This week's game was a lot of fun, with no mention of Nazism at all!  My older, Republican buddies repeated one of the same talking points from the week before which is that Michelle Obama has 22 personal assist while "no one else ever had more than three."  The article I read called them "household staff" and said the Bush household had 17 such workers.   Since the reporting on these kinds of things can be so bad, I'm not sure what to believe.  I mentioned the details of the article I read to the group and had to fend off a few heated comments in response.

Anyway, I was prepared for discussion this week because last week one of the gentlemen sent me one of those viral e-mails with all the erroneous claims about health-care, and I took the time to debunk each and every claim (thanks to the internet and a posting by lisB here at TPM) in a return e-mail.  There was a brief, very civil discussion about that, and I made some comments on how they could read the stuff if they really wanted to.  There is a technical barrier because at least some of these guys don't have browsers that can actually open the large document which is the health care bill (thanks AOL!).  The others haven't actually read it, which is understandable because it is pretty dry (IMO).

I've mentioned before that one of the guys is a bit more vocal and emotional about anything anti-Obama.  This week I learned that his son's company, in which his son has part ownership, went public with an IPO.  You might have heard of this company called Emdeon.  They handled about half of all the health care related electronic transactions in this country last year, which is way up in the billions.  Now I have no reason to believe that Emdeon is anything but legitimate and law-abiding, but the thing I took away is the interest this gentlman has in maintaining the status quo. 

I asked a few questions about Emdeon, and "jeff" colored the discussion somewhat by how burdened Emdeon was with government regulation, citing a recent audit request where the company was asked to provide a dump of transactions to the federal government.  "I told my boy, 'don't worry, no one can audit 400 billion transactions.'"  Now, I don't know why "jeff" would tell his boy "don't worry", as if there was something to worry about, but it struck me as odd.  Conservative mainstream thinking assumes large-scale fraud is everywhere, so I think these folks assume the worst about everyone.

My acquaintances, who repeat Glenn Beck verbatim at times, are anything but the fringe of the Republican party.  I am left to think "is the fringe really the fringe?"  More and more, I'm thinking no.  These guys aren't whack-jobs.  The brain-washing of Americans is affecting more people than I want to admit, and it clearly affects everyone that I know who still calls himself a Republican.

I don't think the stupidity will stop until the people with money stop paying Fox News for advertising.

The question is, how do you organize to hit the advertisers in the wallet?  If a few million people stopped buying products, would they notice?

I don't have any experience with this kind of thing, but I have the motivation.  Please give me some good ideas if you have them.

This is a re-post, in a better time slot.

I regularly play poker with a group of conservative gentlemen here, and there is almost always a brief topical discussion of things that just bug the crap out of Republicans.  The meat of the discussion isn't always what is said, but rather how it is said.  There is one guy in particular who gets really angry in a little bit scary way when he talks about the president..

One of the topics this week was about the first lady's staff.  The media is reporting 22 people in the household staff, which eclipses Laura Bush's 17.  Of course there was no mention of Mrs. Bush at the poker game, only how awful it was for the current first family to be so wasteful.  Personally, I figure they need a few extra for protection.   Anyway..

The next thing on the minds of my associates was something they evidently heard from Glen Beck about the White House trying to keep tabs on media misinformation on health care.  I'm not sure why this would push any buttons, but the guys were comparing it to Stalin and Hitler.  Literally. 

You may wonder why I would play in such a game with such hateful people, and the only defense I have is that I enjoy playing poker, and I've been able to donate some winnings from the game to worthy democratic candidates over the last couple of years.  I have to add that this only lasts about 20 seconds a night, and then it's gone.  They are all fairly pleasant the rest of the time, even though I know there is anger just below the surface. 

I confess I can't really be confrontational with them.  The most I ever do is ask pointed questions.  For example, when one guy decries socialism,  I might ask him, "weren't you a career military guy?  Right, I thought so." or "You use medicare, don't you?"

I gave up trying to be rational with this group and other's like them a long time ago.  My father was such a person, and I could literally show him the encyclopedic proof for my fact based argument to which he would reply, "that's just wrong" or something like that.  There is just no convincing the conservative mind, and it is terribly frustrating to spend any energy on an argument when it never works.

I've decided to post this weekly report here on TPM to let folks know what's on the minds of the typical old white guys that make up this group.  This is also an invitation to any readers out there to suggest how you would approach this situation.   

I regularly play poker with a group of conservative gentlemen here, and there is almost always a brief topical discussion of things that just bug the crap out of Republicans.  The meat of the discussion isn't always what is said, but rather how it is said.  There is one guy in particular who gets really angry in a little bit scary way when he talks about the president..

One of the topics this week was about the first lady's staff.  The media is reporting 22 people in the household staff, which eclipses Laura Bush's 17.  Of course there was no mention of Mrs. Bush at the poker game, only how awful it was for the current first family to be so wasteful.  Personally, I figure they need a few extra for protection.   Anyway..

