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I've Made A Decision
I've decided to stop commenting on pro-Obama blogs that don't attack Hillary.
Back in Texas, we have a bird called a grackle that's common to the South and Southwest. There's a story in Texas political circles -- probably apocryphal and usually applied to the opposition -- that grackles don't build their own nests. Instead, they take over other birds nests by crapping in them until they're not fit to live in by anyone but a grackle.
I've seen a lot of grackle behavior at TPM, particularly in the blogs. And I'm sure I've joined in. Way it works is someone puts up a blog with something good to say about their candidate. Right away, the grackles move in, hijacking the comment thread with criticism and insults directed at their candidate's opponent, the post and the post's author.
I've been so impressed by the grackle behavior here at TPM, I've considered giving out little Greta Grackle awards for the best performances by grackles. Grackling is an art beyond the capability of common trolls and deserves to be recognized. It takes a lot of savvy to find a post that has some positive energy going and suck the positive energy out of it. A rare skill. Unfortunately, my source of little plastic grackles, The Oriental Trading Company, is out of grackles. They had to send them all back to China because the plastic was contaminated with lead.
I've also decided to ignore the personal trolls I've picked up over the last couple of months. I think they know who they are, but, being trolls, they may not. So here is how you'll know. If I'm responding to other people but not to you, I probably consider you to be a personal troll. I'm sorry to have to do this, but I can't talk to you anymore. Don't have the time.
So, I will continue to support and defend Hillary, and, occasionally, I'll write something critical of Obama. But I'll try not to act like a grackle and rain on other people's parades.
Of course, it continues to be open season on our resident satirists. They can take it.
Comments (164)
I saw a thread this morning where there was just an atrocious demonstration of the behavior you describe.
You were briefly in the thread and very civil, but I did unleash a Lanny Davis reference to some of the other threadwriters, who were insane people.
So I commend your post. Hell, I re-commend it.
I assume it was not my suggestion that you return to 1854 that prompted it. I thought that was somewhat more clever than the guy this morning who told the woman to get looser panties.
April 24, 2008 11:11 PM | Reply | Permalink
Such civil discourse should be commended. I applaud you for your integrity and objectivity. Now here's a funny story I heard about another critter from Texas:
While suturing a cut on the hand of a 75 year old Texas rancher, whose hand was caught in a gate while working cattle, the doctor struck up a conversation with the old man.
Eventually the topic got around to Barack Obama and his bid to be our President.
The old rancher said,"Well, ya know, Obama is a 'post turtle'."
Not being familiar with the term, the doctor asked him what a 'post turtle' was.
The old rancher said,"When you're driving down a country road and you come across a fence post with a turtle balanced on top, that's a 'post turtle'."
The old man saw a puzzled look on the doctor's face, so he continued to explain.
"You know he didn't get up there by himself, he doesn't belong up there, he doesn't know what to do while he is up there, and you just want to help the dumb ass get down."
April 25, 2008 6:37 PM | Reply | Permalink
"Post turtle" seems a more appropriate term for our current president.
April 25, 2008 11:08 PM | Reply | Permalink
Billy, you may snark on my snarky blogs anytime you want. And in my rare unsnarky ones, I wouldn't take umbrage at a little smack. Because, yeah, echo chambers are dangerous.
April 24, 2008 11:13 PM | Reply | Permalink
The story of the grackle reminds me a lot of the cowbird...
"In order for the birds to remain mobile and stay with the herd, they have adapted by laying their eggs in other birds' nests. The cowbird will watch for when its host lays eggs, and when the nest is left unattended, the female will come in and lay its own eggs.
"The cowbird eggs do not look much different from the hosts' eggs, and the host will normally incubate the eggs. The cowbird chicks grow quickly, and may consume most of the food the host brings. If starvation does not kill the other birds, in some species the cowbird will use its large size to push the other chicks out of the nest."
April 24, 2008 11:23 PM | Reply | Permalink
Posting in order to shit in the thread.
(Kidding. Enjoy your new elightened posting style.)
April 24, 2008 11:29 PM | Reply | Permalink
April 24, 2008 11:36 PM | Reply | Permalink
Astute as always.
April 25, 2008 12:04 AM | Reply | Permalink
Wow, thanks for the fascinating news.
April 24, 2008 11:38 PM | Reply | Permalink
Where are my personal trolls? Even if I can't talk to them anymore, I like having them around. I didn't consider the possibility they might ignore me back!
April 24, 2008 11:40 PM | Reply | Permalink
Aw, it's hard to be mean when you're being so nice.
Good point about hijacking, and great name.
April 25, 2008 12:01 AM | Reply | Permalink
Okay. I can get some sleep now.
April 25, 2008 12:04 AM | Reply | Permalink
Well, well, well! Well if it isn't fat stinking billy goat Billy Boy in poison! How art thou, thou globby bottle of cheap stinking chip oil? Come and get one in the yarbles, if ya have any yarble, ya eunuch jelly thou!
Sleep, you say. What's that under the bed? It's your polter-troll.
April 25, 2008 12:52 AM | Reply | Permalink
Excuse, a momentary lapse in me German/Dutch, that would be your doppel-troller.
April 25, 2008 12:54 AM | Reply | Permalink
Thou currish rough-hewn writhled shrimp!
April 25, 2008 12:59 AM | Reply | Permalink
Thou scandalous swag-bellied withered-hag!
April 25, 2008 1:00 AM | Reply | Permalink
What you got back home, little sister, to play your fuzzy warbles on?
April 25, 2008 8:11 AM | Reply | Permalink
You use a random Shakespeare insult generator, don't you. That's cheating.
http://www.william-shakespeare.org.uk/a1-shakespearean-insults-generator.htm
April 25, 2008 12:57 AM | Reply | Permalink
Wow, I like that Shakespeare thing, thou vain plume-plucked whey-face!
