Shooter... No doubt you aren't aware of the McCarthyite origins of calling the Democratic congress "Democrat" congress, since your historical perspective is vanishingly thin. But has it ever ocurred to you that ceaselessly using such cheesy and discredited smears lets all the air out of your arguments, even once in a blue moon, when they might make sense?

Further, the way you constantly cheer any remark that might seem intemperate by (futilely) wishing that such statements would discredit "our" side, when inevitably, what you hope is that we might, even in a random blog comment, be as vituperative and hateful as any number of rightie celebrities are daily?

What you are is a relentless partisan, never letting facts, events, or personalities get in the way of your little crusade. Your blinkered view makes us all seem, to you, like your mirror image, which bothering to actually read and think might correct, but I'm not holding my breath.

We are liberals, thinkers, readers, and learners, and have landed here from both right and left, because the current state of our politics cries out for better understanding. Few here mindlessly spout talking points as we argue, and none of us are so confident that we're right that we expect to "win" in the way you do.

Perhaps you might make a little resolution for the New Year.

We are not your enemies. We are fellow Americans. We might disagree, but this warped zero sum notion that in order for someone to "win," others must lose, is something you should leave aside.

You'd be surprised what you hear by listening.

Anonymous...

You're probably right, but it is (war on) Christmas after all.

I smell the coffee, and think it could use a shot or two of Bailey's.

Anonymous.... That Stanford study was indeed chilling, and enlightening. It certainly explains a lot, and unfortunately pretty much ends my constant wonderment about why all righties seem to be such a**holes. They don't seem that way; they are. Fish gotta swim, et al.

How ironic that an institution that, on one hand could produce such scholarship, and on the other could give a job to John Yoo, and not as a janitor.

Thanks for the link.

Ondelette.... Damn. On some level, I knew it was Berkeley. It just stuck in my mind as some California demi-Ivy that was too good for such rot.

Thanks for the correction...

The paper from Stanford has had me thinking. For several years, when I meet with a prospective client, I always manage to work around to politics; I am lucky enough to have to turn down work a lot, and I try to find out whether we'll be compatible. The one universal disqualifier is Republicanism. Mainly because 17 years of experience has taught me that, ALL of them lie, cheat, and steal. Oh, and the badmouthing. They are incapable of honest interaction in business, and proud of it. Part of that game theory they have. A penny swindled is a penny earned.

Somehow I thought it was a coincidence.... Not so much anymore.

Turns out good politics is good business.

Many people here have different nicknames for Republicans, mine is "Republician," based on a typo in a voters' pamphlet I saw years ago. Your nickname for Democrats is an organized smear dictated from above, kind of like your opinions. Dropping the "ic" from Democrat is definitely not your worst trait..... Lord, no.

I don't care what you call me; another commenter mentioned it and I wrote, to him, not you, that I didn't think it was a term of endearment, correctly. Just like when you call someone. say, JO or somesuch. You call names. Sticks and stones, you know.

But thanks for skipping over the substantive things I said; from you that's always a compliment.

The continuing saga of Bilal Hussein is indeed chilling, and just another in a long line of episodes that make such a mockery of our efforts to spread "democracy." Ordinary Iraqis must be utterly at a loss to tell the difference between our version of "justice" and that of their own dictator, who, for all his flaws, at least preserved some semblance of order.

I guess the good news is that the degraded form of democracy we practice here at least must lessen their resentment a bit. Remember when they hated us for our freedom? They must love us now. They are reduced to hating us for our electricity and running water, while laughing at the sham democracy and government propaganda that must look hauntingly familiar.

For being a "various items" post, it's ironic how well it fits together as an essay.

Thanks for the lump of coal for Christmas Eve, Glenn. Will we get another for Christmas?

I hope so.

Eggnog, though not a controlled substance, is a little fattening. I have two dinners tonight, so I'll take the brandy straight. Best wishes to y'all.... Have a very merry liberal fascist war on Christmas; I plan to.

First of all, if I see one more Christian retard associate the cross with Christmas, I shall do something desperate. The cross is for EASTER! We are celebrating Christ's birth, not death, you craven morons. I guess they like the flaming version so much, that they drag the cross out 365 days a year.

One other subtle note in the McCain ad; he wasn't tortured by those nasty gooks, just "mistreated." Ah, the word that must never be mentioned has now forced even the exploitive McCain to apply a lumpy coat of whitewash to his own past.

Peace on earth good will to men indeed; is crucifixion now just a form of "mistreatment," too?

Perhaps McCain's fictitious buddy who supposedly etched the cross in the sand in his recovered memory was reminding McCain that "mistreatment" is in the bible, so it must be good.

Aargh.