Archive for November, 2012
Great article by Bruce Bartlett in the American Conservative about how the GOP lost its mind and, consequently, elections. But I think he misses a connection.
At one point, Bartlett says this about Obama (which I agree with 100%):
The final line for me to cross in complete alienation from the right was my recognition that Obama is not a leftist. In fact, he’s barely a liberal—and only because the political spectrum has moved so far to the right that moderate Republicans from the past are now considered hardcore leftists by right-wing standards today. Viewed in historical context, I see Obama as actually being on the center-right.
And then, later on, he also says this:
It is now widely understood that the nation may be center-left after all, not center-right as conservatives thought.
This is probably true too, but the point that I think Bartlett should have made more explicit is that the problem is not that Republicans misjudged where the American people are on the political spectrum, so much as where the political spectrum is in the first place. Even if America is a center-right country as Republicans love to say, the center-right is where Obama and the Democrats are, not where the Republicans are. Even by their own assessment of the electorate, their political positioning is terrible – and it only makes sense if you define “center-right” as somewhere to the right of Dick Cheney.
So the good news is that between the GOP’s extremism and America’s demographic trends (which Bartlett also talks about), the Republicans may be dooming themselves to irrelevance for a long time to come. Of course, the bad news is that most Democrats might as well be Republicans too.
November 29th, 2012 at 07:17am
Posted by Eli
Entry Filed under:
Corruption/Cronyism,
Democrats,
Obama,
Politics,
Republicans,
Wankers
Now this is the way to do a one-picture-a-day video:
Awesome.
November 26th, 2012 at 07:22am
Posted by Eli
Entry Filed under:
Monday Media Blogging
I think He might be making a point about conservatives who call themselves Christians, but it’s very subtle…
Seriously, this has been a pet peeve of mine for a long time: How can anyone wear their “Christianity” on their sleeve while simultaneously rejecting the message of the Testament which puts the “Christ” in Christianity?
November 25th, 2012 at 12:19pm
Posted by Eli
Entry Filed under:
Economy,
Monday Media Blogging,
Mr. Deity,
Politics,
Religion,
Republicans,
Taxes
This week’s quote is from the thoroughly ridiculous Jack Frost 2: Revenge Of The Mutant Killer Snowman:
Back in India I had to saw my best friend’s leg off with a broken teacup and use it as a weapon!
And, of course, there’ll be other people’s wee baby tasmanian devils…
Is it weird that I think the angry one is especially adorable?
November 23rd, 2012 at 11:25am
Posted by Eli
Entry Filed under:
Friday Quote & Cat Blogging
None of this is my fault.
November 22nd, 2012 at 12:47pm
Posted by Eli
Entry Filed under:
Monday Media Blogging
I think this multitasking idea might just catch on.
November 19th, 2012 at 11:27am
Posted by Eli
Entry Filed under:
Monday Media Blogging
Come to think of it, I think they’re pretty much all interiors…
November 19th, 2012 at 07:07am
Posted by Eli
Entry Filed under:
Photoblogging
This week’s quote is from Todd Solondz’s oh-so-cheery Happiness:
Almost makes me wanna learn how to smile.
And, of course, there’ll be other people’s wee baby jaguars…
Sleepy!
November 16th, 2012 at 11:37am
Posted by Eli
Entry Filed under:
Friday Quote & Cat Blogging
I actually did manage to find things I hadn’t shot before in the four years I was there…
November 16th, 2012 at 07:36am
Posted by Eli
Entry Filed under:
Photoblogging
This is the last of the NYC photos for probably a while. Up next is, um, high school.
November 14th, 2012 at 11:37am
Posted by Eli
Entry Filed under:
NJ/NYC,
Photoblogging
If you’re an “honorary consul general”, then you should absolutely be entitled to honorary “inviolability” and “diplomatic protection”.
I’m not sure why, but this Jill Kelley woman kinda reminds me of Michaele Salahi. I expect her to start angling for a reality show gig next.
November 14th, 2012 at 07:04am
Posted by Eli
Entry Filed under:
Wankers,
Weirdness
It’s like Batman Meets Aeon Flux… in China.
Awesome.
November 12th, 2012 at 12:40pm
Posted by Eli
Entry Filed under:
Monday Media Blogging
This week’s movie is from the bizarre Ida-Lupino-menaced-by-crazy-handyman movie Beware, My Lovely:
Now you don’t want me to do the job, is that it? You’re just like the army.
And, of course, there’ll be other people’s wee bulldog puppies…
Cranky!
November 9th, 2012 at 11:10am
Posted by Eli
Entry Filed under:
Friday Quote & Cat Blogging
Pretty much exactly what it says. Only one more batch of NYC photos after this.
November 9th, 2012 at 07:08am
Posted by Eli
Entry Filed under:
NJ/NYC,
Photoblogging
So yeah, the Democrats had a pretty good election on Tuesday: Electoral vote landslide for Obama, wins for progressives like Liz Warren, Tammy Baldwin, Sherrod Brown and Alan Grayson, and losses for misogynistic Tea Party buffoons like Todd Akin, Richard Mourdock, Allen West and Joe Walsh. Better yet, as the minority and youth votes grow, it looks like these kinds of results could be the new normal.
But.
Isolated pockets of progressivism notwithstanding, today’s Democrats as a whole are still just as corporate-owned as the Republicans, they’re just subtle enough to frame their sellouts as “pragmatism” and “compromise”. Worse yet, it looks like Obama and the Democrats are poised to Grandly Bargain away Social Security and Medicare, the crown jewels of the liberals and progressives who just swept them back into office. So you’ll forgive me if I’m less than excited about Democrats retaining control of the White House and Senate when they’re committed to delivering Republican policy outcomes.
Demographics make the GOP irrelevant, Democrats make it unnecessary.
Cross-posted at FDL.
November 8th, 2012 at 08:03am
Posted by Eli
Entry Filed under:
Corruption/Cronyism,
Democrats,
Elections,
Obama,
Politics,
Republicans,
Sexism,
Wankers
If The Bloodhound Gang were Korean, I imagine their videos would look something like this…
November 5th, 2012 at 11:34am
Posted by Eli
Entry Filed under:
Monday Media Blogging
It’s not enough to vote based on whether Obama has done a crappy job over the last four years (he has). Vote based on who you think will do a better job over the next four years, and on whether you think they’re a lesser enough evil to be worth supporting.
November 5th, 2012 at 06:48am
Posted by Eli
Entry Filed under:
Elections,
Obama,
Politics,
Romney
This week’s quote is from the Cary Grant classic, Operation Petticoat:
Better button up New Jersey.
And, of course, there’ll be other people’s belated existential Halloween cats…
Some of us dress as crippling self-doubt every day…
November 2nd, 2012 at 12:23pm
Posted by Eli
Entry Filed under:
Friday Quote & Cat Blogging
Hey, it qualifies as a theme.
November 1st, 2012 at 07:53am
Posted by Eli
Entry Filed under:
NJ/NYC,
Photoblogging
