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That’s about right.

I’ve been reading the spirited discussion regarding Jon Favreau being an asshat regarding a picture of Hillary Clinton in the Tennessee Blogosphere this morning. I admit, I have been so busy the last few days that my google reader has been sitting on 1000+ for days and I’ve had other things on my mind then politics. I’m studying my industry right now like a first year law student so heavily to see where I’m going to fit in the big picture. Speaking of first-year law students, I tend to agree with GoldnI.

Yeah, I’ve been a bit busy and stressed. I digress.

I saw the story over the weekend. My initial reaction wasn’t one of feminism honestly, it was looking at this as the burning stupids. The issue that Hillary Clinton will go in to the history books as being treated with such rabid misogyny by people who should know better but don’t will be studied in future generations. Maybe I’m an old bird, I saw the photo and thought, this guy is a kid. He’s a sexist kid, but if you are going to put stuff up on your Facebook with you groping a cardboard cutout of a woman and you think it’s funny …. well, just how out of touch are you? There is an acceptance for the Girls Gone Wild sort of thing in our society right now and I see that it translates to Boys Gone Wild. Let’s remember though, the subculture of frat parties has gone on forever.

Doesn’t make it right. It just is. And bloggers calling it out does help in the long term.

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So last night I pondered on this blog about how in the name of cat food that Joe Lieberman got to keep his gavel.

Then I read this article this morning and it makes more sense to me.

Obama wasn’t just acting out of bipartisan good will. In supporting Lieberman’s continued inclusion in the Democratic caucus, he may have effectively defanged his toughest potential opponent in the Senate Democratic caucus. If Lieberman is anything, as he proved with John McCain, he’s loyal - and now he owes Obama a big one. His job over the next few years, for the first time in his long political career, is to keep quiet. The move is especially savvy because Obama - and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid - know that in order to achieve virtually anything on the Democrats’ long list of ambitious legislation they will need every vote they can possibly get in the Senate. Obama’s biggest challenge in both chambers of Congress will be keeping the varying factions of his own party together, especially more liberal members and the more conservative so-called Blue Dog Democrats.

Hmmm. That seems about right. In measuring short-term revenge and long-term implications regarding legislation that Barack Obama wants to get passed during his first term in office, this could be a good move. The days of Lieberman being a big time player on the national stage, in my humble opinion, will be limited.

Listen, Joe gives me hives. He always has and the thought of a quick Shakespearean revenge on a national platform of him being chastised by Democrats would be sweet. But in the long run, this may have been pretty shrewd. We will have to see what happens when it comes to voting and if Obama has effectively shut down one of his most vocal critics by giving him a second chance. Loyalty is huge with everyone and is rewarded in politics, especially when Lieberman had his head taken out of the guillotine.

Good lord, politics is liking watching Survivor. Who can outwit, outlast and outplay to get the prize at the end.

Something is always going on behind the scenes.

Is it change and will the Joementum dude be beholden to Barack Obama or is it BS?

Oh, and this. Maybe we can keep Dick Cheney away from kittehs and puppies, as I have heard that he enjoys to torment them just by smiling at them. They become deranged. Of course, this is just a rumor I heard in a bar during muzzle loader season and we won’t even get into what real hunters think about his rifle skills.

So much to ponder on this cold Tuesday evening.

I am, as I often do, wondering what is going behind the scenes because something obviously is. Joe speaks at the Republican convention, is a general douchebag and ran with Al Gore in 2000.

Joe has been a blight.

So … ummm …. thinking, thinking, thinking. Trying to think about this rationally which is my downfall. I’m a Libra, DAMMIT.

What the hell is going on? Because, campers, there was a deal made and something happened when we weren’t looking.

The lack of change would be kicking his butt to the curb, wouldn’t it? Or would it be change to kick his butt. Dang my brain. Seriously, what does Lieberman have to offer here?

Oh hell, just go here because it just doesn’t make sense but then again boatloads of goo happen behind closed doors in Washington.

And read Vibinc.

Great quote regarding MSM in the couple of weeks since the election.

When politics becomes entertainment, we get addicted to the gossip. The prospect of governing seems difficult and deliberative, definitively un-sexy. We’ve fast-forwarded from instant nostalgia to instant projection.

