Iowahawk is not amused

I hope you will join me in expressing a simple bit of solidarity with this guy, Spartacus style. I AM JOE. I am a Wal Mart schlub in flyover country who changes my own oil and unclogs drains without a license. I smoke and drink beer and toss the football in the front yard with my kid, and I figure I can fend my way without handouts from some Magic Messiah's candy bags. Most everyone in my family and most everyone I grew up with is another Joe, and if you screw with them, you screw with me.

Are you a Joe? Say it proud. Leave it on every goddamn newspaper comment section and online forum. Let these pressroom and online thugs know you won't stay silent when they try to destroy the life of a private citizen for speaking his mind -- because for every one of them, there are a million Joe Wurzelbachers. And for that we should all be thankful.

A-fucking-men. Read the whole thing, share in the righteous indignation, and pray that there are enough Joes out there to spare us from Captain Bullshit.

MSM Cluelessness Update: ...and, as it turns out, neither of them is actually named "Joe."

Posted by: Sean M. at 08:41 PM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
Post contains 208 words, total size 2 kb.

Want to win?

The head of the Moron's Union has some suggestions.  I'm not feeling the pessimism just yet, but it would be better if we could unload on Captain Bullshit.

Posted by: Sean M. at 04:32 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 31 words, total size 1 kb.

This guy again

Another video by the guy bmac posted on the other day, but this one has kung-fu, light sabers, and...Frankie Goes To Hollywood.

Only drawback?  No Richard Pryor shirt.

(Via Treacher, who notes that if this guy were a lefty, "he'd be a national phenomenon.")

Posted by: Sean M. at 09:08 PM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
Post contains 47 words, total size 1 kb.

Gloves to come off?

The WaPo is reporting that the McCain campaign is about to unleash a series of new negative ads against Captain Bullshit that will call his vaunted judgment into question, including stuff that will tie him to Tony Rezko and William Ayres. If the article is to believed, the ads will not, unfortunately, mention Jeremiah Wright.

The usual caveats about this kind of strategy are expressed:

Being so aggressive has risks for McCain if it angers swing voters, who often say they are looking for candidates who offer a positive message about what they will do

You know, I've been drinking and smoking (and living up to my image) all night, but I'm pretty sure this kind of thing surfaces every year, where pundits talk about how undecided voters hate negative campaigning but it works anyway, and I'm too tired to look it up, but let's go for it:

-Barack Obama has ties to unrepentant domestic terrorists like Bill Ayers.

-Barack Obama got a sweetheart deal on his property through ties with a convicted felon.  Namely, Tony Rezko.  Though I'm not sure how that  helps Michelle Obama's children.

-Barack Obama worked for ACORN, a group that is neck-deep in the current financial crisis and is involved in voter fraud.

-Barack Obama was a member of a church whose pastor preached hatred of America and racist dogma for twenty years, was married there, and had his kids baptised there, but claims he never heard any of the hatred in spite of the fact that he titled one of his books The Audacity of Hope after one of his Pastor's anti-white-people, anti-American sermons.

Do you know an undecided voter? Maybe someone who's been suckered by the message of Hopenchange? Please, put them some knowledge.  Note that the Hope, Change, and Judgment To Lead is little more than a slogan.

Posted by: Sean M. at 06:30 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
Post contains 309 words, total size 2 kb.

A little bit of good election news for a change

The foofaraw over McCain campaign-mailed absentee ballots in Ohio is over, with the State Supreme Court ruling against Secretary of State Fascist Thug Jennifer Brunner's contention that the ballots should be thrown out if a box wasn't checked on the form. My favorite part of the article?

Brunner said she was "pleased" the court clarified what she called a set of "complex applications ruled" passed by the state legislature. "I will gladly follow the high court's decision," she said.

I'm guessing there were some clenched teeth involved in that quote.

Posted by: Sean M. at 06:28 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 99 words, total size 1 kb.

Interview with Sen. Jim DeMint

Jim DeMint has been a great Senator, something that can't be said about most of the rest.  Hawkins has an interview up with Sen. DeMint at RWN, discussing the financial crisis, do check it out.

Posted by: doubleplusundead at 10:36 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 40 words, total size 1 kb.

Palinmania!

I would say she drew an Obama-like crowd in Florida, but I'm sure the crowd wasn't filled with drooling morons. 

Posted by: It's Vintage, Duh at 08:35 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
Post contains 21 words, total size 1 kb.

Best case scenario

Via Dan Riehl, this could be good news if true.  Given the abysmal approval ratings of Congress, McCain's decision to try and win the election, and the missteps by the left, the GOP could theoretically take back the House.  Admittedly, I'm skeptical, and the limited competence of the GOP leadership make me question that we could do it, but I think we can make gains.  I don't even want to think about the Senate...the Senate GOP right now is completely, utterly worthless.

