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These reader posts suck

I'm only writing this because I'm procrastinating and there's nothing worth replying to. If we're lucky, it will receive enough recommendations to push gotalife off the recommend list.

1. Destor23 on why obama doesn't suck
Destor, I know that you're new to this whole Obama thing, but we've been making these arguments for the past 6 months.

2. JedReport on how Obama criticized the war before Clinton
Shocker

3. Elisabeth Baumann on how McCain should not conflate withdrawal and surrender
Thanks for the heads up; I almost got suckered.

4. Michelle A. on how Wolfson owns stock in a company that's getting paid to promote a trade agreement with Colombia
Not sure how team Clinton will be able to recover from this one

5. Ben Hocking on trolls
Troll-bashing is so last week's recommended list.

6. Merlot makes light of post-traumatic stress disorder and John McCain
PTSD is of course endlessly funny.

7. Flufferwink on Bill Clinton's Columbia connection
This one is the closest to news. But if there's no drug connection or sexual escapades, I really don't care.

8. Merlot yammers some more about McCain PTSD
What's amazing is that both of his posts made the recommended list. I like this sourceless assertion: "The psychological literture makes it clear, McCain did and does suffer from PTSD".

9. azpaull on how everyone should apologize for being mean to Clinton about the hospital story
Sorry Hillary

10. hunter thompson on how everyone should apologize for being mean to Clinton about the hospital story
I said I was sorry

And for a finale, over at Election Central (which doesn't have flufferwink's post because he/she forgot to check the "Election Central" box

11. gotalife makes its debut on the recommend list by reprinting dembillc's laundry list of alleged Obama lies (which were in turn plagiarized from somewhere else)
I can't decide which is more appalling: that gotalife made the recommendation list or that its inane post received 103 comments. (Granted, half of them are gotalife's.) And where is dembillc to protest the theft of its best material?


Comments (148)

Despite that this was obviously put together with much less effort than your usual work, my long-standing policy of recommending snark has compelled me.

Fair enough. It was a boredom play. I'm kind of hoping that it doesn't recommended for that reason. (It would be very sad if it outperforms the stillborn Dance Dance Nomination which I labored long and hard on.) Also because I like some of posters that I snarked on. They usually write good stuff.

DDN was awesome, BTW. Maybe it fell into the generation gap?

Thanks. But only part 1 made the recommended list, and that was only after I submitted it twice. For anyone who missed it, here's part 3, which I thought was funniest (certainly funnier than this post), though reader, storm, preferred the first two:

http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com/talk/2008/04/dance-dance-nomination-the-fin.php

Give it a recommendation to make it feel better, even though it's long past recommended list possibility.

This post is up to #3. This is no DDN! Oh, for the good old days.

P.S. I re-read DDN3 and it was good. Maybe at the time there was some dance snark desensitization going on.

Excellent. stYMied's post on TPM bias has vaulted on to the recommended list. That should stimulate a profound and edifying discussion.

This post not suck because I am in it.

gotalife, you're sucker for attention. Good, bad, you just don't care. Congratulations on your recommended post. You must be very excited. How many of the recommendations are your own?

I did notice you could do that and I think two or three.

There, I just gave you one.

Unity!

What do you have against beer, Genghis?

Beer? I love beer. I'm on my second already, which may interfere with the work that I was failing to do even before I had the first one. So if you're partaking as well, cheers!

BTW, tonight's snark notwithstanding. I'm a big fan of your personal blog-style. It's almost as if we know you. And I loved the way you took out Lalo (I think it was lalo) a few weeks ago with the whole Liz-Lis and "what's the big deal about goddamn America" response. I've never seen him/her shut up so quickly. I don't know what you see in DF though.

Crap. Now my own sucky post is on the recommended list. At least gotalife is off. My work is done. No more recommendations please.

PS gotalife, you've sabotaged yourself

Shit, gotalife is back on the list at election central. Who did that!?

Ha! I recommend this at my own expense. Though, seriously... I know I went too far but destor23 backlash? What am I, Amy Winehouse?

No, no, no.

You're Rick Flair. Know your own avatar. I'll give a pass this time, as gotalife would say, but next time I expect something deeply insightful, controversial, or entertaining. Preferably all three.

