Tuesday, October 15, 2013

LIFE IN POST-"MILLION VET MARCH" AMERICA.

Sour rightwing rumblings as the shutdown runs out of gas:

neo-neocon tells us Obama is engaged in a reign of terror: "The level of fear this administration has engendered is—yes, I’ll use the word—unprecedented, at least in this country." Her proof: When running for the state senate, Obama got opponent Alice Palmer knocked off the ballot, a practice described by CNN as "hardball," a game we hear is played in Communist countries like Cuba. (Not sure why neo-neocon is complaining anyway: Fellow nut David Horowitz has Palmer pegged as a dangerous Commie.)

Also neo-neocon cites a New York Times story that quotes "an insurance executive who has participated in many conference calls on the federal exchange. Like many people interviewed for this article, the executive spoke on the condition of anonymity, saying he did not wish to alienate the federal officials with whom he works." To neo-neocon, a source slagging a subject anonymously because they do business with them is double Nixon, which is worth half a Hitler at least. I wonder if she's ever seen a gossip magazine?

At PowerLine, Steven Hayward is making shutdownade. It tastes terrible.
The bullying tactics of forcibly shutting off public spaces like the World War II memorial on the mall has surely inflicted damage on Obama that, had he behaved with minimal restraint, he might have been spared.

Yeah, Obama's really been embarrassed. 

Finally, after House Republicans got into a world of hurt for trying to shut down Obamacare for a year, it was inevitable that someone with nothing to lose -- no House seat, no dignity, nothing -- would pick up the fallen standard. Take it away, Megan McArdle:
But given that they didn’t even announce that they were taking the system down for more fixes this weekend, I’m also guessing that it’s pretty bad. Bad enough that it’s time to start talking about a drop-dead date: At what point do we admit that the system just isn’t working well enough, roll it back and delay the whole thing for a year? 
Yes, I know what I’m suggesting is a major, horrible task. And I’m aware that since I opposed the law in the first place, people will take my suggestion with a huge grain of salt. Fair enough, but hear me out. 
If the exchanges don’t get fixed soon, they could destroy Obamacare...
Wouldn't want that to happen, would we? Maybe in 2016 they'll run Romney again, on the grounds that the architect of Obamacare is just the man to make it work.

84 comments:

  1. Halloween_Jack9:51 AM

    That picture is the second-most-disgusting thing that I've seen connected to that event.

    I also have to note this driblet from McMegan:

    I’m a longtime critic of federal contracting rules, which prevent some corruption at ruinous expense in money, quality and speed.



    How'd your daddy make his money again, Megan? At what point do you admit that, even as a shill for the moneyed class, you can't not embarrass yourself?

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  2. That Confederate flag? Take it from Instapundit:

    https://twitter.com/instapundit/status/389463027491147776
    ---->
    @instapundit 13 Oct

    @JeffreyGoldberg Prob a plant. Usually is.
    <-----

    Why can't they exuberantly display the symbols of their proud and noble culture?

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  3. Fair enough, but hear me out.


    No. I'll wait for the Susan of Texas version.
    ~

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  4. coozledad10:22 AM

    And I’m aware that since I opposed the law in the first place, people will take my suggestion with a huge grain of salt. And it's not even the good salt.

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  5. Waingro10:34 AM

    "And I’m aware that since I opposed the law in the first place, people
    will take my suggestion with a huge grain of salt. Fair enough, but hear
    me out. "

    Oh well, sure Megan- since you've consistently conducted yourself with integrity and transparency your entire career. You've at least earned the benefit of the doubt.

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  6. DocAmazing10:34 AM

    Yeah, leaving that invitation to spray-paint "pink Himalayan" on your article was just amateurish, Megan.

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  7. Jay Schiavone10:49 AM

    When Megan McArdle types the words, "hear me out," it is because she recognizes that even her fanboys are about to surf over to Pam Geller's beach video.

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  8. BigHank5310:52 AM

    ... has surely inflicted damage on Obama that, had he behaved with minimal restraint, he might have been spared...


    Wait, are we talking about Barry Soetoro here? That Kenyan-born secret Muslim down-low homosexual socialist? The murderer of Andrew Breitbart and so many other dreams? That conniving, election-stealing enabler of mooching minorities? The Chicago thug? The one who's funding al-Quaida in Syria? The bloody-handed deceiver who's about to be impeached over Benghazi? The anti-colonialist, too lazy to write his own memoir, but who nevertheless wants to steal all the hard-inherited money of those job-creating Waltons? Are you suggesting, Mr. Hayward, that the right's opinion of President Obama might sink lower?

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  9. reallyaimai11:08 AM

    Shirley Obama has been hurt. I've never seen so many references to Shirley since Airplane 1.