I've talked about it before, but we can pick up two seats in PA, Districts ten and eleven.  Chris Carney in D-10 won because Don Sherwood got himself into a scandal, Chris Hackett should be able to take the seat, and Kanjorski in D-11 has been stepping on his own dick all year and faces Lou Barletta, who is giving Kanjorski a run for his money.  Undoubtedly, there are decent candidates in your state too, so hopefully a few of them can push through.

UPDATE: Democrats on the Hill are noticing things aren't going well for them, and they're getting nervous.

Posted by: doubleplusundead at 10:01 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
Post contains 186 words, total size 1 kb.

Why We Fight, Vol. 372,712,001,927

Here are some photos my wife took when she and her twin sister attended the recent Maverick/Palin rally in St. Louis.

It was hotter than shit that day, and the Palins cracked they had never experienced this type of heat and humidity, but they fired up the crowd. More so than some old white guy like Pawlenty.

And, yes, she only attended because of Palin. And in a battle ground state such as MO, that means something.




Here is something for the ladies:


And one more VPILF

Posted by: eddiebear at 12:39 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
Post contains 96 words, total size 1 kb.

Another good sign

Piggybacking on Moron Pundit's post from earlier today, I thought I'd add the following anecdote:

I was talking to my dad earlier this evening, and he told me he got a call today from the RNC.  Now, over the last couple of years (especially around the time of the Shamnesty debate) when they would call him, he'd tell them to fuck off in no uncertain terms.  Today, he kicked them a hundred bucks.

"I told them, 'This is because of Sarah,'" he said.  Awesome.

People like my dad, who were debating whether or not they were ready to take a bite of a turd sandwich, are fired up about this campaign for the first time.  We might just win this one.

Posted by: Sean M. at 09:50 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 124 words, total size 1 kb.

Palin now polling better than McCain or Obama

Awesome.

Also, Hawkins has a good roundup of quotes from the major speakers at the Convention.

Posted by: doubleplusundead at 09:55 AM | Comments (12) | Add Comment
Post contains 24 words, total size 1 kb.

Palin will help down the ticket

The Politico took time out of their busy, back-patting schedule this morning to state what many conservative activists have known for days:

Republican members and strategists agreed that [...] she should be able to help turn out socially conservative voters in House races. Conservative faithful in many key districts have remained wary of John McCain’s commitment to their agenda — and National Republican Congressional Committee Chairman Tom Cole said Wednesday that several Republican candidates have already inquired whether Palin can appear with them at joint campaign events.

The benefit could be most apparent in competitive congressional races in the South, where Republicans lost two conservative-minded seats in special elections over the last several months and have been defending an unusual number of seats in traditionally favorable territory.

“She clearly motivates the base. Republicans are pretty pumped about her candidacy — not just because of her conservative values but because of her personality and background,” said Republican pollster Neil Newhouse. “She's someone they feel a connection with.”

In the same way that Sen. Barack Obama will be a drag on vulnerable Democrats in many parts of the country, Sarah Palin will be an asset.  I can't wait to hear what the candidates I'm sponsoring over at Down the Ticket have to say about this.  

Posted by: It's Vintage, Duh at 12:24 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 218 words, total size 2 kb.

Party planning for McCain's speech

This won't be an issue if you've only invited other Morons, but if you've asked some people with so-called "Real" jobs to attend, this is some actual good advice...



Seriously, the Val-U-Rite stuff may be fine for the regular "friends" you "entertain," but those "swing voters" might want something we might call, say, a little more Grey Goose-y.

Posted by: Sean M. at 04:52 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 63 words, total size 1 kb.

My focus group loved Palin's speech

Well, it wasn't so much a focus group as it was eating dinner with my parents and my younger brother as we watched the speech tonight. Sure, we're all GOP partisans, but none of us voted for McCain in the primary. They knew I'd been hoping Palin would be the pick, and this was the first time we would be able to get together and watch her in action and talk about her.

They all agreed that she did a fantastic job. "She's forceful without ever sounding strident," my brother pointed out, making the implicit comparison with You-Know-Who. "She can be quite the attack dog," my mom said, smiling. She also thought her line early in the speech about being an advocate for families with special-needs kids was powerful. Seeing as how I'm a retard, I can understand how that would resonate with her. She had my dad laughing at a lot of her digs at Obama, particularly the one about a small town Mayor being comparable to being a "Community Organizer," but with responsibilities. As for me, I thought she hit a lot of the right notes: pride in her small town roots, hitting back at the MSM, sounding some strong notes on National Security, and stressing her experience on energy policy, to name just a few. We haven't been advocating her as the Veep candidate here at dpud for nothing. Bring on the debates!

(By the way, I would have posted this much sooner, but it turns out that the queasy feeling I began to have in the pit of my stomach during dinner had absolutely nothing to do with jitters over how well Palin would perform. No, that was due to an...unrelated digestive problem. I'll spare you the details. Trust me, you'd rather not know.)

Update: Even though a majority of the commenters are dismissive, it's interesting how several liberal TNR readers are "are a little panicked."

Posted by: Sean M. at 02:32 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 326 words, total size 2 kb.

