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I talk to myself about afghanistan

12:33 PM me: So I wake up and I'm listening to NPR. The lead story is about how the Afghan election is today. But instead of reporting the story, all the reporters are talking about the limits placed on journalists.

12:34 PM I'm like, "surprise! the media is telling a story about itself!"

12:35 PM Then I get a call from pj: http://features.csmonitor.com/globalnews/2009/08/20/police-crack-down-on-journalists-during-afghan-election/

Oops, sorry dude. Police chasing you with guns is news-worthy.

Representing the Ombuds or You Know Your Insitution is in Moral Trouble when...

Take a look at a recent chat with a friend of mine. What do you think we should infer about the University of Pennsylvania from this?

C: got it

have you seen the ombuds current page from Penn?

http://www.upenn.edu/ombudsman/

1:28 PM as my friend said,

"ghetto."

problematic, yet apt.

me: wow!

worst page ever

seriously, that's the worst page ever

1:29 PM C: yupper

compare that to say

MIT: http://web.mit.edu/ombud/

Stanford: http://www.stanford.edu/dept/ombuds/

Columbia: http://www.columbia.edu/cu/ombuds/

Michigan: http://www.umich.edu/~ombuds/index.html

me: we are, apparently, the least ethical of the universities

C: and the beat goes on

1:30 PM me: that's shameful

Bolton take 2

Mathew Yglesias

John Bolton (Manny goes on vacation and I talk to myself)

So John Bolton (remember him? he's the crazy guy who yells at people that g.w.b. appointed to be our most notable representative to the world) was on NPR on Monday. He was one of the first people asked to respond to the Clinton Korea trip.

Why, you ask, would NPR or the Washington Mouthpiece put Bolton front and center when North Korea is on the line and any home-based dissent clears would send them the message that America is a weak and divided nation? We can only surmise that it's ok to dissent right, but that dissenting left is anti-american--i.e. it's ok to dissent when one's dissent is oriented at being more confrontational, abrasive, and domineering, but when one is arguing for more dialogue, greater communication and more sympathy, then one is an homeland hater.

Bolton told npr that he was against president clinton going to n. korea because it would encourage other countries to do the same. (You know, all of those countries around the world just dying for a guest appearance from a former president will immediately grab up the nearest passing tourists).

Comments npr:
"Bolton's point about the Iranians who are now holding three young Americans who allegedly entered Iranian territory from Iraq's Kurdish region, is worth considering. What does the U.S. do if the Iranians condition the release of the three Americans on a visit from former President Clinton as well?"

Now this is hysterical. Do they think that the Iranians are just dying for clinton to come to town? That's the outcome they're looking for? "Oh, forget our nuclear aims and plans for regional domination, send us pres clinton and then we can talk business!"

A much more reasoned point was present on Weds on the bbc where the popular view seems now to have shifted around to: "Wow, what a great opportunity to get one of the most savvy politicians of our age three hours face to face with the mysterious and secretive leader of a totalitarian regime that we desperately need to figure out how to deal with." This is a much more sound opinion.

The mainstream media hearts republicans, even to the point of craziness

2:42 PM Manny:

From Duncan Black:

"Some genius at Newsweek thinks George W. Bush should be Obama's Middle East envoy.

There really is something wrong with our elite journalistic institutions."

2:43 PM me: ARGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Are you joking?

George Sr. would at least be plausible

Manny: http://www.newsweek.com/id/209174

2:44 PM me: George W. is like the punchline from a terrible, very-much-in-poor-taste joke about the foment of war and destruction

Manny: it is almost impossible to make up the stuff that gets printed in the Times, Newsweek, NPR etc

Politico today: Why the Republicans are poised for a comeback

2:45 PM me: Boy, they wish that was a self-fulfilling prophecy

Manny: By glenn greenwald's count, that's the 27th republican-comeback article, since just before the 2006 elections

me: ha ha ha

Manny: on politico alone

me: ha

2:46 PM ha

ha

what a great day

Manny: http://twitter.com/glenngreenwald/status/2875137561

2:47 PM And from his blog: "Who are the sources for Politico's exciting announcement of a GOP resurgence? A grand total of three: "GOP pollster Whit Ayres," "GOP pollster John McLaughlin," and "Republican pollster Neil Newhouse," all of whom assure us that the signs point to imminent Republican triumph and Democratic doom. After 21 straight paragraphs of chest-beating GOP triumphalism, Politico throws two Democratic sources into the last three paragraphs of the article for "balance," along with this hilarious qualifier: "For Republicans, the news isn’t entirely promising." What is it that makes things "not entirely promising" for Republicans? Just little things like this:

'There’s been no surge in GOP voter registration and little evidence that the party brand is experiencing a recovery. Last month, a New York Times/CBS poll reported that the GOP’s favorability ratings remained at a record-breaking low -- 28 percent, down from a high of 59 percent in November 1994.'"

