Tim Blair

"I'm going in on Monday and getting a new passport," said an electronics technician and volunteer at the Green Festival environmental conference who requested anonymity.

"I'm not leaving yet, but I'm getting prepared," he said. "I can imagine that this country is going to get a lot worse before it gets better."

Don't. Let. The. Bang. You. In. The. Ass.

Preview is my friend.....

Don't. Let. The. Door. Bang. You. In. The. Ass.

we are through some portal here. I thought 'tard bashing was the province of Allahpundit. Maureen Dowd looks like a hungover hooker on Tim Russert...lefties' favorite comic is bashing the mentally disabled... Barbra streisand sounds like Gandalf while chaneling Jefferson... Eric Alterman sounds like my college girlfriend when she had her period....they are collapsing...bob hebert lost it today on the NYT Op-ed...

The really funny thing is that you're much more likely, under the Dems, or our ALP, to have Charlie as your teacher. Australian readers will be aware of the panic being started in our Teachers' unions by the government's impatience with 'whole language' teaching.

Don't let Andrew Sullivan bang you in the ass, either, if you know what's good for you.

Anyway, I can't believe that tall, good-looking white guys are feeling marginalized now. Well, at least the next time I see a tall, good-looking white guy, I'll be able to understand how hard it must be for him.

Hey, wait! I'm a tall, good-looking white guy! I can't beat all this oppression off with a stick!

"I feel like the disenfranchised minority now, and that's a funny thing for a tall, good-looking white guy like me to say."

What a spectacular fusion of pathetic, vain and asinine. Hats off!

If that's the same Ron Schmidt I think it is, then he is indeed "a tall, good-looking white guy". I spent some time in prison with him a while back and, between you and me, what he didn't know about picking up soap with his gums wasn't worth knowing.

I'm sure it's the same guy: last time I saw him he was telling Bubba in Cell 7 about some trick he learnt in Idaho while visting his Uncle.

It's... it's... PAVASININE is what it is!

"The ideologies of the two parties are too different. I don't see how healing can take place. I feel like the disenfranchised minority now, and that's a funny thing for a tall, good-looking white guy like me to say."

That's from The Onion, right? Seriously, is anybody on the left side of the aisle listening to themselves? Somebody, anybody who might realize that they've entered into the territory of collective self-parody? Mr. Good-Looking White Guy got close with his "that's a funny thing to say" spiel, but apparently he couldn't quite reach the conclusion that it sounds funny because it's such an utterly moronic thing to say, so he went ahead and said it anyway.

I'm a okay-looking male of average height and ectomorphic build and it never stops hurting.

"Tall, good looking white guy..." is that from the Florida exit polling?

I feel like the disenfranchised minority now, and that's a funny thing for a tall, good-looking white guy like me to say."

Is he trolling for a date?

"Hey Baby? Do you feel disenfranchised? I do, and that's a funny thing for a tall, good-looking guy like me."

"Oooh! You're like so deeeep!"

"You know it, baby."

Speaking of pansies, this just in: Ivory Coast Loyalists Confront French Troops. Tensions are mounting as French President Jacques Chirac pressures Paris doctors to "stimulate" Yasser Arafat long enough so he could surrender to him....

"I have family in Idaho, but I told my wife we're not going to visit them now. It's all Republicans there," said Ron Schmidt..."

Now?! All Republicans?!

Having been born and raised a "Spudahoan*," I have to say, "Duh"!! Aside from a couple prominent democrats from the Gem State (former Gov Andrus who was also Carter's Secretary of the Interior, and Sen Frank Church), Idaho has always been one of the more steadfastly conservative/republican states in the nation, right along with Utah, Montana and Wyoming.

Is this a completely new revelation for Mr. Schmidt?

(*for those who don't know--especially in Oz, a spud is a potato, for which Idaho is famous)

Well... it IS San Francrisco...
"I have family in Idaho, but I told my wife we're not going to visit them now. It's all Hetero there," said Ron Schmidt, a public relations executive. "We have family in Indiana and I don't want to go there either.... much too Hetero..."

Didn't Idaho go red in 2000? I don't quite get what's changed. Unless Mr. Schmidt had decided that one vote for Bush was forgiveable, but that that two meant Idaho was truly banished from his affections. For good. Really, he means it this time. I told the bitch I'd leave if she betrayed me this way one more time, and I mean it! She doesn't even seem to care, either. And she won't even send back my songbooks and my old collections of Mother Jones. Probably laughing at them. Fascist hag. Why do I always end up with the crazy states?

Seriously, though, if Mr. Schmidt's family is even marginally more sane than he is, I'm sorry that they're going to be told "Sorry guys, I know you're my nearest and dearest blood kin, but that hellhole you live in is just to ideologically backward for me to risk tainting myself." Then again, if he's as truly self-oblivious as the article suggests, they're probably glad to be spared his company.

*Too* ideologically backwards, not *to*. Argh. And yes, I'm a nitpicker.

Sonetka: "...if he's as truly self-oblivious as the article suggests, they're probably glad to be spared his company."

Exactly.

By the way, the governor of Idaho is Dirk Kempthorne, who, as far as I know, has never been the male lead in a romance novel.

I wonder what the Democrats who went into southern states in the 1960s to fight for civil rights think of "big handsome idiot" and his hands-off approach. Say what you like, at least they had more guts than today's cry babies.