April 25, 2008 1:03 AM | Reply | Permalink
Thou latte-drinking prius-driving Obamatron!
April 25, 2008 1:26 AM | Reply | Permalink
Birkenstocks! Don't forget the Birkenstocks!
April 25, 2008 1:56 AM | Reply | Permalink
I'll leave it to Billy to discern the true source of that turn of the phrase, but it leaves me feeling a might old, if not quite as old as me wee friend Will Shakespeare.
And for the rest of you ruffish lot, damn'd be him that first cries, 'Hold, enough!'
Sakes alive, before we fall prey to premature bouts of amour, fawning passion and rutting like sheep in the gilded spring, it might behoove us to read the whole passage, at the very least to remind ourselves of how the game of politics, like life, is played - to the finish! Game on!
Act 5. Scene VIII
SCENE VIII. Another part of the field.
Enter MACBAMA
MACBAMA
Why should I play the Roman fool, and die
On mine own sword? whiles I see lives, the gashes
Do better upon them.
Enter MACHILL
MACHILL
Turn, hell-hound, turn!
MACBAMA
Of all women else I have avoided thee:
But get thee back; my soul is too much charged
With blood of thine already.
MACHILL
I have no words:
My voice is in my sword: thou bloodier villain
Than terms can give thee out!
They fight
MACBAMA
Thou losest labour:
As easy mayst thou the intrenchant air
With thy keen sword impress as make me bleed:
Let fall thy blade on vulnerable crests;
I bear a charmed life, which must not yield,
To one born a woman.
MACHILL
Despair thy charm;
And let the angel whom thou still hast served
Tell thee, MACHILL was from her mother's womb
Untimely ripp'd.
MACBAMA
Accursed be that tongue that tells me so,
For it hath cow'd my better part of man!
And be these juggling fiends no more believed,
That palter with us in a double sense;
That keep the word of promise to our ear,
And break it to our hope. I'll not fight with thee.
MACHILL
Then yield thee, coward,
And live to be the show and gaze o' the time:
We'll have thee, as our rarer monsters are,
Painted on a pole, and underwrit,
'Here may you see the tyrant.'
MACBAMA
I will not yield,
To kiss the ground before young Malcolm's feet,
And to be baited with the rabble's curse.
Though Birnam wood be come to Dunsinane,
And thou opposed, being as woman born,
Yet I will try the last. Before my body
I throw my warlike shield. Lay on, MACHILL,
And damn'd be him that first cries, 'Hold, enough!'
Exeunt, fighting. Alarums
Retreat. Flourish. Enter, with drum and colours, MALCOLM, SIWARD, ROSS, the other Thanes, and Soldiers
MALCOLM
I would the friends we miss were safe arrived.
SIWARD
Some must go off: and yet, by these I see,
So great a day as this is cheaply bought.
MALCOLM
MACHILL is missing, and your noble son.
ROSS
Your son, my lord, has paid a soldier's debt:
He only lived but till he was a man;
The which no sooner had his prowess confirm'd
In the unshrinking station where he fought,
But like a man he died.
SIWARD
Then he is dead?
ROSS
Ay, and brought off the field: your cause of sorrow
Must not be measured by his worth, for then
It hath no end.
SIWARD
Had he his hurts before?
ROSS
Ay, on the front.
SIWARD
Why then, God's soldier be he!
Had I as many sons as I have hairs,
I would not wish them to a fairer death:
And so, his knell is knoll'd.
MALCOLM
He's worth more sorrow,
And that I'll spend for him.
SIWARD
He's worth no more
They say he parted well, and paid his score:
And so, God be with him! Here comes newer comfort.
Re-enter MACHILL, with MACBAMA's head
MACHILL
Hail, king! for so thou art: behold, where stands
The usurper's cursed head: the time is free:
I see thee compass'd with thy kingdom's pearl,
That speak my salutation in their minds;
Whose voices I desire aloud with mine:
Hail, King of Scotland!
ALL
Hail, King of Scotland!
Flourish
MALCOLM
We shall not spend a large expense of time
Before we reckon with your several loves,
And make us even with you. My thanes and kinsmen,
Henceforth be earls, the first that ever Scotland
In such an honour named. What's more to do,
Which would be planted newly with the time,
As calling home our exiled friends abroad
That fled the snares of watchful tyranny;
Producing forth the cruel ministers
Of this dead butcher and his fiend-like queen,
Who, as 'tis thought, by self and violent hands
Took off her life; this, and what needful else
That calls upon us, by the grace of Grace,
We will perform in measure, time and place:
So, thanks to all at once and to each one,
Whom we invite to see us crown'd at Scone.
Flourish. Exeunt
April 25, 2008 5:49 AM | Reply | Permalink
Hillary can be King of Scotland if you really want her to be. BHO will settle for POTUS.
For your next trick, I challenge you to spoof one of the following:
Coriolanus
Troilus and Cressida
Julius Caesar, with Bill Richardson as Brutus and BHO as Cassius. Gaius Julius Caesar's victorious return from Gaul can be symmetrical with HRC's service in Bosnia, until her assassination by Senators Brutus and Cassius.
April 25, 2008 12:22 PM | Reply | Permalink
HRC's Service in Bosnia, as told by True American, John J. Rambo.
April 25, 2008 12:29 PM | Reply | Permalink
Oh, Coriolanus would be brilliant, but a little too complex for American politics.
April 25, 2008 12:49 PM | Reply | Permalink
Joe Lieberman pulled a Coriolanus on Ned Lamont, if Ned and the Democratic party are the defenders of Rome.
Some people here have accused Hillary Clinton of being an R-word and using R-word talking points and doing JMcC's work for him. So in their narrative she would be Coriolanus - not that I agree with their assessment of Hillary or anything. I'm curious to hear how YOU would cast it, Desidero.