2:48 PM me: HAAAAAA

I can't load that page for some reason

2:49 PM Manny: Continuing from Greenwald: "There are many motives for publishing "GOP-on-the-rise" stories. It's virtually certain to generate a Drudge link, Politico's holy grail. It ensures appearances on GOP-friendly cable news and radio talk shows. It solidifies relationships with dirt-peddling right-wing operatives who drive mindless scandals and distractions in a Democratic administration. And it earns a gold star and pat on the head from right-wing polemicists in the never-ending quest of establishment journalists to prove they are not part of The Liberal Media, the goal which Mark Halperin openly embraced on his knees while pleading with Hugh Hewitt, Bill O'Reilly and Sean Hannity to stop thinking that he is One of Them, when he was hawking the book he co-wrote with Politico's Harris."nu

6 minutes

2:55 PM me: Well that's spot on

2:56 PM Manny: it goes on

2:59 PM me: Wait, is that from his blog?

3:00 PM Manny: ja

i believe it so

7 minutes

3:07 PM Manny: We can have a blog where I said ridiculous republican things

like Ben Stein

But not a blog where I say true, liberal things

like Glenn Greenwald

some world

3:08 PM http://blogs.reuters.com/felix-salmon/2009/07/27/the-despicable-ben-stein/

3:12 PM me: Wow, ben stein is a bad bad purpose. Obama is anti-white? I've been complaining that he's too pro white.

bad bad person, he's a bad bad person

3:13 PM Manny: yeah, Ben Stein: giant, flaming anus


Manny:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tYkFKNroBVA&feature=related

unrelated

just awesome3:16 PM also unrelated, but funny

http://www.boingboing.net/2009/07/29/amsterdam-oreilly-fa.html

Tech, the Kindle, and the Interwebs

Manny: I found this to be an interesting summation of my kindle experience so far

11:50 AM http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/08/03/090803fa_fact_baker?currentPage=all

20 minutes

12:10 PM me: First of all, that is another very funny piece of writing

12:11 PM secondly, you can't adjust the screen's color scheme and brightness?

Also, no page numbers? Why did they do that?

Manny: unclear to me

12:12 PM I enjoy my kindle, but I was happy to receive it as a gift and not have to justify paying for ti

me: well, I want one, but I'm going to be patient and wait till they respond to the newest round of feedback

12:13 PM does the kindle browse the interwebs?

12:14 PM Manny: a bit

ipod touch is waaay bettter

12:15 PM me: yeah, I'm waiting till they put all my techs in one box

I have too many techs as it is

Manny: ipod + kindle-sized screen = all done looking

12:16 PM me: I do love my satellite radio though. I can listen to bob dylan as a dj. It's awesome

the ipood can probably get that too though

I'm playing with combining my techs, but I have to do some crazy crack to get streaming media on my phone

12:17 PM advantage ipood (although I love my phone otherwise)

Bloggers vs. the "Real" Media

10:56 AM me: Did you see the Reggie Theus video I sent you?

Manny: no

i no get it

me: oh, you can watch it later. me: a funny aside to our previous conversation about bloggers: http://with-malice.com/200907201028/articles/nba/theus-hates-bloggers.html

10:58 AM Also, I assume they probably do this on cnn, fox and msnbc, but this on Sportscenter they have a segment where they review the percentage of coverage different stories are getting from "bloggers"

16 minutes

11:14 AM Manny: cnn sometimes reads the internets out loud

thanks cnn!

11:15 AM broadcasting FAIL

11:17 AM me: I'm saying. Really? You can't do better than, this morning "20% of 'bloggers' are talking about Bret Farve"

Now the anchors are saying to each other, "did you tweet? What did you tweet about?"