There are maps on the internet that show a breakdown of votes for counties rather than states. This will be a boon for Handsome Ron, who can thus identify those parts of Idaho that are 'safe', at least for his particular form of retarded bigotry. However, he should also be aware that there are some parts of California (largely in the north and east) in which he may fear to tread. Also if he visits Oregon, he probably shouldn't set foot outside of Portland.

Such a map may be viewed at Currency Lad's blog, under November 8's entry. As a mere commentor, and have no idea how to link it.

I have family in Idaho, but I told my wife we're not going to visit them now. It's all Republicans there....I feel like the disenfranchised minority now, and that's a funny thing for a tall, good-looking white guy like me to say.

I think this is John Kerry talking about his ski lodge in Idaho.

I'm a short, funny-looking white guy. That's not strictly relevent to the conversation, but it pisses me off.

Bush's election is the gift that keeps on giving! Seriously all the therapists in America must be cleaning up right now. After each patient leaves their office I reckon they would feel like shouting GOOMBA GOOM!!! whilst looking at a portrait of Dubya.

Oh rats - WEY!!! any takers out there? Please email me right away!!!

The battle cry sort of works for me.

Look if it was possible to step back and watch these cloud dwellers implode and fall to hell without laughing or deconstructing their stupidity I would recommend it.But this is to much fun. Sorry,I will not enjoy gloatville.

well Ron's ABC just played his song 'Bless your beautiful Hide' apologies to the recently deceased Howard Keel who probably hailed from Idaho.....

Is it ironic that so many members of the Democratic Party are no longer actual democrats? As in, they object to being governed by and/or associated with people who don't share their ideology. Has the MSM bubble actually concealed the fact that a significant minority of Americans are totalitarian in instinct, if not yet in behavior?

Sadly, I think the answer may be yes.

My gosh, I wish these little drama queens would finally expire from one last fatal bout of the vapors. I swear, southern belles from the "Gone with The Wind" era exhibited more testicular fortitude than your average "blue" county voter. Jeez, read Matt Welch or Ken Layne, and you'd swear you'd accidently logged onto the blog of a nine-year-old girl who just had a spider drop her shoulder.

OFF TOPIC warning.

Starting on SBS "young muslim and french" tonight.
More dhimitued from the marxist public channel.
hope tim picks up on this.

I'm sick to death of the 'Holier and Smarter than Thou Crowd' (those who hate Bush) crying and whining since Pres. Bush won the election. If they are that afraid of what life is like among people who supported Bush, I DO WISH they'd make good on their threats to leave the US. Please, just go!

These people claim that Pres. Bush is responsible for a climate of fear in the US. Yet, from what I can see, it's the Bush haters who drone on and on with fairy tales about what they should be afraid of. They have created the fear themselves, yet blame Pres. Bush for it.

Amos,
I too am a short, funny-looking white guy.

Obviously, under the current administration, we can't form a special interest group to leverage our victimhood status for government entitlements on behalf or other similarly opressed short, funny-looking, white guys. It would be unseemly. Maybe we can form a club instead. We can be pen-pals!

GOOMBA GOOM!

Goomba Goom and all that, but it's likely that "Charlie" actually voted for Kerry. You see, there was this nice lady who came around to the group home and helped all of the residents with their voter registrations and absentee ballots. Then she went next door to the nursing home and helped all the Altzheimer patients with theirs. Getting out the vote, you know.

Despite all appearances to the contrary, the majority of Democrats - even the ones who voted for Kerry - are still sane and rational.

Some even don't take themselves too seriously, and have retained both a sense of proportion and (more importantly) a sense of humour.

Case in point: a Minnesotta friend of mine, of the Kerry pursuasion, posted this:

Doing better with the election results now after several days of adjustment. Now I sleep like a baby.... I wake up every 2 hours and CRY!!! ha ha.....

I forgive Ted Rall for everything now. Goomba Goom! It sounds like an Ent chant:

We come, we come, we come with doom
A goomba goomba goomba goom!
To Washington! Though Washington
be full of fat and bureaucrats
We come, we come with tracts and axe
to smash the libs and cut the tax!

Etc.

Goomba Goom? Weren't they those things in Mario Bros.?

If its funny for a tall good looking white guy to feel like he's in the minority, does that mean that tall good looking white guys are the majority in the US? No wonder there's been a recent push for same sex marriages...There just ain't noone else to wed. Though attractiveness is relative, so if the yardstick is Michael Moore...

Goomba Goom, trees! Goomba Goom, flowers! Goomba Goom, Mr Personal trainer! Goomba Goom, GE SmartWater Installation and Technical Service Representative! To all a Goomba Goom AND GOOMBA GOOM US, EVERY ONE!!

Has anybody noticed that most of these elitist jerks have quite a bit if time to artfully craft their screeds. Don't they have real jobs? My guess is that many have only their BA degree to show as a seriously relevant accomplishment. People who actually DO THINGS, generally, don't get so overwrought about an election. Quite a few of these nutters seem to have gone the way of Jim Jones. Keep drinking the koolade you idiots and goomba goom to ya.

Sorry, Paul, but there's little to nothing that Mr. Rall could do that would earn my forgiveness. The man's a racist bigot AND a lousy cartoonist who only gets published because he's a LIBERAL racist bigot.

I tend to agree with Alan.

Though it may be wishful thinking, I believe (hope) that the people quoted here and elsewhere represent a small group of rather vocal, extreme lunatic lefties. I'd like to think that the majority of the Kerry voters are just as distressed by the current direction of the Democratic party as I am. Just as some conservatives worried in the mid-80's that the Republican party was being hijacked by the ultra-religious right.