Um... blow me?

No way that's gonna work a second time...

I laughed, so I guess it worked

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I'm sorry, but I claimed the TPM Sucks genre a long time ago...

The worst think about TPM is that whatever your write, some asshole will claim to have written it first.

Maybe they have and it's just no longer on the list.

That is the thing about the internet, no matter what you post some one HAS posted it before.

That is the thing about the internet, no matter what you post some one HAS posted it before.

Whenever I get a package of plain M&Ms, I make it my duty to continue the strength and robustness of the candy as a species. To this end, I hold M&M duels.

Taking two candies between my thumb and forefinger, I apply pressure, squeezing them together until one of them breaks and splinters. That is the "loser," and I eat the inferior one immediately. The winner gets to go another round.

I have found that, in general, the brown and red M&Ms are tougher, and the newer blue ones are genetically inferior. I have hypothesized that the blue M&Ms as a race cannot survive long in the intense theater of competition that is the modern candy and snack-food world.

Occasionally I will get a mutation, a candy that is misshapen, or pointier, or flatter than the rest. Almost invariably this proves to be a weakness, but on very rare occasions it gives the candy extra strength. In this way, the species continues to adapt to its environment.

When I reach the end of the pack, I am left with one M&M, the strongest of the herd. Since it would make no sense to eat this one as well, I pack it neatly in an envelope and send it to M&M Mars, A Division of Mars, Inc., Hackettstown, NJ 17840-1503 U.S.A., along with a 3x5 card reading, "Please use this M&M for breeding purposes."

This week they wrote back to thank me, and sent me a coupon for a free 1/2 pound bag of plain M&Ms. I consider this "grant money." I have set aside the weekend for a grand tournament. From a field of hundreds, we will discover the True Champion.

There can be only one.

Dawkins - is that you!!!?

This is absolutely hilarious.

Awesome.

Hate to break it to you all b/c it is hilarious, but it's all over the web. I believe that's angry's subtle punchline: somebody has posted it before.

I figured it was at least used somewhere else before, so I am not disappointed at all. But it is as you note, a clever contrivance.

jeezus you're funny. nice prose there.

*blushing*

Golly, guys.

Seriously, though...I'm just me. A concerned American with a heartbeat. You guys here make my heart beat a little stronger. That goes for the chicks here too (Amber, Tena, et. al.).

I'm loving that we all have a way to talk about this stuff. I place to do it. I might not always agree with Greg and Josh and the slant, I might not always like what the trolls are spouting, but it's democratic, and it's fair, and I've seen so many cool people here since I joined a few months ago.

My aim is to see us all meet up in Washington DC next year, at Obama's inauguration address (did I spell that right?) and have a lot of drinks together, compare notes and make friends, and get our Obama rally cards autographed by the guy himself.

Meet me there. I'll start booking our hotel rooms accordingly, based on your responses.

Love,
Lis

I bet that DF has already booked his ticket. It will be the lovefest of his lifetime.

PS Lis, does your boyfriend know?

That sounds like fun. Can I come?

Hmmm....not a bad idea, Lis!

I'll be sure to wear this shirt so you can recognize me :)

Thank God for another metapost.

Posts about posts are most highly recommended.

Peace!

Damn you and your stupid guidelines. That's why my destor endorsement post was so hot as well.

It matters not whether we endorse Destor. For he endorses us. Or something like that.

Genghis -

We can't help it - it's like that blind O-devotion we're accused of -- I see your name and the Recommend button and Pavlov would be proud...

I laughed - thanks.

There's medication for that you know

I rather enjoy all of my addictions and neuroses -so I choose to let them blossom unfettered -- unless of course I can substitute one dependency for another -- so what's the drug you're 'recommending'?

Glue. It's the new meth.

Sh*t. A place to do it. Not I place...

Oh, and AnnieLiz. I like her posts and her avatar too. She's not as sexy (to me) as DF, but she's just as smarf. Oops. Smart.

I meant smart.

Hey we've finally got a half-decent post on the list by Mrs Panstreppon. It like totally has like research in it. Doesn't follow articleman's guidelines though, so I don't know how it will do. Good luck to it. There's also a new old post by dgbledsoe on Wright that snuck back on from this afternoon. I didn't read it. The title was sufficient for me. gotalife also still hangin in there.

