COLLECTIVE MADNESS


“Soft despotism is a term coined by Alexis de Tocqueville describing the state into which a country overrun by "a network of small complicated rules" might degrade. Soft despotism is different from despotism (also called 'hard despotism') in the sense that it is not obvious to the people."

Thursday, September 09, 2010

New Jersey Governor Christie, a superb political counter-puncher.




The Republicans would do well to look at this guy real hard. He is great on his feet, smart and strikes the right tone in a debate. Talk about taking off the varnish!


83 comments:

  1. Orthodox Jews set fire to hundreds of copies of the New Testament in the latest act of violence against Christian missionaries in the Holy Land.

    (Not an Onion article)

    ReplyDelete
  2. The U.S. State Department on Thursday issued a travel alert, cautioning Americans of "the potential for anti-U.S. demonstrations in many countries" over plans by a pastor of a small church in Gainesville, Florida, to burn Qurans on Saturday.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Nazis burned books.
    Jews still do.
    As will those Christians in Florida.

    All in the name of their respective religions.

    Claiming to be the apex or the fount of civilization, sometimes both, those book burners.

    Equivalency exemplified.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Libs fear for our troops' safety if Korans are burned, but they had nothing bad to say when the Wikileaks documents were released.

    ReplyDelete
  5. That was not known of until after the fact, Ms T.

    And the leaker was subsequently arrested, the publisher not a US citizen, not even a resident.

    Not much to be done about that.

    ReplyDelete
  6. "but they had nothing bad to say when the Wikileaks documents were released."
    ---
    They also had nothing to say about the troops (Clark's Air Force) in Bosnia when Bubba's leaks were revealed.

    ReplyDelete
  7. "Not much to be done about that."
    ---
    Predator Strike.

    ReplyDelete
  8. We should join AP and not give detailed accounts of that guy with a beard in the south wrt rumored demonstrations sometime in the future.

    The Bar will be rendered morally innocent as a result.
    ...like AP.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Luckily, NO ONE reported about Bubba's Double Dip.

    ReplyDelete
  10. GOP Senatorial Committee declares that Christie is a Gay Do Do Head.

    ...they will be giving big bucks to his primary opponents.

    ReplyDelete
  11. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  12. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Although I'll have to pass on the "Alah sucks dick" part, I have to agree with the tenor of Doug's post.


    .

    ReplyDelete
  14. Tweet, Tweet, Tweet:
    We're Doomed!
    I refuse to Tweet!
    (For now)

    ---

    Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R) announced Thursday she has endorsed Tea Party favorite Christine O'Donnell against Rep. Mike Castle (R) in Delaware's Republican Senate primary.

    Palin slipped the announcement in during a short interview Thursday afternoon with conservative radio host Sean Hannity.

    Hannity tweeted the news shortly afterward.

    "Thanks @SarahPalinUSA for the last minute call in. Endorsement of Christine O'Donnell was an exclusive. Said she hadn't told Christine yet," he said.


    O'Donnell confirmed the news a few minutes later.

    "Just got Gov. Palin's endorsement!" she tweeted. "Thank you for your prayers!"

    She then thanked Palin with another tweet.

    "@sarahpalinusa Thank you for your clear confidence in my candidacy. Strong conservative women will take our country back!"

    ReplyDelete
  15. Mock me if you must, Quirk.
    At your own peril, of course.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Treasuries Tumble Following Weak 30-Year Sale...

    China should buy our debt subject to prevailing interest rates.

    When they go to 12 percent, game over, Chinamen win.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Mock me if you must, Quirk.
    At your own peril, of course.


    For two day's in a row, I've been accused of things I didn't think I did.

    Me culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa.

    .

    ReplyDelete
  18. Not that I wouldn't want to mock you given a little ammunition.



    .

    ReplyDelete
  19. Lobbyists Rush to Hire G.O.P. Staff Ahead of Midterm Vote

    "With Democrats in danger of losing control of Congress, some prominent lobbying shops, trade groups and contractors are already moving to bring more Republicans on board to bolster their political fortunes.

