Way to go, Newt.

Not to be outdone by the new radical fringe of the GOP, Newt Gingrich decided to suggest that the HCR bill will lead to the same kind of political fallout for the Democrats that Civil Rights legislation had in the 1960's:

But former Republican House speaker Newt Gingrich said Obama and the Democrats will regret their decision to push for comprehensive reform. Calling the bill "the most radical social experiment . . . in modern times," Gingrich said: "They will have destroyed their party much as Lyndon Johnson shattered the Democratic Party for 40 years" with the enactment of civil rights legislation in the 1960s.

Am I reading this right? He's basically gloating about the fact that Democrats suffer for taking on unpopular, but morally righteous, legislative tasks, right?

I like to imagine he was skinning a possum as he said this.

[via Washington Post]

In this video: By re-showing a clip The Daily Show took out of context, Bill O'Reilly proves that The Daily Show had judiciously re-packaged the clip in a pretty accurate and funny new context. Then some CNN pundits ignore that fact and say inane things.

Confrontational Dorkiness

Never has "white guy dancing" been done with such a defiant, "Fuck you!"

Thing I Never Knew

This may be old news to some of you, but: Wow, Gordon Lish is like the Malcolm McLaren to Raymond Carver's Sex Pistols. [via NYT]

You Know, Begrudgingly ...

I am impressed by how much this stupid "If You Seek Amy" Video operates simultaneously as a vicious celebration of, and a mea culpa for, Britney Spear's career of acting innocent while selling sex to minors. Congratulations America for the schizophrenic culture that could produce these three juvenile minutes of David Lynch by way of Madonna and Robert Mapplethorpe.

[This week's South Park about the Jonas Brothers couldn't have happened at a better time.]

The Roger Rabbit Of Super Bowl Commercials

A popular story behind Who Framed Roger Rabbit says that it would have been impossible to get characters like Bugs Bunny and Mickey Mouse onscreen together were it not for the insistence and industry weight of Steven Spielberg.

Part of me wonders if the same was true of this Super Bowl Commercial for MasterCard. (The rest of me thinks these companies were actually grateful.)

Governor Rod Blagojevich

WTF is this unbelievably ballsy blanketing of the court of public opinion?

Off

Paul Krugman, The New Yorks Times' counter ballast to their infuriatingly smug free-market ideologue David Brooks, had a very astute (at least, to me) editorial in the Christmas issue followed by the unintentional punchline: David Brooks is off today.

I really want "David Brooks is off today" to pretty much follow every political statement I like.

Tom Scharpling Live Karaoke "Born To Run"

God I love this man and his radio show.

My Brother Singing "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun"

I've Got A Game Changer For Obama/Biden

A Saturday photo-op where Joe Biden shows the American people that he also can field dress a moose.

(Amirite, ppl?! Huh!? Amirite!?)

Slavoj Žižek Is A National Treasure.

It's a real shame he's not ours.
This recent interview covers all kinds of great territory—the 2008 U.S. presidential elections, Oliver Stone's failures as a polemicist, Žižek's defenses of the movie 300, of racism (yes!) and of dick jokes, as well as some of his praise (faint praise) for my boy Thomas Frank and Judith Butler's underrated partner, Wendy Brown.

[via BeepBoop, shared by susie]

Silver Jews' David Berman Writes To The NYT's [Actual Hot Air]

I haven't been able to find out if this letter in today's New York Times Sunday Magazine is the David Berman, but it's fun to pretend:

David Frum’s political view of inequality (Sept. 7) reads like an internal memo from the court of Louis XVI — equality is not a value to be pursued for its own sake but a concession that might have to be endured to avoid imminent revolution.

Equality is the value with which the framers began our founding document and what the progress of civilization has been primarily about. In fact, the redistribution of wealth — a conservative’s most feared and hated thing — is most of what governments do. Reasonable people can disagree about precisely how much wealth should be redistributed and where, but to say that “equality in itself never can be or should be a conservative goal” is tantamount to rejecting the last couple centuries of progress.

David Berman

Berman's comparison is particularly interesting as former presidential speech writer David Frum hails from the court of George Bush II. He's widely known to have written the "Axis of Evil" speech—though, his draft read "Axis of Hatred," which was changed, presumably, to avoid alienating the GOP's pro-hate wing. [via NYT, orbviorsly]

Batmobile To The Dark Side

It looks like political jerks have figured out my main qualms with The Dark Knight and are touting them all as a good thing. For example, the WSJ's Andrew Klavan:

There seems to me no question that the Batman film "The Dark Knight," currently breaking every box office record in history, is at some level a paean of praise to the fortitude and moral courage that has been shown by George W. Bush in this time of terror and war. Like W, Batman is vilified and despised for confronting terrorists in the only terms they understand. Like W, Batman sometimes has to push the boundaries of civil rights to deal with an emergency, certain that he will re-establish those boundaries when the emergency is past.

Thanks, doofus. Remember that time Bush personally put himself in harm's way? Oh, wait he didn't ever.

Stuff White People Hate

White Whine is a pretty funny tumblr of white people complaints, e.g.:

Complaint #222
“I hate political LOLcats.”
-Whine by Lindsay

[Via, Alex P.]

My Candidate Makes This Look Good

While not as laughable as the David Brooks Applebees misfire, Rove's recent dig at Obama is yet another failed attempt to paint the presumptive nominee as a haughty elitist. Says Rove:

Even if you never met him [i.e. Obama], you know this guy. He's the guy at the country club with the beautiful date, holding a martini and a cigarette that stands against the wall and makes snide comments about everyone who passes by.

Hey! What if I've never met Obama and I've never been to a country club?
[via MoJo via ABC]

Aside: BHO should pick Tommy Lee Jones as his running mate; Or, if he wants to secure Florida, Jeff Goldblum.

A Pretty Good Simpsons Joke

Some meta-humor after Lisa makes a documentary about her family — displaying their dysfunctional behavior to all of Sundance:



This Hulu makes it so easy to share clips. Amazing.

Thanks, Hannah Arendt!

"In order to go on living one must try to escape the death involved in perfectionism."—Hannah Arendt

After A Swear-Heavy Walk Home Tonight

I don't think I have ever more identified with Bill O'Reilly, as I did watching this meltdown mega-mix:

My Favorite Harry Potter Film

... is the one for Bonnie Tyler's "Total Eclipse of The Heart." [Link]