It was just a matter of time before the "tall, good-looking white" liberals claimed victimhood status.

They've been waiting for this day to come, by god...THEY'RE MAD AS HELL AND THEY'RE NOT GOING TO TAKE IT ANYMORE

I love it, but it's gonna need a tweak.

Goomba goom, Motherf*cker.

Yeah, that's better.

B

These times are so much like the days after Reagan beat Carter.

Andrew D; Try here.

From USA Today

Goomba Goom from JesusLand!

The U.S. seems poised to have its first major bowel movement with the exodus of these sore losers. If Rall was included it would be perfect.

"Goomba Goom" appears to be cognate with "Kumbaya".

I think goomba goom could be multi-purpose, like "dude", depending on inflection and context. Say it quietly, and it could be, "I'm stunned at the stupidity of this." For instance:

"This guy is in public relations? Unbelievable. The person who hired this tin-eared tool would probaby hire a blind man as a crossing guard [shakes head] Goomba-goom, man. Goomba-goom."

I for one will not believe any hype about wealthy liberals avoiding Red America or leaving the country until I see Park City home prices dropping.

Strange site....but I was born February 13, 1981 as well Andrew.

"Why should we believe we will ever have another fair election in this country?" asked one woman.

Typical of these moonbats. A "fair" election is one that their side wins. I wonder if the dinosaurs thought their extinction was unfair.

What I really hate about these guys is that they all generalize so much. Also, everyone I've ever known who was named Ron Schmidt has been a Nazi.

Goomba Goom, and to all a goodnight.

"I have family in Idaho, but I told my wife we're not going to visit them now. It's all Republicans there," said [San Francisco resident] Ron Schmidt, a public relations executive. "We have family in Indiana and I don't want to go there either."

Yeah, you'll be safer in California where there aren't any nasty evil Republicans.

Bush voters in Idaho: 408,254
Bush voters in Indiana: 1,474,475
Bush voters in California: 4,403,495

Alan said:

"Despite all appearances to the contrary, the majority of Democrats - even the ones who voted for Kerry - are still sane and rational.
Some even don't take themselves too seriously, and have retained both a sense of proportion and (more importantly) a sense of humour."

I'd like to be exposed to more of these types. The ones I know are humorless and very angry right now.

there was this nice lady who came around to the group home and helped all of the residents with their voter registrations and absentee ballots. Then she went next door to the nursing home and helped all the Altzheimer patients with theirs. Getting out the vote, you know.

What's wrong with that? Retarded people, Alzheimer's patients, and the like are not mentally competent to judge where their own interests lie. Were they competent, they would surely vote for the party of humanity and compassion rather than the one that would eject them into the street to live or die, and then censor the statistics about how many of them did die.

It is absurd not to assume that any thinking being would rather die than live, all other things being equal. This is the definition of a thinking being.

Non-thinking beings include volunteers in the military and people who voted for Bush this time around. It's clear that Bush's plan is to pursue an apocalyptic global war against civilization, and to continute it forever. It's equally clear that the United States will lose this war. Their average IQ is well below that of civilized nations, and they are "faith based" rather than "reality based", meaning that they live in a fantasy-world. Nobody inhabiting a fantasy world can hope to defeat somebody living in reality. This is why the Marines are even now being savagely humiliated and crushed in Fallujah: They are only capable of attacking "soft targets". The resistance are smarter, braver, more capable, and far more realistic. The staggering, insupportable US casualties of the last 18 months will continue, and all the censorship and biased media coverage the US can muster are laughably inadequate to hide their utter, hopeless failure as a military power.

The US will lose this war and will as a consequence be absolutely devastated, and occupied by peacekeeping troops for decades to come. Never again will Americans be permitted to swagger on the world stage; they have demonstrated themselves to be mentally incompetent, unable to rule themselves or take their place among the nations of the world. They have always been among the least free nations on Earth, and they now sweat under an inconceivable degree of coercion and censorship -- but their grandchildren will look back on these last, faltering, crippled years of US sovereignty as a golden age of relative liberty.

The world's hatred for the US has reached an unprecedented peak and will only get worse; we've gone past the point of no return. We gave them a second chance, a chance to unseat Bush, and they refused it. The consequences are on their own heads now.

Ron Schmidt sounds like a classic sexist to me. 'So I told the little lady nope, we're not going to Idaho.' So Ron, you have the absolute right to choose your wife's actions? How insensitive. How male-dominant. How fascist. Ron, you are showing some ugly and nanny-like colors.

How was the therapy session aaargh? We're you told to write down all your silly delusions? Gooba Goom.

What's wrong with that? Retarded people, Alzheimer's patients, and the like are not mentally competent to judge where their own interests lie. Were they competent, they would surely vote for...

And with that post, this formally hilarious thread has gone from the sublime to the ridiculous.

"aarrgghh".... how apt. If I where you I would stick to deciding how retarded people and Alzheimer's patients would vote.

BTW, the collective term for these two groups is "liberal".

GOOMBA GOOM, man... goomba goom.

I think Arrghs attempt at humour needs a /sarcasm at the bottom?!?

No-one could be that stupid really?

You can tell it's sarcasm because the post uses paragraphs, punctuation and is correctly spelt.

Goomba Goom, that post had me going there!

