" I am exasperated in not being able to discuss with you my thoughts and feelings about John McCain last night. I will do so as soon as my online service rights itself."

No rush. Maybe you should sleep on it first, and spare us the kind of embarrassing vitriol that preceded this post?

Please don't turn TNR into another firedoggie-greenfootball-FreeperKos noisebox. Enjoy the Berkshires, chase a butterfly or two, and post when you're ready to say something constructive.

Enough already, with the national Jets-Sharks pissfest.

"There’s still a chance that whoever wins the Democratic nomination will be bold enough to put Biden on the bottom of the ticket. Meantime, maybe it’s time to treat the whole “change versus experience” thing with the same skepticism with which we’re now viewing those primary’s-eve polls."  E. Peretz in Vanity Fair

Had the Demos had enough savvy to put him at the top of the ticket they would have been assured the White House.

Too bad for them.

Ironic, isn't it, that the Republicans' Obama scored almost an identical audience, and identical popularity ratings, as the Democrats' Palin. Lifestory + identity politics + thin-leadership lightweight, meet lifestory + identity politics +thin-leadership lightweight.

Our ticket's upside down. Let Obama debate Palin, and Biden debate McCain.

"Ironic, isn't it, that the Republicans' Obama scored almost an identical audience, and identical popularity ratings, as the Democrats' Palin. Lifestory + identity politics + thin-leadership lightweight, meet lifestory + identity politics +thin-leadership lightweight."

This is the saddest fact about our politics, today. Idenitity plus celebrity is the deciding factor, not political point of view and certainly not expertise.

Yeah, yeah, Tep:  You made that little joke a few posts back, didn't you?  Why so cranky of late?  Ever since the Georgia invasion hit, you've lost that ironic and sly "teppy" humor--the one who used hilarious limericks to diss.  Come on, buddy, stop taking it all so seriously.      

You're beautiful, Molly. Don't ever change.

" Ever since the Georgia invasion hit, you've lost that ironic and sly "teppy" humor--..."

Did you ever think that it might be personal for him?

Do you ever thnk, Molly?

Eh, when people in the media business criticize the media it always seems to assume the media is way more important and influential than I do.  Even if there was some theoretical Biden omerta among journalists, a serious Biden run would have his opponents bringing his slips up again and again until he stopped being a threat.  That's assuming (as Peretz does) that the whole image of him as being gaffe-prone is actually fabricated and he wouldn't go on to make new gaffes in more public venues.

Jackson, do Asperger people think?  Let me know.  

I would have loved for Biden to have been among the contenders, but after Iowa and New Hampshire the field narrowed, alas. Why are we still bemoaning the narrowing of the field that took place last January? When it happened, all any sane voter could do was choose from among the survivors: Edwards, HRC, Obama. I sympathize with you, Tep, I really do, but that horse has been dead for nine months and it's been stinking for eight so maybe it's time to stop kicking it. You're fouling your shoes.

Of those who had a chance at winning, Edwards, HRC, and Obama, who was most likely to win this November? That's the question I asked myself. I may have answered incorrectly, but I did all any voter could to make sure I didn't. And now the Obama's the candidate. And now the question I'm asking is: What will it take to make sure the Democratic wins--not because I adulate Obama but because I believe in what he would do with the power of the Presidency. I would have felt similarly had Biden won the nomination, and I might even agree with you that he'd have been a more deserving candidate (if possibly a less electable one) but he didn't win. So who's it going to be, Tep? McCain/Palin? Obama/Biden? Time to cremate that dead horse of yours.

mollysimon said:  "Jackson, do Asperger people think? "

Screw you, silly Molly. Is that Asberger enough for you, you psychobabbler twit?

Let me know.

peretz...

Anyone who reads my Spine contributions knows that I am not your biggest fan. That said, I tip my hat - and heart - to you as a parent. You have very talented children and that speaks highly of you and your wife. My boys are just getting to the stage in life when they are accomplishing things on their own and showing signs that given the right breaks and continued work on the part of me and my wife, both of them will continue to achieve and eclipse their father's relatively meager - but hard won - achievements. As I read your daughter's article, which I thoroughly enjoyed, I imagined that you and your wife must be incredibly proud.

Nice job as a parent peretz. And I mean that sincerely...

