Wherein emptywheel Gets Shrill

/68 Comments/in /by

otr.jpg

Boy, what a weird news day. Which press conference do you think will get all the coverage on the news? Obama on Wright, or Mr. Irrelevant on the economy?

I’m just about to go fetch mr. emptywheel and set off on my Haggis and Beamish pilgrimage. So I thought I’d leave you with a link to my appearance on MI’s Off the Record last week. Tim Skubick said the calls in response have been mixed–some people find this show wonderfully, um, lively. (And on that note, there’s some debate about how many times I said "pissed." Three? Six? Pissed … it’s the new bitter.) Others found it altogether too lively for PBS.

Please behave nicely for bmaz while I’m on my pilgrimage.

image_print
68 replies
  1. bobschacht says:

    EW,
    Raise one aloft in memory of all of us that you left behind, who like to read your blogs with our first cuppa coffee in the morning! We’ll miss you.

    Bob in HI

      • randiego says:

        I surfed sunday for an hour at Torrey Pines – about 4 miles from friday’s attack (which was fluky on many levels). I felt safe, there was a group of bottlenose playing and jumping just outside the surf the whole time we were there.

        On the other hand, the Irish half and the Scottish half both got here via Australia – and we all know how sharks love Ozzies.

        How about those Padres? Watching them try to bring home runners in scoring position fits the UN definition of torture.

        • bmaz says:

          Heh, I’m not sure about the Pads, but could you please keep your eye out for Roger’s pig?

          offering a $10,000 reward plus four Coachella tickets for life for the safe return of the pig

          I’m thinking about getting a couple of cases and going out on a pig hunt myself…..

        • randiego says:

          ahem. well… let’s look at this scientifically.

          Sunday, we had a mostly offshore flow in the region – it was hot as hell. Like 95 on the beach hot.

          Meaning, from Coachella, theoretically the Pig in question flew west, toward the Mt San Jacinto / Mt San Gorgonio area. These are the biggest mountains in SoCal.

          If it got over them, I bet it landed near Loo Hoo’s house.

        • Loo Hoo. says:

          I saw a pig like that with “Habeas Corpus” on one side and “It’s really important” on the other. This was at a concert before the vote. Didn’t much excite the crowd, except for about 10% of us.

          Sorry to hear that the pig has left it’s tether.

  5. behindthefall says:

    I keep thinking of Capt. Jonathan Aubrey (in Patrick O’Brian’s Aubrey-Maturin novels of the Royal Navy of the earty 1800s) who, following an old nautical superstition, never said, “This good thing is going to happen.” Never name the victory you hope for.

    But, oh, do I have my fingers crossed. I think it is going to be like charging uphill — brief and bloody, with the outcome in doubt to the end.

    That said, EW, you were great in that clip. Anybody remember that Pres. Wheeler used to have her own blog? With any justice, that’s what they’ll say one day.

  10. earlofhuntingdon says:

    May you be in heaven a full half hour before the devil knows you’re gone. Have a great trip. Come back, now, and don’t go shopping for flats in Dublin. We want to hear all about the cartwheels.

  14. earlofhuntingdon says:

    The aptly named (for this conversation about Beamish and leprechauns) Shailagh Murray at the Wapoo has inadvertently coined another unit of time, competing with Tommy of Friedman Unit fame at the Greyer Lady.

    Ms. Murray acknowledges that she and her friends in McMain’s Media (apologies to Ernest Borgnine and his McHale’s Navy) can’t walk and chew gum at the same time. She admits that the media are grilling Obama over his bowling score and Hillary over her cleavage, but they aren’t giving Senator McCain his deserved share of scrutiny. “Just wait,” she tells us,

    Once the primary battle is over, Sen. McCain will get his fair share of scrutiny.

    Now how long would that be, a chuisle? Six months is already taken; that’s a Friedman Unit. How about six weeks?

    http://thinkprogress.org/

  15. JimWhite says:

    I’m only half way through the video, but I want to trade some of my Florida right wingers for your Michigan ones. Yours don’t drool…

    • bmaz says:

      Heh, they are bad everywhere. Here in Arizona we have some that are so bad they need to be outfitted with suction tubes shaped like a hook that dentists hang on the side of your mouth. Take Russell Pearce for instance. Really, please take him.