Let's see: Ron won't travel to any red flyover state. He cannot abide any Republican, or presumably any one of 59 million dumb Bush voters. He doesn't appreciate different outlooks and demographics. He can't handle setbacks with savvy and resilience. He must think losing market shares in a fair fight is a matter of being disenfranchised and not one of simply failing. He's trying to peddle himself as a victim because his candidate/ product lost.

And Ron is a public relations exec for some company? If his wasn't a terribly tiny and specific niche market before, guess it will be now.

Excellent spelling and punctuation, Aarrgghh, especially for a "troll"! Goomba Goom!

Aarrgghh: Absolutely hilarious. One helpful hint, though: in the future USE MORE CAPITAL LETTERS in your satiric posts and lots of exclaimation points!!!

Good catch there, A! Man, ol' Ron better not piss off his relatives in Idaho -- he may need their charity should he lose his job.

Of course, if that happened, the irony would be delicious!! He could live in a trailer, and listen to all them varmit guns going off, so's the family has something in the pot.....

Andrew D and or everyone:

Here's the Currency Lad county map. Permanently hosted there too!

http://img70.exs.cx/img70/7453/bush-land.gif

"I have family in Idaho, but I told my wife we're not going to visit them now. Its all Republicans there said Ron Schmidt, a public relations executive."

Ya right Ron, they'll have to hire a lawyer if they ever want to see that money you borrowed from them. Nothing tears family apart like loaning... err I mean, finding out they're a pack of inbred Republicans.

I have serious doubts that Ron Schmidt is a public relations executive or that he even exists. The story sounds like something a leftist reporter would make up to demonstrate the anger that the 'reality based community' feels toward their ignorant countrymen. Nobody that voted Democrat could be as stupid as this Ron Schmidt guy. Could they?

Has anyone seen that new pirate movie?

It's rated "aarrgghh"

It's really interesting that South Park is able to poke fun at disabled kids (Timmy and Jimmy), yet make it clear that they are the kids with the kind hearts, morals, and decency (vs. the rest of the little assholes on SP). Ted Rall, on the other hand, approaches them and portrays them with a sadistic bent. Then again, he is willing to use dead soldiers as symbols in his warped little act, so apparently nothing is beneath this goomba-gooming piece of santorum. I don't know why he enrages me still. He and Bill Maher should just get it over with.

Rob (the other one),

Trey Parker is probably the only fair and unbiased political commentator out there.

There you have it folks, John-John Edwards's Two Americas, those who work and play well with others, and those that don't. Unfortunately avoiding Idaho is largely ineffective in your quest for a troglo-free existence. There's plenty of Red-Staters at heart in solidly Blue areas and we blend right in. That guy next to you on the subway, or behind you in line at the deli..... Could. Be. A. Republican. Muhahahahahaha. Actually I was pleasantly surprised at all the W stickers on cars here in DC.

Sounds like what they're saying it that they only feel "comfortable" in places where they can enforce the kind of political and cultural conformity they imagine exists in places like Idaho and Indiana. It's a strange outlook for so-called "liberals," but alas places like college towns have been illiberal mono-cultures for several decades now.

Gee, I live in Indiana. And I am really disappointed that this tall good-looking white guy isn't coming to visit anymore.

Goomba-goom to all those wonderful Hoosiers!

Goomba Goom? Letting out the inner dork?

The world's hatred for the US has reached an unprecedented peak and will only get worse

If it has reached its peak it won't get worse. Dickhead.

Goomba Goom? Letting out the inner dork?

Nope. It's a mating call us RWDB hunters use for the outer dork.

Worked with you, didn't it, cs?

C'mon, guys. Arrrgghh's post was a parody, and a very funny one. And no, I'm not being ironic. Good one, aaarrgghh - I give it five goomba-gooms.

Of course, it's a sad commentary on the Left when the line between real and spoof is so hard to see.

Unfortunately our friend Ron cannot go anywhere without passing through Goomba Goom Land

We Goomba Goomers however can go from sea to shining sea without ever having to pass
into the land of the "Enlightened Ones"

Just thought I'd drop in to tell all you ratbags that I'm very happy George won. Unfettered power is what you wanted, unfettered power is what you got. I'm very happy for you. Had Kerry won Ohio and the presidency, he would have been just as illegitimate a President as GWB was in term one.
So now you're totally in charge. What will you do with all that power? Let's wait and see if God really is on your side. Heaven help us all.

As for mandates, don't get carried away blogsheep. As one commentator pointed out on Crikey.com.au:

"Yes, Bush won the election, fair and square. But he won the smallest margin in the electoral college of any re-elected president since Woodrow Wilson in 1916, and the second-smallest in history. In popular vote Bush's mandate is even less impressive. His share of the 2-party vote (which, in a first-past-the-post system, is all that matters - those who vote for 3rd parties have no more effect than voters who stay at home) is the lowest ever for a re-elected president, since popular votes were first tallied in the 1820s."

Blogsheep?

What a baaaad thing to say.

Miranda sweetie, it's a democracy, ergo the power is 'fettered' - and accountable - regardless of who's in charge. No amount of leftie scaremongering can change this f-a-c-t.

I think Aarrgghh must be Canadian.

Key phrase in Miranda's post; "re-elected president."

If the people not wanted to give Bush a mandate, they would not have re-elected him.

oops
If the people did not want to give Bush a mandate, they would not have re-elected him.

