Goodnight, Noah

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Thursday February 07, 2013 · 1:43 PM PST

2013/02/07 · 13:43

In a cruel but fitting note, Valentine's Day this year is two months to the day that a mad man took advantage of our lax gun laws to rob his mother of a cache of weapons and then use a military grade rifle to blow body parts off of first-graders.

johnthorpe

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Wednesday November 07, 2012 · 2:16 PM PST

2012/11/07 · 14:16

I don’t want to overstate things, but I believe that the 2012 election is the realignment election that we political scientists have been looking for since Ronald Reagan hijacked the nation and set the GOP moderates scrambling for a political home.

johnthorpe

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Monday November 05, 2012 · 11:06 AM PST

2012/11/05 · 11:06

As two or three of you already know, I'm a guy in my mid-thirties who cast the following votes:

1996: Dole/Kemp
2000: Bush/Cheney
2004: Bush/Cheney
2008: McCain/Moron

I was a Republican at age nine, when my friend Paul and I went door to door for the original Bush -- the semi-moderate one who raised taxes and signed some decent legislation. He had many flaws, but he hated Reagan, and nowadays, that should count for something.

johnthorpe

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Friday October 26, 2012 · 1:08 PM PDT

2012/10/26 · 13:08

There has been a long-running conversation here, and elsewhere, about whether or not to eliminate the Electoral College. It is my contention that eliminating the Electoral College is foolish, would bring harm and chaos to the electoral system, eliminate minority rights, and increase the divisions in this country.

Poll

139 votes Show Results

Should the Electoral College be eliminated?

139 votes Vote Now!

Should the Electoral College be eliminated?

Yes

62 votes

56 votes

I'm not sure

21 votes

Today I eat the crow I made yesterday

johnthorpe

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Tuesday October 09, 2012 · 1:21 PM PDT

2012/10/09 · 13:21

Yesterday, I wrote a diary explaining my fear that Obama had really screwed up the election by blowing the debate, allowing polls to creep up for Romney, and headlines to proclaim a Romney comeback, and possibly (if not stopped by better performances or something positive for Obama) an avalanche that undercuts the entire campaign.

Having re-read what I wrote, and after spending a long night reading the thoughts of people I greatly respect (here and elsewhere, right, left and center), I have come to two conclusions.

1. I wasn't wrong that it COULD happen.
2. I was very, very wrong about the CHANCE that it could happen.

Poll

163 votes Show Results

Which of these happened?

163 votes Vote Now!

Which of these happened?

Obama fucked up and Romney will win

10 votes

Obama fucked up, but he'll bounce back and win

45 votes

Obama didn't fuck up too badly, and he'll be back over 300 electoral votes soon

99 votes

Pie

7 votes

Cake

2 votes

Face it -- We might not win now

johnthorpe

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Monday October 08, 2012 · 12:09 PM PDT

2012/10/08 · 12:09

I've been working in and around politics for 25 years, and I have never seen as bad a week as Barack Obama just had.

And yet you folks go on cheerleading, as if this was part of some grand strategy, or as if Obama has some magic ace up his sleeve. I'll let you in on a little secret: there is no grand strategy, there is no ace up his sleeve, and we're staring down a very, very tough month.

Poll

313 votes Show Results

Honestly, who will win the 2012 election?

313 votes Vote Now!

Honestly, who will win the 2012 election?

Barack Obama

268 votes

Mitt Romney

44 votes

Obama's best response to Romney, taxes

johnthorpe

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Friday September 21, 2012 · 3:57 PM PDT

2012/09/21 · 15:57

Mitt Romney today released one doctored-up tax return from last year, and a summary of some previous years tax returns. Unlike other events, where he screwed up a mere one time per event (a healthy moron ratio of 1:1), Romney managed to screw three roof-bound pooches with this one.

First, the blatantly bullshit 2011 return not only makes him look shady, but also stupid. Why stupid? Because his last comment on taxes was that anyone who paid more than the minimum in taxes isn't qualified to be president. Naturally, in 2011, he paid more than the minimum by not deducting all his charitable gifts...making him unqualified by his own words.

Second, he brought the tax issue back into the forefront. Obama will send him a case of scotch for that one. Guess what we'll be talking about all Sunday and Monday?

Third, he just gave Obama the best opening debate line idea ever. What if Obama were to propose, in the first few minutes of the first debate, a law mandating that all candidates for president release a decades' worth of tax returns?

Romney has no response. If he agrees, he has to either release his returns or look even more awful than today. If he disagrees, he has now painted himself as someone with something to hide. Think that message might resonate -- that you can't trust this guy?

Checkmate Obama. I just hope they do this.

Conservatives Should Support Occupy Wall Street

johnthorpe

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Tuesday November 01, 2011 · 1:12 PM PDT

2011/11/01 · 13:12

We must, indeed, all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately.

When I was a young boy, around eight years old, not much older than my son is now, I used to have these amazing day-long toy battles. I would spend my morning building vehicles out of Legos. I would gather up He-Man and all my GI Joes and divide them into two sides.

By afternoon, when all was set up, I'd invent a story to go along with the impending war. Maybe one of the GI JOEs was kidnapped by Skeletor and was held captive in their castle. Maybe the Teenage Mutant Turtles were plotting a takeover of the Thundercats land. The rest of the day was dedicated to playing out the war between my groups of toys.

Twenty five years later, this is exactly what the political elites in this country do to Americans. They divide us into groups (left and right, conservative and liberal, middle class and poor, and so forth) and, like a child lording over toys, they set the groups against one another, to their benefit. Why? It's fun being master of the universe. It's fun playing Mortimer Duke. It's great to move the levers of society to your benefit.

Full story here

johnthorpe

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Monday August 29, 2011 · 12:07 PM PDT

2011/08/29 · 12:07

Where is Jack McCoy when you need him?

According to Michele Bachmann, Jack McCoy should be perched in his office in New York City, ready to file 29 charges of murder against God, Allah, Jesus, Zeus, and whatever other deity is willing to step forward and take claim for the hurricane that blew through the East Coast this weekend.

In case you missed the news, Michele Bachmann beclowned herself this weekend, after saying that the hurricane was a direct message from God to Americans. No, really. Crazy Eyes was at it again, claiming that God had it in for America.

Which of these most closely matches your beliefs?

21 votes Vote Now!

Which of these most closely matches your beliefs?

God is real and causes disasters to punish us

0 votes

God is real but doesn't cause disasters

7 votes

God isn't real

14 votes

judas generation

johnthorpe

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Monday February 21, 2011 · 11:07 PM PST

2011/02/21 · 23:07

I regret to inform my son that the Judas Generation sold out his opportunities in exchange for 30 pieces of tax cut legislation.

Poll

0 votes Show Results

0 votes Vote Now!

The path forward (or: New Ideas Matter)

johnthorpe

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Wednesday November 03, 2010 · 3:21 PM PDT

2010/11/03 · 15:21

We have just taken precisely the beating we deserved to take; in fact, I'd say we're incredibly lucky to have held the losses where they are.

The reality is, Obama was elected to change things. Remember that? Remember change? Change the tone in Washington. Change how we do business. Fix health care. Turn the economy around. Deal with climate change.

Hope. Change. The future. A New America.

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Goodnight, Noah

Obama’s 2nd Term: The Realignment Agenda

Tuesday, I cast my first Democratic ballot ever

Keep the Electoral College

Today I eat the crow I made yesterday

Face it -- We might not win now

Obama's best response to Romney, taxes

Conservatives Should Support Occupy Wall Street

After Hurricane Irene, Let's Arrest God for Murder

judas generation

The path forward (or: New Ideas Matter)