I was talking to a couple of journalists last week about this very thing. Everyone was so caught up in the election that we were drowning in it with every nuance of what might happen being dissected by our overloaded brains.

Now that it’s over, we are finding ourselves sort of readjusting our jock straps (I don’t have one but my buddies might. I don’t know.)

The economy still sucks. Most folks ideology hasn’t changed. I still like cheese. The moon is still in the sky. Lou Dobbs is still being paid and I’ve decided that his mere presence still annoys me. Thanksgiving is still inconvenient for me as it is every year. Christmas will be present-lite this year.

You see, the world has a new president-elect, but not a lot has changed. Now we are being bombarded by what kind of puppy the Obama family will get. I just know that Mabel is not available but would be a fine presidential dog. I don’t know what’s going to happen, life just keeps moving forward yet somehow stays in place at the same time.

I have no ideas about projecting what’s going to happen, but I realized I have been pulling an Anderson Cooper. And that is that this weekend was filled with mindless watching of bad reality television, French films, slothlike behavior on my part and burned chili.

No, I didn’t watch the Obama interview on 60 minutes. I think my cranium demanded that I take a break from it all.

You can only do so much before you become a political zombie.  So I pondered yesterday why Tyra Banks is called a diva and Donald Trump isn’t because I think they are basically the same in many ways.

Deep thoughts? Not so much. Political overload?

You betcha.

Mainly because right now he’s inconsequential.

From some of the progressives:

Left Wing Cracker throws down the gauntlet:

So, while I am deeply happy about the Obama-Biden victory, I know that it is only a sign that our work has just started. We in the blogosphere want to help this party rebuild from the ground up, because that’s the any way it can be sustainable.

And, I offer this invitation: All of you who seek the TDP Chairmanship, come to Memphis for Drinking Liberally and we will do our damndest to have a crowd for you. Be prepared to answer tough questions, but we want to move this state to the left where it belongs, and we are prepared to work with any of you, if you are willing to work with us.

Vibinc offers an interesting idea:

At this point it’s too late to undo the losses we experienced on Tuesday, but it’s not too early to start working on a strategic plan for 2010. So let me make this pledge to you. I will give the TNDP 50 days over the next year, that’s over $15,000 out of my pocket, if you will give me something to do. I don’t want any payment for this, I just want to help make a difference. Here are the conditions, I need regular updates, I don’t do toilets, if there is travel involved, a per diem to cover my expenses and a place to stay overnight would be necessary (if it requires an overnight stay), and finally, because my business schedule is somewhat crazy, some flexibility on my assignments may be required.

Chairman Sasser, I’m serious about this and I hope you will take me up on my offer. You can contact me here, on my anonymous blog via the open comments section. From there I will reply to your email address with my upcoming schedule. I look forward to your reply, and to working together to turn Tennessee blue.

Ilissa also breaks down some of what’s going on:

. And if the top of the ticket really is hurting you in a downticket race, then you have an even stronger reason to define yourself independently. The criticism of Sasser comes from an inability to understand how one can simultaneously blame Obama for hurting downticket races by being a liberal and blame him for not coming here to campaign.

Holt made you a list for Memphis which has given me some ideas.

1. Chairman: I want a Chair who is progressive, active, and experienced. We need someone who knows how to organize, keep people informed, build relationships, and ACTUALLY EFFING SHOW UP!

2. Steering Committee: We need a steering committee that is transparent, keeps the members up to date, and does not run roughshod over the executive committee. Honestly, the steering committee has almost no power, and the executive committee has simply failed to stand up for itself.

R. Neal has already been proactive:

We talked about online communication strategies going forward and including blogs more as a part of that, although there are some concerns to be worked out. He felt that Gray Sasser was referring more to the anonymous commenters than responsible bloggers.

Overall I liked what I heard. Addison gets it and sounds like a young, energetic guy who is open to new ways of doing things to get the House Democratic Caucus message out in as many venues as possible to better inform voters on why their progressive agenda is good for working people and everyone else in the State. Hopefully he will follow through on that, and so will TNDP party officials.

Now with that said, I’ve made some inquiries myself with some people that I somewhat trust in Nashville which I’ll get to when I’m ready.

