Quintuple Bogey
By Mitch Berg
Yesterday, in conceding that Al Franken is going to be the next (puke a little in my mouth) Senator from Minnesota, the Minnesota GOP sent out a press release:
St. Paul- Republican Party of Minnesota Chairman-elect Tony Sutton today issued the following statement regarding the Minnesota Supreme Court’s ruling in the U.S. Senate race.
“Today’s ruling wrongly disenfranchised thousands of Minnesotans who deserve to have their votes counted. Alongside Senator Coleman, the Republican Party of Minnesota has fought to make sure every vote counts and all voters are treated fairly and uniformly. As we move forward, our deeply flawed election system must be dramatically improved to ensure our state’s elections are fair, accurate and reliable.” (Republican Party of Minnesota)
This election does bring up a slew of questions: how did we wind up with a 500 vote swing over the course of eight months? Why do we have ballots being counted several times (according to at least one SCOM justice) while we’re not entirely sure every ballot was rightfully counted once? Why does our state have different recount standards in every county? Why did every single question about the recount process break in Franken’s favor?
And the big one – can more than about 1% even come close to explaining what just happened? I’ll allow for the fact that 43% of Minnesotans got what they wanted, and many of them wouldn’t care if it came by ballot or by decree, but I’d like to think this state could hope for better.
“Two-Putt Tommy”, a fairly generic anonymous leftyblogger writing at Minnesota Tragedy of Spyrochaetal Paresis “Progressive” Project (a blog that actively recruits liars and distributes 9/11 conspiracy theories), brought what every anonymous leftyblogger brings to the issue: Mthe sort of classy analysis that makes one thing “I’m so glad his vote counts the same as mine”:
Incredible. At the same time Norm Coleman played the “gracious concession” act, the State Republican Party showed their true colors with their official press release:In other words, “Norm wuz robbed.”
Well, actually “Minnesotans who believe Minnesotans should understand and have justified confidence in their election system were robbed”.
That’s the way the state GOP Party was under former Chairman Ron Carey; that’s the way it will remain under new Chairman Tony Sutton.
Catch that?
A guy who spent the last eight years chanting “Bush was selected, not elected!” is yapping about other peoples’ questions about an election that, over the last eight months, might have struck one as “contentious”.
The DFL may achieve a “classless society”, but probably not in the way they intended.
UPDATE: In a phone conversation on Monday, Mr. Tommy denied having ever said that Bush was “Selected, Not Elected”. While I was writing more broadly – many of Mr. Tommy’s fellow-travellers and blog-mades certainly did, and do – my sentence as written implies that he has personally made that claim. Since I have no objective evidence that he did, I regret the ambiguity.
July 1st, 2009 at 9:51 am
“Two-Putt Tommy” is incapable of logical thought, much less argument. After years of mindlessly chanting “Ron bad”, “Tony like Ron” is likely the best you will get out of him.
July 1st, 2009 at 10:16 am
Some say that liberal Democrat cities/counties like Minneapolis have the philosophy that if you want to vote, you should be able to. So have lax standards. Conservative Republican areas follow the law to the letter. They reject more absentee ballots, for example.
July 1st, 2009 at 10:19 am
And under the “appearence of improprity can be just as bad as actual actions”……Ritchie may not have done anything wrong,but George Soros said he is giving large sums of money to get liberal Democrats elected as Sec’y of State in swing states. His goal was to give the edge to Democrats in close election. He supported Ritchie.
July 1st, 2009 at 10:20 am
Let’s go for three in a row….Mitch, you should post that photo of Senate Franken. The one of him in a daiper and bunny ears.
July 1st, 2009 at 10:35 am
Chuck,
I agree – although I’ll hold off on the bunny. Respect the office, if not the officeholder.
I could do a cartoon of him in a Nazi uniform, but that’s more Ken Weiner territory.
July 1st, 2009 at 10:39 am
When he’s not spewing out incoherent pap with Grace Kelly, Tommy “two-putt” Johnson specializes in fabricating a glorious military history for himself.
