Althouse: At the Mendota Moon Café...

October 21, 2010

At the Mendota Moon Café...

... a walk tonight, down by the lake.

37 comments:

Anonymous said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 10/21/10, 9:09 PM
Anonymous said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 10/21/10, 9:14 PM
Anonymous said...: Well, I am disappointed. I was hoping for House victory (224+) and Senate victory (54+), but this Juan Williams news has caused me anxiety. This has already affected my polling.

I cannot believe it. Is this October surprise? Why is NPR so dumb-witted. I mean, this election was my ticket to fame and fortune. Now, I hope the Democrats win the House and Senate by one seat each.

Yikes, get me out of here.; 10/21/10, 9:17 PM
traditionalguy said...: America's Politico is suffering definite full moon vibes. We also call that Lunacy. We may need to put him on suicide watch when the Democrats lose everything. Hang in there AP, things always get better.; 10/21/10, 9:20 PM
The Scythian said...: Now way, Traditionalguy!

I love America's Politico's "Baghdad Bob" schtick. It's cute satire.

And, y'know, he does have a point. I don't think that Democrats are going to lose just because NPR fire Juan Williams, but defunding NPR is a great bloody shirt for fiscal Conservatives to wave.

It's a really pleasant October surprise for Republicans.; 10/21/10, 9:31 PM
chickelit said...: @Americas Politico:

You reached for the secret too soon, you cried for the moon.

Now there's a look in your eyes, like black holes in the sky.

Shine on you crazy dyad.; 10/21/10, 9:35 PM
Wince said...: Let the word go forth from this time and place, that a new standard has been set and henceforth all NPR journalists will have to walk very quietly.; 10/21/10, 9:35 PM
Anonymous said...: OMG! NPR fired Juan Williams, apparently because he said that he was scared of people who self-identify as Muslims and they thought that was an offensive opinion.

So now we must vote Republican to avenge The Sacking of Williams... just like avenging the Visigoths for the sacking of Rome???

Do you feel that FI-YUH in ya' belly!??? A reporter on the public payroll was dismissed, goddammit! And it took him a whole day to find a new gig at Fox News!!! Americans are right now taking to the streets! This will mean revolution! This will be the seamless-transfer-to-a-more-appropriate-and-higher-paying-employer that will change history!; 10/21/10, 9:53 PM
Wince said...: And now for something completely different...

A message from Hillary Rodham Clinton to those of you out there contemplating suicide.; 10/21/10, 9:56 PM
LonewackoDotCom said...: Youngblood, teaparty dolt, says: defunding NPR is a great bloody shirt for fiscal Conservatives to wave

Defunding NPR will save maybe 0.01% of the amount that Bush caused to be spent on Iraq. And, most "fiscal Conservative" leaders (excluding their useful idiot followers) could care less about actual spending: their goal is to help their corporate benefactors save money. And, to most "fiscal Conservatives", things like NPR are "social issues". I.e., they don't involve making money.

What exactly does Armey or the ClubForGrowth care about NPR? They don't give an f. However, if they can use it to push their agenda, then that's what they'll do. And, useful idiots will fall into line, thinking Armey, CFG, etc. are on their side when they're just using them.

Along the same lines, read why his supporters won't be able to help Juan Williams.

--------------
Now, since this comment is anti-stupidity, expect partiers to lie and smear about me. They aren't capable of making a valid, logical argument against anything I've ever written about them; all they can do is lie and smear.

Ask the teaparty "patriots" why they almost completely ignored immigration for over a year.; 10/21/10, 9:57 PM
Anonymous said...: "Update at 3:30 p.m. ET. NPR CEO Vivian Schiller just released this statement:

"I spoke hastily and I apologize to Juan and others for my thoughtless remark."

This is the brain trust that is supposed to be the measured and steady hand running NPR?

What a complete jackass.

She shoved her foot so far down her throat that she had to unbuckle her belt.

As Henry V said so well:

The mercy that was quick in us but late,
By your own counsel is suppress'd and kill'd:
You must not dare, for shame, to talk of mercy;
For your own reasons turn into your bosoms,
As dogs upon their masters, worrying you.
See you, my princes, and my noble peers,
These predictable leftist monsters!; 10/21/10, 9:58 PM
Unknown said...: The full moon was never good news for The Blonde - all those patients with their inner tides going in and out. Since she's had her unwanted Sabbatical, she takes it with much more equanimity.

Beautiful moon, Ann. Hope you and Meade enjoyed it.

WV "defore" What comes before defree.

(I know...); 10/21/10, 10:00 PM
Nate Holt said...: The bright star is the planet Jupiter.; 10/21/10, 10:08 PM
Freeman Hunt said...: NPR fired Juan Williams, apparently because he said that he was scared of people who self-identify as Muslims and they thought that was an offensive opinion.