April 25, 2008 1:30 PM | Reply | Permalink
I thought we decided that - she's Rocky II. A little bit low-brow for Shakespeare, but what do you expect from a gun-totin', whiskey chuggin' gal?
April 25, 2008 3:02 PM | Reply | Permalink
Oh Farq, that was my secret weapon.
:(
April 25, 2008 9:29 AM | Reply | Permalink
Viddy well, little brother. Viddy well.
April 25, 2008 8:58 AM | Reply | Permalink
"Your Own Personal Troll" is that set to the tune of the Depeche Mode Jesus song?
April 25, 2008 12:49 AM | Reply | Permalink
Oy...I really grackled that one.
April 25, 2008 11:34 AM | Reply | Permalink
Utah Phillips wrote a prescription for this technique a while back.
He called it the Low Social Cholesterol Diet: No Fatheads.
April 25, 2008 12:03 AM | Reply | Permalink
Billy Glad, I highly recommend your new policy as well as the term grackle which, as I have lived almost everywhere in the country except, for what I deem to be obvious reasons, Texas, I did not know.
But I must say that you have been one of the great gracklers of TPM. There is scarcely a pro-Obama post that you have not grackled with merry shouts of "echo chamber". So, as you launch your anti-grackle campaign, I ask you to first apologize to the American people for your past grackling activities and to pledge that your grackling days are done.
April 25, 2008 12:11 AM | Reply | Permalink
PS Who are your personal trolls? You've been alluding to them for a week, but I always assumed that it was merely self-important blather. Personal Billy Glad trolls, please come forward and announce yourselves!
April 25, 2008 12:14 AM | Reply | Permalink
Replying to your own comment = echo chamber.
April 25, 2008 12:40 AM | Reply | Permalink
Replying to your own comment = echo chamber.
April 25, 2008 12:41 AM | Reply | Permalink
I love your meta-postings!
April 25, 2008 1:05 PM | Reply | Permalink
I would like to count myself among them if I may.
April 25, 2008 7:50 AM | Reply | Permalink
See? I really have them. Followed me home one day. They don't ask for much. Bowl of warm milk, old shirt to sleep on. But the best one isn't here yet.
April 25, 2008 9:06 AM | Reply | Permalink
I count one. LBP doesn't count.
And, hrebendorf, your avatar freaks me out.
April 25, 2008 11:13 AM | Reply | Permalink
Nah. I always respond to lbp, whenever I can think of a response that is.
April 25, 2008 12:32 PM | Reply | Permalink
I know! It freaks me out too! I've been through a bunch of them, but I just can't seem to find one that's got the right, you know, feng shui.
April 25, 2008 2:40 PM | Reply | Permalink
Well, you have to read the fine print. I said pro-Obama posts that don't attack Hillary. I think I'll still have plenty of posts to comment on around here in the .....
April 25, 2008 9:00 AM | Reply | Permalink
Notice how many recommends the Magical Unity Pony gets. Ah, civility.
Get ready for the summer of love, as Obama and Clinton lovers are reunited, and it feels so good . . .
April 25, 2008 12:20 AM | Reply | Permalink
Consider your nest taken over.
May-ree! May-ree!
April 25, 2008 12:36 AM | Reply | Permalink
If you mention "sniper fire," it's going to kill this whole truce.
April 25, 2008 12:43 AM | Reply | Permalink
Damn! And I've been wanting to talk about the difference between "coming under snark" and "snark in the area" all week.
April 25, 2008 9:11 AM | Reply | Permalink
Wow. That took a lot of work. What's your motivation?
April 25, 2008 12:43 AM | Reply | Permalink
That's what I'm thinking too!
April 25, 2008 12:45 AM | Reply | Permalink
Is that Billy's personal troll?
It looks a bit like a raven. Nevermore.
April 25, 2008 8:14 AM | Reply | Permalink
The verb form is known as 'grackling', I believe. I have used this verb since late childhood.
April 25, 2008 1:07 AM | Reply | Permalink
I didn't pick it up until I got involved in Texas politics. That's also when I began to appreciate the use of a flat stick.
April 25, 2008 9:03 AM | Reply | Permalink
Yeah, this is great. It's too bad Hillary would never be so conciliatory, though. 'Cause really Hillary Clinton is the grackle of the Democratic Party. She shits all over the party so no one else can sit in it. She's a grackle. A Hillackle. Or maybe a Gracklarry. How can you possibly support the Gracklarry when all she does is lie?!
What if Hillary murders 14 people tomorrow?
All right, it's official. I HATE Hillary Clinton.
April 25, 2008 1:39 AM | Reply | Permalink
Or I guess it would be a Gracklary. I had to correct myself because no Hillary supporter was going to be smart enough to catch it. God, I hate her.
Anybody else hate Hillary Clinton for all her lies? I swear she would do anything to win.
April 25, 2008 1:49 AM | Reply | Permalink
May-ree! May-ree!
April 25, 2008 1:59 AM | Reply | Permalink
Billy, I welcome your civility and anti-gracklebility. ( And I can forgive you most, you're damned funny.) And, Genghis, I think Billy Glad was actually trolling for trolls.
April 25, 2008 2:03 AM | Reply | Permalink
I think you're right. I'm always happy to oblige.
April 25, 2008 7:52 AM | Reply | Permalink
All for the best . . . your decision will free up time for you to scour the papers and inter-tubes for news of Hillary superdelegate endorsements!
April 25, 2008 3:52 AM | Reply | Permalink
The problem, Billy, is that you rarely tend to add to the conversation. You generally sit on the sidelines, like a sniper, and toss in your devil's advocate snark grenades, but you don't usually have the cojones to take any real position.
It's not that anyone disagrees with you, exactly. It's just that you're so incredibly annoying. Like a fly.
April 25, 2008 7:48 AM | Reply | Permalink
Or like a cross-dressing feline wearing a strap-on.
Tim: There he is!
King Arthur: Where?
Tim: There!