That P-O-S defended his mockery of Sgt. John Kriesel, a guy that lost both his legs in Iraq and tells everyone he meets that he’d go back in a minute if asked, by claiming that as a combat vetran, he (Johnson) has earned the right to say anything he wants.
I checked up on him…..he’s never been under fire in his life.
These are the kinds of lying scumbags the party of scrubs attracts. One of the biggest regrets I carry around is that my life is not long enough to deliver each one of them the bitch slap they need.
July 1st, 2009 at 10:42 am
Chuck, I just put it up at Anti- Strib
http://www.anti-strib.com/blog/congratulations-minnesota.html
Feel free.
I don’t agree with Mitch. It’s not disrespecting the office, it’s mocking the drooling idiots in the DFL.
July 1st, 2009 at 11:12 am
Boohoo! Snif!
July 1st, 2009 at 11:36 am
Swiftee,
Two-Putt – the guy who jumps up and down and calls me a “liar” because I said Erik Paulsen, who ran for Congress as a center-right conservative, was a center-right conservative – lied about being a combat veteran?
That’s a pretty serious charge, Swiftee. What’s up with that?
July 1st, 2009 at 12:15 pm
Not just a combat vet, Mitch; a *disabled* combat vet.
As I said, he mocked Sgt. Kreisel on Brodkorb’s blog and it really pissed me off. Johnson said that since he was a disabled combat vet himself, he was entitled to his opinion.
I’d seen the fat punk once, and it occurred to me that he was too young to have been in Vietnam, and he wasn’t in the Army during the Iraq war…..I suspected he was lying, so I went to the Hopkins VFW where he’s a member and asked members about him.
The VFW has been drying up the past 20 years, and they’re desperate for members. Since the peace is still maintained upon a truce, the VFW accepts people that were stationed in Korea as having served in a “war zone”, and that’s Johnson’s deal.
He was never under fire, he never saw an active battlefield. If he’s got a disability claim, it’s most likely a bad back from hauling that bloated gut around. Thomas Johnson is the lowest form of lying, crawling, cowardly, pieces of shit on the planet.
I wouldn’t use his head to wipe John Kreisel’s ass.
July 1st, 2009 at 12:16 pm
Yeah, that guy’s not a real vet like George W. Bush.
July 1st, 2009 at 12:22 pm
Not the right subject to fuck around with, clown….take a breather.
July 1st, 2009 at 12:50 pm
Nah.
So the guy only cleaned bathrooms in South Korea. Sure, it’s not as dangerous as Lt. Bush sitting on one of those tippy Alabama barstools. But you’re all heroes, right?
July 1st, 2009 at 12:56 pm
And Clownie’s “moral authority” comes from…
July 1st, 2009 at 12:57 pm
Pssst… Clown, GW isn’t President. You can let it go six months ago.
July 1st, 2009 at 1:11 pm
Hey! If Obama can continue blaming his failed policies on Bush so can Clownie.
July 1st, 2009 at 1:42 pm
Lemme know when you kooks stop blaming everything on Jimmy Carter, m’kay?
July 1st, 2009 at 1:43 pm
So the guy only cleaned bathrooms in South Korea.
I don’t care if he un-clamped staples in New Mexico; I don’t rip on peoples’ honorable service to their country – even if, as the Clown says…:
Sure, it’s not as dangerous as Lt. Bush sitting on one of those tippy Alabama barstools.
Not sure if you’ve seen the fatality rates for F102 pilots – well, actually, I am sure you haven’t, but at any rate, it matters not a bit. I pay all due respect to anyone who serves in the military.
But you’re all heroes, right?
No, they’re all people who deserve respect; even George W. Bush, and for that matter John F Kerry and even Algore.
And so a tip of the hat to Two-Putt Tommy for his service.
However – if he DID rip on a guy who lost both legs in Iraq, and claimed to have been a “combat veteran”, and in fact was never in *combat* (in other than a technical sense; sure, the Korean War never ended, and the DMZ is tense, and occasionally bullets and mortar shells pop up, and it’s considered tense enough that servicepeoples’ families don’t get stationed with ‘em) even though he allegedly wrapped himself in the mantel of “combat veteran” – well, if true, that’s getting toward “a little hinky”.
