From the GREAT STATE OF MAINE…
A Blast of Class from the Past
The Deep Thinkers of America gather to think deeply, via the January 21, 2007 edition of The Chris Matthews Show:
David Brooks: I've heard no evidence that Al Gore wants to run for office, and unless there's a sharp increase in sales of Slim-Fast...
Chris Matthews: HA!!! Ha Haaaaa!!! That's what I say!! That's what I say!! Can a black man win the presidency? Can a woman win the presidency? Can a fat white man win the presidency is the other question!
Brooks: I'm not one to talk, of course...
Matthews: You're not overweight, not compared to him!
Brooks: And finally, you know, [Democrats have] stars running for office. They've got three real stars.
Matthews: OK. If we see a plummeting in the scales of Al Gore this summer, a super Slim-Fast diet, does that say this guy's getting back in there?
Howard Fineman: It will be front-page news. Al Gore buys a package of Slim-Fast. But, y'know, I don't know...
Matthews: Norah, what do you think? Are we going to watch the scales here to see how it's going?
Norah O'Donnell: I think that's unfair. But I think...
Matthews: There's always somebody to put me in the position of bad guy. I'm going for the white guy. You're talking about the black guy.
The obvious conclusion: Stephen Colbert's SuperPAC antics are poisoning our public discourse.
Cheers and Jeers starts below the fold... [Swoosh!!] RIGHTNOW! [Gong!!]
Cheers and Jeers for Monday, January 23, 2012
Note: Kodak files for bankruptcy. No film at 11.
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By the Numbers:
Days 'til the Florida primary: 8
Days `til the Bennington Winter Festival in Vermont: 5
Amount of oil ExxonMobil originally claimed had spilled into the Yellowstone River in Montana last July: 500 barrels
Actual number of gallons spilled: 1,509
Number of barrels that were recovered: 10
(Source: USA Today)
Consecutive years that the Broadmoor (CO), the Green Brier (WV) and the J.W. Marriott Inn (AZ) have each been awarded Five Diamonds by AAA: 36
Number of Five Diamond hotels that have been on the list longer than that: 0
NFL
New England Patriots (AFC Champs) 23 Baltimore Ravens 20
New York Giants (NFC Champs) 20 San Francisco 49ers 17
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NEW! Revvin' Up for Rhode Island!
Brought to you by the 2012 Netroots Nation Convention in Providence, June 7-10:
Providence's Benefit Street, known as the "Mile of History," contains the largest single collection of historic buildings at their original location in the nation.
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On September 12, 1953, John F. Kennedy married Jacqueline Bouvier in Saint Mary's Church in Newport.
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Rhode Island is one of only two states that begin with a double consonant. The other is Florida.
---From Quahog.org
Rheally!
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Puppy Pic of the Day: Crazy Germans…
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CHEERS to the South Carolina surprise! On the same day that Republicans in Iowa finally certified that Rick Santorum won in Iowa, Newt Gingrich stole Mitt Romney's mojo by winning in the "What's Palmetto, Again?" state. I'm not sure why, but this section of Don McLean's American Pie seemed ripe for the rewritin' after Saturday's Gingrich landslide:
Now, for four years Mitt's campaign has grown
And Newt, Inc.'s milked the huckster zone
But, that's not how it seems to be
When the jester sang for the gang of tea
In a coat he borrowed from Ronnie
And a voice that came from Barry G
Oh and while the Mitt was looking down
The jester stole his tinfoil crown
The vote count was confirmed
Romney had been burned!
And while 'Bama read a book on Marx
The quartet stumped in Tampa parks
And we filled blogs with witty snark
The day presumption died
We started singin'…
Bye bye Mitt, establishment guy
Drove his Chevy, heart so heavy
And the dog strapped up high
And doughy Newt is full of grins and high fives
Singin' "This'll be the day I survived,
This'll be the day I'm revived..."
The real winner, of course, was No Labels. Bloomberg/Lieberman 2012!
P.S. Another debate tonight. Tampa. 9 O'clock. NBC. At stake: THE SOUL OF AMERICA! Bring dip.
JEERS to thinking small. Maine's illustrious Tea Party Republican governor, Paul LePage, is not happy. He's not happy because the state legislature isn’t going to give him the major cuts to services for the poor, elderly and mentally disabled he thinks are needed to balance our budget. (Pay no attention to the huge tax cuts to the rich he recently signed into law.) In response, he's resorted to an oldie-but-goodie tactic from the Republican playbook: take children hostage by threatening to shut down our schools. I guess he overslept the day they covered that in his social studies class because...
The Maine Constitution is very clear that the authority to fund public education lies with the Legislature, said Rep. Margaret Rotundo of Lewiston, the ranking Democrat on the Appropriations Committee. "My understanding is that the Legislature would have to pass legislation not to fund the schools, and that's not going to happen. It's just not going to happen."