King Arthur: What? Behind the cat?
Tim: It *is* the cat!
King Arthur: You silly sod!
Tim: What?
King Arthur: You got us all worked up!
Tim: Well, that's no ordinary rabbit.
King Arthur: Ohh.
Tim: That's the most foul, cruel, and bad-tempered rodent you ever set eyes on!
Sir Robin: You tit! I soiled my armor I was so scared!
Tim: Look, that pussy's got a vicious streak a mile wide! It's a killer!
Sir Galahad: Get stuffed!
Tim: He'll do you up a treat, mate.
Sir Galahad: Oh, yeah?
Sir Robin: You manky Scots git!
Tim: I'm warning you!
Sir Robin: What's he do? Nibble your bum?
Tim: He's got huge, sharp... er... He can leap about. Look at the bones!
King Arthur: Go on, Bors. Chop his head off!
Sir Bors: Right! Silly little bleeder. One rabbit stew comin' right up!
Woman: Dennis! There's some lovely filth down here!
[after Bors is killed by the killer pussy]
Tim: I *warned* you, but did you listen to me? Oh, no, you *knew*, didn't you? Oh, it's just a harmless little transvestite *kitty*, isn't it?
April 25, 2008 8:49 AM | Reply | Permalink
You are outdoing yourself
:P
April 25, 2008 9:12 AM | Reply | Permalink
Er... what was it then? A rabbit or a cat? (it's rabbit in the original of course)
April 25, 2008 9:14 AM | Reply | Permalink
In some states, strapping ears like that on a kitty is considered pet abuse.
:D
April 25, 2008 9:31 AM | Reply | Permalink
I hear these kind of sex toys are banned in Alabama.
April 25, 2008 10:21 AM | Reply | Permalink
That's MY cat, and he picked those ears out himself.
April 25, 2008 2:44 PM | Reply | Permalink
Racist.
You obviously know that the great-tailed grackle, the one in Texas, is long and black, whereas the female is short and slender (in her dreams). Can't we keep this clean?
April 25, 2008 9:34 AM | Reply | Permalink
I see 2 grackles sitting in a fouled nest knocking back Crown Royale somewhere's about November, and moving into an even more fouled once-White House come January.
What's good for the goose is good for the grackle, they say.
April 25, 2008 10:31 AM | Reply | Permalink
"...grackles don't build their own nests. Instead, they take over other birds nests by crapping in them until they're not fit to live in by anyone but a grackle."
So far no one has noted that your wonderfully vivid description of the grackle describes precisely what your candidate is doing.
If anyone is giving out a Greta Grackle award, it needs to go to Hillary.
April 25, 2008 9:49 AM | Reply | Permalink
Snap Grackle Pop! I detect an oDrama Queen. Curtain.
April 25, 2008 11:37 AM | Reply | Permalink
I commend your anti-grackle stance and recommend your post wholeheartedly.
May I also deject and renounce the NYC rock dove (also known as "flying rats") tactic of perching on bridge eaves and streetlamps and pooping on the passerby's down below. Very uncoooth. You know who you are.
April 25, 2008 10:11 AM | Reply | Permalink
Grackle? Is that like Hillary laughing?
April 25, 2008 10:32 AM | Reply | Permalink
One more lost soul to the Matrix.....it was nice knowing you billy.
April 25, 2008 10:33 AM | Reply | Permalink
It's coming for you too Louisville. It's only a matter of time now.
(I think that the Borg would make a better metaphor.)
April 25, 2008 11:15 AM | Reply | Permalink
I love the Matrix series sorry. Guilty as charged. Where else do you get to see Jada Pinkett Smith that much on screen?
April 25, 2008 11:42 AM | Reply | Permalink
You say you are going to continue to support HRC. May I ask, At what point do you plan on supporting the Democratic nominee. Or do you plan on voting for McBush in November to spite Senator Obama?
April 25, 2008 11:22 AM | Reply | Permalink
Perhaps supporting the Democratic nominee becomes germane when there is one.
April 25, 2008 11:36 AM | Reply | Permalink
It is "germane" now as the Democratic party does have a presumptive nominee as does the GOP.
April 25, 2008 8:38 PM | Reply | Permalink
Presumptive. Does that mean he or she has a sense of entitlement?
April 25, 2008 9:12 PM | Reply | Permalink
Presume and you make a Pres of you and me (boilerplate bad pun apolologies).
April 26, 2008 12:39 AM | Reply | Permalink
I'm feeling very sad. I never got to become a personal troll...
April 25, 2008 11:38 AM | Reply | Permalink
Shucks, Billy...I guess I'll have to start attacking Hillary in my pro-Obama blogs just so I can keep you around.
And I don't think you've responded to my posts for a while. Can I conclude that you consider me one of your personal trolls? I hope not, although I do like to use the term "echo" a lot more now because of you.
April 25, 2008 12:03 PM | Reply | Permalink
You know you're not. You're my moral compass who keeps me supporting Hillary when I'm finding new ways to let her lose. Because of you, after narrowly winning PA, we have to stay in until the convention to keep me from being ridiculed.
April 25, 2008 12:27 PM | Reply | Permalink
"Win it for the Kid"?
April 25, 2008 12:42 PM | Reply | Permalink
Surely you don't think that will keep me from ridiculing you.
April 25, 2008 1:06 PM | Reply | Permalink
From the title of the blog entry, I mistakenly thought that Senator You-Know-Her had "won" something significant and that a self-anointed apologist had stopped commenting in this venue because the obviousness of You-Know-Her's "victory" made further remarks unnecessary. Then I saw that the "decider" in question had bravely kept ducking imaginary sniper fire while continuing to comment anyway. This only convinced me that You-Know-Her had finally lost -- something that became apparent to most sentient carbon-based life forms on planet earth at least two months ago.