Nice to know I'm not the only programmer that procrastinates here, I was being an equal opportunity procrastinator and spreading my wasted minutes around elsewhere before I started blogging here.

It seems I have noticed by inference several others that are obviously programmers on here over the past few weeks.

Wonder where I be blowing time away at in another few months or after my next lengthy contract, any recommendations?

www.asiantransexualXXXschoolgirltalkingpoints.com

PS The sad thing is that I'm mid-contract and under deadline

You need help. Might I recommend Leechblock?

Ha!
If I can't enforce the discipline without that, I'd disable the thing and ignore it in the end. The other thing is, all too often I am stumbling upon new interesting places when I see or hear something I want more complete background on, or some thought from years back or some 'hey research that' idea - that I'd end up blocking out half the damn Net.

But really - once I have engrossed myself - like so many others - I get wrapped up so much that I forget to eat, get impatient with my coffee maker, work 15 hours and more straight etc. etc. etc. You know the cycles.

No doubt though - before service became reasonably available here in 95 or so, I was somewhat less distracted, plus you had to be out on the road for days at a time then too, just so you could effectively interact with the end users of your custom work. Use to drive me nuts - losing four hours driving....

But really - once I have engrossed myself - like so many others - I get wrapped up so much that I forget to eat, get impatient with my coffee maker, work 15 hours and more straight etc. etc. etc. You know the cycles.

I've literally worked around the clock 3 nights in the past 10 days. Didn't leave my computer for 20 hours or so aside from bathroom breaks.

I know the cycles.

On the upside, my boss TOLD me to go home at noon today.

Get this -
Back when I first started doing meaningful programming on PC.s (aside of some dedicated machine control stuff, which by today's standard - was rudimentary) in 1981, I would spend the untold hours and then WONDER - wow, I must not be as good as I need to be, if it takes this much time.

I live in a small town (about 18,000) in NW Ohio, I knew I was in a fairly insular situation. There really wasn't anyone else to relate to that I knew of in the first 4 years or so after that. And the first guy I met after that already had 20 years on mainframes under his belt.

When programmers that had seen my work elsewhere started calling me in the early 90's to 'get advice' I thought - wow - maybe everyone else has been strung out - too. It was then that I found the difference between dilettantes and real coders the dilettantes would not face up to the fact that IT DOES take copious quantities of time and truly mind mending thought processes occasionally - to do the sort of work that opens new trails.

I like YOUR posts and YOUR avatar, and I think you and DF are BOTH smurfy.

What, no love, anneeliz? I smurf your posts and avatar.

Oh, the Smurfos. You see, that was meant to be in reply to LisB, who said that DF was sexier than I, which is probably not even a matter of opinion but objective fact. My love is inclusive rather than exclusive--of snark. Therefore, Genghis, I salute you.

Looks like I'll be calling DC's best hotel and reserving the Bridal Suite, Au Pair's suite, Entourage Suite, Fiesta Lounge, Brady Bunch Bunk Room......and the penthouse that was previously reserved for the contestants of DDN.

Reserve the Vitter Room. Trust me.

Excellent. Please book the Emperors' Club VIP room for me.

Is Room 871 available?

No, it's not allowed. It's like "abortion" on google. In this case it it John McCain's age.

Would it be unseemly snark for me to point out the existence of a small community here, emitting a hint of a vibe of exclusivity? The thing Andrew and Josh raise their lip ever so slightly at? That it seems to happen anyway? In which case why not aid it instead of fighting it?

No snark is too unseemly for a Genghis thread (except perhaps post-traumatic stress disorder jokes; what's with that dude?). The inside jokes and meta-posts have certainly been growing. Not sure about exclusive though. If gotalife can join the TPM community, in his troll-y way, then anyone can. It takes a little effort, but if you comment in a few threads, people will get to know you, and then you too can achieve the supreme honor of a recommended reader post.

I've often wondered what Josh & Co. think about us. Obviously, they want to foster a community--they built the cafe after all--and they highlight posts over at the coffee house. But there is something that seems just a little disdainful. Perhaps it's that they so rarely comment in cafe threads or link to cafe posts--I can only thing of a few occasions. But I don't know. I can't quite put my finger on it. What makes you mention the raised lip (which was well-put, btw)?