I am a naïf.

Please someone explain.

Biden:

1. opposed the first Gulf War;

2. supported the second one;

3. argued for the dismemberment of Iraq into 3 loosely federated states on what conceivable theory of international law or other legitimacy;

4. voted for Obamian withdrawal from Iraq and cutting off troop funding;

5. opposed the Surge; and

6. just throwing this in, ayed bankruptcy legislation that made it harder for those crushed by reversals in the American economy to get out from under. Forgive me, but:

…Biden supports a bill in Congress that would make it harder for people to declare bankruptcy. This is one of those abysmal pieces of legislation that exists only because businesses with a vested interest in it have lobbied hard for its passage and that would have no chance of success if more than a tiny fraction of the public were aware of its existence.

Bankruptcy filings have risen slightly in recent years. Credit card companies argue that it's because people are gaming the system, going on irresponsible spending binges and then using bankruptcy to stick their creditors with the bill.

The more likely explanation is that the rise in health insurance costs has driven more people into bankruptcy. A recent Harvard study found that half of Americans who declared bankruptcy did so because of illness or medical bills. Regardless of why you go bankrupt, though, the new bill would make it easier for creditors to seize your assets. Nice, huh?

This isn't to say there aren't abuses in the bankruptcy system. There are. The bill simply does nothing to stop them.

The worst abuses are loopholes allowing corporations or wealthy individuals to declare bankruptcy and keep millions of dollars safe from creditors. One such device is something called an "asset protection trust" — a kind of savings fund that can't be touched by creditors. States actually compete with one another to offer the most generous trusts so they can lure businesses and affluent individuals to park their money in that state.

The most popular state for such trusts is corporate-friendly Delaware.

Delaware, of course, is home to Joe Biden. It's also home to many credit card companies, the driving force behind the bankruptcy bill. You don't have to connect a lot of dots to see the picture here.

The law is littered with abuses like the bankruptcy bill: measures that benefit a narrow economic interest at the expense of the broader public good. Most Democrats, like Biden, are smart enough to oppose most of them. But there's almost always a Democratic senator or two willing to shill for their home state industry's favorite abusive privilege.

When the Enron scandal broke, for instance, it came out that a few Democrats had joined Republicans to help the accounting and financial industry stave off sensible regulations during the 1990s. New York's Charles Schumer helped fight off efforts to bar accounting firms from receiving lucrative consulting deals from the same firms they audit — a practice whose inherent conflicts were made notorious by the misdeeds of the firm Arthur Andersen. Connecticut Democrats Joe Lieberman and Chris Dodd shamelessly do the insurance industry's bidding.

On the other hand, Northeasterners like Lieberman and Schumer staunchly impose tougher mileage requirements on the auto industry. Alas, the auto industry staunchly opposes such requirements, and therefore so does Carl Levin of Michigan, normally a supporter of such liberal causes as a clean environment.

There's plenty more. Rural Democrats can always be relied on to support giveaways to agribusiness. Washington Democrat Henry "Scoop" Jackson, an old New Deal liberal, was known in his day as "the senator from Boeing."

The trouble here is that the relationship each Democrat has with his home-state business interests is the relationship every Republican has with every business interest. The bankruptcy bill enjoys unanimous GOP support in the Senate. It's a familiar pattern: Noxious laws enjoy support from a coalition of all the Republicans plus a rotating handful of Democrats who have ties to interested parties. Almost all the Democrats are on the side of the angels on almost every issue. But it doesn't take many Democratic defectors to give the Republicans a majority.

The ultimate problem is that even liberal Democrats consider being in the pocket of a home-state industry an acceptable indulgence. A little bit of shame might go a long way….

So I want to know what is so exemplary about Biden?

Peretz, his daughter, (who cares), anyone?

molly, no disrespect, but on this small thread, you come out as preposterous.

What jaunty said. Not only well raised but well raised in _Cambridge_ -- no mean feat. Well done, Mr P.

Jaunty -- actually you're only getting one side of the story, but despite Marty's attacks on Chelsea Clinton I don't think they should be unilaterally dragged into this online muck unless they choose, not because Marty brings them up (yes, I once posted something not consistant with that after Marty's second attack on Chelsea for not being sufficiently public-service oriented in her work -- it was a mistake).  