Hats off to the good people of Texas, though, for awarding Senator Obama more delegates than You-Know-Her in a primary/caucus/convention extravaganza that, for some strange reason, many people who ought to know better keep claiming that she "won." As King Pyrrhus (the Fool of Hope) once said after losing his army winning a tactically insignificant battle: "One more victory like this and we are undone!" I'll leave that as a fitting epitaph for Buffaloed Girl and any who presume to "decide" for her bogus benefit what others have already placed beyond question in the country at large.
April 25, 2008 12:15 PM | Reply | Permalink
THIS IS EXCELLENT NEWS!! FOR HILLARY!!!
April 25, 2008 12:17 PM | Reply | Permalink
Only one left to check in.
April 25, 2008 12:29 PM | Reply | Permalink
Ah, the timing of this post gives something away: idiotic must be one of your personal trolls.
Don't worry: idiotic is everyone's personal troll.
April 25, 2008 1:07 PM | Reply | Permalink
Not Idiotic! No way. But I won't buy a t-shirt.
April 25, 2008 4:42 PM | Reply | Permalink
Do I qualify?
Seriously, though, for the great promoter of the echo-chamber, this is a curious stance to take. Consider, if you will, that if Obama folks stick to the Obama threads, and Clinton supporters to the Clinton threads (though they'll need to start posting a few) this place will be pretty dull.
As an alternative, why not continue to engage in a vigorous and open exchange of views - but in lieu of snark and trolling, substitute reasoned and respectful argument? I'd hate to see you, or others with whom I frequently disagree, vanish from most of the threads on the site. I'd much prefer you went right along posting, but tried to elevate the level of the conversation.
Come, Billy. Embrace change. Know hope.
April 25, 2008 2:50 PM | Reply | Permalink
Dude, in principle I agree. But in practice, the time for reasoned and respectful argument between Democrats is way past. First of all, those of us posting here have *heard* all the reasoned and respectful arguments from the other side, and we *still* hate the other candidate's guts.
The other thing -- between you and me -- is that this discussion has become a zombie film. The primary is not quite dead, but it's, like, living dead -- too alive for HRC to concede, but too dead for any of us to enjoy fighting. The primary doesn't want a nominee anymore, it just wants brains.
It's much more fun to rewrite Macbeth. Though personally, I would have cast HRC as Macbeth -- because I think Bill would make a great Lady Macbeth.
April 25, 2008 4:14 PM | Reply | Permalink
O yes!
Out out damned spot on damned blue dress!
April 25, 2008 4:56 PM | Reply | Permalink
You know what Mick always said. When in doubt, go for the bj. Bill was just following good advice.
April 25, 2008 4:59 PM | Reply | Permalink
Subtlety goes a long long way. "Out out damned spot" would have quite sufficed. Rule #4d.
April 25, 2008 5:03 PM | Reply | Permalink
And there's the rub, Billy.
Because there aren't any pro-Obama blogs that don't attack Hillary. Some people, like Soy Toy and Connie Insanes, post about 30 Hillary-smearing blogs a day.
Strangely, there aren't any pro-Obama blogs, period.
They're all about Hillary, including Eric Bolton's The Tides Have "Turned" and Dave Morgan's A Sincere Apology to Clinton Supporters (although these two diaries refrain from attacking Hillary, they are still about her).
As proof of what I'm saying, here's the rest of the top Recommended Reader Posts as I write:
Hillary Lied About the Weather Underground - No Mention at TPM by billysumday
No Sense of Decency - The Clinton Campaign by Andrew Reilly
Rush Limbaugh's Call for Race Riots in Denver by JackieinCA
What Hillary Clinton And the Media Are Hiding From Voters (Re-do) by BionicSoy
WSJ: Barack Obama is the Nominee (Corrected Verison) by thejoshuablog
Circularity Ensues by houlios1
BREAKING - Clyburn - Hillary Hell Bound To Make It Impossible for Obama to win by Connie Manes
So, it looks like you'll be doing some non-stop commenting.
April 25, 2008 1:40 PM | Reply | Permalink
I must denounce and reject more pro-Obama blogs. They're usually dull, slobbery, love letters. That said, the anti-Clinton screeds are starting to get to me too. Bionic Soy, in particular, seems to be just coherent enough (or just prolific enough) to get his posts regularly recommended by people who auto-recommend Clinton hate.
Sadly, I don't think that the end of the primary will improve the quality much. The hatred will just be redirected against McCain and the Republicans. Better to hate McCain than to hate Clinton, but it still makes for dull reading.
FYI, Limbaugh race riots is not about Clinton. Circularity ensues is about Clinton, but it's not a screed.
April 25, 2008 2:11 PM | Reply | Permalink
Political campaigns regularly employ huge teams of people whose job it is to fire off angry letters to the editor every time their candidate is treated unfairly in the press. Is this really any different?
April 25, 2008 2:49 PM | Reply | Permalink
No.
Look at the blogs - no anti-Obama. Well duh.
Look at the complaints - mostly Clintons supporters.
Again - well duh.
The loser's people are gonna whine.
April 25, 2008 4:58 PM | Reply | Permalink
FYI, Limbaugh race riots is about Clinton:
April 25, 2008 2:51 PM | Reply | Permalink
Rush Limbaugh race riots are a feverish fantasy
Please tell me who is going to riot just because Rush Limbaugh told them too? He can't lead one at Denver's altitude.
Please - this is the 2d Rush Limbaugh urban myth to run through the internet so far this election season. Limbaugh barely has an audience any more.
Please get a grip.
April 25, 2008 5:01 PM | Reply | Permalink
I know. I found two this morning, but the rest were the usual Hillary bashers. I'll have plenty to do.
April 25, 2008 4:44 PM | Reply | Permalink
Popping ticks, that's kinda fun, but seed ticks, them's vermin, I tell ya. They come atcha in droves and hang in like blisterin' pustules. Best thing to do's jes soak it in kerosene. Kinda hurts lika sumnabitch though, helps to have a bottle o' Jack when you do it.