It'd be nice if we could force him to write "I will not speak for the remaining three years of my term" on the blackboard a hundred times. To the petitionmobile!
JEERS to the worst editorial judgment in the world. USA Today wrote a thoughtful editorial Friday about those Marines who peed on some dead Taliban fighters a while back. They think the Marines should be held to account and punished. Fine. But then they had to seek out a dissenting opinion to provide "balance," and who did they settle on? Michael "You should get AIDS and die, you pig" Savage. The guy who makes Glenn Beck look like the head of Mensa. The guy who was literally banned in Britain because he basically wants anyone not white and Christian (and, if female, loyal and obedient) to disappear. Of all the opinionators in the world, "The Nation's Newspaper" couldn’t find anyone in the nation who lives on the top side of the manhole cover to offer the rebuttal. Wow. The troops will be punished by the brass, no doubt. But bringing in Savage to defend them? That's just cruel.
CHEERS to visitors from another planet. Scientists say they believe that some rocks that fell on the ground came from Mars. "Not so fast," said Sarah Palin's head.
JEERS to not going out of business. Three years ago, newly-minted President Barack Obama signed an order that was intended to close the prison at Guantanamo within a year:
"The orders that I signed today should send an unmistakable signal that our actions in defense of liberty will be just as our cause and that we, the people, will uphold our fundamental values as vigilantly as we protect our security. Once again, America’s moral example must be the bedrock and the beacon of our global leadership."
Hilarity ensued when Joe Scarborough, Pat Buchanan, and other cowardly Republicans whose mothers didn’t cuddle them enough insisted that America would be IN GRAVE DANGER if these terrorist suspects were moved to a maximum-security prison here ON AMERICAN SOIL!!! (I'm sure that made the staffs of our excellent maximum-security prisons feel all warm and fuzzy.) Anyway, a bunch of cowards in Congress and state houses---Republicans and Democrats, of course---got the vapors and said no, America isn't smart enough or strong enough to handle those detainees ON AMERICAN SOIL!!! So, three years later, Gitmo is still open for business, and now the president can have American citizens arrested without probable cause and black-helicoptered there, too, if he chooses. Memo to DHS: if I'm on your list, I'd like to pre-order the veal.
JEERS to a field full of fumble fingers. If you missed the NFL action yesterday, here's what I saw: one team out of four came to play. It wasn't Baltimore or San Francisco or the New York Giants. They apparently straggled in from the Pee Wee league lookin' for the beer tent. (No disrespect, of course. I'm just sayin'.) Now, if you'll excuse me... Hey, New England! Here! [Clank!] I believe this is your Super Bowl trophy. We'll make it official February 5th during the Really Expensive Dog & Pony Commercials Show. [Wink!]
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Five years ago in C&J: January 23, 2007
CHEERS to terminating the suspense. Finally we know the answer! Hillary Rodham Clinton officially announced her candidacy...right before Bill Richardson did. I just won a cool five bucks in the office pool! (Now, Senator, tell me what you stand for, again?)
JEERS to Babar the burglar. A road through a wildlife sanctuary in Thailand is being closed during nighttime hours because wild elephants are stopping cargo trucks and robbing them of sugar cane at tuskpoint. It’s not that they can’t arrest the elephants, it’s just that they don’t have any orange prison jumpsuits in size XXXXXXXXXXXL.
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And just one more…
CHEERS to second chances. If 2012 hasn't gotten off to a good enough start for ya, here's good news: today we all get a do-over with the start of the Chinese New Year---4710. Specifically, it's the Year of the Dragon. If you were born in 1916, 1928, 1940, 1952, 1964, 1976, 1988 or 2000, you are...
...charismatic, tempestuous, and lucky. In fact, for centuries in Chinese culture the dragon has been considered one of the luckiest signs of the zodiac. …
Not shy by any means, dragons are often faulted for running off at the mouth with a swaggering overconfidence. Their generous natures can also result in betting unwisely on a 'sure' thing. This may sometimes result in uncharacteristic personal misfortune. With dragons, however, bad luck never seems to last for long. …
Dragons may also reveal a surprisingly tender heart to confidantes, and as trusted friends no more generous companions can be found than loyal dragons. Cross them, however, and woe to those who have experienced a tongue-lashing from these hot-headed creatures.
Dragons, of which I'm one, are most compatible with the rat and the snake. Out of curiosity I looked 'em up and found out I'm soulmates with Dick Cheney and Clarence Thomas. Slay me now.
It's Monday. Make sure you do your stretchies before you start toting and lifting. Floor's open...What are you cheering and jeering about today?
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Today's Shameless C&J Testimonial:
Russian biologist Alexander Semenov graduated in 2007 from Moscow State University’s zoology department where he studied invertebrate animals. Specifically: Bill in Portland Maine's brains.
---Thisiscolossal
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