    "Lobbyists, political consultants and headhunters all say that the going rate for Republicans — particularly current and former House staff members — has risen significantly in just the last few weeks, with salaries beginning at $300,000 and rising to as high as $1 million for private-sector positions..."


    Same Old Story


    Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.


    .

    ReplyDelete
  20. With White House Backing, an Envoy for Manufacturing

    Not since Ronald Reagan has an American president spoken so emphatically about the importance of manufacturing. “We’ve got to go back to making things,” Barack Obama says, embedding that view in his oratory. Yet manufacturing’s presence in the American economy continues to shrink, defying the administration’s attempts to reverse that trend.

    The president has named Ron Bloom, a Harvard M.B.A. who has worked both on Wall Street and in the labor movement, as a special adviser to help tackle the problem. Mr. Bloom’s tools, however, are limited…


    Bloom New Manufacturing Envoy

    Well, if nothing else, Obama has at least created one new job.

    Progress.


    .

    ReplyDelete
  21. "Not that I wouldn't want to mock you given a little ammunition."

    Tough to come by:
    He's just too slick.

    ReplyDelete
  22. "and in the labor movement"

    I'm shocked and awed.

    ReplyDelete
  23. Florida minister cancels burning of Qurans on 9/11

    GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- The leader of a small Florida church that espouses anti-Islam philosophy says he is canceling plans to burn copies of the Quran on Sept. 11.

    Pastor Terry Jones said Thursday that he decided to cancel his protest because the leader of a planned Islamic Center near ground zero has agreed to move its controversial location. The agreement couldn't be immediately confirmed...


    Change of Heart

    .

    ReplyDelete
  24. Now we get to see the Muslim World's response to the old
    "Just Kidding"
    trick.

    ReplyDelete
  25. Florida Minister decides to hold on to his head.

    ReplyDelete
  26. Rauf and the Reverend to meet!
    Priceless.

    ReplyDelete
  27. Capitol Hill employees owed $9.3 million in back taxes last year, data show

    Capitol Hill employees owed $9.3 million in overdue taxes at the end of last year, a sliver of the $1 billion owed by federal workers nationwide but one with potential political ramifications for
    The debt among Hill employees has risen at a faster rate than the overall tax debt on the government's books, according to Internal Revenue Service data.

    It comes at a time when some Republican members are pushing for the firings of government workers who owe the IRS and President Obama has urged a crackdown on delinquent government contractors...


    Yea, I've Been Meaning To Pay That

    It appears the sense of entitlement in D.C. is rampant and not restricted to those at the top.

    .

    ReplyDelete
  28. Chris Christie is a piece of work. Gotta love him. Need about 49 more.

    ReplyDelete
  29. Moving Mosque a
    "Sign from God"

    ie
    Trump offers 25 percent more than asking price.

    ReplyDelete
  30. 16. Walt
    BEHOLD A PALE (IN) HORSE

    Behold the four horsemen
    Note well the steed pale
    To Irish the Norsemen
    Debarked in Kinsale
    To others the four
    Are the riders of death
    Who slay by the score
    With the stench of their breath
    But now there’s a new
    Set of riders astride
    Steeds of quite different hue
    And they ride them with pride
    And their names are not Famine
    And Sickness and War
    The first one a gamin
    Named Beck and there’s more
    There’s Angle and Haley
    And Jindal of course
    And Sarah quite gaily
    On the lead Palin horse

    ReplyDelete
  31. Rauf offers to shut up for a week if Soledad puts out.

    ReplyDelete
  32. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  33. Re: Christie

    He appears more statesman than politician.

    "What is the difference between a statesman and a politician?... A statesman does what he believes is best for his country, a politician does what best gets him re-elected.” M. Gorbachev



    Of course, Oscar Wilde wrote,

    "A statesmen is a dead politician. We need more statesmen."


    .

    ReplyDelete
  34. It would be interesting to know how that teacher responded to Christie. At one point she seemed to deny something he said.

    ReplyDelete
  35. Remember when the Left applauded the release of Gitmo photos showing "abuse" despite fact that they would inflame Muslims?