July 1st, 2009 at 1:52 pm
Mitch wondered: “Not sure if you’ve seen the fatality rates for F102 pilots – well, actually, I am sure you haven’t, but at any rate, it matters not a bit.”
Oh yeah. Earlier today Angryclown was paging through his copy of the DOD mortality tables for state Air National Guard units circa 1968, cross-referenced by aircraft type.
Turns out state Air National Guard units suffered exactly one casualty that year. One junior officer, a pilot, fell unconscious for 20 minutes while eating a pretzel. Military doctors determined he had suffered only massive brain damage and returned him to full duty.
July 1st, 2009 at 2:07 pm
Angry Clown. W is not president. When he was president, he did not go around saying ‘I am a combat vet. Vote for me.’
Even if all Bush did in the Texas Air Guard was sit at a bar stool that beats Clinton’s & the Current Occupant’s military experience.
So shut your trap. You are obsessed. No matter how little you think of Bush it does not make Obammy or Clinton a war hero.
July 1st, 2009 at 2:32 pm
Was Coleman robbed? I have heard that the military absentee ballots that were actually counted was in the range of 15-20%. The rest were late or invalid. There was never any press on the validity of these numbers. Anybody have info on this?
July 1st, 2009 at 2:38 pm
Haha, yeah, not much!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZGswXlKDDQ
July 1st, 2009 at 2:43 pm
Pay no attention to the man dismantling America right now. Busssshhh. Bussshhh. Bussshhh….
July 1st, 2009 at 2:55 pm
Ah, Clown sees a problem with folks who criticize President Carter for actions taken as president… but Bush and Cheney are evil and stupid and inept and controling the world.
Ooookay. You’re losing more ground than usual today, Clown.
Still love ya, though.
July 1st, 2009 at 2:59 pm
Boy you’re dumb, Badda. They don’t control much of anything anymore. Bush and Cheney are about as useful to the world as Norm Coleman.
July 1st, 2009 at 3:01 pm
As Obama’s policies make capital and investment flee America’s shores, the cry from the left? Bushssshhh . . . Bussshhh . . .
July 1st, 2009 at 3:40 pm
Terry forgets the always convincing “Boy you’re dumb” argument. Man, that is a debate winner every time.
July 1st, 2009 at 3:43 pm
Bush and Cheney are about as useful to the world as Norm Coleman.
Bush is keeping his mouth shut. Ironic that Jimmy Carter can’t — considering that his defeatist policies were roundly rejected by the electorate. Hell, he couldn’t even come close to getting the okey-dokey for a second term. Oh, Jimmah, the world wants no more of your ‘wisdom’. Bush, on the other hand, handily won more electoral votes in 2004 than he did in 2000. And we know from Mister Clown that electoral vote count is the only qualification that matters.
Cheney seems to be quite a thorn in Obama’s side, and, more importantly, a thorn in the side of the left. No show trials for you folks. If Cheney-Bush has blood on their hands so does Clinton-gore.
July 1st, 2009 at 3:45 pm
Man, that is a debate winner every time.
The clown knows how to make friends and influence people NYC style.
July 1st, 2009 at 4:25 pm
Clown, did you intend to misunderstand what I said, or is that just a habit?
Reread it, and revise your comment into a coherent response that actually connects to my comment.
(Still love you, AC.)
July 1st, 2009 at 4:32 pm
Bush and Cheney are about as useful to the world…
And yet shockingly the Obama administration adopts and enhances Bush / Cheney policies on secrecy-http://www.democracynow.org/2009/6/17/despite_campaign_promises_president_obama_adopts ), Gitmo ( http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/05/21/AR2009052103680.html ), rendition ( http://www.ijnetwork.org/content/view/140/1/ ), wiretaps ( http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123638765474658467.html ) and torture ( http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/18/us/politics/18policy.html ).
Next thing you know, The One will choking on a pretzel and calling Geithner, “Brownie”. And Short Bus Joe will be busting a shotgun shell in the face of some member of the Kennedy clan.