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  10. BigHank5311:35 AM

    Too lazy. Also, Hoverounds don't have enough power to drag a body uphill. (Don't ask.) What they really want is for all the undesirables to throw themselves into a volcano.

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  11. Actually, the comments under that post are telling, with whispers of conspiracies, secret plots to destroy the insurance sector, talk of rising Communism...I have but one question: Are Bloomberg readers generally crazy, or is it just McArdle's followers?

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  12. Matt Jones11:56 AM

    Love the bizzaro-world thinking from the likes of neo-neocon: "The President is totally responsible for MY irrational fear, hatred, and frothing-at-the-mouth racism! It couldn't possibly be related to this giant bottle of 'Right-Wing Propaganda'-brand Haterade I've been guzzling!"

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  13. XeckyGilchrist12:00 PM

    Yup. They were just about to come around to thinking he was ok and cooperating with him, but he had to go and be rude.

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  14. XeckyGilchrist12:01 PM

    Kind of gives away the game, doesn't it? I wonder if McMegan has been cleverly trolling us all these years and is starting to drop bigger hints.

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  15. The level of fear this administration has engendered is—yes, I’ll use the word—unprecedented, at least in this country.


    It's official - the right-blogosphere has forgotten everything that happened between 2001 and 2009. We have always been governed by Barack Obama.


    (On a related note, does anyone else remember back in 2006 when many of these same conservatives tried to claim then-Senator Obama as their own? That's quite a political movement you've got, there...)

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  16. XeckyGilchrist12:03 PM

    Unprecedented! Definitely an Orangeish-Red Terror Level™!

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  17. Oh, there's no way she's that self-aware. Hell, I'm sure where she's from everyone uses overpriced salt, and she doesn't get why talking about it was such a big thing.

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  18. LookWhosInTheFreezer12:11 PM

    Maybe it's just a poor attempt to speak jive.

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  19. glennisw12:11 PM

    I've been really puzzled with this talking point. What did they expect Obama to do, say "Sure, shut down the FAA and Head Start, but let's leave the park open and keep Newt's panda-cam rolling?" Are we really supposed to be outraged that he didn't share the same this skewed a sense of priorities that the rightwing nut jobs have?

    Along with this bizarre thinking that Obama took the time to involve himself with their symbolic favorites at all, is the equally bizarre thought that he involved himself simply because these things were important to them.
    Imagine a scenario where Obama says, "Those guys at the FAA are going to have to deal with their own problems, I've gotta make sure the barricades are up before the bus is due from Valdosta, so I can stick it to some vets! And hey, you IT guys over at the Zoo, shut down that damned panda-cam, now, quick, before Newt tries to log in! That'll fix 'em! "

    They really do think it's all about them. They think he's deliberately breaking their favorite toys and laughing at them when they cry.

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  20. glennisw12:13 PM

    Yes, it's true, he's all that you mention. But then he had to go and shut down the panda-cam! That's the last straw!

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  21. glennisw12:16 PM

    "He's responsible for lowering the civility of the country because we hate him!"

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  22. Halloween_Jack12:23 PM

    We are actually in agreement on this.

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  23. Mr. Wonderful12:31 PM

    "I’m also guessing that it’s pretty bad. Bad enough that it’s time to start talking about a drop-dead date..."


    Huh. That's bad. "Guessing that" is even more accurate than "wondering if." After an entire week of opening, from a standing start and, all at once, to tens of millions of applicants, a system ignored or actively subverted by 35 out of 50 states, and it's not fixed yet? Well, when you've lost McArdle, you've lost the most sympathetic, tolerant supporter you have. RIP, ACA.

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  24. montag212:35 PM

    Dunno, but she drives me pretty fuckin' crazy.

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  25. montag212:39 PM

    "... making shutdownade. It tastes terrible."


    Damn, that's funny.

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  26. PersonaAuGratin12:58 PM

    L.L. Bean, apparently:

    http://www.llbean.com/llb/shop/19191?feat=506677-GN3&page=original-field-coat-with-primaloft-liner


    Though I wonder if the "bi-swing" shoulders may put him at odds with the family values voters.

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  27. Dr.BDH1:09 PM

    I've had that discussion a lot with my Southern spouse. Bottom line: white robes with peaked hats are unacceptable, so is the Stars and Bars.

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  28. KatWillow1:11 PM

    Perhaps the ACA folk weren't expecting such a huge response... thinking of all the people who listened to and believed FOX and the House Repugs. Apparently not so many.

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  29. tigrismus1:20 PM

    @JeffreyGoldberg Prob a plant. Usually is.


    Sure, a tea plant.

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  30. satch1:33 PM

    Yep... Megan's attitude toward contracting rules is the same that Harvey Logan's was in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, as in: "Rules!? In a knife fight??!? No rules!!!" And purely as an aside, I'm thinking I'd have really enjoyed kicking Daddy in the nuts.

