS…

@SanFranLefty: Silent Creative Partner also spent some productive years in Austin. (We’ll be seeing SCP’s work here in due course.)

I visited there once sometime back, and at the airport I got pulled aside by a really snooty luggage inspector who swabbed my laptop bag with a chemical-detection gadget. I was highly amused at his disappointment when he discovered I wasn’t packing.

@SanFranLefty: Threadgill’s. Chicken fried steak. Cold Shiner’s.

@redmanlaw: Mother.Fucker. Why did you go and drop the T-bomb on me?

(I can find Shiner Bock at the Castro Safeway – I think they stock it just for me).

Threadgill’s chicken fried steak, on the other hand. Only found in Austin.

Jesus my mouth is watering, you evil evil person. Texas food porn. Lean steak sledged through the buttermilk, rolled in the flour and bread crumbs, sprinkled with cracked pepper and thrown in the boiling lard. Heart attack on a plate. And you will die happy.

@SanFranLefty: Am I evil? Yes, I am. Am I evil? Yes, I fucking am.

On the other hand, the clocktower still freaks. me. out.

@nojo:
Cue: Kinky Friedman’s “Ballad of Charles Whitman”.

There’s still alot of Eagle Scouts around………

@Ewalda: Silent Creative Partner/ex-Austinite loves Kinky Friedman.

The AP used to publish annual “news yearbooks”, handsome hardbound editions with month-by-month coverage of the previous year. Between Whitman and the Chicago nurse-killer, I had plenty of material for my childhood nightmares.

@nojo: Back in the stone age, when Kinky’s “Sold American” was new, I would play the shit out of that album in the store and sell lots of it from in-store play. The Label musta wondered WTF was going on in Knoxville to account for such high monthly sales of that album.
Heh.
I also read all his books, during my “read a book a night” phase that lasted a few years when I had some very bad back problems. Kinky was never shy about writing about himself, even when he was a character in a mystery novel.
Gotta love the guy.

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