With this link dump, I feel just like RickDFL – I wonder if I’ll join the fauxgressive pigpile on Tim Russerts corpse the way Rick did the day Russert died?
July 1st, 2009 at 4:36 pm
Bush and Cheney are about as useful to the world as Norm Coleman.
And yet Clownie cant…stop…bringing…them…up…
July 1st, 2009 at 4:45 pm
Damn it, Kermit… you gave it away.
July 1st, 2009 at 4:52 pm
To be honest, Seflores, Brownie didn’t cheat on his taxes like our new IRS chief.
Heck of a job, Geithner!
July 1st, 2009 at 5:25 pm
Um, you realize that Treasury Secretary and the Commissioner of Internal Revenue are different jobs, right Terry? Terry?
Terry also blathered: “Cheney seems to be quite a thorn in Obama’s side, and, more importantly, a thorn in the side of the left.”
Oh yeah, keep that Cheney away! Cheney, Limbaugh and Michael Steele have been launching devastating attacks from the right. And the worst thing is, they’re all beloved by the young Americans who will be the base of a resurgent Republican Party. Oh WHATEVER shall we do?
July 1st, 2009 at 5:56 pm
angryclown said:
“Cheney, Limbaugh and Michael Steele have been launching devastating attacks from the right.”
I suppose, but it doesn’t take much more than “whew, glad we missed that ‘unemployment’ bullet”.
And yeah, Terry, Treasury Secretarys are supposed to cheat on their taxes. Right, angryclown? I’m sure it was high on the presidents list of qualifications, seeing how that quality showed up in so many appointees.
July 1st, 2009 at 6:06 pm
It may be time to let go of Bush, angryclown.
I mean, its nice to see you try with the Cheney, Steele, and Limbaugh stuff, but we can tell you don’t mean it. Make a scrapbook of all the happiness he provided you, and revel in the good times you had together. He isn’t POTUS anymore, and even though you can’t quit him, he’s just not that into you. Accept it, but remember: you’ll always have Guantanamo.
July 1st, 2009 at 7:30 pm
Um, you realize that Treasury Secretary and the Commissioner of Internal Revenue are different jobs, right Terry? Terry?
Clown, The IRS is part of the treasury department. The IRS commissioner reports to Geithner’s assistant. Are all Obama supporters as ignorant about how our government works as you are?
July 1st, 2009 at 7:51 pm
Terry asks a rhetorical question that has an all too obvious answer.
YOU SHUT UP!!!
July 1st, 2009 at 8:49 pm
True, Terry, and they’re both part of the executive branch. So that means President Obama is actually the IRS commissioner, right?
I love how you play it off like you meant to do that. Very convincing.
July 1st, 2009 at 10:09 pm
Are you trying to be a dipshit, Angry Clown? If Obama was known to be a tax cheat OF COURSE I’d say that a tax cheat was in charge of the IRS.
Brainless fool.
July 2nd, 2009 at 2:51 am
And it isn’t that treasury & IRS are both part of the exec branch. It’s that the IRS is part of Treasury. Treasury is run by Geithner, an admitted tax cheat. Geithner worked for the IMF and never declared the income, even though IMF gave him money specifically to pay taxes for FOUR YEARS — ROFL. Geithner also had the nanny problem. Funny thing is, I’ve never made enough money to pay someone to clean my gutters, let alone raise my kid. Rich SOB thinks taxes are for the little people like me, I guess.
Clown, you have no idea how much Geithner cheated on his taxes. He took out a loan against his 401k, didn’t pay it back, and didn’t pay the 10% penalty like he was supposed to do. He sent his kid to camp and took it a child care deduction, strictly against IRS rules. He lied about giving non-cash items to charity. He’s a crook. Obama gave him the keys to the treasury.
Every year I file taxes and I take deductions. I have no fear — none — about being audited. The reason I have no fear is because I’m honest. Geithner isn’t. His only qualification for the treas job is that he’s the son of an IMPORTANT FAMILY and that he once worked with Obammy’s mother. Honesty doesn’t matter when you reach that level of social status, I guess.
