Combat! - Page 344 of 406 - A blog by Dan Brooks

Video captures happiest 4 minutes of Christine O’Donnell’s life

By Dan Brooks in Tea Party October 20, 2010 7 Comments

I assume that, by now, the numerical minority of you who did not send me links to Christine O’Donnell’s First Amendment gaffe yesterday have heard about it. In a debate with Chris Coons before, of all people, an audience of law students, the Delaware Senate candidate demanded to know “where in the Constitution” is the separation of church and state. After her opponent recited the establishment clause (pretty much from memory, although he missed a couple of words,) she remained incredulous, saying, “You’re telling me that’s in the First Amendment?” Newspaper accounts were beautiful, but they miss what is perhaps the best part: the four or so minutes after O’Donnell sticks Coons with her “where in the Constitution?” question but before she realizes it’s a gaffe. During that time, she smirks at the crowd, mugs during her opponent’s answers and generally acts like she’s just checkmated Vladimir Nabokov. It’s an almost physically painful study in dramatic irony, and it captures the essence of Christine O’Donnell.

Senior Republican suggests future of health care repeal

By Dan Brooks in Politics versus Government October 19, 2010 0 Comment

New Hampshire senator Judd Gregg (white) and the President (miscellaneous)

Now that the Republican Party has taken control of Congress, or at least taken control of the theoretical future Congress the media currently covers, it’s time to decide what to do about theoretical future health care reform. You remember health care reform, right? The enormous legislative project that captivated the nation for the vast majority of 2009, on which the first black President staked his political credibility in order to address the abuses of the world’s 39th-best system? The one that tore us all apart? Yeah, the GOP is going to undo that. They promise to in their Pledge to America, and ever since Republicans Capture Congress edged out Republicans Field a Bunch of Congressional Candidates Everyone Thinks Are Crazy as the nation’s dominant news narrative, they’ve been talking about how to do it. Meanwhile, senior Senate Budget Committee member Judd Gregg (R–NH) has been quietly suggesting that’s not such a hot idea. His arguments—and the strategy they represent—paint an infuriating portrait of a party that might have prevented the last two years of American governance out of spite.

Terrifying: Joe Lieberman could become kingmaker in Senate

By Dan Brooks in Politics versus Government October 18, 2010 0 Comment

It just goes to show, kids—study hard, stay in school, maybe switch schools if you're not doing well, consider taking a look at your parents. There are a lot of childless couples out there that might give you a better start.

Today is a momentous day at Combat! blog. We are proud to inaugurate the Rushing Award for Excellence in Speculative Journalism, and we present it to J. Taylor Rushing* for this article on the enormous power that Joe Lieberman might wield if the Republicans win exactly nine seats in the Senate. That scenario would give Democrats “the slimmest possible majority,” bringing their caucus to 50 by only two independents: Bernie Sanders of Vermont and nobody giving a crap, and Lieberman. Fortunately, Lieberman’s loyalty is assured. Sarc mark.

Friday links! We’ll be running the asylum now, Dr. Adler edition

By Dan Brooks in Friday Links October 15, 2010 4 Comments

Remember last summer, when the Tea Party emerged as a suspiciously nationwide coalition of the laughably uninformed dedicated to defeating health care reform through yelling? Fifteen months later, many of the morons are poised to become senators. What, to quote Mary Todd Lincoln, the fuck happened? The Tea Party went from a national joke to a presumed congressional force, with no attendant increase in sensemaking or even a beer hall putsch. It’s as if the responsible elements of this country unanimously agreed to cede control to the stupid and crazy, not because it’s a good idea so much as because they demanded it so loudly. The lunatics’ plan of shouting and refusing to participate in group has worked perfectly, and now they are ready to assume managerial control of the asylum. If you think I’m overstating the case, have a look at this Friday’s link roundup. It’s chock full of evidence to suggest that the closest we’ve ever come to an American fascist party is working, and it’s the perfect way to blast into your weekend on a jet of pure rage.

NY Times profiles a very sad Ann Coulter

By Dan Brooks in Public Discourse October 14, 2010 7 Comments

Ann Coulter pauses briefly because she thought she heard a strain of music, far away, sung to a little girl who doesn't live here anymore.

During this country’s innocence (Thriller—2008 A.D.,) Ann Coulter could reasonably be called the most unreasonable commentator working. The woman who titled two books about liberals “Treason” and “Godless” could once be relied upon for the most incendiary quotes and the most absurd exaggerations, but the climate of discourse has changed. Coulter, like O’Reilly, finds herself a weak sister in conservatism’s Thanksgiving dinner of nutjobbery, overshadowed by such relentless word-combiners as Glenn Beck and Michele Malkin. Suddenly, she is only middling crazy. Worse, her hyperbolic shtick has become standard not just for conservative commentary but for conservative politics. In a country where Joe Wilson screams that the President is a liar while he is addressing Congress, what is an Ann Coulter, exactly? The answer, at least as suggested by this profile in the New York Times, is “weirdly lonely and sad.”