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  31. Jay B.1:38 PM

    The level of fear this administration has engendered is—yes, I’ll use the word—unprecedented, at least in this country.



    Hmmm. THIS SEEMS LIKE BIT OF A SPECIOUS CLAIM. Let's investigate, shall we?


    Obama-engendered fear: A rainbow flagged wedding
    Not fear: Rainbow colored terror warnings


    Obama-engendered fear: Serving as a diplomat in a chaotic, failing state
    Not fear: Bombing diplomats because other Arabs from other countries did something


    Obama-engendered fear: Shutting down federally-run monuments during a Congress-led government shutdown
    Not fear: Shutting down food and education programs for the working-class


    OEF: Working with Putin to stop chemical warfare on civilians
    NF: Joking about bombing Iran/Syria/the Soviet Union/Vietnam/Cambodia


    Well, you know, she's got a point. "Duck and cover" and Eternal War had nothing on talking about the notion that a debt default would have terrible economic consequences for the world.

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  32. he might have been spared.


    We will pile into this clown car and drive off a cliff, and Obama will be destroyed!

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  33. The level of fear this administration has engendered is—yes, I’ll use the word—unprecedented, at least in this country.

    Color coded terror chart says "Threat Level: BLACK"

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  34. He's not even breaking their favorite toys, he's putting that long-ignored toy into a bag for Goodwill, and they are pulling a tantrum, saying that they'll play with it this time.

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  35. Woo Woo, like no one else Woo Woo.

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  36. In Megan's case, she pulls the football away from herself.

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  37. redoubt2:17 PM

    "No, she's opposed to federal contracting rules, not federal contracting."

    One rule is that contractors get furloughed too, and won't get back pay like us FTEs.



    Thanks to that, there are fewer people on her Majic Bus; knowing her, she's happy traffic is lighter.

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  38. tinheart3:55 PM

    And when they sing "Fascist Pig" from Suicidal Tendencies, they don't even have to change the words!

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  39. Smut Clyde4:00 PM

    The level of fear this administration has engendered is—yes, I’ll use the word—unprecedented

    I am conused. Which is the risque word that the writer is brave enough to use? "Engendered" or "unprecedented"?
    Either way, it's envelope-pushing stuff.

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  40. Smut Clyde4:03 PM

    And I’m aware that since I opposed the law in the first place, people
    will take my suggestion with a huge grain of salt. Fair enough, but hear
    me out.


    This, from someone who repeatedly argued that opponents of the Mesopotamian Wars should not be heard out, because they were merely motivated by their Bush Derangement Syndrome? That people warning of market collapse should not be heard out because BDS again? Really?

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  41. BigHank534:06 PM

    Threat Level: Bourbon. Don't ask about Threat Level Everclear.

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  42. tigrismus4:10 PM

    Hey, those people didn't offer me a huge grain of salt.

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  43. XeckyGilchrist5:02 PM

    You know the proverb. "If they could count, they wouldn't be conservatives."

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  44. cleter6:41 PM

    Ooh. Ted Cruz is totally running for president. He's already got one of those walking-through-the-corn-patch Iowa-State-Fair man-of-the-people LL Bean barn jackets. Now we know he's serious.

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  45. cleter6:43 PM

    Iowa caucus voters won't take you seriously if you don't have one of those.

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  46. cleter6:44 PM

    What the hell is that guy protesting, anyway? The Confederate government has been shut down for 150 years.

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  47. smut clyde7:05 PM

    Bourbon level: Dropped by 3 inches.

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  48. smut clyde7:09 PM

    damage on Obama that, had he behaved with minimal restraint, he might have been spared


    ... instead of acting with maximal restraint? Ambiguous Hayward is ambiguous.

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  49. reallyaimai7:13 PM

    Its a moebius strip of hate.

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  50. reallyaimai7:15 PM

    Well, a rancher from South Dakota seems to have those balls.

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  51. reallyaimai7:16 PM

    How can limp wristed muslim fag Obama engender anything?

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  52. reallyaimai7:17 PM

    Well, maybe he's just back from lunch and he thought it would finally be open again.

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  53. BigHank537:23 PM

    "Your Honor, I stand accused of the vilest crimes imaginable: the torture, murder, and cannibalism of my own mother and and father. You see me reduced to the lowest level, no better than an animal. Sir, I ask you, I beg of you, I beseech you: can you look within your heart and find some pity for a poor orphan?"

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  54. Because it's what they'd do.

    Pretty much the crux of it. And they don't even think it's wrong, unless it's done against them rather than by them.