Good things come from bad. I’ve already seen that. Dork Nation is also right and what he wrote honestly should be a guide to a new way of thinking things through. I agree with him, quite frankly. Listen, most of the democrats I know around here are second-amendment, Christians who also want to be involved in the loop. A popular bumper sticker here is “I’m a Christian, I Own A Gun, I’m A Democrat.”

Bumper stickers are very interesting I think but I digress

There is room for everyone. As I’ve said to both parties, avoid the stereotypes.

We can, and will, make a difference.

My only advice to the TNDP is don’t throw someone in Sasser’s seat for the sake of throwing someone in that position.

Vet.

Look what happened with McCain. He didn’t vet and see what happened.

Before I get all political here, I want to remind you that my grandfather (and most of Hoots’ residents that have a little bit of age on them) were in the generation of Gov. Ned McWherter. He still lives here most of the time and hasn’t been feeling so hot for awhile. So when I’m talking about politics, I remember the gravy years of having a powerful politician advocating for northwest Tennessee in the house and finally in the governor’s mansion, advising former President Bill Clinton and Al Gore.

Gore’s mother is from the county of Hoots. Just a bit of history for you here, nothing more, nothing less.

Then times changed as they always do. The glorious years of an aligned coalition of west Tennessee politicians lost its oomph.

But then we had Joe Hill. I’ve spoken about Hill before who was the Go-To-Guy in Rep. John Tanner’s office here locally. If anyone called him, he called us back. You needed something, if there was a way to get it, you could consider it done. From the little guy who lost his insurance and was suffering from cancer to political questions regarding how Tennessee would be impacted by certain votes in Washington.

He answered the questions candidly and didn’t run away from it. I have actually been critical with him at times and he was patient to explain the reasons why things were done they way they were.

That, my friends, is what we need in Nashville right now.

He kept up with political trends, the best way to communicate at the time and he just went with it starting his career with Ed. Jones. This wasn’t a flash in the pan kind of thing. It was consistent for decades.

I’ve been reading the blogosphere from yesterday from the anonymous commenter at Silence isn’t Golden, KAG’s response, Aunt B’s anger and then Mark breaking it down at Dork Nation which everyone needs to read.

I can only speak for my little corner of the world. I don’t know what’s going on in East Tennessee other than what I read from bloggers. My interaction with Shelby County comes from a fine group of people who communicate with huge props to Left Wing Cracker and Vibinc.

These are connections. Most of the people I’ve linked to above I have either met or corresponded with by email. Not all of them, but most of them.

KAG and Silence get it right and they are MSM in the state of Tennessee. Use the positive things you have or you are in for a mess of poo. They are telling you this and I commend them.

Joe Hill did that too in a different time of political communication. He found strong voices and he utilized them. Of course he was protecting his politician but that’s not the point. The point is that he held frequent and ongoing conversations. You can learn from the past and combine that knowledge into the future of this party.

The Scene writes:

Instead of whining about Obama, Tennessee Democrats should begin learning from him. The president-elect may be one of the Senate’s most liberal members. But he won a campaign with the ingredients of old school populism – health care, jobs, the rhetoric of economic fairness. They’re the kind of issues that can defy party lines, that resonate when Mom and Dad are figuring out how to pay the bills at the kitchen table. This is the stuff that can – gasp! – even get a black guy elected.

But if Tennessee Democrats continue sell themselves as Republican Lite – Motto: We’re Slightly Less Weird about Guns, God, and Abortion! – they’re likely sentencing themselves to an extended period of whining. Cheap facsimiles don’t exactly inspire people at the polls.

If you add the numbers of the views that those bloggers above get, then you are looking at a pretty nice block of people. And then as the message goes viral, it expands but it has to be done with intelligence and in a friendly manner that engages as well as is informative about the issues of Tennessee Democrats. In a large part, those bloggers listed above are already a block as most of us know each other anyway. You are losing out because I don’t think you get that whether you are around or not, we are having a conversation anyway.

Haven’t you figured that out yet?

We can learn from the Obama campaign, TNDP, if you think about it. So quit playing the blame game. It’s so Rovian.

Constructive criticism is important because people are not whipping your butt just to be whipping your butt. They are talking about something they feel passionate about.

