Digby at Hullabaloo who expends almost 800 words to explain why Jon Stewart is not funny and a traitor to the cause

My hometown supervisors again set up The City for national ridicule and general hilarity, this time with the ban on Mcdonald’s Happy Meal toys. I guess it is a good thing that in these trying times we can offer ourselves up to the rest of the nation as civic clowns to help lighten the national mood.

I fully understand that – in the most progressive major city with the most progressive governing body in the country – it is impossible for them to resist the temptation to occasionally succumb to their core belief that no one is capable of making decisions for themselves or their family without their benevolent dictates guiding forcing us in the right direction. But… when even the Daily Show is pointing and laughing – you’d think our Supes might get a clue.

As we somberly walk with the funeral procession following the midterm election, the air is filled with cries, lamentations, rending of garments, and portents of doom from Democrats and liberals, much as we heard from Republicans and conservatives after the Republican Party was buried following the 2008 results.

Under the mountain of navel gazing, finger-pointing, self-serving spin, and bitter invective found in the left-o-sphere, we can still find a few gems of sparkling analysis, insight and useful advice. For your consideration – two examples of Progressive postmortems that caught my attention. But to mine a rich vein of solid gold analysis, we must first separate and dispose of the slag. There are two very different Progressive perspectives of the election, electorate, and, most importantly, the way forward. Consider which of the two is informed by common sense, logic and data and which is informed by rhetoric, sophistry and rage. I submit they are representative of two significant and incompatible constituencies within the Democratic Party. The schism has been there all along, but was papered over in 2006 and 2008 by the unifying principle of Bush Hate. Regardless of how skilled Axelrod, Gibbs, and Plouffe may be skilled at “triangulation”, the Obama administration cannot simultaneously turn left and turn toward the center. I hope Democrats choose wisely, as I really don’t want to see us return to one party Republican rule in 2013. they shouldn’t rely on Palin and Tea Party to hand the 2012 election to the Democrats. They just may disappoint them. Again.

The single most dramatic change in the complexion of our government emerging from the midterm election is the impending leadership change in the House of Representatives. Republican John Boehner will be replacing Nancy Pelosi as Speaker of the House. He will be seated next to Joe Biden behind President Obama for the State of the Union Address in early 2011. You may want to take some time now to adjust the tint and color intensity on your hi-def flat screen.

It’s jumped considerably since the 2008 election. But do people really want the Tea Party to be the third way? Gallup with more… My gut tells me that most folks understand that the Tea Partiers are just really angry conservatives who are lashing out at their own for supporting fiscally irresponsible behavior. And yes, there [...]

Democrats maneuver into position for 2010 midterm battle by cleverly adopting a circular firing squad formation. READY… AIM… FIRE.

Just so we’re clear… Here’s the original quote that Bloomberg clearly didn’t get right: “I, like most of the American people, don’t begrudge people success or wealth. That’s part of the free market system. I do think that the compensation packages that we’ve seen over the last decade at least have not matched up always [...]

I don’t want money. I don’t want clothes. I’ll even give up that iPhone I had my eye on. All if this ridiculous crowing from the far left is ignored. And it’s not just me. The latest broadside to the “kill the bill/single payer/public option” noise parade comes from Jonathan Chait. Basically, his article reads [...]

While Krugman is brimming with good tidings and bubbling over with holiday cheer, from the other side of the political spectrum Peter Schiff is offering a dour double dose of “Bah Humbug.”

Not a whole lot of good has come the way to the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) these days. The only organization I can think of that gets more right wing scorn has been ACORN, who I think mostly get picked on because they don’t fight back. Another ally, Health Care for America Now (HCAN), [...]

After less than two months of Barack Obama’s presidency, pundits across the spectrum are competing to “frame” the new administration. There are lots of narratives, but, in my mind, the most potent ones are expressed in two editorials appearing today. From the negative side, Janet Daley at Britain’s Telegraph argues that Obama is handing the [...]

One thing that has long baffled me has been the idea on the American Right that Europe is some kind of socialist hell-hole that borders on Communist. The thrust of the argument always seems to be that European government is so large and intrusive, and it public mores so lacking and dare I say nihilistic [...]

Robert Stacy McCain has a scathing post that seeks to permanently douse the concept of a left-libertarian coalition ever being a real possibility, which includes this little bit: As a political impulse, the sort of libertarianism that scoffs at creationism and traditional marriage wields limited influence, because it appeals chiefly to a dissenting sect of [...]

Me, elsewhere: Over the last few months, there has been much finger-pointing as to which particular sect of the old GOP coalition is to blame for the policy failures of the last 8 years and the electoral failures of the last 2 years…..I think these accusations are deeply misplaced – the problems have not been [...]

They wanted him to appoint left wingers. He hasn’t. So what to make of this? Obama talks… WASHINGTON — President-elect Barack Obama, rejecting liberals’ criticism of his emerging cabinet, today strongly defended his decision to choose more experienced, centrist aides for his inner circle, arguing that the nation needs sure hands in a time of [...]

William Greider of The Nation wonders if Barack Obama’s recent appointments indicate he won’t be the progressive savior many of the left hoped he’d be. Obama’s choices have begun to define him. His victory, it appears, was a triumph for the cautious center-right politics that has described the Democratic party for several decades. Those of [...]

P. J. O’Rourke takes a rhetorical tire iron to the conservative movement of which he’s been on the libertarian side of since the 1970s. If you know O’Rourke, you know he has about as much love for modern liberals as dogs have for cats. Seems he now finds modern conservatives just as hideous. You don’t [...]

Here’s what hardcore partisans on both sides often fail to understand: winning an election doesn’t mean most of the country agrees with their ideology. In fact, both the hardcore right and the hardcore left are minority positions whose influence is inflated not by numbers but by passion. They might be the “bases” of our two [...]

As Barack Obama continues to attract throngs of supporters and polls keep indicating he will win by a more than comfortable margin, I find myself wondering how much of the Obama phenomenon is simply a massive rejection of President Bush and how much is an honest-to-God shift in our political culture. On one hand, the [...]

Circulating the wires today is a 2001 Barack Obama radio interview clip concerning wealth redistribution. As with all things political, your perspective and your prejudices will determine your interpretation of this clip. Some see it as no big deal. Others see it as proof that Obama is all but a Marxist. I understand the right’s [...]