Monday, December 22, 2008

two things I'd like to comment on this morning, plus my christmas present list.

The first is Dick Cheney's "I'm not sorry about telling Leahy to f**k off /go f**k himself* on the Senate floor because he 'merited' it."

Wow, what a total prick this guy is; it really boggles my mind. You know it's a sign that the guy has no capacity for self criticism / self reflection, when he can't even admit that cursing at a Senator on the Senate floor four years ago was not ideal behavior. Also, I'm pretty sure "f**k off" doesn't even have a real meaning, which makes it, you'd think, hard to "deserve."

Ironically, in the same interview, Cheney blows off Biden's criticisms of his record with the words, "If he wants to diminish the office of the vice president, that's obviously his call."


Also incredible -- Franken expects to win by 30-50 votes?

Nice to see that your one little vote really does matter, I guess.
In other news, a running account of Christmas presents received from students:
1. shiny blue broach
2. box of Mrs. Fields cookies
3. box of fancy chocolates
4. hand cream + travel size shampoo and conditioner
5. a very nice black mini messenger bag! (exactly my style! well done, observant mother!)
6. a small figurette of a snowman that takes batteries gives off lights of changing colors
7. a very fancy silver and purple broach
8. hand cream+ talcum powder

These are easily the best Christmas presents I've ever received. Usually I get a bunch of figurines of swans and some bad Polish chocolate. And the day is only half over.

* apparently it is unclear which he said.

24 comments:

Anonymous said...

Imagine, for 30 seconds, the pearl-clutching, the swooning, the hissy fits that would have resulted if Barack Obama had, at any point in the recent 21-month RNC/Fox News character-assassination orgy, told anyone to go fuck themselves.

Heck, some Republicans are heading for the fainting couch because there aren't enough Southerners in the Cabinet.

But Republicans, apparently, can whine all they want and no one calls them whiners or complainers or lectures to them about over-sensitivity or bootstraps or any of that crap.

And they can use the crudest language possible without ever hearing lectures about civility, bipartisanism or reaching across the aisle. Those are reserved strictly for Democrats whenever they take power.

Rick Massimo

Anonymous said...

"Those are reserved strictly for Democrats whenever they take power."

Example, please.

Anonymous said...

An example of a Democrat taking power? I know, hard to imagine . . .

Anonymous said...

Peggy Noonan, in the Wall Street Journal, after Barack Obama's seven-percentage-point victory:

"It should be noted here that the split in the popular vote was 53% to 46%. That is a solid seven-point win for the new president elect, but it also means more than 56 million voters went for John McCain ...Mr. Obama has a significant portion of the nation to win over."

Peggy Noonan, in the Wall Street Journal, after George Bush's two-point victory over John Kerry in 2004:

"George W. Bush is the first president to win more than 50% of the popular vote since 1988... The president received more than 59 million votes, breaking Ronald Reagan's old record of 54.5 million...It will be hard for the mainstream media to continue, in the face of these facts, the mantra that we are a deeply and completely divided country. But they'll try!"

Example, please, of anyone noticing that Obama broke Bush's 2004 record by a pretty large margin.

Example, please, of anyone saying that Bush's two-point victory, the narrowest in more than a generation, meant he should tread carefully.

Example, please, of anyone saying that George Bush had to be careful not to stock his Cabinet and his advisors with too many conservatives.

Rick Massimo

Anonymous said...

"For the sake of national security and national unity, President-elect Barack Obama should put a stop to efforts to investigate or prosecute Bush administration officials for anti-terror “war crimes.”

- Morton Kondracke, in Roll Call just today.

I can do this all night.

Anonymous said...

For that matter, do the words "center-right nation" ring a bell? They should; they were all over the news after Obama won.

(Funny how the election of a guy who, on Nov 3, was a black Muslim militant socialist somehow "proved," on Nov 5, that we were a center-right nation. But hey - being a Republican means being able to say whatever pops into your head and no one in the "liberal media" will remind you that you said the exact opposite last week.)

Sorry; I'll stop now.

Rick Massimo

Anonymous said...

- Congratulations on the tremendous success at the Nationals!

- Mrs Fields rocks!

- Dick Cheney ... is that what is meant by compassionate conservatism? Unrepentant till the end!

Unknown said...

i got a bag of ghiardelli white peppermint chocolate from one of my little 7th graders.


SOMEBODY's GETTING AN A!!!

Anonymous said...

Dick Cheney ... Sometime you must call a Spade a Spade !! It is amazing that you liberals, who are masters of character assassinations, misrepresentations, and out-right lies get insulted when you hear the truth.

Also incredible -- Franken expects to win by 30-50 votes? … One little vote really counts, yes, it gets counted over and over again until the Democrats get the result that they paid for in the first place. If this is the Change you are talking about … I can’t wait until next year !!!

Anonymous said...

Rick, perhaps you should re read the first post, specifically the part that says, "And they can use the crudest language possible without ever hearing lectures about civility, bipartisanism or reaching across the aisle"

I don't see any crude language, let alone "crudest possible language", in any of the examples you cite. My request for examples was not a request for statements by republicans that democrats don't like, but rather examples that specifically addressed the charge of the hysteria first post ("hissy fits", "pearl clutching", "character assination" etc.). Still waiting for some examples of this. Thanks.

