I received some very bad news from the vet today relating to the life expectancy of my dear Bear, so I am going to keep this somewhat brief.
1. Revising (or at least proposing to revise) "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" is a political masterstroke by Obama. We can build a pretty substantial majority by fusing three groups: people supportive of gay rights, people completely ambivalent on the subject, and anti-gay rights people who have far more pressing things to worry about at the moment. That majority will offer a response ranging from "It's about time!" to "Grr. Whatever." and then forget about it. The demographic opposed to the proposal, however…well, let's just say they're going to make a much bigger deal out of it. I think this has the potential to distract Rick Warren for the better part of a year. Classic misdirection, well played. Whatever mileage the far right thinks they got out of "Oh no, the gays!" in the past, they're going to be sorely disappointed this time around.
2. So the ACORN pimp was arrested (with three idiot co-conspirators) in New Orleans trying to tap Mary Landrieu's office phone. Aside from breaking the R. Kelly Rule – if you're going to commit a felony, don't record it on video – these retards and their Scooby Doo-esque plot make the Watergate burglars look like Ocean's 11. Strangely enough, the gasbags on Fox who spent weeks trying to make his little ACORN pimp video an international crisis haven't said anything about his arrest. Breitbart threw them under the bus too even though Pimp Daddy is on his payroll. One of the "conspirators" is the son of the US Attorney in that district. It'll be interesting to see if these guys are prosecuted, although nothing short of execution would do if the party roles were reversed.
3. Chris Matthews' response to the SotU: "I forgot he was black tonight for an hour."
What the fuck.
RosaLux says:
I suppose revising "don't ask don't tell" is a smart political move, and important to the gay community, but insofar as it affects a relatively small number of gay people, it only cosmetically addresses the concerns of the gay community.
A truly meaningful reform, and a reform that is politically feasible is repealing DOMA. This would affect virtually every gay person in America. Federal employees could get marriage benefits. More significantly, without DOMA, states might be required to give full faith and credit to other states' marriages – this could be an end run around the state-by-state warfare for gay marriage rights.
This makes good political sense because, while it is extremely important to the gay community, it doesn't inspire a lot of blowback – repealing DOMA would not be explicitly permitting same-sex marriage.
But then, the president and the Democrats have signaled that they are uninterested in true progressive reform. I expect nothing more than several more years of weak-kneed centrism and incrementalism.
Wes says:
Calling their escapade a "wire tap" is giving them too much credit. It was an idiotic frat boy stunt that blew up in their faces. They could only wish they were involved in something as sexy as a wire tap.
ts46064 says:
Chris Matthews has a severe case of foot-in-mouth disease.
comrade x says:
More bad news. Howard Zinn died yesterday.
He had a hell of a good run, but losing another voice of reason and a writer of talent really sucks.
godlizard says:
I am sorry to hear about Bear, he's a real cutie.
ladiesbane says:
As usual, when I agree and have nothing more to add, I stay quiet on the main topic — but I'm sorry to hear there's bad news about your wee chum. I couldn't tell from the video (and my lack of corrective eyewear didn't help) if he is curly or brindle or some other fancy, but he does look special.
daphne says:
Matthews thought it was a compliment. Just as O'Reilly thought his remark about customers in an African-American restaurant not using profanity was. They'd be shocked at just how racist their impressions were.
ts46064 says:
To be fair though, what O'Reilly said was a sign of lowered expectations.
What Matthews said was something about "post-racial" America.
displaced Capitalist says:
Love that close-up of bear; his paws are so cute. I hope he's comfortable at least.
dbsmall says:
I'm sorry to hear about your pal.
I think the "siding with the gays" thing is going to backfire. But perhaps I'm still seething after Prop. 8 in CA. It is tremendously important to people to advertise their prejudices, when they think it's socially tolerable.
WTF with Veritas?! Kid's got himself money and lawyers, and they'll get him off.
I wish someone in Matthews' studio audience had mocked him with a "YOU LIE!" as he was attempting to deliver a compliment.
Parrotlover77 says:
My wife and I loved the video of Bear when you first posted it. Lots of random people on the intertubez will be mourning his loss — thanks for sharing him with us.
I hope you are right about DADT being a masterstroke for this year. I'm not entirely convinced, but I was glad to hear him throw a little liberal meat to us ultra-lefties, even while he is simultaneously giving a handjob to the Republicans with issues like off-shore drilling (WTF?).
As for Acorn and Blartblart's Big Dumb Blog and Fox, well. Par for the course. No surprise.
BrianC says:
Sorry to hear about Bear. I recently received similar news about one of our dogs, who we nicknamed "Bear." Hmm.
Julie says:
I don't watch TV at all so I'm not familiar with Chris Mathews in general, but while I think his statement was extremely poorly worded, the intent was not racist. It was not too long ago that the idea of having a black president at all seemed far fetched. For over 200 years as a nation we've not had a single president who was not white and male. Now we have a president who's black, and just over a year later his race is hardly a topic of discussion. That's pretty amazing when you think about how slow moving, in general, attitudes toward civil rights and racial relations are in this country. I mean, it took white people until the 1960's just to find it in their hearts to share a drinking fountain with people who aren't white.
Desargues says:
I'm really sorry to hear about your pet, Ed. I do hope he's going to get better, though. Little guys can still pull through when nobody else thinks they will.
O'Keefe thought he was a pimp daddy-o, but he was really just Gordon Liddy's bitch (and Breitbart's, I suppose; once a ho, always a ho). If the justice system does its job — always an unknown known in Louisiana — he might just get turned into some Aryan Brother's bitch. An awful prospect, to be sure, but also a teachable moment for someone who's been struggling to expose the dark threat to his white way of life.