Bush isn't sure that he'll be able to get his judicial nominees through the Republican-dominated Senate Judiciary Committee. Shenanigans from Arlen Specter, et al.

And that's just the committee, NOT a full floor vote.

And Miranda Divide says he's got "unfettered power."

Oy.

SMG

Listening to the democrats' post election hysteria has changed my opinion about the need for universal health care - they need medical attention, and soon.
For those who THREATEN to run away from home like little kids who haven't gotten their way: For God's sake GROW UP.

Dear Miranda,

What part of four and a half million vote majority do you not understand?

Miranda is assured that George Bush and although unstated John Howard, will show the electorates in each country how repulsive conservatives really are.This will condemn both paties to the political wilderness,like forever.What if the sky doesn't fall Miranda.What happens if the Democratic experiment in the Middle East takes and Europeans become accutely aware of the shortcomings of their own socialist,no balls, governments and demand change? Where will you go to then Divide? Just wondering.

Sorry ,Parties

"Heaven help us all."

Awww. That's so sweet. Miranda's a Christian and she's given George Bush her blessing.

[Nope, I'm not gonna let the likes of McClelland run wild here like he has on other blogs. Dissent is hereby CRUSHED. The Management.]

Whaddaya mean "new"?

I am astonishingly handsome, and I am available for bookings.

Goomba, if you’ll pardon the expression, goom.

Ugh, Robert McClelland, the frequently banned troll from Damian Penny's site has sleazed on into this site. He love's calling those on the right "Right-whingers", I guess thinking that someone, someday, will actually laugh at his, umh, "wit". He sure does love that "joke" as he uses in every single comment he posts.

I've taken care of the problem, David. I refuse to allow that beast to ruin this blog like he's ruined others. Oh -- and I've taken out the url to his website. Get it, McClelland? YOU are not welcome here. Ever.

You know what, I'm glad Bush won. I'm sad at the likely humanitarium impact but it's good he should clean up the mess he created. Conservative Margaret Thatcher dominated the UK for years (helped by a war of her own with Argentina) splitting the country North/South and damaging the economy much as Bush has done. No-one liked the English - hooliganism abroad exploded. Also parallels there.

The good news is that she left such a bad taste in the mouth that Labour (and Tony Blair) came to power and the Conservative party sunk lower and lower. Sure, the same'll happen in the US.

Ironically, it's very possible the Conservative Party will now gain support as a protest against Blair. So a left-winger voted out for supporting an ultra-right winger by a right wing party. Strange - but do you care?

Probably not - 3 Black Watch soldiers killed in your war the other day. Any mention in the States? Not really. From a country like Scotland with 5million that's like well over 100 American soldiers killed in one go. Good, eh? Yay - Bush won.

So exactly why do you not care? I guess being safe in middle America is one reason. any further terrorist attacks will most likely be against the "blue" states.

The words "cowardly bastards" spring to mind.

Looking through the bars:
The deaths of the 3 British soldiers in the suicide car bombing did indeed make US news.

I find it interesting however that your venom is directed NOT at the terrorists who cut off people's heads, NOT at those who hide in mosques and schools and hospitals, NOT as those who target civilians and churches with bombs, NOT at those who engage in mass murder, NOT at those who kidnap and terrorize innocent people but at the "cowardly bastards" who put Bush into power.

Right.

SMG

Wow, what an amazing display of historical illiteracy and/or revisionism by "looking through the bars". Thatcher damaged the British economy? It may be news to you, but 'scaling back excessively restrictive labor laws' =! 'damaging the economy'. Your believing so does not actually make it reality, you know. (Yes, I know your liberal echo chamber in the "reality-based community" has told you differently, but do trust me on this one.) Perhaps you're one of the bludgers who can't compete in the free market place, I guess. Do you happen to work for a government unit or in public education?

Since your premise was so obviously faulty, your comparison of Thatcher and Bush doesn't even compute logically, but even taken on its own merits, the second part of your comparison is not operative, as Bush has hardly damaged the economy either.

And as a bonus, you've thrown in a variant of Fat Mikey's "why do terrorists attack the blue states, they didn't even vote for Bush" trope. Thanks for making it so abundantly clear whose intellectual footsteps you're following. Run along now, you don't want to miss feeding time at your cage, do you.

SMG

My "venom" IS directed at "those who target civilians, engage in mass murder, and those who kidnap and terrorize innocent people" - Bush has done all these things in invading Iraq. Of course I condemn the terrorists - it's a no brainer. Go after them and do what you want but if you still think invading Iraq has worked in that respect then...

PW

My comparison with Thatcher was how she split the country, gave her supporters a "no-one likes us we don't care" attitude that threatened relations abroad and hey, she did actually damage the economy - up north we lost a whole fucking shipbuilding industry for one thing.

in terms of Bush - 2 million jobs lost is a fair bit of damage to the economy I'd say. It's a good start.

And the blue states "trope" - I never said that's why you voted Bush. But if you lived in the firing line you may actually read up a bit more on what's actually going on, maybe listen to alternative views.

The only danger red america faces is from your own - Oklahoma bombing anyone?

And by the way I run my own business. Who's stereotyping now?

L.T.T.B.,

1. So what are you saying, that Scots are 100 times easier to kill?

2. Our war? If your guys are over there, then it's your war too.

In any case I'm glad you feel that Bush can clean up the mess. Thanks for your vote of confidence.