11:18 AM it's fully pathetic old people trying badly to imitate the discourse of the young

11:19 AM Manny: twitter users are all old

fyi

11:20 AM http://blogs.reuters.com/mediafile/2009/03/30/twitter-older-than-it-looks/

11:23 AM me: Now that is so interesting. I actually don't know a single person who twitters and most of the non-blog reading people (including kids, and I'm a teacher) I know don't even really know what twitter is.

They do post on facebook though

11:28 AM Manny: the media obsession with twitter is so stupid I don't even know where to start

It's like they missed facebook, so now it has to all be about twitter

11:31 AM me: I think that's a big part of it

also, it's like haiku, it's a form more easily understood and used by rich and old folks

11:32 AM "Oh, I didn't get why they were always posting about their lives which nobody cares about, but now I get it! They capturing artful little moments in time!"

11:33 AM Manny: they are, as my buddy mike once said, masturbating at a fevered pitch

11:34 AM me: ha ha ha

11:37 AM Manny: Similarly:

http://www.boingboing.net/2009/07/29/associated-press-cla.html

for more explanation

http://freedom-to-tinker.com/blog/felten/aps-drm-announcement-much-ado-about-nothing

11:42 AM me: Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha (this one gets extra laughs!). You gotta love the following: "Your satisfaction with the diagram will be inversely proportional to your knowledge of the technology."

11:43 AM Manny: I feel like that's true for everything everyone says about the news biz right now

Kindle will save newspapers!

(from someone who's never used a kindle)

Ban links!

(from someone who's apparently never been on the internet)

11:44 AM me: You're cracking me up this morning

11:45 AM Manny: I wish it was someone else's industry that was so clueless

11:47 AM me: dude, my industry is completely dysfunctional and moronic and has been a failure for almost a hundred years and our job is to TAKE CARE OF CHILDREN!

A really good article on new media and, of course, "Nibbles, chew through my ball sack!"

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

We posted that last post too soon, apparently

11:56 AM me: As if in answer: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32010985/ns/us_news-race_and_ethnicity/

Manny: all parties agree indeed

11:57 AM me: yeah right

we will see shortly how much all parties agree

Manny: Boston PD gonna buy Dr. Gates a yacht

11:58 AM me: yes, and a nice new door

Footnote to the Gates story

11:43 AMMe: from the gates story: "Cambridge police would not comment on the arrest, citing an investigation into the incident by Middlesex District Attorney Gerard T. Leone Jr. A spokesman for Leone said Gates is scheduled to be arraigned on Aug. 26 and said the office could not provide details on the arrest until that time.

Gates is being represented by Harvard Law School professor Charles Ogletree, who has taken on previous cases with racial implications."

Uh oh for you, Gerard T. Leone

11:44 AM Manny: indeed

good luck with all that

Dr. Henry Luis Gates Jr., Harvard University Professor, Arrested IN OWN HOME. Do you think this is "post racial America"?

9:15 AM me: So this morning I heard the VP of Lehman Bros talking about his new book, A Colossal Failure of Common Sense.

What b.s.

Manny: protect the eye!

9:16 AM me: That's right

We're supposed to believe that these guys had no idea that the way they were making their fortunes might cause problems for the rest of us?

Manny: have you read liars poker?

9:17 AM me: Don't be mad at us, we had a failure of common sense!

no

I've been meaning to get it from you for a while

Manny: the worst insult you could call someone at Solomon Bros in the 80s was "customer"

9:18 AM and they were trading TREASURY bonds

me: right, those are the suckers

the costumers

even when they're buying pieces of their own government!

Manny: CDOs are like the dirty stepchildren of real bonds

9:21 AM me: explain?

Manny: treasuries are securee

the U.S. will pay you back someday

9:22 AM CDOs are like treasuries' dirty uncle, at the party with their shirt unbuttoned and gold chains on

labeled secure

9:23 AM so if the people who trade treasuries are sketch

the people who trade non-treasuries, or ``innovative financial products" are just dog track gamblers

me: right

9:24 AM got it

9:25 AM Manny: structured finance

my tushy

me: "free for all grabbing" might be a better descriptor

9:28 AM

Manny: My buddy K. made an elaborate analogy that Obama is Isiah Thomas and Goldman Sachs is Stephon Marbury

9:31 AM me: Isiah thomas is one of the most incompetent people in the history of sports. I hope that analogy doesn't stand

9:32 AM Isiah hated stephan and benched him, what has obama done to goldman?