    Yeah right.

    ReplyDelete
  36. If Pastor Terry Jones won't do it, I'm making 9-11-10 "Fry A Koran In Bacon Grease Day"

    ReplyDelete
  37. Who but look to the bright side Melody would have the good sense to read Good News Now?

    ReplyDelete
  38. Christie replaced Jon Corzine who did significant time at Goldman Sachs. Also a member of the Bilderberg Group.

    Just food for though for those who assume that Republicans are responsible for 2008. The Divide wasn't ideological. It was private-public sector.

    At any rate, New Jersey is also home to Christine Todd Whitman who salvaged the State budget (and came within a whisker of federal notoriety) by reinvesting public pension obligations into high risk securities.

    There is no free lunch.

    Ask New Jersey in a few years.

    ReplyDelete
  39. G_d planted some damn Rolling Stones song about Satan in my heart.

    Care to join the Church of Doug?

    ReplyDelete
  40. Regardless of one's religious beliefs or laws and whether we agree or disagree with them or whether it's right or wrong it is not right to destroy anyone's book of worship. I'm disappointed it came from a man of God.

    I guess karma isn't a word in his vocabulary book.

    ReplyDelete
  41. In a book released earlier this year, Scott Rasmussen observed that,

    "The gap between Americans who want to govern themselves and politicians who want to rule over them may be as big today as the gap between the colonies and England during the 18th century."

    In Search of Self-Governance is available at Rasmussen Reports and Amazon.com.

    ReplyDelete
  42. Times have changed since the cartoon Allah days.

    ReplyDelete
  43. A man have lead a mosque, synagogue or church but that doesn't mean he is a man of God.

    ReplyDelete
  44. You're definitely right there.

    ReplyDelete
  45. It's a book of self-worship and dominance of a bunch of old men who are pulling the wool over the eyes of the others.

    ReplyDelete
  46. The Lord seems to have unnaturally aged that Man of God, Terry Jones. He needs a shave, among other things.

    ReplyDelete
  47. If the imam and Terry Jones would just kill one another, and let the rest of us be.

    ReplyDelete
  48. That was a great clip of Christie. Gives me a lot more insight into him than what I had.

    Thanks, Deuce.

    ReplyDelete
  49. Later outside his church he said that the imam he thought he made the deal with "clearly, clearly lied to us" about moving the mosque.

    Jones and Imam Muhammad Musri stood side by side in a news conference where the pastor said he would cancel Saturday's event.

    Musri later told The Associated Press there was only an agreement for him and Jones to travel to New York and meet Saturday with the imam overseeing plans to build a mosque near ground zero.


    Burning of Qurans

    ReplyDelete
  50. State Department spokesman Philip Crowley recalled on Wednesday that General David Petraeus, the commander of a US-led NATO force in Afghanistan, had spoken about his concern about how the church's plans may affect troops abroad.

    "We have broader concerns about the welfare of diplomats and American citizens travelling around the world who might be caught in a tragic reaction to whatever might happen this weekend," Crowley said.

    US officials have led international calls for pastor Terry Jones, of the Dove World Outreach Center in Florida, to abandon his plan to burn copies of the Koran on Saturday, the ninth anniversary of the September 11 attacks.


    Koran Burning

    ReplyDelete
  51. heh :)

    11. Walt

    Tonto: They’re going to build a mosque at ground zero, kemosabe.
    Lone Ranger, looking askance: Stop calling me that, Tonto. What’s a mosque?
    Tonto: A kind of church. And a man in Florida is threatening to burn a Koran.
    Lone Ranger, looking puzzled: North Koran or South Koran?
    Tonto: And now the man in Florida says the Muslims are threatening to kill him for threatening to burn a Koran.
    Lone Ranger: Sounds like a job for us, Tonto. Where’s my horse.
    Three bars of the William Tell Overture later Tonto and the Lone Ranger arrive in Manhattan
    Lone Ranger: This dispute can be solved with some good old fashioned horse sense, Tonto. What do you say, Silver? Should a mosque be built at Ground Zero?
    Silver: Neigh
    Lone Ranger: There you have it, Mayor Bloomberg.
    Problem solved, the Lone Ranger and Tonto ride off into the sunset
    Mayor Bloomberg, bemused: Who was that mosqued man?


    good ol' walt

    ReplyDelete
  52. “The imam has agreed to move the mosque. We have agreed to cancel our event on Saturday, and on Saturday I will be flying up there to meet with him.”

