Seeing Red

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Just keep in mind, Republicans pride themselves on being the party of the red states.

And red coats.

And red ink.

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Insurgents? Not so much.
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Flashback: Republican Solution: Total Taliban Carnage
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Blair House Which Project—Tuesday, January 6

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By now you probably wonder whether I'll waver. Whether I've the stamina to stay the course and just keep asking the question. Time will tell.

In the meantime, I've been pondering epiphanies—today's the day for it, after all—and wondering whether the press would ever get it...why it matters.

For a moment there, last night, watching John King announcing on the Colbert Report his new Sunday morning gasbag-primetime talk show, I had hopes. After all, he said the most valuable part of the campaign season for him was getting out beyond the beltway to the little towns, talking to the little people about the state of the country. And how he wants to keep that perspective when he launches his new show.

King also reflected on how they [the Very Important Village Media] didn't ask the tough questions of Bush lo' these many years.

And ya know, he's right, and instead of waiting to pile on Obama as Colbert snarked they would, here's a thought.

Because King's replacement over on the White House beat, Kate Bolduan, mentioned something interesting, just in passing yesterday, when talking about the Obama girls leaving the Hay to head to school with the big security convoy.

Did you know the Hay may be a stone's throw away, across Lafayette Park, from the White House? But it's outside the security barrier.

And Blair House is inside the security barrier. Security's the issue, not proximity, seems to me.

So I'm wondering, just what's more important than the security of the incoming president and his family? D'ya think Kate or John or Dancin' Dave or ol' Bob Schieffer or the soon to be only Little George in town or Ruth Marcus or, you know, anybody who moves and shakes in the Village press corps might be persuaded to ask:

Which bunch o’BushCo's “eventing” in Blair House today?
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Any contrary coverage yet that puts a lie to my countdown? All ya gotta do is let me know.
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crossposted at firedoglake's Oxdown Gazette

Nancy Takes Off the Gloves

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Speaking with her most blunt language ever, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi lays the blame for the nation's current economic woes right in the laps of the two oil men in the White House.

And as Scarecrow over at FDL reminds this morning, writing on the Al Gore speech...it's all of a piece. The economy, national security, the environment.

Some would say, why limit this conversation to just the economy, national security, and the environment.

There's also the state of our healthcare.


It's all of a piece....

Pimps, Hoes, and Presstitutes

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Lotsa dust flyin' in the skies East of Prairie Country these days. Sturm und drang in New Yuck City and DeeCee.

Everybody tumblin' all over themselves to try to get a piece of the story. Powerful man, hubris, hypocrisy, narcissistic, risk-taker. Puttin' it all out there for a high-priced bunch of pros.

Yep, it's springtime, the snow's melting, and the dirty underbelly of the lives of the rich and famous is on full parade for we peasants out here in the hinterlands.

I prefer to think about gardens.

There's something about a basic garden tool like the hoe. It's got a sharp edge to it, a sturdy wood handle, cuts through the topsoil, sends the weeds a-flyin'.

We could use a few good hoes in Washington right now.

Of course in Washington, they dress it up and give it fancy names, and maybe put a motor on it, and of course it burns oil, and might even have a five-star rating. Certainly that kind of hoe gets branded.

Bet you think I'm talkin' about Eliot's Mess [dibs: Colbert], now don't you. Well, that, too, but these days you need a scorecard to keep up with the scoundrels on both sides of the aisle—and their surrounds—who wear their hypocrisy on their sleeves and their campaign buttons under their lapels.

Don't have much love for hypocrisy around here.

So that's why what really perked up my ears this week was that Gridiron dinner the other night. You know the one. Brown, brown grass of home, anyone?

Chris Matthews got it right in his smackdown of the attendees and the standing O's of the night. Better late than never, Mr. Matthews. [digby's Hullabaloo has the serenade video and text of Matthews' commentary here; if you haven't yet visited digby, do stop by those good folks. For some strange reason I can't seem to find it over at MS/NBC.]

Must be some really interesting behind-the-scenes conversations over at MS/NBC these days, what with reports that Russet was at the Gridiron Dinner. Bet ABC's Stephanopoulos is glad he sat that one out. Would be interesting to know who else was in attendance.

If you don't tend the garden, pretty soon you can't separate the weeds from the veggies. And you kinda forget you're supposed to be one of the veggies. Not as glamorous, I know, as rubbin' elbows with the rich'n'famous...or tellin' yourself you is one.

But no matter who you are, dirt still clings to your shoes when you walk in it.

And it's not that hard to pick out the hoes.

Culling the Heard

Decisions are being made today, undecideds are finally deciding on someone. The first vote tallies are in from Dixville Notch, and Obama scores as many votes single-handedly as all the Republicans combined.

As the day unfolds, exit polls, pundits — the “experts” — will tell us what it all means. Or not.

We’re seeing a paradigm shift these days. There are all kinds of metaphors for what’s happening.

My personal favorite just because of the divine justice of it, post-Katrina, is that the Republican party is quaking and shuddering and slumping away like a levee hit by the rising Democratic tide. Their feats of clay aren’t made for walkin’ any more…

So maybe Tsunami Tuesday coming up on February 5 takes on a whole ’nother meaning.

There are some other decisions being made in the culture as well.

Last night we tuned in the Daily Show and Colbert Report. Not before trying to find out whether they were right with the WGA. And you know, there’s been about as much of a clampdown on that conversation as the mainstream media’s clampdown on coverage of presidential candidate John Edwards. Whazzup with that?

We ran across one little dustup over at Crooks and Liars down in a Huckabee thread…check it out for yourself, starting at comment 56. Some hot feelings. Where’s there’s fire, there’s smoke?

So today, New Hampshire gets its moment in the spotlight and then the swarm moves on to Nevada and South Carolina. Around here, we’ve already decided. For Edwards Before Iowa.

And Comedy Central’s stars and soon Bill Maher and already Letterman and Leno and Ferguson and Kimmel and…well, the vote’s not totally in. But in our household, by bedtime last night, regarding the Stewart/Colbert return, we’d decided we’re “ambivalent.”