Manny: I think he really meant jimmy dolan

but isiah is... ahem... you know

9:33 AM me: black?

9:36 AM Manny: you said it

racist

9:37 AM me: ha

9:39 AM Manny: incidentally: post-racial America

http://www.boston.com/news/local/breaking_news/2009/07/harvard.html

me: I still, however, don't understand the analogy. If marbury is goldman, they should be getting punished and made to sit on the bench for a year before they're allowed to come back, but only to help out on a champion, not to really play

Manny: He means earlier

me: I heard!

Manny: when they wrote him a giant check

and said he was gonna save the franchise

me: ah

Manny: he's saying that's what the nation is doing now

9:40 AM me: got it

but goldman will be a punk and play only for itself

Manny: we're knicks fans, and the govt is dolan, writing a big check to someone who is all rep and all self-interested

yes

me: got it

9:41 AM as for the arrest of Dr. Gates in HIS OWN HOME, it's amazing.

Manny: I would like to point everyone to this article

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2008/11/06/checking_racisms_postelection_pulse/

Note the paper

9:42 AM I used to work with that guy

he loves to ask questions: is racism dead?

no, keith

it's not

duh

either he's stupid, or he thinks readers are

9:43 AM me: basically, his piece is rush limbaugh's dream, because it allows ignorant and stupid people to say, hey, even the boston globe thinks racism is dead!

9:44 AM Manny: it also exposes an embarrassing lack of familiarity with the history of Boston

me: seriously. On NPR this morning, they basically framed it as probably racist, but also because Gates was tired and fussy after a long trip so he yelled at the cops

it was racist, but he sort of deserved it

9:45 AM Manny: it was IN HIS HOUSE

9:46 AM me: Sure it was in his house, but he was totally being black in there dude

how was the cop supposed to know that he was a harvard professor and not just a regular black guy?

9:47 AM Manny: you mean, aside from the fact that he's famous?

9:50 AM me: he's only famous to educated people

9:52 AM Manny: and Larry Summers, bitch

Larry Summers now recognizes

don't mess with Skip Gates

9:53 AM me: ?

9:57 AM Manny: One of the first things summers did when he got to harvard was pick a fight with gates

me: really? I must have missed that

9:58 AM Manny: http://www.amazon.com/Harvard-Rules-Lawrence-Powerful-University/dp/B000VYK9ZQ

9:59 AM Also Cornell West

mostly Cornell West

10:00 AM AMY GOODMAN: can you tell us what happened and how you feel about that, and where the African American studies department at Harvard stands now. I was recently with Cornell West in Santa Fe, new Mexico and asked him about his run-in with the former treasury secretary and now Harvard University president, Lawrence Summers. Didn’t like what he called extracurricular activities like getting involved with—not clear, if he didn’t like his Nader endorsements or his hip-hop endeavors?

HENRY LOUIS GATES: Cornell is a brilliant scholar and a person of tremendous pride and dignity, and he felt deeply insulted after a conversation with the new president, Summers. I think the president regrets that conversation. I think that Cornell feels that he had no choice but to leave to preserve his dignity, as a strong, proud black man. It broke my heart, unfortunately. But he had to go. I support his decision. I miss him terribly. We’re still very, very—very dear friends. I admire Cornell. There’s no one in the academy that I admire more than Cornell West. You talk about a Martin Luther king figure and W.E.B. DuBois figure all rolled into one. That’s Cornell West. That’s why I dedicated the book to him.

10:01 AM me: West is so feisty

10 minutes

10:11 AM me: crazy. It makes me extra proud of the part where I helped appoint an awesome black woman as president of Brown

15 minutes

10:27 AM Manny: Yeah

Suck on this, preppies

10:29 AM me: ha ha ha

Goldman rises again. Soldiers go AWOL. An interesting parallel emerges

10:13 AMMe: Did you see this?: http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/thu-july-16-2009/pyramid-economy

7 minutes

10:20 AM Manny: i can't right now

me: oh yeah

10:21 AM you'll see later. it's the goldman sachs pyramid. "Protect the eye of the pyramid at any cost!"

