Comments on: Alito is the New Wilson, and Palin is the Same Old Palin.

By: Tom

Tom — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 13:58:07 +0000

Thank u Thank u thank u, I have been missing my daily dose “This is your life stupid girl who thinks you are something”. And if you thought the pres was good at the sotu address, check him out at the GOP meeting. They thought they could trap him, HA. Score one for the good guys.

The GOP looked like the fools and morons they are, trying to debate with a true scholar, who stood there poised and confident, while they listed GOP talking points and he shot them down like the pheasants(friends) that Cheney shot. President Obama should do this every week. Excellent reality show.

By: Sandra

Sandra — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 00:00:36 +0000

Well clearly Sarah Palin knows more about the Constitution then our President, who once taught Constitutional Law at the University of Chicago. But then Palin has always assumed that the proverbial wink-and-grin trumps actual intellectual capacity. And, from recent photographs, (this should really distress her whereas comments about her intelligence don’t) I am seeing a tad of aging in her face…a slight widening of the jaw. A slight drooping of the eyes. Yep….no more beauty-queen-runner-up for you Saracuda.

By: GrainneKathleen

GrainneKathleen — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 19:45:25 +0000

thanks for your thoughts yukonbushgrma and beth! both very interesting!
yukon, i think you are right that in some sense it was a relief to see people passionate about what the pres had to say. i confess, i couldn’t watch bush sotu’s after a while for many reasons, one of which that they felt like they were sucking the life out of me. i think you are also right that they resent obama for his intelligence and his agenda and most likely believe that the only way to ressurect their sorry excuse for a party is to destroy him. and we know how single-minded and united the gop can be – i so wish we could use this “talent” for good. and i wish that the dems (whom i, as a progressive, have also been calling a sorry excuse for a party occasionally out of frustration in the past few months) would develop and use this ability once in a while.
and beth, i know what you mean about cell phone use and its effect on our culture. i went away to study abroad in ireland in the late nineties, right before the cell phone boom in the US. i was shocked to find lots of the irish walking around talking into cell phones in public places. i thought it was strange and funny and that it was a “european thing.” but when i arrived back to the US almost a year later, everyone was walking around with cell phones. public manners had changed in a heartbeat. as you observed, people walked around talking about anything and everything as if no one else could hear their conversation. this behavior has become acceptable. for me, a cell phone-less person, it has created a parallel universe. i still abide by the pre-cell phone manners yet live in a world where most people don’t. the cell phone and other inventions such as the lap top and the i-phone, the blackberry, the i-pod have, i believe, led people further and further into parallel narcissistic universes that occur side-by-side but never seem to unite or connect. perhaps the lack of dialogue between the parties is also an effect of the cell phone syndrome.

By: beth

beth — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 08:34:13 +0000

GrainneKathleen @ 118 & yukonbushgrma @ 120:

Excellent observation(s)… I, too, was rather taken aback by the lack of decorum during the SOTU. Then I got to thinking about ‘our’ behaviour –in general– in public places and spaces, and I think I detected a distinct ‘carry over’ onto the Hill from those places. I don’t know what it is, but people don’t seem to be aware of who or what is around them, anymore…don’t seem to be aware that they are in spaces and places *with* other people who can see and hear everything they are doing.

Movie theaters, restaurants, houses of worship, libraries, you name it, where once people were mindful of those around them, they don’t seem to be any longer. If they want to talk to someone, they do – no matter what *else* is going on.

I, personally, attribute this phenomenon to the advent –and now, transportability and affordability– of the cell phone. For some odd reason, folks figure that when they’re on their cell, no one else can hear them *except* the person on the other end of call. I think that figuring is carried over into their everyday attitudes and interactions ~ if *they* are engaged in a conversation with someone, it is a conversation *only* they (the ‘participants’) can hear…no matter where they are or who else is around. At times it seems as if they’re also under the impression that the cell phone gives them a measure of ‘invisibility’ — that no one *else* can see their ‘behaviour’, either.

I’ve had daggers eyed at me on more than one occasion for asking a cell phone be turned off. Even though the physical cell phone is turned off, though, the behaviour it has engendered [in the past few years] through its reassuring always-available ‘for private conversations’ and use, carries on without skipping a beat…oddly ‘contagious’ reassurance, too, it seems. And, to my way of thinking, very rude. beth.

By: ” State of the Union. Here We Go Again… “ @ .com Top Stories - mandation

Fri, 29 Jan 2010 07:30:45 +0000

[...] same Alito clip here, and some hilarious analysis of the [...]

By: yukonbushgrma

yukonbushgrma — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 06:43:13 +0000

@ 118 GrainneKathleen:
“one thing i noticed immediately abou this sotu is that it was the most raucus and rowdy one i have ever seen. there was loud incomprehensible murmuring, laughing at inappropriate times, talking amongst groups of people. i am trying to figure out a reason why this is so without resorting to the race card. is it because obama is more casual? ….. is there a lack of respect for the president and if so, why? why these breeches in protocol? does it have something to do with race? i have a strong suspicion it does, but am having a hard time figuring out a diplomatic way of expressing it.”

—————–
Yeah, noticed that too. Perhaps it was a way for the gallery to deal with their ‘jitters,’ an outlet.

One might say that it was good to see them reacting — compared with other SOTUs that have put us to sleep!

But under it all, I do think there are deeper reasons. Lack of respect, perhaps …….. although I certainly can’t see it from my point of view. Perhaps they all resent him because he has a strong agenda and won’t knuckle under to their games – Dem or Repub.

If it’s the race card, they won’t get anywhere with that! He’s too smart.

By: Donkasaurus Post » Blog Archive » Worth Repeating — Palin’s Expertise

Fri, 29 Jan 2010 05:50:16 +0000

[...] Some lines worth considering: [...]

By: leenie17

leenie17 — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 03:34:39 +0000

There has never been a word that she doesn’t try to improve by adding ‘-ing’ to the end of it. If the ‘-ing’ doesn’t work, she takes arbitrary syllables from other words, slaps them together and thinks everyone’s going to believe that she’s just so smart ’cause she knows all these fancy words that they never heard of.

That might work with some of the tea party crowd but it won’t fly with anyone who’s got more than a 6th grade ‘edumacation’. As a teacher, I would be SOOO embarassed to admit that she was my daughter!

By: GrainneKathleen

GrainneKathleen — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 02:24:33 +0000

one thing i noticed immediately abou this sotu is that it was the most raucus and rowdy one i have ever seen. there was loud incomprehensible murmuring, laughing at inappropriate times, talking amongst groups of people. i am trying to figure out a reason why this is so without resorting to the race card. is it because obama is more casual? i don’t think he came off as caual last night, evem though he seemed at ease and spoke in easily understood terms. is it his style of speech, that recalls the rallies that were so high-spirited? all the rep’s have rallies, though, and they know the difference between a rally and a sotu address. is it that obama is sort of like a new or a substitute teacher who gives in too much to the kids in class and so creates an environment where they feel safe in going over the line? but these justives and rep’s are not obama’s students, nor are they kids (not agewise at least). so does anyone else have any guesses? is there a lack of respect for the president and if so, why? why these breeches in protocol? does it have something to do with race? i have a strong suspicion it does, but am having a hard time figuring out a diplomatic way of expressing it.

By: GoI3ig

GoI3ig — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 23:00:35 +0000

Sarah P is truly the most dim witted dolt to grace the airwaves. She belongs on Faux Noise where they never let the truth get in the way of a good story.