Happy Friday. As of tomorrow, I will have been a blogger here at the HQ for five years. DrewM's also been here five years (I think he's got me beat by a few days).

The DCCC issued a formal apology yesterday for implying that Romney donor Sheldon Adelson facilitated prostitution.

The Wall Street Journal has been recapping the London Olympics . . . with stick puppets in a feature called "Homemade Highlights." Here's the one for Gabby Douglas' big win last night.

The July unemployment numbers will be out around 8:30am, so gird your loins.

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 02:50 AM | Comments (100)
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This chart was prepared by the blog Political Math, which calls the numbers you're about to read "unassailable," drawing them straight from the BLS A Tables.

Now, if you are adrift when it comes to economics and don't know what the BLS A Tables are, let me tell you: I don't fucking know either.

But according to Political Math, they're a more comprehensive total of all employment in the US, not just including payroll surveys (which is Table B). I guess they tabulate "Household Employment." Remember that? During the Bush Administration conservatives always pushed for the Household numbers to be mentioned in the media, and they never did, preferring the payroll surveys, which were less generous.

Similarly, Table B is more generous to Obama; but no one wanted to talk Table B with Bush. So Table A it is then.

Make sure you click on them, by the way, and read their whole post.

Because I'm also linking the Washington Post, linking the same chart, to make the point that 1, this was fact-checked and the WaPo couldn't knock it down and 2, the audience seeing it is bigger than a blog's.

The colors of the boxes indicate employment -- brighter green for low unemployment, green for good unemployment, reddish for higher unemployment, deep red for, well, Obama.

So there you go. Total jobs created by president, beginning in their first January and ending in their last January (or before that, if they died like JFK or resigned like Nixon). And for Obama, of course, the numbers are only as current as the current day -- the numbers include June's figures, but not the July figures released today.

Two words: Un. Precedented.

I'm posting this very late, to give everyone something to chew on in the early AM as we all wait for the July jobs figures to be released.

Posted by: Ace at 10:46 PM | Comments (74)
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So Chick-fil-A 'KingDouche' Got Fired

In case you haven't seen our 'purposeful' hero in action, you can see the video in the thread from last night. Well today he got quit-fired from Vante, a medical company where he was the CFO.

Vante regrets the unfortunate events that transpired yesterday in Tucson between our former CFO/Treasurer Adam Smith and an employee at Chick-fil-A. Effective immediately, Mr. Smith is no longer an employee of our company.

The actions of Mr. Smith do not reflect our corporate values in any manner. Vante is an equal opportunity company with a diverse workforce, which holds diverse opinions. We respect the right of our employees and all Americans to hold and express their personal opinions, however, we also expect our company officers to behave in a manner commensurate with their position and in a respectful fashion that conveys these values of civility with others.

Ace thought he should be thoroughly mocked but that some people were going a bit over the top given his actual behavior wanting him beaten up or fired. Legal insurrection says we shouldn't cheer his firing and Bob Owens says his termination isn't a cause for joy at all.

Now I'm not exactly cheering his firing but I also have about zero sympathy for him either. I separate his actions into two parts:

1. What he actually did - which is mainly be a douchy jerk to someone who wasn't in position to defend themselves. Note that he didn't assault her, curse at her, or make any threats. So yeah, utter douchnozzle but not a criminal or beat-down worthy offense.

2. What this reveals about him as person - which is that he's a smug bully convinced of his goodness but with absolutely no self-awareness, and the utter bad judgment to post video of the whole thing on YouTube. This is really what got him fired.

So if I were CEO of Vante I would  have fired him too - even if I agreed with his views 100% - for having the terminal bad judgment to do something like this. Where there's dumbass smoke, there's usually dumbass fire you just don't know about yet.

Now one douche being douchey in public isn't a big deal by itself, but when you put a few KingDouches together with any power, you do start to get real intimidation and harassment.