Gg

WC2

Looking:
"My "venom" IS directed at "those who target civilians, engage in mass murder, and those who kidnap and terrorize innocent people" - Bush has done all these things in invading Iraq"

Bush has targeted civilians? Bush has engaged in mass murder? Bush has terrorized innocent people?

There is, of course, absolutely zero evidence to support any of this.

End of conversation, my friend. No use engaging further. I promised myself after this election to not engage the Chomskyite Left; waste of time and effort.

SMG

Andrea — McLelland is also the only, I think, poster ever banned from Roger Simon's site...

SMG - if you're someone who believes 100,000 or so Iraqi citizens counts as "collateral damage" and is perfectly acceptable in a war that shouldn't have happened, then you're totally right.

Likewise, if you think that some of the people wrongly prisoned and tortured in that Cuban camp were just in the wrong place at the wrong time, then sure.

As for terrorising innocent people - well I'm fucking terrified for one by what he could do next in Korea, Iran or anywhere else!

Well, I'm not Roger Simon -- I ban lots of people. Stupid people, for instance -- like this "looking through the bars" joker. He's getting my vote for banning but the rest of you might disagree. So what is it -- do you find his pathetic screechings amusing or tiresome? This one I will let all of you decide on, in part because I am in a pretty good mood right now. (Except you, bars boy, you don't get to do anything but sit in the corner and eat your banana.)

And by the way I work near an American embassy and I lived in London when the IRA let bombs off all over the place. I'll take my chances with getting done in that way.

Terrorists were around before 9/11 believe it or not (even in the US - Unabomber, Oklahoma again), and they always will be - but using them as an excuse to invade countries you fancy invading is fucking inexcusible. Oooo - my neighbour looked at me funny the other day - I think I'll invade his house in a pre-emptive strike as he must be plotting something.

I vote to ban me. Then I won't be tempted to come back. It just gives me a sore stomach.

My comparison with Thatcher was how she split the country, gave her supporters a "no-one likes us we don't care" attitude that threatened relations abroad and hey, she did actually damage the economy - up north we lost a whole fucking shipbuilding industry for one thing.

Yup, you truly are a liberal who's economically illiterate. "Losing" uncompetitive industries is not damaging the economy. It's an unfortunate hardship for the people affected by it, no doubt about it, but it's necessary. Few people miss the once-thriving horse-carriage manufacturing industry these days. Or a host of other industries that simply disappeared because their time had gone.

in terms of Bush - 2 million jobs lost is a fair bit of damage to the economy I'd say. It's a good start.

Geez, not that debunked argument again. Ironically, I'm aware of at least two bogus explanations for that 2 million number. One disregarded the rise in self-employment by only considering the data of the payroll survey. (Surprise! During Bush's term, some uncompetitive manufacturing industries also shed employees. I guess your comparison to Thatcher was somewhat apt after all, just not for the reason you think.) The other explanation compared the number of unemployed under Clinton to the number of unemployed people under Bush, completely disregarding the fact that the population had grown by quite a bit more than 2 million in the mean time, keeping the rate of unemployment pretty much constant.

So, which debunked tripe would you like to hitch your wagon to?

And the blue states "trope" - I never said that's why you voted Bush. But if you lived in the firing line you may actually read up a bit more on what's actually going on, maybe listen to alternative views.

I didn't vote for Bush, which you would know if you had actually followed this blog for any length of time and weren't just here to engage in some third-rate trolling. But go ahead, do tell me "what's actually going on", I'm kinda curious now whether you actually have some well-thought out supporting arguments for your opinion, or if you were just trying to pull off a "you so ignorant! me so smart and informed!" bluff. (My bet's on the latter.) Bonus points for not claiming that Bush = Hitler or that he was responsible for 9/11.

And by the way I run my own business. Who's stereotyping now?

If you run your business with similar illogic as is evident in your comments here, you probably should be looking for a job in the government sector or public education soon. But let's stereotype some more...would your business happen to be a book store or perhaps an art gallery, or something else catering to the trendy left (i.e. people similarly challenged in the logic and reality departments)?

Andrea, let's keep the guy around at least for tonight...I haven't seen so many moronic and discredited talking points espoused by one single person since rhactive stopped coming around.

One vote for making lookboy's stomach hurt is in!

PLease God don't let these self-centred knobs emigrate to New Zealand.

We have enough left-wing dorks here as it is....

SMG - if you're someone who believes 100,000 or so Iraqi citizens counts as "collateral damage" and is perfectly acceptable in a war that shouldn't have happened, then you're totally right.

The Pilger effect hasn't even been applied to that erroneous figure yet.So I'm betting it will be 300,000 soon.And not because of what's happening in Falluja right now either.

Sure, I have thought about this...

In terms of people being less informed etc in the red states:

Red america IS less aware of the rest of the world. Using your president as an example - he didn't even own a passport so interested was he in what went on outside his borders.

To use another common example, Americans as a whole have a strange sense of the word "world". Boston Red Sox are now "world" champions. Of what world exactly - America and Canada?

In any other country it wouldn't matter. But america as the most powerful has the most responsibility. And Bush is abusing his position to go after his own agenda, whether it's sticking one up Saddam, protecting oil, or giving out Halliburton contracts (all of which I'm sure are myths you'll shortly debunk).

He blatantly exploited 9/11 to win another term which for me is enough reason to vote him out. And anyone who's reasonably informed and intelligent would have seen through this.

lttb, using the 100,000 figure shows you have zero grasp of the laughable statistics used to construct it. Pulling a figure from a 95% confidence interval spanning between 8,000 and 194,000 is meaningless. And such an interval is precisely where that figure comes from.