I will quote from email Andrew sent me after I suggested it was time for another update, on March 13:

"A lot of the criticisms that I've heard from you and other folks who got comfortable with the Cafe have to do with the fact that you enjoy having your own little space. This is a challenge for us, because while we want to preserve what we had there was also a sampling bias in which the community was small cause folks had a harder time understanding it, so the folks that were able to figure it out settled in and like it, and the community stayed small so as to allow the longer discussions you're talking about. Our goal is to broaden the community, and keep tweaking and working so that that intimacy is still there w/o the exclusiveness that was bred by the old technology and design. If that paragraph isn't clear, let me know and I'll try to explain again. Just trying to give you a sense of what we're thinking."

Yes, we enjoy our little playpen. What Andrew doesn't seem to get is that at parties groups always break up into smaller conversations. You can't have those if everyone is trying to shout loud enough for the whole gym to hear it.

And some conversations are better than others. Keep 'em coming.

you could always try the Mayflower.

As for me, I ain't going. Not with you lot there.

Kidding.

I'll probably go for the day and drive back.

Genghis, I like the running commentary here in the comments section regarding the status of the recommend list. How many times a minute are you hitting that refresh button?

6,023,834,472

approximately

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posts that suck ARE EXCELLENT NEWS!! FOR HILLARY!!!

What the fuck? How many layers of meta-snark can we pile on here?

That comment is the perfect blend of the poetic and the pathetic.

Just in case I sounded harsh, that was in jest. Its always good to here from you, idiotic.

idiotic, you are always welcome. You are truly the Harpo Marx of this website. I've often wondered, do you ever have the urge to write anything else, or are you content to delight us with excellent news? Perhaps you have an alter ego? Fake Sinbad? Troll Critic? Josh Marshall?

I always figured that you were Fake Sinbad.

(if I ruined your alter ego, I truly apologize.)

I considered trying to steal credit for him, but no, I have only one ego, which spends too much time on TPM as it is.

I followed your intention. Hence my abject bitterness at having been once again outdone by DF. On my own thread, no less. But I'll accept your salute and salute you back. (There's more than one finger in that salute I hope.)

Shit. These damn bugs. This was supposed to be a reply to anneeliz.

These reader posts suck

In the face of central bank contraction of the intellectual(?!!) currency and closing down of the exchange(no more ratings, you quarrelsome beasts) the free market in "0"s and "1"s rears it's ugly (curly?!!) head.


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"...I think you and DF are BOTH smurfy."

I just had flashbacks to being about 9 years old watching toons at 6am Saturday morning on (gasp!) regular old network tv.

Oh yeah, eating crap sugar cereal from a mixing bowl too.

Thanks, life was good before cable television =-)

I keep trying to come up with a sitcom analogy for the echo chamber, but you people have reached a level of sappiness beyond TV. I'm looking forward to the day when the echo chamber becomes a support group for disillusioned neophyte politicos. I will be here to pour salt on your wounds. In the meantime, hold fast to the thought that if he can just beat her in PA, she'll go away.

Don't be bitter. You can be Archie Bunker.

Don't invert things. This is about how sappy you are. And I'm tired of your avatar. Are you afraid to show your real picture or something?

I don't know if it's your Michael Biehn avatar or what, but everytime I read one of your posts the lights in the room grow dimmer.

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Genghis, you only think those posts suck because you suck. Just say NObama.

LOL. Thank you dembillc. We missed you. Go help your buddy gotalife by rebutting roo_P's rebuttal of your laundry list of lies.

Don't forget to take along a flat stick to scrape yourself off with afterwards.

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Actually I need to watch the RedSox quite a bit now and it cuts down on Blogging Time.
Just say Nobama.
I will be selling T Shirts soon.
I say Mama,just say Nobama.
I may have a rap song here.

Good morning folks. State of the recommended list: Getting better but not there yet.

