Fuck its silent in here.......

[Dr. Nguyen Van Falk]

Oh, sweet Republican Jesus...

http://www.xpac2010.com/



Distilled:

The annual Conservative Political Action Conference begins this week in Washington. The movement's leaders will speak and the GOP will plan its strategy. But this year, they're totally getting x-treme. Ladies and gentlemen, presenting "Epic Nights" at the XPAC Lounge.

The XPAC Lounge is your one-stop shop for the latest and most radical in totally bitchin' Conservative fun.

There will be video games and Stephen Baldwin.

"We're gonna have the most popular games. There'll be Guitar Hero. There'll be Dance Revolution. There'll be Call of Duty," said Kevin McCullough, the radio host who created the XPAC Lounge with actor Stephen Baldwin.

There will be "somebody of Joe-the-Plumber stature":

"I wouldn't be surprised if somebody of Joe-the-Plumber stature came in three times a day to come in and rally the kids," CPAC spokesman Ian Walters said.

And, yes, there will be hip-hop, and "conservative comedy":

It will be the scene of a late-night "rap/jam session" on Thursday and a conservative comedy lineup on Friday. FoxNews.com's Strategy Room will also be broadcasting from the XPAC Lounge.

[Jon]

Speaking as a Shitty Baldwin, I feel shame for Stephen.

[MAD]

I weep for these people that they are actuallly excited about the prospect of getting someone of Joe-The-Plumber's "stature".

[Waco Kid]

On Thursday night Stephen Baldwin will conduct an insightful conversation between Fox News' Andrea Tantaros and Sarah Huckabee over the future of the GOP, the ideas of conservatism, women in politics, and the outlook for the nation. The "10 questions with Stevie B" is something worth making room in your schedule for.

So Thursday night is comedy night then.

[Jon]

I weep for these people that they are actuallly excited about the prospect of getting someone of Joe-The-Plumber's "stature".

I've moderately curious what kind of metrics determine the stature of a Republican vs. Joe the Plumber. Who has his stature as a fake blue-collar schill riding his fame until people get sick of him? Larry the Cable Guy?

[Dr. Nguyen Van Falk]

I weep for these people that they are actuallly excited about the prospect of getting someone of Joe-The-Plumber's "stature".

I've moderately curious what kind of metrics determine the stature of a Republican vs. Joe the Plumber. Who has his stature as a fake blue-collar schill riding his fame until people get sick of him? Larry the Cable Guy?

A short list:

Rep. Joe Wilson
James O'Keefe
Stephen Baldwin
Michael Steele
Larry the Cable Guy
Jeff Dunham
Dennis Miller
Conservative rapper Hi-Caliber
Stephen Baldwin
Kelsey Grammer
Pat Sajak
Ron Silver's corpse
Stephen Baldwin
Joe the Plumber
Stephen Baldwin
Any Republican with tits
Dr. James Dobson

[CT III]

There will be video games and Stephen Baldwin.

I just thank the Lord that I don't have to choose between the two.

[CBStew]

"Any Republican with tits"

That would be Kelsey Grammar.

[Gilgamesh]

I weep for these people that they are actuallly excited about the prospect of getting someone of Joe-The-Plumber's "stature".

I've moderately curious what kind of metrics determine the stature of a Republican vs. Joe the Plumber. Who has his stature as a fake blue-collar schill riding his fame until people get sick of him? Larry the Cable Guy?

A short list:

Rep. Joe Wilson
James O'Keefe
Stephen Baldwin
Michael Steele
Larry the Cable Guy
Jeff Dunham
Dennis Miller
Conservative rapper Hi-Caliber
Stephen Baldwin
Kelsey Grammer
Pat Sajak
Ron Silver's corpse
Stephen Baldwin
Joe the Plumber
Stephen Baldwin
Any Republican with tits
Dr. James Dobson

I had forgotten that he died.  I learned something today.  That, and I'm supposedly chugging on too much Obama dong, per MikeC.

[Jon]

I weep for these people that they are actuallly excited about the prospect of getting someone of Joe-The-Plumber's "stature".

I've moderately curious what kind of metrics determine the stature of a Republican vs. Joe the Plumber. Who has his stature as a fake blue-collar schill riding his fame until people get sick of him? Larry the Cable Guy?

A short list:

Rep. Joe Wilson
James O'Keefe
Stephen Baldwin
Michael Steele
Larry the Cable Guy
Jeff Dunham
Dennis Miller
Conservative rapper Hi-Caliber
Stephen Baldwin
Kelsey Grammer
Pat Sajak
Ron Silver's corpse
Stephen Baldwin
Joe the Plumber
Stephen Baldwin
Any Republican with tits
Dr. James Dobson

I had forgotten that he died.  I learned something today.  That, and I'm supposedly chugging on too much Obama dong, per MikeC.