  16. JohnLopresti says:

    There were some folks in this familymember’s past from many places in those isles on one side of the family; and stateside roots. The moderator might have to clear this post because of the prolific links; they are all supposed to be family about whom I know only what surfaces in moments when some expletive issues… I have always thought FL and MI, especially now MI, will have more interesting fun if it all occurs only at Denver this summer in the convention. Here is what voters and vote registration outfits are facing in FL currently, the Republican version of HAVA voter suppression. It would be nice if FL voters this election season show they recognize what will happen to their freedoms if they continue to install Republicans at key posts.

  17. skdadl says:

    there’s some debate about how many times I said “pissed.” Three? Six? Pissed … it’s the new bitter.

    I only heard two. Then again, questions have been raised about my ears …

    Have a great trip, and lang may yer lum reek.

  18. Neil says:

    EW, one hundred thousand welcomes. send us a post card. we’ll behave for bmaz …which means he’ll get what he deserves. rumor has it he’s considering one trash-talk post a day but he may be reserving the right to be the trash-talker.

  19. Synoia says:

    Piised is before bitter. Bitter is what happens if people don’t pay atention to their pissing you off.

    Ask the Palestinians the consequences of bitter. Better yet, as the Isrealis. Are you secure yet, after 60 years?

  20. MadDog says:

    Sheesh.

    Was ready to breakout the party hats after Marcy left, but then Jane shows up.

    Sheesh. What am I gonna do with all these kazoos?

      • readerOfTeaLeaves says:

        Loo Hoo, what browser are you using?
        If you’ve not cleared your cookies for awhile, could be something’s hanging it up. Try it again — worked beautifully for me.

        FWIW, I thought EW looked very IBMish. (That was intended as a compliment.)

        • readerOfTeaLeaves says:

          Ah, IIRC,she’s alluded to the fact a time or two. It so happened that the video of her reminded me of an IBM presenter: insisting on accuracy, clarifying misperceptions, insisting on detailed analysis.

          She’s doing IBM proud.
          Good to see this of standard of analysis entering public conversation; long overdue.

      • PetePierce says:

        Loo Hoo–

        Try playing the quick time mp4, clearing TIFs, clearing your cookies and kill anything you can that’s using CPU and it should play fine. For some reason this ie one of the more temperamental quick time files CPU wise I’ve seen.

    • PJEvans says:

      I went with a friend to Ontario (CA) airport once, to greet one of his work buddies coming home after spending most of five months in Dayton (mine had spent most of three months there on the same job). We had a kazoo band doing the Star Wars theme, among other things. It was fun! (O’course, we freaked the rest of the people at that gate, but who cared?)

        • PJEvans says:

          My friend went through St Louis so many times that on one arrival, he knew the pilot was off course taxiing to the gate.

          (Back story: They were doing a weird computer job (non-classified) for Wrght-Pat. The AF needed a Vax and a PDP-10 (KA model) to share a hard drive. DEC said it couldn’t be done: Vaxen were 32-bit machines and PDP-10s were 36-bit machines. The guys (including my friend) made it work.)

    • readerOfTeaLeaves says:

      Kazoos…? !

      I’d gladly take a kazoo so I can click back over to TPM and re-watch today’s video of GWBush blaming Congress for the high price of oil. (In case you were unaware, the high price of oil is Congress’s fault, because they stopped Cheney’s plans to drill ANWR).
      It might be fun tooting my kazoo in synch with Bush’s mouth movements.

      Now, where’s that scotch that EOH was mentioning…?
      (…clinking ice cubes in readiness on the West Coast…)

  21. Quebecois says:

    Bon voyage Marcy.

    You were really, really good on that show. Loved the way you plastered them on the wall with MoneyMcCain.

  22. Loo Hoo. says:

    Sorry MadDog. I was going to suggest a party in the middle of the night when Jane’s probably asleep.

    • MadDog says:

      As long as someone wakes me up, and nobody minds my bed-head, I got the kazoos all ready to go.

      As a short test blast from his kazoo issues forth…and elephants at the zoo respond in kind.

  23. BayStateLibrul says:

    Sox were lucky to pull the Toronto game out of their arse with two out in the ninth.
    Pedroia saved the game in the 8th with a defensive gem.

    • bmaz says:

      Hey, Dustin is an ASU boy you know; always been a good baseball school.