Eloquent, if untimely, post from waldengirl on why words aren't just words.

roo_P debunks gotalife's list of lies, point by tedious point. I commend the effort, I guess, but I didn't bother to read the original list, let alone the rebuttal.

anotherreader: funny on McCain without even mentioning PTSD. (Violates own guidelines but still manages to make the recommended list. Just goes to show that "snark" and "McCain" should have been in the guidelines.)

flavious complains that no one is talking about how awesome Obama was at the Petraeus hearings. Comments are better than the original post.

gotalife still stubbornly clinging to the recommended list. Now has 121 comments, which is 108 more than its recommendations. That has to be some kind of record.

Mrs Panstreppon sadly behind gotalife and completely off the list at the cafe. That's what she gets for ignoring articleman's guidelines.

And of course, irony of ironies, this post now at the top the list. It has received more recommendations than all the DDNs combined. The only saving grace is that my reference garnered a few new recommendations for DDN3.

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These reader posts may or may not suck, but what I would like to see is a clear and prominent link to them on the front page. Not having one sucks.

Billy it is of supreme arrogance to believe that people who don't support the same candidate as you must be "neophytes." I understand that this is hard for Clinton supporters to believe, but it just might be that SOME of Obama supporters are people who follow politics very closely and have come to the rational decision that he is the better candidate and would be the better president. MOST are crazy people with a kool-aid addiction, of course.

As for this "disillusioned" thing I've seen it quite a bit on these here internets. Many Hillary supporters have kindly predicted our emotional downfall, predicated on this neophyte idea, that we're all suffering a mass delusion and are going to get our hearts broken the first time John McCain says something mean or President Obama is forced to compromise or "shows his true colors." I already went through that the first Clinton administration so I'll be just fine. More interestingly, though, is the obvious logical leap--these Clinton supporters already expect their candidate to be corrupt, so they'll have nothing to be disappointed by.

I don't support either candidate. But that makes me no less arrogant. I read the comments here. I've been looking for a word to describe most of them for a while now. Finally found it. Sappy. I notice you don't challenge that.

I don't mind a little late night sap. I appreciate many of the commenters here for their wit--in the John Donne sense, the Jon Stewart sense, and, occasionally, the wit and wisdom of George W. Bush sense.

So, what is this avatar, anyway?

Google this, anneeliz: The 600 series had rubber skin

Haha, wait.. you're going to call comments here? You? After your love-letter to Hillary? Seriously, if you're really just some sort of Kaufmanesque anti-comedian you just might be a genius.

I hope that this thread doesn't deteriorate (further) into Clinton vs Obama antagonism, which is why I didn't take Billy's bait. But I must say, that was very well put anneeliz.

Don't try to change the subject to the candidates. This is about how sappy you and your friends are. If I want to talk about the campaign, I'll go over to Taylor Marsh.

But I must say, that was very well put anneeliz. Archie and Veronica.

Oops, that was a sappy compliment. So sorry Billy. How's this? Billy Glad has become like a cranky old man in a nursing home who hates all the other residents, whom he considers idiotic, and complains constantly of the bad food and poor acoustics (read "echo chamber") but can always be found in the community room yammering away to anyone who will listen about the importance of Pennsylvania.

Sounds ageist or something. I know plenty of cranky men in shelters who hate all the other homeless men and consider them idiotic, etc. Also plenty of professionals who happily bill clients for time they spend smoozing with their sappy friends on the internet.

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I know plenty of cranky homeless men at the Park Slope Starbucks who hate all the other cranky homeless men at Park Slope Starbucks.

Wait. What are we talking about?

I didn't get that one either.

LOL. Me too. We used to live at the clock factory.

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I lived next to St. Saviour School on 8th Ave. Two blocks from Dizzy's. My picture's on their new menu. Used to go to the 7th Ave. Starbucks a lot.

Amazing. Before we bought our coop we lived right there on 9th street between what? 9th Ave and the Park? We used to block the aisle at Dizzy's with our stroller!

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That was you, Billy Glad?! Sorry if I scowled at you that one time.

Ex-girlfriend on 3rd St. & 8th Ave. Spent a fair amount of time in those parts. Heck of a subway ride though. The F train and I don't get along very well.

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There's a reason it's called the F train.

I do not and never have billed a client for my personal time. And that is the only personal attack that I've received on TPM and actually resented.

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So don't let his smile fool ya!

What have you done with the old angry, brittle readytoblowagasket? I like the new witty one, but I'm slightly concerned.