Odds And Ends

by tristero

If there's one single thing that Democrats are good at doing - and when I read stories like this, I suspect it is the only thing Democratic leaders are truly good at doing - it's stupidly underestimating the persistence, the determination, the impact, and the resources of the power- hungry thugs who make up the modern Republican party.

(And please. people, this is NOT Coakley's fault. She may be the most tongue-tied public speaker since Harpo Marx, but so what? A rightwing extremist leading in a race against a competent, experienced progressive? In Massachusetts?? For Ted Kennedy's seat????

Somerby rightly howls at Gail Collins' snottiness towards the most irrelevant issue of the Coakely race who, believe it or not, sneers at the grammatical struggles of Coakley's challenger's daughter. Somerby is absolutely right: That is one helluva prescription for liberals to lose, but, as he also says, it wasn't decisive in making the race so close, far from it. Democrats have a wide range of well-honed, battle-tested techniques to snatch defeat even from the hands of certain triumph.
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Shorter Caitlin Flanagan:

Alice Waters, you uppity bitch! Shut your ignorant piehole, go back to the kitchen where women like you belong, and get me my grub!

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David Corn and Kevin Drum appeared on the Bill Moyers show recently to discuss the banksters and related matters. I listened to it and it was absolutely fantastic. Watch it here.