      As to the Rocket, believe it or not, I actually wondered if you would have that thought when I posted that comment. I still think that the government’s persecution of Clemens is far more corrupt and problematic than anything he did, and I really don’t care for MaNamee’s lawyers one bit either they conduct themselves like two bit chumps, especially the cluck known as Emery; but all that said, Clemens is on such a downhill spiral, he is making them all look good in comparison. Rusty is not real happy about right now….

  24. JimWhite says:

    Now that’s a reminder:

    Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Tuesday that sending a second U.S. aircraft carrier to the Persian Gulf could serve as a “reminder” to Iran, but he said it’s not an escalation of force.

    I’d hate to see what an escalation would be.

    It may be time for the Phillipino Monkey to run for cover.

    • Neil says:

      I agree. You were great. You call it shrill, I’ll call it emphatic and a wee bit frustrated but all to a good effect. The nicely tailored green suit jacket with round cloth buttons, those smart glasses, that knowing grin… my favorite part was when the conservatives guests wouldn’t stand up for McCain.

      I think that the “Democratic Party is tearing itself to shreds meme” is a net positive for the party. I don’t believe anyone seriously considering Obama would consider McCain as an alternative.

      • pdaly says:

        Go Marcy!

        my favorite part was when the conservatives guests wouldn’t stand up for McCain.

        I agree. I thought I saw one of the Republicans on the panel grimace when describing how there was too much ‘diversity’ among the Republican candidates early on in their primary. Diversity is a dirty word…

        I don’t think EW was shrill, either. I think the other side got pwn3d !

  26. readerOfTeaLeaves says:

    Well, perhaps you have some nearby teenagers who might pitch in…?

    Perhaps the pig randiego saw flying your way is the magical kind, you know: converses with spiders, knows how to download the latest video players for your browser ;-))

    One can hope.

  28. JohnLopresti says:

    Bmaz, Way OT, There is a Russ Feingold to-do tomorrow on secret law. I was looking for research materials on McCain’s foggily depicted role in devising DTA, and found a September 30, 2005 letter from OMB couched in Addingtonesque ‘purported’ language making political accusations toward congress, ascribing to congress intent to create secret law in re drafting HR2863 regarding classified programs in DoD budget; the letter is sprinkled with similar attempts to tar congress over the early mechanisms in draft language. I read this as a shield for what McCain was trying to do, which was to claim credit for resisting what he would let Bush do, as he did in other staged events that year and subsequently, should you have the interest to check out the hearing, maybe placing your Nuance engine by the speakerset to produce an instaTranscript, in the temporary absence of our famed Liveblog expert. I have yet to visit the constitution subcommittee website of SJC, which is holding his hearing, but SunliteFdn has a hearing notice video of RF on their blog, as does RussF on his site.

    • readerOfTeaLeaves says:

      Thanks, JohnL. Just watching it; it’s very clear and informative.
      Appreciate the link.

    • MarieRoget says:

      Great guitar picking to advance in the playoffs by. It really was a stroll for San Antonio, wasn’t it?

      L.A. transplant that I am, I’m delighted the Lakers swept. In their honor, here’s some more guitar from another one of the masters- since I’m in NC on business right now, I’ll link some guitar virtuosity from an old friend of mine, Charlotte NC native Jack Lawrence, accompanying the always amazing Doc Watson:

      Black Mountain Rag

    • PetePierce says:

      Airhead America continues its reign of consummate stupidity

      Reverand Wright BC and Cup O’ Reverand Wright Wall to Wall roll on to the Valley of the Parade O’Black Ministers as America moves into the Election Racial Civil War pitting Black America vs. White America

      meanwhile not a scintilla of a mention on yo TV of

      Iraq Coalition Casualty Count from http://icasualties.org/oif/

      Apriol is the Crulest Month; Iraq Worst Month Since September 2007:

      But then, no one needs to know about this so on with the Parade of the Black Reverends and Mrs. Greenspan freeting that Obama distanced himself from Wright at 7AM when it could have been at 11PM.

      A damn good thing you have Mrs. Greenspan the Clinton Superdelegate Wannabe showing you how and why to pick your President.

      The Parade O the Black Reverends at WrightBC rolls on.

      BAGHDAD (Reuters) – Two U.S. soldiers were killed in Baghdad, the U.S. military said on Wednesday, taking the American troop death toll in Iraq for April to 46.

