Politics As Usual

[SlaveNoMore]

Hank Chinaski
Whiff. She's pretty thin.

I guess this is all very subjective.

Let's do a test. How would you define, say, Mrs. Claus?

[Gattigap]

While the Dems on this board are away watching Brit Hume on FNC and admiring his ability to switch off on both advocacy and the chairs in which he sits, may I suggest a periodic diversion for the GOPers into that cesspool of liberal thought, Slate.

Slate has coupled its longstanding "Bushism" feature with a new set of "Kerryisms," which pokes fun at the "pomposity and evasiveness" of JFK. They first give you the quote as an English speaker would probably utter it, and then show you the actual quote Kerry uttered, which shows what 24 years in the Senate will do to a person.

Question: You talked about the overextension of the troops. Do you think this course is ultimately going to lead to the institution of the draft?

Kerry [the cogent version]: [No]1. I would be against that2. I don't think we need it3, 4. [The president ought to]5, 6, 7, 8, reduce the overexposure9 of America's commitments. A proper approach to the Korean Peninsula, for instance, should include the deployment of troops, the unresolved issues of the 1950s, and10, 11 could result in a reduction of American presence12.

—New York City, April 14, 2004

[1] I hope not

[2] in the current form

[3] now

[4] particularly if we did the proper diplomacy

[5] The effort of the president ought to be to try to find ways to

[6] overall

[7] right now

[8] really

[9] in a sense

[10] ultimately

[11] hopefully

[12] ultimately

Kerry version [actual, mangled version]:
I hope not. I would be against that in the current form. I don't think we need it now, particularly if we did the proper diplomacy. The overall effort of the president right now ought to be really to try to find ways to reduce the overexposure, in a sense, of America's commitments. A proper approach to the Korean Peninsula, for instance, should include the deployment of troops, the unresolved issues of the 1950s, and ultimately, hopefully, could result in a reduction of American presence, ultimately.

Gattigap

[ltl/fb]

Originally posted by SlaveNoMore
I guess this is all very subjective.

Let's do a test. How would you define, say, Mrs. Claus?

Slave, I did not want to have to tell you this because of your love for picking on people who have psychological problems, but since you and all your friends started pointing at me and screaming "fat pig! oink oink oink oink!" in that fancy restaurant where my new boyfriend's family was meeting me for the first time, I have developed bulimia. I'm sure there is no connection and you should not feel bad. I'm just telling you that I am simultaneously piggy and skinny. And I have bad breath and my teeth look like shit.

[taxwonk]

Originally posted by Hank Chinaski
Whiff. She's pretty thin.

It's more like Just because all the single male guests have hooked up and left, doesn't mean the one busboy is out of reach.

You must have really been drunk when you met. Either that, or you are truly desperate and hoping that her capacity for self-delusion equals or exceeds her capacity for fucking anything she can chain to a post long enough.

[taxwonk]

Originally posted by ltl/fb
Slave, I did not want to have to tell you this because of your love for picking on people who have psychological problems, but since you and all your friends started pointing at me and screaming "fat pig! oink oink oink oink!" in that fancy restaurant where my new boyfriend's family was meeting me for the first time, I have developed bulimia. I'm sure there is no connection and you should not feel bad. I'm just telling you that I am simultaneously piggy and skinny. And I have bad breath and my teeth look like shit.

Except for that "boyfriend" blunder, you're story would have been almost believable.

[SlaveNoMore]

Originally posted by ltl/fb
Slave, I did not want to have to tell you this because of your love for picking on people who have psychological problems, but since you and all your friends started pointing at me and screaming "fat pig! oink oink oink oink!" in that fancy restaurant where my new boyfriend's family was meeting me for the first time, I have developed bulimia. I'm sure there is no connection and you should not feel bad. I'm just telling you that I am simultaneously piggy and skinny. And I have bad breath and my teeth look like shit.

This is compelling stuff. I'm thinking Oprah caliber

[baltassoc]

Originally posted by Tyrone Slothrop
So you flood part of Wyoming [with black, stinking crude oil]. Would anyone notice?

You know Wyoming is were all the T. Rexs come from, right? Just thinking you might be self interested.

[Not Me]

Originally posted by Gattigap
While the Dems on this board are away watching Brit Hume on FNC and admiring his ability to switch off on both advocacy and the chairs in which he sits, may I suggest a periodic diversion for the GOPers into that cesspool of liberal thought, Slate.

Thought this was a good article in Slate:

http://slate.msn.com/id/2100717/

[Tyrone Slothrop]

Good news if you own your housing, or you don't want the nation's economy to tank:

from Political Animal
HOUSING BUBBLE?....Is there a housing bubble? The latest "State of the Nation's Housing" report from the Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies says no. Nicolas Retsinas writes in the LA Times today that although housing prices have skyrocketed, they aren't likely to go down anytime soon:

• Three fundamental conditions have undergirded this sector, and they have not changed....First, demand remains high....Second, no-growth and slow-growth restrictions continue to constrain supply....Third, the consolidated financial services industry, with access to global capital markets, is flexible.

He does, however, suggest that higher interest rates will reduce the rate of refinancing, which in turn will result in lower consumer spending.

The link to the LA Times story isn't working for me.

[sgtclub]

Originally posted by Tyrone Slothrop
Good news if you own your housing, or you don't want the nation's economy to tank:



The link to the LA Times story isn't working for me.

Seems to me that demand may also decrease as interest rates increase, so I'm not sure I entirely agree with this.

[Mmmm, Burger (C.J.)]

Originally posted by Tyrone Slothrop
Good news if you own your housing, or you don't want the nation's economy to tank:

I don't really buy either part of the analysis.

First, everyone who can refinance has by now. Or should have. Is there a lot of cash to be squeezed out of refis at this point?

Second, higher rates have to slow price increases. When purchasing power declines as it does with higher rates, people simply can't afford it, even if they take out ARMs. So, what I really mean to say is increasing rates don't matter right now but a lot of buyers are really fucked in a few years when the AR kicks in and their payments go up. I'd like to rent now and cherry pick the foreclosure sales then.

What's Kerry's plan to keep homeownership affordable for the working class? Does it involve $5m mortgages on the half of houses that heiress wives bought?

[Tyrone Slothrop]

Originally posted by Not Me
Thought this was a good article in Slate:

http://slate.msn.com/id/2100717/

I thought it was incoherent and loopy, for reasons aptly put here and here and here and here.

[Not Me]

Originally posted by Tyrone Slothrop
I thought it was incoherent and loopy, for reasons aptly put here and here and here and here.

Compare the response of Dems when a liberal breaks ranks to the response of Reps when one of their own breaks ranks. Not exactly a big tent your Dems have, now is it? 'Nuff Said.

[Hank Chinaski]

Originally posted by SlaveNoMore
I guess this is all very subjective.

Let's do a test. How would you define, say, Mrs. Claus?

It's all environmentally related. Mrs. Claus lives in the artic tundra- she is fit for her surroundings. Fringe is from Minnesota, right?

[Gattigap]

Originally posted by Not Me
Compare the response of Dems when a liberal breaks ranks to the response of Reps when one of their own breaks ranks. Not exactly a big tent your Dems have, now is it? 'Nuff Said.

OK. You mean like Dennis Hastert's response to John McCain?