But I'm sure you researched that already. You wouldn't just take something the media fed you, without looking where it came from. You are smart and wise in the ways of the world. Yes, yes.

"He blatantly exploited 9/11 to win another term which for me is enough reason to vote him out."

Good luck with that! P.S. Check your calendar.

Crispy

yes i read the report too - is 8,000 much better?

i say ban. anti-US bigot!

is 8000 much better?

Yes, because in this instance we're disputing information you're trying to pass off as facts.

lttb

is 8,000 much better?

Even at "8,000", it's still bunk in the context of your argument.

well that's ok then.

I wasn't passing anything off as facts. I'm sure you all do your own research into actual figures and are very concerned by them. Why would you believe anything I say anymore than I would believe anything you say?

If you target civilian areas you target civilians. The point is - are his reasons for being there in the first place sound? No.

And Saddam Hussain's probably getting better healthcare than many people who voted for Bush.

Hmm, trolls aplenty!

Anyway, seems old Miranda Divide has popped up again.

She also seems to have given a ringing endorsement for Bush's second term.

Let's run down other Miranda predictions:

1) McCain would run as Kerry's VP
2) John Howard would lose the Oz Election
3) George Bush would lose the US Election

Now "she's" reduced to peddling slanted statistics to...well, who knows what "she's" trying to do, and frankly, who cares?

Wheeeeeeeeeee!

"Using your president as an example - he didn't even own a passport"

God you're stupid. So Bush "doesn't own a passport." So who the fuck was that who went to the UK and Eastern Europe and Iraq? A celebrity lookalike?

And since I am sick of shit-for-brains assholes posting here, I am banning the stupid little turd-tossing baboon.

just before you go lttb
You'd have a good chance of being believed if you backed up your assertions with facts, not parroted made-up figures or conspiratorial propaganda a-la-moore that we've all heard over and over and have long debunked.

Re- my previous post, try this link for a different figure from what you put forward.

A celebrity lookalike?

It was a plastic Bush!

And I'm not sure what "doesn't have a passport" is meant to mean...I don't (currently) have one. Does that make me unsophisticated?

Is "looking through the bars" a tall good-looking white guy?

A short ugly black guy?

A plain Asian guy?

Who knows...

lttb I don't believe you read the report. If you read and understood the report, you would not have quoted the 100,000 figure. You would in fact be telling everyone you know in your circle of lunatics that the 100,000 figure is bogus crap.

You quoted a figure. Your figure is inaccurate unsubstantiated unadulterated pidooma. Your weaseling does not change that.

"I read the report too". Like hell you did.

"I wasn't passing anything off as facts". Then don't quote a figure. And when you do give a number, be sure to also give a number for civilian deaths under Saddam's benevolent rule. You know, for comparison's sake. Because you are smart.

whether it's sticking one up Saddam, protecting oil, or giving out Halliburton contracts (all of which I'm sure are myths you'll shortly debunk).

Well, good to know you'd rather see Saddam back in power, that you seriously think it was all about the OOOOIIIILLL (taken a look at the prices charged at your local gas station lately?), and that you're surely going to denounce Clinton as a RWDB real soon now for awarding most of those contracts to Halliburton in the first place.

Red america IS less aware of the rest of the world. Using your president as an example - he didn't even own a passport so interested was he in what went on outside his borders.

You're late to the party, kiddo. We had a thread on that meme weeks ago. Curiously enough, when I was still a lefty-by-default, I bitched about Americans for the same reason. Then I got smart and realized the following: Why would Americans want to leave North America (surely you realize they need no passport for Canada and Mexico) in the first place? They have almost all imaginable climate zones available right on their continent, there are more interesting places than the average person can possibly visit in their lifetime, and they are liable to receiving a faceful of screaming anti-Americanism if they do venture elsewhere. As a simple cost-benefit analysis, I really don't see any huge upside of venturing to other continents. Unless you're an soft lefty who needs to score points with his friends by impressing them with all the strange foreign places he has seen (without actually bothering to understand anything about their culture).

To use another common example, Americans as a whole have a strange sense of the word "world". Boston Red Sox are now "world" champions. Of what world exactly - America and Canada?

Wow, Americans call their baseball championship the "World Series"...what a stunning indictment of American insularity. The fact that you need to reach so deeply into your grab bag of tired talking points speaks volumes about the weakness of your argument.

He blatantly exploited 9/11 to win another term which for me is enough reason to vote him out. And anyone who's reasonably informed and intelligent would have seen through this.

Wow, elected politician made reference to events that happened during his term. Film at 11. What about Michael Moore exploiting 9/11 for his own financial gain? What about that handful of 9/11 widows who used their tragic status in order to score political points against Bush on behalf of the far-left group they belong to? What about high-level Democratic politicians like Howard Dean (among several others) implying that Bush is responsible for 9/11?

And Bush is the one who "blatantly exploited" 9/11?

So you think voting against Bush because of something that any other politician would have done is a well-argued position, and that it actually shows your intelligence and status of being "reasonably informed". Let me break it to you as softly as I can: You're not informed, you're simply deluded. Every single post of yours in this thread has contained at least one well-known leftist trope that has long been shown to be a lie...well, let's be charitable and call them factual inaccuracies, because you don't sound like the kind of guy who actually realizes he's parroting bogus information, so I can't accuse you of actually lying.