April 25, 2008 5:07 PM | Reply | Permalink
I'll make sure to do some proObama posting that pretends there's no race or comparison to be made.
I'll call it . . .
My Acontextual Support For Obama, or maybe
Abstract Reasons Obama Is Good
or maybe I'll just post the entirety of
I'm Ok, You're Ok.
****
And it has to be the Matrix, and not the Borg metaphor. The Borg are eventually put to sleep and defeated, which won't happen to Obama, and the crews of ST:TNG and ST:Voyager are insufficiently elderly or white-working class to represent Hillary's base.
Crap, I mentioned Hillary again, sorry.
April 25, 2008 2:02 PM | Reply | Permalink
And Jada Pinkett Smitth :)
April 25, 2008 2:07 PM | Reply | Permalink
God bless your love for Jada Pinkett Smith. There's something that can unite us all.
April 25, 2008 3:04 PM | Reply | Permalink
That would be plagiarism, but hey, that's appropriate.
It's funny, but I support Hillary for reasons that have nothing to do with Obama.
April 25, 2008 2:08 PM | Reply | Permalink
If I claimed to be the author of I'm Ok, You're Ok, it would be plagiarism. So sort of a good point.
But the hits Obama has taken over plagiarism are nothing compared to what the American people face every day. Obama will be ok. What matters is if they will be.
April 25, 2008 3:01 PM | Reply | Permalink
Obama's plagiarism is the most underreported story of 2008.
April 25, 2008 3:14 PM | Reply | Permalink
Oh, we don't want them to have to click on that hyperlink to read this.
"Obama's plan today is the most shameless piece of potential plagiarism that I have ever seen," McCain economic advisor Kevin Hassett said. The Clinton campaign helpfully e-mailed his comments to reporters.
"He basically took Clinton's words and Clinton's policies and called them his own," Hassett said. "If I were a professor I'd give him an F and try to get him kicked out of school for something this terrible ... I remember Mrs. Clinton saying shared prosperity and I remember the bill that she introduced in August for infrastructure. The fact is these are things Obama has taken as his own without crediting the source of the ideas which was Mrs. Clinton."
Clinton herself said, "A plan that fails to provide universal health care, fails to address the housing crisis, and fails to immediately start creating good paying jobs in America again will not turn the economy around and provide the real relief that our people need. We need real results not more rhetoric."
That's using my sometimes critical of Obama loophole.
April 25, 2008 4:57 PM | Reply | Permalink
You're totally right about clicking. What was I thinking?
April 25, 2008 6:21 PM | Reply | Permalink
Now, very often Obama’s plans look like the ones that Clinton just released. But his are always better. They go farther, spend more or have better slogans attached. Seems to me Clinton must be pre-plagiarizing Obama. And I understand some believe that Grackles plagiarize the nests of other birds. How can that be true if the nests were already abandoned due to raining Grackle shit?
April 25, 2008 6:26 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yeah. But by definition I can crap on anything you or Ghengis post. I made sure I put that in the fine print.
April 25, 2008 4:46 PM | Reply | Permalink
Back to 1854 with you, Master William! Hand out your hostile handbills in that former era!
Because those unendurable calumnies you pile upon our young Illinoisian's reputation are nothing compared to the hits the American people take each day. Let's face it: Abraham Lincoln's going to be fine. The question is whether the American people are.
--paraphrasing Hillary in the Texas debate, where she both complained about change you can Xerox and stole without attribution in her closing John Edwards' line from a December 2007 debate, in turn stolen from Bill Clinton's first inaugural.
(just had to give the attribution before another irony-impaired attack on my fearless leader's citation habits)
April 25, 2008 5:10 PM | Reply | Permalink
"Change you can Xerox"—I love that. A classic! This primary has been much funnier than any I can remember. (You would think it was funny if she'd said it to McCain.)
April 25, 2008 6:11 PM | Reply | Permalink
Don't you mean Qenghis?
April 25, 2008 6:14 PM | Reply | Permalink
Here's my blanket opinion on every bit of this meta that gets posted:
Snark built the blogs.
April 25, 2008 2:28 PM | Reply | Permalink
Now you've jumped the snark.
April 25, 2008 3:06 PM | Reply | Permalink
Feakin trolls .
April 25, 2008 2:39 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yeah. Feak 'em.
April 25, 2008 2:46 PM | Reply | Permalink
You're one bowl of Tender Vittles from getting your ass thrown out of here. Poser. Picked those ears out yourself? Next time ditch the Martian colors - looks like you've been eating grass - go for something more feline-neutral. Here's a good cat joke - "my karma ran over my dogma". Cool, eh? Yeah, I know it sucks, but so do most political jokes as well. But since Billy started this "peace and love to all your droogs" crap I don't have the other side to mess with, so I figured the best I can do is to kick the cat instead. Nothing personal, kinda.
April 25, 2008 3:14 PM | Reply | Permalink
Free me glazies!
April 25, 2008 4:49 PM | Reply | Permalink
No time for the ol' in-and-out, luv - I'm just here to check the meter.
April 25, 2008 5:09 PM | Reply | Permalink
It's a stinking world because there's no law and order anymore! It's a stinking world because it lets the young get on to the old, like you done. Oh, it's no world for an old man any longer. What sort of a world is it at all? Men on the moon, and men spinning around the earth, and there's not no attention paid to earthly law and order no more.
April 25, 2008 5:22 PM | Reply | Permalink
Padre, these are subtleties. We’re not concerned with motives, with the higher ethics. We are concerned only with cutting down crime--and with relieving the ghastly congestion in our prisons.
April 25, 2008 6:15 PM | Reply | Permalink
Billy, I appreciate the generosity and civility of your gesture. But God damn it...
GRACKLES DON'T DO THAT!