Apparently Nixon would be too librul to run these days.

[Internet Apex]

I weep for these people that they are actuallly excited about the prospect of getting someone of Joe-The-Plumber's "stature".

I've moderately curious what kind of metrics determine the stature of a Republican vs. Joe the Plumber. Who has his stature as a fake blue-collar schill riding his fame until people get sick of him? Larry the Cable Guy?

A short list:

Rep. Joe Wilson
James O'Keefe
Stephen Baldwin
Michael Steele
Larry the Cable Guy
Jeff Dunham
Dennis Miller
Conservative rapper Hi-Caliber
Stephen Baldwin
Kelsey Grammer
Pat Sajak
Ron Silver's corpse
Stephen Baldwin
Joe the Plumber
Stephen Baldwin
Any Republican with tits
Dr. James Dobson

I had not heard of this dude, so I just gave him a quick listen on the interwebs. Yeah, he sucks. Hard. God damnit.

[Tinker to Evers to Chance]

Oh, sweet Republican Jesus...

[CBStew]

"Any Republican with tits"

That would be Kelsey Grammar.

you were expecting maybe Lush Bimbo?

[CBStew]

"Any Republican with tits"

That would be Kelsey Grammar.

you were expecting maybe Lush Bimbo?

Does anyone else remember "Pansy Nusbaum"  From "Allen's Alley"? ...nevermind

[Dr. Nguyen Van Falk]

The real problem in this country today is that our "leaders" don't lead.  Hell, they don't even serve.  They see their offices as jobs they are entitled to.

Evan Bayh echos yours truly:

"But running for the sake of winning an election, just to remain in public office, is not good enough," Bayh said. "And it has never been what motivates me. At this time I simply believe I can best contribute to society in another way: creating jobs by helping grow a business, helping guide an institution of higher learning or helping run a worthy charitable endeavor."

Good for him.

Ezra Klein is ice cold enough on Bayh to be quoted in full...

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/ezra-klein/2010/02/evan_bayh_an_ordinary_politici.html

My impression of Evan Bayh was that he was a major deficit hypocrite. Despite spending all his time talking about the need to reduce spending, he'd voted for all the major spending increases in recent years. When I looked into it, that wasn't true: He voted against the Bush tax cuts, and against the Medicare prescription drug benefit. But he voted for the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, opposed sensible tax increases like President Obama's proposed cap on itemized deductions, and sponsored legislation to spend more than $440 billion exempting rich people's estates from taxation.

So: Evan Bayh's not a major deficit hypocrite. He's a minor deficit hypocrite. But a deficit hypocrite all the same. In his exit speech, he describes himself as "a lonely voice for balancing the budget and restraining spending." Of course, there's no such thing in Washington as a "lonely voice" for a balanced budget. There is a cacophony of such voices, and a dearth of such votes. But votes are the only things able to do the job. If voices balanced the budget, treasury bonds would never rise.

Accusing a politician of deficit hypocrisy isn't a particularly serious slur. Pretty much every politician is guilty of it. It's a bit like trumpeting the fact that some politician or another wears a suit. But if Bayh's sins are ordinary, so too was his career. Which is why I was surprised to see my colleague Jonathan Capehart term this a "brain drain." I've talked to Bayh before, and like Jonathan Chait, found him special only in his ability to formulate platitudes on the fly. The guy missed out on a terrific career as a fortune cookie author ("Your country will be assured of greatness! Your lucky deficit number is zero!"), but the sciences will not weep for their loss.

Take Bayh's dramatic exit. "I have had a growing conviction that Congress is not operating as it should," he says. "There is too much partisanship and not enough progress -- too much narrow ideology and not enough practical problem-solving." All true enough. You'd expect that he'd then diagnose the problem and explain how he'll help fix it. But nope. Instead, he simply laments it and then says he'd like a job "helping grow a business, helping guide an institution of higher learning or helping run a worthy charitable endeavor."

Respectable goals all, but small ball for a senator who has concluded that the American legislative system is so crippled that he can no longer bear to participate in it. Even in this, his most dramatic hour, Bayh was unable to be more than a perfectly typical politician, seeking praise for raising his voice while doing nothing to solve the problem.

He also links to James Fallows...

http://jamesfallows.theatlantic.com/archives/2010/02/evan_bayh_why_the_no-class_mov.php

Here's a constructive suggestion: Do you really care about the partisanship that is ruining public life and that, as you said, has driven you from the Senate, Mr. Bayh? Then why not use the fact that you are still in the U.S. Senate for most of another year -- a platform 99.999% of Americans will never occupy -- and apply all the power you can to advance causes you care about. What is holding you back?