    Later, once the organisers denied any bargain, Mr Jones, expressing disappointment and shock that Musri had perhaps lied to him, resurrected the specter of the Koran-burning if no deal is done.

    “We would be forced to rethink our decision, because we cancelled it based upon his (Musri's) word.”


    Mosque Deal

    ReplyDelete
  53. County Commission Chairman Mark Chastain said the event was not necessarily welcome in town, but the Klan’s right to assemble is protected free speech.

    “We Gilmer Countians are peaceful Americans,” Chastain said by e-mail. “We did not ask for this event to be held here.

    We don’t approve of racism and hope that the KKK’s demonstration is a nonevent. We, however, hold dear the First Amendment and respect the rights of all to peacefully assemble.”


    Rally Saturday

    ReplyDelete
  54. Top Adviser to Lead Panel on Economy

    President Obama on Friday will promote a longtime economic adviser, Austan D. Goolsbee, to chairman of his Council of Economic Advisers, signaling continuity even as a high unemployment rate has left much of the public dissatisfied with administration policies...

    Goolsbee Promoted

    Obama has had a couple good speeches on the economy lately. He is promoting some ideas now that he should have initiated a year and a half ago.

    Then he goes and offsets any positives by promoting Goolsbee.

    Goolsbee is one of the biggest dicks in the administration.

    Obama deserves what he gets in November.

    .

    ReplyDelete
  55. Coverage of Koran Case Stirs Questions on Media Role

    News executives said the proposed burning took on a greater significance after the protests in Afghanistan and in other Muslim countries. In Kabul last Sunday, up to 500 people attended a protest at which Mr. Jones was burned in effigy, according to The A.P.

    Media Responsibility

    How does a local event by a whack-job preacher who runs a church with a few dozen members become the cause celebre for the entire world.

    The same news agencies that bemoan the event are the only reason it got any publicity at all. Then you have the Secretary of Defense, General P, the FBI, Congressmen, and the President of the US getting on the bandwagon.

    The whole affair is disgusting and so is everyone involved on both sides. Friggin dicks.


    .

    .

    ReplyDelete
  56. Mixed Signals in US and Mexico on Weed


    "Marijuana arrives in the United States soaked with the blood of Tijuana residents," said Mayor Jorge Ramos, whose police department has lost 45 officers to drug violence in the past three years.

    But just over the border in California, cannabis is considered by law a healing herb. After the Obama administration announced that it would not prosecute the purveyors, about 100 medical marijuana dispensaries opened in San Diego alone in the past year, selling vast quantities of Purple Goo, Green Crack and other varieties of super-charged pot to virtually any adult willing to pay $59 for a doctor's prescription and $10 for a joint.

    The marijuana divide between these sister cities points to major disparities between the fight against drugs in Mexico and their acceptance in the United States.

    As the Obama administration presses Mexican President Felipe Calderon to stand firm in his costly, bloody military campaign against drug mafias, Mexican leaders are increasingly asking why their country should continue to attack cannabis traffickers and peasant pot farmers if the U.S. government is barely enforcing federal marijuana laws in the most populous state.


    Mixed Signals

    .

    ReplyDelete
  57. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  58. Goolsbee is one of the biggest dicks in the administration.

    Amen to that. I like Jared Bernstein better but they got him buried on Biden's staff.

    57% in New Jersey Approve of Governor's Job Performance

    Makes me think that sooomebody is lying when they claim that the voting public won't let them do something - like tackle public union issues or make adjustments to SS retirement age or means testing or ...

    I particularly liked the "lambasting" reference. That was telling.

    ReplyDelete