The great nest-parasites among American birds are brown-headed cowbirds, who often take over the nests built by hard-working grackles. How the grackle has been cast in the role of the nest-stealer when it's usually the victim, I don't know. Maybe it's because it's mainly the female grackles who do the work, so Texans see the males kicking around doing nothing and assume the worst.
Just like the Texans to slander an innocent bird. Valerie Plame all over again.
April 25, 2008 3:21 PM | Reply | Permalink
The worst thing is I know that's true, but I still bad mouth the grackles. And I can get away with it because people just don't like them. I have a lot to answer for.
April 25, 2008 4:51 PM | Reply | Permalink
May-ree! May-ree!
My mother loves me.
April 25, 2008 5:16 PM | Reply | Permalink
They say to kill a mockingbird is a sin. To kill a grackle opens up a whole new can of whoop-ass. If you see Tippy Hedron walking around, I'd suggest getting out of town tout d' suite.
April 25, 2008 6:23 PM | Reply | Permalink
No, I am not obsessed..but damn...I am just sayin!
http://www.starpulse.com/Actresses/Pinkett,_Jada/Pictures/
April 25, 2008 4:08 PM | Reply | Permalink
Hahaha!
Good taste, but if you think you can get up on Will Smith's level, have at it.
April 25, 2008 5:04 PM | Reply | Permalink
Love isn't blind?
April 25, 2008 5:32 PM | Reply | Permalink
Billy Glad,
Perhaps you can clear up something that is confusing to me.
I think there are positive things to be said about Hillary; I think there are positive things to be said about just about anyone (and one of the things I love about Obama is that he LOOKS for those positive things, rather than for something to "reject and denounce"). I just don't understand how anyone paying attention can continue to support someone who has shown herself to be as fundamentally, through-and-through, brain-bogglingly, shamelessly dishonest as Hillary in this campaign. Her stances on Michigan and Florida alone, it seems to me, should be enough to disqualify her, but they are just one item in a list getting longer by the day, including things like the Bosnia lie that aren't even comprehensible in any sane way I can see. So, please, tell me how it is that you still feel she's the one to support, after seven years of living with our Liar-in-Chief. And please don't tell me all politicians lie; to quote David Geffen, "All politicians lie, but the Clintons lie so easily, it's troubling." (This, coming from someone who makes his living in Hollywood, where they really know from lying.)
April 25, 2008 5:03 PM | Reply | Permalink
This coming from someone who burned effigies of Hillary out on Malibu Beach. You know how to pick your authoritative sources, don't you?
April 25, 2008 6:20 PM | Reply | Permalink
The Bosnia sniper fire incident was a classic too (We just put our heads down and ran). Jaw-dropping, side-splitting chutzpah. And not a damn thing you can do about it! She's still in the race!
April 25, 2008 6:33 PM | Reply | Permalink
I guess you've crossed through all the Elizabeth Kubler-Ross stages of grief (over Bosnia, in this case), into "acceptance," which is the final stage. They say that's healthy, you know.
April 25, 2008 7:00 PM | Reply | Permalink
Spare me. Like you ever gave a shit about Bosnia.
April 25, 2008 7:12 PM | Reply | Permalink
You're just so rude and lacking in perspective. If you can't handle teasing about your apparently reveling in the silly Bosnia lies, unplug your box.
You can't seriously think that lying about Bosnia for self-aggrandizement is respectful to Bosnia, to those who died cleaning it up, or those who died in regional genocides. So don't go all serious. Just have a drink and chill out.
April 25, 2008 9:31 PM | Reply | Permalink
You're a humorless self-righteous twit who always trumpets the morally superior routine (re Spitzer, etc). I've never liked you. I'd be thrilled if you didn't like me. I'd take it as a compliment. I think I'll start calling you Rev. Dimmesdale.
But did you just quit smoking cigs too? 'Cause you're more crabby than usual.
April 25, 2008 10:04 PM | Reply | Permalink
cali mom,
I, for one, thank you for seeking out the positive in Hillary Clinton. She is a good liar, isn't she?
April 25, 2008 6:39 PM | Reply | Permalink
Well, my question is this:
Does grackle shit have substance or is it just foam and grease?
Somebody has to ask the hard questions of us Obama supporters, if for no other reason than to make sure we know as much as we pretend to. If you're forswearing meritless snipes, that's fine. But, I do hope we have some responsible, nontroll contrarians around in all threads just to spark mature debate if nothing else.
April 25, 2008 5:20 PM | Reply | Permalink
That's my job, ensuring elevated civil debate with a modicum of incisiveness.
April 25, 2008 6:19 PM | Reply | Permalink
Post Leave-of-Absence, perhaps -- but I think you lacked both incisiveness and civility prior to that. Since your return, it's true you're much more civil but it comes at the cost of absurdism. I mean that almost fondly, understand.
April 25, 2008 6:37 PM | Reply | Permalink
Look, you primordial lizard - don't try to get on my good side because there isn't much of one. And if there's one thing I hate more than grackle shit, it's super size dino shit. But as long as you brought a super dooper pooper scooper, stay as long as you like, just please don't sit on the palm trees, and don't forget to tip your waitress.
April 25, 2008 7:11 PM | Reply | Permalink
Billy,
If you need to call me a grackle, then so be it, whatever makes you happy. But to truly be PRO somthing does not necessarily imply that you are ANTI something else. Although in my own snarkiness - in a caringthinking way of course - I can find plenty to complain about. But then you see through the veil. Anyone who is truly pro-Obama without attacking Hillary is promotiing the attempt, however vain, to rally Hillary's troops to the other side without losing face.
April 25, 2008 6:02 PM | Reply | Permalink
Right, he said, being careful not to let his eyes wander.
April 25, 2008 9:26 PM | Reply | Permalink
Wow Billy,
Were you also careful to not let your eyes wander when Hillary wore that lovely plunging neckline outfit on the senate floor? Or were you one of the ones who screamed sexism in outrage when it was brought up in the media?