8 minutes

10:29 AM Manny: funny

10:31 AM me: it's great

12:42 PM me: Breaking news from pj: http://trueslant.com/pjtobia/2009/07/20/source-bergdahl-deserted/

I just think the story is tragically funny

12:43 PM the dude just walks off base. peace. going to find myself.

sounds like their mental health services are tip top

12:44 PM Manny: famously so

12:45 PM me: republicans are awesome to the troops

12:46 PM they definitely deserve the national defense moral high ground

42 minutes

1:29 PM Manny: they love jesus and Army

me: just not soldiers or sovereignty

1:30 PM Manny: or the parts of the bible about not blowing people up

34 minutes

2:04 PM Manny: http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/07/kill_em_all_and_let_god_sort_em_out.php

28 minutes

2:33 PM Manny: quick everybody! Throw yourselves under Goldman Sachs to cushion its fall. Children first, they're the softest!

11 minutes

2:44 PM me: wow!

2:45 PM those two stories parallel each other so nicely

2:49 PM Manny: indeed

22 minutes

3:11 PM me: ...and all of these people are just as horrible as each other!

Manny: cushion our landing with your bodies!

3:12 PM No reason to hold torture trials!

They've increased the chocolate ration!

3:14 PM me: ha

---

Journalistic Narcissism

12:21 PM Manny: http://www.buzzmachine.com/2009/07/04/journalistic-narcissism/

Me: 'Nuf said

Mr. Tobia goes to Afghanistan

11:14 AM me: hey dude, sorry about going mia yesterday. Want to talk more about what we were talking about, but first. PJT's blog goes live! http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2009/07/the-poppy-palaces-of-afghanistan.html

welcome to bloggerville buddy!

11:15 AM Manny: I told him

me: you know you're in good shape when someone tolerable posts you on his blog. Boosted him way up the most hits list on True/Slant

I apparently have to get on my plane now

some thoughts on the sane and the insane left over from last week when I was on vacation. Again. (I know, sweet right?)

9:53 AM Manny: http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2009/07/13/goldman/index.html

9:58 AM he makes an important point: does anyone believe that the last event in the sequence is unrelated the prior events?

10:02 AM Seems like, since 2000, the media has asked me to believe, repeatedly, that the most obvious, simplest explanation for things is somehow crackpot

10:03 AM Bush rushed into Iraq, demonized democrats who opposed it as cowards, and won a congressional midterm election

says Times: those things are totally unconnected. Totes.

10:05 AM the U.S. harshly interrogated people. about 100 of them died.

Nothing to do at all with rumors that we were torturing people

7 minutes

10:12 AM me: I know, like any person with even a hint of common sense is definitely a moron (and hates america). Surprise! We let Goldman Sachs run our economic recovery plan and now they're making record profits! Who could possibly have seen this coming!? Not any of our elected officials? Not the media certainly?

10:13 AM Manny: crazy

they say you're crazy

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/07/mites-of-roundtable-by-digby.html

1:09 PM me: hey dude

1:12 PM Boy I wish you hadn't sent me that digby piece. It is anger making.

1:15 PM they seem to think that it's a good thing to investigate peons who got carried away and not a good thing to investigate the system and leadership that made such behavior possible. It's like blaming the sheep for going hog wild on the neighbor's grass that the shepherd led them to.

8:36 PM Manny: Yeah

8:38 PM me: yeah?

13 minutes

8:52 PM Manny:

I got nothing to add

Cokie roberts

8:53 PM F u cokie

what exactly does the government mean when they call something "detention?"

12:22 PM Manny: good stuff:

http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2009/07/09/guantanamo/index.html

14 minutes

12:36 PM me: Wow. we really got in deep on this one

dick cheney is a real jerkoff

12:37 PM the times, again, obviously just the mouth piece for the most popular lie-teller they can find

6 minutes

12:43 PM Manny: "No matter how many stories there are like the one today from McClatchy's -- where emphatic accusations about a detainee turn out to be totally false -- the willingness to believe unproven assertions from government officials about Muslims detainees is never-ending."

16 minutes

1:00 PM me: of course, because racism is never ending

explaining the keyboard cat

11:30 AM me: apparently some people do not understand keyboard cat

sad for keyboard cat

Manny: who doesn't love keyboard cat?

11:31 AM me: it's not a question of love

11:33 AM Manny: so what's the problem?

11:35 AM me: they just don't understand the cat or why he plays the keyboard or, I guess, what it means to play someone off if one happens to be a keyboard cat

11:37 AM Manny: they never saw this?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G7ltHHpkpBk

11:42 AM me: I'm not sure that will help

but ha ha ha

Manny: are they unfamiliar with the concept of playing someone off?