Heck of a job, Geithner.
July 2nd, 2009 at 6:00 am
Hey, don’t get so bent out of shape, Terry. Everybody makes mistakes. All you silly wingnuts, anyway. You wouldn’t catch Angryclown confusing the Treasury Secretary and IRS Commissioner, then trying to play it off like he meant to do that. No offense, but Angryclown suggests it may be that kind of thinking that keeps you confined to the gutter-cleaning class of people.
July 2nd, 2009 at 7:23 am
I would suggest that angryclown belongs to the “utter-cleaning class of people” because he thinks catching someone in a slight misstep is the same as “confusing the Treasury Secretary and IRS Commissioner”. You just keep working through that anger at being denied your fantasy Bush dictatorship, angryclown. *hands angryclown a tissue*
July 2nd, 2009 at 8:02 am
Haha, Troy calls it a “slight misstep,” which shows that even your wingnut pals don’t believe your “I meant to do that” claim, Terry. You are one hundred percent BUSTED.
July 2nd, 2009 at 9:38 am
Troy is wrong, Angry Clown. When I said that Geithner is in charge of the IRS it was not a ‘misstep’, slight or otherwise. It is the truth.
July 2nd, 2009 at 10:26 am
Sure, Terry. In the same sense that President Obama is in charge of the IRS. Also God, because He’s in charge of everything, which includes the IRS.
Terry, why do you hate God?
July 2nd, 2009 at 10:43 am
But God loves us, while the IRS hates us.
Why have you compared God to Satan?
July 2nd, 2009 at 11:06 am
Minimize & rationalize all you want, Angry Clown. Geithner is a tax cheat. The bizarre thing is that you seem to think that it would be worse for the IRS commissioner to be a tax cheat than it is when the IRS commissioner’s boss is a tax cheat.
July 2nd, 2009 at 1:29 pm
Angryclown is capering about in his giant clown shoes, spraying seltzer and laughing at Terry.
July 2nd, 2009 at 1:33 pm
From: http://www.aerospaceweb.org/question/history/q0185.shtml
According to the Air Force Safety Center, the lifetime Class A accident rate for the F-102 was 13.69 mishaps per 100,000 flight hours, and the rate was especially high during the early years of the plane’s service.
July 2nd, 2009 at 1:35 pm
Also from the same source:
Regardless, the F-102 was still far more dangerous to fly than today’s combat aircraft. Compared to the F-102’s lifetime accident rate of 13.69, today’s planes generally average around 4 mishaps per 100,000 hours. For example, compare the F-16 at 4.14, the F-15 at 2.47, the F-117 at 4.07, the S-3 at 2.6, and the F-18 at 4.9. Even the Marine Corps’ AV-8B, regarded as the most dangerous aircraft in US service today, has a lifetime accident rate of only 11.44 mishaps per 100,000 flight hours. The F-102 claimed the lives of many pilots, including a number stationed at Ellington during Bush’s tenure. Of the 875 F-102A production models that entered service, 259 were lost in accidents that killed 70 Air Force and ANG pilots.
July 2nd, 2009 at 1:46 pm
Loren informed: “Of the 875 F-102A production models that entered service, 259 were lost in accidents that killed 70 Air Force and ANG pilots.”
And it turns out only 300 of those aircraft were piloted by Lt. G.W. Bush.
July 2nd, 2009 at 4:23 pm
Yep, Angry Clown, and Obama isn’t in charge of the treasury. Geithner is. He isn’t in charge of foreign policy, that’s Hillary Clinton’s kuliana. Obama isn’t in charge of the military, Gates is. Poor fella isn’t even in charge of his own staff, Rahm Emmanuel is.
But then, I hear you think that Missouri was a confederate state, which would have come as a surprise to Lincoln — the slaves there weren’t covered under the emancipation proclamation.
You got nuthin, punk.
July 3rd, 2009 at 10:30 am
That’s “kuleana,” Hawai`i boy.
July 15th, 2009 at 1:26 pm
UPDATE: In a phone conversation, “Two-Putt” denied having claimed to have been a combat veteran.