Caringthinking had a wonderful comment and the best you can do is to alert her that you have to try to not let your eyes wander?
Just wondering (and dumbfounded)
Sincerely,
Your last troll
April 26, 2008 12:18 AM | Reply | Permalink
It can't hurt to try... for all the good it's done so far.
What's going to be fascinating is to see how the Hillary-haters and Hill's most ardent fans will react as we discuss news of her and Bill's campaign stops on behalf of Obama this summer.
April 25, 2008 6:59 PM | Reply | Permalink
Have you considered large denomination bills in unmarked envelopes? I mean hitting you guys with a clue stick is harder than a Johan Santana changeup.
April 25, 2008 7:20 PM | Reply | Permalink
Hey, if they do that - I may forgive them for some of the shit they've done so far.
I think it's sad that the Clintons have shredded Bill's legacy in this campaign. It's terribly sad that many African Americans who just loved the man are not hurt and angry at him.
I was imagining the other day that if it wasn't for Hillary, Bill would have campaigned for Obama, most likely. And it could have been really cool.
But Bill and Hillary deserve the criticism and anger they themselves have so recklessly ignited in people. \
And this is a contest - there is a winner and a loser - so it's going to be a battle right now between supporters of each side. But that's just here - in virtual space. I don't know any nasty trollish Clinton supporters in real life.
Well, I don't think I know many Clinton supporters at all in real life, but just the same...
April 25, 2008 7:25 PM | Reply | Permalink
Funny, I don't know any either. Well, except my 62 year old sister who now admits she owes Obama her vote since I got our Mom to register Democrat for the first time in her life in order to caucus for him.
April 25, 2008 8:41 PM | Reply | Permalink
"It's terribly sad that many African Americans who just loved the man are not hurt and angry at him."
They will be soon. I see Clyburn is back on the stump promoting the Clintons-are-race-baiting line. We must be getting close to a primary with a large black voting block. Oh, yeah. Someone sure is shredding the Clintons' reputations.
April 26, 2008 1:01 AM | Reply | Permalink
I hadn't thought about the timing. You're right. Perfectly timed for NC.
April 26, 2008 11:50 AM | Reply | Permalink
"I've decided to stop commenting on pro-Obama blogs that don't attack Hillary."
Ah yes, I believe I recall seeing one of those back in October...or was it September. :)
April 25, 2008 7:10 PM | Reply | Permalink
are now hurt and angry.
Jeez.
April 25, 2008 7:26 PM | Reply | Permalink
If I write, I enjoy comments back (unless I've been grackly - if so, I apologize). I know that you're not a troll, and so I'd like it if you'd comment on my stuff if you feel like it.
April 25, 2008 8:59 PM | Reply | Permalink
My last troll has yet to arrive.
April 25, 2008 9:17 PM | Reply | Permalink
I'm worried something might have happened to it.
April 25, 2008 9:18 PM | Reply | Permalink
Wait, so am I s troll? O_O
April 26, 2008 8:16 AM | Reply | Permalink
*a troll?? ^^
April 26, 2008 8:17 AM | Reply | Permalink
Nope. Not one of mine anyway.
April 26, 2008 9:38 AM | Reply | Permalink
Whew. ^^;
April 26, 2008 1:51 PM | Reply | Permalink
Admit it, Tena, the not was a Freudian slip.
:)
And while you're at it, you should join the TPM group at www.barackobama.com
I just _had_ to do that in Billy's thread!
Woo hoo!
April 25, 2008 10:02 PM | Reply | Permalink
Billy,
I'm gone for a few days and come back to find you're hanging up your spurs? Say it ain't so...
April 25, 2008 10:43 PM | Reply | Permalink
Ah, but Barack is not the Scottish King. He is, I think, of Welsh descent:
Enter the NOMINEE
Plouffe. O that we now had here
But one ten thousand of those men in Texas
That do no work to-day!
NOMINEE. What's he that wishes so?
My cousin Plouffe? No, my fair cousin;
If we are mark'd to die, we are enow
To do our country loss; and if to live,
The fewer men, the greater share of honour.
God's will! I pray thee, wish not one man more.
By Jove, I am not covetous for gold,
Nor care I who doth feed upon my cost;
It yearns me not if men my garments wear;
Such outward things dwell not in my desires.
But if it be a sin to covet honour,
I am the most offending soul alive.
No, faith, my coz, wish not a man from Texas.
God's peace! I would not lose so great an honour
As one man more methinks would share from me
For the best hope I have. O, do not wish one more!
Rather proclaim it, Plouffe, through my host,
That he which hath no stomach to this fight,
Let him depart; his passport shall be made,
And crowns for convoy put into his purse;
We would not die in that man's company
That fears his fellowship to die with us.
This day is call'd the feast of Franklin.
He that outlives this day, and comes safe home,
Will stand a tip-toe when this day is nam'd,
And rouse him at the name of Franklin.
He that shall live this day, and see old age,
Will yearly on the vigil feast his neighbours,
And say 'To-morrow is Saint Franklin.'
Then will he strip his sleeve and show his scars,
And say 'These wounds I had on Franklin’s day.'
Old men forget; yet all shall be forgot,
But he'll remember, with advantages,
What feats he did that day. Then shall our names,
Familiar in his mouth as household words-
Barack the Nominee, Burton and Axelrod,
Rouse and Gibbs, Nesbitt and Hildebrand-
Be in their flowing cups freshly rememb'red.
This story shall the good man teach his son;
And Franklin Franklian shall ne'er go by,
From this day to the ending of the world,
But we in it shall be remembered-
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile,
This day shall gentle his condition;
And gentlemen in Texas now-a-bed
Shall think themselves accurs'd they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
That fought with us upon Saint Franklin's day.
April 25, 2008 10:53 PM | Reply | Permalink
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