11:43 AM don't they watch the oscars?

me: that's what I think is at the root of the confusion. I think they lost the trail of the concept between the oscars and the cat.

11:44 AM Manny: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keyboard_Cat

there

11:46 AM http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/technology/2009/05/keyboard-cat.html

11:48 AM me: that wikipedia entry is the greatest thing I've ever read

Manny: I love a good mem

mem

11:49 AM meme

sticky e key

http://www.virginmedia.com/movies/awards/mtvmovieawards2009/highlights.php?ssid=10

11:50 AM me: ha ha ha ha ha ha

Keyboard Cat Update

6 minutes

12:12 PM Manny: he has his own blog

http://playhimoffkeyboardcat.com/

Palin YAY!

Wow, it's an exciting time to be alive.

10:10 AM Manny: actual paragraph from the WashPo

"Yet Palin's vulnerability masks her firepower, ambition and strong will, advisers said. Not one to fit comfortably into convention -- and not comfortable being a victim, either -- Palin spoke Friday as if she was rolling the dice and betting on herself. She presented herself as a game-changer stepping onto a stage of her own making."

10:14 AM me: Sure. That's just awesome reporting. Let me jump in to help them out: "Her skin glowed with the glow of power and future success. Her eyes, lit by the fire of a glorious future of command and by distinctive authority that could only come from the lord himself..."

5 minutes

10:19 AM Manny: remember when she got John McCain elected president?

10:20 AM me: yeah, she's wonderful

she sure is a "game-changer" isn't she

10:22 AM I don't understand this whole thing. Correct me if I'm wrong, but Palin quit being governor because it was hard right? I mean, her excuse is: my term was winding down so I would have to work harder and instead, I quit so I could be a national beauty queen contestant

9 minutes

10:31 AM Manny: it says something about the media that they would take anythhing she does seriously

she somehow got a winner's narrative, even though she's clearly a ggiant loser

10:34 AM me: dude, how can you get a winner's narrative when everything you have ever done, including both running for VP and being governor, you have failed at? She announces that she's quitting her job and is admitting that it it too hard for her, and not only does she get a pass, she gets a celebration. What is the deal? How is this possible? Doesn't anyone have any self-respect?

Manny: I'm saying the media doesn't report true things

it tells STORIES about them

10:35 AM me: yes, but this story is crazy

Manny: so for some reason, they've decided her story is about a plucky beauty queen who saved the republicans

not the redneck idiot who incites the racists

and got hers ass kicked

10:36 AM me: and is pathetic, ignorant, and prone to grotesque failure

5 minutes

10:42 AM Manny: http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/07/shes_done.php

10:46 AM me: Ah, now this is a line I can get behind: "But MC is 100% correct that any pundit who thinks this is some risky but potentially brilliant strategic move is absolutely smoking crack. Hitting the crack pipe, or, just as likely, being witlessly contrarian to set themselves apart from the common herd of sane people."

10:47 AM Manny: i also enjoyed that

witlessly contrarian

heh

describes 95 percent of everything on Slate

me: ha

ha

ha

1

10:51 AM Manny:

David Broder, dean of the washington press core:

"Oh and by the way, the last time I checked, her nickname is 'Sarah Barracuda.' Palin is a fighter."

umm, Epic Fail

10:55 AM Don't fighters have to like... fight?

if you run, doesn't that make you a runner, not a fighter?

10:59 AM me: she's not even a runner, she's just a conniver and an opportunity grabber who like anyone with the maturity of a five year old follows the path of least resistance as quickly as possible

23 minutes

11:22 AM Manny: http://www.themonkeycage.org/2009/04/a_tantalizing_graph_featuring.html

6 minutes

11:28 AM me: that is a terrible thing to send me. it argues that she's very important and doesn't explain why!

Manny: she was very important at destroying McCain's campaign

11:32 AM me: well that's clearly true

13 minutes

11:46 AM me: I like this from the TPM piece you sent me: "She's back to what she was -- a small person looking for someone to be angry at." I don't think that's journalism, but it is awesome.

16 minutes

12:02 PM Manny: play her off, keyboard cat!

http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2009/07/lady-gaga-update.html

12:04 PM me: ha ha ha

Manny: i love the keyboard cat

12:05 PM me: it's the best!