Perhaps you should look up the full quote of what he said that got him fired. Your summation here is incorrect.; 10/21/10, 10:11 PM
The Scythian said...: "So now we must vote Republican to avenge The Sacking of Williams... just like avenging the Visigoths for the sacking of Rome???"

No, dimwit.

Nobody is going to vote Republican to avenge the firing of Juan Williams.

NPR, which gets 10% of its budget from the federal government, and about 6% from state and local governments, just got itself in the news in a huge way. And it got into the news by firing a well-respected and thoughtful moderate liberal, ostensibly for stating what millions of Americans believe, but really because he was getting too buddy buddy with Fox News.

Fiscal conservatives are already waving the bloody shirt. By tomorrow afternoon, everybody is going to know how much money NPR is getting from the Federal government, and that will give fiscal conservatives ammunition in the final stretch of this election cycle.

The fact that you are attacking me for pointing out the obvious demonstrates how out of step you are here.; 10/21/10, 10:30 PM
Penny said...: "Yikes, get me out of here."

Althouse is offering up an escape route, AP. Unfortunately, all roads are currently leading hard right and clockwise. Precisely like her husband and her commenters. It appears she has been "rightly taken in"... for now.

This too shall pass.

Althouse is more a LEADER than an artist, a teacher, a wife or a mother. She is even more a LEADER than a blog host for you and me.

Tonight, the moon is where most here expect it.

Tomorrow?

Commenters? I DARE you to give our most gracious hostess the "OBJECTIVE" advice that Juan Williams couldn't muster, because he "FEELS".

"Pick your poison"!

Empathic or objective?; 10/21/10, 10:44 PM
Ralph L said...: So, Althouse gets me to watch Project Runway occasionally, and then she quits blogging it.

Tonight they criticized the last (biological) girl, in so many words, for designing clothes for lesbians. The man they canned wouldn't stop crying.; 10/21/10, 10:44 PM
Anonymous said...: Oh, Youngblood, your blood is really young, isn't it? You seem to think so simplistically and idealistically.

Do you actually believe that anyone in a position of actual or potential power would attack NPR's funding based on the ideal of fiscal conservatism? ...or for the good of the country? ...or for fairness? ...or to keep public money from going to an organization with an obviously liberal political slant?

No, no, no, no. They'll machinate about revoking NPR's funding and talk about "fiscal conservatism", but the the sole purpose of it all will be to get votes and thereby solidify their power. They'll wave that bloody flag so long as it can help them acquire political capital that they can transform into real capital later on.

And then those so-called "fiscal conservatives" will get into office and start paying off their own patronage clients with public money. Being able to dish out the money and benefits and favors is the sole reason why anyone gets into high public office nowadays. Ideals like "fiscal conservatism" are just advertising tidbits that hook the silly proles who don't know any better.; 10/21/10, 10:47 PM
Irene said...: Ralph L said:

Tonight they criticized the last (biological) girl, in so many words, for designing clothes for lesbians. The man they canned wouldn't stop crying.

At our house, both Gretchen and Michael C. got the same reviews: "potato sacks."; 10/21/10, 10:57 PM
Peter Hoh said...: AP, you're not backing away from my wager, are you?; 10/21/10, 11:15 PM
William said...: I always thought that Juan Williams was the Muzak or Montevani Strings of commentators. His points were all the standards from the American Songbook of liberal points, and he made those points sonorously without any flashy brass intrusions.... This contretemps will make him. He is now a household name. On air, he can blow his nose into his hand and flick the snot at Karl Rove, and Fox will not be able to fire him. He is now a totem figure for the right, and if he continues to mouth liberal platitudes, that will only serve to heap coals of fire on the heads of the leftists. As he plucks those gentle strings, Fox can proclaim that we (i.e. Fox) believe in free speech and you (i.e. NPR) don't. So who's a facist now, scumbag.; 10/21/10, 11:16 PM
Anonymous said...: No, I have said it. So, I shall follow.

If the Democrats do not win (House, 224+; Senate, 54+), I shall go away forever and ever.

My polling has suffered this evening. I am in total shock. It is now looking - at least tonight - that Dems will just make it. But, I hope things will happen like I predicated in next 24-48 hours. May be Juan Williams will not be a story any more.

This is a sad day. One more mishap like this then things will be worse. This election is critical. More money with victories. More opportunities to consult in 2012. NPR sucks. NPR real sucks.; 10/21/10, 11:21 PM
LoafingOaf said...: If you criticize the Tea Party, Tea Party blogger Althouse is very quick to join in with right-wing bloggers to dismiss you as an "idiot".

