Thursday, March 22, 2012

Iris and Friends

18 comments:

  1. Political notes from politicalwire.com:
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    First Read notes the feeding frenzy over the Etch-A-Sketch comments yesterday highlights a big problem for Mitt Romney:

    "He gets almost no benefit of the doubt. Every gaffe becomes a story; every mistake become fodder for late-night comedians. And more importantly, this is what happens when you don't have a solid base of support that can serve as a cocoon of protection during the toughest of times."

    "Successful presidential candidates (Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Barack Obama) had grassroots supporters rushing to their defense, even in the toughest of political times. Romney -- right now -- doesn't have this. In fact, it was notable during yesterday's "Etch A Sketch" controversy that we didn't see many prominent conservatives railing against media bias or unfairness. Instead, they were either standing on the sidelines or piling on. And that's a problem for Romney."
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    Vice President Joe Biden "has quietly assembled an A-team of advisers who would, without doubt, be considered the nucleus of a presidential campaign -- if only he wouldn't be 73 in 2016," Politico reports.

    "Biden's age would snuff the last embers of a presidential ambition that led him to a pair of crushing defeats in 1988 and 2008, or so many in Barack Obama's camp thought when they first tapped him. But the old fire crackles yet. And Biden, spurred in part by those rumors about being replaced on the ticket by Hillary Clinton (who turns 69 in '16), is campaigning with a young man's tenacity in 2012 -- with an eye toward keeping all of his options open."
    ===========================
    "Since 1976, no serious contender, Democrat or Republican, has watched his favorable ratings fall as low as Romney's have in recent months," Andrew Romano: points out.

    "Or watched his unfavorable ratings climb as high. Or watched his overall numbers stay underwater -- that is, more unfavorable than favorable -- for so long. At this rate, Romney is shaping up to be the most unpopular presidential nominee on record."

    Jonathan Chait: "The main reason, I suspect, is that the Republican Party is extremely unpopular. The Bush years deeply discredited the GOP, and while Republicans were able to make gains in 2010 by default, as the out party during an economic crisis, they did nothing to rehabilitate their image. Indeed, they have embraced even more unpopular positions than the ones that George W. Bush advocated."

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  2. This is good, too:

    http://www.boomantribune.com/story/2012/3/22/102111/671

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  3. Beau may be in danger of starving himself to death: he's hardly eaten in the past couple of days. Our old, pre-Chuck, routine worked kinda like this: I'd let him out in the morning to do his business, see the world, and get some good world-class barking in. Then he'd come in an have a good hearty breakfast and a nap. Then out again. Around sundown, a good dinner and another nap. Now, with the advent of the neighbor's kids, and their dog Chuck (wonder do they know the Sheriff?), he can't leave off the watching/welcome barking long enough to either eat or nap. There *are* quiet periods, but when I check, he's not napping: he's alert and watching. Hope he gets used to them, *soon*. . . .

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  4. Looks like DFA is finally just killing the blog outright. Perhaps they're right -- it's become *such* a home for the bitter and krezzy. I'd prolly stay til the end, but most have already left. Still, I feel sad. Very sad.

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  5. Out of curiosity, I went looking for the DFA blog--it's been ages.

    "Please note: commenting and viewing of comments is temporarily unavailable"

    Was there an "incident" or something?

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  6. http://www.democracyforamerica.com/watercooler

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  7. The only comments they'd been getting on the front page post for a couple of years was a clearly unbalanced doppelganger by the name of Lou Cypher, Prince of Darkness/David Reed. Most of "their" posts were that HQ staff should be fired/go to hell for refusing to enliven their links. . . .

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  8. 80ยบ and the first Bloodroot today!

    http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/cf/Bloodroot-apr-2010-clasping-leaves.jpg/494px-Bloodroot-apr-2010-clasping-leaves.jpg

    Love this flower!

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  9. Oh...right. To the watercooler with anything off topic. I forgot about that. Thanks for the link. Tell Phil I said "hi".

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  10. Thinking about the Trayvon Martin case today. In California if you carry a gun somewhere and shoot somebody (exceptions for self defense and line of duty), that is legal proof (not mere presumption) of intent and raises it to first degree murder...

    That can seem rather severe, but might put the damper on the occasional roving gun nut.

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  11. Unless you're in Texas where everyone carries guns the way most of us carry cell phones.

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  12. Folks are welcome here! (As long as they don't bring the scrapping and fussing). ;-)

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  13. What a silly boy!

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  14. Nice of the visitors to honour the Sheriff in that way.

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  15. Thank-you, puddle. I was reading your posts all day, via iPhone, but I can't post from it, for some reason.

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  16. I hope I didn't lose anyone's comments when I made the switcheroo out front about 15 minutes ago! Apparently I had typed the dates in reverse for two photos and I needed to switch them back.

    The truly interesting thing is that for about 3 minutes Echo posted today's front page and Saturday's too!

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