The next thing on the minds of my associates was something they evidently heard from Glen Beck about the White House trying to keep tabs on media misinformation on health care.  I'm not sure why this would push any buttons, but the guys were comparing it to Stalin and Hitler.  Literally. 

You may wonder why I would play in such a game with such hateful people, and the only defense I have is that I enjoy playing poker, and I've been able to donate some winnings from the game to worthy democratic candidates over the last couple of years.  I have to add that this only lasts about 20 seconds a night, and then it's gone.  They are all fairly pleasant the rest of the time, even though I know there is anger just below the surface. 

I confess I can't really be confrontational with them.  The most I ever do is ask pointed questions.  For example, when one guy decries socialism,  I might ask him, "weren't you a career military guy?  Right, I thought so." or "You use medicare, don't you?"

I gave up trying to be rational with this group and other's like them a long time ago.  My father was such a person, and I could literally show him the encyclopedic proof for my fact based argument to which he would reply, "that's just wrong" or something like that.  There is just no convincing the conservative mind, and it is terribly frustrating to spend any energy on an argument when it never works.

I've decided to post this weekly report here on TPM to let folks know what's on the minds of the typical old white guys that make up this group.  This is also an invitation to any readers out there to suggest how you would approach this situation.   

I've been reading tributes on how people will miss Walter Cronkite. I confess I've been missing Walter Cronkite for years. I remember being miffed about his retirement. I got the sense that he should keep doing it because the country needed that reassurance we all got from hearing him. I didn't know how much things would change. TV news journalism would become so much less after he departed. His death doesn't really change how I miss him, but only brings it out of my subconscious where it has been packed away.I

Thanks to all of you who have posted in favor of prosecuting Bush administration crimes.  I am tired of waiting, but I can't help thinking back to the election last year, and how then-candidate Obama often found the right time to strike the political blow, usually well after most people had started to go crazy.  I am hopeful that the prosecution of War Crimes will continue to gain momentum everywhere.  In an odd way, I think it is the only hope for of the Republican Party.  They desperately need a purge.  

The University of Texas head coach Mack Brown dismissed lineman Buck Burnette after the former player posted a comment on his Facebook page.

"all the hunters gather up, we have a #$%&er in the whitehouse"

The story was reported today in "The Austin-American Statesman".

The Facebook posting has been removed, but the screen was captured and saved and can be found with a little googling. 

The coach wasted no time in dismissing the player.  He met with the athletic director and announced the dismissal shortly after hearing about the posting.

Mr. Burnette issued an apology to the public and to the team expressing his regret.  The report stated that the player was re-posting a text message he had received from someone else.  .

Before I got home to watch the returns, about 5 p.m. CDT 11/4/2008, I was in line at the grocery store when a woman in front of me was paying for a few items with a card.  The thirtyish check out lady said, "That's a $6.53 balance," which I initially thought was odd, because it didn't immediately register that she was paying with a food-stamp card.  She had bought an already cooked chicken, and food-stamps did not cover it.  The customer was embarrassed and mumbled something to the effect that she would have to leave it.  This check-out lady, who probably makes something like $10/hour, reached in to her pocket and took out $7 in crumpled bills to give to the customer to pay for it.  She wouldn't take the money, but as the customer was leaving, the clerk followed her for a bit and handed her the chicken with a little more insistence, and she took it.

I was strangely moved.  All I had been thinking about all day was this election, but suddenly it didn't seem so important.  I checked out and with a debit card and got a little cash back, and I tried to pay the clerk for the chicken, but she wouldn't take my money.  I said, "let me get this one."  She just said, "I'm OK, really, but thank you."  She just looked me right in the eye and smiled.  I took my stuff to the car and cried.

I went home and watched the returns nervously and quite a bit later I drank a glass of champaign after seeing that Nate Silver had made the call for Obama. I admit I had to check out what Nate was saying before trusting the network call.  Then I relaxed, but I didn't really feel anything. It wasn't emotional, even though it seemed like it should have been, because I had a lot invested.  It just did not hit me the way that witnessing this act of kindness in the check-out line had hit me earlier.    When I remember this historic day, the authentic kindness I saw at the grocery store will be a big part of that memory.

OK, an e-mail and some Repulican Stupidity played a big role, but I couldn't get that into the title...

Several years ago, I ended up on John Kerry's e-mail list and I'm not even sure why, because I had never been an activist or a contributor.  When Kerry came out for Obama, I received one of those e-mails and I was interested enough to give this senator I had barely heard of a good look. 

I read Obama's first book.  It was pretty good, so I read the second one and I decided that Obama was the right person to support for president in the primaries.  About the time the primaries came to Texas, I gave my first on-line donation to the Obama campaign.  It was $100. I believed the Obama message, because he convinced me that he believed it. I voted for Obama in the primaries, and I attended my first Democratic Caucus and I made a few more donations, usually about a month or so apart.  It was way more than I had ever done before.  

After the primary was conceded, I coasted for the summer.  Watching the convention, I saw the number of people buying in to the idea of hope and common purpose and I was moved by the spirit of it.  Then John McCain picked Sara Palin for VP and I was moved by fear.  I was driven to activism by this irresponsible act and while I gave a lot more money, like a lot of other people, I had to do more.

