It’s all clear to me now. As I voted last night, I was handed my ticket to the booth: number 666. Code, I learn, for Nero. And that’s who we’ve got this morning. Over time, I’m not expecting that he’ll do the GOP much good, but that means NJ’s got yet another problem. Where are today’s Millicent Fenwicks?
I was very fond of the late 2008 vintage Kool Aid that swept the country to very good effect. Such a surprise to hear this morning that that same vintage may be helping us in our balance of trade. Clearly the brand has made its mark in Oslo.
“Republican Party has been dominated by radicals — ideologues and/or apparatchiks who, at a fundamental level, do not accept anyone else’s right to govern.” — Paul Krugman, NYT this morning.
“
Talk radio contributes to the right’s less constructive tones… When asked about Glenn Beck…Graham said:
“Only in America can you make that much money crying…I mean, you know, what [do] I think about Rush Limbaugh? Well, I think he makes hundreds of millions of dollars being able to talk on the radio.”
…. “how many people in my business are going to be controlled by what’s said on the radio or in a TV commercial…Glenn Beck is not aligned with any party as far as I can tell. He’s aligned with cynicism, and there’s always been a market for cynicism.”
” — It’s a conspiracy! Two Republicans casting doubt on the idiot fringe commentators. This one from Lindsey Graham“The rise of Beck, Hannity, Bill O’Reilly and the rest has correlated almost perfectly with the decline of the G.O.P. But it’s not because the talk jocks have real power. It’s because they have illusory power, because Republicans hear the media mythology and fall for it every time.” — David Brooks, NYTimes
“Complex arguments are being batted around in this health care debate, but the central issue isn’t technical but moral. The first question is simply this: Do we wish to be the only rich nation in the world that lets a 32-year-old woman die because she can’t get health insurance? Is that really us?” — Nicholas Christoff, NYT
August 21, 2009: “The latest weather projections indicate that Hurricane Bill could spoil some of President Barack Obama’s vacation plans this coming week in Martha’s Vineyard.”
The Washington Post reports that “One of the foremost advocates of expanding Medicare end-of-life planning coverage is Johnny Isakson, a Republican Senator from Georgia.”
So shouldn’t he be speaking up more? OK… in this interview he’s characterized Palin’s “Death Pannel” as “nuts.” That’s a start.
“The America I know and love is not one in which my parents or my baby with Down Syndrome will have to stand in front of Obama’s ‘death panel’ so his bureaucrats can decide, based on a subjective judgment of their ‘level of productivity in society’ whether they are worthy of health care. Such a system is downright evil.” — Sarah sez. What would I do without her? Yet, it’s not been a year. Egad.
“I believe he didn’t serve in government long enough to understand really how things work.” — Congressman Chuck Grassley quoted at The Hill’s Briefing Room Blog. Ummm… maybe that’s because so often things don’t really work. Get with the program, Chuck.