You're suffering from Bush Derangement Syndrome, and like all its other unfortunate victims, you think it's not you who's gone insane, just that everybody else has. Get some help, seriously. Maybe they send psychiatrists to your zoo.

Aww darn, I see Andrea lost patience with you. Well, that gives you more time to get help for your hurting stomach and your hurting brain.

LTTB wrote:

Boston Red Sox are now "world" champions. Of what world exactly - America and Canada?

Yeah, I'm sure the Swedish Professional Baseball League feels really disenfranchised.

More to the point, LTTB kept on moving the goal posts, quoted talking points, indulged in ad hominem attacks, etc. A troll, and pretty unoriginal at that. And Miranda is back as well, reduced to stupid and insipid insults, sort of like opening a bottle of wine, and smelling vinegar.

Listen carefully.....hush, now......hear those sounds?

Those are the POPS! of leftoid heads exploding. Ah, such a sweet sound! :-)

PW:

He hits, he scorreeeeeeeees!!!

Ouch! That's gotta hurt!

Will the troll return for more?

Stay tuned!

LTTB - is life good in your Islington wine bar? Are you getting ready to roll out the red carpet for Robert Redford and all those other morons who don't beleive in democracy?
Bringing up the deaths of the Black Watch soldiers was as stupid as it was irrelevant. By the nature of their profession, soldiers stand a chance of being killed. They are in dangerous areas because that is their job. They are an old and proud regiment and can take it (not that you would know anything about that you latte drinking Guardian reading saddo). It is stupid to get worked up over the deaths of so few people. Do you think we should have thrown in the towel after Dunkirk? I can just picture your ancestors saying 'this is not our war, what have these Poles and the like got to do with us? Let this Hitler chappie get on with it?' Recognise anything? Because that's what you are saying now.

"Yes, Bush won the election, fair and square. But he won the smallest margin in the electoral college of any re-elected president since Woodrow Wilson in 1916, and the second-smallest in history. In popular vote Bush's mandate is even less impressive. His share of the 2-party vote (which, in a first-past-the-post system, is all that matters - those who vote for 3rd parties have no more effect than voters who stay at home) is the lowest ever for a re-elected president, since popular votes were first tallied in the 1820s."

I know those aren't the most impressive stats Miranda but when you factor in his RBI's, ERA, and batting average you get a more complete picture. Nice to see you're calling it for Bush though.

Always late to the party....

It appears that Rall is that "special" kind of ed. kid. Unless of course they changed the pythagorean theorem from (a)2+(b)2=(c)2 to E=(mc)2.

GOOMBA GOOM!

His share of the 2-party vote (which, in a first-past-the-post system, is all that matters - those who vote for 3rd parties have no more effect than voters who stay at home)

Heh. This little trick lets her ignore the Clinton re-election, in which Clinton couldn't even break 50% of the popular vote.

I've stopped being amused by the foot stamping leftists who refuse to accept the outcome of the election -- that Bush won, and won big -- and am starting to wonder if the whiners really aren't opposed to letting us commoners have a vote.

Anybody see Rall's latest?

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=127&e=1&u=/ucru/confessionsofaculturalelitist

Somebody get this guy a clean diaper.

I read that, Cherie. Rall needs a diaper, a white jacket with extra long arms and buckles, plus a extra large dose of Thorzine.

A padded cell is optional; if Rall wants to beat his brains out on the toilet in protest, that would be an improvement.

"a tall, good-looking white guy like me"

I read that and strangely an image of the late Marty Feldman is what springs to mind.

http://www.humorlinks.com/humornet/cards/feldman.jpg

I believe the World Series got its name from its sponsor of the time (surprisingly I think it was a magazine called "the World").

Then again, lefties have never let facts get in the way...

I'm drunker than a polecat on a piss-pot. In fact I'm drucking funk. Er ...

There's no more tears left to cry after laughing so hard -- and enjoying this thread so much -- I need more stomach surgery than Whats-is-name.

Just want to say this -- the Black Watch rocks. So do the goddamned U.S. Marines -- and today's their birthday, you might want to know. Oz rocks.

Hell ... Oz RULES. And everyone knows us Yanks secretly want to be Aussies.

Thatisall. Thankyouverymuch.

:o)

For the record, the very best comment was this one --

I think goomba goom could be multi-purpose, like "dude", depending on inflection and context. Say it quietly, and it could be, "I'm stunned at the stupidity of this." For instance:

"This guy is in public relations? Unbelievable. The person who hired this tin-eared tool would probaby hire a blind man as a crossing guard [shakes head] Goomba-goom, man. Goomba-goom."

Posted by: Dave S. at November 10, 2004 at 01:53 AM

"Sounds like what they're saying it that they only feel "comfortable" in places where they can enforce the kind of political and cultural conformity they imagine exists in places like Idaho and Indiana. It's a strange outlook for so-called "liberals," but alas places like college towns have been illiberal mono-cultures for several decades now."

Read this. It's why they think they're so - ahen, "enlightened."

http://chronicle.com/temp/reprint.php?id=56a4b06e77oshwaiq5psszuc2gti5neb

I feel like shaking one of them until his teeth rattle. "if you didn't convince yourself that Bush eats the heads of babies and that he's a fascist vampire thug, you wouldn't be so upset right now!"

"Of course, it's a sad commentary on the Left when the line between real and spoof is so hard to see."

I defy the Onion to make a parody of this. Can't be done.