This post really hit me after watching bits and pieces of Morning Joe today. Because I have the whole thing recorded I can jump in any where along the 3-hour talk-a-thon and see what's on their agenda for the day. Today it was THIS RACE ISN'T OVER. And the whole thing reeked of contrivance as they undercut the evidence of their own polls, ginned up the significance of outlier polls, brought in Republican hacks to explain how McCain could still win this thing, and of course as always let Pat Buchanan, their resident junkyard dog, run free growling and foaming at the mouth. Any experienced cable viewer could see that the whole exercise was contrived in a production meeting where the main topic was: how do we keep viewer interest for the next 12 days. But really the worst thing about it was the incredible waste of 3 hours. The same talking heads bloviating about the same damned things day after day after day. Any in-depth discussion of peak oil? Any in-depth discussion of the global ramifications of the economic meltdown? Any in-depth discussion about possible solutions in the next year--regardless of who wins? Any in-depth discussion of what socialism really means, what the wretched excess in a $150,000 clothing bill tells us about our society, what the predatory practices of credit card companies will add to the economic meltdown? Any in-depth discussions with the people who actually got the Iraq War and the economic collapse right and what they might see looming ahead? No, no, no. The cable producers responsible for this unconscionable squandering of air time are every bit as bad as the Wall Streeters who have no sense whatsoever of public trust.

"I'm always in danger of feeling a little bit sorry for Sarah Palin."

Why, Joan? Because she's female.

The truth is she's a potential menace to society regardless of gender, and it's only the nation that's at risk from her possible ascendancy that's in need of your sympathy.

All you say is true, King. But as a Pat's fan, I look at it this way: Belichick's been running the Pats almost on a parallel track with Bush running the country, and if Bush had as few bad days as BB has had, he'd be sitting at 75% approval today and handing the White House over to Jeb--or Laura--tomorrow.

Since this is more or less an open thread, I'll provide this grist for the mill. I'd like to call on Glenn and Duncan and Kos and Digby et al. to stop drawing attention through links and cross-posts and whatever to the wingnut-o-sphere. (If Mark Steyn howls in the woods and there's nobody there to hear him, does he really exist?) I understand the rational for paying attention to the loons when they were actually influencing policy, but starting tomorrow their impact on the national discourse will be nada, unless progressive bloggers continue to indulge in the guilty pleasure of linking to them. I say let them retire to their sorry little wrap party in Hugh Hewitt's basement beneath the fraying Cleveland Brown's banner (1958 vintage), amidst the yellowing stacks of American Spectators (1995-1999 volumes), listening to the lilting sounds of Ted Nugent doing the two thousandth cover version of "Yesterday" (K-Lo and J-Pod slow dancing in the middle of the room. He'll get a junior-sized boner, but she'll be polite enough to treat it as just his admirably persistent will to power.) I think these shufflin' intellects can be effectively marginalized for the country's health and well-being if we all do our part to ignore them. And, yes, we can.

I would like to add my voice to the growing chorus here: Stop linking to the shitheads who have shitted up our national discourse for the past 8 years with their shitty ideas and shitful attitudes. We got the point a long time ago--they're shits. Stop linking to them. Stop holding them up to us and saying, "Smell this. You're not going to believe how bad it smells!" Stop directing us to The Corner toilet bowl and asking us to marvel at how big and ugly the shit they've got floating there is. Let's just flush it and move on. Please.

Dan Quayle, Hillary, Dr. Laura, Larry David, P.J. O’ Rourke, Garry Trudeau, Dennis Prager, Linda Lovelace, David Cassidy, Al and Tipper Gore, Pat Sajak, Cheech Marin, Donald Trump, Sly & Arnold, Tom Clancy, Hank Williams, Jr.

I'm always amused to find my generation viewed as this Space Odyssey-like monolith, dropped in the middle of human existence to inspire awe or loathing. You don't have to be a Sarah Palin-level genius to look at the partial list of boomers above to see that we weren't all flower bearing idealists. It was a pretty mixed bag--as generations tend to be given the random roll of the genetic dice--unless, like ours, you become instant fodder for a new mass culture intent on branding, packaging, and selling you. True, many of us were marching around singing, "All we are saying is give peace a chance." But for the most part, we've been shuffling through life, trying to keep our diminished hubris intact with Dylan in our hearts if not exactly on our lips:

"Searchin' high, searchin' low

Searchin' everywhere I know

Askin' the cops wherever I go

Have you seen dignity?"

An historical sampler:

Three progressives with a zero (or, ahem, negative) political impact on the country: Eugene V. Debs, Ralph Nader, and Dennis Kucinich.

Three centrists who had an enormous positive impact on American politics: FDR, Earl Warren, J. William Fulbright.

The only thing more useless than these labels are the expectations. Get good people into critical situations at the right time and hope for the best. There's a country that's badly in need of saving here, folks. Salving egos comes later.