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  55. mortimer20007:25 PM

    Locking out the Greatest Generation from the WWII memorial was bad enough, but his refusal to let a special chapter of Vietnam Vets Spit On By A Young Barack Obama Upon Their Return Home From Serving Their Country (When He Wasn't Busy Helping Terrorist Bill Ayers That Is) visit their own memorial was shirley the very last straw. Obama may have only been 8 at the time, but the VVSOBAYBOUTRHFSTC(WHWBHTBATI) still have nightmares about it.

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  56. a system ignored or actively subverted by 35 out of 50 states

    Sabotaging government services and then pointing and shouting, "See?! Government doesn't work!" is a prime Republican pastime.

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  57. Gromet7:35 PM

    Just like Sara Palin and the Veterans of Confederate Wars, I too am outraged that Obama has proven himself to be a tyrant, entirely above the law, by his refusal to carve out exceptions to the law.

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  58. Jay B.7:57 PM

    All true.

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  59. TGuerrant8:18 PM

    One of these days, her bus driver will explain it to her.

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  60. Bethany Spencer9:02 PM

    Is marrying a comment about pandas rhetorical beastialty? Because if loving comments about pandas is wrong, I don't wanna be right.

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  61. Bethany Spencer9:05 PM

    To be fair, I DO break their toys then laugh at them when they cry.

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  62. Bethany Spencer9:06 PM

    Oh snap.

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  63. Bethany Spencer9:09 PM

    You mean White Drank?

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  64. redoubt9:09 PM

    Orders a "Peggy Noonan": Bourbon and bitter (tears), served in Ronald Reagan's hollowed out skull.

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  65. Bethany Spencer9:13 PM

    When we get to Oompa Loompa shit starts to get real.

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  66. XeckyGilchrist9:21 PM

    Cool! That song was playing on the PA when I was at the grocery store this evening. I love being old and thinking the grocery store muzak is cool.

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  67. XeckyGilchrist9:23 PM

    Gee, I'd like to see a list of plants that makes them "usually" the case.

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  68. reallyaimai9:44 PM

    No, a real peggy noonan is served in a pair of blessed papal cordovans.

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  69. Hey, a kid who could arrange for fake birth announcements to be planted in Hawaiian newspapers when he was a fetus would have been pretty intimidating by the time he turned 8.

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  70. glennisw10:33 PM

    I could barely lift that huge grain of salt, it weighted over a hundred pounds.

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  71. AGoodQuestion10:54 PM

    Nice tie on Lee, too. For a Mormon he's looking pretty pimptastic.

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  72. AGoodQuestion11:01 PM

    Are we really supposed to be outraged that he didn't share the same this skewed a sense of priorities that the rightwing nut jobs have?
    Well, yeah. All Americans are expected to froth in unison when someone or something goes against the hastily appointed RW talking point of the day. This is what happens when a sub-culture forgets it's sub- and starts thinking it's dom-.

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  73. AGoodQuestion11:11 PM

    He really put the "O" in "The Omen."

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  74. AGoodQuestion11:14 PM

    Are we sure the insurance exec wanted to be anonymous because he doesn't want to alienate federal officials and not because, y'know, talking to neo-neocon is kind of embarrassing?

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  75. stepped_pyramids12:51 AM

    Yeah, just like the traitor flag at the South Carolina state house is a plant, right?

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  76. stepped_pyramids12:52 AM

    Uh, uh, uh... look over there, a black man! *sprays ink* *runs away*

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  77. stepped_pyramids12:53 AM

    I want to disappoint this comment and send it sheepish, apologetic text messages the next day.


    ... is that right?

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  78. GabrielRatchet5:35 AM

    Well, after all, that's what made Ayn Rand snap ...

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  79. reallyaimai7:41 AM

    My recent description of Niall Ferguson: "A pat of butter with a tie around its neck."

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  80. Halloween_Jack9:37 AM

    When I was a kid, I saw some Confederate money for sale somewhere (probably fake, but as the Recent Unpleasantness had been not long over a century ago at that point, maybe not), with a sign next to it: "Save yer money, fer the South will rise again!" Probably some people thought that that wasn't a joke.

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  81. The Confederate government has been shut down for 150 years.

    In fairness, I could see how Congressional Republicans might have convinced him otherwise.

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  82. witlesschum10:37 AM

    Actual finance people may or may not be better informed and less crazy than the average person. The wannabees who watch Jim Cramer play with stuffed animals definitely don't seem sophisticated and well-informed. I assume it's the second group that McCardle is there for.

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  83. etseq2:45 PM

    Just an aside but I grew up in Valdosta and still have family there...I left for UGA and then Atlanta after high school but I still go home for holidays, etc. You should read some of the anti-obama rants published in the Valdosta Daily Times...we are talking full blown tea bagger birther crazy with the occasional "god bless you" thrown in :)

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