      That makes April the deadliest month since September, when 65 U.S. soldiers died in Iraq, according to figures compiled by icasualties.org, an independent Web site that tracks military deaths.

      In a statement, the U.S. military said gunmen killed one soldier in northwestern Baghdad on Tuesday. The second soldier was killed in a roadside bomb attack on his vehicle, also in the northwestern part of the Iraqi capital on Tuesday.

      Around half the U.S. troop deaths in Iraq this month have been in Baghdad, including several killed by rocket and mortar fire from the eastern Baghdad stronghold of anti-American Shi’ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.

      U.S. and Iraqi forces have been fighting battles against Shi’ite gunmen in and around the Sadr City bastion for weeks.

      American forces said they killed 34 militiamen in Sadr City on Tuesday in a series of clashes including one street battle that raged for four hours.

      While April was the deadliest month for U.S. troops since September, the casualty toll is well down on the same month a year ago, when 104 U.S. soldiers died in Iraq.

      That was when U.S. forces were building up in Baghdad and pushing deeper into parts of the capital controlled by Sunni Islamist al Qaeda militants.

  34. PetePierce says:

    As Airhead America continues to get its Reverand Wright 24X7 on, and presciently realizes Wright has murdered all those American soldiers in Iraq, and the Iraqis and Wright is responsible for the Iraqi refugee fuckup Condi caused, forcing Condi to fuckup at gunpoint because he controls the sister, the Whacky people from Michigan the Whacky Michigan Gang O Four continues to remind you of your childhood. Is there not one of you who thought at one time or another if you just kept asking mommy again in a different way she might give you what she said you couldn’t have? The Whacky Michigan Gang O Four think that way of course.

    LOL the goofballs asked Obama if they could gain 10 Hillary Votes instead of 18 and Obama once again introduced them to the Audacity of Nope Go Piss Up a Rope (See Nope and Rope rhyme in Airhead America).

    Something about Obama wasn’t on the ballot in a place where the candidates did not campaign because of the childish selfish stupid actions that the Whacky Michigan Gang O Four knowingly did when they were well over 21 years of age.

    The good news is though, Saturday Night Live is in talks with Debbie the Dingbat Dingell for the Whacky Michigan Gang O Four to Guest Host and Debbie Dingbat Dingell and Reverand Jerimiah Wright are in negotiations to enter Dancing With the Stars’ danceoff as a cute couple.

    NYT The Caucus: Yet Another Attempt by the Whacky Michigan Gang O Four to Get Hillary Delegates in Michigan Shot Down by Obama LOL

  35. drational says:

    OT but I ran into Patrick Fitzgerald at the O’Hare airport United luggage claim last night.

    Me: Hey Patrick Fizgerald. I admire your work [no shit this was all I could think of to say].

    Fitz: Well Thanks. I get credit for the work that lots of other people do. Take care.

  36. radiofreewill says:

    First of all, kudos to Off The Record for hosting a Blogger’s Edition of their ‘08 Political coverage! That’s the second time I’ve seen video of the same panel and moderater, and I think the whole package ‘works.’

    If I were to make a suggestion, it would be to consider modifying the format just slightly to pull-in a little more ‘issue depth.’ Perhaps a prepared, but *live* Left v Right, Point/CounterPoint on a Moderator pre-determined issue would allow the ‘contextualization’ of the issues and lend audience understanding of the roots of the speakers’ passions.

    A move like that would give all the panelists the opportunity to ‘inflate’ into 3-D as Michiganders with ‘informed’ opinions, and balance the otherwise lively, but somewhat surface-treatment interaction.

    Passion originating from the depths of reasoned understanding, which you and Lynn on the left have in abundance, is compelling.

    It’s because the format doesn’t really support addressing issue depth, imvho, that the right can get away with their ‘understatements’ – they’re basically ‘flat-facing’ the discussion because they don’t have anything to be passionate about.

    Go deep on them and stretch them out, or to use a wrestling analogy – they’re turtling, so it’s time to get dynamic and flip their inaction!

    The more ‘reasoned passion’ that OTR ‘bakes’ into the format, the stronger their audience appeal with be – and, imho, the Moderator hasn’t yet even shifted into third gear – that guy has the skillz to manage a fast-paced, hard-hitting match between highly opinionated, strong speakers!

    Is there room in the format for the game to get ’stepped-up’?

Comments are closed.