Donate now, or forever hold your pieces of eight

RWS notes that you have till Thursday to donate to Palin and that other guy, so if you're gonna donate, donate now.

Posted by: doubleplusundead at 12:07 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
Post contains 31 words, total size 1 kb.

Stopped clock

Huck, commenting on Palin,

In fact I don’t know if you realize this but Sarah Palin got more votes running for mayor in Wasilla, Alaska than Joe Biden did in two quests for the presidency that oughta tell you something

Much as I hate to give credit to Huck for anything, I have to admit that was a pretty good line.

Posted by: doubleplusundead at 01:14 PM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
Post contains 63 words, total size 1 kb.

Are we going to do something smart for a change?

It looks like the GOP, known (rightly) for years as the "Stupid Party" actually has a clue about what to do if Gustav slams into the Gulf Coast during next week's convention:

The contingency plan – a worst case scenario if the storm devastates coastal areas – would turn Republicans into Red Cross-type volunteers who would help collect donations, food and goods to help storm victims.

McCain - whose campaign motto is "Country First" – said helping people during an emergency will take precedence over accepting his GOP nomination for president.

"It wouldn't be appropriate to have a festive occasion while a near tragedy or a terrible challenge is presented in the form of a natural disaster," McCain told Fox News in a pretaped interview airing today.

That might just do the trick in terms of killing the meme that I worried about a couple of days ago.

The link to the Post story comes from Instaglenn, who wisely suggests "sending a group of volunteers down afterward, with Sarah Palin in charge." Yes, please.

Posted by: Sean M. at 05:43 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
Post contains 184 words, total size 1 kb.

Hmmmmm...

....do you think the Kossaks might be worried?

Posted by: Sean M. at 06:26 AM | Comments (6) | Add Comment
Post contains 9 words, total size 1 kb.

Wow....just wow....

It's not often I get to file something under the "GOP Win!" category and truly, truly mean it.  Last night I went to bed and dreamt all night that John McCain had chosen Tim Pawlenty as his running mate.  When I woke up at 11am, I didn't even head to the computer to see who the choice was, because I knew McCain's choice could do nothing but disappoint.

Boy was I wrong. 

When I got out of the shower, the friend I'm staying with was awake, and said "CNN News just woke me up with a text saying that McCain chose some b**** from Alaska as his running mate."  At this point, I told him that he was just going to have to deal with the fact that I would be on the computer all day. 

I'm thrilled.

I'm shocked.

I just shelled out $50 to John McCain.  I just bought two bumper stickers and I only have one car. 

The next 67 days just got a lot more exciting.  We now have what we were lacking: a GOP ticket we can be excited about.

Hey, $3,000,000 in 7 hours can't be wrong!

We now return me to my regularly scheduled vacation. 

P.S. - Yes, my head did asplode.

Posted by: It's Vintage, Duh at 01:20 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
Post contains 211 words, total size 1 kb.

My Meaningless Take On The Palin Selection

While some prominent conservative bloggers are disappointed at the Palin pick, and worried that Gov. Palin may become Geraldine Ferraro Redux, one thing I noticed today that has been lacking on our side of the aisle for a long while is back:

Excitement and Energy.

Hell, just look at the comment and traffic activity here, at Moron Central, and elsewhere. This move has excited many in the base of the Party to actually (gasp) kinda, just maybe, don't look twice, support McCain.

Also, I tip my hat to Maverick for being ballsy enough to eschew the Conventional Wisdom that picking another capable, though boring, white guy with ties to a "battleground state or area" was the wise move. He gambled on energy and buzz, and it is paying off in the short term. And all of this without pissing off a base that (myself included) already eyed Maverick with suspicion and caution.

Yeah, Pawlenty, Portman, Cantor, and Romney may very well have been wonkish Beltway approved picks, or ones that would have helped solidify states like Michigan or Ohio, but would they have generated this sort of buzz? Would they have been able to get more than a "meh. I guess I'll support him" from many in the base? Would my wife and that friend of mine I see at the playground with his daughters when I take my daughter to the park be talking about Romney tonight like he was Palin?

Why do I mention my wife? Here's why. She works in a secure office without TV, radio, or internet access. She didn't know about the Palin pick until she heard it in the car on the way home from her job. She immediately called me screaming, "Did you hear?!?!?" That is how excited she was over the Sarah Palin pick. If a person who really doesn't follow politics too much can get this excited, how many times over has that happened across America this afternoon and evening?

Hey, this race is tight, and McCain could have played it safe and gone for a boring pick. He didn't need to do a desperation pick, ala Mondale/Ferraro in 1984. But the Palin choice has rocked the campaign season to its core. No more proof is needed than the fact Team Obama seems on its heels for the first time since Jeremiah Wright became a household name.

Of course, I am writing this after settling my daughter down for bed and enjoying a nightcap to help me forget about my job. So who knows?

But well played, Senator McCain. Well played.

Posted by: eddiebear at 11:21 PM | Comments (8) | Add Comment
Post contains 437 words, total size 3 kb.