Congratulations basman:  You have demonstrated Joe's consistency; he is consistently wrong.  

thejauntyboulevardier said:   "I tip my hat - and heart - to you as a parent. You have very talented children and that speaks highly of you and your wife. My boys are just getting to the stage in life when they are accomplishing things on their own and showing signs that given the right breaks and continued work on the part of me and my wife, both of them will continue to achieve and eclipse their father's relatively meager - but hard won - achievements."

Jaunty, the sign of great father is his desire that his children achieve greater things in life than he did. I was blessed with such a father and from what you write it seems to me that you too are a great father.

I wish your children much success, but more importantly that they adopt your attitude towards their own children.

touchy, touchy, Jackson. Must have hit a nerve.

"touchy, touchy, Jackson. Must have hit a nerve."

If you hit a nerve, it must have been in the posterior.

jackson,

Thank you. Yes, I hope that my boys will take the venerated family name to heights that me and my Old Man could only dream of.

Again, thanks. That meant a lot  to me..

thejauntyboulevardier, you are very welcome.

May you have lots of naches

www.pass.to/.../gloz2.htm

from your children.

jackson,

wow, that is an exhaustive list of yiddish word and phrases...thanks...

Jackson--I think that nerve you mentioned runs throughout your entire body.  Forget about Asperger's, Jack-o.  I suspect you're an entirely different life form.  Complete with your own nervous system, with a central nerve that runs from asshole to blow hole.  

molly, jack can speak for himself. But speaking only for myself perhaps it's time to to buzz off.

itz,

Some have accused me of having a head of stone, but I can learn some new tricks and one is: I won't get involved in the moly-jackson dustup. I like both of them and that is always sticky.

But, I see us talk backers as sort of a large classroom of people who, over the years, have gotten to know each other, on some basic level. Naturally, people being people, there will be some conflict. Lord knows that I have had my share. Still, I sense that in a few days or so, all is most likely forgotten and we go on.

What I really really don't like about politics, especially this last fall season of presidential politics, is how, as the election nears, passions really boil over. The stakes are so high and as we choose sides, I know that I at least become less tolerant as the days dwindle. Usually, I can shrug things off - not always I know, what with my temper - but I know for a fact that over the next two months, I am going to have to count to ten before I respond to particular posters who strongly endorse McCain.

Still, I am thrilled that this year, tnr, true to its heritage, is unabashedly supporting the liberal candidate. I always said that if tnr supported McCain I would cancel forever. Doesn't look like that is in the cards and I am glad: I would miss tnr and talk back tremendously. But a McCain endorsement would have cut the chord....

Ah, jaunty, you are always one of the coolest heads around here. I, to my regret, have flunked the cool-head test more than a few times.

I've, also, thrown myself into other people's fight more than a few times, too, and lived to regret it. However, I think that molly, who can hold her own very well in a dustup as you call it, was unfairly attacked without provocation. I would urge her to chill even though sometimes I enjoy a pissing match, shamelessly of course.

And in anticipation of jack I would only say one thing: I love you, too, jack.

Ok: I hereby resign from the quarrel that is none of my business.

Good points on this score Ken, and wise too.

molly, I like you, but keep in mind that diagnosis by internet or press (or whatever that is not direct AND if you're a not a board-certified physician) is a sure sign of intellectual imposture and stupidity.

I always say to such diagnosers: may you have heart surgery done by someone who knows about it as much as you know about psichiatry.

Even if jacksondyer was churlish, that doesn't excuse your going that route. Whenever you diagnose people or tell them they're juvenile or they should take their medication, you have actually lost. Why? Because instead of making an argument, you just show yourself as an aggressive phoney. Don't take that road.

Hi, Sleepy.  Didn't expect to see you here.  How's work?  I know you got quite a few grants, so you're busy, busy, but I'm glad you could stop by here to give me some words of wisdom.  Jackson, whom I often admire, has a way of pushing my buttons.  You yourself are not known for having the coolest head, so I hope you'll understand.  

Jackson, I hope we can bury the hatchet. I apologize for saying you have Asperger's.  But if you need to tell me something, you needn't get as "churlish" (to use Scrubby's word) as you did.  

There, now we can all continue to disagree on Biden versus Palin.