I brought up the McWherter reference at the top because the gravy years of West Tennessee are long gone because those days of politics are over. It’s a new day. Conversation has changed in large part to the Internet and to blogging. TNDP, these are your eyes and ears on the ground.

I refer to Joe Hill because you need to calling him this very second as he is an elder statesmen of political management who was successful at it and could give you some sage advice about how everyone in this state has value and to treat them as such. Instead of whining at people who want to help, who want to be part of the political process despite the fact that they have jobs and families but are willing to give their time and voice to taking back the Assembly, don’t belittle them, embrace them. And take that blog of yours and give it a voice and a personality not just a bunch of press releases.

Of course, I suggest Sean Braisted to do that for you as your blog jockey because, in my opinion, he’s the right guy for the job because he engages in conversation about the issues of the democrats. And also, he is listening to the entire state, not just Nashville. He’s thick-skinned and passionate.

And he engages. Why more people aren’t using blog jockeys utterly amazes me.

So, I’ve done your homework for you, Sasser and friends.

The ball is in your court. If you just let it lie there, we will be talking about this again.

This is just absolutely the most marvelous idea ever.

Life, my friends, is not always fair.

Rest well, Toot.

I’m popping in for about 12 minutes, a bag of cheetos and a stick. The stick is for tomorrow.

So I saw this and it needed to be shared with the masses.

As regular readers to my blog know, I have been paying a lot of attention to the presidential election. As such, I have found myself watching a lot of news channels that I don’t normally pay attention to unless a celebrity is running from the law. One of the shows I have enjoyed a lot is “Anderson Cooper 360.” Each night, AC has in-depth coverage of the day’s political events featuring some of my favorite political commentators.

Every time I watch, though, I find myself changing the name “Anderson Cooper” to “Anderson Pooper.” There will no doubt be those among you who do not think that the name Anderson Pooper is funny. Moreover, there will probably be those among who think that I myself don’t find it funny, either, except ironically. But the truth is, I think it’s VERY funny.

I think it’s VERY funny too.

I also like to call Lou Dobbs names but they aren’t printable here.

All times, as stated, are eastern.

It’s going to be a long night, campers.

Image credit

This weekend, I’ve been prepping for Tuesday’s General Election. I’ve been getting some sleep, writing about something or another that’s not political, and taking vitamins (if you call beer vitamins. It is liquid bread, so there.)

I’ve already early voted so on Tuesday, there are a few things I’m going to have to pack up in my knapsack for survival purposes and a few rules you might want to follow. I report on these things so you don’t have to. I’m decent that way.

• A four-pack of Monster. The green kind, of course, to make sure I can go from one poll to the next one.
• Three packs of cigarettes. Not only for myself, but to give voters who need a quick smoke break after getting that ecstatic voters’ high. Nothing like a quick smoke when one feels all passionate and American.
• My cellphone and my laptop because I have no doubt where ever I end up, people will want to know results first. Of course, they will turn to the Internet.
• Remember, no campaign buttons, shirts, backpacks, signs, Dogs painted red, white and blue in voting precincts. This is important to remember as you don’t want precinct bouncers to toss you out, thus losing your right to vote.
• A stick. One never knows if you will need it.
• Turn off Twitter if you don’t want to hear about the election. I suggest this as it will be overflowing with either cheers or jeers, depending on whom your candidate may be.
• Whiskey. I don’t drink whiskey as it makes me vomit but it is good to be prepared for voters who aren’t too happy with the results, no matter what side of the political aisle may be.
• Suggestion: Do not yell ANARCHY at the voting booth. It upsets people.
• Suggestion: Do not yell TERRORIST at the voting booth. It upsets people.
• Showing up drunk to vote is never a good idea. Get drunk later every time you hear John King say “battleground state.” You’ll be plastered within about 20 minutes, I assure you.
• If someone cancels your vote out, just smile pleasantly and move on. If they get testy, find the stick.
• Bring food. No one knows what the lines are going to be like.

These are just a few helpful hints from me. I could be wrong. I could be right.

I just know I have a busy week ahead of us, but on the upside. This damned election is almost over.

Thank goodness.

UPDATE: Joe Lance also has a list of survival skills that adds necessities like food, books and other vital needs. In Hoots, the lines won’t be too bad but in metropolitan areas, you might be in for a long wait.