Since the conventions, I've registered voters, phone banked, and canvassed, all to a fairly minor degree.  I don't want to over-sell my involvement.   I seriously doubt that I spent more than 30 hours volunteering and I feel a little bit guilty for not doing more, because I know how important it is to win this election.  

But the thing is, while I was doing this minor bit, millions of people were having very similar experiences and doing the same things.  Millions of people were phoning and canvassing and block walking.  It is the most incredible thing I've ever witnessed.  I looked around at the Obama/county democratic campaign office today, and there were a couple of hundred people in the building, and there were lists of people who were out block walking, and this isn't even a battleground state.  This is Texas!   I can only imagine what it must be like in Ohio or Missouri or Florida or Virginia or Nevada.  How badly the republicans have misjudged the power of leverage in this campaign.  How badly the republicans have mis-read the mood of the electorate. 

We're going to win this election because millions of people are going to make sure it happens, and I'm going to be one of them.  We're all going to vote, and we're all going to make sure that millions of other people vote.  Thanks to all the millions of you out there working to make this happen.  Keep it up.    

If you google 'draft sarah palin for vp' you will find the web site that many have claimed is responsible for Sarah Palin's recent rise in national politics.   Perhaps McCain thought he had some kind of viral candidate when he decided to pick her, because he doesn't really understand the notion that a web site might get a lot of attention, and still be relatively small in scale.  He probably doesn't understand the metrics of truly powerful web sites that have a large reach.

Anyway, I thought it would be interesting if someone with too much spare time would volunteer to start a similar Palin/Bachmann ticket via the same sort of device.  If it worked once, maybe it will work again.  There is a large enought "base" with a a small enough collective intelligence to possibly fall for this again.

Texans have a bad rep around the country at this moment in history.  Deservedly so I suppose.  It's tough being a Texan.  I frequently read posts and comments that treat us badly, because everyone hates GWB and everyone assumes that people from Texas must be stupid for every electing him... sigh.

Things look bad for Texas. 

Ike was very real. 

There really are a disproportionate number of low-information voters here. 

The MSM in this state is unbelievably bad.  Major political stories are completely absent from the newspapers.

Be all of that as it may, the republican candidate for US Senate is breathtakingly bad.  At the debate a couple of weeks ago, he ran as the "status quo" candidate.   The democratic candidate, Rick Noriega, is taking on this Bush mouthpiece with very little money.  He may have a chance, but he needs money.

Please help.

There are a lot of comments in blogs today about how the questions for last nights debate were not very good.  Here are two questions among many that I would like to ask the candidates.

Q:  When I watch television news, I see a lot of people talking to one another and expressing what to me seem to be opinions not really  based on facts.  What role should the FCC play in policing news programming so that news and commentary are clearly distinguished?

Q: If elected, what steps will you take between election day and inauguration day to assure Americans that evidence of possible wrongdoing on the part of the current administration is not destroyed?

I could write questions for hours, but I will stop at two for now.  Please feel free to add your own.

It all came together for me when watching the debate tonight.  McCain is pissed because he's a racist. He can't help but express it. He feels it.  He is living it.  It's spectacular and awful to watch.  That expression on his face when he said "that one" said everything.  "I can't believe I'm losing to this n.."

If you were a soldier , would Sara Palin inspire you as Commander in Chief? Would John McCain?  Would you have confidence in her decisions?  His?  Would you trust either of them?  If you would, why?  What do they stand for?  Who are they? 

Would you trust Sarah Palin because John McCain picked her?

Is trust not important to you?  If not, what the hell is wrong with you?

Trust is important to me, in my personal relationships and in my public figures. I'm certain that this abuse of trust over the last eight years is THE reason the rest of the world is angry with the United States at this moment in history.  Which leads me to ask, doesn't that matter? 

When a VP candidate smiles and winks at me, am I supposed to trust her?   Don't republicans have BS filters like the rest of the people in the world?  Can't they  tell when they are being lied to?

I don't want  to train any candidate between the convention and the election.   This McCain/Palin ticket makes the United States of America less safe because it puts two unqualified people too close to the presidency. If you watched the interviews and the debate with Sarah Palin and truly felt safe at the prospect of this person being vice president and possibly president, then you can't be informed, curious, responsible, mature, educated, thoughtful, empathetic, or remotely serious.  Maybe you can be patriotic and wrong-headed, but ... aahhh.

But that's just my opinion.  It is strongly felt. If you feel that someone who makes such a pick is qualified to be president, then you must .. aaarrgghh...

It just makes me too angry to be coherent.

Anyway, John McCain is not responsible or competent, because he has blatantly disregarded the public trust.  I never really thought he was qualified before the selection, having discovered that he was always a poor student, and other facts like his admission that he doesn't understand the economy or know how to use a computer.  I've spent the last eight years listening to a C student try to lead the country.  It doesn't work, so I reject it.

I thought this was an interesting exchange.