Anonymous said...

Isn't a conservative calling liberals masters of character assassination a bit like a pot calling the kettle black? Isn't that the whole purpose of Rush Limbaugh and Bill O'Reilly and Sean Hanity's existence? History will judge Dick Cheney and George W. Bush harshly and deservedly so.

Anonymous said...

A general assertion is not an example. Still waiting...

Anonymous said...

"It is amazing that you liberals, who are masters of character assassinations, misrepresentations, and out-right lies ..."

Examples please.

"Sometime you must call a Spade a Spade !!"

Do you know,without looking at Google, what Cheney told Leahy to fuck off about?

Elizabeth Vicary said...

I know (without googling) what Cheney cited in the recent interview as his motivation. It was that Leahy acts like you are his friend to your face but is secretly your enemy. (!)

Anonymous said...

In my first paragraph, I posited a HYPOTHETICAL. Anyone who watched the campaign coverage with even one eye open knows what I'm talking about.

THEN I mentioned lectures on civility, bipartisanism and centrism. You asked for examples. I gave them.

You're trying to conflate the two because you are losing this argument. I'm sure your hoop collection is vast and varied, but I'm not going to spend my morning jumping through them.

And while we're at it:

"Example, please, of anyone noticing that Obama broke Bush's 2004 record by a pretty large margin.

Example, please, of anyone saying that Bush's two-point victory, the narrowest in more than a generation, meant he should tread carefully.

Example, please, of anyone saying that George Bush had to be careful not to stock his Cabinet and his advisors with too many conservatives."

Example, please, of the national media being tied up for weeks with Fuck Yourself-Gate, in which the shocking behavior of the vice president "raised questions about whether he has the temperament to lead."

Rick Massimo

Anonymous said...

"I know (without googling) what Cheney cited in the recent interview as his motivation. It was that Leahy acts like you are his friend to your face but is secretly your enemy. (!)"

Wow. Well, that's normally dealt with by not sitting with the offender at lunch, and totally telling Brenda that the miscreant totally tried to make out with Bobby. I'm glad Cheney found a more mature way of dealing with it.

Anonymous said...

Yeah, sorry, but I'm STILL not seeing any examples here of Rebpublican hissy fits, pearl clutching, character assassination, heading for the fainting couch, complaints that there are no southerners in the cabnit, whining or crudest languange possible.

If there is anything in your first post that you HAVE managed to exemplify I have not yet seen it. And I'm not "losing the argument" if for no other reason than I'm not arguing. I'm asking. And frankly I thought by now that you'd be able to come up with a couple of examples (probably petty ones, but examples nevertheless). I'm really surprised that you haven't been able to. But keep plugging away; I have faith in you!

Anonymous said...

Darn, I got her some swan figurines and polish chocolate. I feel bad now. :-(

Anonymous said...

It is OK to go all commercial and count your gifts (after all you are doing your part in the war on terror) but really you shouldn't dis stuff the kids give you.

Kids today are often painfully aware of how their classmates stand in the world of haves and have nots. You as a teacher, especially in chess and English - one of the humanities, should really respect all gifts - often they are given with a lot of appreciation. The attention you give a child especially from an adult who is smart, attractive and has his/her act together is often a big affirmation to many kids.

Merry Christmas!

Anonymous said...

Oh, I see, anon; we're at the purposely-obtuse point of this argument.

Crudest language possible? Oh, I don't know, how about Dick Cheney telling Pat Leahy to go fuck himself? The thing that, I don't know, started this whole conversation?

How about Dick Armey telling his fellow congressmen, referring to Bill Clinton, "your president is just not that important to us"?

How about Jesse Helms saying of Bill Clinton, "if he comes down to North Carolina he'd better bring a bodyguard"?

As for not enough southerners in the Cabinet, I'm talking about Congressman Jack Kingston, R-GA, sobbing "Southerners need not apply" just last week.

I apologize; I thought you sort of kept up on current events. My bad.

Rick Massimo

Elizabeth Vicary said...

I like the dueling political and christmas present narratives.

Anon dec23 9:43 yeah ok, you're right, we all agree with you, but I think you need to chill a little bit on the righteousness.

Anonymous said...

This is one of my favorite blogs, and only because of the comments. Let's strive to keep this going strong in 2009!

Remember -
Democrats walk like this: . . .
Republicans walk like this: ....

And -
My team rules, your team drools!

Anonymous said...

The New York Times is one of the worst offenders in the willful-blindness-to-pundit-hypocrisy-and-biased-coverage department, yet it is the only newspaper remaining in the United States that still covers chess. Discuss.

Anonymous said...

Agreed, and even the chess coverage in the NYT has declined greatly since Robert Byrne left. When the weekly column has degenerated to the point where it focuses on a game played by Howard Stern you know the end can't be far away.

And Rick, let go of the anger; embrace the love. Obama would want you to.