Danny Doom’s Booze Cabinet

I’m having some serious computer issues, so my traditional Friday booze picture will have to wait. I know, the world gasps and shudders. Drink among yourselves.

What else can be said about Blago? No matter that his speech yesterday was a passionate defense that had me thinking, for just a moment, that maybe he had a point (he does have a point, it’s just that the entirety of his case overwhelms it). Unfortunately for him, he is not a man that inspires much in the way of sympathy. And so there he goes.

It does make me wonder how Bush’s abuse of power of the past eight years went without investigation or much of a whisper from his own party. In that sense it is a relief to see Democrats allowing and following through with this impeachment, citing ethics over party loyalty. It’s everything that was missing from the Republican party over the past eight years. Right-wingers don’t play it like that, so we’re all better off as they flail about out of power.

I get the distinct feeling in these first few days of the Obama Presidency that someone is actually in charge. It’s in the manner and tone but also in the actions taken so far. Such a huge difference. The “audacity” of engaging the Republicans in Congress, giving the Arab television interview, and even having dinner with George Will and Bill Kristol–I think it’s genius.

And Rush Limbaugh? Silly man. Obama’s bipartisan approach is bad for business in right-wing nutball world, and so it’s only natural that he is acting out. Al Franken is a senator and Obama is the president. His head must be exploding. What a joy.

Bush’s “political autism” has been exposed completely. I think, after these many years of incompetence, we now really know who the smartest man in the room is. What a relief.

If Bush was about the presidency as power, Obama is about the presidency as authority. It’s fascinating to watch this deep difference in understanding slowly but unmistakably realize itself in public actions. Somewhere the Founders are smiling. The system is correcting itself after one of the most unbalanced periods in American history. But it took the self-restraint of one man to do it.

- Andrew Sullivan

These are the magic words I have been waiting for:

This is William Kristol’s last column.

I would hate to take credit for Bill’s unemployment at the New York Times, but I will if necessary. The column is typically nutty, full of the revisionist history that Kristol is infamous for. He lost me right off the bat:

Conservatives have been right more often than not — and more often than liberals — about most of the important issues of the day.

Wrong again! I’m sure Irving’s son will still spout his fish lips on other outlets, but it’s good to clear him off the esteemed pages of the New York Times. Victory is mine!

Thanks to Nikkos for the tip!

This place we played last weekend was a record store and an all-ages venue, so they gave us these little paper bags to put around our beers. Very effective, I thought. As you can see, I double-bagged it for safety. I also had to mark mine with a “D” to keep scavengers at bay. Despite all the ornamentation it is, sadly, just a Busch beer underneath that inpenetrable sheath.

Cruise control at 70! Here’s to the MaM Van and its top-notch performance this past weekend on the journey to the Quad Cities. Temps were around zero and blowing snow on the way home, and yet she never flinched. I’m proud of you, little camper. You betcha I am.

Yesterday was a day of joy, a day of cheer. Despite the subpar poet and Rick Warren’s presence, despite the slightly flubbed oath and Obama’s sober speech, it was a huge day and a great moment. I have spent the past eight years or so imparting my words of wisdom to the masses (HUGE masses!), trying to teach right-wingers to stop being so goddamn ignorant and preaching to a choir of liberal-minded folks. Now it is time for the first and most important lesson for left-wingers.

We have watched the apologists for Bush ignore reality year after year and look where it got us. That sober speech Obama gave is the result of eight years of Republican rule; they really created a hell of a mess. But now the cheerleaders are gone, chastened, or just plain in denial, like Bill Kristol. And this is not the time to pick up where they left off. Politics is not a sport and politicians shouldn’t be cheered like star players or booed like underperforming goats, even though Bush deserved it yesterday.

(Na na hey hey, don’t let the door hit you in the ass…)

It’s a simple lesson: Don’t do what they did. Obama deserves some time to enact his agenda, and the messes won’t be cleaned up overnight, but for shit’s sake, let’s leave the cheerleaders behind with the Bush Administration and, as the Prez says, act responsibly. Really, the lesson is the same as it was for right-wingers: don’t be such a dumb ass. They failed miserably. So don’t do the same.

Not the same as the old boss. President Barack Obama! (photo from Battle Creek, MI this summer ** taken by my mom!)

The Booze Cabinet–hell, damn near everyone–won’t have George W. Bush to kick around any more.

12.04.07

This should underline, once again, why Barack Obama is the best man for the job, and why his intelligent approach is what we desperately need right now.

12.13.07

Obama’s time is now and it is happening. I am excited for what’s to come.

01.03.08

It feels like something big is happening. It finally feels real. It feels good. I am genuinely excited about Barack Obama and the possibilities that come with his candidacy.

01.09.08

This doesn’t come around very often, I suspect. In fact, I’ve never seen anything or anyone like it in politics. It would be a great mistake, I think, if this man is not elected to be the next President of the United States.

01.20.08

One year from Sunday George W. Bush will no longer be in power. What a fantastic thing to realize. Now if we can do a better job of replacing him, fellow citizens, that would really top it all off. You won’t let me down this time, will you?

02.06.08

What’s happening here is extraordinary, and way beyond race or gender, even beyond party lines. I’ll say it again: it would be a huge mistake–for the country–if we do not get this man in the White House.

03.20.08

Obama will be fine; the white folks who were scared of black people before all of this are still going to be scared in November, and the rest of us will keep evolving the way humans do.

07.17.08

Obama is going to win states that never dreamed in blue before.

08.11.08

McCain is going to get pummeled, eventually. November 4, to be exact.

11.05.08

YES WE DID!

That was a brief recap from the archives of how I felt, as it was happening, and how it still feels right now. Tomorrow is going to be a great day.

The so-called party of Lincoln has spent much of the past month in spirited debate about whether a white candidate for the party’s chairmanship did the right thing by sending out a “humorous” recording of “Barack the Magic Negro” as a holiday gift.

- Frank Rich, NY Times

We’re going to forget about all them for a little while, these right-wingin’ nuts, and let them figure it out on their own. My lessons for right-wingers can be found in the voluminous archives of the Booze Cabinet! There’s really only one major rule: don’t be such a dumb-ass. It may take time before they work that one out.

It’s a huge relief to be getting an inquisitive, complicated mind in the White House.

W. decided there was no need to be president of the whole country. He could just be president of his base. Obama is determined to be president of as much of the country as possible.

We’re trading a dogmatic president for one who’s shopping for a dog. It feels good.

- Maureen Dowd, NY Times

28 percent of Americans think he’s the worst ever. But his poor performance review has yet to inspire a frenzy of self-scrutiny.

Just to make sure of his legacy, we need to get these last few assessments in before he’s gone. More on the “disappointments” of GWB, from Steve Chapman, Chicago Tribune:

All these blunders were not accidental. They were the product of this administration’s peculiar combination of arrogance, power lust and incompetence.

Those qualities have not abated. Bush leaves us with the rule of law in shreds, the budget out of control, two interminable wars and the public yearning for change. But to him, it’s all good.