So I think the strong reaction against him is not so much based on the particular details of his behavior, but rather how it demonstrated his willingness to be cruel to others over politics without a twinge of conscience.  What we saw in the video was really just a microscopic view of the kinds of behavior that turns into real leftist thuggery when done in the aggregate. more...

Posted by: Maetenloch at 05:57 PM | Comments (749)
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No, he has not. The Presidency, yes, counts as a real job; but this would be his first.

Oh he did work in that "International Business Consulting Firm," of course. I mean, that's how he described it. What it turned out to be was a low-rent newsletter.

Boehner was discussing the presidential election, and accusing President Obama's campaign team of using "over-the-top" rhetoric to distract from his economic record.

...

Then the Ohio lawmaker lit into the president's qualifications to discuss job creation.

"But the president has never created a job. He's never even had a real job, for God's sake," Boehner said. "And I can tell you from my dealings with him, he has no idea how the real world, that we actually live in, works."

You know who's had more real-world work experience than Obama?

As Bill Paxton says, "Then why don't you put her in charge?"

Good question. Why don't we.

Posted by: Ace at 05:05 PM | Comments (205)
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Sometimes you douche. Sometimes you get douched.

Sometimes you do both.

@championcapua has done a remix: "Sacred Cows."

Posted by: Ace at 04:40 PM | Comments (158)
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The Vetting.

Romney took English 3, Elementary Algebra, Biology, French 1, and Art 3. He is credited in his art class for having a “real ability in painting,” but admitted that Romney is “not as industrious or as responsible as he might be.”

The rest of the report card contains similar comments about RomneyÂ’s potential to do better in class, and under additional comments, the following is written about RomneyÂ’s overall performance.

“Mitt is doing well. He is a more responsible citizen this year.”

So, there you go. You always wanted to know how Romney did in Art in his Freshman year of high school, and now you know. (B-)

Meanwhile, it remains racist to wonder about the grades earned by the nation's rara avis.

Scoop! I Just Got Obama's Transcript!!!

Posted by: Ace at 02:42 PM | Comments (328)
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Let's hope.

“So on August 1st, the Chick-fil-A revolution supporting the right to voice your religious beliefs and August 1st also the beginning of Obamacare mandating that religious institutions violate their religious beliefs by providing birth control and drugs that facilitate abortion against their religious beliefs,” Limbaugh said. “August 1st, what a profound day in history.”

...

“There is an explosion waiting to happen in this country. People are fed up, and this is a sign,” he said. “I’ll tell you what’s gonna happen on November 6th. Obama’s gonna get Chick-fil-A’d himself.”

Posted by: Ace at 02:06 PM | Comments (280)
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Finds Obama ahead 51-41.

I really thought a double-digit inflated edge would be the limit, but I had no clue someone would go for a number three times the 2008 margin.

Utterly shameful D/R/I of 43%-24%-32%, but it is all about the headline.
Independents still favor Romney in the poll, but with a result that lopsided the topline number was a foregone conclusion.

I'm sure if Rasmussen pushed a poll showing an R+10 electorate, the lulz would never cease. Pew? Total silence.

Okay then. When D+2 becomes the norm in mid-October, I say we switch out their smelling salts for the bath variety...

Posted by: CAC at 01:32 PM | Comments (214)
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From the artist formerly known as @rexharrisonshat. more...

Posted by: Ace at 12:52 PM | Comments (233)
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If you've become president, you didn't do that on your own. You didn't build that Teleprompter or program in that script. Someone else did that.

President Obama spoke to supporters in Florida this afternoon, but was careful to stick to his script, relying heavily on his teleprompters.

The president campaigned without teleprompters last month, when he made his controversial "you didn't build that" remark about business owners.

By the way, I named that picture "TeleprompterJones." Here's why: Racism.

See, I found the picture at Salon. I saw most of Salon's headline: "Is the right's obsession with Obama's teleprompter...."

That's all I saw.

I was pretty sure I could guess the final word.

I was right.

Reaction: DNC, White House Press Corps celebrate the return of their Scroll-Text Savior:

more...

Posted by: Ace at 12:10 PM | Comments (247)
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