As she did to Chris Matthews on Oct. 14:

In reply to Matthews' comments about the Tea Partiers in relation to the Chilean miners rescue, Althouse quickly piled on with the Michelle Malkins of the right-wing blogosphere to dismiss Matthews:

"Meanwhile, Chris Matthews is an idiot" -- Althouse

But she had to update that post because she found a lot of people disagreeing with her that Matthews should automatically be dismissed as an "idiot":

"ADDED: I've seen some people defending Chris Matthews. First, they ignore the part where he predicts the miners would just start killing each other. Then, they assert with smug confidence that the government saved the miners. They are wrong: The rescue took place the way it did because of the Center Rock drill bit — 'a piece of tough technology developed by a small company in it for the money, for profit.'"

Well, whatever. Althouse was just another partisan political blogger trying to use the Chilean miner rescue as a chance to score some partisan points here at home. I'm not interested in that.

What's interesting to me is what a hypocrite she is.

Just days later she stated, while defending Christine O'Donnell for having, apparently, little knowledge of the constitution O'Donnell is running as an expert and "deep" thinker about:

"It's a political debate and this is a political disagreement. An important one, no doubt. But it can't be resolved by laughing at one person and calling her an idiot, something I find quite repellent."

No, Althouse only finds it repellant when people are laughing at one of the Tea Party's most prominent politicians. She joins in when the right-wing blogosphere attempts to dismiss as idiots people who attack the Tea Party.; 10/22/10, 12:03 AM
Fen said...: Update at 3:30 p.m. ET. NPR CEO Vivian Schiller just released this statement:

"I spoke hastily and I apologize to Juan and others for my thoughtless remark."

Why hasn't she been fired? She just broke the same "ethics code" that NPR claims Juan violated.; 10/22/10, 12:22 AM
LoafingOaf said...: I don't get scared when I see Muslims boarding a plane I am boarding, but I think that NPR firing Williams for confessing that is very unjust. And it's especially unjust that they fired him without even meeting with him face to face.

I recall that Jesse Jackson confessed that when he's walking down the street in a rough neighborhood and hears someone behind him, he feels relieved when he sees they are not young black males.

I don't think it makes one a "bigot" to make these kinds of confessions. Instead, I think people who confess such things are people who are attempting to examine themselves and their prejudices honestly because they don't want to become bigots.; 10/22/10, 12:22 AM
Fen said...: Soros-funded Moby said: If you criticize the Tea Party, Tea Party blogger Althouse is very quick to join in with right-wing bloggers to dismiss you as an "idiot".

No, Lonewacko. Its just you.

And its pretty obvious why.; 10/22/10, 12:24 AM
Fen said...: Loafing: Instead, I think people who confess such things are people who are attempting to examine themselves and their prejudices honestly because they don't want to become bigots.

Getting warmer Loaf.

Juan's point was that, even though he has instances of worry when they board his flight, its not an excuse to tar all muslims as extremists.; 10/22/10, 12:28 AM
Penny said...: Why is it that so many mediocre men with foreign sounding names are supported for having "feelings"?; 10/22/10, 1:03 AM
Revenant said...: One of the few constants in American politics is that nobody gives a rat's ass about LoafingOaf's website.; 10/22/10, 1:06 AM
Penny said...: "One of the few constants in American politics is that nobody gives a rat's ass about LoafingOaf's website."

Will you be upset if I care about a rat's ass, Rev?

PLEASE, say "Yes".; 10/22/10, 1:15 AM
Penny said...: No room for nihilist salesmen.; 10/22/10, 1:18 AM
The Scythian said...: Julius,

You're still missing the point.

NPR just gave the right a big fat bulging box of ammunition, and said, "Do you think you could use this on us?"

People are talking seriously about cutting government spending right now. NPR didn't have to put itself on the radar two weeks before the election, and give fiscal conservatives something concrete to cut and a reason to cut it.; 10/22/10, 1:19 AM
The Scythian said...: PS: Remember the now defunded Acorn? I wouldn't be surprised if Democratic politicians, desperate to stave off defeat in the mid-terms, latch onto the bills to investigate or defund NPR that will no doubt appear in the House and Senate soon.; 10/22/10, 1:44 AM
Penny said...: NPR made the right decision about their analyst, Juan Williams.

Some say this happened because the moderates go first.

They're wrong.; 10/22/10, 2:29 AM
Anonymous said...: Is it me, or is NPR Mr Roger's Lez-Hood?; 10/22/10, 6:35 AM
campy said...: Ho hum. Another day, another few thousand phony voter registrations.

America's Politico may be an idiot, but he's right about one thing: when all the counting is done this election will be a landslide in favor of the Democrats.

VW betoost The GOP will betoost on election day.; 10/22/10, 7:40 AM
The Dude said...: America's Asshole - you still have not told us where you are from. I don't care where you go, but seriously, you write like a fucking retard, so either you are from Shitstain Egypt or went to public school.; 10/22/10, 6:45 PM